~Phoenix Song~

I'm glad you like them! I try my best to make them good! ^_^ Sorry about the wait for this chapter, I was having some issues with getting the inspiration I needed to finish it! XD

~Echo in the Whispering Wind~

Really? I'm having a lot of fun with the rewrites themselves! ^-^ Well, now you have another chapter to read! -after a month of waiting XD

~Sylver Hearte~

No way! It's not discontinued, this chapter was just really hard for me to finish ^-^' I should be more active with this story soon, it's a little hard for me to write this because how long the chapters usually are. (This one is four pages shorter than the usual length)

I is ashamed! :( I haven't updated this in FOREVER and now I feel bad! (T-T) Updates should be a little more frequent -this chapter was suuper hard to write, and I've already started the next one so don't worry! This story isn't discontinued I promise!

Holly, You Have Got To Be Kidding Me

"Holly no," Cynthia spoke sharply, "Hannah is not heading towards cover with Leon, absolutely not." She said, crossing her arms over her chest and stubbornly refusing to split up with her partner and leaving him and Hannah to themselves, she trusted her partner, but she couldn't tell what Hannah would do and that made her nervous.

"Cindy," Holly sighed over the comlinks, "you can't take your trainee into a building that probably has a bomb, Hannah has to go with Leon."

"I can bring her back to base and that'll be the end of that situation," Cynthia suggested, "maybe Haliah could come pick her up?"

"The base is over a hundred miles from your position Cindy," Holly pointed out the flaws in her friend's logic, "You won't be able to make it in time, think about the mayor's child, he could be being threatened right now, Cindy, I know you're wary, but we have to complete our mission."

Leon looked at his partner, amber eyes warm and understanding, 'Don't worry about it Cyn, I won't let anything happen, she's just a friend.'

'I know you know that, but Hannah doesn't think of you that way, she'll try something the moment I have my back turned.' Cynthia said, facing the large building she was going to have to scale partway from the outside, break through one of the part way open windows, the one window without iron bars covering the windows, and attempt to disarm a bomb.

'Then I'll ignore her,' Leon reassured his partner, 'she doesn't bother me, you know that.'

'Still…'

'I'll be fine Cyn, I'll keep the link open so you can feel what I'm feeling okay?'

"Fine." Cynthia sighed out loud and spoke to Leon and Hannah, "Hannah, go with Leon and find some cover while I attempt to disarm the bomb and find the child." Without talking to either of them, she jogged off into the tall building in front of her thinking, 'This is not a good idea this is not a good idea at all!' Before she super speeded partway up the wall and crashed through the unblocked window, probably Ivory's doing.

:( :) :( :) :(

"Holly, the bomb is welded into the wall, it's a nitrogen activated chemical bomb," Cynthia spoke from where she was crouched on the second floor doing a quick examination of the bomb, "It's set to go off in ten minutes by a welded blasting cap that'll shatter the special glass like containment unit." The bomb was a two foot long six-inch wide capsule that was welded to one of the inner walls of the building, a small timer blinked as it counted down to the blasting cap going off.

"Can you disarm it? Or take some of the chemicals out?"

"If I try to open the container it'll blow up the moment the seal is broken," Cynthia replied and quickly took off the thin and small backpack she had strapped to her back. She then took out a small metal disc shaped object, pressed a button on it and the handle to her portable chemistry kit emerged from the disc, and put the disc on the floor before pulling on the handle so the rest of the kit emerged. "I may be able to dampen its shock wave and reduce the blast radius, but other than that I can't do much." Cynthia continued and she flipped up the locks on the kit and opened it before she took out a dark blue wrap like containment unit. Pushing the larger kit to the side, Cynthia put the smaller wrap down and unrolled it, revealing tiny acrylic bottles of the main solutions she usually used and a thick syringe like container with a metal tip, a birthday present from Bree she had received last year.

"Do what you can, I'll have Ivory warn Brendon's team to evacuate the area around the building," Holly spoke before Cynthia was left in silence.

