She knew something was up when she saw it by the door. XJ9 had never seen it before, and curiously, she circled the object while inspecting it. Her mind ran the normal check and internet search before it gave her its answer, and in doing so, she felt a frown fall on her face. Since the conversation she had overheard that morning, the day had passed excruciatingly slow for her. She had spent the rest of it in her room watching her monitors while her brain went through everything she knew.

Eventually, all of the thinking had started to hurt her head as she ran the same facts through her mind again and again. So she had decided to do some investigating of her own and left her room behind. She planned to look around the house a bit more and hoped to start somewhere that she had never been in before, at least she would have if that strange thing hadn't caught her attention.

There was a packed suitcase by the doorway, and there was only one person it could belong to. No doubt that this probably had something to do with her mom going somewhere and helping, but it raised more questions in her mind. When they went to the Skyway Patrol place, her mom hadn't needed one, right? They must be going somewhere far away. Did she need to pack her own things? She'd have to pack up her charger and get her ducky, she guessed. Wait, did she even have a suitcase?

The thoughts of exploring the house were quickly replaced with thoughts of seeing somewhere else, and she headed back up to her to get her stuff. She'd dig around for answers and connections when they got back for now though she'd better get ready. She unplugged her charger and patted her ducky's head before grabbing it too. Looking around for anything else she might need, she noticed that the room was quite bare. Except for all the monitors on her walls, she really didn't have that much.

She set her two things down on her bed and grabbed one other thing she could take with her. She set her little ABC's book beside them and looked over it all. Maybe she could get her mom to pack some treats too. Wait, did she even have a suitcase? She rubbed her head while trying to think of a solution to the problem. She guessed she could put her stuff in something else, but what else did she have. She looked around for a second before noticing the blanket on her bed which everything was already sitting on. What if she?

Thinking about how she wrapped herself up in the blankets every night, she did her best. Grabbing all the corners of the blanket, she put them together and pulled it up. According to her quick search, it was more like a sack than a suitcase, but it would do. She hoisted her things over her shoulder and made her way down the stairs to set her stuff beside her mom's. The stairway and house were starting to be covered in the sunset's honey glow that streamed through the blinds covering the windows. It was a simple thing, yet the change brought a small smile to XJ9's face.

As she put her makeshift bag down beside the suitcase, the sound of a familiar set of footsteps coming up the lab's stairways. The footsteps made her smile, but another sound was following right after them on the stairs, and it confused her. No one was here except her mom and her, right? It sounded like someone was walking behind her mom, yet the sound was and wasn't footsteps at the same time. It was a bit heavier than anyone's steps she had heard before and had more of a thunk, but it repeatedly moved up in a constant pattern like one's feet did when moving.

Was her mom bringing something up the stairs with or something? She couldn't see the doorway to the stairway from where she was, and it made a new sensation swell up in her. She rubbed the knuckles of one of her hands with the other and fidgeted where she was standing. She heard the door open, and her mom's voice calmed her a little. What didn't calm her, though, was that it was clear her mom was talking to someone else.

"Stay here until I tell you to come on out. I'm going to have to talk to XJ9 about all of this before you meet her."

"Of course, take your time."

The sudden sound of the person's voice startled her. It was a soft sweet sounding voice that should have brought her comfort. Instead, though, it made the feeling in her grow heavier at not knowing. XJ9 made no move to look at the person as she heard her mom close the door.

"XJ9, could you come down- Oh, there you are."

Her mom happily approached her.

"I'm glad I caught you here; I know this is all a bit sudden, but we're going to have to talk about what's about to happen."

She nodded as she took a step to the side and pointed at the suitcase. XJ9 watched as her mom looked at the suitcase and her homemade one. The woman's face had a sad smile on it, and she looked worried.

"Oh honey, I don't know how to explain this to you. You're brilliant and you connecting these dots is a great show of that, so I hope you can understand."

Understand what? she understood what was going on right now. What was her mom talking about?

"XJ9, I packed a suitcase because I have to go away for a day or two and help an old friend of mine. I'll leave in an hour, and you'll be staying here."

Whatever smile XJ9 had on her face immediately fell as she stared at her mom, with the feeling becoming suddenly overwhelming.

"It's not like I don't want you to come. I have to focus on the issue at hand, and I don't believe taking you with me would be good for your current stage. I know it seems-"

Her mom's words started to blurry together and drifted through her head. It echoed through her mind and faded as her own thoughts drowned it out. Her mom was leaving her. Her mom was going to leave her and go far away, somewhere she couldn't go. She didn't know why she suddenly felt something drop inside of her and how everything suddenly seemed like it was too much. Part of her wanted to fall and cry, but her mind in itself seemed to be frozen. It was like when she fell down the stairs and smacked herself on the way down.

"XJ9?"

She snapped out of the sickening haze she was in and blankly stared down at her mother. The concern on her face made the pit of emotions inside twist up more, as guilty for worrying Wakeman made her feel worse.

"I know this is a lot to deal with, honey, but things will be alright. It's not like you're going to be alone the few days I'm gone. Every night Skyway Patrol will be sending an officer to check up on you."

Great. Just great, her mom was going to be leaving her all alone with those horrible people. How wonderful. The twisted-up bits inside of her made her want to laugh for some reason.

"They won't be here for long, just a quick check-in. Besides, you won't be alone the whole day or anything. I'm having someone very trustworthy look after you."

Her mother's eyes darted away from her own and towards the stairways door as she mumbled,

"Well, she should be able to. She hasn't failed me yet at watching you all."

Wakeman's eye quickly darted back to XJ9's, and she smiled.

"Let me introduce you two."

She snapped her fingers and looked towards the doorway again.

"Please come in here. You two should meet each other now."

XJ9 listened to the door creak open, and the sound of wheels rolling across the floor caught her attention. She supposed that answered why the strange sound coming up the stairs was. However, the sound's weirdness couldn't match what the stranger looked like. She had never seen anyone like this before, the person looked nothing like the other's she had met so far, and her guts twisted up a bit more.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, XJ9."

Her voice was soothing and kind, but the sense of dread in her body had yet to lighten up. She didn't take her off the stranger as her mom introduced her.

"XJ9, allow me to introduce you to XJ4."

Author's Note- I can't begin to tell you all how sorry I am for long updates are taking to come out. Things have been very busy in my life lately so it's been hard to keep up with things. As for this chapter itself, I've been wanting to have this moment for a while, and I feel like people will either really enjoy the upcoming arc or not so much. Thank you all for reading and please leave me a review. They mean a lot to me and I would really appreciate them right now.