I still can not believe that we are going to listen to Bengelon and head for Toulouse. I just hope that he is good on his word of accommodation. Our group now only consists of 12Z, 12M, 15G, 12S, Endo, 14B, 16D, 16Y, 6G, 13D and I. Our group is still big, but the absence of 17C feels like a significant part of our group has been taken out. I have mostly been speaking with 12Z about how she is dealing with the loss, but I still have to speak with many of the other members of our group. With our path now changed, each member of our group, our new family, will have to be informed of our new destination. Unfortunately, I can not tell them why we have decided to take a long detour. I hope that we are not going to be put into an even worse situation by doing what Bengelon is asking of us. But if this gives us a better chance of seeing 17C alive again, we are going to have to take the risk. I still feel that he will be the one to become the true leader of our group, and lead our family to the place we hope we will be able to call home. Maybe in Toulouse, we will find somewhere that Ismilda will never think to look. At least if Ismilda's influence reaches us, we will know when they are ready to attack Toulouse, since Ismilda's Union will have to go through Germany first. The thought of Germany being consumed by a war against the evil dictator Ismilda, this thought shares a grim contrast with the farmland that we are passing by. The country we are travelling through now, is very likely going to be the next one that Ismilda declares war against. Who better to speak with in this kind of atmosphere, than my two friends; 14B and 15G. Since they only walked through the door to the balcony, I should start the conversation.
"we have changed our destination, so now we have to take a long detour. From what I can conclude, the journey is going to be rough" 14B makes an uneasy expression, while 15G is thinking to himself, taking in the information that I have given him. 14B shrugs his shoulder to my words.
"well obviously. It is going to be a hard journey either way, so why are we taking such a long path? It is because Ismilda is less likely to search for us in that region?" I doubt that Ismilda is going to cease her conquest at any point, so I do not believe that taking the long way around will put us in any less danger. I should probably explain Bengelon's existence to them, but how would they take it? There are still a lot of questions I want answered which are plaguing my mind.
"I am not sure how I can properly explain this. There is someone who can help us, but they have asked us to meet them in Toulouse. If there is a chance of us reaching that place we wish to call home, I am willing to take it" 14B looks out towards the fields of crops around us, which are blowing along with the wind. With a shallow sigh, he returns his attention to me.
"you are the leader. If you believe that there is the possibility of finding our home we long for, if you think that it could possibly be in Toulouse, then we will follow you all the way through this journey. We have made it this far, we trust that we will be able to go further" the thought of surviving this far, only strengthens the thoughts of regret I have for allowing the battle at the cabin to grow dangerous enough to take not only 17C from us, but also; Alice, 11O, 7P, Halfar, Seive and Felicity. My inability to step up and protect our weaker group members, the weaker members of our family, I can never forgive myself for being so careless. I have a long way to go before I can even come close to redeeming myself for my failure. I look at 14B with my eyes twitching.
"I have not been able to keep all of us alive though. We lost 17C in that battle, a loss which would have been entirely preventable if I had been strong enough to fight that crazy agent. If it had not been for my lack of power, 17C and everyone with him would still be here with us" my hands have closed into fists in response to my frustration. The one who speaks first is not 14B, but 15G.
"then use that as a driving force for getting stronger. Only you can improve your own abilities and push yourself past the limit. We trust that you, as our leader, will make yourself strong enough to earn the title of leader. We also trust that you only want the best for us, so we will have faith in your decisions" I do not deserve to be leading a group as nice as our family. 15G is right, I need to use what I have learned so far, so that I can become the best leader I can be.
"I promise to each of you-no, to the entire group. I promise that I will always put the group before myself, and I will take as many hits as I can endure if it means that our group can go on" that place we long for, the place we wish to call home, I can feel it within my grasp. If Bengelon is good on his word, then we will only have to fight Ismilda to bring her regime down. We will be able to rest easily knowing that our family is safe. Nothing like what happened to 17C and the others will never happen to anyone else. If I have to fight Ismilda alone in order to bring her war machine down, then I will do it. I will do anything if it means my family will be safe. I have already lost my first family, and I am not ready to lose any more of my second family. After the explosion that took half of our group away, I have a new-found resolve to fight my hardest and protect those I care about. Even though we have only known each other for a week or two at most, I can not help but feel that I will fight alongside my new family for the rest of my life. 14B steps towards me and rests his hand on my shoulder.
