Hello to everyone else out there! I hope you've gotten more people on board, cause this is the last stop we're making! As promised, there will be the best of gender-bending going on, 004 wearing highlighter yellow, and 003 as a...guy? Well, yeah! What would a story by Mika be without tying people in knots?
:scribbles on the screen: I'm glad we had this opportunity to speak about such an important matter.
I own Cyborg 009 and the program WANNA-BE from (Cyber Idol) Mink. :snorts:
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The Cyborg Children
Chapter Six: Wanna-Be
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Celeste was making breakfast that morning. She was pretty good at cooking, but nowhere near as good as Liana was.
So she simply made scrambled eggs, pancakes, bacon and had cereal on hand.
"Good morning!" Julia exclaimed, still in her glasses. Nobody replied. "I'm glad to see how CHEERFUL you all are this morning! And where's Rene?"
Rene happened to be out on the top, painting the clouds. They were beautiful with all their shades of white, gray, blue and purple. It was so easy to paint, so easy to find inspiration, and so easy to get away...
"RENE!" Celeste shouted, opening the hatch. Forget an easy getaway. Rene jumped.
"Celeste! How...um...did you know I was...here?" Rene asked, gathering the paints and easel.
"Breakfast, silly!" Celeste answered, doing a cartwheel. She spotted Rene's painting. "Wow. Rene, how long have you been doing this?"
"Since Sophia hasn't been around," She explained. "It's going to rain soon. We should get back down."
Sure enough, as soon as the words were off Rene's tongue, rain came from the clouds like confetti.
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"Right hand red!" Julia laughed. Liana, Celeste, Rene, Angelina, Florence and Ivan struggled to follow the spinner's command, but tied themselves further into a knot on the Twister mat.
Florence tumbled over laughing, but as tied together as they all were, didn't need to bother trying. Celeste had bent herself over backward underneath Florence, with Rene and Angelina tied beneath Florence's arms. Julia flicked the tell-all spinner once again to determine the new twist.
"Left foot green!" Julia exclaimed. This time, Ivan slid and fell face-first onto the plastic.
"OWW! Jeez!" Celeste giggled, falling on top of him. Several other comments like hers were heard as the knot slowly broke apart and tumbled down. Julia fell over in the chair she was sitting in, she was laughing so hard.
"Your turn, Julia! I get to be spinner now!" Florence laughed, lifting herself upward into the chair. "Good luck!"
Julia tugged her shoes off and slid around on the mat a little. Florence flicked the spinner to start it off. "Left foot blue."
"I'd be obliged!" A boy's voice shouted. The next minute, there was a guy standing on the Twister mat with a girl wearing highlighter yellow.
"001, wow, how long has it been?" The girl asked. Her hair was the color of dust, and her eyes were a lovely shade of turquoise. She wore, as I said, a t-shirt the color of a yellow highlighter and a matching knee-length skirt. Her socks were an eye-smarting shade of green, and her rag-tag shoes were shocking pink. She couldn't have been any older than thirteen.
"Do I know you?" Ivan asked.
"Yeah, where's 000?" The boy asked. His outfit was a red sweatshirt, dark blue jeans with chains hanging off them, mousy dark brown hair and matching eyes. Julia's best guess at his age was sixteen. "We were ordered to bring her back with us."
"Sorry! She's not here right now, so leave a message after I curse at you!" Julia shouted.
"I'll go do it, 003." The girl told the boy. He nodded and took a fighting stance.
"004, be careful to do it," He warned.
"He's right, you know, 004. You shouldn't be running down after me when you know I'm not here," Emma said, dropping (literally) from the sky.
"000! Nice to see you again!" 003 said. Emma greeted him with her ice.
"Ivan, meet 003 and 004." Emma said, miserably pointing. "And this isn't me. You all know that I'm gone?" She added with a tremendous wink.
"It ain't jazz if it ain't got that swing," 004 sang.
