Atlas walked with his mind working on the information he kept recieving. A lot was happening at the same time, though none of which were connected in any obvious way, it all happened in a chain.
Except from the Wendi camp incidence, he'd scanned through the report sent in by Ragnar. It was enough for him to know the gist of the matter when it came to Akasha. He could evidently call Akasha an abnormality like Nyxander.
However, the one he couldn't categorise was the one he was yet to encounter.
"Sir Atlas," a female legionnaire caught up with him.
"What's the situation at hand?" Atlas glanced at the woman.
"A group of Legionnaires were sent out to apprehend a band of thieves at the city's capital. There was a huge explosion due to the clash of the two sides. They all died, sir—all but a little girl," she replied.
"And?"
"The legionnaires came back, sir. They said they believed they stood no chance against her."
"Against the little girl?"
"Yes sir. We were able to trace her and found her, still in the heart of the city. However, there are no records of anything about her—no birth certificates, no parents, no family, nothing—like she never existed."
"I see..."
"Also sir..." The woman looked into Atlas's eyes, "we are certain she's from Afden."
Atlas's face tensed a bit. He wasn't bothered about the girl so much, he just couldn't understand why all the anomalies were all children, and why they were happening at the same time.
Perhaps there's something more to this generation of Nexuses, he thought.
He slowly opened the door as he caught sight of a little girl. Her hands were cuffed together behind the chair. Atlas took a really good look at the girl.
Her hair was as if it were drenched in blood—a deep wine red. She didn't look so young at taking a closer look, but perhaps one would mistake her to be because of her smallish stature. Her eyes were even more unusual. Her pupils were a clear spotless white which was surprisingly still very visible if one noticed her other ocular properties. Her skin was a caramel shade of black which glowed radiantly under the light bulb above her head.
Atlas sat down at the other side of the table and faced her unwavering expression of nonchalance.
"Who are you?" Atlas started off simple. This was unlike him when it came to interrogating criminals. He would usually take the more direct approach, but this time he decided to be more cautious for reasons known to himself alone. Most likely because of the uncertainty of what he was dealing with.
The girl's lips made not a single attempt to open.
The other legionnaires in the room, about two of them, positioned themselves behind the girl. They waited for Atlas to give the go ahead to begin 'other methods' to force to speak.
"If you started speaking, it'll make things better and faster for everyone here..." Atlas sighed as he squinted his eyes, still locking eyes with the girl.
The girl opened her mouth and closed it back. She repeated the action two more times without a single sound coming out from her vocal cord.
"Speak up!" The female legionnaire raised her hand up to strike her head from the side.
"Wait!" Atlas stopped her. He looked back at the girl. "You can't speak, can you?" He asked her.
She nodded.
Atlas gave a funny smile. "Uncuff her," he ordered. The female legionnaire hesitated before she uncuffed her.
The girl immediately waved her hands violently in the air, signing to Atlas. Her face tensed up this time, she was visibly angry.
Atlas stared at her. He then looked up to the female legionnaire and asked her what the girl was saying.
"She's mad," the legionnaire explained, "and pissed. She said she owes you not a single explanation."
"Why is that?" Atlas asked the girl.
" 'Take my life if you wish but I will not say a single thing to you'." The legionnaire interpreted.
"You don't understand the situation you're in, do you? You're the one answering the questions here. There are no conditions here," a voice said from inside the room.
A woman appeared out from thin air. Her body was covered in scales—from head to toe—and two dragonlike wings extended out from her back. On her head were two black horns of little height, her eyes were exactly like those of a dragon as they beamed a bright yellow.
She appeared to be very tall, as a matter of fact, she was unusually tall for a female Nexus. Just by looking, she appeared to be around 6'2 to 6'5, well taller than Atlas.
"Atlas, you're not about to fucking negotiate with her, are ya? She's a criminal," the woman walked to Atlas and stood beside him, looking down on him, " not to mention that she's from that land."
"Dremont," Atlas looked up to her, "allow me to handle this." (Pronounced Drei-mont).
