1Joe stared out into the dense forests with Françoise, the trees climbing high as skyscrapers and standing tall as giants. Being cyborgs, they could sense the young boy was somewhere in there, the 00X cyborg. With a firm nod to one another, they entered the forest, blasters in their hands cautiously. The forest was very much alive, overflowing with life, but it felt odd; like the atmosphere was created by letting birds out of cages into this deep wilderness. Françoise and Joe both were walking, hackles raised and walking as quietly as possible. The trees and plant life below their feet were almost unnaturally healthy looking, too good to be true on a polluted Earth.
"You know we're getting close to him, don't you?" the female cyborg asked, her partner nodding, expecting an aggressive greeting once they were discovered. "Joe, he's so close now… it's almost as if he's…"
"Hello there." Françoise fell backwards in surprise as the boy they had been looking for hung from a tree by his legs. Joe laughed momentarily, but returned his eyes to the boy.
"Hey. I'm Joe, this is my friend, Françoise."
"I'm 00Xa, Tsutsugami back before I was experimented on. You're looking for me because of my 00 code, right?"
"Yes…" Joe agreed slowly, surprised by the kid's straightforwardness. "How did you know?"
"I can sense other cyborgs before they arrive, just like you guys. You didn't think because I'm a newer model they left that feature out did you? Hell, it might not even be given, just a primordial instinct."
"Well," Françoise spoke up, dusting herself off. "Since you know why we're here, will you come back with us to the rest of the 00 cyborgs?"
"Sure, as long as there's food." the boy replied, some saliva pouring over his lips as he looked away in a dazed fantasy for moment, images of sweet and savoury dishes flooding his mind.
"Speaking of food, how did you survive out here? You're a little on the skinny side, but you look pretty healthy." Joe commented.
"Well… if you've got the gist of my power, it's self manifested. I've got an imaginative streak, so anything I want to happen can, by manipulating and reordering matter, happens, if materials required are present."
"You speak like you've got college degree." the female cyborg spoke up.
"The Black Ghost program has a surprisingly good education system for younger cyborgs, I guess they wanted us all to be as intelligent as possible to make it easier to use our powers when they forced us to submit."
"Seems logical enough…" she agreed. "I guess that's how you made those fruit trees off in the distance over there, you could imagine it all down to the finest detail because of how much you learned about things?"
"Yep, that's right!" He confirmed.
"Let's get going before anything strange happens." Joe cut in, apprehension thick in his voice, and the three of them all cleared out of the forest, piling into the car he and Françoise had taken here.
It was a long drive back full of questions and stories about the 00X's life before the Black Ghost got ahold of him. He had been just a normal child, with a twin sister, his father, an English teacher at a college held in high regard, and his mother, a free lance artist who'd never had a painting unsold in her career. His sister and him had taken on both of their parents' talents equally, so on top of being near identical in appearance, they were near identical in strengths and weaknesses. Though the execution of their talents was quite different, in his view. His sister always seemed to enjoy the disturbing and psychologically complex side of things, while he focused on the more realistic and emotionally complex side of things. Before he could elaborate on this, he reported feeling tired, snuggling up in the back seat while Joe kept his eyes on the road. They'd been driving for an hour now, and he wasn't more than thirteen, going through growth spurts and puberty to wear him out. Françoise offered to drive in Joe's place, as she thought he looked a bit distant, and he allowed this, lost in a thought.
…
The professor had taken in 00Xa, and, surprisingly enough, the rest of the team had found 00Xb. The two were twins, similar to 0010+ and 0010-. 00Xb had proven to be more aggressive and suspicious than her brother, but being reunited, she promised to behave, as they'd spent 3 years looking for one another, from what they'd said. Staring out the window into the rain, the ninth cyborg was soon accompanied by the second. The second opened the window to the covered balcony space, containing a bench and some potted flowers that sat just outside the thick tarp over the cyborgs' heads. 002 pulled out a pack of menthols and lit one up, smoking.
