Part 4
Well, this day was just going downhill rapidly in professor Nine's opinion. This girl was just causing headaches all over. He'd never meet a teen so intent on raising hell for them. Yes, he was fully aware how much the whole system sucked and considered unfair. But this girl he was actually impressed with. Yes, there were other students who sometimes took it out on the officials but this girl was something else. Although currently, he was in his office listening to them go at it. The girl said her name was Cecilia which he didn't care if it was not. His real name isn't Nine so to each his own. They were currently arguing about the little girl. He was more interested in Lexa researching the family's history. She was trying to find out the why. Why did Cecilia take her sister in the first place? Lexa elbowed him. She must've found something. Normally he'd call a timeout but they were too into arguing to notice him not listening. With a delicate finger, Lexa pointed to a report she'd come across.
"That's one reason to run." He whispered. Lexa solemnly nodded.
"Professor?" Linda inquired.
"The girl will not go back to her family. She will be turned over to CWS." Nine answered.
"Why?" Susan spoke.
"She should go be with her family." Archibald huffed.
"The day they handed over Cecilia to Earth Garde was the same day CWS was coming to take away both girls. They both had a history of child abuse and negligence for both girls. CPS had been called to their residence numerous times." Lexa explained.
"Well, that could explain the other girl's attitude," Linda replied. Nine thought he felt a little guilty for telling the school therapist that would get to deal with the girl about that. But maybe she could help Cecilia.
"So after this, I'll call CWS and they can come get her." Nine replied, but he didn't sound happy about it. Malcolm gave him a sympathetic look.
"Where can I find Ella?" Susan asked.
"I'll text her and have her and Cecilia meet up with you for it." Nine suggested.
"Thank you." She nodded.
"Although I want Cecilia to have private training sessions with me. She's currently too much of a loose cannon to be grouped with others and with her legacies disabled it's only fair." Nine explained.
After that, they all left except Malcolm and Lexa.
"Can I leave the child in your hands?" Nine questioned.
"Have fun," Malcolm called.
How could one human Garde be this much of a headache? He thought walking out.
Cecilia had just finished her academic testing and was meeting up with the people watching Emma. She met them outside the main office building out on the grass. It was the girl named Marina and a teenage boy walking with her. Anyone who watched the news at all in the past year or two knew who it was. That was John Smith.
"Sis!" Emma squealed rushing towards her. Cecilia crouched and welcomed her sister with open arms. She noticed that Emma was now wearing a simple pink sundress.
"I missed you," Emma whined.
"Don't worry sweetie. I'm right here. I'll always be right here." Cecilia reassured, kissing the top of Emma's head.
"Promise?" Emma questioned.
"I promise Em." Cecilia nodded.
"Are you in trouble?" Emma inquired looking up with her big green eyes.
"No sweetie. I'm not in trouble. But we have to stay here." Cecilia sighed.
"But how have you been?" She questioned the little girl before she could pester her with more questions.
"These two are John and Ma-Mar-" Emma stuttered.
"Marina." Marina offered. Emma beamed.
"They gave me French fries!" Emma cheered.
"And the new dress?" Cecilia questioned.
"Yeah." Emma nodded.
"She's a piece of work." John chuckled.
"Yes, she is." Cecilia coldly replied.
"Come on Emma let's go see if they found us a room yet," Cecilia told the small child, picking her back up. Emma gratefully clung to her as she headed for what she could guess was the man in charge office. She finally found a sign saying professor Nine. She hoped he was the one she wanted. She entered the office and saw the therapist lady, a new woman, and the military dude. She also noticed two officials she hadn't met yet but looked at their badges. CWS. Cecilia protectively clutched Emma to her chest.
"No." She gasped.
"Cecilia." The therapist lady softly spoke.
"No! Never!" Cecilia demanded.
"It's for the best." The therapist lady spoke.
"Like hell, it is," Cecilia growled turning away from them. Emma clutched her sister even tighter as if sensing the tension.
"Charlotte." The therapist spoke calmly.
"Don't you ever say that again! She's gone!" Cecilia screamed. Emma let out a cry. Rage pounded through her veins as she fled the building. Sadly she was surrounded by peacekeepers as she left the building.
"Charlotte Warner. Release the child now!" Commanded the military guy, breaking the circle of peacekeepers.
