A/N: sorry to my 2 readers that it takes so long for me to post chapters I'm doing other writing projects now which takes all of my attention lol
"What'd you find?" Valerie called from across the room.
"Disappointingly little," I told her. "Other then the names and hospitals of anyone Thomas injected, but we already knew that."
"Well, I hate to say I told you so," Beatrix said, her nails tapping the screen of her phone like she was writing a novel or something. "All there really is other then that, is some weird updated version of the original journal. I never got to look at it before you came asking for the USB."
"And you let me have it," I reminded her.
"You're welcome," she responded.
"How about we have a look at that journal," Evianna said from beside me, interrupting. Pluto appeared by my other shoulder, and I looked through the folders. "Uhh, I can't find it," I said.
"Here, let me," Valerie said, coming up from behind me. I stepped back, and her nimble fingers started tapping on the keyboard.
"So, what are we looking for?" Valerie asked. "Docs? Pages?"
"Some journal app," Beatrix responded. "Should be easy to find."
"Got it!" Valerie announced. She stepped aside, and I got back in front of the computer. We watched as it loaded up.
"This is more like his notes," Pluto said. They were right, the pages that came up were mostly bullet points and short sentences.
Beatrix joined us at the table, and then there were five of us crowding around the laptop. "Okay, this is mostly stuff about the kids he was gonna infect. Probably hasn't been updated in over fifteen years," Beatrix commented.
"Actually, it was updated a year ago," Valerie said, tapping the top of the page, which had an update date.
I scrolled down to the bottom of the page, and found a new set of notes. "Wait, this is all about a new batch," Beatrix said, leaning over my shoulder.
"What, like, more serum?" Evianna asked.
"Looks like it," I responded, reading over the bullet points talking about how "disappointing" the first time had been. "Guess he used it all up the first time. I know he didn't make much, since most of the kids just got genetically enhanced before they were born, which had been tested before. The serum was his little side project. A few of the kids that got it died not long after."
"Holy shit," Pluto said. "But that means..."
"A new generation," Valerie whispered. "Of kids with powers. Given to them by an unstable, almost untested serum."
"Did he do it already?" Evianna asked. "Did he finish?"
"It doesn't look like it," I said. "In the physical journal, he wrote a long dramatic entry on what he was gonna do and how he was gonna do it. There's nothing here."
"That's probably cause I stole the USB," Beatrix said.
"He can still add to it," Valerie reminded her.
Beatrix blinked. "Right. Yeah."
"If he updates, will we see it on this?" I asked. Valerie shook her head.
"I wish. It doesn't work like that. Everything he's already done is saved onto here."
"The first batch took years. We can probably assume that he hasn't finished yet. It'll be fine," Evianna said. She was probably right.
"I'm going to bed," Pluto announced.
"Same," Valerie said. "It's like, three thirty in the morning. I don't want my sleep schedule to get messed up."
Eventually, it was just me sitting at the computer, after Evianna found a place to sleep, and Beatrix disappeared to do whatever she was doing. I didn't know what I was looking for, but I wouldn't rest until I found it.
The journal app, however, was very hard to navigate. And it seemed some of the pages were password protected. Suddenly, I saw that a page was marked with my name, and thankfully I was able to open it.
Damira has disappeared seemingly into thin air. It's no wonder she got so far away so fast, after all she was helped by Beatrix. I must say, I'm disappointed in Beatrix. But I suppose you can't expect loyalty from a double agent. But I'll be able to find her, find both of them. I always am.
Damira is clearly far more powerful then I thought. I didn't assume she was capable of murder, nor that her powers were growing so fast. I wonder if she has any idea how dangerous she is. One of the only children who wasn't destroyed by the serum early on. One of the only survivors.
I've been watching her for years, never letting her stray too far. She kept to herself for the most part, a lone wolf, she might have you believe, but really she was just socially awkward and difficult to befriend. However, it did seem that she was close with the twins, specifically Alyssa, a friendship I never would have seen coming. It's almost comical that Damira was the one to end her life, after Alyssa had spent years trying to make her feel welcome and included. According to Beatrix, Damira would never hurt anyone, but I suppose I'll have to take everything she says with a grain of salt. For some reason that I cannot understand, it seems she'll move heaven and earth for Damira. But she won't be honest with her.
Maybe I will have to push Damira, to make her realize her full potential. I'll have to find out if she's made any friends. Once I find them, of course. After all, I have the perfect place to keep prisoners.
Well that was a lot. It also told me that he ordered Olivia's kidnapping just to try and push me over the edge. And it confirmed where he was keeping her. It also confirmed he was completely insane, but I already knew that.
I clicked off the page, almost closing the laptop before another file caught my eye, this one marked Beatrix.
I expected better from Beatrix, I really did. I've seen a lot of children come and go at my orphanage, but never any quite like her. She reminds me of myself at that age. Hungry, ambitious. Those traits are always easy to spot, and they were especially easy in her.
