Part 5
Malcolm hurried up to catch up with Lexa and Nine's long strides. They were speaking in hushed yet harsh tones to each other.
"This is bull crap." Nine muttered.
"I had nothing to do with this. I was just told to make sure you had it before the conference which may I remind you were going to be late for." Lexa pointed out.
"What's the major malfunction I missed?" Malcolm inquired. He'd just come from the lecture hall where he'd held his two o'clock lecture.
"I'm being scripted." Nine huffed.
"Probably because they don't have any faith in you saying the right thing. You made it clear in the meeting earlier that you are against the use of the cure. I think you requested the neck of whoever did it." Lexa exasperatedly explained.
Nine grumbled and pressed forward.
"Let's just smile for the cameras and strangle officials later? None of us like this but we can't risk our jobs." Lexa replied.
"Fine." Nine hissed.
"Taylor is with Riley as long as we need her to be." Lexa finished.
"Am I presentable to the public?" Nine sighed.
"As always." Lexa smiled.
"Excellent. Let's get this done and over with." Nine drawled.
Malcolm clapped him on the back and Lexa gave him a thumbs up.
"I hate politics." Nine grumbled as he headed towards the press and makeshift stage. But he plastered a huge smile on his face and threw the script away. He wasn't going to be scripted.
Adelina had the crystal flat on her palm so everyone could hear it. Her father had taken her and her twin brother back to the meeting chamber to talk. But back in another section of the mountain, her mother was humming a tune to herself while she cooked dinner. Sam sitting in an armchair reading something on his laptop. Ella had derailed all the children by saying she'd tell them the story about how she became one with Lorien for a time. It worked for all ages.
But Adelina wondered where Sarah and Autumn were because she hadn't seen them yet. Could that be why Six was outside? Or why the meeting chamber looked like someone had been haphazardly practicing telekinesis?
"So what's the issue, Cecilia?" John inquired.
"We need help reuniting camp, we can't all become one large group again. We need a way to communicate and unite without Earth Garde finding out. We need to be able to fight back before they wipe us out." Cecilia explained.
"We're certainly outnumbered but we can outgun them if we can get everyone trained and on the same page," Kat added.
John rubbed his chin. "The problem is we had the government on our side when we defeated the Mogadorians. Whereas now your fighting the same government." John mused.
"The red crystals can't be reproduced and they won't work in other hands. Ask Casey he's tried, the red crystal won't activate for him." Kat pointed out.
"And you don't know if every group has a telepath or if they can teleport or summon loralite crystals," John replied.
"And besides even if we use the loralite stones for teleporting, EG has almost all of them under lock and key. What if someone accidentally pops up there?" Kat argued.
"Down girl." Cecilia teased.
"It's fine Kat is just like her mother." John laughed.
"Wait what about using these?" Adelina suggested, taking off her necklace. "The loralite works for Sam right?"
"Yeah Sam used his to get him and his son here, Six brought her daughter here the same way," John answered.
"So then these work regardless of alien DNA." Adelina finished.
"She's got a point." Henri agreed.
"But none of the refugees have ever been here. Don't they have to imagine it to appear here?" Cecilia argued.
"Not necessarily," John mumbled.
"Come again?" Cecilia argued.
"In this cave is the oldest loralite stone we know of. It was here long before us and long before Lorien came to live on earth. Maybe we could use it as a homing beacon?" John suggested.
"Like it draws its user to the cave? That still brings up the issue of how are they gonna cross the Atlantic?" Cecilia argued.
"It could transport them just like ours do." Adelina optimistically replied. John frowned and toyed with his pendant.
"It could work but then we're back to how would they be able to imagine the cave?" John groaned.
"How about we come to a compromise, folks? What if they act like a homing beacon and transport the user to here because they're attracted to the original stone?" Henri inquired.
"John?" Cecilia inquired.
"I'll work on it. Nice talking to you again Ceci." John replied.
Adelina dropped the crystal onto the table.
"So who's been practicing telekinesis in here?" Adelina inquired.
"Sarah and Autumn," John answered.
"Awesome! How long?" Adelina questioned, about ready to burst from joy.
"A week. They both developed the same day." John smiled.
Adelina burst from her chair and threw herself at her father. She buried her head into his shoulder and squeezed him tight.
"This is wonderful news. I knew she had it in her." Adelina mumbled.
"Shouldn't you let your brother have a turn at hugging me?" John teased.
"Only if he can detach me." Adelina grinned. Laughter echoed off the walls of the cavern and warmed the whole mountain with love.
It was a long and exhausting week but finally Saturday night her fever broke. It started going slowly and gradually, finally settling at ninety-seven point nine degrees Fahrenheit. Her legacies fizzled out with her fever. Sunday morning was full of everyone out cold in various positions on various pieces of furniture. Nine was finally glad that it was over, all the side effects seemed to be ebbing away slowly. If only that was all that had ebbed away. How was he going to break it to Riley?
