Spreading Cracks 

#AN: I wrote these chapters in the hope they'd showed you all that some kids were falling apart. #

Planet: Tarsonis

Year:2527

Place: Confederate ??? Academy

A few months passed, and the kids had finally accepted their terrible new lives in solitary confinement. Sarah. One of the most defiant kids in the program was slowly beginning to crack under her long stint in isolation. Where the other kids had lived here for just over a year, she had been here since the age of 7. And after four long years of abuse, her roaring, steadfast hope was now a smoldering flame. Burning its last embers.

Her dull exhausted eyes lingered on a boy sparring outside the cells; when he glanced her way, she saw disappointment flash within his eyes.

'Stop!' Yelled Sarah. Her psionic energy carried her thoughts into the neighboring cells. 'Don't look at me like that! I can't...I can't do it anymore!' Her dull exhausted eyes filled with remorse, the guards outside her cell grind beneath their masks as they watched her cells feed on their visors.

Thoughts from the neighboring cell echoed within her head. 'It's ok to feel remorse, everybody does but in a place like this. You need to bury it,' said Caesar. He paused his studying to check on her through the camera.

Sarah snapped and yelled. 'SHUT UP CAESAR! What do you know!? You're not remorseful, you're just a cruel person.' Her hands began to shake as she gripped the cell door, her eyes remained on Clark and Lokee's sparring match.

She winced when Lokee blocked Clark's hurricane fists then froze his feat with cryokinesis.

'Get your shit together.' Said Rishul, watching as their friend wailed into Clark until Suki said otherwise.

'You guys have turned Lokee into a monster,' Cried Sarah. She knew Rishul was right but couldn't rein herself in while Clark's beating continued.

The guards grinned knowing there'd be another show starting shortly. When they turned around they saw Caesar standing at his cell door with the same old stoic face.

'At the start your naivety was refreshing. Now, it's just pitiful. If even Ingrid can thrive in this beautiful place. Then you should at least...survive.'

His words shook her to the core. Her face went blank as Clark's body hit the ground, Caesar's door opened.

She stared hard at his departing figure with a few thoughts in mind. 'How could you? Even for you, labeling this cruel place beautiful is just too much.'

'Even the cruelest things can be beautiful Sarah. This place, the conference, Tarsonis; anything and everything. You just need to see how,' thought Caesar. The once small 8-year-old now stood at 5'6 and possessed a body rippling with muscle. #An: remember he's 11, augmented or not there's a limit to his muscle mass. #

Sarah scoffed, the anger she displayed was now cold and internal. The affection she once held for Caesar turned to disdain as she said. 'I finally see Clark and Bryce hate you. You're twisted and cruel; like the staff in this place.'

Caesar brushed past a female guard, his highly dense muscle sent her stumbling forward.'You stupidly naive farm girl. Did the parents you killed not teach you anything? They probably didn't. So let me teach you, what they didn't.

What you see here is nationwide! It's the men, women, children. It's everything and everyone. So if you don't like the fact that I'll do anything to carve out something for the people I care for and if possible the people they care for. Then kiss my ass and fuck off Sarah! Because I won't let anybody interfere with my goals and dreams.'

Caesar's words and emotion shook Sarah to the core. 'NO! WAIT!' She yelled out, trying to apologize. He wasn't one for emotion but when it showed it always spoke volumes. Sadly it was too late, Caesar was already out of range.

Rishul signed watching the girl break down. 'If this continues she'll drag us with her.' He thought, reaching out towards Sarah. What he and Sarah forgot was that ghosts were always cloaked within their prison. Luckily for them, today's ghosts were loyal to Suki.

'My mom always said action, not words. I never really understood it. But now I do. So Sarah, don't say you're sorry, show it by enduring. And if he still doesn't forgive you then I'll convince him too.' Sarah nodded, his words had inspired her fading hope. While her eyes remained fixated on Caesar, whose fight was about to begin.

However, Rishul sighed. His words were more a much-needed lie. Because he didn't think Sarah could last these next two years. But he couldn't risk her spilling anybody's secrets and he knew Caesar would think the same.

She watched as Caesar stood alongside Suki within the center of the room. The two waited while a cloaked figure placed a heatable knife and a pistol in Suki's hands. When she handed them to Caesar, a heavily armored man came walking into the room.

He was dressed in an all-black CMC-300 powered combat suit. To most kids, it was the coolest piece of Human engineering. After all, who didn't want to be a space marine? But to Caesar, this once marvelous piece of tech was now an eyesore to look at.

He spent well over a year spilling over the suit, its tech, and everything related to it. Before being forced to write a thesis, which got him punished for labeling the armor. A bulky, inefficient, waste of resources, and to a nerd from the slums of Tarsonis it was. However, to the overly wealthy generals and rich scientists, that along with the starving, poor, and homeless would never matter. 'After all. The Confederacy is a nation where the opportunistic can thrive...I should've never said that out loud.'

"Recruit X25002, today you will be tasked with disabling this piloted CMC-300 unit. In 10 seconds the test will begin," Yelled Suki.

After hearing Suki's words Caesar popped the pistol's magazine to check its ammo type. 'Two last-gen low yield explosive rounds,' thought Caesar. He gripped the pistol with his left hand and the knife in his right. The pilot lowered the armor's blast shield before charging Caesar at full speed.

He quickly calculated the height of the armor, then the distance of its stride before the angle of its outstretched right fist. When the first came down upon his head he lowered his body and spun to his far right. The suit momentum carried it forward, exposing its lightly-armored back and the servos powering its outer exoskeleton.

'There no way a marine isn't piloting this,' thought Caesar. His psionic energy churned throughout his body, enhancing his every bone and muscle.

*Boom!* Caesar shot forward using psionic speed, his knife was raised trained on the armor's lower spine.

*Thud!* The kid's eyes widened shooting open as the impact sent the armor crashing to the ground. His knife broke piecing through the spine and into its servos. As the man stood, the armor's servos broke down Caesar's blade, lodging its pieces deeper into the armor.

The kids watched as Caesar jumped back and trained his pistol on the slightly malfunctioning armor.

He waited for the pilot's hitching armor to turn, and when he did. The bullets fired! Their explosion further damaged the servos. Causing a safety feature to kick in, protecting the pilot's spine while disabling the armor from the legs down.

Suki smiled applauding his success. "Well done recruit. I look forward to watching your progress recruit. You may now return to your cell."

(Real thoughts) 'You fucking idiot! Did you have to expose that feature?'

Caesar: 'I'm not a psychic! How would I know you knew about that feature?'

'You are a psychic! And your ass clearly needs more tactical training. That idiot should've been dropped ages ago! Now go makeup with Sarah, we don't want her becoming a liability. And If it makes you feel any better, most of the brats within your group couldn't last 4 years. Let alone the 6 she would've served at the end of this.'

Caesar: 'FIne. But I doubt she can last 2 more years.'

---------- Popovich's office room ------

"They say kids will think of things most adults never would. I guess they were right. Adjutant! sends this data high-command. They better do something about that feature before it gets our men killed."