Alexandria sat inside the cabin pouring over the documents she had pulled from her file trying to find something that was similar. She was amazed at the record keeping right down to how she slept after shifts that she didn’t even remember. Of course none of them matched what happened with the polar bear shift. She flipped one of the documents over to find something about resetting her count. “What the hell is this all about?” Alexandria spoke out loud to herself since Isa and Tyra were on the deck at the moment.

The fact that her shift count could be altered or even reset was a game changer. She didn’t even know there was a limit to how many shifts she could have. Her eyes went wide as she skimmed through the rest of the documents. That must have been why she lost control and passed out like that. In none of the accounts did it ever mention her reaching the count limit which means they didn’t know the limit either. They would stop after two or three trying to find the best combo of animals to put together.

She was about to slam both hands on the desk in frustration until a soft knock echoed through the room. Alexandria shook her head making sure she didn’t look like she was having a nervous breakdown and sat down. “Come in.”

Tyra opened the door and stepped inside, closing it quietly behind her. She walked up to the desk glancing down at the papers then at Alexandria. “You’re not having the best time right now are you?” Tyra pulled up a nearby chair and sat down.

Alexandria blew a strand of hair from her face. “Well I didn’t do the best job of fixing my appearance. It seems I may have a count limit on how many shifts I can store in my body.” She read the last paper on the pile and flipped it over. There was still a ton to go through but she had time.

Tyra cleared her throat not sure how to effectively respond to that. She never had to go through the experimentation and wasn’t imprisoned against her will. Of course she did create a prison on the island she lived on for a few hundred years. “Do you think the reason you lost control was because you reached your limit?”

“That is one of my conclusions. It could also be a warning sign that I am about to reach the limit. There is nothing in these files that says what happened after I hit the shift count. They never tried the damn cowards.” Alexandria closed the folder tossing it in the top drawer slamming it shut.

A soft chuckle escaped Tyra’s lips. “If they had pushed the limit and it had killed you everyone would still be in their own personal hells. You saved us from being alone and gave everyone purpose.” She blew air out of her nose leaning back in the chair.

Alexandria knew Tyra was right. If death was the outcome from trying to exceed the limit then everything she was building wouldn’t exist. There was still a long way to go but she had her crew to help make the journey easier. “Thanks Tyra, I forgot that point in the middle of my despair. We need to pick up the pace the others are going to need us. What do you say we go check out Isa and her ability?”

Tyra let out a chuckle. “Sounds like a plan to me, captain. Next time you start acting like this I am just going to punch you in the face.” She laughed again, slapping Alexandria on the back as they both walked out of the cabin and onto the ship’s deck.

Isa was there meditating by the mast. The ship was still on course since she had rigged the rudder to keep Tyra’s direction. Isa opened her eyes nodding to both Tyra and Alexandria. Something really needed to be done about those emotions or lack thereof.

Alexandria walked up to her, extending a hand which Isa took. She pulled Isa to her feet taking in a deep breath. “We are going to do some training with you while we travel. The fact that you can’t control your emotions needs to be fixed. Your neutral state is a bit jarring. Maybe we can make it to where you can still wear the suit while showing general emotion.”

Isa tilted her head to the side. She did want to learn how to do this however it was extremely dangerous to remove her suit. Isa hugged the suit a bit, shaking her head. “I don’t want to hurt anyone else. There isn’t a proper way to train since no training room built so far has been able to contain my powers.”

There was a silence for a moment as Alexandria tried to think of a way to ease Isa’s insecurity. She looked over the suit and found that it had a zipper going all the way down. That would mean Isa put it on like a coat. If that was the cause perhaps the zipper could be brought down allowing her to show some emotion. “Would you be open to trying something simple first? We could figure out the training room thing at a later time.”

The statement caused Isa to relax her body a bit. She felt that Alexandria could be trusted but she couldn’t figure out why she was willing to extend that level of trust. She barely knew her and this was the first time they had ever hung out in person. “What did you have in mind?”

Alexandria smiled, rubbing her hands together. This was going to be interesting and hopefully no one would get hurt. It was first going to be about allowing Isa to show her emotions a bit with the suit still on. “Alright how about we take the zipper of the suit down to right above your breasts?”

A soft chuckle escaped Tyra’s lips. “Are you sure that is the first thing you want her to do? We have no idea how powerful her emotions are let alone how the suit actually works. Maybe you should have taken Isa’s files as well?”