"Okay," Cynthia said to herself briskly before pulling a pair of black gloves that she had made nearly chemical proof a while ago, "here goes a shot at making it backfire." And so she got to work, pulling out six of the small solutions that contained many chemicals on their own and the syringe before starting to carefully mix the needed solution, mumbling the chemical recipe under her breath as she did so.

:) :) :) :)

'This is ridiculous,' Leon snorted as he waited for his partner to contact him over the comlink to announce when she was coming back, 'Hannah's crazy if she still thinks than I ever had a crush on her, I met Cyndy way before her and by the time I met Hannah I was too busy trying to finish my training so I could retrieve Cyndy from my flat.' His gaze wandered over to the broken window that his partner herself had broken, 'I met a lost, confused, and lonely girl who couldn't speak Ruxburg English that fateful day almost nine years ago, and that girl has grown into the beautiful, brave, and strong willed woman that I love.'

'Thanks, Leon,' Cynthia spoke to him mentally a moment later and he jumped, having not realized that his thoughts were able to be heard across their link. 'Thank you for not giving up on me.'

'That option wasn't an option for me, even back then, you meant too much to me.' Leon replied warmly, his affection easily apparent through their link, 'and look where I am now, I have a brave partner, a beautiful girl promised to me, and a link to my favorite person in the world.'

'You are such a sweet talker,' Cynthia chuckled and Leon cracked a bright grin.

'You don't seem to mind my skill in that area too much,' Leon grinned, 'and I'm not a sweet talker, I'm just speaking the truth.'

'So you say Leon,' Cynthia smiled, 'but I agree, our lives aren't too bad are they?'

'Only when I have you at my side is it not too bad.'

'Ditto.'

"Cyndy, status report," Leon spoke in a low voice into the comlink system out loud, startling Hannah who was crouched behind a van next to him.

"I have applied dampeners to the bomb and will be taking it up to the fifth floor in two minutes after I break through the plaster of course."

"So wait until you contact me with escape routes?"

"Yeah, how's Hannah? She not panicking over there?"

"Hey!" Hannah spoke indignantly, "I'm not wet behind the ears you know! I've been out on the field before! Plus," she looked a little shyly at Leon, "Leon's here with me."

"Uh huh, cause you've totally been in a power struggle between you and your enemy." Cynthia's tone oozed sarcasm.

Leon chuckled at both Hannah's indignant spluttering and the sense of smugness he was getting from Cynthia from across their link.

:) :) :) :)

Cynthia ran up a few flights of stairs in super speed, the delicate bomb held in her arms, hands dusted with plaster from when she dug the bomb out of the wall. Skidding to a halt, she carefully placed it down on the floor in a small corner and punched a hole big enough for the bomb to fit, she then carefully slid the bomb into the hole, her movements careful as she restarted the timer, 'Two minutes to get out of here.' She thought and got to her feet before starting to run up the next few flights. "Oh, bloody!... Bugger off already!" She snapped after a bullet whizzed past her right ear.

"Cindy, what's going on?" Holly asked, her voice calm.

"I've got a tail, give me a minute." Cynthia replied before she contacted Leon through the comlink, "Leon, is there a boat near you?" she asked, ducking once again to avoid getting shot in the back of the head, "I'm escaping via the lake."

"Roger, I'll find one," Leon replied, "do we have knowledge about the mayor's eight-year-old son's position?"

"No," Holly replied briskly, "Brendon's team hasn't seen a thing… wait, Ivory's got something, proceed with your escape plan Cindy, I'll make a plan."

"Sounds good," Cynthia replied and spotted her escape from the building that was about to erupt in flames, an automatic closing door leading to the roof. With a baseball style slide that she would probably never be able to do again, she slid across the tile flooring, under a desk, and ducked low enough that her ponytail was brushing the floor, before she slid through the door and rolled, a transparent shield emerging from her multi watch.

