Operation 007 (SpyxFamily)

Ch. 28: Part Two

"Again."

"No one." She repeated and a salve of numbness began to cloud over her thoughts and feelings. It was heavy and suppressing, but it was better than before.

"Again."

"No one." Anya said hollowly and she didn't hear herself speak it. She was cold to her surroundings and her words were dead. They had no meaning anymore and neither did anything else. She buried her affections and feelings for her parents deep underground like an unmarked grave and as long as it was lost, she couldn't visit it and grieve. She wouldn't have to remember and their memory wouldn't haunt her like a ghost looming over her shoulder.

It was what Kai wanted and he could tell she was where he wanted her. "And who am I?" He said.

Who Kai was. An answer he'd been trying to drill into her for a long time. A fact Anya had denied and denied vehemently, a fact she'd wanted to change. "My father." She said despondently and there was nothing left. She had run, she had rebelled, she had rejected everything about the lab, about him, with body and soul, and she was right back where she started. She had never truly escaped, she was always pulled back in. There was no escape and she was tired. So tired. She was exhausted and there was nothing left.

She had lost and there was nothing left.

Kai would never allow her to leave the life he'd planned out for her and he decided everything that would be a part of it. The lab would remain her prison until the day she died.

Kai sighed through his nose as if the experience had pained him and disciplining his daughter was hard for him too.

He turned the electricity off entirely and the water splashed as Loid and Yor fell to their knees. The after affects sizzled and coursed through their bodies and kept them on the ground.

Kai took a knee beside Anya and put a hand on her head. She didn't have the senses or presence of mind to cringe when he stroked her hair lovingly. Caringly. "I know this was difficult, but it was important." The director said soothingly. "Other people can't understand, they can't handle all this. Only I can, and I always will." His tone was soft and gentle, like she was the most precious thing in the world. "Because I love you. You understand that, right?" He prodded and Anya must've nodded because Kai responded as if she had.

"Good." He stood and turned to Fisher who lingered in the back. "Watch her for a moment." He said and left the room.

This was what Anya dreaded. He wouldn't leave them alive. He would kill them and he wanted to do it personally. He hated that Loid and taken his place as Anya's father and he wanted her to see them die. To witness the life leave their bodies.

Anya was beyond thinking she could do anything and she was too dead inside to cry anymore. She rested at the bottom of the pit in pitch blackness. Where the light couldn't reach and the smooth, steep walls, had no edges to climb on. She had no more strength to claw her way out and there was no point in trying. Nothing she did made a difference. There was no point in hoping, in going against her father who always got what he wanted, there was no point in anything.

Creaking joints squeaked and the director entered the room on the other side of the glass. The water sounded through the intercom, garbled, as his feet swept through unbothered by it.

Anya couldn't watch and she fell from her crouch to sit on the ground.

Twilight couldn't feel his fingers, his body still reeled, he was dizzy and shaking, and his gun had tumbled out of his hands. He had little control and he couldn't reach it fast enough.

Anya's shoulders curled and she leaned low over her legs, holding her face.

Twilight's fingers found the grip of his pistol. The paralyzation wasn't absolute anymore, but it wasn't enough. He was too slow as Kai stepped closer and crouched in front of him.

The director savoured the moment as he slowly reached for Twilight's mask and pulled it off. He would kill Anya's so-called father, not some person he pretended to be.

He held his gaze for a moment, smirking smugly without a hint of subtlety, and it said more than if he had spoken.

He stood again and Twilight strained to raise his pistol while Kai drew out his own. He pointed it at his target's head and was unbothered that Loid had managed to lift his gun some ways. He was still too slow.

Click.

It resounded.

A small noise amplified by anticipation and silence and it was a nail in the coffin. The safety of Kai's pistol was off and it was a proclamation of death.

Twilight clenched his jaw and he was furious with himself. He was supposed to get Anya back. She was supposed to be safe by now and he struggled to raise the stupid gun. He was too slow, he was too slow, he wouldn't make it and he had never been so not ready to die. Anya couldn't be left here! He couldn't leave her alone and frustrated anguish throbbed in his chest.

He was failing Anya again.