Noelle wandered throughout the city aimlessly until she found herself on the border between open spaced freedom and congested imprisonment. She stepped forward on to a green field where she heard nothing but the rustling of the tall oak trees and the gentle brush of the grass. Her chunky military boots seemed to be unsympathetic toward the crumbly dirt as she became uncomfortable and soon clumsy once she stumbled over thick piles of the soil. She disregarded the small inconvenience and continued to walk for a couple more miles. Noelle had walked a few miles and she grew tired and hot because she also had to carry that heavy duffel bag. About two-hundred yards in front of her, she spotted a small shack. She walked faster toward it, just to shelter herself from the beaming hot sun. As she walked hastily, she forgot to mind the thick dirt beneath her and she tripped over a large clump of it. It caused her to fall on to the ground where she found one of the sleeves of her uniform torn. She looked down to see if the boots were alright and they weren't. She'd broken the sole off her left boot and the material off her other boot had ripped. Angrily, she took both shoes off then threw them far away from her. She walked now, barefoot in the dirt.

There she found herself in front of the sixteen feet long, twelve feet wide, and nine feet tall shack. It seemed roomy enough for one person and she could most likely make a living in the space. She walked inside the wooden shack. The walls of the place seemed thin with small gaps between some of the wooden planks that kept it together. The roof of the place was made of tin that was now rusted because of the elements. To Noelle's left was a small window that let a significant amount of light into the shack. She looked around the small living space and found an old cot as well as some old cans lying around. Other than that, there wasn't much else to the place. The simplicity of it all relaxed her. It seemed that this place was much better than the jail-cell she called her home.

She sat on the cot with her skin just glistening from the perspiration. For the next few minutes she just curled up on the cot, unable to function like her normal self. She was so incredibly tired that for the next hour or so she just wanted to sleep.

Only after two hours did she wake up to find herself glistening with perspiration. "This is disgusting," she muttered to herself once she realized that the red Techno symbol on her forehead had smeared. She bent down, unzipped her duffel bag, and brought out a towel then some soap, shampoo, conditioner, and some fresh clothes. When she sat back up, she was startled by a noise that came from the door. She heard a small tap, and then another as the door moved slightly. She froze as she just heard the tapping get louder.

Then the door swung open. The tapping she heard was nonetheless the pitter-patter of a dog. She froze once again and stared at the dog with her grey eyes. The dog, a German shepherd, stared back with its tail stagnant. He approached the girl slowly while Noelle backed away. Then it walked off to the left side of the shack and picked up an old ball that was lying around. The dog brought it back to her and dropped it by her feet. Its tail wagged slightly now as it took a seat on the floor. Noelle hesitated for a moment and finally picked up the ball. She looked down at the dog, "D…did you want this?" The dog loudly barked back at her. "Okay!" she said fearfully and quickly chucked the ball through the door frame.

The dog sprinted after the ball then caught it with its powerful yet gentle jowls. He then trotted back up to Noelle and sat in front of her with the ball still in its mouth. He dropped the ball again but then moved up to her and demanded to be petted.

"You don't have a dog tag on you," Noelle muttered as she patted the dog on the head while she looked around his neck for some sort of collar. "You remind me of Rin Tin Tin," she smirked. Upon finishing her sentence, the dog barked sharply then whined.

"Okay, that's not your name. What about Bob?" she asked, only to receive a small growl.

"Cujo? Lassie? Beethoven? Todo?" she sighed as those were not the dog's name. Well at least the names she gave didn't get a good reaction from the dog. "Well, my old dog's name was General."

The dog's tail wagged now as his tongue lolled out of his mouth. Noelle nodded to the dog, "Alright, your name's General. Now if you excuse me, I'm going to go take a bath." She stood up now with her supplies in her hands and stepped aside. As she walked out of the shack, General followed behind her with a towel between his teeth. She heard him following behind her, turned around, and saw that the dog was smart enough to recognize that when a person said the word "bath", he'd go get a towel. She smiled then gently grabbed the towel from him, "Go on and go back home."

The dog just stood there and stared at her as if it was part of his duty to watch her. "Alright, fine," she sighed. She walked a couple hundred yards to a river. She set down her items as the dog went to go splash around in the water. Noelle watched him and once he was finished, he walked straight back to her then shook the liquid off his fur. She then stripped off her clothes, wrapped herself in her towel and headed towards the river. She hung the towel on a tree branch nearby while General lay down on land with his back to her, keeping guard. Noelle did the usual bath routine of: shampoo first, shampoo again, soap, and conditioner. Once finished, she dried off and changed into her new outfit.

