"Project Aegis. The moment I saw you emerged from inside that dome, I knew we just have to get you."
Grandpa took a step towards me and sighed. "It seems that if I wanted to use you, it would take more effort than I had initially thought. Who would've imagined their secret weapon would fall into our lap like this?"
The surrounding people whispered to each other, unsure of grandfather's decision in telling me all of that.
They knew what I was.
But they hid it from me.
"I don't want to be here anymore," I said softly.
He wanted to use me for his own personal gain.
Anger welled up inside me and I welcomed it. I wiped the tears from my face and glared at him. My spikes stopped moving suddenly and it crumbled, where pieces of it fell down to the floor.
"Too bad we're holding you here for now. You have no choice really, my dear Ava." Grandfather rummaged inside a bag that he was carrying that whole time and aimed a bulky, golden gun at me.
"This gun has enough firepower to penetrate the armor of a tank with one shot. You know what that means, eh? My apologies, Ava but since you can't control that weapon inside you, I'm afraid I have to finish you off here and now."
His voice did not have any trace of hesitation. He was confident in what he said, which was to have me dead.
Those crimson spikes of mine finally turned into liquid form and seeped through the skin of my arms, leaving no hints of oddity behind. I rubbed the blood streaks on my face with both hands.
He smirked. "You can heal yourself well, I'd noticed that. Though if I destroy your body completely, there's nothing for you to generate."
There was a subtle distortion in his voice as if that statement he made was of arrogance rather than beaming confidence.
"You hate me, grandpa . . ." I muttered.
"Hate is such a strong word, dear Ava. I'm merely helping you to end your suffering right now. Think of it as a blessing in disguise."
"But!" I felt like crying again but I held it back. "You never wanted to save me!"
"Perhaps . . . But right now, I'm doing you a favor."
I clenched my fists. "How could you . . ."
Again, I tried my hardest to hold back the tears. I did not want to look weak right then.
Deep in my heart, I knew Mommy and Daddy needed my help. They had to. They were searching for me, and that, I was sure.
An idea popped up in my head. I thought about controlling that power inside me.
Assuming I had complete dominance over grandpa and his friends, the search for Mommy and Daddy was certain to be a lot easier.
I could make all of them search for Mommy and Daddy.
From the corner of my eye, I caught sight of a handful of grandpa's friends that were holding that same golden gun in their hands. They were completely ready to shoot anytime they wished.
"Hope, you're not prepared to shoot. Stand down," said grandpa to a boy just behind him,
The boy who had the name, Hope, held his gun as he was shaking. He wore a plain gray shirt with blue jeans. He was only a bit taller than me.
"Grandpa, you didn't really send anyone to search for Mommy and Daddy, right? Let alone anyone else," I posed a question to ascertain myself.
"You figured it out too soon, Ava. I was only trying to put you at ease," he answered so calmly that I regretted crying in front of him before. "We're too busy fighting them off. They're everywhere, Ava. I can't give special treatment to anyone in this condition. The people that were left behind would always be remembered in our hearts."
"You left Mommy and Daddy out there!" I shrieked. "What if they were waiting for our help?!"
"We're cutting our ties from the outside right now. Those people may reveal our location." Grandpa tilted his head. "And I don't expect a kid like you to understand that. Let adults do their stuff."
And so, they pulled the triggers of their guns and ear-shattering sound attacked my ears.
"Erk!"
I wished for something. An object that could protect me from grandpa. A shield that could protect me from those weapons.
I repeated that thought over and over until a large red object that looked like a tire popped into existence from my right arm. It enlarged itself and formed small spikes at its edge in a matter of a second.
Then, a volley of invisible projectiles struck that shield, but it did not even budge. I was still there standing, gasping in awe.
"I-Impossible. Even highly condensed air bullets of such magnitude cannot pierce it," Hope said in fear.
I felt a surging confidence welling up and I held onto it. Somehow, I felt like I could do anything. As long as I have that power, no one could hurt me anymore.
I steeled myself to walk towards grandpa. As my feet shuffled, I desired a few times for that shield to vanish from sight. And so, it responded and turned into liquid and seeped into my right palm, just like those spikes from before.
Grandpa lowered his gun. "The weapon inside her is wired to her brain. It acts as an extra limb you could say."
"Help, er, Mommy and Daddy, grandpa. They need us." I said, only a dozen feet away from him.
