Marie appeared in front of us. Her white hair cascading down her shoulders in majestic soft waves, almost as if she were floating underneath water. Suddenly, her form came into sharper view as her eyes narrowed on all of us. The real Marie was now standing in front of me with a look of disgust on her face. Secretly, I admitted to myself that I liked her form when it wasn't in sharp focus.

"Why are you all just sitting over here?" She snapped, causing all of our bodies to go rigid at the sound of her harsh words. There was no denying that she was angry with us right now, but why? Her body shifted to the right as her eyes scanned the area above our heads and then back down at us. She was looking for something, but it was hard to tell exactly what.

"We're watching your new science experiments," Theo snorted, not taking his eyes off all of the new Ciphers working out below us.

An uncomfortable silence fell between all of us.

She clicked her tongue. "Why aren't you down there?" She pointed towards the new Ciphers, her voice rising almost to a scream. "We don't have time to allow you to sit back and watch others. You should be practicing."

Audrina looked over at Marie and put her hand up to try and stop her from saying anything else. The gesture caused the woman I once thought was my mother to instantly become defensive.

Audrina pushed forward, "Are you saying you want us down there working out with the other Ciphers? They are newly created. We've been around for a while. Trust me, I think we know how to fight."

Marie looked annoyed. "Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. You all are no better, smarter or faster than those Ciphers down there. I don't understand why you all think you can just sit around and not get prepared. You may be older models, but it doesn't mean you're better."

"We are better then them," Audrina said matter-of-factly. I was glad Audrina was speaking up for the rest of the team, but I could hear voice begin to crack and show signs of weakness and instantly I knew Marie could hear it too.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Samuel clap his hands together and create a small ball of electricity. Before I could say anything to him, he threw it at my torso, knocking my body backwards. The ball hit the side of my shoulder, singing my white suit and leaving a black hole in the side. The sight made me upset.

"Ouch!" I grabbed onto the burnt area trying to hide my suit. The ball hadn't actually physically hurt me, but my ego was wounded. "What was that for?"

Samuel walked up next to Marie and turned back towards us. "You don't talk to your commanding officer that way. Now get up and do as she says. Do you hear me?"

"What?" I spat back.

"I told you to all get up and do as Dr. James says."

I could feel my face begin to burn in anger. Finally, after a long moment, we all reluctantly obeyed and stood up.

"Fine," I defiantly responded. "We hear you loud and clear."

"Don't start with me Esa," he barked. "I'm warning you that if you disobey then you will be punished."

"Dude, calm down," Gave said as he stood between me and Samuel.

"I'm not doing anything," I mumbled wondering what Samuel was trying to accomplish right now. He was brilliant, but I questioned some of his tactics.

"I told you guys we couldn't completely trust him—" Luther said, but then Marie cut him off. "Now Luther, why would you think you couldn't trust Samuel? He is a part of your team...right?"

Luther looked momentarily stunned and then finally got his act together and sputtered. "I was just kidding. Sorry. I'm always trying to take the focus off of me and put it onto other members of the team. Yes, Samuel is one of us and we will all go down to the arena's floor and participate in the training."

Samuel rolled his eyes. I didn't think Marie had seen his gesture.

"Good," Marie's voice dripped with sarcasm. "Now go on. I don't want to see any of you just sitting around and being lazy again. We are on a schedule."

We all stood up, chests puffed out and began to walk down towards the arena in a single file. The last time we had walked in this order, we had been attacked and Audrina and I had somehow ended up in Marie and Paul's care for more than a month. The memory caused goosebumps to appear on my arms. Were we walking into a trap again?

This time we walked slowly toward the area of the new Ciphers and didn't get interrupted.

The faces that we had just been watching ran all around us, jumping through obstacles and creating new weapons.

I took in a deep breath as I evaluated the landscape in front of us. We needed to show the new Ciphers that we were just as strong, if not stronger than them. Almost instantly, I took off running, clapping my hands together and creating various weapons to throw towards my new enemies. I didn't want to hurt any of them, at least, not now. I just wanted to make sure that they understood we were superior.

The ball of electricity that I created caused four of the new Ciphers to topple over. I continued to move around on the course, analyzing the challenge and then mastering it. Audrina, Gave, Theo and Samuel had trained me well.

At one point, Theo came up behind me. "What are you thinking right now?"

"I'm thinking this feels really good. I needed to feel my legs burn again."

He grabbed my hand and pulled my body backwards. Our eyes locked as his mouth leaned towards my ear. "It's working. Look at all of the new Ciphers. They know you are special."

I shook my head. He didn't get it. "I don't want them to see me as special. I want them to see me as a leader. As someone working for the greater good of both planets."

Theo smiled showing off his overly white teeth. "I understand. We're not above any of the new Ciphers. We're all in this together."

"Yes. That's exactly it," I smiled, suddenly glad Theo was standing near me. I could hear his heart beating inside of his chest. The sound made me happy. We were still human...and alive.