No, no, it wasn't just another Techno uniform. It was a set of her own clothing, "virt apparel" as some may call it. She now wore a black pair of tights under black knee length leather boots. On top was a cream colored, billowy dress made of jersey material. It was a short sleeve dress with a bit of a low cut and it was slightly asymmetrically cut at the bottom. The longest end, on her right side, reached the middle of her thigh while the shortest end just hit the bottom of her bum. On her waist, over the dress, was a thin half inch belt that distinguished the top end from the bottom end of the dress. Nothing on her seemed Techno. The only remnant of her past was the silver necklace that her mother had given to her.

She folded up her old uniform and gathered her things. She watched as General grabbed the pile of old clothes gently then followed her. The two walked back to the shack side by side. Soon, the day turned to night.

Java angrily walked down the hallway toward Noah's room. She knocked loudly and once he answered the door, she let him have it. "What the hell did you think you were doing? You're a guard around this place! Wouldn't you think that my daughter, hastily leaving would cause some sort of reaction from you?"

"I tried! The damn girl was too quick!" Noah yelled.

"This is my daughter, Noah! You can't just say that you tried. She's out there by herself, in danger, and pregnant…mind you. The fuck am I gonna do now? Thanks to you, I've lost my own kid."

Noah shook his head, walked out, and slammed the door shut behind him. "Hey! She's mine too! You can't blame this whole goddamn thing on me!"

"She was never yours, Noah. Saying that you care doesn't mean anything anymore," Java replied sharply then stormed off.

She walked hastily and found Damien and Jay standing nearby. "Have the guards said anything?" she asked.

"No, nothing," Jay replied. "Look, I'm sure she'll be fine. She hasn't been gone for that long. Besides, I'm sure she can defend herself against anything."

"If it makes you feel any better, I'll go out first thing tomorrow morning," Damien then said.

"Go right ahead," Java said, obviously stressing herself.

Jay stepped in front of her, "You need to relax, Java. Everything's gonna be fine, just….think of something funny."

"Yeah, like that'll help," she replied sarcastically.

Flashback

Java poked her head out from beneath her purple sheets. She heard some sort of tapping noise coming from her window. It couldn't have been the wind or rain because it was perfectly still outside. Reluctantly, she got out of bed to go see what it was. As she opened the blinds then the window, she saw that nothing was there. When she looked outside of her window, all she saw was the morning sun and a few guards. She sighed, knowing she got out of bed for nothing.

But as soon as that thought reached her head something flew through her window, skimming against the top of her head along the way. She shrieked loudly, turned around and ran off…with the bird in her room. Once she ran, though, she crashed into a chair and fell clumsily on the floor.

Pain ripped throughout her shoulder as she crawled along the ground. She looked at the site of the pain and quickly became horrified with herself. "My shoulder's not supposed to be there!" she said.

Jay burst through Java's door. "Java, what's wrong?"

"Bird!" she yelled, unable to complete her thoughts at first. "There's a freakin bird in my room!"

He looked around and saw that the bird was flying helplessly around the woman's room. He looked down at her, trying to hold down a laugh. "Better get outta here before the bird gets you," he warned jokingly.

She didn't take his warning as a joke, she took it very seriously. Now she dragged herself on the floor and out of the room as Jay was busy catching the creature. Once outside, she found Noelle coming out of her room.

"Java, what's with all the noise?" Noelle asked, still in her pajama bottoms, "And why are you on the ground?"

"Fucking bird tried to rip my head off," Java replied quickly and somewhat fearfully.

Her daughter tried to hold in a laugh, but succumbed to the humor. She chuckled quietly at first but the laughter couldn't contain itself. She roared with laughter.

"It's not funny, Noelle!"

"Oh," she giggled, "but it is."

"My god you're a mean daughter….help me up!" Java said loudly.

At that moment, Siva walked out of her room, dressed in pajamas as well. She sighed and leaned against her doorway, "Noelle, what'd you do to your mom?"

"She laughed at me, that's what she did," Java interrupted.

Noelle chuckled some more, "No! I didn't do a thing. I just found her on the ground like that." She then bent down and helped her mother up. Once she saw that Java's shoulder had been dislocated, she gasped. "Oh god!" she said, nearly dropping her along the way.

