Chapter Sixteen

Jordan crashed into another set of steel doors. Behind him, his pursuers kept up well. Oh man….I might not make it out of this alive! But it's all worth it, if Melissa got away. He zipped around a corner, hoping to lose the guards. He watched as the group continued straight on. He looked around, then smirked, seeing an ax in a fire case. "Perfect!" He said aloud, as he struggled to open the case. "I'd like to see them get through me now!"

"Here's your chance, you brat!"

Jordan whirled around, face to face with Scarl. "You want me?! Come and get me!" He took off down another corridor. He clutched the ax tightly in his hands, as he kept running.

"Hey, Kid! Over here!" An unfamiliar voice called suddenly.

"Wh-who are you? A-are you Black Ghost? I'll tear you apart!" Jordan raised his ax, but he was grabbed around his middle, a hand covering his mouth.

"Don't make another sound, alright? We're on your side."

Jordan nodded, stiffly, as his captor turned him to look at him. He was not alone. There were six others with him. "T-the R-rebel cyborgs……"

"Yep. I'm 002." The cyborg that had grabbed him said in a whisper. "We've got your friend Melissa out in the Dolphin already, but we promised Carla we'd get you both out. "

"Come with us, okay? There is no more that Carla needs from here." Another cyborg told him. "I'm 009. You probably know me better as Joe Shimamura."

Jordan was gawking. He couldn't believe he was meeting the famous Joe Shimamura in person. "She wrote so much about you…" He said finally, as they started to lead him out.

"Did she? Hmm…." 007 smiled a little. "Ah! There's our escape route now." He and two others behind him walked ahead of them to assure their exit.

"She's terribly worried about you and Melissa. She's sorry for what happened." 004 told Jordan, as he pushed him up ahead of him.

"I know she is." Jordan replied softly.

"Hold on! They've got a crossfire going on outside!" 006 said suddenly. He peered out again. "They've got the Dolphin surrounded!"

"003!" 009 shoved 006 aside, and stepped outside. "Francoise!" He yelled over the commotion of the shooting tanks.

"Joe! We're all right, but Melissa's hit!"

"WHAT?!" Jordan pushed past the restraining cyborgs. "You said she was safe!" He glared at 009 accusingly.

"I didn't know they were firing out here, I'm sorry…." 009 hit the switch in his back tooth,and went into acceleration mode. He appeared a minute later next to 003. "Where is she? We have Jordan, and he'd not too happy right now."

"She's in the infirmary. I gave her something for the pain. 009,this is getting dangerous!"

"Yeah, I know. We'll be okay though." He turned to go for Jordan, but then he saw that 002 had him already. "See? We're getting out of here now."

"Good." 003 smiled kindly at Jordan when 002 brought them to the ground. "Hi there."

"Where's Melissa?! Is okay?!" Jordan was too worried about his friend to care much about formalities.

"She's resting right now." 003 told him. "Come on. I'll take you to her." With that, the female cyborg led him into the Dolphin, and to the infirmary.

"Nice kid, that Jordan…." 004 commented dryly.

"Don't worry about it, 004. He's just concerned about his friend. They've been through a lot of things together." 006 replied, as he led the remaining cyborgs on to the ship.

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"Stop pacing, Carla. You're making me nervous!" Frances exclaimed.

"I can't help it. I'm just so afraid something's going to go wrong. "

"Carla, come sit and hold me. It'll make you more secure." Ivan suggested. In truth, he was worried too, but the baby cyborg was more worried about Carla's special gift reactivating itself if she worried too much. "Come." He insisted gently.

Carla complied, if only to humor the infant. She cradled him close to her. "Ivan…I don't want to go back to school."

"No? Why not?" The baby looked up at his friend now.

"I could've gotten a whole bunch of people killed, and not even on purpose. The only reason Black Ghost took an interest in the Academy was because I was there." The girl sighed sadly, burying her face in Ivan's hair. "I could've gotten you killed too."

"If that's what you truly want, you don't have to go back. Professor Gilmore would be happy to home school you."

"That would be fun. Besides, 004 and I are still working on a little pod for me." Carla told him, brightening up a little.

"Yes, I remember." Ivan giggled a little. "You're going to pilot the Mini-Dolphin."

"I can hardly wait!" The girl replied excitedly.

"Someone's coming! Maybe it's them!" Frances jumped up suddenly.

"Hold on. Around here, we never run for the door. It could be the enemy too." Dr. Gilmore told her, going to check by himself. "In this case, it is them."

"I knew it!" Frances grinned at Carla. "They're okay!"

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"It was really close." Joe told Carla later. "Jordan was almost caught again."

"Yeah." Jordan muttered.

"You're such an idiot, you know that, Jordie?! You could've gotten killed, I was so worried!" Melissa raged for a third time. The young girl was having a hard time coping with her friend's near death experience.

"I'm fine,Mellie. I didn't mean to worry you, but it was something I felt Carla deserved." He looked over at Carla now. She was looking through the file folder silently. "She's the one we should be worrying about."

Joe knelt in front of Carla now. "Are you okay, Sweetie?"

"H-how can they have all this information on me, Joe? Where did they get it all?"

"There's no telling. Is there anything in there about your parents?"

"Y-yes….their names were Marie and Jim Shank. They died in a house fire two months after I was born. The police suspected arson, but no suspects were ever found."

"I'm sorry, Honey…." Joe pulled the girl into a hug, as she began to cry. "It'll be okay. You can live with us from now on."

"M-my mother was a dancer….." She said softly through her tears. "Dad was into theater."

"That explains a lot, doesn't it?" GB commented.

"Yes…it does. Those things are in my blood. Science was not." Carla looked up at the cyborgs now. "I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused you. I know all you wanted was to get away from them."

"This was not your doing, Child." Dr. Gilmore replied. "Black Ghost would've eventually come after us again with or without you."

"That's right. We never blamed you for this." Jet confirmed. "Besides that, we want you to stay with us."

"Then I will." Carla said with a note of finality. "What about Melissa, Jordie and Frances?"

"We're staying too." Frances replied.

"That's what I was going to say." Melissa agreed with a nod. "We're in this together now." She looked over at Jordan. "Right, Jordan?"

"Of course. I still want a whack at those creeps for shooting you!"

The cyborgs laughed now. Jet put a hand on his shoulder. "I can assure you. You will have your chance."

Carla looked around at her family, in satisfaction. She closed the file folder, and put it in Professor Gilmore's desk. Then she stood up, and followed Chang into the kitchen. "I'm glad things will get back to normal now."

"As normal as they can be for us, you mean." Chang replied with a smile. "Now, where did I put my paprika?"

Carla giggled, and found it for him. Yes, things were certainly going to be interesting for a while. And she knew adventure was not too far from her mind either. It would be an interesting childhood with the cyborgs, but fun at the same time. Just as any childhood should be.

(A/n:And that's the end of The Ties That Bind thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed. You're all great!)