Agent Cartwright never liked showing the alien bits to the kids right away. He thought it was a lot to take in. He kept quiet in the corner watching them talk to the spider queen ( not politically correct but who cared). Cartwright let Maxwell talk he let a small smile cross her lips. She was making the hard sell to the kids.

Yes show them the alien that will make them receptive. Show them the tech he told them. But Maxwell had her ideas.

@Letter Bee
'Adult guidance for the kids...' Winston thought to himself, 'What, do they mean buying alcohol for them when their fake ID doesn't work?' "Heh." He laughed, before saying: "Alright then. I take it when these kids are in danger you want me to pump the guy full of lead? Or get 'em into places they normally wouldn't be able to get into? If so... Then what's in it for me?"

'Hopefully money..." Thought Winston.

Conner was skeptical, but Shirley raised some good points. With this many "Star Children", as they were apparently called, even without Conner's ability, and with seemingly few guards around, the chances of them breaking out would be high. Also, the place didn't exactly feel very uninviting, despite other factors. Conner had to admit, they were pretty convincing. Still, Conner didn't trust them. Not completely, at least. He wanted to see if their actions met up with their words. To do that, though, he would comply for now. At the very least, he wanted Kimberly to stop crying.

Kimberly was gaining hope. She felt like this wasn't the hopeless pit of despair she originally thought this to be after all. If anything, it seemed like it would be the center of hope. Not only were they not going to be experimented on, they would even get compensation for all the inconveniences that occurred today. A million dollars didn't sound bad at all, nor did the chance to return to a normal life. However, there was something that had just occurred to her, which Conner had just asked.

"How do you expect a group of trained 'Star Children' to take on an entire alien society?" Conner asked. "We may have powers, but I'm quite sure none of us are invincible."

"Also... how long will this take?" Kimberly added. "I don't want to make my parents worry."

"How about 1 million dollars up front for you too?" Shirley said to Winston, "as well as insurance, legal protections, a Government Car, and a Mansion? And yes, we want you to pump anyone endangering the kids full of lead, unless we want them alive."

"Also," she then turned towards Conner, "that's where our intelligence on the D'Nava comes in. You see, the alien iniltrators on Earth have three Psychic Devices, used to help them weaken Earth's defences, but which can tip the tide in our favor if taken."

"And," Shirley sighed, "Kimberly, it might take at least six months, or possibly even less, depending on how much time it takes to get the Psychic Devices. H'mina," the woman continued, "would you kindly give the exposition?" The drider-like being nodded, then said:

"The L'mina have three Psychic Devices which are the cornerstones of their operations on Earth. The first one is the Staff of Power," Shirley, from a smartphone-like device, then showed a hologram of a straight oak-like branch with a crystal on the end. "This staff not only amplifies one's powers, but allows you to use the abilities of other psychics."

"The second Psychic Device is the Archive Orb, also known as the Akhasic Orb," H'mina continued, "this orb has the ability to collect information from the fabric of space-time itself, but has the limit that it cannot gather information from the present and the future; it can only gather information from a decade and a half in the past," fifteen years, "and upward. That means that all projects more than 15 years old, unless they've been changed, are not secure."

"To go on a tangent; L'mina, and L'mina technology, are extremely squishy. While we have tanks and personnel carriers, once their psychic shields are overwhelmed, three of our war vehicles can be taken out by one projectile from one of your 'Abrams Tanks'. That is why the Archive - slash - Akhasic Orb is of interest; the L'mina want stronger military tech as well."

"And now, the third Psychic Device," H'mina watched as Shirley sent out a hologram showing what seemed to be a green, crystalized brain. The Brain of the World, a bio-crystal that allows communications to be sent through space-time much faster than one can with ordinary psychics - the D'Nava have plenty of those, but the Brain of the World makes things easier for them." A pause, to allow the kids to take it all in.

"And now," Shirley said, "it's time for you kids to begin your training."

Timeskip

The children will be brought to the gym, which would contain several chambers containing showers with individual stalls, as well as spare gym clothes, a swimming pool, weights and treadmills, as well as a room with meditation mats and floating crystals that they can use to exercise their powers. Not merely that, but each kid would be given a waterproof communicator, just in case they want to chat with one another.