"That's what we've been doing in case you forgot and how's that been working for us?" Dremont protested.
"Let's not do this here."
Smoke escaped from Dremont's nostrils as she growled. She moved aside and watched.
"Now," he faced the girl again, "you are the criminal here. Not talking is exactly what you're not going to do. I only have one question." Atlas stood up. "For a dumb girl, how were you able to speak and convince these well trained legionnaires that they didn't stand a chance against you. It's evident that your Nexus ability was your way out of that situation. I want to know what it is."
The girl placed her two hands on the table. "You see, this situation isn't a win or loss for me. I don't care too much about my life. However compared to you, you need me and the knowledge about my ability simply because you are Atlas," the girl signed.
"What are you proposing?" Atlas asked.
"Are we fucking deadass?" Dremont scoffed.
"I need my mother to be taken care of—fed, housed, medicated. In exchange, I tell you my ability and take whatever sentence you give to me," she signed.
"Atlas, a word!" Dremont stormed outside.
Atlas went after her.
"What is it?" Atlas asked as he closed the door behind her.
"What the fuck are you doing?" Dremont questioned.
"How do you mean?"
"This isn't how things are done in the Legion and you know this. There are set rules to follow and you keep stepping out of those rules. You're causing a rift you won't be able to handle."
"Have you ever thought that our way of doing things is a bit myopic in reasoning? Answer this one thing for me Dremont: A group—not one or two—of well trained legionnaires are sent back to the base without any valid explanation but the words from a girl who told them they stood no chance against her. A girl who miraculously survived an explosion that killed every last one of her accomplices.
"Now if it were the normal ways of doing things, she should be locked up. Ask yourself why that girl seated in that room has not a single ounce of fear inside of her even seeing that she's been caught. I don't know about you but there's something odd occurring these days—scars getting odd magnitudes and behavioural patterns. Something is happening, but I'm not sure exactly why.
"So if you don't agree with my judgment, take off my neck when everything goes south."
Dremont's face morphed into a scowl. "I don't care what it is you do. I'm simply worried about those around you and because of this I will take you to your very word. If anything that happens after this jeopardize the Legion from the inside, I'll personally make sure you get what you deserve," she said.
Atlas nodded in agreement.
Dremont and Atlas never saw eye to eye. She didn't buy the fact that Atlas was without flaw, which was a general idea legionnaires had. However, she had no animosity towards him. Instead, she hung on to the chance of Atlas being wrong and weighed the risk.
Every rule Atlas twisted had a repercussion to be faced later on.
To begin with, Nyx and the others from the Wendi camp incident were not to be brought right into the Legion—not without filing for temporary custody to be interrogated.
But because they were already at the Legion, many protocols had been skipped—protocols that kept clashes from happening.
It was evident Atlas's curiosity was greater than whatever had to be done by the books and Dremont could see that.
The two walked back into the room to face the little girl.
"Do we have a deal?" The girl signed as the female legionnaire interpreted.
"Yes," Atlas answered. "However, here are my conditions: Your mother will get everything you stated in exchange for your service. You will become a legionnaire and tell me everything you know about how your ability works. You will by no means attempt to escape and you will do exactly as I say, when I say it. For the day you do try to escape, you will be caught and killed as the criminal you are."
"Vhrenine," the girl said, "that is my name. I want you to remember these words clearly: Dominance does not mean control." (Pronounced Vre-nin).
The other legionnaires were shocked to even hear words come out from the girl's mouth after being told she was dumb.
Did she indeed speak those words to the legionnaires who came back to the base? They thought.
Dremont stared dead into Vhrenine's eyes. She could tell the girl was trouble just by looking at her.
"You speak?" Atlas smiled. "Well of course you do. How else would you have told those legionnaires what to do. Tell me, is that how your ability works?"
Vhrenine placed her hands on the table waiting to be cuffed again.
"Take her to the lab first," Atlas ordered. "After that, we'd place her in one of the candidate rooms." He squinted his eyes at her. "She'll be taking this exam."