Ka-boom!

With a shock wave that would've knocked her off the building if she didn't have the shield, the bomb exploded, blowing out the windows, and doors of the building in the process.

The shield vanished as Cynthia stood up and brushed her bangs from her face, she could feel the rock starting to crumble beneath her feet and knew she had about a minute before it all would crumble. "The bomb detonated, the enemy may be a little crispy due to their idiocy, but the dampener chemicals worked and none of the bystanders were injured."

"Well done," Holly praised before giving her more instructions, "The child is on the lake in a boat, they intend to drop him under and let him drown, reach him before he drowns."

"Roger," Cynthia said and started running towards the edge of the building closest to the lake, "Leon, how's the boat coming?"

"It's on the lake right now," Leon replied, "I hooked up Bree's device so she's driving it, we're waiting near your position."

"Understood," Cynthia said as she jumped off of the crumbling building, fire licking at her heels, "I hate the water!" she commented as she fell through the air, her sensitive hearing picking up on the sudden sounds of bullets whizzing past her and disrupting the water's surface. In mid-air, she threw a small ball like device, before she turned and managed to get a few rounds off then a few moments later she plunged into the lake, shrouded in a thick fog as she disappeared beneath the surface.

:) :) :) :)

Leon leaned over the side of the boat as the boat started up and shot toward the fog, disappearing from the enemy's sight while putting his hand down far enough that his entire hand was in the water. A moment later he felt Cynthia grasp his hand and he yanked her out of the water and into the boat. Well, he would have if his foot hadn't slipped on a puddle and sent them both careening back into the boat and falling down.

Hannah jumped out of the way, narrowly missing being thrown out of the boat and into the lake.

Cynthia pushed herself up off of her partner and did something close to a dog shaking water from their fur to get most of the water off of her body. "Thanks," she gasped, her teeth chattering, "that was way colder than I thought it was!"

Leon laughed as he unzipped his jacket and shrugged it off, "here, take off your jacket and wear this one, it's warmer."

As Cynthia did as he asked -with Hannah watching in jealousy-, Holly contacted them again. "The boat is on the move in the middle of the lake, Cynthia, Leon, get ready for a dive, Hannah, stay on the boat, Bree will protect you while your trainer is busy."

"Oh come on!" Cynthia complained before she put Leon's jacket in his pack, "I was just in the water Holly."

"I know, but you two are the only ones able to swim."

"I can only swim because Cyndy showed me how too," Leon commented as he took off his pack and put it on the ground. "I'm going to try and keep some of my clothing dry by taking off the extra layers, that okay with you?" He asked his partner.

"You may freeze," Cynthia replied, "but it's a good idea, the less weight you're lugging around the easier it'll be to fetch the child." She knelt down and unlaced her sopping wet tennis shoes, "I'm going to be an ice cube by the time this is over."

"Well Mrs. Icecube, I'll do my best to revive you later."

"You're a prat."

"Why thank you," Leon flashed her a grin as he undid his laces and took off his small combat belt.

Cynthia rolled her eyes and stood up, "that wasn't a compliment." She told him while unbuckling her multi watch and taking off her ring before pushing them deep into her pack.

Leon finished taking off his extra layers and gear and grinned before he pushed his partner off of the boat into the water.

"Leon-!" Cynthia didn't finish her sentence out loud as she disappearing under the water, but she did finish it through their mental conversation. "Leon I can step off the boat myself you doofus!"

Leon laughed and jumped in after her, leaving Hannah alone on the boat.

:) :) :)

"Leon and Cynthia are nearing the boat, Ivory, distract Atol so they can make their move. Brendon, Haliah, start backing the teams away for Lion's arrival." Holly spoke crisply to the pair of team leaders through her comlink before she swiped across her holographic screen to connect visually with Bree and Jay who were inside one of the Light In Darkness group's secret weapons, an AI supercar called L.I.O.N.