"Yeah my arm's not so pretty, ain't it," she said with a smirk, even though she was in a horrendous amount of pain. She walked next to her daughter, heading for the hospital to get her shoulder back into its socket.

When the two of them reached their destination the medic was already there, awaiting their arrival. "Commander Byte, what happened?" he asked as the assistants brought Java back to another room.

Noelle stared at him, wide eyed for a moment, trying to hold in her laughter. "You see, Java, well…um," she chuckled, "A bird flew into her room, she freaked out, and made a crash landing."

"That's a nice summary," he joked. "I'll get her fixed up."

She followed the medic into the room where Java stayed. Her mother looked nervous, very nervous about what they would do about her shoulder.

"Alright, Commander Java, you have to stay very still," he warned.

"Noelle, hold my hand," she then said.

"You're going to crush it," her daughter replied. But once she got that "certain look" from Java, she reluctantly moved over and grabbed her hand.

"Alright, ready? One…two…" the medic placed his hand down on Java's shoulder, ready to push it back up to its original spot.

"Wait I have a ring on," she muttered quickly, but the medic didn't hear her.

"Three!" he placed Java's shoulder back into its socket quickly, making a sickening crack while Java squeezed her daughter's hand…hard.

Noelle tried to scream out, but didn't have time to make the noise. Within those two seconds, the ring on her finger dug into the sides of her adjacent fingers. It really felt like her hand had been broken. After a few moments of her hand just throbbing with pain, she looked down at her mother with her left hand shaking.

"Commander Byte, we'll take some x-rays if you want," the medic smiled.

"Yes, please," she replied, unenthused.

Hours later, Java and Noelle arrived back to the hotel. Java came back with her left arm in a sling while Noelle came back with bruised bones in her left hand. The elder of the two sighed, "Alright, if it makes you feel any better...it's a good thing we're both right handed."

End of Flashback

After about a month of searching for her daughter, Java still had no luck. She grew scared and constantly stressed herself about Noelle's welfare. Now, a stressed out Java didn't equal happy times at the Techno base. Instead she actually took out her anger on the workouts at the gym and sometimes Ved. The boy did, after all, purposely spill the beans about Noelle out of spite.

She strolled out to the market to get some air. She looked around the different tables and various knick knacks being sold. There, she caught a glimpse of some familiar face. It was Noelle.

She watched her for a few moments as she slowly approached the girl. She stopped now as she saw that Noelle was working her way of stealing a few apples by handing them to a dog, which then put them in her bag. Once she was finished, she moved on to a different stall where she quickly took a candy bar at the moment the vendor looked away.

Her daughter looked considerably different. Now that the Techno make-up was washed away, she saw the real face of the girl. Her eyes naturally seemed to pop and give a nice contrast to her glowing, caramel colored skin. Noelle's hair was straighter than usual, apart from a few waves here and there. And the girl's virt apparel? Well, Java thought they complimented the girl's body perfectly. No one could tell that the girl had a growing bump underneath.

Now she approached her and grabbed her by the wrist. "And what've you got there, missy?" she said as she led her away from the market.

Noelle fought her at first but once she looked at who it was, she stopped immediately. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing. Noelle, I've been worried sick! You could've at least let me know where you went off to," Java reprimanded. "Come on, you're coming home."

Noelle shook her head as Java let go of her. "I can't come with you. Ram will have me deleted once he sees me there."

"You don't know that. Ram won't see you anyway because you'll be in your room and at least you'll be safe."

"I don't want to go back there," she said.

Java sighed, "Now you're just being stubborn."

"No! I can't go back there and you know it. Now unless something is worked out, I'm still a virt," Noelle explained.

The girl's mother sighed and shook her head. Java hated to admit that the girl was right, she wasn't safe back at home. "Alright, then how do I know that you're safe?" she asked.

"You're gonna have to trust me," she replied.

Java nodded before she looked over her shoulder to see a few guards looking her way, "I have to go. Be careful out here, okay?"

"Okay," Noelle finally replied as she watched her mother leave. She looked down at the dog to see that he had been sitting by her feet the entire time. She nodded to him and they went on their way.

Damien watched from afar and slowly began to follow her. He trailed behind Noelle for a few miles before he saw that she reached the country side. He pulled out a small device from his pocket and tossed it toward the brush. He crept down as he watched a German shepherd pick it up. He stopped then turned back to head back to base. It made him happy knowing that she was alive and doing well. More so, now that she was out of her uniform he noticed how much more attractive she was. On his way back to the hotel, he stopped beside Java with a smile on his face. "It's good to know that she's found a place of her own," he whispered to her.

