“No wait! That wasn’t… I didn’t… It just…an accident! It was an accident! I didn’t mean… I didn’t do it! Really, I didn’t… please… Just… could you forget about it?” Seven panicked. He shrunk back as every eye bored into him.

He hadn’t meant to expose his weird ability. He had successfully kept it a secret this whole time, and in one moment of relaxation, he let it slip. Now, he didn’t know what was going to happen to him. When Pandora found out that he could defy gravity, it only made his life worse. He was worried that these people might do the same.

He stared with wide, fearful eyes as Lex made his way over to him. When the man reached Seven, he knelt down, making himself a level lower than the boy. Seven flinched when Lex looked up into his eyes.

“Hey. It’s alright,” the man said in a gruff voice. “No one here is going to hurt you. I promise you that. I know it’s a hard thing, and I won’t ask you to trust us just yet, but I hope that one day you will be able to. So, to start, we wont ask about your little trick since you don’t want us to.” He made sure to glare around at his men. “But in exchange, let’s keep moving. We’re almost there, and you look like you need something warm in you.”

He stood up and ruffled the boy’s hair before moving off once more. The group began moving once more. Seven hung back with Caleb and after a while began talking about some of his favorite books. A collective sigh was released when he spoke animatedly to Caleb. The others in turn read the files Seven had sent.

“We should have killed more of them,” Blick muttered as he read.

Mevin moved closer to Lex. “Hime, what are your plans with the kid?” he whispered.

“I’m planning on hiding out for a while, trying to avoid getting drafted for the war as long as possible. I don’t know. Maybe hide out in India for a while.”

“What are you going to do with him, though? He doesn’t have a home. He’s a clone, for trite’s sake. You can’t just drag him around with you. The war’s going to catch up with you. Either that or Toluene will. Just drop him off somewhere.” Lex smacked him.

“You cold hearted demon. You think I could do that to the poor kid. After what he’s been through? You know it’s deeper than what he’s shown. I bet his scars have scars. It’ll wreck him if I did that to him. I don’t think he’s ever had someone to depend on. I intend to be just that.”

“Why are you going so far for him? You’ve never went this far for someone. Not once even though all the crazy stunts we’ve done through all the years. Look, Lex, I’ve been with you for this long now. Listen to me just this once. That kid’s a ticking time bomb, and you’re going to get killed because of him. Just give him to a shelter like you normally do, and call it good.”

Lex slowed and looked back at Seven. The kid almost laughed as he spoke with Caleb, but quickly smothered it, almost like he was afraid it would come back and bite him, like he would get beaten for it.

“I can’t Mevin. Look at him. Look at what they’ve done to him. I know he’s a strong kid. I mean he made it through whatever it was they put him through. Made it out on top even, but Mevin, jecking roat! He’s only four years old! No matter how old he may seem, he’s only live in this world for four measly years. Almost five,” Lex gave a sad laugh, “And every single one of those kanted years he’s been treated as nothing more than an object. I just can’t stand that fact, and if it ends up killing me, so be it.”

“Lex-”

“He reminds me of myself, Mevin. Back then, I was completely alone. For years, I struggled just to survive just by myself. Without any help even, not even when it was offered. At least he had the courage to reach out to someone.”

Mevin sighed. “You’re not budging, are you? Fine, I’ll help you out. I just hope he doesn’t take as long to crack open as you did. It was annoying how you refused to open up back then. I don’t want to have to go through that again.”

“Thanks, Mevin. You know how much this means to me.”

“You’ll owe me for this, though.”

“Admit it. He’s growing on you, isn’t he?”

Mevin punched him. “Not yet, he isn’t.”

They walked in silence for a few minutes.

“Think he has anymore tricks?” Lex said after a while.

“Like that one? I’m not sure. It’d be cool if he did though.”

“I know, right? He doesn’t have a meta-link right?”

“Nope. Nothing showed up when we scanned him for bugs or a tracker.”

“How do you think he did it? And that high-speed regeneration too! That was amazing. How many bullet holes did he have in him? That’s just crazy roat! I wish I had that.”

“Trite, Hime, you’re just like a jecking kid. I’ll admit it is pretty cool though. Be nice to have someone like that on our missions. Maybe you could recruit him.”

“Only if he really wants to, but even then. I wouldn’t want to push him into anything, and I’d rather he not get into anything like that. He’s had enough of people using him and that face of the world. He needs to be a kid now. I just hope we can give that…” Lex trailed off. He signaled everyone to pause.

“Get down,” he said as he flashed a hand signal to those behind him. The group dropped to the group and turned on their cloaking devices.

A few minutes ticked by. Seven was tempted to ask what was happening when off in the distance he heard a low drone. All of a sudden, three aircraft shot by over head – two small fighters and a carrier. The group waited in a heavy silence as planes passed. They didn’t move until the crafts were long gone.

“They’re headed towards Pandora,” Josem said.

“We need to move. Now!”