This story can be read on its own, but it is directly connected to my other story, Origins: Ghost.
Please excuse any mistakes. It's 4am, and I'm too tired to read over it. I'll try to later after getting some sleep xD
There were times that Robin was glad that she was homeschooled; mostly because she got to spend a lot of time with her mommy, who homeschooled her. But one thing that would always make her wish that she wasn't homeschooled was the constant fighting between her parents whenever they were both home.
Luckily, her daddy wasn't home all that often. He was a CEO of a large business, so most of his time was spent working. Even if he wasn't at work, he would still be on his phone or on a computer doing 'work related things'. So, even when he was home, he wasn't 'home', as per say. But when he was, well, that was the time of day Robin always dreaded.
It always began with passive-aggressiveness, mostly from her mommy's side. That soon escalated into yelling after her daddy joined in. And then came the screaming, and then her mommy got hurt. Robin hated it, hated her daddy for what he did. Her mommy just wanted what was best for her – to have her daddy around, for him to be in her life, in their life, and he would hit her for it, as if she was in the wrong. She wanted to help, she really did, but how could she? She was just a kid, and her mommy would always rush her into her room to get her out of the way.
Usually it only lasted a little while, and ended with her daddy slamming the door and leaving and her mommy coming up to hug her and cry. Robin always held her as she did, not quite understanding what had happened, not at first. But after a while, everything clicked, and one night she promised that she wouldn't stand by and watch her mommy get hurt. Not again, never again.
So the next time she was told to stay in her room after her daddy came home, Robin listened closely for the tell tale sounds. Sure enough, the yelling soon began, and when the screaming began, she rushed downstairs. "Stop!"
To his credit, her daddy did stop at the sound of his daughter's voice as she stormed down the stairs as quickly and loudly as her small, 6 year old body would allow. He remained frozen in his position, fist pulled back ready to strike his wife again, even as Robin stood in front of him and extended her arms, as if that would somehow stop him. "Stop hurting mommy." Her defiant glare set something off in him, and he lowered his fist. For a moment, Robin thought she had done it, and a toothy grin overtook her face as she lowered her arms, only for her daddy to glare at her and shove her out of the way, sending her flying to the floor and then skidding to the wall. "Ow!"
"Stay out of this, Robin." He growled, before returning his attention to her mommy, who began crying what sounded like gibberish to Robin's pounding ears.
However, it was at that moment Robin felt a change. She could feel, something. A web of something, all connecting to her head, but she couldn't think about what it could be, what it was. Instead, she let her emotions take over, emotions that soon latched onto the new web. "Leave mommy alone."
The weak voice of his daughter was ignored. However, her daddy did stop to look around when the lights began flickering on and off; along with the TV, phones, mini fridge, and more or less everything electronic in the room. And, from what he could hear, the rest of the house. "What the-"
"Leave mommy alone!" The yell from Robin caused a chain reaction, as bulbs shattered, fridges flew open, the TV and phones burst into flame, and the plugs began to spark out of control before apparently fusing. The family was left in a complete darkness, emphasised by their silence. Until Robin's daddy grinned, and dropped his fist before going to kneel next to his still glaring daughter.
"You want to protect mommy?" He asked her, a false smile on his face, one that was reserved for two things – work, and his daughter. Robin nodded enthusiastically in response. "Then how about we make a deal?"
That had been years ago. 5 years, to be exact. And Robin wasn't sure which time she preferred, before or after the fight that had changed her life forever. On one hand, her mom was happier, her dad didn't abuse her anymore, although she was still more of a maid than a wife to him. But on the other hand, Robin was now the centre of her dad's world.
When she was younger, that was all she wanted, her dad's attention. But now? Now she would give anything for him to just completely forget about her.
"Then how about we make a deal?"
Those words had haunted Robin for years now. It had made sense to accept at the time, she had no idea that what she had just done was in no way normal. How could she? She'd barely left the house, let alone spoke to or met anyone outside of her immediate family.
"If you help me out with this, this power of yours, I'll leave mommy alone. How about that?"
Of course she had agreed. All she had cared about was keeping her mom safe. That was all she'd cared about ever since then too. So, Robin had stayed at home, and for 5 whole years she'd trained herself in the use of her strange powers, all so she could help her dad cheat to get ahead in life. It turned out that she had control over more than just technology, which had been what they'd originally discovered, but she also had control over cyberspace. Which sounded cool, but wasn't when you dad made you use it to give him more money than he needed, or to erase things he didn't want the world to see from existence.
She'd googled it. Her powers were apparently called Technopathy and Cyberpathy. It had been interesting reading up on the things she could possibly do in the little down time she had. And the fears she'd read about how powerful Cyberpathy could be? Not entirely incorrect. Currently, Robin could get into social media accounts in a blink of an eye, and into banks with a little more effort. She had no doubts that she would be able to get into the safest files to exist, such as NASA, with little to no effort if she trained enough.
