Eclair couldn't help but gasp in shock at the sight before her. The bowels of the cargo ship she had infiltrated housed rows of young children, all unconscious and locked in place by large metallic seats. The brunette verbalized her thoughts as she studied her strange surroundings.
"What is this place?"
From the opposite side of the room appeared two men, undoubtedly part of the group responsible for smuggling these children. They both displayed smug grins on their faces, and the apparently leader of the duo answered her question with a boastful character.
"This is one of our mental persuasion complexes. Most of these children will grow up to be important political figures, so we like to teach them to be sympathetic to our cause early on."
Eclair gasped again, realizing her cover was blown. In a fit of disgust, she clenched her fists and growled. When she noticed one of the seats was vacant, she quickly remembered the reason she had come here. She turned toward her two hosts and shouted toward them in anger.
"Where are you keeping Lumiere, you bastards?"
The same speaker as before chuckled.
"'Lumiere,' huh? So, the brat has a name."
He crossed his arms before raising his voice.
"All right. Lumiere, take care of this intruder."
Eclair became so confused by these words that she failed to notice the sound of soft footsteps approaching her from behind. She was brought back to reality only when she felt a small knee slam against her lower spine, causing pain to shoot through her body and temporarily paralyze her. She dropped to the ground on her back, and her eyes widened as they stared upward to see her missing partner now looming over her. The girl's light blue hair was dressed in its signature spiral braid, and her face conveyed its typical cheerful demeanor, but her eyes were unusually blank. Eclair quickly realized what this meant, and she tried desperately to bring Lumiere back to her senses.
"Lu-... Lumiere! Snap out of it! These guys are just using you!"
The brainwashed girl's expression never changed. Her eyes were always emotionless, and her lips remained curled in an elegant smile. Eclair then turned her attention back toward the two men, more angered than ever.
"What the hell did you do to her?"
The lead smuggler's confidence seemed to grow as he replied.
"We knew this girl was special when she managed to escape her machine the first time. When she started snooping around and hacking our security computers left and right, it didn't take long to realize we had accidentally kidnapped a GOTT officer. After we caught her the second time, it seemed putting her in an advanced curriculum and taking advantage of her abilities was the best option."
He paused for a few seconds and shrugged.
"I'm not sure why your organization uses 12-year-olds for its agents, but I have to thank you. Our method probably wouldn't have worked if her brain were any older."
He then shifted his attention to the younger girl, and his smirk took on a more sinister nature.
"Lumiere, you can dispose of her now."
Eclair gasped at this words. As she tried to force herself into a seated position, she frantically cried out to her misguided comrade. Had Eclair herself been aware of the centuries and the multiple lives the two girls had shared together, perhaps she could have broken through to Lumiere. In this case, however, even her own memories were limited.
"Come on, Lumiere! Don't you remember anything? We're supposed to be partners!"
The younger girl was unfazed by her victim's objections. Her empty eyes curiously scanned Eclair's prone form, stopping when they reached the familiar gray belt around her waist. Lumiere lowered herself to her knees and straddled over Eclair before carefully beginning to remove the belt. When it was freed from its owner, Lumiere reached into its storage pouch and retrieved a small pistol. She then tossed the leather accessory to the side so she could aim the firearm with both hands, pointing directly toward the ridge between Eclair's fearful eyes. When she pulled the trigger, the gun only emitted an empty "click," causing her to frown in disappointment. She soon pried the weapon open and studied its magazine, revealing that Eclair had exhausted its ammunition during her daring rescue empty.
Lumiere sadly sighed.
"Your Walther is out of ammo, Eclair. I'm not sure how to kill you."
She raised her free hand to her chin as she quietly thought to herself. Finally, her youthful smile returned and her voice took on a more playful quality.
"Oh, I'll just activate your D-Command protocol!"
Eclair responded with another look of confusion. She had no idea what the younger girl was referring to, and she stumbled through her baffled reply.
"What... what are you talking about... ?"
Lumiere remained silent as she set the pistol on the floor and placed one of her palms against Eclair's forehead. Her eyes and fingertips then began glowing in a faint light as she spoke out loud in an almost mechanical tone.
"Bypassing cellular firewalls. Accessing nanomachine control."
She giggled quietly before her smile widened. The glow faded from her eyes and fingers, and she spoke in a much lighter voice.
"There we go."
Eclair blinked a few times when Lumiere removed her palm and rose back to her feet. For the next few seconds, she continued to seem unaffected by whatever Lumiere had just done. However, she soon arched her head back and screamed in a sudden storm of agony. Her entire body then began convulsing on the ground. After this continued for several seconds, her cries abruptly stopped and her body came to rest. Her eyes remained wide open in horror when she died, and a tiny bit of blood seeped from her lips. An autopsy would have revealed nearly even organ in her body had expanded and ruptured.
Lumiere's demeanor was as gentle as ever when she turned to her two superiors. The second smuggler whispered to his leader in a frightened manner.
"Christ. How did GOTT make this kid so powerful?"
The leader looked to his partner and only shrugged again, careless toward the brutal event he had just witnessed.
"How should I know? I'm just glad she's on our side, now."
He then turned back to Lumiere and praised the loyal subordinate.
"Nicely done, Lumiere. I'll buy you a ticket to that opera you wanted to see for being such a good girl."
She briefly closed her eyes as she smiled and gave a delicate nod.
"Thank you, sir."
The smuggler's expression changed to a satisfied smirk before speaking again.
"Let's get out of here so we can talk about your next objective."
Lumiere answered with another obedient nod, then followed her superiors to the bridge of the spacecraft.