[ COMPLETED ]
German Translations Provided By @vanessanats
BOOK 1 of the ORPHIC series
ZEITGEIST
/ˈtsītˌɡīst,ˈzītˌɡīst/
the defining spirit or mood of a particular period of history as shown by the ideas and beliefs of the time.
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"Don't make promises you can't keep."
Brooklyn, New York. May, 1979
THE MISSION HAD BEEN SIMPLE: the target's parents would be on their way back from stealing vital intel from HYDRA's base in New York. The target would arrive home from school and expect his parents to be home. STRIKE team: Delta would intercept the runaway agents, giving Verfall and Winter enough time to effectively eliminate the target and return to base for a long nap in their cryostasis chamber.
The plan was simple- immoral- but simple.
Verfall had- had felt something, when James had paused as he read the target's name and his age. She also felt her stomach twist when he showed them the young boy's face. But she ignored all the feelings brewing in her chest because failure meant punishment.
And nothing good came out of punishments.
So they moved out, Winter deciding to take the kill because- because. . .she didn't know. It wasn't out of malicious intent, she was sure about that, but she couldn't clarify what his motives were, after all, most weapons weren't supposed to have motives.
Maybe she should've realized he was malfunctioning way before the mission even happened.
The kill had been easy.
The boy had no skill in self-defense, no common sense, and no idea that opening the door without looking through the peephole could be as dangerous as his parents probably warned him of. He was a level zero, at best, and the small furrow of his eyebrows, marking the confusion on his face, was barely a shield to the knife that pierced his heart.
Verfall had cleaned the blood- cleaned the whole living room, leaving natural dust bugs to leave no abnormal trace.
And they were done. They'd be able to go home and leave.
But, well, the malfunction happened before Verfall could stop him.
One second Winter was dragging their target's corpse to their mission handler, a seven year old boy named Ethan Parker, the next second he'd abandoned the little body, sprinting forwards towards a young child with brunette curls holding an older woman's hand, a single name leaving his lips-
"Becca."
Verfall had grabbed the corpse and hid it with the few seconds she had before darting after him, terror seizing her heart. Winter was down the dark street, looking back and forth with confused eyes. Verfall swallowed nervously as the sun dipped under the horizon.
