As soon as Maxie left, the girl pulled a blanket over herself and went to sleep. Several days passed and in that time span, Maxie made sure that she was given something to eat. It wasn't always Maxie who brought her food, but whoever was available, whether it was a grunt or Admin. Then on the fourth day, Maxie came back to get her.
"Okay, rise and shine, child, you've got work to do!"
The girl sat up and then stood up and walked over to Maxie. Maxie took her hand and led her out of her cell and told her about what he was going to make her do.
"You're going to clean the floors of the base again as they've gotten really dirty……." Maxie now got the girl a bucket of soapy water and a sponge before he left her to it.
The girl started cleaning and about an hour into it, she heard very sneaky sounding footsteps. The girl dropped the sponge and hid behind the nearest object, which as it turned out was a medium sized cardboard box. What the girl didn't know was that her apron wasn't completely out of sight. It turned out that a group of Team Aqua members had invaded the base. They came to the place where the girl had been cleaning, and stopped when they saw the bucket and the sponge.
"Obviously someone's been cleaning…….." Archie said.
"Yes, and I know who! There's a little girl hiding behind that cardboard box!" A grunt said as he pointed to the box.
Several more grunts moved the box so that she was completely visible, and when they did the girl trembled in fear. Archie saw that how afraid the girl was, and he tried to get her to trust him.
"Come here, child, I promise that I won't hurt you." Archie said as he tried to coax the girl into coming to him.
The little girl trembled once more as she got up and came over to him. Archie saw at once that she was indeed a little girl, and he couldn't figure out why she was wearing a servant's outfit.
So he asked her, "Why are you dressed like that? Are you a part of Team Magma?"
"I'm not a part of it, but Maxie bought me and took me away from my parents and made me his slave. There's nothing I can do about it……."
Now Archie said, "Don't worry, I'm going to get you out of here……."
"But the collar around my neck makes it impossible for me to leave the base……."
Now Archie said, "Well, I can fix that in no time. I'll just need you to hold perfectly still so that I can cut the collar off you."
"Okay……."
The girl held still and Archie took out his pocketknife and cut the collar off her.
"There ya go. Is that better?" Archie asked her.
"Yes, that's a lot better……"
Now Archie looked at one of his Admins and said, "Thomas, do me a favor and take this girl back to our base. Stay with her until we come back. Understood?"
"Yes, sir. I understand." Thomas said.
Thomas now took her hand and led her out of Team Magma's base and led her to their own, and once there he took her inside and tried to calm her down.
"It's okay……. We're not going to hurt you. We only want to help you…….." Thomas said.
"I know, but I'm not used to having people care about me as I was shunned for most of my life." The girl replied.
"What do you mean?" Thomas asked her.
The girl explained everything, how her parents treated her, what they made her do, and a few other things.
"So basically when Maxie offered to take you away from them, they willingly gave you to him, is that it?" Thomas asked.
"Yes, that's exactly what happened."
"So you don't have anywhere to go, since your parents kicked you out of the house when they gave you to Maxie, is that correct?" Thomas asked.
"Yes, again that's exactly what happened. I don't know what to do………"
The girl buried her face in her hands, and Thomas walked over to her and said, "I think we can help you……."
The girl looked up and asked, "What do you mean?"
Thomas replied, "Well you could allow us to put you in an orphanage to be adopted by another family, or you could join our team."
The girl looked puzzled so Thomas added, "You don't have to decide right now, you should think on that……. I will however need to tell our boss about this as he's the one who would deal with this sort of thing……."
"I deal with what sort of thing?" Archie asked as he entered the room.
"Oh, boss you're back! Well the girl told me that she didn't know what to do since her parents kicked her out of her house." Thomas replied.
"They did? Don't worry I'll take care of it……." Archie said.
A bunch of grunts, who had just entered started bombarding the girl with questions. The girl tensed up and didn't know what to do.
"For heavens sake! Leave the girl alone! Can't you see that she's a little afraid and shy?" Archie said.
Now the grunts backed off and left the girl alone.
"Thomas, you go back to your group, and I'll see to the girl." Archie said.
"Yes, sir." Thomas said.
Now Thomas and his group of grunts left the room, and Archie took the girl's hand and led her up to his office. Once in his office, Archie walked over to his desk and sat down.
Then he said, "Please have a seat."
The girl sat down in the chair that faced his desk and began waiting to hear what he was going to say.