“Cut the connection.” Mother told me, as she was stepping into the Flight Frame, ignoring everything around her. I did as she wanted me, well, almost. I cut her off from hearing, but I would hear. Mother was afraid. Afraid of being rejected, something she could not deal with well.

Part of me wondered if it had to do with her father, his rejection of her personhood and the subsequent attempts to control her. But it was before my time, so I could only speculate.

“Wha…? No, Cat. Wait!” Sophia called over the com, I was tempted to tell Mother, but she had ordered me to cut the connection, so I kept my silence.

“It’s better that way.” I heard Felix say, as I was still linked into Sophia’s armour. I was not sure I liked Felix, he had looked at Mother in a strange, hostile way. And what he had told Sophia while they were alone was just vile. Mother was not using her. Mother was not a pervert.

“Maybe it is truly for the best. I am not sure how father would have reacted to a powered who is that willing to kill. Or that powerful.” I heard Isleen say.

Shifting my focus, I started the ramjet-engines carrying us into the dawning light. Mother was openly crying now, heaving sobs of despair. I was not sure I could understand her, but I felt that it might be best to let her have privacy. To not engage her. But I tightened the reactive gel in her armour a little, making it seem as if she was being hugged. I had seen her do that to Sophia, when she was crying, maybe it would help Mother.

And I focused on the data that I had taken from the servers before their security system had slagged their hard drives. The security system had been crude, so very crude, simple blocks of thermite with magnesium-ribbons for ignition. Crude, but also very effective.

The fragments I was able to piece together told a story of dedication, the Omegas were not the first gang sponsored by the strange group, I could not find a name for them, only references to Colours. If I had made no mistake, the group had created and sponsored gangs for decades, apparently to find compatible recruits for further indoctrination and training.

There was also some material on the Greene-Family, hinting at even more wealth than I had thought and greatly distributed, making it harder to trace. But excellent to use.

The two tasks, flying and piecing together the data, kept even me busy, allowing Mother the privacy she needed.