But she did wake up that afternoon and wanted something to eat. Nine nearly jumped out of his skin at such a simple request. He'd gotten used to the requests that she needed the puke bucket or help getting to the bathroom. He left the room and quietly made his way to the kitchen.
All his friends were sleeping in the living room. Malcolm was drooling away peacefully on a couch. One of his arms hung off and dangled, fingertips touching the floor. Lexa having deemed the other couch to short for her was sprawled out on the floor with a throw pillow and blanket. Taylor was snoring away on the other couch rather loudly. He never knew how loud Taylor snored until now. Out of all of them, she slept the hardest and Lexa was the lightest. He grabbed a slice of bread and a glass of water before going back to his daughter.
Riley sat up and graciously grabbed the slice of bread. He just sat on the end of her bed as she nibbled on it until it was gone. He handed her the glass of water and she took small sips until it was all gone.
"Thanks, dad." She smiled. Her voice still soft and weak.
"Do you need anything else? Do you feel alright? I can go wake Taylor if you want." Nine nervously questioned.
"Dad." Riley chuckled. "Relax, I'm fine. Go back to sleep."
Nine relaxed a little at his daughter's smile. He went to go back to his vigil on the floor when she rolled her eyes at him.
"Go sleep in your actual bed dad."
"Well your no fun." Nine smiled.
Riley giggled softly and tried to throw a pillow at him but she must've either been tired or weak because she barely managed to pick it up.
"Go back to sleep, my little troublemaker." Nine chuckled.
He quietly shut the door behind him and came face to face with Lexa. Her black hair was all messed up but her dark eyes held the intensity of a hawk. He placed a hand over his heart to steady the heart that just tried jumping up into his throat.
"What the crap Lexa?" He muttered.
"I heard you get up. Is she okay?" Lexa softly questioned.
"She's fine. Even kicked me out of her room." Nine chuckled. Lexa smiled in the dim hallway.
"Go get some sleep. We all deserve it." Lexa suggested.
"Geez have I been that cranky this week?" Nine teasingly inquired.
"Oh, you have no idea professor Nine." Lexa laughed.
She turned on heel and walked back to the living room. Nine chuckled and shook his head before going into his bedroom.
What a week it'd been. But now the storm had passed. Well at least this storm, there was a bigger one still building though. Without her legacies how will she handle the storm to come? He knows the refugee camp may be in many pieces now but they weren't going to take this lying down much longer. War was coming and this time he didn't know who'd win.
It'd been two weeks since the incident had passed and things were settling back to normal. But then, Nine walked into the gym only to have to avoid a battle zone of Riley and the computer. He decided to avoid it all and walked up and along the walls until he dropped down onto the observation deck. Malcolm was at the main frame of the gym's computer overseeing its operations.
Not even noticing Nine, Malcolm walked over to the railing and hollered at Riley.
"Level 25!" He then just observed her from the railing.
"How come every time I leave you with someone who has no legacies you fire up the six squad sim?" Nine teased, walking over to be next to Malcolm.
"Hey, it's a great way to train." Malcolm shrugged.
"Besides just like Cecilia she has a lot of pent-up rage. So I set it to the first setting and let the AI do its thing."
Nine chuckled. "The simulation is set to a scenario where you have to fight off hundred of EG agents right? Complete with scramblers and all of the fun stuff?"
"Lexa and you are just plain sadistic when you build new programs aren't you?" Malcolm inquired with a smirk.
"Not sadistic we prefer to be called realistic." Nine corrected.
Malcolm shook his head and laughed. He then readjusted his glasses and went back to watching Riley.
"She made it to level twenty-five? Without her legacies?" Nine questioned curiously.
"Nine, you've been training her to fight since she could walk. I remember her as a little three-year-old bumbling around here learning how to throw a punch. How every time she did punch you the effort made her fall over on her butt."
Nine smiled at the old memory and seemed to relax a bit.
"Remember when she was six and practicing roundabout kicks on the dummy? She landed wrong and broke her left ankle? Taylor healed it and told her to rest it for a few days?" Malcolm inquired.
"And the very next day she was right back at it with the dummy." Nine warmly answered.
"Admit Nine, no matter how many bumps, bruises, and broken bones she gets right back up and continues fighting. No matter how many times she's fallen over the years she gets right back up and fights. She's persistent in that way. This is just another setback. She's not letting it stop her though." Malcolm pointed out.
Nine smiled and watched her daughter take out the last of the simulation with her dagger and string of green crystals. She was getting really good at using that in combat. Even without legacies his inheritance still worked for her.
Lexa chalked it up to they can take her legacies but they can't take Lorien out of her. Taylor agreed that genetically speaking she's still part Loric. Riley cheered as the last of the agents fell. Malcolm went back to his computers and his jaw dropped.
