THE BEGINNING OF A NEW END: The story of Cyborg 009 and Cyborg 003

CHAPTER #7- Lean On Me

On the trip home Geronimo said, "that training exercise was fun. We should do that more often."

Joe knew, just from her silence, that Françoise didn't agree. The entire flight back, she kept her eyes closed, to block everyone out. Wearing earbuds that played music, was the way she coped. He hoped that once at home, Françoise would feel safe and talk again. When communications were shut down between them, it worried him.

The shuttle returned to their island and the guys unloaded the supplies, while Françoise helped Ivan and Dr. Gilmore into the house. Both were tired and retired early. She needed to be alone and went to her room. Taking out the ballet shoes, she worked at them so they wouldn't be so stiff. Changing out of her armour, she put on a nylon mesh dance dress. It wasn't a traditional ballerina's leotard, but she liked how the shear dress moved. Walking to the dance studio, she pushed play on the music system and then put on the ballet pointe shoes. First came stretches and then some basic movements that were so ingrained in her, that they happened without thought. The Arabesques came first, then came the jump forward with a split know as the Grande Jete, some pirouettes and Adage. As she danced and didn't feel any pain from her feet, Françoise did harder techniques. The one thing that was good about being a cyborg, was that the normal damage ballerina feet went through, didn't happen. Cyborg skin was more durable, which meant no blisters, broken toe nails, bunions, bone pain and other physical strains.

Geronimo heard the haunting flute, that he knew was something his ancestors once used. Following the sound, he sat down crosslegged in his casual cloths. Watching Françoise dance, relaxed and centred him like meditation would. It made him happy that their hard work to create the dance studio for her, was well worth it.

Joe eventually joined Geronimo, he held a gift, which was set down beside them.

"She's like a butterfly gliding on air." Geronimo whispered to his friend, leader and teammate.

"That's a beautiful way to describe this." Joe agreed. "Did she just get started?"

"Yes. I'll leave you two alone in a while."

"No need, stay if you want. She likes that her dancing is appreciated," Joe explained.

Geronimo looked from her to him and smiled. "Don't give it a second thought. You're not the only one who noticed her silence on the way back."

Both returned to watching Françoise. Thirty minutes later, when the music changed to classical, Geronimo got up and left, giving Joe a nod. He also told the others, that those two needed to be left alone a while.

"Joe better not screw this up, or she won't talk to anyone, including Ivan for months. I hate when she's sad," Pyunma sighed.

"He's done it before. That time when we split up the team, his girlfriend in Japan, taught him a lot." GB reminded.

Chan disagreed, "he's still a man and even though we know better, women can misunderstand our intentions."

"Very true," Albert agreed. "But until Ivan wakes up again, Joe's our best chance to make her happy."

"I'll make her favourite dinner, that will get a smile!" Chan announced and headed to the kitchen.

Meanwhile Joe knew he had to wait until she was ready to stop. As Françoise danced, the music and the movement, seemed to drip with sadness. She was beautiful, even when so emotional. Back in their past, she'd told Joe some of the things that had broken any desire to help protect France with her abilities. A guy was involved plus colleagues that were bullies, drove her to need escape. Perhaps she had not told him everything that had happened back then. Françoise was strong enough to handle nasty words now, at least he thought she could.