"Over my dead body!" She snarled. The peacekeepers surrounded her. Emma was forcefully yanked from her arms. Emma let out a piercing cry in protest. Cecilia stood there stunned. She watched them hand her over to the CWS lady.
"Charlotte!" Emma screamed. It broke Cecilia's heart. The woman started walking away. Emma squirmed and cried.
"Charlotte help!" Emma screeched.
Something inside Cecilia snapped right then and there. No one would ever make her upset like that again. She didn't care about the damn band. Forget it. No one was gonna contain her.
"Leave her alone!" Cecilia demanded.
A wave of energy radiated from her and wiped everyone out. The military dude looked stunned. Her band cracked and fell right off. She instantly felt them all rush back. She could sense her body forming it already. Her two favorite legacies working in sync with each other.
"You WILL NOT take her away! She has done NOTHING to deserve ANY of this!" Cecilia demanded. She conjured an energy ball and smiled. She started blasting the guards rapidly. With her telekinesis, she grabbed the woman holding Emma.
"Give her back," Cecilia growled. She dropped Emma and the girl scurried to Cecilia's side. Cecilia picked her up and hugged her tight.
"They won't hurt you while I'm here," she told the girl. Emma snuggled into her. Suddenly she felt exhausted. Her body gave out and she hit the ground. The last thing she saw before passing out was the military guy with a big grin.
"This has gotten way outta hand." Nine groaned, leaning back on the couch.
"How is she?" Marina questioned.
"Cecilia or Emma?" Lexa quipped.
"Either." Marina shrugged.
"Cecilia is sleeping in the infirmary. A new band is already on her wrist. Emma was crying her eyes out when she was hauled away." Malcolm explained.
"Can I say I'm impressed she got the thing off? She must've been really angry." John replied.
"Well, we all know legacies can be amplified with strong emotion." Malcolm suggested.
"So it's obvious she's already done for with our friends at Earth Garde." Nine redirected.
"For all, we know she could mysteriously die in some accident in a third world country first chance they get." Six scoffed.
"Thank you, my fellow conspirator. Now that we got the government conspiracy theory on the table." Nine cheerfully replied. Six rolled her eyes.
"Lexa how long will it take you to locate the little girl without raising any suspicion?" Nine questioned.
"I'll let you know when I find her," Lexa answered. Nine then looked at John and Marina.
"Want to welcome another two children into your lives?" He smirked. Marina chuckled.
"It's isolated, safe, and out of reach. Marina?" John raised an eyebrow.
"Of course." She nodded.
"Ella will be excited as well." he smiled.
"Now we just gotta get her outta here." Nine sighed.
"Easy. Just have to do it at night. We'll go home and then a few days later she'll mysteriously disappear." John chuckled.
"Followed by the child." Six finished.
"Excellent. Now we just have to keep her alive for now." Malcolm replied.
Why did that sound easier than it will be?
While others were getting breakfast at the dining hall Nine was with Cecilia in the gym.
"Now you are safe here. It's just me and Malcolm." He explained.
"Also I believe you would like this off." He chuckled. He grabbed her wrist and on the underside was a small keypad. She couldn't see him enter the code but it beeped and popped off. She immediately noticed the difference.
"Now we will not monitor you or study you like the others." Nine continued taking it away. He tossed it up to Malcolm in the observation deck.
"Now don't try to be stupid. I am a friend who is working on fixing your situation." Nine spoke levelly. Cecilia crossed her arms across her chest.
"Oh really?" She huffed.
"Now that we got all that outta the way. Show me what you got. Don't kill me but show me what you got." He suggested.
Something he hadn't see her do yet happened, she smirked at him.
"You're on Nine." She dared. In a way, she reminded him of Six. He didn't know why but she did. Maybe similar temperament. Her body started bleeding but healing at the same time. She thrusted one arm out and bone started growing out of her hand. Once it reached dagger length she broke it off and her body seemed to instantly cover up the hole it made in her hand. He realized what she was doing.
Her body was forming armor.
She charged at him and went to slice him in the arm. Nine turned away and she fell forward. As if she meant to she rolled and bounced right back up. Nine charged her and punched her straight in the chest. She did fall back but bounced right back up and blasted him with a burst of energy that reminded him of Mog cannons. It got him in the right shoulder.
