The things Amara told them was beyond their expectations. She had forgotten her name, but she said that whenever they would torture her and she wanted to scream, she was only allowed to say her own name. She didn't know what the mentality there was behind it. Soon, it became natural, and she forgot her own name despite crying it out whenever she felt pain.

Alexis wanted to try and bring her under a more presentable condition. However, appearances hardly mattered anymore. Nobody had any fancy haircuts. Only if you found your hair too long, you could cut it. Amara's hair was bushy, unkempt and incredibly uneven. But the longest strands of her hair reached her waist, the shortest being around her forehead. It was like an unstylish step cut.

However, when Alexis tried to approach her with some scissors, she went hysterical again and started screaming the place down. So they decided that cutting her hair could be reserved for later.

One time when Alexis finally managed to give Amara a proper bath, she called Lennox over when she was done, to show him twelve scars across her stomach. This stood out much more from the other obvious signs of torture, as they were clearly surgical stitches.

When asked about it, Amara responded, "Every year they would cut me open and poke around for some reason. I don't know why. But every year on my birthday, they would do it."

"Oh..." Lennox stared at the scars, then finally Alexis told her to lower her shirt. They allowed her to roam around with the more casual wear they had, that acted as pyjamas or just lounge wear.

"That means you're 12-years-old?" Day asked. Although Day looked fairly intimidating, Amara was able to hold a tentative conversation with him. Day seemed to trigger some other memories because of his stature, and Amara would unconsciously wrap her arms protectively around her body when she came near him.

"I think so." Amara said. "But recently they were getting very excited when I was last with them, and they were saying that there was a week to go."

"So will you be 13 soon?" Lennox asked her.

"No, I know that I've been running from them for more than a week. So I think I am already 13." Amara replied.

Soon, they decided to shift Amara out of her little quarantine room to an actual room. She greatly intrigued Lennox's advisor, Pedro, a 59-year-old, tall man with balding hair. He welcomed her far more warmly than Lennox expected him too.

"She can shift into Alexis's room, no? Alexis is there all by herself." Pedro suggested.

Alexis nodded, and she and Nita went off to deal with the arrangements. Now Pedro switched to a more serious tone.

"Lennox, we don't know much about her," he said. "She could be dangerous for all we know. Be careful, Lennox, and take careful care of her. Also, I don't think it's a good idea to inform the other bases about this." he added.

"What? Why?" Lennox was in fact planning to contact his father on the very same day.

"Based on what Amara told us, it sounds like her captors were people from a different base." Pedro told him grimly. "I want to find out what is going on."

Lennox looked uneasy, but agreed. He didn't understand what would motivate someone to do such a thing, but he had never doubted Pedro to date.

Amara wasn't fit for anything. Once being shifted out into the open, she would spend all day tailing Alexis, clutching the back of her shirt. She didn't like to be around people. They didn't really know what to do with her. Either way, Lennox wanted to keep her close.

One day, they were sitting in the work room, and Nita happened to be there. She was sitting with her head on her hands next to Lennox, while Alexis was busy trying to bring the room into a more orderly manner, since Lennox was so good at making a mess. Day was sitting with a very concentrated face, writing something. Nita was staring at Amara, who wasn't really doing anything and nervously fidgeting.

Then Nita banged her hands on the table, making them all jump.

"What the hell, Nita?" Lennox snapped, rummaging around for an eraser.

"You know who she reminds me of?" Nita asked him.

"Who?" Day inquired bluntly.

Alexis looked back at her, and suddenly a sense of understanding passed between the two girls.

"Azusa, right?" Alexis said eagerly. "Ah, and we let Jake take care of her, no? Oh, oh!" She came around the table to Lennox. "We can just ask Jake to take care of her! He'll know what to do."

Lennox digested this, and then brightened up. "Alexis, you're a genius!" He ruffled her hair proudly.

Nita looked undignified. "I thought of it first..." she mumbled.

"Oh~ Did little Nita want her hair ruffled?" Day asked, grinning.

"Shut up!" Nita hollered, but her face was a little red.

"There, there," Day patted her head.

"Don't touch me!"

Amara sat cluelessly in the middle of everything, until Alexis decided to bring her up to speed.

"Amara, you want to do something?" Alexis asked her brightly.

"What can I do...?" Amara asked.

"Come on. Hey Lennox, let's go talk with Jakey." Alexis called, taking Amara's hand, and approaching the exit.

"Day will come too!" Day said, raising his hand. "I wanna see how Azu is doing."

Nita stayed behind, and the four of them went off to the training grounds. Amara had a tight hold on Alexis's hand, and she was slowly coming closer and closer to her. When they arrived at their destination, Lennox called in a loud voice over all the training figures.

"Yo, Jake! Where are you?!"

Somebody knocked him on the back of his head, and he turned around to see a tall, blonde young man, 28 years of age. He had bright blue eyes and a rather boyish face. Scars from some scratches could be seen around his left eye.

"Hey," he said, smiling. "What's up?"

"Ah, Jake! We have a job for you!" Alexis told him cheerily.

