"Argh! my head." Atlanta grunted touching her head, sitting up straight her eye began clearing as she looked around the room she was currently in.
'What am I doing here?' She was confused, to see herself back at the resistance headquarters. Looking round there was no one in the room, she didn't recognize this particular room as she had not been here before.
Carefully stepping down from the table, Atlanta searched for an exit apart from the lift in front.Seeing there was none, she then quietly made her way towards it.
'Weird. there isn't any security camers.' She knew the resistance set up security cameras everywhere, both in their base and outside. But this room she's in, was without any security camera whatsoever.
"Huh?" She heard a hissing sound behind her, putting her senses on alert. turning round, she saw sole's headless body floating next to his head.
Muffled sobs escaped her mouth as she fell to her knees, her heart irked in pain seeing her friend in the state. Even with her newly acquired powers, she still couldn't do anything but watch as kobal rip his head out.
"Child! you're awake." A voice spoke from behind her, as the lift made a small hissing sound. She was so indulged in her grief and pains, that she'd failed to notice a presence approach her.
"I don't have time for this I have-" her words were cut short, when she finally saw the man wearing a white lab coat in her view.
"Y-you~" she stuttered, pointing her fingers to him. She clearly recognized this man, as he was the same doctor that had saved her life earlier.
"Yes. it's me, doctor tom." He said walking forward.
"You're in the resistance, but how?" She couldn't believe it, he a grumpy rude doctor would be in the resistance. And not just in any of their branches, but in the headquarters.
"It's a long story, but let's just say we're fighting for the same cause." He chuckled a bit, leaving Atlanta more stunned staring at him.
"What's going to happen to him?" She asked causing tom to look at her weirdly for a while, before he continued on with his business mumbling some words.
"I don't know for now, but I think there's a way to bring him back." Atlanta's eye widened, when she heard Tom say there was a way to bring sole back. Warmth filled her heart, knowing she would finally see her best friend again.
"But am afraid he'll become a cyborg, that's the only way to restore him."
"As long as he's back, I don't care what he looks like." She calmly said with a bold look, causing tom to chuckle lightly.
"Really? I hope you still remember the resistance rule. All resistance members must be cyborg free, the penalty if caught is stripped of body parts."
"I know. but as long as I can still breathe, no harm will ever come to anyone I care about again."
'Like father like daughter.' Tom chuckled a bit, recollecting the moments he'd spent with Richard gene. He'd known him to be a family person, as it was him and Richard who were the founders of the resistance.
"Now that you're awake, you should report to the big five office immediately."
"The big five..." she muttered softly. The big five were the core members of the resistance, as they had been in it for as long as time could tell. They were the main powerhouses, and usually if one were called to the presence of the big five, it usually meant two things.
One, the individual was also strong on his own, and the big five would then send such to an difficult assignment to take down a high level hunter. This only usually happened rarely, as only very few were strong in the resistance.
The second however, was you were either caught working with an hunter or you'd secretly modified a part of your body, with a machine's. This was the Greatest punishment, as others were treated as minors not being deemed important.
'How did they know? Did he rat me out.' Atlanta didn't know if this strange doc ratted her out to the big 5, as he was the one who knew her secret. But she wasn't for sure if they truly knew her secret or not, only when she went would she know.
"Thanks, for everything." She softly said walking away.
"No problem. Oh! And you're secret's safe with me." He shouted, causing Atlanta's feet to come to a halt. pretending as if she didn't know what he was saying, she then made her way to the lift.
Reaching to the floor up above the room, the sight of the resistance team filled her eyes. Everybody was working on one thing or the other, constantly moving about to fulfill his or her required purpose. The resistance were all humans so their strength against the hunters were slim, but with battle suits advancing their stats they stood a chance.
The resistance didn't have much high level battle suits, and the few they had were owned by the big 5. So teams of different departments, were constantly working on ways to create or enhance the few they had.
Walking by some people waved at her greeting her with a smile, to which she smiled back. Some she knew and most she didn't, but that didn't stop them from putting on a bright smile to each other amidst the chaos.
"Big 5.." she softly muttered staring at the metal door, with the words big 5 written on top of it. She was about knocking when the door abruptly opened before her, maintaining a calm expression she slowly walked in as the door closed.
The room was mostly made out of metal compartments, with visible hints of sci-fi models. There seating in hovering king size chairs were the big five, they were all seating round a long table which reached about six feet long.
"Welcome Atlanta." Zero was the first to speak, seeing her as his chair was at the head of the table. He had a smile on his face gesturing her to approach them, taking a deep breath she calmly walked forward to their presence.
"Well don't just stand there silly take a seat." Flora chuckled a bit, pointing to the empty seat where Atlanta stood.
"Am afraid I'll have to decline." Atlanta calmly said causing saber to frown.
"I was told my presence is required."
"Yes, but it isn't any cause for you to be alarmed." Getting up zero then went to her causing her to be alarmed a bit, he then simply drew the chair out gesturing her to seat.
