X marks the spot

Failed Experiments

"Well, oh wise one, who were you thinking of?" She asked, almost bracing herself for whatever the answer was going to be.

"Sometimes even the king needs to check up on his flock."

Fuck, "No. No way." She denied instantly, even putting her laptop aside and standing, her eyes looking down at the figure of the boy who was about to try and take down a king.

The naivety of youth, she supposed. The next generation constantly wanting to be the one to burn the bad in the world down.

Even her generation said that, and look at where they were now --

No, she was getting distracted. Here this boy was, probably just turning twenty if not a year or so into it, waging a war against a seemingly endless army who took people off the streets and gave them a place to stay and an ideal to die for. Mainly drugs and money, and some guy you'd never meet, but still a home was a home.

And here was this boy, who was from that world, wanting to burn a chunk of it down, and who was fed up with all the waiting and chump change.

Still, he persevered, "He's gonna want to have a look at the damages to the warehouse. Shit part of town, but damage is damage; especially to someone like Decon, he's the money man. May even bring Francis with him. Take your son to work type day."

"Your dad let you do that?" She asked, still staring down at the boy who stared just as harshly back up at her.

"Didn't really care what I did. Not the point. Why are you defending Francis, he's the one who did this." Aaron said, volume rising a bit.

"Decon did this. Francis was a puppet."

"So's the other people we've killed. You never cared about that before." That stung. As she took that blow, Aaron took his chance to start walking towards the door.

"Wire." She warned him, tone a bit calmer than before.

He put his leg up, almost falling over as he lifted his one over after, "I got it." He said, still pissed, before making his way back to the warehouse where she first contacted him.

She meanwhile, sighed. She looked back to her laptop, the laptop that held the images for the reason she was doing all of this.

She knew what a parent would do for their child...and she was sure Aaron never fully was.

Which was why, despite the talk they had just had, she went to the laptop and went back to the cameras. She was going to keep him alive. He might've been an asshole, but he didn't deserve to die.

She watched him, as he reached the warehouse. She watched him as he peaked around the corner of the street, looking for any threats. He found none. She watched as he continued down the street, the street that was pretty much a ghost town.

She wasn't sure how people had lived there.

She watched as he made to the door, the back door he had used, but also the much larger door. Both were shut.

She watched as he tried both doors, the larger one rattling more. She watched as he looked around, no one seemed to care, if anyone was even there in the first place.

She watched as he tried again, this time only the larger door. It rattled even more, his attempts climaxing in him kicking the door, the rattle the loudest it had been. She watched, through the admittedly grainy footage, as he seemed to be at a wits end. As if he'd fully realised the cost of this.

He didn't. Or, at least, he wasn't given time to. The door opened, and out came the father Aaron guessed would be there. He was there, with some of his men, guns aimed.