XJ9 couldn't wait, and if she had a heart, it would be pounding so hard it would pop out of her chest. Well, she may not have had a heart pounding away, but her cooling systems sure where. She didn't even think it was possible for her to get so excited that she worked herself up this bad, but oh, she was. Every few seconds, her eyes snapped from the window blinds to the clock on the wall. Oh, she wished time would go faster; why was it suddenly so slow?
Her mom was down in the lab, working on some stuff while she stayed glued to the window and peeking out between the blinds. She could remember the look her mom gave her and the stern tone in which she had been told that no matter what, she was not to open those blinds or go anywhere outside without her. She bounced a little bit in her spot at the thought.
When she had woken up that morning, she couldn't believe that she had gotten such good news. The storm had knocked over one of the trees in their backyard, and it had hit part of their house! Okay, maybe she shouldn't be happy about that part. Anyway, that meant that her mom needed to get rid of it or, at the very least, move it. She could recall how her mom had grumbled about how much it would cost to have someone come down there and move the dang thing.
If anything, her mom just seemed more upset at how long all of it would take if other people's homes had been damaged too, then it would be there way longer. Luckily, the tree hadn't broken through anywhere in their house, but getting everything taken care of would still be a pain. Her mom had sipped her warm drink in a huff, and although she felt bad for her and such, XJ9 couldn't deny that she didn't quite understand everything that was happening. The steam rising out of her mom's drink was far more interesting to her.
Wakeman had rolled her eyes at her as she must have noticed her lack of focus on the "real" issues and instead spent two minutes explaining the steam to her. It was such a strange thing, these hot and cold effects, and she knew she shouldn't, but it made her want to go get a popsicle out of the freezer again and watch it melt. As it seemed, the steam was probably going to be the highlight of her day until her mom took a sip and stared at her. The woman looked at her for a bit before looking towards one of the blind covered windows with what she called the lady's thinking expression.
Wakeman then again looked at her before debating something for a minute as a ray of emotions washed over her face. She mumbled words that XJ9 couldn't catch and her mom's sudden shift in mood worried her. After a confusing few minutes, Wakeman let out a breath of air, and it blew a little rift in the steam. She set her drink down and cleaned off her foggy glasses before addressing XJ9.
"I have decided that we'll be doing a very different test today, a strength test to be exact. For this test, and my sake of mind, we'll be going outside and you're going to move the tree. I'll show you how to pick it up and where to move it too when we get out there."
She could feel her jaw drop down and leave her mouth wide open. The face she was making must have been something as her mom chuckled at her and had raised a hand to close her mouth, but she wasn't thinking about that at all. She was going to go outside. She was going to go outside! A giant smile spread across her face quickly, and she had shaken so much in her excitement that the table they were sitting at was shaking along with her mom's drink. The woman had then quickly grabbed the cup before anything could spill or fall off the table.
"Now, now I know this is very exciting for you, but if we're going to be going outside, you are going to have to behave yourself."
She stopped shaking and nodded her head yes so fast everything was blurring to her.
"XJ9, I know you're excited but stop right now before you snap your neck again."
She immediately stopped nodding; she was going to be so well behaved today. From that point on, her mom had told her that they would have to wait a bit before going out. Something about waiting for people to go to work or school, whatever those things were, and she was now stuck waiting. Oh, why couldn't those people get to do whatever it is they had to do faster.
She looked up at the clock again, and it didn't seem like it had been that long. Ugh, her mom was making her wait till around 9 a.m. to go out as mainly everyone in the neighborhood would be gone by then, and it was getting closer to that time, but still, it was taking far too long. She leaned against the wall and slowly slid down it. Why was time so cruel? How could the world ever be so slow and mean to her? Was this it? Was she going to be spending the rest of her life sitting here waiting on the forbidden and unreachable time known as 9 a.m? How could it all-
"There you are, are you ready?"
Her mom's voice snapped her out of it. She looked up from her slumped over seat on the floor at her, and then at the clock. Is that what 9 o'clock looked like? She didn't know she couldn't tell time or read the clock, but dang, if it was here, she was so ready. She got on her feet as fast as she could and stood at attention like that officer had done on her monitor. Her mom gave her a look before speaking.
"Listen up now, XJ9. This is all very important. We are going to go out into the backyard, and you are going to do exactly what I tell you to do. Our yard has a fence around it. Do you remember what a fence is from your flashcards?"
She did, and so she shook her head yes.
"Good, that'll make this easier. You are not going anywhere outside the fence, which means no climbing over it or trying to go through it. Along with this, please try and focus on what I tell you to do. Do you understand?"
She nodded yes as her mom looked over her again. She mumbled a few things, but it didn't matter to XJ9 as Wakeman pulled a key out of her pocket. The woman walked over to a door near the window and unlocked the door. She opened it and looked around a bit before calling for her to come out as well. She gingerly stepped up to the doorway and looked out. It was so strange, last night everything was so dark yet today it was so bright. The rooms had always been lit up, but the outside world was just brighter in a way she didn't think was possible.
She took a careful step out of the doorway, and as soon as her foot touched the concrete she could feel the difference between it and the floor inside. The sun shone down on her that didn't seem much different from the lights inside, but it somehow was, and the wind for the first time blew by. She couldn't feel it that well, but she could feel something on her head sway in it. She reached up and felt around to find two things sticking out of her head. She never really acknowledged them before as they were just there.