"No, Emma says stop!" Emma cried. 004 obediently stopped.
"009 told me to say hi for her, since the pinkie herself couldn't come until it was her turn." 004 said, stepping closer to Emma. "Pinkie says that she misses you. She even got mad because 001 got so much time."
004 held out her palms toward Emma. Emma placed her own palms on 004's, and they smiled at one another.
"Whoa there, Emma!" Sophia shouted, power-walking as fast as she could. "What on Earth are you doing?"
"Trust me," Emma said.
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"Yellow. I could not have picked a better color myself," Jet mused, still captive. "Nice color choice. It looks like someone had an incident with their highlighters, huh, Albert?"
"I wouldn't be talking, Jet." The German replied. "Last time I looked, you dyed your hair seafoam green and wore sandals."
"They made the opposites," Joe thought aloud. "We all know what we'd never wear outside. Maybe Jet dyed his hair orange for all we know. I doubt he did, and I doubt Francoise here is a guy."
(That's so stupid, Mister Joe, it's almost funny.) A very young girl's voice rang in the cyborg's heads.
(Who are you?) Albert demanded of her. They could hear her giggle.
(Don't worry. You've met me once before, earlier, Mister Albert.) She replied.
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The two cyborgs back on the Dolphin broke their connection and stepped away from one another, and drew their guns.
"Emma says..." Emma started. 003 and 004 started firing before she could get out the last of it.
Florence was already ready to take them down. She grabbed a frying pan and managed to get behind 003.
Right as Emma fired at 004, Florence swung the frying pan like a baseball bat. She was satisfied when 003 fell to the ground.
"Nice one!" Julia shouted. Florence accepted the compliment and got ready for 004 to come running.
Sure enough, it was hard to miss 004. But then something went wrong.
She vanished.
"I'll chase her," Emma said. Without a second thought, she charged around in mach 3, looking for 004.
"Florence! Get ready!" Emma called.
Florence held the frying pan in front of her at full arm's length. She wasn't a moment too soon. 004 rammed head-on into the pan, leaving an impressive impression. ((A/N: haha, alliteration!)) Emma stopped about a nanosecond before she, too, left her impression on the pan.
"That was fun!" Julia exclaimed. "Nice to see you again, Sophia and Emma."
"I found them, but can't pinpoint exactly." Emma answered.
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(You're 0021, right?) Joe asked.
(That's right.) Emma replied, for it was none other than her.
(Why are you doing this?) Francoise asked.
(Well, it's somewhat of a very long story. You see...) Emma started, and never got the chance to finish.
(Emma? That's you, I know it!) GB exclaimed.
(Took you long enough. As I was saying, I'm with them. Yes, Uncle Britain, Sophia and the whole gang.) Emma explained.
(They met?) Albert asked.
(Long before I got there,) Emma said. (They all work so well together, it's a wonder that you never let them meet before. I know they are all still in the dark on who you are.)
(You mean...) Geromio said.
(Doctor Gilmore never told them you were cyborgs. He told them you were spies. After a long session of me being dead, he told Sophie that I was a cyborg. It looks as if they'll have to figure it out themselves the rest of the way. And now I must be going. It was a pleasure to meet all of you once more.) Emma concluded.
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"Look at what I found!" Celeste exclaimed. She came out of a closet wearing a long, thin yellow cape that was tied in a loop around her neck, loosely. "Isn't it awesome! It feels just like something my dad would wear."
With that, she turned it around so it was like an oversized bib. Celeste fumbled with an indigo star clip in her hair, than managed to tug it out. She clipped it onto the cape and turned it back around so it was once more a cape that reached her ankles.
"Hey, that's interesting!" Julia said, jumping off the couch. "Are there any more in there?"
"'Course there are!" Celeste shouted, hauling out a large cardboard box. "And in so many colors, too!"