Cedric would be at the swimming pool with Stefan, both kids having changed to their swimming trunks. Cedric was looking at the older readhead's body, 'admiring the view' (yes, he lied about being straight; he and Stefan were both Bi).

@Scarifar@Diggerton@TaliPaendrag@Mass City@Simple Unicycle

Shirley was very patient in answering questions, and generous in her bid to buy the bounty hunter’s services. After her and H’mina answered everyone’s questions and explained that they would be focusing on obtaining the three psychic devices that the enemy faction had planted on earth in preparation for their invasion, Shirley led them to a set of gym-esque rooms where they would be able to practice their powers.

Figuring that it would be a good idea to get out of the pajamas that she had been wearing since the night before, Lexi grabbed the bag of gym clothes with her name on it and slipped into a stall to change, locking the door behind her with her telekinesis. The clothes in the bag seemed tailor-made for her, consisting of a pair of baggy purple gym shorts and a soft pink athletic t-shirt, both of which matched her size exactly.

Though it was a little… odd to think that this organization knew enough about her to get her clothes in her favorite colors that matched her size perfectly, the clothes were rather comfortable, and that was enough for Lexi to be satisfied. Once she was fully dressed, she stepped out of the stall and walked over to the area where the weights were so that she could work on increasing the power of her telekinesis, passing by the pool area.

Upon arriving at the weight area, Lexi used her telekinesis to scan over the various weights for one that would be a little challenging to lift with her mind, firmly grabbing it and pulling it over to herself so that she could begin practicing with it, mainly by juggling it or tossing it into the air and catching it with her powers.

The truth was Emma would have inquired about leaving as well. The only thing that stopped her was the burden of a certain feeling of responsibility. Of course that responsibility wasn't one towards the world, her fellow man, or anything as passé that. That was simply not in her nature. She, instead, felt that it fell upon her to look after her fellow so-called 'Star Children'. She wasn't a big fan of the term, but what could she do? They were all young, certainly younger then her, and certainly far too young to be involved in some sort of intergalactic conflict, as smart and powerful as they may be. The youngest wasn't even a teenager- so Emma assumed, since she was, of course, unaware of their actual ages. The small girl was actually 14, but Emma was ignorant to that. Regardless of their ages they did need some sort of figure to watch over them besides the government spooks and the callous bounty hunters that made up whatever organization had picked them up. And so Emma took it upon herself to act as the older sister of the group.

The adults talked of psychic devices and D'nava and tanks and other things that Emma had no care for. She would do what was asked of her, but she wasn't interested in the conflict. She thought it was frankly quite pathetic that the government were asking children to fight their battles for them, even if those children did have otherworldly powers. Her only interest at this point was, once again, making sure that those junior to her were safe. One might think that the safety of the Human race would be among her interests, or perhaps the continuation of her own life, but Emma would be a nihilist to the end.

For the time being the group was ushered into a gym, no doubt with the expectation that they would begin developing their powers. Emma, of course, had no intent of doing such, but now was a good time to get a feel of the children's personalities. She already knew they were smart- allegedly they were all geniuses, herself included, but that was no matter. She was more interested in seeing if the kids were really prepared to be involved in a war. The government agent, Shirley, avoided using the word 'war', likely on purpose, but that's what they were really headed towards. She doubted her own ability to, if it came down to it, kill someone, alien or no. She doubted the children's resolve more, unless there was a sociopath embedded within the group.

Emma first headed to the dressing room. Her clothes were sweaty and dirty after the previous day's excursion. She momentarily considered showering but decided against it. She would use the time to figure out the others. She instead opted for the bag labeled 'Emma', containing gym clothes. Black yoga pants and a white t-shirt that fit a little too well. Of course, with the amount of surveillance she had suffered through it was completely unsurprising that they knew what size clothes she wore but she still did not like it. Her mislike of the situation was compounded by the choice of the oh-so-infamous form-fitting pants that made up her new outfit, but it was no matter, it was time to play the room.

She headed back into the gym and took a step back, examining the others. First her eyes fell upon a brown haired boy who must have been 13 or 14- one Cedric Wessex. He opted for the swimming pool, but his gaze seemed to be drawn elsewhere. She followed the stare to find it landing upon Stefan- the boy who had retrieved her from Cornell. He certainly seemed enamored with the boy, but that may have been coincidence. Interesting, she noted to herself. She also took note of the young girl, Lexi, whom she thought to be no more than 12. she juggled a weight above her- with her mind. Telekinesis. Very interesting. She did not take notice of the pair, Kimberly and Conner. Perhaps they had escaped her gaze, or were tied up in another room? (Or had not yet posted.) For the time being she would focus her attention on the young telekinetic.

