Dark Matter [Completed]

Prologue

I have no memory of a time before Boris took us, my brother and I. Sometimes, when I was young, and the horrors of the procedures were fresh, I would dream. A woman's voice singing, a hand brushing hair out of my eyes, morning sunlight through an open window... fragments of a world that was gone forever.

Eventually, the dreams came less and less until they stopped completely. I rarely dream now. Alex says it's for the best, but sometimes I wish I could have held on to that happy feeling in those dreams. He's right though, they are nothing but dreams. This is real, this pitiful excuse for an existence.

Boris calls us 'special operatives', but I know better. We are nothing but glorified slaves. Of course, our quarters are rich and lavish, and we dine on the finest foods with servants at our beck and call, but we are still slaves. There is no illusion of free choice, or freedom of any kind. We are closely monitored every moment of every day, and the floor our quarters are on have been specially designed to render our abilities useless.

My brother and I were normal once, just like every other human being on this planet. But we are changed now. Human... yet more than human. No normal person can walk through walls like they didn't exist. No normal person can become invisible and intangible in the blink of an eye. No normal person can take any form they desire. No normal person can move through a room yet leave no physical trace of their existence.

No, whatever bizarre experiments Boris' scientists performed on us, they made us into something more than human. But, just like my life before, I have only faint memories of these procedures. That time is lost in a fog of pain and terror and confusion. In this, at least, I am glad my memory fails me. I have no wish to relive it.

So there you have it. I am Natalia, sister of Aleksei, daughter of no one. I have no past, no future... only now. That is all that exists for me. The next mission, the next target. In and out, never leave a trace. They send me because I don't exist, because we don't exist. The perfect assassins.

And so we have been for the past ten years. Hundreds of mysterious deaths, critical information disappearing from records overnight, contacts and witnesses never showing up. Never any evidence, never any trace; we have never failed a mission.

I hate it, but a long time I learned to not let it get to me. I had to harden my heart to survive and now... now I don't think I can ever go back. I feel nothing. I have felt nothing for a long time. My brother is the only person I love... the only person I trust, and I love him more than life. He is the only living being who can break through the walls around my heart.

Even my hatred for Boris cannot get through. If I let it, I will do something stupid and then my chance for freedom will be gone forever. And so we wait. Wait for the moment we can make our move and break free. One day it will come, I feel it. One day Boris will make a mistake... and we will never look back.