Operation 007 (SpyxFamily)

Ch. 25: Part Two

A clock ticked somewhere, the passing of seconds like a taunting reminder of their limited time together before they were separated. He wondered how long that would last. When Forger was locked behind that thick door, would he see her again? How would he know she was okay? How would she know he was okay?

Damian's spurt of energy drained and he pulled his tray toward him sullenly to finally pick at his food. His stomach grumbled but he wasn't hungry.

There was a click as a lock turned and the door opened. A man held it for a boy and it closed behind him. The boy looked exhausted, as if he hadn't slept well in weeks and rubbed his wrists like they might be sore. He made to approach the counter and walked, distracted by the two newcomers, to get sustenance.

Damian wasn't one to take interest in many people, they were usually beneath him and unremarkable. Unless they held high enough social standing, they were nothing to him. Why bother investing time in someone who wasn't worth it? But this was not his "usual" circumstances, and this was not the place to care. And this boy was the rare exception. Damian saw him and that story he heard at school came to mind. It had left him completely upon recent events, too trivial to matter in the chaos.

Now it did.

This kid wore white, medical clothing. Patient wear. He wasn't wearing pyjamas like that student had guessed and pieces fell into place in an unexpectedly disturbing puzzle. His apparel was meant for hospitals or even an asylum and they were certainly in neither of those places.

Damian felt goosebumps rise and his heart beat quicken as he climbed to the precipice of a conclusion.

No public health building would be concealed this way, no legal medical institution. They were kidnapped here for crying out loud.

A phrase he'd heard earlier: "Subject 007" Agent Fisher had called Forger and he didn't want to think it. An ooze of icky, terrible understanding drenched into his bones and clutched his body in something horrid he couldn't describe. The boy had entered the cafeteria, and as if he was the catalyst, Damian was shoved into a pot that cooked his thoughts and suspicious into the the answers he was looking for. And it was not pleasant. Nothing could have prepared him for this when it came to him.

This. . .

His breath caught and he looked to Forger who suddenly wasn't the same person.

. . .This was a lab. . .

The realization grew like a black hole, bearing down on him in chilling suffocation. The knowledge sinking dread and fear into his stomach, his muscles, his mind. His hands shook again just as they had finally stopped. He'd heard of human experimentation labs before and he hadn't thought them real. He didn't know exactly what it entailed, but it sounded awful and if Forger was scared of it, so was he. ". . . This. . .is a lab isn't it? . ." He breathed and the reaction was instant. Forger's hands fell and her eyes snapped up in startling alertness. It was quick, the barest glance before her head whipped around to see the boy, and back to him, alarmed.

Her expression spoke volumes and it was all the confirmation he needed.

Damian leaned back from the table, hands dragging with him, aghast with incredulity.

Forger's jaw moved as if to speak and couldn't. She failed to, and looked away, rubbing her legs up and down anxiously.

This was her secret, Damian thought. This was her life and he couldn't have been more regretful to find it. She was a lab experiment and had somehow kept it hidden. Behind her carefree disposition at school, her infectious personality, he never would have guessed that this was what she carried with her.

This is why the man wanted her back.

"Forger. . ." And he could feel the air escaping the solidity of his words. "What's going to happen to us?" He asked shakily, though he didn't really want to know. A sick curiosity at what the experiments were for and what had happened to Forger. A sickness in his stomach when he thought of it.

Forger's gaze flicked briefly to him and her uniform crumpled under her fidgety hands.

"You'll—be fine, I think." She said in a small voice, avoiding a direct reply, and Damian was all too aware she didn't include herself.

"What about you?" He asked in the same tone.

She didn't answer.

Damian was nauseated.

What did that mean? Damian's welfare was reliant on Forger it sounded, did that mean she'd cooperate with them to keep him safe? That didn't sit well with him. Or was she in harm's way from the beginning? This was a lab and she was taken for a reason, they had things planned for her already.

He gripped the table to steady himself. He kept the bile down as panic started to rise.

Damian got off the bench. "We have to find a way out, c'mon." He decided hurriedly, and didn't know what he was saying. They were in a locked room and he didn't know the way out of the building, he was acting on impulse.

Forger worriedly bit her lip from where she sat.

"You're kidding right?" An unfamiliar voice said, and the boy he'd forgotten was in the room, spoke from the table diagonally to them. He didn't look hungry, either, by the way he tiredly leaned on the table, a fork in his other hand that rested uselessly against his tray. "Do you know how many have tried? They all failed and were punished for it. You don't want to be another one, trust me." He said apathetically as if any emotion would take too much energy. "Who are you, anyway? We don't get visitors."

The boy's attitude, and Forger's unwillingness to listen, opposed Damian's urgency and he felt crushed on all sides. The boy insisted it was a bad idea, and Forger was ignoring him despite what might happen to her.

How was this supposed to work if Forger didn't listen?!

Damian's hopes were defeated mere moments after they were born and it dwindled away when he accepted Forger wasn't going to work with him. He wouldn't leave without her, and he doubted he could on his own. Forger was being obstinate and it frustrated him to no end. He couldn't understand it. Why wouldn't she just help him figure this out?!

"I'm Will." The kid interrupted his thoughts and it was very annoying how readily he tamped down his ambitions.

"ANYA!" A voice thundered furiously down the hall, feet stamping the floor in a rage and the children in the room tensed even before the door slammed open.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?!"