"What? You saw?" Java asked.

"Yeah. Don't worry though, no one could get her from where she's at…especially with that dog hanging around her," he said and shrugged.

As the duo walked back to the shack, General surprised Noelle with the device. He dropped it at her feet but just when she was about to pick it up, he snatched it again and ran off with it. "General get back here!" she yelled then ran after him. "Come back, now!"

The dog simply looked back at her as he trotted back to the shack. Noelle sat down on the bed and finally allowed the dog to come near her. She breathed deeply as she stroked his fur. "What is that thing," she said quietly. She gently took the device from the dog's mouth and examined it.

"How'd you get this anyway?" she muttered. She noticed the thing was blinking then she sighed deeply. "Dammit…" she sighed. She looked on the device to see if there was any way she could turn it off. She took the damn thing and slammed it to the floor. Funny, it wouldn't break. She looked to see what it was made of. Not only was it made of some polycarbonate plastic, but it also had steel corners and screws. Noelle sighed then laid down on the cot as it was time for some much needed rest.

Back at the hotel Damien stared at the computer screen while he patiently waited for a small red dot to appear. After a few moments he had some luck. "Hey, Java," he called.

"What," she replied.

He gestured to the computer screen with a small smile, "You wanna know if she's safe, right?"

Java stared down at it then gave a sigh out of relief, "Yes, of course." She shook her head as she looked over at the kid. "It's great to know that you've tracked her down. But then again, I saw her today and I trust that she's gonna be fine."

"Do you want me to turn the thing off then?" Damien asked.

"It's all up to you. I know I'm not going out there anytime soon but if you're really concerned about her, keep it on."

He nodded and stared at it for a while. "I'm keeping it on," he muttered then got up from his seat. When he looked back at Java, he decided that he'd go out again for some fresh air. He left the computer room with a small device in his hand with a screen on it. Nonetheless, it was also connected to Noelle's device.

Right when he approached the market, he noticed a raven haired man running amuck. Damien approached the man and grabbed him by the shoulder when he bumped into him. "Excuse me, Sheriff," he muttered to him.

"Sorry, man. I'm just in a little bit of a rush….my girl's going into labor," Lex finally said, just out of breath.

"Oh, better get on that then," Damien smirked.

"I can't. She wants me to find her niece and sister, I'm sure you know them. I need Java and Byte at the mall; can you use that walkie talkie of yours?"

He nodded then pressed on his communicator, "Java, you're needed at the mall…ASAP."

Once he was finished, Lex turned to him, "What about Byte?"

"It's complicated but I'll have her over there. Now go, she needs you," Damien said. He watched Lex run off and then he ran off himself. He looked down at his device periodically to make sure he was headed in the right direction. Once he made it out of the city, he noticed that the sun was about to set. "God, I have to find her soon," he muttered to himself. He jogged amongst the wild grass now as he searched for the girl. The location was somewhat right since it led him to an empty shack. He looked inside and noticed an empty duffel bag and then the location device.

Damien sighed softly and rubbed his forehead. He stopped suddenly as he heard a distant bark. He walked out of the shack, beginning followed the intermittent barks. After a few hundred yards from the shack, he found himself at a river. From there, he froze. He spotted her but all he could do was stare. He saw the water just trickle down her back while she rinsed off the remnants of the shampoo. Carefully now she got out of the river and wrapped a towel around herself. He approached her quietly and once he got close enough, he touched her shoulder.

She jumped at his touch then screamed. She scrambled to get some of the towel back on her as she tried to compose herself. "What the fuck are you doing here?" she finally asked as Damien was turned away.

"Is it okay to look now?" he asked.

"Well, sure," she replied. She then looked down at General, "Some guard dog you are."

"It's Siva. She's gone into labor and you need to come with me," Damien said and watched as Noelle grinned and began to walk hastily back to the shack. "Noelle, be careful, don't walk so fast. You could fall or something, slow down-"

"Okay, mom," she joked. Once inside the shack, she turned him around, "You peek and you're dead." She slipped on her outfit again, but quickly this time around.

Damien sighed, "Are you ready yet?"

"Yeah," she said and was at his side once again. "General, stay here."