Isa closed her eyes, shaking her head at Alexandria’s request. That was a bit much like Tyra had said. Isa took in a deep breath trying to stop the shaking. Her body had started to tremble just from the thought of unzipping the suit. Her father always warned her to never take it off and playing with the zipper was off limits as well. He always told her the suit wasn’t a toy, it was a tool to protect everyone around her. It was a shame he never mentioned it was supposed to protect her as well.

Perhaps Tyra was right and Alexandria needed to pick another range. Judging from the way Isa was acting she didn’t like the idea at all. “Alright Isa how about you tell us more about the suit so the three of us can make an informed decision.” It always made Alexandria happy when she was able to use words she read in books into conversations. She was definitely a student of the written word.

Alexandria’s statement calmed Isa down a bit. She didn't tremble nearly as much and she was able to put down her arms. Thinking for a moment about the best way to explain the suit and its power. “Well, my father always told me that it wasn’t a toy, rather it was a tool to protect everyone around me. He said the zipper acted as a switch and playing with it could damage the suit or even break it beyond repair.”

The fact that Isa’s father was that much of a control freak really pissed Alexandria off. Of course the good news was that the zipper most likely was the key to figuring out how the suit worked. “It is possible he told you that to keep you from figuring out how to use it properly. Your suit is an extension of your prison cell. Understanding how the keep works takes control away from your father. How about you just bring the zipper down a few inches or however far you feel comfortable?”

Isa couldn’t show fear the way normal people did. The trembling of her body was as close as she could get to showing fear. Her face was blank but what Alexandria said kept repeating in her mind. It was true that her father had to have control over everything which is most likely why her mom left. If she wanted to find her mother she first needed to throw off her father’s control. “Alright, I will give it a try.”

She grabbed a hold of the zipper carefully taking a deep breath in. As she exhaled she brought the zipper down to the bottom of her neck. Isa’s breathing started to quicken as she waited for something terrible to happen. A few moments passed and then a few minutes. Nothing crazy, bad, or wrong happened at all. The only thing she did feel was relief as a very tiny smirk crossed her face.

Alexandria started to clap slowly, wrinkling her nose. “It would seem your father gave you the key to a piece of your prison all along. He knew you wouldn’t have the strength to use it on your own without help. We need to get you stronger since I doubt he will allow you to stay free for long.” She walked up giving Isa a soft hug which Isa returned if only for a moment.

Another round of clapping came from behind them followed by a soft chuckle. “Well it seems we have a lot of work to do. We are on course to make it on time to the rendezvous point. All that time should be spent teaching Isa how to use her abilities with the suit on. That way if her father does manage to catch up with us he will be fooled at least for a little while.”

Both Alexandria and Isa nodded in agreement. Alexandria wasn’t the best at fighting hand to hand but she was good enough to spar against Isa. “Alright Isa you and I will spar for a few hours and then you will try and use your fire by shooting it into the air. We only have a few days but we will get you ready for the mission.”

Isa was happy she decided to join them. It was going to be the best time of her life. After this mission she was going to ask to search for her mother. That is the first person she wanted to see after gaining more control over her powers. The second person would be her father so that she could burn me to ashes.

Lyric, Eve, and Valentina are making very good time to the rendezvous point since the first island. The others vary in difficulty but so far all of them fell to their teamwork. They have added close to twenty of the former defenders to the list of new crewmembers. The flag of their crew is flying high over a good handful of islands. The rendezvous point was only a day or so away. At the moment they were taking a break to restock certain supplies and just rest their bodies.

“I hope Alexandria and Tyra make it to the rendezvous point on time. Leaving them and moving forward doesn’t seem like a good idea at all.” Lyric stretched a bit, taking a drink from her water bottle. It had been a long time since she drank out of a bottle. This one was made out of metal, something they picked up at one of the islands.

Eve leaned against the mast sharpening one of her knives. She wasn’t much for sitting around but listening to Lyric was something Alexandria said she had to do. Eve had nothing against Lyric but she preferred to do things her way. Alexandria was really the only one that could truly tell her what to do. “If those two are not here on time I will be very surprised. There is no one for miles around that could stop them.”

The fact that neither one of them were freaking out about the fact they were doing half this mission on their own was a bit puzzling to Valentina. She loved the freedom and fun that it brought but she preferred to have everyone around to share in said fun. “When they do arrive I am going to tell them everything we did so they can enjoy it as well.” Valentina smiled, taking a bite of her fried fish.

There were no remaining islands for them to take before the rendezvous point. Now they were just relaxing until they met up with the rest of the crew. Everything seemed to be going their way for now. Of course the world always did seem to have other plans didn’t it?