Mr. Brown quickly ushered Adam into a dark room, Adam’s small footsteps leaving creaking echoes as he sprinted down the hall. Morrigan grabbed Mr. Brown’s shirt collar, pressing her forearm against his throat as she smashed him against the wall. He let out a choked gasp, desperately clawing at her arm to try and breathe, but her skin quickly healed over any of the scratches.
“Tell me,” she hissed, spit flying in his face, “who sent you?”
His movements became lethargic, eyes bulging out of his head red and teary, and his limbs slowly gave up as he slid down the wall. Morrigan let go of his throat, watching him fall to the ground and violently cough, desperately trying to regain his breath. He looked so pitiful below her, hunched over himself while struggling, body heaving.
Crawling in front of Morrigan, he clung onto her baggy pants and pleaded with her. “T-the government… please, please don’t hurt my son. If it’s revenge you want, kill me instead! W-we have to work or else they’ll—”
Morrigan grew the muscles in her leg as she kicked him square across the head, watching both spit and blood fly out of his mouth before he collapsed on the ground, limp. She kneeled, gripping his hair and forcing his head up, watching his pathetic face droop. Quickly healing him until he was conscious, eyes fluttering open before turning to her and once more growing in fear.
Suddenly freezing, Morrigan quickly withdrew her hand in shock. She carefully placed her hand on him again and confirmed her suspicion. Cancer was raging through his body while he was intoxicated on expensive painkillers, barely surviving. Frozen, Morrigan almost realized the irony of it all until his mouth quivered, threatening to scream; Morrigan smashed his face back down onto the wooden floor, watching the floor splinter into his face.
Leaning down just beside his ear, she whispered, “Remember why you let me in here? Because you knew if you reported me all of you would be fucking dead, assuming the guard even believed you. Your only chance was to beg on your knees in front of me.” She kicked him backwards, sending him flying into the wall as he slumped on it, head lolling up and down.
Tears streamed down his already swelling and swollen face as he urged her to believe him. “Please, I really don’t know more than that. We were stationed here by the government to watch you guys, and that’s all we know! Please, spare us!”
He burst into a coughing fit, blood bursting out of his mouth while he tried to cover it with his hands. It dripped out from between his fingers and poured out onto his shirt. Morrigan’s face contorted into disgust at the display of weakness in front of her, the image reminding her of a bawling child with food smeared across an oversized bib. Morrigan healed any visible injuries but tried to increase his pain, but she underestimated herself as he screamed out in pain. She quickly corrected herself and stood up, pausing as she looked around in fear that someone might have heard.
When she was confident that no one would arrive, she continued. “I know it wasn’t the government, Mister Brown,” she said tauntingly. “You seriously think I’d believe that? If it was the government, why keep me alive after my mother was turned in? Why burn my house down when I wasn’t in it? Why even let me come here with the area so heavily guarded?’
He quivered before her, his body still violently trembling as he stared up at her. “I really don’t know, I just did what I was ordered to.” He hesitated for a moment, glancing to the side in fear that someone else, someone more powerful, would hear him. “I work for General Kristiansen, the General of the Armies. He sends me orders, and if I follow them, we get paid. That’s it, that’s all I know!”
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“But, none of the officers out there were that high ranked…” she muttered, trying to grasp the situation. “The highest ranking officer is working against the main government branch, then?” That would explain the numerous low-ranking workers patrolling the area; they were searching for whoever ordered the operation in their own government.
“Why didn’t Kristiansen order you to just kill me?” She spat, still glaring at his cowering body.
“I — I really don’t know.” He suddenly looked up at her, realization glimmering across his face. “If you keep us alive, I’ll share all his orders with you. You can have everything, even the new ones he’ll send over soon.”
Morrigan stared at him for a moment, eyes widening in bewilderment. Her chest heaved for a moment while her head lolled, and she burst out into crackling laughter, folding over while clutching her stomach. Any sparkle of hope in Mr. Brown’s face slowly vanished as he frowned, going limp once more.
“Please,” he ushered, bowing before her, “if you kill me now, the officials outside will find out. You’ll have every branch of the government hunting you down.”
“A father for a father,” she hissed, raising her ungloved hand at him. Before she could envelop him in flames, she heard a loud creak behind her and whipped her head back, shooting a quick burst of flames at whoever was approaching her.
The little boy dodged and grabbed onto Morrigan’s sleeve, tears streaming down his bandaged face. “You want revenge on Leiths, right?” his voice trembled up and down, the pitch changing with his wrecked sobs. “Please, spare us. I’m not a Leith anymore. My powers, they’re all gone.” He let go of her and sobbed into his hands, and for a moment, Morrigan almost felt pitiful for the boy in front of her.
Her emotions quickly hardened however as she glared at him. “Did you feel that for my father when he screamed as you burned him alive?” Adam’s shoulders dropped, and he stared up at her in fear. He began bawling even harder, the small bandages almost peeling off his face as they moistened, catching his tears and drinking them. “Please,” he cried, “please, please, please, don’t hurt us.”
Before Morrigan could respond a small voice peeped out from behind her.
“Morr?”
Frozen in shock, she turned around and stared at Juro who appeared at the slightly cracked front door. “Who are you talking about?” she replied, glaring at him with purple eyes.
“I know it’s you, Morr,” he said, a chuckle almost escaping his lips. Ignoring the scene playing out in front of him, he walked up to her and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. “I know who did this, Morr, but we need to go now. The longer you’re here for, the closer they’ll get to catching you.”
“But, aren’t you supposed to be at Alyssa’s? How’d you even get in here without me hearing you?” She inquired, emotion finally seeping through her voice as it took on an almost childish tone.
“I’ll explain on the way, but we need to go. Now.” He grabbed her shoulders and started pushing her out of the house while she complained at him and angrily tried to storm towards Mr. Brown and Adam.
After Juro apologized for the disturbance when finally out the door, Morrigan stopped struggling to avoid drawing any attention. She stormed off ahead of him, but Juro lingered at the door for a moment, his hand extended behind him. Mr. Brown wobbled over and slipped a card into Juro’s hand quickly.
“Thank you,” Mr. Brown graciously whispered, voice still crackling from Morrigan’s earlier assault. Juro didn’t bother responding, only glaring at Mr. Brown while sliding the card into his coat’s pocket. He ran up to Morrigan, and began his explanation.