Jake looked around at her, and they both merely looked at each other. Then he asked, "Have you got one of your own?"

"Huh?" Alexis was confused, but then she looked back at Amara, who was hiding behind her and peering at Jake. Then she looked at Jake, who had a girl almost the same height as Amara and big green eyes hiding behind him and peering at Alexis. She understood what he meant, and laughed.

"This is Amara. You've met before." Alexis pointed at her left eye, and Jake laughed.

"Ah, so you're that legendary Amara." Jake smiled, and Amara came out very tentatively. Jake took her hand, making her jump, and examined her finger nails. "Good, you got them cut."

"I cut them while she was sleeping." Alexis said sheepishly.

"Hah? Then why don't you cut her hair while she's sleeping?" Day inquired.

"It isn't easy to cut hair when a person is asleep!" Alexis argued.

"What are you talking about? Lennox cut your hair while you were sleeping once when you guys were kids. Remember? You were called Mowgli for half a year." Day told her.

"Wait, that actually happened?!" Alexis shouted, whirling around to face Lennox, who wasn't looking at her.

"Anyway," Day said, crouching down and holding out his arms. "Yo, Azu. Come on out."

The girl who was hiding behind Jake tightened her fists on the hem of his shirt, and then slowly stepped out, and ran into Day's outstretched arms.

"And how are you doing?" Day asked, patting her head. "Were you training?"

The girl nodded. Then she stared at Amara, who stared right back. Then they both quickly looked away from each other, but ended up staring again. They all watched their interaction with rather amused expressions on their faces.

"So, what is that you want me to do?" Jake asked Alexis and Lennox. Then he crouched down in front of Amara. "Look after her? How old are you, Amara?"

Amara said something, but no sound came out. Alexis answered in her stead. "13."

"Oh, she's older than Azu then." Jake smiled. "So, you wanna train, huh?"

Amara glanced up at Lennox, then nodded tentatively. Jake grinned. "Cool." He stood up, and turned his back on her. Amara came out of her hiding spot behind Alexis out of curiousity,

Jake turned back to her, holding a fairly large spear. Spears were the most common, basic, standard weapon they used. He smacked it against his hand a grinned widely. "Let's test out your skills, eh?"

Amara was motionless. Jake looked at her in surprise. "What's wrong?" He cocked his head, giving off the impression of a dog.

But Amara didn't move. It looked like her body had seized up.

"Amara, what's wrong?" Lennox asked, coming around to look at her face, and stopped. Her pupils were dilated in fear, and breathing was become heavier and heavier.

"No...please not again..." she choked.

"Hey, Amara, it's okay!" Lennox told her while holding her shoulders. "Nothing's happening!"

Amara's knees gave way, eyes flooding. "I don't want...I don't want again..." she cried.

"He's not gonna hurt you! Hey, Jake, put that spear away!" Lennox snapped at him. Jake threw it over a shoulder, flying in the direction of a girl, who seemed to sense it, and promptly whirled around and kicked it away, missing the basket of other spears by just a little.

"See, it's gone now!" Lennox told her soothingly.

Amara's eyes turned up to the unarmed Jake, who was holding his hands up above shoulder level. They had no way of telling what she was thinking of seeing, but she started shaking.

"Not that!" she screamed. "Not that!" Her hands clutched her ankles, digging her fingernails into them. "I can't run," she cried. "I can't run. I can't get away. I can't run away."

They all watched her, uncertain of what to do, and she clutched her ankles tighter. Lennox swept his eyes over her, then put up a more serene face. He let go to her shoulders.

"What are you talking about, Amara?" he said softly. "You can run. You can run as much as you want. Nothing is holding you back."

Amara looked up at Lennox, and her hands slowly let go of her ankles. "Nothing..." She slowly got to her feet. "Nothing."

Lennox smiled kindly. "You're free."

Amara took a step back. Then another. "I'm free..." Then slowly, she started running, then she picked up her pace, running and running. "I'm free! I'm free!" she cried loudly, running aimlessly, but running all the same, and that seemed to be more than enough for her.

They watched her retreating figure as she bumped into a boy, but kept running. The boy stared after, then at his partner, and they chuckled.

"What is she doing?"

Jake watched her, then said, "Suzanna, Kenneth, follow her please."

"Yes sir," a boy and the girl who had kicked the spear away earlier replied, and they took off with extreme agility.

"Let's leave her for some time," Jake sighed. "Don't worry, they'll watch her."

Lennox felt uneasy. It wasn't that he didn't trust them, but he couldn't understand it.

***

Lennox was lounging in his work room, feet up on the table, thinking aimlessly. He heard a knock on the door, and turned to see Amara peeking at him, holding Alexis's hand.

"What's up?" he asked promptly, putting his feet down and turning towards them.

Amara was staring at her feet nervously, then Alexis gave her a gentle shove, making her move forward a couple of steps.

"Um..." Amara began, fidgeting.

"Yes?"

Amara looked at Lennox as squarely as she could, and said, "Um, I want to become stronger."