Anya knew where she was when she opened her eyes.
Even the cot felt familiar, as if welcoming her back. The light fixture, generating a slight pink hue to dampen the blinding reflections that would otherwise engulf the small space.
Her cot was the only object in the room aside from a stool in the corner.
At first, Anya thought it was a nightmare. She jumped out of bed and realized it wasn't.
"No." Anya looked down at her fresh clothing, horrified. A white shirt and pants. The same thing she wore when she escaped.
"No. No, no, no." Anya's eyes teared. She couldn't be back here, she couldn't! She sobbed as she ran to the heavy iron door across the room.
Locked.
She cried harder.
She instinctively ran to the barred window, already knowing what she would see as she dragged the stool over.
It was burned into her memory, the only piece of the outside world she knew from her first time here. Every day she would look out this window, wishing she could touch the trees, so close, and yet so far.
And so she stood here again, looking into the deep forests where the foliage reached massive heights, hiding the laboratory from civilization.
They were so secluded, no one would hear her scream even if her window was open.
A panic set into her as she sobbed uncontrollably, getting off the stool. She wiped at her face over and over, but they kept coming.
Her throat felt blocked and her breaths were difficult. A pressure in her chest she hadn't felt in a long time.
So she resorted to her coping methods she hadn't used since her last time here.
She took the blanket from the bed, wrapped it around her body, and huddled down in a corner. She swayed back and forth, her face buried in her knees.
She wished for Papa and Mama. They were warm, and safe, and loving.
They had washed away the feeling of cold, sterile, loneliness. The fear that accosted her every time she thought of this place. Her nightmares blissfully stopping.
She had never felt so loved.
Not since her mother.
Anya remained on the floor until her tears subsided and her hiccups had ceased. Her breaths shuddered as she pulled the blanket tighter.
She would stay in here forever, she decided. Until her parents came.
She hoped they'd come. Even if they found out, she didn't want to be here. Even if they abandoned her it was better than this.
She lifted her eyes to see her knees soaked through. Swiping at her face one last time before letting the blanket slip off her head.
'It's fine.' She told herself. 'Papa and Mama are going to come for me.'
She held onto the reassuring thought, willfully deciding not to dwell on how they might react. It made her feel a little less alone.
She eyed her hands, still kinda shaky when she noticed a bandage. It was as wide as the forearm it was placed on. Rectangular and beige.
Anya ran her hand over it. A dull ache emitting from it.
She didn't know if she wanted to look.
She's looked before, and regretted it every time.
Anya took a corner of it, prepared to rip it off. Then thought better of it.
She didn't want to know.
Her head shot up as footsteps neared her door outside. She recognized them as Agent Fisher. It was hard not to, when she'd come to retrieve Anya as many times as she did.
Anya pulled the blanket over her head again, knowing it was pointless to try and avoid her.
A loud clank reverberated, the handle turned, the door opened revealing the stoic face of Agent Fisher. Her assigned guard.
A woman in her late twenties with black hair. She kept it in a high bun, tight and orderly. She wore black cargo pants and boots, a dark green t-shirt tucked in. Her appearance always the same.
Why the agents looked ready for combat twenty-four seven was beyond Anya. Maybe they did other things she didn't know about. She had never known their thoughts, for the devices they wore on their ears, disrupting the signal.
"Subject 007. Time to study." Agent fisher declared.
"Anya!" She insisted, muffled by the blanket that hid her from view.
The agent walked in and pulled the blanket away, leaving Anya suddenly colder.
"Let's go." She said, tossing it on the bed.
"Anya doesn't want to study." Her voice shaking as she buried her head again.
The agent stared down at her, hands on her hips. She waited only a minute before swopping Anya up under her arm.
"NO! PUT ANYA DOWN!!" She screamed and kicked. "ANYA DOESN'T WANT TO!!" She cried, her pleas echoing off the white empty hallways.
Agent fisher remained calm and collected as ever, undisturbed by Anya's fervent screams and sobs. They passed several doors, turned a few corners until Fisher came up to a door and knocked.
It opened almost immediately.
"Doctor Newsie. Subject 007, arrived." She stated to the bald man with comically large glasses.
"Agent Fisher, thank you. Set her over there, please." He gestured to a table.
"No! Put Anya down! Anya doesn't want to!!" She sobbed, her efforts tiring her.
"Calm down, now. You're going to be fine." He said as if they'd done this several times (which they have), and she was overreacting.
"We're just going to do a few tests. We need to know how healthy you are. Doctor Fairaway?" He looked to the tall woman at the counter, her brown hair pulled back in a short ponytail.
"Ready." She answered "Are you going to be trouble today?" Doctor Fairaway asked like it was a normal question, turning from the counter.
Anya sniffled. "Anya wants to go home."
She sighed, disappointed by her statement. "You are home. Once you get that through you're head, everything will be easier, I promise." She gestured to Agent Fisher to set her down on the hard silvery table in the middle of the room.
All the kicking in the world would have been useless as Agent Fisher buckled her in. Anya's right arm cuffed and facing the ceiling.
She struggled against the bonds, but she was tiny and the straps were thick.
"Anya doesn't like needles!" She cried to the doctor preparing a butterfly for a blood sample, vials placed in the pocket of her lab coat.
She stayed silent, undeterred, as Doctor Newsie wrapped a rubber band around her arm. Swabbed the area.
Doctor Fairaway inserted the tiny piece of metal.
Anya had always been unable to look away when they took her blood. She was a deer, and the needles were the headlights.
The doctor took two vials, not risking anymore from a small child. She took a cotton ball and placed it over the needle as she withdrew it. A bandage plastered on top.
Anya didn't mind the blood as much, but she knew what came next.
YOU ARE READING
Operation 007 (SpyxFamily)
FanfictionOperation Strix is still in progress as Anya strives for success. The mission is pushed to the side when people from her past re-enter her life, and plan B is the least of her worries as she struggles to hide her previous life from her family and fr...