"You don't seem too happy about finally making a friend out of an enemy." He said quietly, exhaling the fumes as he spoke.
"It's not that…" Joe said, "I'm as glad as everyone else we didn't have to fight them. Their powers are far greater than ours. Something just doesn't add up… I think by now, Black Ghost knows the nature of humans, especially teens and kids, considering how young some of the cyborg have been. You and I are eighteen, Françoise is nineteen, minus her sleep state of course… and 001; he's a baby. Why would he send two cyborgs to us in the same area, knowing that if we reunited them, they'd become our allies? They're the most advanced cyborgs yet, it makes no sense…" he balled his hands into fists on his knees, trying to make sense of this matter.
"I don't know," 002 replied, the fumes escaping his nostrils as he continued smoking. "I thought it was a little funny that they'd conveniently both be here, but not to the level that you're on. You say that it's strange he sent them to us knowing the behaviour of kids their age. Maybe he didn't think it mattered, because eventually they'll realise they have no reason to behave. They can make just about anything happen, they barely have limits to their powers. How long do you think it will be until they notice that, 009? They're smart kids, grew up going to some of the best schools around and when Black Ghost got a hold of them, they learned to survive."
"I guess you're right…" Joe agreed, fists only growing tighter as he tried to restrain his anger. "We're almost powerless against them. But they're still kids; they can still be retaught how to act and use their powers for good! Don't you at least think we should try and teach them right from wrong?!" He exclaimed, standing up and gripping the balcony's edge so hard his fingers turned white.
"I know where you're coming from. We can try and tell them how they should use their powers. But they're old enough to decide that all we're saying is as bad as all Black Ghost does. They're not kids. They're teens. They're not gonna be as mouldable and dependent as they need to be to believe everything we say. They're old enough to create their own views, so don't be surprised if they turn on us." 002 left his cigarette burning in the ashtray, like a parting gift for the overstressed ninth cyborg. Sighing, Joe rested his head in his hands, elbows on his knees. In truth, there's no way to deny that he's right… There's no way for me to argue that those two are too developed to just blindly do everything that we say. Still… we have to try, don't we?! We can't just leave them with the ideas Black Ghost put in their heads. I'm really wishing now that I'd taken that class in parenting and adolescent psychology while I was still in high school. Parenting… that's it! Walking back into the house with renewed energy, Joe found Françoise and brought her out to the balcony where he'd been sitting before.
"Françoise. I need you to work with me on something…" he began awkwardly, heat creeping into his cheeks.
"What's that?" she asked curiously.
"It's about those kids we found… Well um. We need to teach them how to use their powers the way they should because… well. If we just leave them out there, where do they have to go? They'll just get picked up by the Black Ghost again, and we both know that's not a good thing."
"Yes… what exactly do you plan to do about that?"
"Well… 001. He can read thoughts right?"
"Yes, that's right." the girl nodded.
"I was thinking. If 001 can see their inner most thoughts, he can report them back to us, and we can come up with ways to alter their thinking right?"
"Yes… Joe what have you been thinking about?"
"I was thinking about… parenting them. We found them; so it's only right we raise them because they've got nowhere else to go." Joe's blush deepened as Françoise cheeks only began to redden.
"I guess you're right about that," she agreed slowly. "If we know what they're thinking that makes it easier to change their mindset."
"So um. I guess I'm asking you to act as the mom if I act as the d… d…"
"If you act as the father." Françoise finished for him.
"Ah. Their own mom and dad were pretty busy with work, so there wasn't a whole lot they had time to teach their kids, being gone all the time."
"I guess we'd better get started tomorrow then." the third cyborg said, looking up at the sky as it grew lighter and the rain slowed.
"Tomorrow…" Joe echoed, watching the clouds part for the sun, as if it had already risen to reflect a new day and the new possibilities that come with it.