Julia tore through the box, hunting down something in either green or red. Eventually, she unearthed a cape that was as green as grass. Julia rushed to tie it around her neck, and once she did, admired it. Liana had stood up and had come over to look, also.
"Wow, talk about hiding it!" Liana shrieked, pulling about twenty different colors out. "I like these!" She laughed and yanked a red cape over her head.
The three girls took one look at each other and laughed. At the same time, they said, "Let's all choose a color and go with it."
Florence and Sophia walked together to see what the younger girls were laughing about. They peered into the box, then took a look at the colorful ground. Sophia hastily grabbed a dark magenta cape and tied it on. Florence took a minute to admire the different shades of blue, then choose azure.
"Dang, seeing those brings back memories," Emma said, bringing the last of the crew with her.
Rene wasted no time at all putting on a royal purple cape. Angelina looked at a few, then went with a cape the color of a pumpkin. Ivan and Emma looked at one another for a few minutes.
(I know what they mean to you.) Emma said.
(I know what they mean to all of us,) Ivan corrected.
(What color are you going to go as?) Emma asked, picking up a white cape and turning it around in her hands.
(I can't,) Ivan said.
(You have to.) Emma snapped. The cape became periwinkle and shrunk to fit Emma's smaller size. She happily put it on.
Ivan looked reluctantly at the capes. They brought back far too many memories of fifteen years ago.
(Fine then, don't. I won't either.) Emma huffed, burning the cape.
(Don't do that!)
(Well, at least I wore it once.)
(I can't say that I don't want to, but I can't,)
(Quit living in the past, boy. Here. It's silver. Wear it for me. Wear it for the original team, not these wanna-bes.)
Both of the cyborgs put their capes on.
"Yay!" Julia cheered. "Now we all have our own color. Who's going to lead?"
"I'll do it," Celeste volunteered. "If Grandpa said that my dad was the leader, then I can most certainly do the same. But I don't want to turn it into a monarchy. Let's all do this together!"
"All for one and one for all!" Sophia shouted.
"All for one and one for all!" The others chanted.
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The wives were giving their husbands one the twenty question games of their lives.
"So we've all had nieces this entire time?" Madison Link demanded. Calling her furious was being nice.
"Yes, we all have. I think that's become quite clear," Francoise answered for Jet.
"But why didn't you want them to meet?" Amanda Britain asked. "You never had to tell them who they were. For crying out loud, they all already know what you can do! Why not just let them meet their cousins?"
"They're being tracked, that's why." Albert responded. "Alone, they are tiny blinking signals that mean nothing. Together, they are a massive strobe light that attracts Black Ghost. Now, tell me. Would you rather have your children's lives destroyed if they knew each other or have them live a happy life without knowing?"
(Hello, again, Mister Chang.) Emma said.
(You picked a bad time, Emma.) GB answered.
(Well, excuse me. I thought you would like to know we'll be there in under a week. But since you don't want to know, I'll just be on my merry way.) Emma barked.
(Did you say that they're searching for us?) Joe asked.
(Yes, that's right, Mister Joe. Celeste has declared herself leader. I have to get rest or Mister Issac will have my hide and my ice,) Emma said, breaking away.
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"Emma, are you ill?" Florence asked.
"Huh?" The child asked. "No. Sorry, Miss Florence!"
"You've been staring off into space a lot today, Emma. Are you certain that there's no lasting effect?" Issac asked.
"Nope. The only thing draining me is the rain." Emma replied.
I was right! Florence thought, silently cheering. Emma was causing the rotten weather lately.
((A/N: EMMA IS NOT THE MAIN CHARACTER! Thank you for your precious time.))
Rain came streaming in the room for a split second, then left. Emma let loose a small sigh, then turned to get out.
"Where are you going?" Ivan asked.
"I'm...never mind. May I sleep out here?" Emma answered. She didn't wait for a reply to come. She simply curled up in the last rays of golden sunlight and laid her head on her arms contentedly.