They went back and forth, he'd hoped she'd eventually give up but this girl was resilient and stubborn. No matter what she kept bouncing back. All her injuries seemed to keep vanishing as if they were never there. He got blasted several more times; once to the torso, one to the cheek, and then once on each leg. She was definitely strong. She had started launching several sharp bone fragments at him, each was deflected by his own telekinesis. He launched a dagger at her which did embed itself in her right shoulder and she did cry out and fall, but she yanked it out and continued fighting. Her shoulder seemed to stitch itself back together almost instantly. She was healing almost as fast as Setrákus Ra. In his distraction, she tackled him and had her bone dagger at his throat.
"Do you surrender?" She demanded. She was flushed and panting hard. That was a given. Using multiple legacies at once could be tiring. Nine chuckled and held his hands up.
"I surrender."
She grinned and got off him. She turned and gave him a hand getting up. He had a few slices on his other cheek and his arms. He hadn't been able to deflect all her ammo. Malcolm was clapping from the observation deck.
"Please tell me Six has left." Nine asked him.
"She and Sam left half an hour ago. Although if she was here she'd be dying from laughter right now." Malcolm grinned.
Cecilia chuckled and raised an eyebrow. "Never gotten your butt kicked by a girl?" She teased.
"The only other girl that's managed to beat me is Six." Nine sighed.
"Number Six from what I've heard has previously kicked his butt. Something about you were being too cocky for her?" Malcolm smirked.
"Don't you have records to falsify?" Nine impatiently huffed.
At that, he heard a new sound from Cecilia, laughter. She'd fallen over laughing at him.
"Merry Christmas. Get it back on her and then text Marina to come see you. You aren't going anywhere looking like you just finished fighting a bunch of Mogs." Malcolm replied, dropping the band to Nine.
"Sorry but this must go back on for now." He told Cecilia. She gave him a curious look.
"For now?" She inquired. He winked at her before grabbing her wrist and reattaching it.
"Go to class." He smiled. She smiled back and waved.
"You're getting attached to her aren't you? More than others." Malcolm noted.
"You got work to do Malcolm." Nine reminded, rolling his eyes.
"Whatever you say, Stanley," Malcolm replied.
Nine shook his head and rolled his eyes. He pulled out his phone to text Marina. Boy was John gonna have a field day with this too.
"So care to explain why you look like a Mog beat the crap out you?" John inquired with a smirk.
"Not really." Nine replied.
"This is Cecilia's work." Malcolm supplied. Marina laughed as she applied her hand to Nine's face.
"So what're her legacies? Is she really Ximic or not?" John questioned.
"Nope. The reports were false or they didn't want to admit they got their butt kicked. Like our friend here." Malcolm chuckled.
"Alright Malcolm how about next time I observe and you fight her?" Nine challenged.
"No thank you." He laughed. Malcolm turned to John.
"She exhibits telekinesis with excellent control. We know she's a teleporter even though she didn't show it today. She to put it simply is her own Mog cannon. Might be why she broke her band and leveled a whole squad of peacekeepers yesterday. She appears to be able to make her own weapons by generating bone from her skin. This does cause her to bleed but she has a fifth legacy which I checked and it seems to be a form of recupero. She almost instantly heals herself from any injury." Malcolm explained.
"Rapid regeneration?" Marina questioned. Nine hissed as she touched his shoulder.
"That's the good shoulder!" Nine protested. John laughed.
"She's certainly powerful." Malcolm nodded.
"Hey, when Six drops off the little girl with you folks have her go against Cecilia and show no mercy." Nine huffed.
"Ah, only his pride is damaged." John laughed clapping him on the back.
"Wanna to go at Johnny boy?" Nine retorted.
"Nah, it wouldn't be a fair fight anyway." John teased.
"You saying I'm disabled?" Nine argued.
"I'm just saying you might be a little rusty," John smirked.
Marina rolled her eyes. John was baiting him.
"Let's go, man. You and me down in the gym. Right now." Nine dared.
"You're on." John grinned.
They both left the room. Malcolm gave Marina an amused look.
"You're more than welcome to use the obstacle course while they're busy. I can monitor the controls." Malcolm suggested.
"Nah. I'll just watch them beat each other up," Marina replied. Malcolm nodded and went out onto the observation deck. Marina smiled and put both hands on her stomach. Then she went to go join Malcolm.