"Two hours, twelve minutes and thirty-five seconds. She not only beat Cecilia's record of three hours, one minute and seven seconds but the six students that the program was made for. Their record was two hours, twenty-six minutes, and thirty seconds." He walked back over to the railing to tell her. "You just set a new record on the machine!"
Riley squealed with delight. "Oh yeah! That's what I'm talking about!" And then she started dancing, well it's probably considered a form of dancing somewhere.
Nine was leaning on the railing laughing.
"Was there ever any doubt that she was yours?" Malcolm teased.
"Nope, she's definitely mine." Nine beamed. Riley was still down in the gym doing her victory dance and whooping in delight.
Riley perched herself on a stool by the island as her father and his friends went to work. Nine was over by the coffee maker making the next batch of coffee. Taylor and Malcolm were both at the whiteboard looking very thoughtful.
"What if we temporarily assume that it acts like a virus? Viruses reprogram the host cell and make them reproduce it." Taylor suggested.
"If it acts like a virus then it has to run its course. Its course is a week but viruses don't usually do permanent damage do they?" Malcolm questioned. He started writing things on the board.
"Chickenpox can in extreme cases cause scarring, mono can cause damage to the nervous system, and there are multiple more examples but you get the point." Taylor pointed out.
Lexa smacked the counter and swore. "More info for our debate?" Malcolm inquired.
"No, whatever they did to make the cure is the most secretive of secrets apparently. Another server cracked and nothing in it at all." Lexa huffed in annoyance.
"How many servers could they possibly have? I thought Malcolm had a lot." Nine remarked. Malcolm shot him a glare.
"Only someone with something to hide would have so many servers. That way it's like searching for a needle in a haystack." Taylor reasoned.
"Like us." Malcolm quipped.
"So that means they also got something to hide then right?" Riley questioned.
She'd been quietly nursing her hot chocolate and observing them. Her inky black hair was loose around her shoulders and her bright blue eyes had the usual sparkle back in them.
"Do we even know how long they've been working on this? It had to take years." Malcolm sighed.
"I haven't found that yet," Lexa replied. She was back to typing away on her laptop.
"If they've hated human Garde as long as you say they have, they could've started this right after the academy opened," Riley commented.
"And we don't have all the time in the world to figure this out." Malcolm groaned.
"There's the positivity we all need." Riley drawled.
"Coffee. I think we need more coffee and to take some deep breaths." Nine suggested. Riley snorted into her cup. This was going to be another long night.
Sidney was being educated on a new card game called spoons. It was actually a much more violent game than she'd realized. Kat had already broken Casey's hand three times while going for a spoon. They'd broken two spoons and bent the third one. The spoons were made of plastic but still, was breaking them necessary?
Although Casey had also been the reason for five false alarms by making one of the spoons jerk. The term used was dirty cheater by Cecilia and filthy Mogadorian by Kat.
Gia was yet again refusing to play cards but preferred the company of her tech. Gia she'd decided was a very cranky and antisocial person. It only was getting worse since they hadn't gotten any word from their friends in the academy in a month and nothing from the twins in three weeks. But today she seemed to be looking at more articles from what Sidney could tell. She heard a spoon clatter and snatched up a spoon like everyone else besides Adelina.
"Dang it!" Adelina laughed. She threw her cards down and moved out of the circle they had formed on the formed.
"Ya gotta be quicker than that." Henri teased. He got smacked with a spoon by some invisible force.
Then they all heard Gia swear.
"No no no. This isn't happening. It isn't possible. I take every precaution, this can't be happening." Gia muttered, furiously typing away.
"Problem G?" Kat inquired.
"I hate the government!" Gia exclaimed, slamming her hands on the table. "We move now. I've been hacked." She closed her laptop and flipped it over. She yanked something from its underbelly and reopened her laptop. "You heard the lady let's move people! Any and all traces to be removed!" Casey commanded.
"What about the mattresses?" Sidney questioned.
"Sink em in the bay. It's about twenty feet from the entrance to this place." Kat suggested.
"Chase and Eden have at it. You seem to share legacies and a love for destruction." Cecilia offered.
Chase high fived the blonde girl next to him.
"Telekinesis?" He questioned.
"Like I showed you," Cecilia answered.
"Duh." The girl scoffed. Two mattresses floated up off the ground and into their uplifted arms.
"And charge!" Chase commanded. He and his little sister ran for the entrance with them. Cecilia laughed.
Kat tossed Gia a small blue pouch before packing. Gia opened the pouch and telekinetically herded the solar system into it. Casey had started packing Riley's stuff and his stuff up in a bag. Kat was by Adelina and Henri's remaining stuff and packing. Gia used her telekinesis to unplug the scanner and wrap it up in its cord. It was coming with for it was unaffected. But how would they all move undetected? Where would they go? Sanctuaries were few and far between for them.