"we will be with you every step of the way 16M. Unlike most groups, we survived the horrors of the facility, and now we are already on the country roads of Germany. Sure we may of hit some powerful obstacles, but we have made it this far. I know we still have a long way to go, so we should stick together and fight as hard as we can, to survive" our one goal, one which we repeat over and over again: Survive. But if or when we find a place to call home, will our goal change? Will we move on to fighting Ismilda? There will be many paths open for us once we reach our first goal.
"I have a feeling that finding our new home will be the first step in a long journey to defeating Ismilda. We will be in ever-present danger on this journey, but I feel that the reward will be worth the effort. The suffering in this world will continue, but we can do our best to reduce that suffering by bringing down Ismilda's evil regime" our place will be fighting against Ismilda and helping anyone who will stand with us to bring her down. We will do everything we can to defeat her, once we find a home. 15G sighs and looks towards the clouds in the sky above us.
"as much as I want to deny it, our fates belong in that final battle to defeat evil. We are going to have to put our lives on the line if we wish to avenge those who were not fortunate enough in the breakout. If we die in this inevitable battle, it will be for the destruction of the Union, and the prevention of any more evil acts being committed by Ismilda. It may happen in a few weeks, maybe a month, maybe even a year. But we will be in that fight, and we will give it our all" 15G clenches his right hand into a fist of determination and narrows his eyes towards the clouds. I feel the same way about our chances of surviving the future battle against Ismilda.
"whatever comes for us, we will fight the enemy and defend each other till the bitter end. Our fight has only just begun, and we still have a long way before we can settle down. But if we have a home to return to, we will be able to fight harder than we can even imagine at this point" each of us who have suffered at Ismilda's hands are willing to fight against her rule, even if it costs us our lives. We can not allow any more kids to die for her experiments. We must stand and fight against the evil that is Ismilda. We must do everything we can to stop the suffering that Ismilda and her fellow regime members are inflicting upon the children of the experiments. 14B turns to 15G.
"our failure to protect our weakest group members is something which we can not ignore. We are going to have to become much stronger if we want to stop something like what happened at the cabin in the woods, from ever happening again" if we are to face off against either Ismilda or 5X, we might not even stand a chance of surviving a battle with them. We are going to have to become significantly stronger than we are now, if we wish to fight against, and defeat Ismilda. I still have to explore my abilities and help everyone else in our group along with theirs. 12S is going to be one of the easiest, since his abilities are just strength-based. 15G is going to be tough, since his abilities are yet to truly surface, since his power appears to be drawn from his intellect. 14B has mentioned to me previously about his love of swords and axes from when he helped his father, a lumber jack, who taught 14B how to use a hunting rifle. 13D has been keeping to herself since we escaped the facility with 12Z, only speaking to us occasionally. Endo does not have any powers, so he is going to have to rely on his handgun with the last two bullets, and the weapons we can provide him. 16Y's ability seems to be hidden within his dreams, since he was able to predict the agents presence. 16D is obsessed with explosives, and has already shown one of his powers, which was launching a mortar shell into the air and hitting something close by. 10B's ability might be able to prove useful if he can transform into an armoured vehicle and work with 16D as a tank crew. 6G was able to warn us about the agents too, with his ability to see into the past forty-eight hours. 12M's abilities are a bit more elusive for me, but I believe that he can endure significantly more blows than anyone else, without feeling much pain. Just from thinking about the training, I know that we have a long journey ahead of us. If 14B, 12M, 15G and Endo could work as training leaders, we might be able to at least improve our chances of surviving. I hold both of my hands firmly on the back railing and turn to 14B.
"each of us have powers that we wish to discover and best utilise before our next battle with Ismilda's forces, so we might have to train in small teams. I am thinking that five should be enough to best cover everyone and not overwhelm any one of us with troubling team mates. We will make it so that each of us will have someone troubling to teach, that way we will be able to best use our precious time" we do not know how long we have until Ismilda's agents begin their next attack, so we will need to be ready at a moments notice. I just hope that if 17C returns to us, we will still be here to greet him. 14B nods to my assessment.
