Little Bits

"He's adorable," Aarti cooed, dangling a dagger above the baby's head.

The baby cooed and gurgled happily as it tried to stretch chubby arms towards the dagger's shiny surface.

"Such good reflexes," Morris said, peering over Lucy's shoulder. He extended a finger towards the baby. It elongated and wiggled at him, catching his attention. "Who's a clever baby? Who's a clever one?"

"He even knows different types," Circe boasted from the side, her face shining.

"I can't be the only one finding this a bit disturbing," Ella whispered to Leilani who shrugged.

"It'll be good if he knows weapons early," Leilani replied. "I find it more disturbing that everyone's busy talking about the baby and not escaping. Well, everyone but Lucy, Court and Cassidy, but for Lucy it's just a little concern."

"Ella! You're awake!" Sabrina cried, opening her eyes.

She'd been laying against Leilani's shoulder, sleeping for the last hour or so. Ella and Leilani had simply given up, choosing instead to watch the baby drama going on near the center of the room. Sabrina hadn't even stirred when the cylinder next to the one she'd been originally slumped against had been broken.

"For a while now, yes," Ella agreed. She exchanged a laughing look with Leilani.

"Why didn't you wake me? I've been so lonely, and now we're all together again," Sabrina cried, encircling both their necks in a giant hug.

Ella blinked. She heard Leilani sigh. Sabrina froze.

"Not working?" Sabrina asked.

"No," Leilani said.

"Not at all," Ella agreed. "Still, it's nice to see you again, Sabrina."

Sabrina released them with a huff. She tossed her curly hair. Then Sabrina looked towards the commotion in the middle of the room, frowning.

"What's going on there?" She asked, producing a ribbon from somewhere on her person. She casually knotted her hair up in a ponytail.

"Niles has a kid. That's the kid," Leilani explained. She reached into a pocket and pulled out a bunch of hard candies. "What color do you like?" Leilani asked as she held out the handful of rainbows.

"Green. Ella?" Sabrina glanced at Ella as she picked up a candy and swiftly unwrapped it.

Ella shrugged. She picked on at random. Ella had never seen something like this before. All the sweets she'd ever had were usually in pudding, cake or drink form. The small square was strangely hard and yet yielding. She followed Sabrina's example and peeled the paper from it, revealing a clear yellow made opaque by density.

Ella sent a small vibration into it, tasting the weird chemical bonds. Then she smiled and popped it into her mouth, eyes widening at the strong lemon taste.

"Mmm," Ella said, closing her eyes. Without the extra stimulus, she could sense the slight, increasingly stronger trembles heading their way. "I think someone's coming."

"Several someones? One someone? Guard people someones?" Sabrina asked.

"Calm down, Sabrina. I doubt either of us would work. The ones I ran into have some sort of dampeners on. No psychic tampering," Leilani explained. She popped a candy into her mouth. "They do taste pretty good, but we have a cookbook!"

"A cookbook? For candy? Candy comes out of a store. You don't make it," Sabrina said. Then she paused. "You can't, right?"

"Just what were you doing after Liberation?" Leilani put away the rest of the candies. "Let's go tell Lucy. Maybe this'll pop her baby bubble."

*****

Lucy was busy trying to divert Aarti's attention from the baby. First it was a dagger, then it was a throwing star. Then Morris got into the act, forming his fingers into so many outrageous shapes. Between him and Aarti, Lucy was tempted to start yelling, but that might upset her gorgeous, adorable nephew.

She looked up to see Court sitting in a partially destroyed cylinder, eyes closed as he did whatever it was he did. Communed with technology or something.

A quick sweep of the room showed her Niles and Circe canoodling in a corner, almost making her stomach churn. Cassidy was disassembling another cylinder, humming cheerfully. Who knew what she was planning with the spare parts.

And Ella, Sabrina and Leilani were hurrying in her direction. That made her pause mid-rock. She shoved Niles Jr. into Morris' arms and turned towards them, fixing a smile onto her lips.

"Ella! You woke up! That's such a relief," Lucy enthused.

"There's someone coming," Ella said as she neared Lucy. Ella looked at Leilani and Sabrina. "There's several sets of footsteps."

"Several, eh?" Lucy mused. She could hear Cassidy's murmurs abruptly cut off.

"So interesting!" Cassidy exclaimed.

The very sound of it sent ice coursing through Lucy's veins. The last time she'd said that was when they were searching the creche and had happened upon a group of guards equipped with weird gear. Lucy was still unsure what the gear was supposed to guard against because Cassidy had had her drones take them apart. If she hadn't said something, Lucy was sure that Cassidy would have taken the guards apart as well, just to see if there was something specific about them that let them efficiently use the gear.

It wasn't that she was struck by some nascent sense of good will. Leaving a trail of bodies would have made it easier for anyone to track them. Lucy was turning a blind eye to the fact that Cassidy's drones seemed to have ferried out a hefty chunk of overlord tech.

If only the tiny holes they were boring everywhere were big enough to shove a few kids through. Lucy sighed.

Lucy turned towards the doorway to the cylinder room. Aarti's mom had drifted towards the back of the room and the door there, aiming to force it open. As it turned out, Aarti had merely scouted the exit to see if it led anywhere troublesome before returning. The diagrams she'd found posted near the door showed that it led, in the typical roundabout fashion towards an outer corridor.

That was a minor relief because it was easy enough for them to break out through there. The outer corridors were littered with doorways leading out.

Court's chuckle preceded the door opening. Two adults, an unknown female teenager and Jebediah shot through, followed by Mr. Scary.

Lucy blinked. One of the adults shot towards her and ducked behind her. The other, a hulking black male followed suit.

"It was so scary!" The female cried, clutching at the back of Lucy's shirt.

"Sol?" Lucy gasped, trying to peer behind her back but stymied by the tight grip Sol had on her clothes. "Kuro?"

At the mention of his name, Kuro slunk back to stand in front of Lucy. He lowered his head, trying to make himself seem smaller. Lucy could feel a flare of anger stir.

"Head up!" Lucy scolded. "What have I told you?"

"Do not lower my head to anybody but you?" Kuro ventured. He peeped up at her. "But it's still you standing there, Lucy."

"Yes, but there are other people here. Straighten up!" Lucy commanded. She sighed. "I mean you as well, Sol. You can't keep hiding behind me."

"Can, will," Sol whispered. "Kuro!" She squawked as her brother sighed, lifted her up and placed her in front of Lucy without moving a step.

"That's new," Lucy said, watching it all with an unblinking stare.

"It's magic," Jebediah said, finally approaching. Trolli was sitting on his shoulder, happily eating a chunk of hard candy.

Lucy glanced at Cassidy who was now staring at Trolli with a besotted look. She could feel a headache coming on.