Emma's face at once settled into that of peaceful slumber. Ivan and Issac watched Emma as if she was going to start laying golden eggs. Her large shirt draped itself along her tiny frame like a blanket. She burrowed her head into her arms and began to snore softly.
"She reminds me of you, Ivan." Issac said.
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"Punkie!" 004 called into a long hallway. "We're baaaaaaack!"
A gangly, sixteen-year old girl emerged from a well-concealed door. She wore a light pink tank top with a black zip-up jacket to cover the rest of her arms. There was a braided light pink belt that looped around a black miniskirt. On her feet were three-inch pale-pink stiletto heels. To top it off, she wore a light pink messenger cap. Under the cap was chestnut-colored waist-length hair and ruby eyes.
"004, you're still wearing those shoes?" She asked. Quickly, she snapped her fingers and the stiletto heels became loose-fitting sneakers with black laces. "I thought they were long gone, like 0022 and 0023."
"Nope! I haven't lost my highlighters yet! I was going to tell you, 009, that someone wants to see you." 004 answered, bouncing around eagerly.
"Who is it?" The other female asked.
"You'll see!" 004 exclaimed, taking off down the blazing white hall. 009/Punkie watched her go. After a few seconds, she charged after 004.
"I asked who it was!" 009 called, running alongside the younger girl.
"His name is 009," 004 said. "The one from the Cyborg Project."
"Can we swing by to get the others?" 009 asked. She whipped out a pink cell phone, but then put it away just as fast. "Never mind. 003 is out chasing them, right?"
"That's right, Pinkie!" 004 exclaimed.
"And 001 and 002 have already met up with 000?" 009 asked.
"Yup! And he only wants to see you!" 004 replied. She came to a closed black door with a keypad next to it. 004 punched in a series of numbers and said, "Ariana Holly Ghiradelli." The door opened and led into a dark black corridor.
"Well, is it the captive?" 009 asked.
"Uh-huh. Come on, it's not that far away. Maybe ten minutes, at the most." 004 said.
The two cyborgs passed a few guards on their way, but none gave them any trouble. Like 004 had promised, they were at another door in ten minutes exactly. This door required only a key to open, unlike the fancy keypads on many of the other doors.
"This is 004 and 009 of the Megas Project, requesting access," 004 said. The lock clicked open easily allowing the two girls access. Most of the room (save two feet around) was floor-to-ceiling bars.
It was hard to tell which 009 was more shocked. They looked at one another, cinnamon eyes so alike. The girl looked at her carbon male copy and let a scream loose.
"H-h-how old are you?" He asked her first.
"I'm sixteen." She replied. She looked through the bars to see her own ruby eyes watching her every move. 004 had already slid through the bars and was merrily chatting, but no one else looked very merry. "You wanted to see me, 009? What do you have to say?"
"I just wanted to see what my wanna-be was like." He replied. "Don't worry."
She looked around the room to see the other rebel cyborgs. Some weren't cyborgs at all. Some were ordinary women, being held captive with their husbands. 009 knew it was against her honor as leader of the Megas Project, but she truly felt pity.
"I said, are you Japanese?" Jet demanded.
"Yes," 009 replied. 004 slid back out. "We have to be going now,"
"Later, then." Jet said airily.
Both of the Megas cyborgs left the room, one more cheerful than the other.
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Angelina was wearing a pair of white pajama pants with little yellow ducks all over them, making them livelier than calm. She wore a white muscle shirt that showed her impressive arm muscles. Quietly, she snuck her way to the control room. Emma had been moved from the couch into another room with a window, so there was no risk in her being heard.
Angelina opened the door to the control room without a sound. She sat down and looked out at the drizzle outside. The computer had its screensaver that said (courtesy of Julia) "It is now safe to light your computer aflame."
Finding an odd-looking eyepiece ((A/N: like the ones they use in .hack)), Angelina woke the computer up and put it on.