As the two began to walk, Damien looked at Noelle once more. He smiled as he saw her growing bump just poking out from her top. "You're what….four or five months along?"

"Yeah, somewhere around there," she replied. "Why?"

"I'm just making sure you don't go into labor…because we're quite far from civilization." he laughed.

"Don't worry, I promise I won't go into labor just yet. That's Siva's job right now," Noelle joked.

At the mall, Java stood in the bedroom next to Siva. Fearfully, she handed her a cup of water. The sun had set long ago and by this time Java had only been here for the past half an hour or so. It was at this moment that she'd actually grown quite scared of her little sister and it made her wonder if Noelle would become this way when she'd go into labor. "Here, sis, you wanted this?"

Siva nodded and took a sip. "Where the fuck is Noelle? She said she'd be here! Why isn't she here? My god, this is an absolute FAIL!"

"She's coming, Siv," Java answered quickly then looked to Lex. "How long ago did the contractions start?"

He rubbed his forehead, "About seven hours ago."

"My god, you sent the frantic one over here. Have you seen Janelle in emergencies?" Siva muttered. "At least Noelle's the calm and reasonable one."

Java shook her head, "You mean you had to deal with it for the past seven hours?"

"Siva's not an 'it', she's a woman-"

"Yeah, I'm not so sure about that anymore," she replied. She looked at Siva then stood at her bedside.

Another thirty minutes passed and Java, Siva, and Lex waited impatiently for the 'reasonable' one to arrive. "Okay, I'm here," Noelle finally said as she entered through the door. She saw her mother head toward her and give her a huge hug.

"Thank god you're here. Noelle, she's scaring me. I'm starting to crack under the pressure, I don't know what to do," Java said quickly and frantically.

"What? Who?" Noelle asked.

"Siva," her mother replied as if she was about to cry.

The girl could help but laugh a little. She walked toward Siva and stood at her bedside, "Hey there, Siv."

"Where the hell have you been?" Siva asked. "For the past hour I've been stuck with those two."

"I…does it matter? What's important is that I'm here now."

"Well that's great. Why couldn't I get pregnant last and you go first?" she cried.

Noelle looked back at Java, just a bit worried as to how to react to her aunt. "I….I don't know. You're older than me…so it's better for you to-"

"Are you calling me old?" Siva snapped.

"What? N…No…"

"Then what are you trying to hint at, Niece?"

Noelle shrugged, "I was just saying that you're more experienced to handle things like these."

"Noelle that's where you're wrong because last time I checked, I never had a kid shoot out of my-"

"Okay! I get it, Siv. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to call you old," the girl said abruptly.

Siva sighed, "Why couldn't it be Janelle this time around?"

Java stepped in, ready to defend herself. "Hey-"

"Oh, don't even get me started," she said.

At that moment, Noelle walked away for a moment toward Java. "Mom I'm scared," she said quietly and quickly.

"Noelle, get back here! You need to hold my hand!" Siva yelled.

"Please don't make me," Noelle pleaded to her mother in which Java turned to Damien and gestured over to Siva.

Damien then nodded and headed over to Siva's bedside. He held her hand for a moment, and then let out a silent scream, trying to make no noise so Siva could concentrate. The woman's grip was so astoundingly strong that he thought she'd broken it. "She's crushing my hand," he squeaked to Noelle.

The girl turned to her mother and sighed. She shook her head at the thought of herself going through the same thing as Siva.

"What's wrong?" Java asked.

"I can't….I don't want to go through the same thing she is," she replied and gestured to her aunt, who was in agony.

"Well one way or another, you're gonna have to do it."

"N…no…no please don't. The baby's gonna stay in there," she looked down at her bump, "You hear that? You stay in there! Do not come out!"

"Noelle!" Java exclaimed but let out a laugh. "You can't just tell your baby to stay in there forever." She looked over to her sister as a smile came upon her face.

"Are you taking joy in her pain?" Noelle asked.

"Oh, you don't even know. I do that with everybody," she smirked. "I'm only joking, kid. You didn't think I was that mean, did you?"

She crossed her arms and let a small laugh out, "In all honesty, yeah. Don't get me wrong but if I didn't know you, I'd think you'd be such a bitch to work with."

"Well thanks, kid-"

"What do you two think you're doing? Get over here!" Siva yelled.

Grudgingly, the duo turned around with their expressions clearly read on their faces. Both were less than excited to be back with the she-devil.