She was not what I was expecting, not fully. I flew to London in the late evening, having just acquired her police file now that it was confirmed that her mother had been taken care of, and I read about an impulsive, arrogant girl who showed off her powers with no regard for the consequences. And in some ways, that was certainly true. But when I brought her back home, I came to know a quiet, sensitive girl as well, peering through the cracks that life had given her.
For someone so clever, Beatrix is easy to manipulate. All you have to do is dangle what she wants in front of her. Not material things, no, she can get those for herself. But above all, Beatrix wants to be held dear, she wants to be cared for. And even more so, after losing her mother. I researched attachment theories after she arrived, and it seemed to fit our situation quite well.
At first I was impressed, but rather indifferent of her. I was waiting for her to give me insight into Damira, and I was waiting for her to learn to master her powers, though that didn't seem like it was going to happen anytime soon. And yet, I grew to care for her. I've never had children, I've never seen a need for them outside of experimentation. they are simply the next generation keeping the human race alive. The orphanage was just a place to store a few experiments who lost their parents, and a front for those who might wonder what exactly my job is. But somehow, I grew to care for her as if she were my own.
And she double crossed me. I was almost impressed with how she managed it. I suppose I could get her for evidence tampering, but I think my little Beatrix will be committing crimes far worse than that before the year is up. I was almost impressed, but mostly I was annoyed. Mostly, I was disappointed. I was good to her, I gave her a home, I gave her opportunities. But she bit the hand that fed her. And all for Damira, which I will truly never understand.
But it doesn't matter. I'm going to find her, and I'm going to punish her. I'm going to get both of them back, no matter what I have do to. It shouldn't be too difficult to track down two runaway little girls. After all, they've hardly begun to understand the power I've given them, much less wield it.
Thoroughly disturbed, I shut the laptop. That was a lot to unpack, and I had to wonder if Beatrix had read this. Knowing her, there was no way she had passed up snooping in a file with her name on it.
By then, it was almost five in the morning. I hadn't realized how long I had been sitting in front of the computer. My eyes hurt. I got up, and looked around the room. Evianna and Valerie had found a spare room to sleep in, Pluto was probably in the pantry, and I had no idea where Beatrix was. I stepped out of the kitchen, looking up and down the hallway. To my surprise, I saw her in it.
She was sitting up against the wall in a closed position, hugging her knees, and staring into space. Something about that sight gave me chills over my whole body. Something was wrong, something was very wrong. Part of me wanted to run, part of me wanted to cradle her.
"Beatrix?" I whispered. "Are you okay?"
At first, there was no response. Then she turned her head, looking directly at me, and my heart lurched. There were tear tracks on her cheeks, and a haunted look in her eyes. "Do you hear them?" she whispered.
"See what?" I asked, my heart pounding.
"Do you hear them?" she gasped desperately, grabbing the front of my shirt and pulling me down to her level. I let her, I knew she wouldn't hurt me more than I let her. "Tell me you hear them."
We were inches apart, her cold breath against my face. My cheeks were hot, my heard thudding, my legs weak and I sank to my knees. There was something very wrong with her, she needed help. I did too, but she was more urgent. I shouldn't find her so beautiful like this, her hair plastered to her face, her eyes wild and unfocused. I shouldn't want her, not like this, not now, not ever. I should push her off, end this before it because a this.
I touched my forehead to hers, breathing her in. She was toxic fumes, making me dizzy, making my vision blur. She grabbed my hair in her shaking fist, pulling me closer. We were almost one person, now. Two puzzle pieces, pushed together.
I could tell her I heard it too. I could tell her whatever she wanted to hear. We could go upstairs, find a hopefully unlocked hotel room, or just anywhere with no one else nearby. We could-
No, this was fucked up, what we were doing. She was fucked up, clearly more than I'd assumed. I was fucked up for even thinking of taking advantage of her in this state. I shook my head, clearing my thoughts, I untangled her fingers from my shirt. "I'm sorry, I don't hear anything."
"Oh," she said quietly, blinking. She stood up, wiping her palms on her legs. "I need to sleep," she murmured, before walking off.
This moment left me feeling extremely unsettled. After all, I knew that the powers could tear us apart. I had seen it happen right in front of me. But her powers weren't physical, they were mental.
As I had expected, Pluto was in the pantry, sitting on the floor, munching on a granola bar. "What's up?" they asked.
"I thought you were going to bed," I said.
"Feels weird to sleep without Olivia."
I decided to ignore how that sounded. It probably came out wrong. I needed to get my mind out of the gutter. "I found out where they're keeping her," I said. "Sort of."
Pluto looked up. "What? Where?"
"Where we suspected. In the underground place they were keeping me and Beatrix. Now we just need to figure out how to break in."