The 7th Child

Chapter 4: The Real World

March, 2012

        The Doctor led Jennifer and Legai through the Facility, giving a semi-rushed tour as he brought them to the children's room. "I'm sure you've been eager to meet your new friends, haven't you Legai?" He said with a smile on his face. "Just before we do that, we need a sample of your D.N.A, so that we can know what tests we need to run  and if any other measures are necessary. And of course you'll need a certain amount of injections." He said, bringing them into a lab where another doctor already had a syringe prepared for Legai. "Woah woah woah, 'Injections'? What injections?" Jennifer interupts. The Doctor shrugs, "Nothing major. Vaccines mostly. There is one thing, a device we place in him, but it's purpose is simply to examine his bodily systems from the inside. It's completely harmless." He assures them. Jennifer yanks Legai's arms away from him, "You didn't say anything about putting some 'device' in him!" She says, getting defensive. The Doctor puts his hand on her shoulder, "Science doesn't happen overnight, Ms. Artorian. It takes work, we try to make sure this work is as comfortable as possible for them, it's impossible to not have to sacrifice a little comfort for it." The Doctor's voice brought a strange sensation of calm over Jennifer, as he lowered down to Legai, "It'll be quick. I promise.". Legai nods hesitantly, and they drew the blood from his arm, inserted that vile into a large computer that was part of the wall. The injected a small device into his neck and then it was over. 

The Doctor led them to a door at the end of a long hallway, and opened it to reveal the 6 children. Jennifer couldn't believe her eyes as she marveled at all the different types of children they had collected. All of the children, looking like they all came from different races and backgrounds, all gathered together in the same line they did the day before, all excited to meet the new child. "Children," The Doctor started, "This is Legai, he will be joining us from now on. And this is Jennifer, his mother. I expect you to greet them both warmly." He said. All 6 children gave a collective "Hello", in an eerie in sync type of way, and Legai responded with a joyful wave that was reciprocated by some of the children. "While he gets acquainted with the children, I'd like to show you the rest of this Facility Ms. Artorian." The Doctor says, opening the door. Jennifer turned to the Doctor, "I told you he isn't going out of my sight." She responded quietly, trying not to make a scene in front of the other children. The Doctor gestured towards Legai, who was already in a conversation with one of the kids, "He will be safe here I assure you. There's nowhere better for him to be." He said. Jennifer looks at her son, letting out a heavy sigh and deciding to trust Legai with the rest of the children. She goes up to him and kneels down to him, "Listen, I'm gonna be right back ok? You go hang out with the kids, be nice, and have fun." She says, giving him a light kiss on his forehead before he ran off to meet his new friends. Jennifer turns hesitantly towards the door to join the Doctor as they explore the rest of the Facility. 

          Legai reluctantly begins to try to make friends with the kids. Even though his heart was still heavy with grief, he wasn't ready to let that spoil this new opportunity for him, "Hi, I'm Legai." He says to one of them. Jackson walks up to him and daps him up, "What's up man, I'm Jackson. Aye you into Star Wars?" He asks. Legai responds, "Yea, I am.". "Tell me then, you a prequel fan or original?" Jackson asks humorously. Legai answers, "I like the prequels more, mainly because of the clones." Jackson nods, "Mmm okay, okay, I understand that. I'm more of an originals fan myself. Hey, have you seen that new Avengers movie!?" He said, suddenly getting excited. Legai shrugged, "We haven't been able to find it yet, what's it about?" He asked curiously. Jackson lets out a small chuckle, "Aw man it's awesome! It's about this team of superheroes that have to stop these aliens from attacking New York!" Jackson says. Legai looked down to the floor, the mention of New York was......the universe is cruel. He hid it well from Jackson though as he continues, "They have a T.V in the lounge we should totally watch it! Nice to meet you man." Jackson says before dapping Legai up again and walking off. Another child walks up to Legai, "Hey, I'm Apollo. Let me show you where you're sleeping." he says as he fist bumps Legai. He led Legai to his bed, which ended up being a bunk bed with Lenani. After setting his stuff down and meeting Lenani, Legai turns to see another dark toned girl who had apparently snuck up on him, causing him to jump, "OH! Sorry I didn't hear you." Legai says. He was almost entranced by the strange ocean of blue in her eyes, he hadn't seen many people that looked like him with any color of eyes other than black and brown. She looks at him, "You weren't supposed to. We need to talk." She says. Legai reaches out for a handshake, "Uh- yea! Im-" He starts, but is interrupted, "Legai, I know," She says, rejecting his handshake, "Look, you need to know where you are. This place isn't everything he said it was," She said with a straight face and serious tone, "This is a place where they teach us to use our abilities for them. You can't let your guard down, especially around him.". Legai is completely caught off guard by this, "What? What do you mean? Should I let my mom know about this?" Legai asks, lowering his tone so he wouldn't be heard by the guard at the front of the room. 

          Levia grabs his hand, leading him to a more secluded area in the room, "It's too late for that, he'll have already won her over by now. She won't believe you." She said, looking at the guard, then back at Legai. Legai looks into her eyes with a worried expression on his face, "Is that what happened with all of your parents?" He asked. The girl got a smirk on her face, lightly scoffing as she was almost amused by the question, "Yeah, we weren't lucky enough to have mommies to look after us, the luckiest of us got to be in an adoption center," She said, looking off into the far corner of the room, where a light skin hispanic girl had a little mini-lab set up as she was programming a piece of head-gear, "But now we only ever had each other. Especially here." She said, gesturing to the rest of the group. Legai looks around the room, seeing each of the kids interacting with each other. She pushes her finger into Legai's chest, catching him off guard, "We are as close to a family as we will ever get. And we treat each other like it. As long as you remember that, we'll be fine. But if you aren't good for the family, then I'll put you down myself. Understand?". She said, slightly threatening him while staring into his eyes. Her soulless, merciless gaze pierced into his soul in such a way that his body couldn't even tell if he was scared. He just silently nodded "yes" and hoped it was enough. She moved her finger off of him, "Good. Now for your own good, we never had this conversation. I mean it." She said, fixing her jacket and walking off. Legai stared at her for a second, realizing he never got her name and slightly being too scared to ask, and not noticing the person that was sneaking up behind him. 

          In another part of the facility, The Doctor is still briefing Jennifer on the cases of the children, "We must take various precautions to ensure our security as well as the security of the children." He said with a smile on his face, inviting Jennifer into an office-like room where multiple people were typing away at computers, their faces and glasses bathed in a ghoulish blue light. He walked up to a worker while Jennifer stood by anxiously, "What were the results of the tests?" He asked. The worker responded, sifting through data on her computer, "His D.N.A should be compatible with the nanobots. The samples we took have bonded up to almost 99%." she replied. The Doctor pats her on the shoulder, "Good work, now get to it quickly." He whispered as he quickly returned to Jennifer. They sat down at a round desk, with him sitting on a side with a lit up keyboard that he began to type away at. "What's this?" Jennifer asked nervously, surveying her surroundings constantly like she expected something to jump out at her. "You have no need to feel anxious, I thought we were past that already," He said with a light chuckle, "You've met the children, now I think it's time to introduce you to them........properly." He said, pulling up multiple files on all of the kids on a holographic screen that appeared in front of Jennifer. Jennifer's face grows in concern, "Where are their last names?" She asked, addressing the lack of surnames for each of the children. The Doctor's reply was short and blunt, "They don't have any. As I said they were all found alone, fending for themselves." He said. "Those poor babies.." Jennifer replied, in shock and pity for the young children. The Doctor responded in a distant and somber tone, "Welcome to the real world.".