Lyra turned her bright blue eyes towards Candi, and in one quick motion, flung her arms around Candi's shoulders, crying and mewling.
"We all saw what you did on Emporia! You saved my brother. You're my hero!" Lyra wailed as she rested her head on Candi's shoulder.
Candi's eyes widened as she patted Lyra's back in an effort to comfort her.
"Lyra, you can let go of her now." Slate laughed as he rasped with a hoarse voice. "You're too big to be trying to snuggle up on her."
He turned to Candace with a grin.
"That's my baby sister Lyra."
"Wow. She looks just like you. Tall and beautiful, except she's female and not like…"
"A tree trunk?" Slate laughed. "We have the same mother and our family tends to run on the tall side." He looked at Leonardo and Dante who both towered over Candi.
Then he turned back to Candi with a wide grin, looking far better than he did only minutes earlier when he had just awaken.
"She's only fourteen and almost 5'10."
"She's fourteen?" Candi gasped.
"I'll be fifteen in three weeks!" Lyra pouted.
Candi was barely 5'2" and Lyra was slouched over trying to nestle her head onto Candi's shoulders. It was almost as if a giant child was trying to hug her.
"Yes, yes." Slate grimaced. "Such an old maid. Four more inches and you will be as tall as me."
Lyra turned back to her brother.
"I am still growing. I might even get taller than you, Brother Dear."
Slate chuckled.
"Let's hope not or no man is going to want you for his bride."
"Hmmmph." She turned her nose up at the suggestion and went back to snuggling on Candi.
"I loved the way you kicked those nasty men on Emporia, Candace! I am going to learn how to fight, just like you!"
"How did you know I fought those Emporian men?" Candi turned to Lyra with confusion.
There was no visuals gathering pods on Emporia. How in the world did this girl see what had happened on the surface of the mer world?
Seeing Candi's confused face, Dante spoke up.
"I was monitoring from space and beamed the entire thing to the Brothers and they sent it everywhere. The computers had even managed to lip-read what you said and captioned everything."
Slate's eyes glowed with excitement.
"All that was captured on visual? Show me!"
"I don't think it's a good idea," Leonardo shook his head. "It might trigger some hidden trauma in you, Slate."
Slate waved a dismissive hand.
"I am a warrior. I've been through far worse than this. Show me. I want to see Candace kick butt."
Dante glanced at Leonardo who shrugged. He waved a hand and activated a virtual monitor that picked up at the moment where Candi emerged from Leonardo's transport pod.
From a distance, Candi looked like a tiny female standing in front of a very large blond male. He stood there as she walked towards the glass walkway and waited.
Within moments, a bound, gagged Prince of Erenveil with a bag over his head was led up to the platform. He was staggering and unsteady on his feet.
One of the men kicked him from behind and the bound, gagged Prince fell onto the platform.
Slate inhaled sharply.
"I was drugged out of my mind at that moment. They had gagged me and bagged my head. I could barely breathe."
"We can stop this visual right now." Dante murmured.
"No." Slate waved his hand in protest. "I want to see this."
At the distance in space that the visual was being gathered, they could not hear Candi's voice, but she was calling out to him and guiding him across the stretch of sky walk.
The words she called out were captioned below the visual. It made Candi blush and brought a huge grin to Slate's face.
Clearly, under the visuals were the words that she had spoken that day under the Emporian sky.
"Slate. I'm here Sweetheart. You're turned the wrong way, Love. Turn ten degrees to your left. A tiny bit more. I'm right across the sky walk from you Sweetheart."
They could all see the tears that fell from her eyes, even as her voice continued to remain steady.
"Good job, Sweetheart. One more step will take you onto the walkway. That's right Slate. Walk straight to me, Darling. Follow my voice."
Slate waved an excited hand at the visual.
"You see that? I'm a Sweetheart!" He exhaled with bliss. "This is the good stuff. It helps me heal better than any drug possibly could."
The visuals continued without pause.
As the two figures reached the center of the glass walkway, the tiny image of Candi reached out and held Slate's head in her hands.
On ballet pointe toes that looked as if she was dancing, she planted a kiss on his covered face. There was a momentary pause, and then she moved past him.
Slate gave a deep sigh of regret.
"I didn't even know you had kissed me. I couldn't see or feel anything."
"Well, technically, I kissed a cloth bag." Candi pursed her lips.
Slate growled. "That's not fair. I want a replacement kiss after I watch the rest of this exciting movie."
Everyone laughed.
It was a terrifying moment, but for Slate to react to it in this manner meant he was psychologically healing.
After Candace had passed Slate, a fully bat-suited Leonardo flew towards Slate and hauled him off like a cord of wood.
It was then that Candace charged full speed towards the platform where the two men were still standing.
In one swift move, they saw her kick both men in the head. Two seconds later, the men had both fallen off the platform, plunging to their deaths to the ground far below.
"Wow." Lyra gasped, hugging Candi even tighter. "You're such a fierce fighter, defending my brother like that. I want to be like you."
Slate said nothing. His face was stony. His eyes, deadly.
He continued to watch as she took on the dozen men who ran towards her. He winced as she was shot point-blank in the chest and then gazed in amazement as the Avgo absorbed the shot with ease.
Once she ran inside the glass dome, the visual ended.
"Send me a copy of that visual, please." Slate turned to Dante, who gave a quick nod. "I need to analyze this footage so I can return to Emporia. There are places to visit, people to talk to, scores to settle."
"You go get 'em Brother!" Lyra shouted.
"No worries. They are dead men walking. They just don't know it yet." Slate growled.
"You are going nowhere until you heal up." Candace murmured in a gentle voice, even as she cast fierce eyes at Slate.
He hung his head in acquiesce as Leonardo and Dante glanced at each other, smirking.
They were about to respond when an alert came through. It was the Emperor wanting to talk with Slate via visuals.
Candi made a motion as if to leave, but Slate shook his head.
"Stay, Candace. I want you to be here so Father can explain to you and the rest of us exactly why he would send you into such a dangerous situation."
Candi glanced at Slate's face and quailed with fright.
He looked murderous.