"yes, it seems that just like the battle we had at the cabin, we are not going to be prepared for this one either. Wherever we go, there is the chance that we will encounter Ismilda's forces and have to fight them to the death. We have already lost so many people we care about, just because of these groups. Avoiding them will be our best chance, but there are those in our group who are itching for a fight against the agents. What scares me the most about the possibility of encountering the agents though, is going to be how she reacts" since the explosion and disappearance of 17C, 12Z has been emitting a dangerous aura of grief, anger, frustration, wrath and sorrow. If we were to encounter any agents, she would unleash her wrath upon them at the first chance she gets. The problem for us will be trying to calm her down after the fight. Only 17C ever got even remotely close to understanding her pain, and he was taken away from 12Z in that explosion. Even if she has hope that 17C is still alive, she is going to still bring her wrath down upon the agents when they enter her field of vision. On all accounts, 17C was taken from us too soon, so now we have to deal with the repercussions of his removal from our family.
"her powers can not be contained, and when she loses control of herself at the sight of the enemy, we are going to have to try to save her. I will do my best to save 12Z from herself, when the time comes" it will be a dangerous job, to bring 12Z back from the brink of self-destruction. The overwhelming power of her thirst of revenge will become a dangerous killer barrier that will surround her. Passing through such a dangerous wall of power will be nearly fatal if any one of us are standing in it for too long. At least, that is what I assume is going to happen with 12Z, since a berserk situation with a friend stereo-typically ends with the other friend suffering for an extended period of time, so that the other friend can escape their rabid state. If I have to go through that for 12Z, I will. I will not allow another family member of mine to die. No matter what happens, we have to all survive this journey. The next big step in surviving this journey, is for the strongest of us to grow extremely powerful. If we are to come against a strong foe who can survive regular attacks, we will need to rely on 12S with his powerful strength. As the leader of our group, I will be the one obligated to fight against Ismilda and 5X, should we ever encounter or confront them. All these responsibilities are weighing on us every day. 15G slams his fist on the railing.
"even though we have escaped the facility, nothing has changed. We have been fleeing from Ismilda and the people who serve her, ever since the breakout began. I want it to end, but I know that we still have a long road ahead of us before we can be freed from the pursuit of Ismilda's agents" We may want this journey to end as quickly as possible, but there are a few good things that have come out of this ordeal of ours. We have become a large, caring family for one thing. We have also have been passing through other countries, and will continue to regularly. If we are able to improve our powers to a ridiculous degree, we will be able to fulfil that childhood desire of having super powers. And thinking further on it, the possibilities that these powers of ours can hold, could possibly be endless.
"this journey of ours will have many perils, but if we can reach the end of this journey, we will find our paradise. I am sure that we will find our happiness once we claim victory. It will be up to us to help everyone else to reach that point. This world has only been suffering and despair for all of us, for everyone in this world of ours. The overpopulation problem has led to the reduced value of human life in all countries. But I know that such a dark view will not be able to affect us if we find a place to live, which is far-removed from the urban regions of the world" if another great war breaks out, the casualties will be far greater, and the destruction will be much more horrendous than what the previous great war inflicted. The signs are becoming ever-more evident, with everything pointing to Ismilda's Scandinavian Union being the catalyst for the start of the war. 15G looks out towards the few fortifications in the field around us, letting out a little sigh upon seeing them.
"there is no way for us to fix that problem. We will only be able to work towards our own goals first. We can prevent our lives from having little value, but we can not do the same for everyone else in the world. When the bubble that is Ismilda's Union pops, there will be hell on earth" 14B places his hand on his chin, and starts to slowly stroke the sides of his jaw.
"whether or not we decide to participate in that battle, will be determined by our situation at the time. If we have achieved all of our original goals, we can start to focus on fighting Ismilda's power. But by then, will it be too late for us to achieve victory?" our window for taking action against Ismilda is still not totally clear to me. I want to say we have a few years, but we might only have a few months at most. If worse comes to worse, we will have to join the fight at the last available moment. We can not allow for such an evil woman to take over the world. Thinking on that word: Woman. Bengelon was talking about a powerful woman taking an interest in 17C, but he also said that she was just the leader of a collective of powerful beings. So does that mean there are more collectives like that around? If so, then what are they going to do if one power is reigning over this world? Are they going to interfere when the opportunity arises? If they step in to assist Ismilda, would we stand much of a chance against fighting such powerful people? And if these types of existences are real, then are there any other strange other-worldly beings that we should know about? Just how much is Bengelon keeping from us?