Cautious and hesitant a bit, she then sat on the hovering chair as it automatically shifted itself front to the table. Faiya sat beside her on the left strangely glancing at her from time to time, while to her right sat gin with a neutral face his arm crossed.
"I think you know the reason why we called you here today Atlanta." Zero said looking at her, he saw her eyes twitched slightly before returning back to normal.
"There's no possible reason I could think of."
"Sighs... you don't have to pretend anymore child it wasn't your fault, you did what any of us fellow resistance would do. Protect our family."
"If you know what I am now, then why am I still alive?" She knew the jig was up, but she wasn't scared. no! she was more intrigued, to know why the big 5 hadn't killed her yet.
"You're an exception. We saw what you did, And we could use someone like you." Zero uttered, and the others nodded lightly.
"Y-you took down a lv4 hunter! Not many would be crazy enough to do that, for his fellow human. but you, without hesitation charged forward." Flora excitedly said staring at Atlanta with gleamy eyes.
'They were watching me?' Atlanta didn't think they saw any of what she did, she didn't notice their presence at all since her entire focus was on kobal. Since she passed out, she'd guessed they would've later came and then carried hers and sole's body back to HQ.
"What you did was stupid if you asked me." Saber scoffed. "You violated orders, and engaged in a fight between a hunter that could kill you within seconds!"
"And here I am~" She sarcastically said making saber frown, a thin green line of vein bulging appeared on his forehead.
"Haha! girl's hot grit." Gin chuckled slightly.
"What saber said is true. You could've been killed or worse captured and tortured, to reveal the location of the resistance headquarters." Faiya gently spoke, pointing out all her flaws. Atlanta blood boiled more, hearing their irrational and annoying words.
"You're the one to point fingers.. aren't you the big 5? you claim to be all powerful and all, but the truth is your all cowards! She yelled with rage, anger visible on her face.
"How dare you!" Saber shouted, about to silence her when zero stopped him.
"Leave her to speak, she has the right to be angry."
"If you had all came sooner, sole would still be alive! The resistance motor is family first, the strong was meant to protect the weak. Isn't that what we live for? but all I see before me is a bunch of cowards!" She slammed her fist to the metal table denting it. Tears were seen strolling down her eyes, as her emotions clouded her. she had just lost a lot lately, and her heart couldn't bear for more.
"She's right." Zero sadly said getting up. he had a sorrowful expression on his face, walking to the huge glass window staring out.
"We had some important things to attend to, but that isn't an excuse. As a family and the head I take full responsibility, we didn't think he would engage but nevertheless we're too weak."
"Z-zero what are you-"
"No! She has to know the truth." Zero shook his head. He was willing to tell her the truth, as she deserved to know what was really going on.
"As you know our forces are weak, and our strength aren't that much of a threat to the hunters. We possess little amount of battle suits which a small fraction of us has, so it's normal for us to be scared." Zero honestly said, and Atlanta could find the truth in what he was saying. If it wasn't for sole bringing her to doc she would be dead for sure, as she was just made out of flesh and bones.
"We're just a bunch of humans in a world filled with cyborgs. What we do is risky and we expect sacrifices to be made, but those little sacrifices from our family wouldn't go in vein."
"We all have our different reasons for coming, and we knew the risks before we signed up." Faiya spoke indifferently. They all had their different reasons before they signed, which they accepted the consequences for the good of humanity.
"Yeah Atlanta.. We've suffered so much losses. but now with your powers, we're confident we'll overcome the hunters." Flora said with vigor, nodding her head a bit
"Me? Am just a girl trying to take down the hunters that killed my parents." Atlanta dissuaded them. She joined the resistance to solely kill the hunters that took her parents from her, while killing the ones that got in her way.
"Am going to ask you two questions Atlanta. It will determine if you'd still stay and fight with us, or if you'd leave everything you fought so hard for." Zero calmly spoke now staring at her.
"The first is, if you finally find the hunters that killed your parents and killed them, what was next for you? Would you finally be satisfied achieving revenge for your loved ones, or would you stay and fight with us and kill the person that ordered the hit." Atlanta's eye widened as zero said that. She just wanted to kill the hunters that killed her parents, but now zero had offered her the person that ordered the hunters to do so.
"Even if I choose to accept your offer, I still can't control my powers."
"That wouldn't be a problem. All we need is your decision." Atlanta pondered a bit on this topic. She had been going for the smaller fries, when she could have the bigger part of the cake. Though it would take a long time, but if she could achieve that then she would strike an unfixable hole in the hunter's.
The hunter's had hurt and took the life of so many people not just her parents, they deserved to pay ten folds and she wasn't about to pass this opportunity.
"Am in." She calmly said, as a smile then formed on zero's lip.
"Wise decision. Starting from now, you'll be training among the resistance elite squard. and I and the other members of the big 5, will also train you with whatever knowledge we have." Atlanta was shocked hearing this. not only would she be training with the best of the best fighters in the resistance, but she'd also be receiving pointers from the big 5.