L.I.O.N was an invention of Bree's that topped all of her other technology combined. L.I.O.N stood for Light Indefinitely Obliterating the Darkness, a.k.a Lion, the king of technology. The super car that the ability to shift and change vehicle forms between any car or motorcycle model he had ever seen or scanned in, not to mention it coul convert into a submarine or a small plane. But that wasn't the reason it was the king, L.I.O.N was the king because of all of the stuff crammed into his small and sleek silver sports car style body, and his fully interactive and nearly human AI that Bree had been developing since she hacked into her father's computer when she was six. L.I.O.N had a firing system like a machine gun that could lower from the car's chasey and fire many rounds of Cynthia's chemical bullets, knock out bullets specifically. He was also bullet, water, eletricity, chemical, and element proof, meaning that they could put him on the moon and he'd be perfectly fine with an interior gravity regulator and many other features. Over all, L.I.O.N was Bree's pride and joy, the engineer's AI baby who had been learning with her for over ten years.

"Are you sure that thing's done testing Bree?" Holly asked the engineer with apprehension in her voice, "and that it's safe?"

Bree replied barely a second later after she activated the visual screen projected from the dashboard by L.I.O.N. "Lion's safer than the base Holly!" She chirped happily from her position where the driver's seat usually was, "he's so safe that even Jay can drive!"

"I can drive anyway," Jay grunted curtly and rolled his eyes from his position in the passenger seat.

"I know," Bree reassured him, "but I'm proving a point! Lion, tell Holly how safe you are!"

An unfamiliar slightly southern accented male voice spoke, his voice slightly confident and reassuring. "I am extremely safe Holly," the AI spoke, his emotion synthesizer helping with what he was feeling and how his voice sounded human. "It is extremely hard to break me, after all, Cynthia and my mother made my chemical shell which is just as strong as the rest of me."

It was a little strange how the AI referred to Bree as his mother, but Holly shook it off, it wasn't the weirdest thing she had seen or heard. "Alright, but be careful alright? I'm still not sure about this."

"Of course we will Holly!" Bree chirped as L.I.O.N drifted flawlessly around a corner toward the lake where Cynthia and Leon were currently swimming in.

"Alright," Holly sighed, "Holly out."

:) :) :)

Ivory's blonde hair contrasted brightly against her black clothing and pistol holster where her lethal pistol lay snug in it's container. Ivory heard Holly's command and nodded slightly before she subtly nudged Atol, the dark haired man looked at her out of the corner of his eye and Ivory gave a discreet nod towards Leon and Cynthia's boat far on the other side of the lake.

Atol gave a subtle nod at her silent communication and turned to one of the men tying the child to the boat. "Are you idiots?!" He snapped at them and shoved the men away from the boat, "how long does it take to tie a kid to a boat?!" He knelt in front of the mayor's child, his scar glinting brightly against his tanned skin. "I'm sorry," he mock apologized to the child, "these two clearly have no brains." He stood back up and directed his attention toward Ivory who was casually leaning up against the inside boat walls, "Ivory, you tie up the kid, and do it properly."

Ivory nodded and coldly strode over to the boy before she looped the ropes around his wrists and loosely tied him to the speed boat's currently off motor system. "Don't move," she muttered in a low voice that only the shaking ginger haired boy could hear. "A blonde man and a black haired woman will save you, trust me."

The child looked up at her with fear in his bright green eyes that were partially covered by his mop of ginger hair, but over the fear lay a timid attempt of trusting the blonde who he didn't know was a double agent.

"You there!" Atol barked at another member of the Slashing Blades that were on the boat with him, "get the other boat over here! I expect that other boat fired up and ready to take Ivory and I away from the fight, understand?!"

"But sir-" the man tried to refuse.

"No buts about it!" Atol snapped and promptly dumped the man into the water where Cynthia and Leon were hidden beneath the boat and could take him out. "You there!" He pointed to the man nervously standing near the speed boat's rudder, "start that other boat!"