She approached the girl slowly, not making her interest initially obvious. She first meandered past the treadmills, seeming to be examining the machine. And then she examined the strange crystals lined up in front of the mats, floating in the air. And then, finally, she approached the weights. She took a moment to observe the girl whilst she was juggling the weight. The girl was clearly albinic, a rare affliction marked by her white skin and red eyes, but Emma didn't let it throw her off. Finally she cleared her throat, waving at the girl to make her presence known- lest she surprise her and throw off her concentration, causing the heavy weight to crash down on her.

"Ms. Kingsley, isn't it? At least that's what Shirley called you, if memory serves." Emma moved closer to the girl, bending over slightly so she was eye level with her, smiling warmly. "If you don't mind me asking, how old are you?"

@TaliPaendrag

Lexi would see Cedric look at her with interest, and even hear him say:

"I'm already liking this place, Stefan!"

Stefan would then grin, then say:

"It's not the best place to be, especially if you want to be free, but, well, yeah, the people are all right." He would then return Cedric's gaze warmly.

"I think we really should swim; give Ms. Kingsley time to talk to Ms.Rocha," he had noticed the 'emo woman' coming towards her. She must see Alexandra as the weakest of the group, was Stefan's thoughts.

"Before we go into the pool," asked Cedric, "a question. What's stopping the D'Nava from bombarding us from orbit? Doing that, if precise enough, won't kill off all of their planned cattle."

"Oh," was Stefan's answer, "We have H'mina to thank for that; he and his fellow Es'mira gave us a Planetary Shield; surprisingly small thing, just as big as a Honda SUV, but able to telekinetically protect a planet from stuff that's too big or too fast."

@Scarifar@Diggerton@TaliPaendrag@Mass City@Simple Unicycle@Alina13

Conner was a bit unsatisfied with the answer, but he needed more information if he was to make a proper judgement on the matter. Unfortunately, he was inexperienced, so the only place to get said information was from the ones running the operation here. After listening to the descriptions and effects of the three Psychic Devices, Conner pondered the uses of each one, wondering how they would best be helpful. A few ideas came to mind, but nothing concrete.

Kimberly was also unsatisfied with the answer. 6 months? That's a very long time. They're probably already come up with some excuse for our parents because of that, though, Kimberly thought. Kimberly didn't think too much about the Psychic Devices either; all they needed to do was get them, and things would go smoothly from there. To her, there wasn't much to think about. Jobs to do, and they seemed like they were the only ones who could do it, or at least the most qualified.

Soon, everyone was moved to a gym of sorts, featuring standard gym equipment and facilities. Kimberly and Conner changed from their school uniforms to the gym clothes provided for them, then made their way to the treadmills. Conner was hesitant on actually using one; he'd never actually used one before. He always preferred to work out his mind rather than his body. Kimberly didn't mind though. She simply got up on one and toyed with the buttons until she got the hang of it. Quickly pausing the treadmill, Kimberly looked over to Conner, who was still looking very awkward over using a treadmill.

"What's wrong, Conner?" Kimberly asked mischievously, smirking at Conner's hesitation. "It's just a treadmill."

Conner glared at Kimberly, which only served to escalate Kimberly's smirk to a full-blown smile. Conner sighed, then said, "Perhaps we should focus on using our powers first." Conner was clearly trying to come up with excuses, but Kimberly decided to humor him and at the same time reach a compromise.

"Maybe we could do both," Kimberly offered. "We could exercise while 'synchronized', as you like to call it."

Conner was about to tell her off, until he realized how interesting of an idea it was. They had not determined the time limit for Synchronization, assuming there even was one, nor had they considered training themselves while synchronized. Perhaps it would be a good test.

"I suppose," Conner said, still thoughtful. Kimberly extended her arms to give a hug, and Conner did the same. They embraced, and the two glowed white, their silhouettes merging into each other, forming the same long-haired blonde woman they normally created when doing so, only this time wearing gym clothing, as opposed to their usual dark clothing. They then got on the treadmill Kimberly was originally going to use, and began running.