Free I was finally free! The three of us were escorted by armored vehicles and showed where we could wash up. Joe must have seen my apprehension at the tub filled with water. I heard him ask Frankie to help me. Well that's not embarrassing at all! Frankie agreed and Joe left the two of us in the wash room. Frankie tried to comb out my hair to no avail.
"Good lord when was the last time you bathed!" I know she didn't mean to sound like a parent to a child but I figured she didn't really have much tact in gentleness.
"Counting this time?" I saw her nod. "This time." I admitted and Frankie frowned in realization. Frankie helped me figure out how to get into the tub without killing myself. She stared at my shoulder and got my hair wet. As she cleaned up my hair for me she asked me questions.
"Interesting brand you have."
"Yeah." I admitted quietly knowing she was talking about the Manchurian symbol they had burned onto me.
"What does it mean?" She asked another question as she rinsed out my hair.
"Shame."
"Why is it on your shoulder?"
"I was supposed to entertain the men the guards brought in. Instead I stole things from the gentlemen and the guards said I had shamed them. So that is what they branded me with."
"That's what it means in Manchurian. It doesn't mean shame to Englishmen. When you look at what the symbol means in English it translates into Sky."
"So I'm Sky Princess?"
"What did you do to get put in that place?" Frankie asked as she cleaned off my face and shoulders.
"I was born." I admitted drolly with an indifferent shrug.
"Who were your parents?" Frankie asked again as she rinsed the final amount of grime from my body.
"I don't know. I don't even know where I'm from."
"But you have a blood type. And that could help an acquaintance of mine to assist you."
"Who?" I asked curiously.
"He's around your age mid-20's. He invented a hand-held machine that can decipher genetic codes. If anybody can find out where your family is, then it's Dexter Dearborn." Frankie explained to me and then helped me into a pair of pants and a blouse.
I didn't recognize the person I was looking at.
"Is that me?" I asked so innocently that Frankie frowned sadly. The two of us heard a knock on the door and heard Joe call through.
"You two done yet?" Came the voice and the door opened a second later.
I looked at Joe; well he certainly cleaned up nicely. I started to feel self-conscious because he was just staring at me quietly.
"Princess? Is that you?" He asked with a smirk. He approached me and Frankie and moved around me. "Well you certainly clean up nice." He admitted and I smirked wryly at him.
"I was thinking the same thing about you." Joe was still staring at me and Frankie clipped him in the back of the head.
"Joseph." She warned him and he smirked sheepishly and backed away from me. "I had the idea that Dexter can use his molecule detector device and help Princess find her family."
"Frankie that's a brilliant idea!" Before I knew what happened Joe had grabbed my arm and had me running behind him until we were in a hangar with a bunch of engineers running about working.
"Hey CAP!" A pleased voice hollered over as a bright light came out of a small pen. "Glad you're back!"
"Likewise Dex." Joe admitted quietly to his friend and then Dex saw me beyond Joe.
"New friend Cap?" The guy took off some weird looking goggles and looked at me better.
"Something like that Dex."
"Any friend of Cap'n is a friend of mine!" The guy popped a piece of gum into his mouth and started to chew it. "Dexter Dearborn just call me Dex." He didn't look like he wanted to shake my hand. But Joe elbowed him and he raised his hand in greeting. I shook his hand with an odd look to Joe who smirked wolfishly at me.
"My name is Princess." I answered I hated getting those odd looks of confusion when I met new people. "That's the only thing they called me in the prison…"
"Dex, Princess was born in the prison. She doesn't know who her family is. Frankie gave us the idea that you could use you detector device."
"Well let's see what we can do…" Dex muttered and took me by the elbow and led me to a large desk that was completely cluttered with paper. He grabbed one my fingers and pricked my finger. I must have flinched because he gave me an apologetic grimace. "Probably should've warned ya about that…"
"That is all right, but why did you feel the need to stab me?" I heard Joe snicker and I glared at him.
"All I did was collect some of your blood. It will show me your genetic strand shortly. See?" Dex held up the small device for me to see.
I watched as a few lines dancing across the screen. Dex looked back at the device and frowned.
"Huh." He muttered to himself. "It says your fraternal strand comes from Jonathon Masterson. But his information doesn't list any children." Dex looked at more information. "His wife Winifred and he live in Liverpool England."
"I have a family?" I asked hopefully and Dex just nodded with a shrug. I couldn't stop myself and hugged him. I heard Joe snickering again and I noticed that Dex was uncomfortable with this display. I let him go apologized then hugged Joe. "I have a family!" I repeated happily to Joe who laughed and grabbed my shoulder in a brotherly gesture.
"So I heard." He grinned at me.