Robin could do amazing things with her powers. But what did her dad use them for? Gaining his own power. He forced her to build his economical empire on the ruin of other people, or on lies and scams that she could easily create for him. How many times had she ruined people by transferring more and more money to his bank account? How many fake reports, how many lies had she had to create so her dad could get closer and closer to the top? She's long since lost count. And truth be told, she hated it. So much.
Her mom had taken to telling her that she was very mature for her age. She seemed to be proud of the fact, although Robin couldn't really tell anymore. Her dad had kept her more or less on permanent lockdown ever since they'd discovered her powers. If she thought she'd had it bad when she was just homeschooled, then she couldn't even imagine this. She literally didn't know anyone her own age. The only people she ever saw anymore were her mom and her dad, and she only saw her dad when he came to tell her what to do.
Things could be worse, though. Her 'cell' was a fairly simple room in design, if you didn't count the countless computer screens scattered around the walls, allowing her access to spread her mind through the cyberspace in so many different directions at once. It was both satisfying and terrifying. Feeling the power she had yet fearing what it could one day do to her. What if she got trapped in the cyberspace? What if her mind just got stuck one day and left her body as a vegetable. She knew the fear was irrational, but it was there all the same. From all the research she'd done, nothing like this had ever been seen before. She had no point of reference, nobody she could look up to. She was alone.
Considering her dad's job, it wasn't a surprise to hear people coming into and leaving the house often. Robin wasn't allowed to go down and meet them, of course. More because one of the first things her dad had made her do was erase herself from existence, meaning any records that hadn't been put on paper were gone. Some people remembered her, but her dad simply pretended that they were delusional and forced her mom to play along. Robin knew why he did it – slave labour. If people knew she existed, then they would wander where she was, and what had happened to her. Life was easier for her dad if she didn't exist. At least, not officially.
But that didn't stop the occasional curious soul, who had heard of her or sometimes even met her before, when she was younger, before all the madness happened. They'd often gotten close to finding her, but they'd never quite managed it. Always being pulled away by her concerned mom or flustered dad. Because of these close calls, they tended to avoid the room she was now kept in whenever they had visitors.
So imagine her surprise when she heard the downstairs door burst open, followed by a lot of yelling. Fights weren't uncommon here still, especially considering how much business men tended to argue, something that Robin had never really thought about until she'd become engulfed in their power hungry games. But this was different somehow, it didn't sound as much like arguing as it did like, what, threats?
Her confusion was only increased as her mom burst into her room like she use to when she was younger, and threw herself into her daughter's arms, babbling through her tears. "Mom, what's wrong?" Robin asked, trying to keep her composure and be the calm on in the situation. She needed to know what was happening.
A shot rang out. Blood splattered over Robin. Her mom never got a chance to answer.
The girl looked towards the doorway, shocked. There were a group of people standing in the doorway, all fully dressed in black and hiding their faces in balaclavas. But the one who was unabashedly holding a gun towards the bullet hole that now resided in her moms skull? They had to be a child. The body height and proportions said that clearly. But how could a child do that to someone? Anyone?!
"W-who are you people?" Robin asked, trying to sound brave but clearly failing. How could she be brave right now? Her mom had just been shot! The woman she'd practically given up her life to protect, was dead. She would have been surprised that she was holding it together so well if it wasn't just her voice. The tears currently streaming down her face were very obvious.
There was no reply, and they stood – or sat, in Robin's case – in a silent stare down for a few moments before more of them came up the stairs. A small path was made for one, who walked into the centre of the stare down before dropping another dead body. This time, it was her dad. It saddened Robin to admit to herself that she felt a small sense of relief at seeing his dead body, but it was the truth.
Then, the kid aimed their gun at her, and Robin had two options. Close her eyes and wait for the blow, or hope that, by some miracle, her power worked on guns.
As sad as she was, Robin wasn't quite ready to die yet.
Concentrating on the gun, she let the web weave itself in her mind, and while it took longer than she would have liked, considering the situation, she couldn't help but feel a sense of pride when the kid pulled the trigger and nothing happened.
It was strange when the kid didn't even seem surprised at the turn of events, simply dropping his gun and nodding towards her, almost as if they were colleagues or something. Robin found that she didn't have the time to question it, as suddenly more people were storming into her house, and a large fight broke out between the two groups.
Shocked and confused, Robin could do nothing but gawk as the newcomers seemingly won, and who she could only assume was the leader approached her slowly, as if approaching a wounded animal that they were trying desperately not to injure.
"Hello, Robin." How do you know my name? That was what she wanted to ask, but she couldn't see to form the words. In fact, Robin found herself unable to do or move anything apart from her eyes. "We're the WORLD, we're here to help."
"She seems to be in shock, sir." One of the others told him, although they were equally as covered as the previous group had been, so Robin couldn't make out a face.
"So it seems." The leader replied, with an evident frown on his face. "Take her in, then."
Robin couldn't clearly remember the following events. She remembers being moved, and gently guided to the back of a black van that had been parked outside of their mansion. She remembered a lot of talking, most of which had blurred into one by now. But one sentence stuck in her mind.
"Welcome to Rapture, Virus."
I hope you enjoyed it! I would love to hear your opinions, as well as some constructive criticism!