Let's see...I'd want to get online and go from there. Angelina thought. She moved the mouse and clicked on INTERNET EXPLORER. Instantly, a screen popped up and welcomed her.
Now...B-L-A-C-K G-H-O-S-T. I don't want to find a Halloween costume...here it is! She clicked on a website with weird facts about Black Ghost. Say no more. Man, this is almost too much. Talk about easy hack! It's almost as if they put it here in hope's I'd find the precious little gem.
"I knew you'd be in here, Angelina!" Ivan whispered. Angelina swiveled around and nearly stopped breathing.
"Ivan, please don't do that to me. You almost caused me a death," Angelina hissed. She stood up and went closer to the wide window, and pressed her palm to it. The eyewear was still on, and connected to the computer.
"I'm sorry," Ivan said. Angelina walked back to the computer. "Hacking, aren't you?"
"Yes," She whispered, taking her seat. "This site has so much information, it's a wonder they didn't just send an e-mail."
Ivan watched her go. The pieces of code alone meant nothing, but together with the filter Angelina was wearing, it was enough to bust an entire network. He watched as she delicately typed a few words...
And on the screen came a whole new desktop. There were files like "MEGAS PLANS" and "EXPERIMENT STATUS". Both gasped.
"Click on 'Experiment Status'," Ivan ordered. Angelina easily followed. The screen took a while to come up, but when it did, both froze.
"Name: Ivan Whiskey. Project number 001." Angelina read. "Ivan, please tell me this isn't you. Tell me it's someone else." She took off the data scanner.
"Check the 'Megas Plans'," He said, steering away from that topic.
"No, Ivan. I know it's you. Tell me yes and I won't tell." Angelina said, looking at him with a hard stare.
"Yes. It is I. That was over fifteen years ago. Now, can we please move on? There is more at stake here," Ivan admitted. Angelina took it at exited the open folder. She slid into the other folder with the plans.
"Emma Jessica Hashe, age six. That is twisted and demented." Angelina spat. "And she wasn't kidding. Look at her picture then! She looks just like she does now. All those abilities on one poor girl..."
"Scroll down," Ivan commanded. Angelina picked up the data scanner and placed back over her eyes. All information on every member of the Megas Project was there. "Stop."
They had reached Megas Project number 009. Her real name was Hikaru Raven...
"Angelina, can you see what her last name is?" Ivan asked. "I can't read it." For a heart-pounding moment, he looked at the profile picture of Hikaru. She had long chestnut hair and ruby eyes that were identical to Joe's.
"It's Mamora. I can see why you got alarmed. She looks a lot like Uncle Joe, doesn't she?" Angelina replied. Ivan heaved a breath of relief. Both had thought that she was Joe's sister or something, or Celeste's older sister.
"They assigned them colors?" Ivan asked. "009's color is pink...I bet Joe got a kick out of that one..."
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Emma woke up the next morning, lying on a large bed with tons of huge pillows and thin beams of watery sunlight playing on her face. Her strawberry hair was spread out around her like a small aureole. She sat up and rubbed her sleepy hazel eyes, and curled up in the sunshine.
(Emma,) Joe's voice said to Emma as she lay on the bed.
(Yes?) She asked.
(Did you ever meet the...other 009?)
(You mean Pinkie?)
(I suppose.)
(Yeah. She's a compassionate person. Usually, she goes along. She contacted me last night and told me what she was doing was forbidden.)
(What?)
(She feels bad for you. But by now, Black Ghost has probably got her being tortured into forgetting about that. He wants her because...)
(Because why?)
(The only one who is stronger than her is your team and myself. She can take all of us out with the rest of the Megas Project as backup.)
(I met her last night also. I can't help but look at her and see myself. It feels like someone, I don't know, copied me. Copied me and turned me into a girl.)
Emma didn't hear his last sentence, for she had fallen asleep once more.
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"It was sunny for a few minutes," Rene commented. "It hasn't been raining all day. Only ninety-nine percent of it."