The other man fell over himself in his rush over to the other boat before he fumbled with the keys and tried to start the boat, terror in his milky eyes at the refusal of the machine's cooperation.

A vein throbbed at Atol's tan neck and the second in command stalked over to the other boat, his movements making the boat rock, or so they all thought.

Underneath the water, Cynthia and Leon were straining to flip the boat, Leon had his feet firmly planted in the soft soil at the bottom of the lake while Cynthia was on hi shoulders and was straining her arms as an attempt to flip the boat.

Just before Atol reached the other boat, the command speed boat flipped over, sending everyone into the water, including the child. Ivory spotted Cynthia and Leon -the former currently untying the kid while the latter was doing some damage to the goons' faces- and kicked up toward the surface, her job wasn't to fight unless it was in a severe skirmish, her job was to deliver a target to the correct point with Atol, after that, she wasn't at all involved, thank goodness. Ivory broke the surface with a small gasp and hauled herself into the second speed boat before she shoved the other lakey out of the boat, started the boat with an identical set of keys, and waited for Atol before shooting off, the spray from the boat's speed curving around the windshield and protecting her from getting even wetter. Well done, she thought silently as she glanced back at the fight going on on the top of the capsized speed boat, that was unexpected, but it worked perfectly.

Meanwhile, Cynthia and Leon had nearly finished taking out the five goons from the boat. Cynthia ducked under one goon's punch and sucker punched him in the gut which made him stumble, right into Leon. Who then promptly knocked him out with a well-placed blow, the mayor's child held protectively in one arm. "Behind you Leon, six o'clock!" Cynthia quickly told him over their mental link, "he has a knife!"

Leon ducked as Cynthia threw a stunning blade, the conductive silver weapon acting as a tasor for the water soaked man. With a scream of pain and surprise, the man fell back into the water, shocking all of his buddies in the process. After hardly a few seconds the left all of the goons unconscious, Cynthia remotely turned off the shock with her multi watch and a wave of her left hand, and shrugged at the child's wide eyed look, "water's very conductive."

The kid smiled for the first time since he had been captured, "that was so cool!" he exclaimed, throwing his hands into the air with bright excited green eyes.

Leon and Cynthia smirk a slight grin and give each other a smug fist bump, their eyes gleaming brightly with adreniline filled excitement.

:) :) :)

"You're so cool!" The kid rambled to Cynthia as she and Leon reunited with Hannah on their speedboat that was idling in the water where they had left it. "You went like fwoosh! And he," he pointed to Leon,"ducked and the other guy was totally like aah!" The kid gestured wildly with a grin at Cynthia, obviously, somebody had a new fan crush on the female black haired warrior.

Cynthia shrugged and put the kid down, "I guess it was pretty cool," she cracked a grin and crouched down to take something from her shoes, "here," she offered the sheathed stun blade to the kid, "you can hold it-"

"Cynthia you can't give that to a kid!" Hannah gaped at her, pale blue eyes widening with surprise, "that's a knife!"

"Knife shife," Cynthia rolled her eyes, "he can't unsheath it, Hannah, it's not dangerous." She gives the kid a stern look, "be careful with it alright? You be careful and you can hold onto it."

The kid nodded eagerly and stared at the precious blade sheathed in thick sturdy black leather, his expression completely awed.

"Cynthia, Leon, Hannah," Holly spoke over the comlink communications signal. "Bring the boy to the far shore, Bree, Jay, and Lion are nearing that position right now."

"Roger Holly," Cynthia replied swiftly, a smile still on her face from the boy's obvious awe of her blade.

"Understood." Leon replied before he cracked a grin and nudged Cynthia with his elbow, a cheeky smirk on his face, "someone's got a crush on my partner, eh?"

Cynthia rolled her eyes and gave him a light shove, as she pretended not to notice Hannah's glare. "Well, I like him better than you already." She teased back and cracked up at Leon's horrified expression.

