Selfless

~Chapter 5~

Cindy gasped, but got over her shock. She'd been warned, so she wasn't that surprised. But seeing the girl appear out of thin air was so strange.

Cindy raised an eyebrow at Magnar, because he instantly gaped at the girl.

The girl, who's clothing was dirty and stained, rolled her eyes. "Take a picture, it'll last longer." She flipped her long hair over her shoulder. She was a little shorter than Cindy and Magnar, but her glare was as intimidating as a fierce lion.

"I would, but I don't have a camera to..." Magnar trailed off in fake sadness.

Cindy cringed at his bad comeback, because he was usually fluent in sarcasm.

The green-eyed girl snorted. "That's all you've got?"

Magnar shrugged, looking embarrassed.

"Moving on, what do you want from me?" The girl asked, putting a hand on her hip and looking at them with an expectant gaze. "And I don't kill people. I'm not an assassin."

"What?" Magnar asked, looking confused.

"You'd be surprised at how often I'm asked to do that." Raylee shrugged.

Cindy tried to think of what she actually wanted from the girl. She'd just wanted to meet someone like her, but hadn't thought past that. She was still getting over her shock that there were people like her.

"We...want to help you." Magnar blurted out.

"Please. I don't need or want your help." The girl, who Cindy realized must've been Raylee, rolled her eyes.

"Are you sure? We can team up." Magnar said, trying to convince her.

"Team up and do what?" Raylee asked, looking skeptical as she tugged on her hair.

"Live. Cindy and I just ran away. We have a car and lots of money. We can get you out of here, we can make a new life somewhere else." Magnar said quickly.

"Why? Why do you want some random girl from off the streets to live with you? You don't even know if you can trust me. I don't even know if I can trust you!" Raylee narrowed her eyes at Magnar, looking angry.

Cindy decided lurking in the background was the best option. It seemed like a personal moment between Raylee and Magnar. She didn't want to interrupt the heated conversation.

"Okay, okay. The real reason I came is because of...her." Magnar pointed at Cindy. Cindy glared for him throwing her under the bus.

Raylee raised an eyebrow. "Why because of her?"

"Because she has powers. Like you do, but a different kind of power." Magnar explained.

"Prove it." Raylee challenged, stepping forward.

Cindy felt really pressured, but nodded in determination and walked over to Magnar, snatched his bag away and searched through it for a few seconds. Everything was either too valuable or too special.

She eventually found the perfect thing. A baseball cap that Magnar had bought at the store. Cindy felt slightly bad, because he seemed to like it a lot when he had showed it to her. But shrugged the feeling off and focused on turning it into glass.

It slowly transformed as soon as she imagined her attention and let down the automatic barrier she always had set up.

Raylee nodded in approval, not even looking surprised. "Cool," she said, and stuck out her hand for Cindy to shake.

"As long as that doesn't happen to me, I'm in. I've always wondered if there were others like me." Raylee flashed a grin as Cindy shook her hand.

Magnar nodded. "I just found out about Cindy's power myself." He shook his head.

"Well, having a power is hard. Keeping it a secret is harder. But it's just what we've gotta do. Kinda like a responsibility, to keep ourselves safe." Raylee shrugged. "What's your name? And, a little birdie told me you already know mine, so don't even bother asking."

"Magnar Glass. I'm Cindy's brother." Magnar said.

"What a coincidence, she can turn things to glass, and her last name is Glass." Raylee grinned. "But you two don't look anything alike. How can you even be related?"

"Oh, step-siblings." Cindy explained.

"Ah. So why'd you two run away?" Raylee asked, curiosity evident in her expression.

"Jerk of a father." Magnar said simply.

"Hm. I'd say I can relate, but you know, my dad is dead. If I were you, I'd consider myself lucky." Raylee's tone held bitterness as she sat down on the curb.

"I'm so sorry..." Cindy said, sitting down beside her.

"Rule number one: never pity me. Rule number two: never apologize for something that ain't your fault. I'll make up another rule later." Raylee said.

Magnar nodded. "Okay."

Raylee opened her mouth to reply, but a man talking on the phone loudly cut her off. He was dressed in a black suit, wore sunglasses, and looked older than them by a lot.

Cindy, Magnar, and Raylee all exchanged glances. Raylee looked confused, Magnar looked horrified, and Cindy looked confused like Raylee as they heard the man's words.

"Yes, I've got the blueprints. I think the hardest part will be getting the machine to get to the intelligent part of the brain, and get the creativity part to stop working. After that, it might work. Yes, I'm bringing them to the Establishment's main center right now. We'll need to test the mind-control machine on someone when its done, too."

Why was the Establishment was working on a mind-control machine?