Angelina was still in the control room, browsing through hundreds of files. Issac had tried to enter once, but Ivan had advised that he leave. Angelina was so deeply in tune with her hacked computer, it would be impossible to ask her a question and get a logical answer.
As Angelina and Ivan waited for the .PNG map file to download, Angelina took off the data scanner and rubbed her eyes. She laid it down on the table as the map started to flick into sharp view. Why would you need a data scanner for a map?
The map had little moving dots, all labeled accordingly. The rooms had their labels, too, but none as kind as the other labels. There was one large circular room at the heart of the building that attracted Ivan's attention. Many of the dots were congregated there, making it seem like a meeting room. His attention then moved to another room with dots labeled '005' and '009'. 009's dot was pink, and Ivan took it that it was the other 009. Further away from that room on the other side of the building was a room that housed similar dots. It was a small room, but there were fifteen dots inside it. Their labels read '002', '003', and all others up through 009.
"Ivan," Angelina said in a quiet tone. "Our parents are in there."
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"Did you find anything out, 003?" 009 asked the only male member of her project.
"Yes. They've got one hell of a hacker with them, Punkie." 003 replied.
"Really." 009 said, tilting 003's chin up.
"Get your paws off me," 003 barked. 009 pulled her hand away and slapped him five times.
"Try that again." 009 said, forcing herself to remain calm. 003 wasn't trying to be a moron, but 009 was in a bad mood. She had been caught showing human emotion again.
"She found her way into some idiot's computer and has been on there for a few hours looking around." 003 snapped.
"Good. You and 004 will take off immediately." 009 said, moving her attention to 002 and 001. "You two will make sure everything goes well. If you can, get 001 and 000 out of there. Give those brats the absolute sweep."
"Are you going to get 0022 and 0023 in on the deal?" 001 asked from a corner while filing her nails. "0023 is pretty helpful, and 0022 is selective. I think he'll see our perspective,"
"Yes, yes. Bring them too. I'll see you all in the next three hours or take off with the rest to find you." 009 said, waving her hand. Her assembled team left the room to prepare.
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"SPEED!" Rene declared, slamming her last card onto the table. "Time!"
"Twenty nine seconds on the money," Julia answered. "That was AWESOME, you guys!"
All the older girls and Ivan were in the living room, having a speed showdown. Nothing exciting was happening, so they were seeing who was best at which card game.
"You're up now, Julia and Celeste!" Florence said, crossing Ivan off the chart.
The American and Japanese girls took their seats opposite one another as Florence shuffled the deck. She then dealt the cards to both and set out the twelve cards in-between them.
"Ready...one, two, three, FLIP!" Florence exclaimed. Julia and Celeste flip the two starting cards over and began laying down cards as soon as it happened. Celeste was slamming cards down and picking them up just as fast as Julia was. Both girls ran out at the exact same time.
"That was the best game I've had!" Celeste remarked. "Talk about speed!"
"You mean the speed we used getting here?" 004 asked, dropping in down from the ceiling. "I agree!"
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WHOO! WE HAVE MET THE OTHER 009! I hope you like her. Out of all the Megas, she took probably the longest. Definitely gender-bending! XD
When I came out with the plans for 004, she was originally supposed to be about five years old. She was also supposed to be Japanese. 009 was going to be a prep.
I'm scared of myself!
Now, getting back to business. The next chapter will not be your usually scheduled, up-to-the-cliffhanger chapter. It will be such a wonderful chapter that you would kill me to find out what it is instead of my trademark I'm-going-to-leave-just-as-they're-dying chapter. Booya. Next chapter will have you wondering...
WHO THE HECK ARE ALL THESE PEOPLE?
They're the absolutely positively hopeless Ryou Bakura, Joe Shimamura/009 and Hatsuharu Sohma fans! :all run after the hotties:
-Mika, Sadie, Kun-chan, Mage, Kage, and Sudzie