My Sleeping Beauty Jennifer

After my whole body is being showered by disinfectant and 'dried' by ultraviolet light, I'm allowed to enter the room where Jennifer is laid. Wearing a green surgeon-like clothe since my clothe is definitely full of germ and bacteria, I walk slowly into the room.

There she is, gracefully lying on a bed. I almost believe that she is only sleeping if I didn't see all cables that connect her to the medical machines. My heart clenches tightly to see the iron cable is still stuck on her left chest.

"Why don't you take that iron off her chest ?" I grab a man with white robe that happens to pass behind me.

"I... I.. "

"Take it off now !" I tell him with gritted teeth.

"We.. we.. can't, Sir.." That man is finally able to speak. Couple of seconds later, his sight that once was afraid suddenly changes into excitement, "I know you !"

"Deathstalker is dead.."

"No! I know you!" He denies me. "You.. you are that guy who saved my son.."

I wince to hear his words.

The man gets more excited and continues, "Two years ago, there were fire in an apartment on city W. My son was in that apartment. Alone. The fire fighters couldn't go inside, the fire truck's stair couldn't reach the window..."

Yeah, I remember that incident now. It was around two years ago. I just finished executing one of my target and about to go down from the rooftop, when I realized that the building was on fire. Thus, I decided to climb down from outside of the building. But on my way down, I saw a little boy inside an apartment. It was at the same level with the fire source. He was crying and coughing non stop since the smoke had surrounded him. Instinctively, I decided to break the window and carried him on my back when I continued climbing down the building. Once we safely arrived on the ground, a man immediately approached the boy and I, of course, sneakily left that place before more people noticed me.

The man before me is suddenly on his knee and bows down to me. "Thank you... thank you..," he says, can not hold his tears. I am still dumbfounded to be able to respond him. "I owe you my life. I will do anything... anything to repay you," he continues.

"Then.. remove the iron from my wife," I ask him, after I am back from my stunned.

"That.. we can not, Sir. Really..." He sighs, "It is for the baby's sake."

"What do you mean ?"

"The iron... it is piercing her heart so deep. To pull it out, we need to operate a big surgery, but it will endanger the baby in her womb greatly since we must stop her heart for more than ten minutes. We can replace her heart temporarily with machine, but the machine won't be able to pump blood that great to support the womb."

The man's explanation sinks my heart to the bottom. The man definitely can see the worries and desperation on my face. He holds my shoulder and says, "Don't worry, Sir. Right after your baby is born, we can take the iron. I, Paresh, promise you... I will take care of your wife the best that I can. I make sure that she and the baby are going to be okay. I promise you that with my life."

I look at him right in the eye. His eyes mean every single word he said, and it just touches me. I just nod and say, "Thank you."

Mr. Paresh is about to bow down to me again, but this time I manage to halt him. "Please, don't..." I say to him while pulling his body up. Mr. Paresh then says his thankfulness several more times before excuses himself.

After I'm alone, I direct my sight once again to the 'sleeping' Jennifer. For more than maybe five minutes, I just stand there with the machine's sounds as background. I don't even dare to touch her. As if, she can die with my single touch. That's how fragile she looks like to me.

"She's beautiful," a voice talks to me from my behind. At instant, I turn my head even though I knew already whose voice it is.

Mrs. Rauss stands few feet behind me, wearing the similar green clothe. The scratch wound on her cheek is already treated. When she saw I'm not responding anything, she approaches me.

"Did you know that she's the daughter of the greatest warrior this organization ever had ?" She asks me, rhetorically I guess. "I guess it is fate for you two to be together," she adds.

I give her a crooked smile. "And I guess, you are above the faith so you decided to separate us."

"No... Quint... No..." She denies me.

Corner of my eyes catch shadows of a group of people entering the room.

"Death !!" a man younger than me shouts excitedly, then runs and hugs me.

I don't hug him back. I just stare at the rest of the group. Albert, Sara, and Bruno. I see a ripple of guilty on Bruno's eyes.

I push Fred's shoulders to release my self from his hug. "I'm not Deathstalker," I say in cold tone, not only for him but also for others. Everyones gasp.

"I'm here to pick my wife," I say, turning my sight to Bruno, "and kill Lily."

"You..!" Bruno is about to attack me, but being held by Albert and Sarah.

"Death.." Sarah calls.

"I'M NOT DEATHSTALKER !!" I cut her words with sharp tone.

"We.. It's my fault," Sara continues her words.

"No, it's not your fault !" Albert defends her, "It's Viper's fault," he adds emotionally.

"She wouldn't able to do it without Black's help !" Bruno barks.

I turn my self back to Jennifer and just focus on her, ignoring all the dispute on my back. I can feel Mrs. Rauss approaches me.

"I want to bring her home," I say to her, without even moving my sight from Jennifer.

"You can't," Mrs. Rauss says.

"I insist."

Mrs. Rauss sighs. "It's not that I forbid you, Quint, but you just can't. She won't survive without these facilities."

"You lie."

Mrs. Rauss sighs again. "I'm not."

"You lied to me even when I was a child. You lied to me about my brain surgery. You brainwashed me to join this corp. You even manipulated me to hurt my sister," I tell her all her lies to me in my past. I turn my head to her. "How do you think I could believe you're not lying right now ?"

"Do you still remember the truth serum ?" Mrs. Rauss asks me instead answering my question.

"What about it ?" I ask her back

"Come to my office. We will have a conversation with that serum."