The kid looked at Leon curiously, "are you her boyfriend?" he asked curiously, his green eyes bright with curiosity.

Cynthia hesitated, wondering how she should reply, then she inwardly smirked, Hannah was going to be so mad. "You could say that," She shrugged and brushed her lips against Leon's cheek before she approached the rudder to the boat.

Hannah reacted particularly quickly as Cynthia was moving and shoved Cynthia overboard, causing a large splash.

"Ow!" Cynthia complained as she surfaced and glared at Hannah, "what the heck Hannah?! You heard Holly!" Leon burst out laughing at both her indignance, Hannah's action, and Cynthia's reaction.

Hannah looked innocently at the other blue eyed teen, "what? I'm sorry, did you say something?"

Leon was laughing so hard that he was bent double, tears of laughter gathering in his amber eyes as he howled with laughter.

Cynthia narrowed her eyes and shifted her deadly glare at him while treading water to keep her shoulders above the water, clearly, she was not amused. She then grabbed onto the ledge of the boat and hauled herself back into the boat before she stalked past Leon, muttering something under her breath that promptly shut him up and whine.

"Cyn!" Leon whined and pleaded with his partner, "I wasn't laughing at you, please don't do that!"

"You were indeed laughing at me Leon, these are the consequences, deal with it." Cynthia shot back and rung out her black ponytail.

However, none of them were expecting what happened next. The child Cynthia and Leon saved shoved Hannah off balance and sent her into the cold water. "Don't push her!" The child retorted indignantly.

It was Cynthia's turn to be smirking as Hannah gave a shriek of, "it's cold!" and the black haired warrior smiled at the kid, "thanks, kid."

The mayor's son blushed and shuffled his feet embarrassedly while Cynthia leaned over and pulled Hannah back into the boat before she started back toward the shore, a smirk like smile on her face as Hannah shivered and glared heatedly at the other girl.

"Lion's in position!" Bree's happy chirp came over to the comms a few minutes later, "we're stationed two minutes from the docking point, hidden in the cattails!"

"There are about twenty men patrolling around so let us know when you three are there, we'll cover for you."

"How can a car cover for us?" Hannah asked indignantly, indignant at the idea of a car covering them.

"Lion? Will you do the honors?" Bree asked with a cheerful chirp, completely unfazed by Hannah's mean comment.

"I'm not a normal car," L.I.O.N's voice came over the comms, "I am Light Indefinitely Obliterating the Nefarious or Lion for short. I am the world's more advanced AI with endless energy and morph technology, along with being armed with many of Cynthia's knockout bullets. I have enough to knock out sixty men at once."

"See! He's our Calvary!" Bree chirped happily while Cynthia smirked at Hannah's stunned expression.

"I wish you could see her expression Bree, she's got the best slack jawed expression I've ever seen." Cynthia snorted with a smirk gracing her features as she shut off the engine so they wouldn't crash into the docking area.

Hannah scowled and ignored Cynthia, "We're almost at the shore."

"Understood," Holly's voice filtered in once again, "proceed with the current plan, Bree give me an eta to the mayor's office."

"Roughly twenty minutes if we're in stealth mode!"

"Noted." Holly then left the com lines, probably to deal with another mission.

The boat then gently bumped into the dock and the three warriors crouched, hiding from view as the sound of footsteps on the docks alerted them of a patrol.

Just as Hannah was about to shoot up and defend herself as the patrol reached the boat; the sound of squealing tires was heard before L.I.O.N's voice was broadcasted through his speakers. "Hello, ever seen a sports car do this?" He asked curiously before the sound of an automatic machine gun entered the air, aided by the sound of smashing glass bullets.

Cynthia scooped up the mayor's son, held a cloth over his nose and ran toward Lion where the sports car was sitting still on the bank, small and identical machine guns poking underneath his front bumper, blue scanner oscillating cheerfully from side to side. "Let's move!" She exclaimed, making her way through the unconscious Slashing Blades Members all sprawled on the ground.

