Project Echidna|| COD X OC

08: Goddess' Plans

Time flies by, especially around small children who age four times as fast. They were two before they knew it. Mordred said a total of three words, "Quiet" and "Shut up", while Sissy couldn't stop talking.

"Papa," Sissy calls out running to Soap. That little incident slowly faded away and their relationship smoothed over.

Soap smiled broadly as he picked her up tossing her a bit, on the other hand, Mordred sat there staring expressionless and only put her arms out for Ghost to lift her.  She had chosen Ghost and only Ghost, her mother and Laswell were the other exceptions.

Everyone in the task force helps buy the little toddlers new clothes, as they will quickly outgrow any clothes within months. Sissy refused to wear anything less than princess-like or fairytale-like. She made the military budget bleed a little bit by how many dresses she wanted. Who can say no to a little girl with her pretty face?

Mordred dresses like an old person. Like a Lawyer. It was 100% Laswell's fault, and who can tell this old lady that Mordred looks like she's about to commit tax evasion and fraud?

"How have you been?" Soap asks happily.

"Mmhm hungry," and stared. Sissy had a slight lisp and her fast speech made most of her words get loss in translation. Soap didn't care his little girl was speaking and that's all that mattered.

"Pandora," the young mother turns to everyone as Laswell calls her in. "We have a lead on Jake West," Pandora stops smiles, and nods, taking a seat.

"He is somewhere in Russia, we have lobbied the Kremlin to let us search for him." Laswell continues. Pandora nods and looks at her daughter.

"Jake West is a cunt." Everyone froze and slowly turned to Mordred. Her bold cold childish tone caught everyone off guard. It was her first public words.

Pandora laughed and clapped her hands and lifted Mordred out of her baby seat. Price was the first to recover and he turned to everyone else. Gaz and Soap had their mouth open and Ghost was frozen to his spot.

"Mordred you can't say that," Ghost said calmly recovering rather quickly. Pandora sat her daughter down still smiling.

"A cunt is a cunt and he's a cunt." Mordred slams her small fist onto the table. Gaz stifles cackles as Soap lunges to cover Sissy's ears.

"Mordred!" Laswell chastizes her loudly.

"Mother, am I wrong?" Mordred asks everyone to turn to Pandora who only laughs and tilts her head resting a hand on her chin.

"Hardly."

"Pandora," Price grunts out, "as a mother you need to be a role model—"

"I am the parent, it's just a word. She needs to get it out of her system, so in the future, she finds more... accurate words to describe people." Pandora spoke up, her nuanced answer was not lost on anyone. She's smark and the way she words things is always... odd. "Mordred, articulate better." Pandora suggests before pinching Mordred's chubby cheeks.

"Cunt!" Sissy said cheerfully. Soap groans and gives Mordred a death glare. Soap picked up his little girl and began to baby-talk to her.

"You can't say that Sissy, that's a bad word," Soap said slowly.

"Mordred—"

"Don't baby talk her Kyle," Pandora chides after hearing his baby talk, "It's insulting, she understands."

Gaz frowns and looks over to Laswell and Price. Her standard in children was a stark contrast to each other. One child could be a child and the other held to a different standard. Gaz knew what this was, older sibling parentification.

"Pandora, can we talk?" Gaz asks calmly but the sternness is in his tone. Pandora looked at him eyeing him before she smiled that same uneasing smile. The two left the room and took a small walk through the halls. "I know you have a lot of expectations for Mordred."

"I do."

"But Mordred should also get a childhood like Sissy, you don't expect much from Sissy—"

"You're wrong. I do expect things from Sissy. I expect her to be a pain in the ass for any man who ever meets her. She will have an empire just like her sister." Pandora muse.

"Empire?"

"Mordred will have power and control, and Sissy will be full of sin and frivolous joy."

Gaz stopped walking and stared at Pandora. His unease with her only grew. She was a fanatic, and here she seems almost certain of both her daughters' future.

"You're not fit to be a mother." Pandora stops walking and tilts her head back her long white hair obscuring her face. "You are delusional, your daughters are just babies."

"They are two it's only been six months. In five short years, they will be women." Pandora states the obvious fact that has plagued Gaz's mind. That was not lost on anyone in the task force.

"They deserve a childhood." Gaz folds his arms. Pandora fully turns around and studies his face.

"That is just a dream," Pandora said. Gaz sighed and he could almost read her thought process. A mother who is accounting for the madness of her daughters' biology.

"If we find Jake West that can be a reality," Gaz stepped closer looking down at the young teen girl who still looked a bit underfed.

"He will not give that information up so easily," Pandora said softly.

"Don't worry," Gaz slowly smiled, "we will figure it out, but for now let them enjoy their childhood."

Pandora stares at him blankly, Gaz couldn't tell what she was thinking, but she slowly nods after a few seconds. She walked away, not back towards her children but back to her room.

Gaz could read people, he knew what people thought most of the time. He is used to people feeling secure in his presence especially if he smiles. But Pandora... That girl is off. She was operating in a space and sphere far different from reality. It felt like she was hiding something, and Gaz didn't know what questions to ask to figure it out.

Pandora walks into her room and looks at her mirror.

"What fools are these mortals compared to a god? For who will see the future of my blood but me? For that was what I made them for."