After Todd was taken care of, leaving behind nary but a pool full of blood, Nine finally asked the question to confirm if they were Subject Twelve's family. There were only eleven kids stood before her, leading her to a logical conclusion.
"Do you know Subject Twelve?" Subject One asked, surprise in his eyes. He struggled to keep his face impassive, trying to emulate Nine.
Nine quirked a smile at his 'subtle' actions. "We met."
"I see," Subject One said, eyes downcast.
"Who are you?" Subject Two said warily, the earlier awe and worship fading slightly now that the adrenaline was over. "Why do you know Subject Twelve? Are you also part of the organisation?"
Nine just stared calmly at Subject Two.
Subject Six furiously whacked Subject Two over the head, starting a round of scolding that Subject Two habitually cowered under. Subject Seven watched with glee on the side-lines.
"Who do you think you're speaking to! That's our saviour! He brought us back from the realm of the dead! We should be grateful, but instead you're interrogating him!?"
Subject Two flinched but tried to defend himself. "I know that! But don't you think its suspicious? How could be possibly know about Subject Twelve! She's already been dead for six years, and no one outside the organisation should know about us!"
Nocturne flicked Subject Two's forehead, causing him to roll on the ground as he clutched his forehead.
"Subject Twelve has become a ghost," he said dryly. "We found her outside, looking sad and lost."
"Oh," Subject Two said weakly, his earlier defiance gone. He stood up and bowed at an almost ninety-degree angle towards Nine and Nocturne. "Forgive my earlier impudence!"
Nine patted Subject Two on the head, causing him to hide his face behind his hands, inwardly screaming at everyone not to look at him.
"It's fine. It's commendable that you're thinking on your feet and not letting circumstances cloud your judgement. That's the way to keep those dear to you safe."
The earlier gloom that was surrounding Subject Two lightened at the praise as he felt his gratitude towards Nine to deepen.
"Do you want to follow me out of here?" asked Nine, not pressuring in any way.
"Yes!" came the response as one.
"Then, in place of that human swine, I'll name you as proof that you no longer belong to this 'organisation'. Or if you have a name that you prefer, say so now."
Subject Two didn't hesitate to open his mouth. "Wale. I'm still going to keep 'Two' as a last name, so I don't forget. Nice to meet you. I'm Wale Two."
No one else spoke up, so Nine started naming them. "Subject One will be Damien. Subject Three, Chen. Four, Jared. Five, Jane. Six, Gladys. Seven, Glenn. Eight, Lucias. Nine, Artemia. Ten, Theo. Eleven, Jovan. Then Subject Twelve will be Lavril."
The moment she finished speaking, the system pinged twelve times, informing her of the new contracts, which made her speechless. She really hadn't been doing this with the plan of contracting them under her. After all, the majority of them looked thirteen or fourteen, which was hardly the age where they were able to make decisions objectively.
She swept her worries aside. Since she had already taken them in, then so be it. She needed people to run the information network anyway.
"My name is Nine Destan. Crown Prince of the Cosmos Empire. Don't hesitate to come to me if you have any problems. If you lot decide to work under me, then I'll always make time for you no matter what."
"Yes, Master," they chorused. Their eyes gleamed at the chance of getting away from this organisation. They wanted out to see the world. Even if they passed the organisation's test, they would be constrained by rules and restrictions. In that case, was that really freedom?
With eleven kids in tow, Nine led them outside to wait for her students to finish up with the cleaning.
They flinched when the sunlight hit them, shocked. Gradually, their eyes grew used to the glare of natural light. They looked around, enchanted. Everything seemed fresh and new to them, who had only seen the insides of steel walls and cold floors.
Although they had seen pictures of it in books, they had never experienced it first-hand.
Before long, with a loud rumble and the ground shaking, as well as a few minor explosions, Nine's students emerged from within…as well as a bunch of other extra people following along.
Nine felt a headache incoming.
There were kids of various ages following alongside them from as young as three to as old as sixteen or seventeen.
Nine didn't say anything. Since they picked them up, they were her student's problems. Not hers.
Suddenly, a translucent figure flew towards the group she picked up before abruptly stopping before them and hesitating, eventually deciding to move away lest they think she was a hallucination again. She didn't think her heart could handle that.
Nine channelled some of her magic on her hand, grabbing Subject Twelve, Lavril, before she could flee. "Lavril Twelve. Don't you think you're being rude not seeing your family after such a long time? You were the one who looked for help, right?" she said, patting the ghost girl gently.
Since dying at the age of six, her body was stuck in that form, leaving her looking vulnerable and innocent if one ignored the translucent state of her body.
Lavril stared up at Nine, stunned. "Lavril… Is that my name?"
Nine nodded in affirmation.
Lavril hugged Nine gently, feeling tears prick her eyes when she realized that she could feel Nine's form. Although there was no sense of touch, she could feel the pressure. After years of passing through things, she had already given up all home. Now that all the good things happened at once, she was overwhelmed and unsure of what to feel.
"Sister!" Gladys called, charging forward and hugging Lavril. Jane also impulsively pounced on her, breaking out into tears.
Lavril started crying in earnest, only feelings of happiness left within her. They could see her! She was no longer alone.
Nine marvelled at how they had instinctively picked up on how to interact with Lavril just from watching her. As she had seen from their stats earlier, the organisation had really known how to pick their recruits! Sure enough, they weren't picked randomly.
Each one who had been spirited away had boundless potential, but the organisation just didn't know how to nurture talents properly! Just look at that useless instructor earlier, Todd, who only cared about his own well-being. He even ended up killing a recruit, but they still left them in his hands!
Utterly incompetent. That was the only description she had for the organisation. It was better that they were wiped out since they were wasting the oxygen on the planet just by existing.
A teacher's job was to guide the way, not hinder their students and cause their deaths. As a teacher herself, just the thought of it gave birth to a rage within Nine at the sheer ineptitude the man had for teaching. Just looking at the way he interacted with them when he was trying to 'teach' made her feel like ending his life there and then.
If the other 'instructors' were anything like that man, then she was glad that the other recruits had been liberated.
Deltan excitedly walked up to Nine, beaming. The thrill of having done something significant that changed people's lives for the better made him feel euphoric.
Nine patted her elder brother's back.
"They're all yours now. Excluding the ones that I picked up myself."
The words that Deltan were about to speak stalled as his mind rapidly digested the words Nine said.
"Eh? Wait, brother!" he called. "What do you mean?"
Nine turned around and walked away like she hadn't heard him.
"Younger brother, wait! Fourth Brother!"
Nocturne coughed to hide his laugh, spotting Nine's hidden smirk.