"Seven? Seven, wake up." Seven is shaken awake by One.
She sits up with the help of Five.
"Are you okay?" One asks.
"My head...ow." Seven says, closing her eyes and gripping her head.
"Where are we?" Five asks. "What happened?"
"I don't know." One says.
"We were on the ship. I remember that." Five says. "I mean, we were all..."
"We were pointing guns at each other." one remembers.
"Right." Five says.
"Someone sold us out." One says. "I thought it was Three. You--you thought it was Two."
"Three thought it was you." Five says.
Seven opens her eyes at the sound of the door opening.
It's Six.
"Six!" One exclaims. Then they see his uniform. "What the hell?"
"My real name is Lieutenant Kal Varrick, Galactic Authority, Special Investigations Unit." Six says...Kal says.
"Oh, my God." Five breathes.
"What?" One asks.
"It was you." Five breathes again.
"What is this place?" ONe asks.
"Hyperion-8, Galactic Maximum Security Detention Facility." Kal says. "You're in the staff wing."
"Where are the others?" Five asks.
***
"I don't get it. This doesn't make sense." One says.
"I was a GA undercover agent tasked with bringing you all in." Kal explains.
"So you were lying to us this whole time?" Five says.
"No, I had no idea until I went after The General." Kal says. "I was approached by what I thought was one of his men, who told me he was an undercover agent and that I was too. Apparently, I infiltrated The General's organization, but after The General blew up Hyadum-12, I lost it. The GA pulled me out and put me on medical leave. But eventually, they gave me a new assignment. The Raza. Of course, I didn't believe them at first, but he said he's send me proof."
"Just shut up." Five says, turning around.
"When I got back to the ship, I logged on, and there it was, my personnel file, my real name." Kal says. "It was all true. I was torn. I didn't know what to do."
"Just... just stop talking." Five's voice breaks.
"I was a cop, sworn to uphold the law." Kal says. "And after that planet was destroyed--"
"Shut up!" Five screams, hitting Kal in the face. "We trusted you. We were your friends."
"The three of you still are." Kal says. "I'm sorry. I mean, I don't regret what I did. It had to be done. I just wish you didn't have to get hurt."
"Well, it's too late." Five whispers.
"Look, we ran your DNA." Kal says. "We found your real identities."
"I already know." One says. "My name's Derrick Moss. I ran a DNA scan after we used transfer transit."
"What about you, Christmas?" Kal asks the two girls.
"No!" Seven exclaims. "ous avez perdu ce secret. Vous ne pouvez pas nous appeler comme ça." (You lost that privilege. You don't get to call us that.)
"What?" Kal asks.
"Screw you, asshole!" Seven says.
"Nice english!" One exclaims, giving her a high-five.
"Five, Seven, do you want to know your real names or not?" Kal asks.
"What I want to know is what's gonna happen to us all of us." Five says.
"Well, the GA's still trying to figure out what to do with you two." Kal says. "But the others will have to stay in general population until we can arrange their trial."
"Do they know what Two is? Did you tell them?" One asks.
"No." Kal says. "And as long as she keeps her nose clean, it shouldn't matter."
"You don't seriously believe that, do you? Sooner or later, they're gonna find out." one says.
"She has to answer for her crimes, and so do the others." Kal says. "But as long as you two cooperate, you'll be fine."
"You mean you want us to testify against them." Five realizes.
"No." Seven says.
"Don't say another word." A woman says, walking in.
"Who are you?" Kal asks.
"Felicia Brand, this man's attorney, and this is a court order demanding his immediate release." The woman says, pointing to One.
***
Five and Seven are waiting patiently in their room.
Well, almost patiently.
The woman, Felicia Brand, took One into a different room to talk to him. Five and Seven were left alone. Five was given a tablet with books on it by Kal. Seven was also given a tablet with books, however they were all in English.
After about 2 minutes of trying to read, Seven got bored.
She decided to move on to an escape plan.
Seven moves around the room, looking for vents.
The door opens.
"Oh, it's you." Five says.
"How you two doing?" Kal asks, walking in.
Seven goes to sit with Five.