Heck, she didn't even think about them being attached to her half the time, and that little breeze had reminded her they were there. Now that she thought about it, she didn't even know what they looked like. Did she even really know what she looked like? She shook the thoughts out of her head. There wasn't time for that. It was time to focus on the outside aspect. She looked up at the big blue sky that she could see through her windows. Something about having that glass suddenly gone, though, just made it seem better than ever. She walked a bit forward and stepped on weird texture, looking down at the green plants that grew up from the ground; they were all close together.
Her mind labeled it as "grass" and the grass swayed in the breeze like she could feel her attachments on her head doing as well. She leaned over and brushed her hands over it all. The strands were strange and thicker than she thought they would be as they gripped her fingers slightly. She debated whether or not to pluck one of the strands of grass up from the ground but stopped when hearing her mom clear her throat. She looked up from the ground to look at her mom, who was smiling at her but also had her serious "testing face," as XJ9 had come to recognize it as.
She walked over the grass and felt how different it too was under her feet and, for the first time, looked up at her house from an outside view. Granted, a big tree was leaning on the building and blocking part of her view but still. She had never been this close to a tree before, sure there was one outside one of her windows in her room, but she was never able to get so close. She gently dragged her hand over the trunk of the tree and felt the little ridges of the wood under her fingertips. Small chunks of the wood chipped off and fell, and she watched it closely. A leaf fell from the collapsed tree and floated on by, to which her eyes latched onto it.
"XJ9, are you ready?"
She didn't remove her hand from the tree's trunk as she looked at her mom and shook her head yes. Wakeman typed something into a remote she had with her, and once more, XJ9 could feel something in her snap into place. It wasn't nearly as painful as when she first formed her blaster, but the snap was noticeable across her whole body. Her arms felt different, that's for sure, as she looked over them, though she couldn't quite figure out what had changed. Had anything changed really, her arms didn't look any different to her.
"Alright, all you will be doing is moving the tree from off our house and carrying it over to the side of the house. After you pick it up, I'll show you where exactly to put it so the cleanup crew can get it when they come over. Then the test will over, and we'll head back inside. Do you understand?"
She shook her head yes, and look back at the tree. This was going to be different for her. For the first time, she felt small when compared to something, and the shadow it cast down on her wiped out the warmth from the sun. She didn't like this, no, not one bit, but if she didn't do this, then she would fail the test, and her mom would be disappointed in her. She worriedly looked over at her mom, who was watching her closely. She shakily mumbled out,
"Mom."
The scientist seemed to feel a bit bad for her as she looked at her nervously.
"Don't worry, you'll do great. I went ahead and removed the restriction holding back your strength. All you have to do is pick up the tree and put it where I tell you, okay?"
She nodded slowly and shakily. Looking back up at the big tree, she swallowed the bit of fear she had and tried to figure out how to grab the oversized item. She couldn't just wrap her full hand around it like she held her treats when drinking or cup it like she held her ducky. She settled for wrapping both of her whole arms around it and took in a deep breath she didn't need before starting to lift. Her arms shook under the pressure of it all as the tree was slowly lifted into the air. It was a bit heavier than anything else she had picked up, and the tree swayed a bit as she lifted it. Luckily, her body seemed to know what to do and how to react faster than she did as it quickly adjusted itself and shifted with the tree to keep it from falling over again.
She couldn't believe her eyes as she watched herself move the tree off of her house. It was so much bigger than her, yet she carried it around like it was nothing. A sense of pride filled her chest, and she couldn't help the giant smile that spread across her face. She turned to look at her mom, who was observing her, and followed the woman as she gestured for her to come along.
Walking with the tree in her arms was strange. Her legs creaked and shook a little under pressure they weren't used to, and she had to be careful with how high she raised her knees, but she could do it. Her arms kept on adjusting, and they shook a bit with each step, but she slowly made it over to the side of the house. It was hard to see what she was doing and where she was going, but she did the best she could. When she reached where she needed to be, her mom told her to set the tree down but not let go of it.
She slowly set it down on the ground and followed her mom's instructions on how to lay the tree down on its side without having it fall over. That step was harder than she thought it would be, as making sure it didn't just drop down as she held it from one end. When the long tree touched the ground fully, and she could let it go, her cooling systems quickly took over to try to cool her down.
Her mom was typing something into the remote, and she could feel something snap back into place. Suddenly, her arms and body felt heavier. She turned away from the tree and followed her mom back to behind the house. She could hear her mom talking about something, but at the moment, she ignored her. Her chest heaved as her cooling systems ran through her, and she tiredly sat down in the grass. It may not have felt as bad switching over as it did when she formed her weapon, but the cooldown burned just the same.
She flopped back onto the ground and layed out in the yard. The sun on her face and the sway of the grass against her face was so relaxing. As her body stopped burning so severely and the tiredness set in, she felt like she could fall asleep right where she layed. A shadow fell upon her and blocked the sun from her face. She sleepily looked up at her mom, who stood above her. She knew she was still talking to her, but her words just started to blend all together. Her blinking grew longer until it all went into darkness. The last thing XJ9 could feel was the sun on her body and a familiar hand patting her head.
Author's Note- Thank you all for reading! This is definitely the longest chapter I've written so far, and yet I feel like the least amount of stuff happened in it. Anyway, please leave a review and have a good day. Your reviews mean a lot to me.