The Future is Ours

Seven

The tribe left Holly and the old man in peace, going back downstairs to sort out the ever screaming bounty hunters and set out a plan to get into the lighthouse.

"LET ME OUT!" Brian continued to yell, only getting louder as they approached the door.

Ernesto and Sadiq got into place, and on the count of 3 they unlocked the door. The pair came tumbling out of the cupboard, and the boys were quick to grab and restrain them.

"Hold still!" Ernesto commanded as he set about putting handcuffs on a wriggling Fizzy. "You are disturbing the baby."

Fizzy stilled in his arms as his face lit up. "Baby? Congrats, me old mucker! What is it? Boy? Girl?" He looked up to the staircase. "No, it's a sensitive!"

Everyone looked at where he was staring and watched as a toy teddy came floating down the stairs. Ernesto was quick to finish off restraining the bounty hunters before running up to see what was happening with his baby, tribe in tow.

"Who's a clever girl?" The old man was whispering as they entered, rocking the baby back and forth. Flying around the room were an array of toys, clothes, and furniture.

"We've found the last sensitive! And produced by Holly, of all people." Reese said with a smirk, causing Holly to roll her eyes. She had never been a fan of sensitives.

"Now we have the seven sensitives, we can send the teen parents home!" Serena exclaimed. "If we storm the lighthouse, can you get the baby to the time garden with Reese and Aris?" She asked Holly.

Kim must have seen the worry on her face. She could hardly take 5 steps without being in some form of pain, let alone make it all the way outside whilst carrying a baby.

"I can help you, Holly." Her teen mum reassured her.

This was all getting a bit much for Holly, it was a lot to take in, and right now she just wanted to spend some time with her baby.

"I'll have my darling back now." She said to the old man as she carefully took her back into her arms as he protested. "Show him out now, will you?" She asked her tribe, hoping they would all leave.

They complied, once again feeling like there was hope that they would succeed at the mission. They gathered in the front room, wracking their brains for a plan to get into the lighthouse.

"I could scale the side of the building, jump onto the balcony, smash the windows, take out Kylie, and let you in from the inside?" Ernesto suggested, clearly over estimating the skills he had learnt in the Resistance. His idea was met with silence.

"Come on, think!" Serena groaned in frustration. "There must be a way to get into the lighthouse!"

Holly appeared in the doorway, baby in arms, and Ernesto rushed straight to her side when he saw the sad look on his girlfriend's face.

"My little Chi Chi!" He said, quickly checking the baby over in case she had been hurt by something.

"She's fine, Ern. She just stopped being sensitive." She said with a sigh.

"That's because the neuroscrambler is back on." Reese informed her.

Well that wasn't good.

"There's only 10 minutes until the comet arrives!" Sadiq yelled angrily.

"Oh give it up, you have no hope of getting past the troopers." Brian gloated from his spot tied up next to the radiator.

"Fizzy, you could help us get in!" Aris suggested.

He chuckled. "And why would I do that?"

"Kylie isn't going to pay you the bounty. Is she radioing you? Asking where you are and why you haven't bought us in? Kylie doesn't want us sensitives captured because she's changed her game plan. When the comet comes over, she'll use it to boost that evil machine and completely wipe the minds of us sensitives. Including the baby!"

Until now, it hadn't crossed Holly and Ernesto's minds that their daughter, a sensitive, would also be effected by the neuroscrambler. But the penny had finally dropped, and they looked at Aris in a state of disbelief. Ernesto held their baby tighter to his chest, as if it would protect her mind from being wiped.

"Well she's only a baby, she doesn't know anything. So she won't feel a thing." Brian tried to defend his Queen, much to the horror of everyone else.

Fizzy glared at his teen father. "And that, dad, is why you've got to be possibly the worst father on the planet."

"Fizzy, help us get into the lighthouse?" Sadiq asked.

"You could get past the guards, take me in as a pretend bounty!" Aris suggested.

Holly could feel her eyes well up, the thought of her daughter having her mind wiped over whelming her. "Please, Fizzy." She looked at him with pleading eyes.

Brian scoffed. "Don't listen to them. You help them, means I'll be going home."

"Given the circumstances," he looked over to the baby, who had started to fuss in Ernesto's arms, "I don't think that's a bad thing."

"I want to stay!" Brian protested.

"Tough! Your plans never include me, and now mine don't include you. Sparticles, I'm in!" He confirmed.

Sadiq unlocked his handcuffs, helping him up from the floor. "We can do this, can't we?" He asked, the realisation dawning on him that soon the adults would be back.

"Of course we can. We're Sparticles, right?" Serena smiled at him. "Let's go!"

Ernesto handed the baby back to Holly, following his tribe out of the room. Holly sat down next to Kim, the emotions of the day finally catching up with her.

"Can I have a hold?" Kim asked, arms outstretched for the baby.

Holly happily obliged, knowing that this would be the last chance she would get to hold her. Her heart broke watching the two.

"Kim, mum, don't go." She said, wiping the tears away from her eyes.

Kim took her eyes off the baby, a small smile appearing on her face. "I've loved the time we've spent together, but I want to go home to my mum now. This is what the mission was all about, helping us teen parents get back home."

"I know, but I don't want you to go."

Kim's smile grew bigger. "Don't be selfish, Holly."

The comment drew a laugh out of her teen daughter. "Now you do sound like my mum." She spent a moment just studying Kim's face, trying to etch a permanent picture in her brain. "Bye, teen mum."

It was Kim's turn to well up now, tears springing to her eyes. "Bye, teen daughter."

They embraced each other in one final hug, neither wanting to let go. But they knew they had to, for the mission. Holly placed a kiss on her daughter's forehead before watching as Kim walked away with her, taking her to the circle of perpetual time to be with the other sensitives.

"Holly?" Brian asked. She had forgotten he was still tied up in the room with them. "Could you let me go? There's something I need to say to someone before it's too late."

She debated a moment, before taking the key and untying his wrists.