"We're okay, I guess." Five says. "Considering. I suppose I should thank you for the tablet, the books. Right now, it's the only thing keeping me from going crazy in here. Sev lasted 2 minutes before she gave up on sitting still."
"Well, if you're looking for something to occupy your mind..." Kal trails off, handing The girls a drive.
"What that?" Seven asks.
"It's a coded file." kal says. "I was hoping you'd crack it for me."
"You want our help?" Five asks a
d Seven scoffs. "Seriously?"
"Look, I know you think I betrayed you--" Kal tries.
"You did betray us!" Five exclaims.
"Okay, maybe I did." Kal says. "But my intention was to help you. It still is."
It's silent for a moment.
"Your real name is Emily Kolburn." Kal says to Five and then he turns to Seven. "And you're Colette Lemont. You're both 16 years old, exactly 6 months apart, Colette being younger. Emily, your parents died in a shuttle accident when you were a baby. You grew up in an orphanage. You ran away at age 12, and you've been living on the streets ever since. Colette, your parents gave you up, you bounced around foster homes before landing yourself on the streets of your town, stealing for some random guy just to make some money to get you by. You're survivors. And you'll survive this."
Kal walks out.
Silence takes over the room.
"Guess we should work on the file." Five suggests.
"Why we help him?" Seven asks.
"Because maybe he'll let us out if we do." Five says.
"And if he don't?" Seven asks. "Waste of time."
"We have nothing else to do." Five says.
Seven sighs -- she's right.
"Fine." Seven says. "But I no like it."
***
Who knows how much time later...
Kal walks in.
"You manage to crack the file?" Kal asks.
"Yeah." Five says. "Yeah, I did.
"So what is it?" Kal asks.
Five and Seven share a look.
They give Kal the file.
He storms out after reading it.
***
Five is laying on her bed while Seven is sitting on hers, staring at the wall.
The door opens.
Kal and another guard walk in.
"It's your lucky day, Kids." The man says. "Your transfer just came through."
Five sits up.
"Transfer where?" Five asks.
"You're being placed in a group home down on the planet." The man says.
"A group home?" Five asks, standing up.
Seven stands up too, even though she has no idea what 'group home' means.
"What?" Seven asks, looking at Five.
"maison avec groupe." (House with group) Five says, slightly unsure how to translate.
"un foyer de groupe?" (A group home?) Seven asks.
"Yes." Five says, recognizing the words.
"No." Seven objects. "No, no, no."
"I know it's not ideal, but it's just temporary." Kal says.
"I don't want to go." Five says and Seven stomps her foot on the ground. "We don't want to go."
"Well, that's a first one for me." The man says. "I never heard a prisoner say they wanted to stay here before."
"Just just put us in the general population." Five says. "At least we'd be with our friends."
"That's no place for you girls." Kal says.
"Our place was on that ship." Five speaks for the two of them. "But you made sure that that would never happen again, didn't you?"
"Okay, you know the really funny thing is? You think you actually get a say." The man says. "Come on, let's go." The guard grabs Seven's arm.
Seven tugs her arm.
"Let go of her!" Five exclaims, trying to pull Seven away.
"You two want to get cuffed and shackled, you keep it up." The guard says.
Five looks to Kal.
Seven looks to Five.
"Don't." Kal tells Five.
Five shakes her head no to Seven.
Seven follows the guard's orders.
The guard pulls both Five and Seven out.
"Why are you letting them do this?" Five asks Kal as they walk down the hallway.
"I'm trying to help you." Kal says.
"No, you're trying to help yourself by sending us away to be someone else's problem." Five says. "We're an inconvenience."
"You can say that again." The guard says.
"Just get her on the shuttle." Kal says.
"I'm afraid I have to countermand that order." A woman says, walking in.
"Who are you?" The guard asks.
"Commander Shaddick, chief inspector of the Galactic Authority's Serious Crimes division." The woman says. "Those girls are not going anywhere."
"I was told they weren't gonna face any new charges." Kal says.
"And they won't, if they cooperate with my investigation." Shaddick says. "Effective immediately, you have been relieved of your duties. This case is mine now."
Five and Seven share a look.
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-MC