They fired their guns once more and it happened yet again. My tire-looking shield stopped the invisible projectiles as I forced myself to slowly walk to grandpa.
My heart was beating against my chest rapidly and I found myself having difficulty to breathe properly.
"Curse you, Aegis!" One of them, a young woman, threw her gun at me.
"Hem!" I shut my eyes instinctively. When I opened it again, the bulky gun was already lying on the floor in pieces. A curved, red blade had emerged from my right arm, slowly turning into liquid to come back to me.
I took a deep breath.
"Help me find Mommy and Daddy," I finally said to them, where grandpa was only a foot away.
I strained to keep a calm face, but the loud beating of my chest made it harder than it should be.
The effect of all the conjuring of blades and shields somehow kicked in, as a sharp pain shot through my entire body. I knew that was the cause since I'd experienced the same pain earlier.
"It hurts!" I said, grimacing over it. Small trickles of tears started to flow out of my eyes.
Grandpa stared down at me. "If we help you, would you help us too?"
"I just want Mommy and Daddy." The images of both of them in my head calmed me down.
"You can't survive out there alone. You need us." He smiled at his statement. "You need food, water, and shelter. We provide you with that and promise to help find your parents too, and in return, you help us back. Think of it as a deal. Not bad, eh?"
My curved, red blade from before manifested again and threatened to cut his neck. "No!" I shouted.
Even so, the blade remained in that position. It appeared to me that it wouldn't move any further, so I relied on that. "A-All of you will help me," I said with a shaky voice.
The same young woman who lost her gun approached me. "Don't get cocky, kid."
Grandpa waved her away and she bitterly stepped back. "Okay. You have all of us at your service."
My mouth pursed into a thin smile and the blade returned inside my arm. With that, my chest felt lighter.
"But if you just let me give you one task to do. Just one." He gestured with one hand. "Of course, we'll let you do whatever you want. Alright?"
I agreed to his conditions. It seemed to me that grandpa was not willing to give up, and if I didn't have their help, it would just make the search for Mommy and Daddy to be quite difficult.
I shook my head and wrapped my arms around my body.
=======================================|
The next morning, Beatrice was treated, and she appeared to be fine after that. I felt a bit happy knowing it was nothing serious.
Grandpa had given me a list of people that went out in search for Mommy and Daddy so that I knew who were out there searching. I memorized their names and faces beforehand.
He explained that he only knew about the secret weapon, Project Aegis, from a data that he had stolen a long time ago. Still, he refused to explain where he gets it. He also confirmed the information that he had in his head about Aegis had all been spat out during our previous confrontation, nothing more nothing less.
He was also confused about why I had the weapon myself. I did not bother him after that.
In the evening, he had called for a meeting. There were only a few selected members that were involved, including me.
"Your task, Ava, is to be a decoy. Hope will accompany you when you're at your determined location. He's there to make sure you're supposed to do what you should do."
In the meeting, Hope scowled when he was assigned to be my bodyguard. "No, no, no. Boss, I don't want to be anywhere near her."
He met my gaze and stepped back into a corner, refusing to meet me in the eyes.
"You're the only one suitable for this, Hope," Grandpa assured him.
"What? There must be someone else."
"Everyone else has their own tasks and assignments. You have to make yourself worthwhile for once."
One by one, the people involved in the meeting nodded in agreement.
"It can't be. . . " Hope submitted.
I grabbed at his shirt, "If you don't mind, I can protect you, Mister Hope. Er, I don't know if I can do it though . . ."
He narrowed his eyes at me. "Really?"
"It'll all be fine," I said with a smile.
He sighed and rubbed his blond hair. "It's not like I have a choice anyway."
I patted his back but he distanced himself from me.
"You're sending that monster to her death. I like it," Beatrice voiced out at the far end of the room.
"Now, now, you're making me the bad guy here," Grandpa said.
They all laughed at him.
But I found it to be nowhere as funny as they thought.
They insulted me. And I don't like that.
It appeared that all of them hated me. I shivered from thinking about it, so I tried my best not to cry and put on a tough face from then on.
"This is a rebellion. If we manage to take over the supply route to their base, the C.U's base will have a shortage of supplies. After that, we can strike them. These three days are all the time we have left if we wanted to drive out the Corporate United from our town," said grandpa.
The short speech Grandpa made have the group riled up, except for me.
I did not listen to the whole meeting.
Because in my mind, I kept thinking about my parents, and how close I was in finding them. Little did I knew that it was not going to be all that easy.