Leon followed after his partner, a bright grin on his face, "I love this car!"

"I'm flattered," L.I.O.N spoke cheerfully, "I do believe this was fun."

"Come on Hannah!" Bree urged the blonde, "I have an eta to keep on schedule!"

Hannah jerked out of her gaping shock and raced over to the car where Cynthia, Leon, and the mayor's kid was getting into the gleaming silver sports car. "What the heck just happened?!"

"Hannah," Jay grunted as L.I.O.N spun around and starting racing toward the city. "Meet Lion, Bree's strongest invention and our secret weapon."

"He's not as secret as before," Bree admitted, "but nobody will believe these guys when they say a silver car shot them all down!"

"True to that," Cynthia laughed from where she was sitting in the cream colored leather back seat with the mayor's son sitting in her lap.

"Can I talk to the car?" The boy asked curiously, his green eyes highly curious as he gazed at the high tech dash board of L.I.O.N's interior.

"Of course!" Bree smiled at the boy, she was perched in her wheelchair in the driver's seat. "Lion loves talking to people!"

"Hello James," L.I.O.N greeted the young child, "I'd love to talk to you, what do you want to talk about?"

The mayor's son who was apparently named James blinked in surprise before he smiled, "is it fun being a car?"

"I think it's the best thing in the world," L.I.O.N responded cheerfully, "I can also change into different cars, what's your favorite car?"

James' eyebrows furrowed as he thought for a few moments, then he grinned, "Pick up trucks!"

"Good choice, permission to change into the Honda ridgeline, Bree?"

"Sure! What's your favorite color, James?"

"Dark Green!"

"You hear that Lion?" Bree asked her AI as the car started the shift, the seats growing closer together and raising upward due to the pickup's bigger wheels.

"Yes, dark green Honda Ridgeline with black interior coming right up," L.I.O.N said, his voice sounded excited. The interior of the windshield glowed a faint orange before the schematics of the designated vehicle with a black and a dark green swatch at one edge.

For a few more moments, the car continued to change, the cabin changing to the pick up truck's cabin as the outside morphed into the chosen vehicle. Then with a soft ping, L.I.O.N was a dark green Honda Ridgeline. The windshield then showed what L.I.O.N looked like from the outside. "Do you like it James?"

"That was awesome!" James grinned as he stared at the video viewing of the car, "so cool!"

"I'm glad you liked it, I have a model if you'd like it."

"Yes please!" Jame then squealed when he got a hold of the perfect model of L.I.O.N in a dark green Honda Ridgeline form.

"Cynthia, can you use a sniper rifle on the top of a pickup?" Jay asked grouchily despite the small smile on his face at L.I.O.N's excitement at being able to please the child.

"Yeah, I'd have to have an extension on the roof so I can lay on my stomach, but besides that, I can easily do it." Cynthia responded, "why? Do you have my sniper rifle?"

"Yep!" Bree smiled, "we've got it behind the back seats!"

:) :) :)

"Your people did well," Atol commented as he and Ivory switched from a boat to a small armored jeep. "They are skilled."

Ivory continued gazing out one of the windows, her expression still as cold and impassive as usual. "Yes. They've been training for a long time."

"It's strange seeing Cynthia again after twelve years," Atol said as he glanced over at Ivory, "she's better than you now."

"Cynthia is better than me," Ivory admitted with no hesitance, she had no shame in admitting that the older teen was better than her. "She's been fighting all her life, I have no shame in admitting that the famed 'Cinder' is better than me."

Atol chuckled slightly as he continued to drive the jeep toward the main base, "wise words for a young feisty warrior like yourself," he chuckled and affectionately messed up her hair before a smirk crossed his face. "How about a spar when we get back?"

A smirk crossed Ivory's tanned face, "sure, I'm going to kick your butt Atol."

Atol's smirk widened, "in your dreams Blondie."

Ivory cracked an amused grin, "in your nightmares Red-Eye."