A Father and a Traitor

The man quickly pulled on a fake calm expression, a stark contrast to the cold dread that soaked him from head to toe. He bowed low to the woman before him who assessed him without a word. "Miss Alira, it's an honour to meet you. My sincere apologies but I don't know what I've done to deserve such a pleasure."

"You truly do speak well and you seem quite intelligent. I see why you were the one we chose to infiltrate amongst the nobles." She took a few steps forward, not making even the slightest sound as she moved. A cold smile curled at her lips. "But I suppose that also made it easier for you to betray us, didn't it?" Her voice fell as she spoke her next question "Do you still not know what we're here for Eric?"

Eric froze for only a second as he realized what he had most feared was truly what had happened. He knew he'd been found so he was quick to turn, to make one last desperate attempt to escape the fate that awaited him now. With a flick of her wrist, Ava covered the man with a dusting of specs of light, making him easily traceable amongst the darkness. She then formed two small orbs of white light, to either side of the frantically fleeing figure who was desperately trying to brush the specs from his clothes as he ran into the nearby undergrowth. Mila and Covin dashed out immediately, following the instructions the two light orbs indicated Ava wanted them to take. She wanted them to position themselves on either side, trapping the fleeing figure from going any direction but forward. Ava followed from behind, using another flick of her fingers to move the position of the orb closest to Mila to just in front of Eric, the colour switching to a blue tint. Mila responded nearly instantly, long needles of ice shooting out from her fingertips, nearly brushing past Eric as they embedded themselves in the ground just before his feet. Eric was forced to stumble a few steps backward, quickly adjusting his pathing to the side to avoid Mila's attacks but he was limited by Covin on his other side. Just as he thought of this, the orb closest to Covin had moved by his leg, taking on a blue colour. Covin swung his sword down towards the leg, able to accurately locate it due to the faintly glowing dusting that clung to Eric. Eric was again forced to jump aside to avoid the attack, steadily being suppressed backward by Mila and Covin's coordinated attacks, the two working together seamlessly, occasionally changing tactics inline with the movement and colour of Ava's little light orbs.

Before he could even realize what was happening, he stumbled and fell backwards. As he tried to quickly push himself back up to continue running, he found that he was tangled in thin strings of light. The more he moved, the more they cut in, slowly but surely tearing through his clothes towards the unprotected flesh below. He frantically tried to pull at the tangle of strings but it only served to cover his hands in countless cuts. As he noticed Ava walking calmly toward him, he struggled, rolling onto his knees to try and drag himself away. But he had hardly moved before a sharp blade was thrust down just inches away from his face, piercing the ground before him. He finally didn't dare move, remaining utterly still, staring fixedly at the sharp edge of the blade in front of his eyes.

"That was rather pointless. You should have known you couldn't escape. Even if you could run fast enough to get away from us, where could you go that we couldn't find you? You must have thought you'd be safe in Yandil, didn't you? After all, our networks are much weaker here. Yet we found you anyway." Ava crouched down beside him, that same smile on her face. Eric didn't dare to move much and could only glance at her from the side of his eyes, a cold bead of sweat dripping down his forehead.

He shut his eyes tightly for a moment, sorting his thoughts before he spoke, trying to suppress the slight tremble in his voice. "P-please forgive me. I hadn't wanted to sell the information, I know what awaits those who betray the organization. I had to, for my family." He figured begging for mercy was all he had left now.

"Oh yes, your family. Little Maggie sure is cute, she'll be the first one you can watch die," Ava said with a tone that was all too sweet.

Eric's eyes flew open immediately, the tremble in his body too great to be suppressed any longer, his voice losing its strength as he stuttered in disbelief. "W-what? My family have nothing to do with this, why would you…"

"Well, they didn't. We look after our people and their families after all, your family will be promised safety so long as you work for us. But you no longer work for us, do you Eric? Perhaps you should have thought about your family first and not about the money when you turned against us. Did your lovely wife Lily like the nice jewelry you bought here? She really was far too good a woman for someone like you. And that house you bought, right by the lake so your children could swim in summer." Eric shook more and more violently the longer Ava spoke but still she didn't stop, her voice devoid of any pity or mercy. "Your family are staying there right now, aren't they? Did you tuck your children into bed before you left tonight? I hope you kissed them all goodnight. It was your last chance to."

Finally, Eric cracked, tears spilling freely from his eyes as he broke into sobs, forgetting all about the threatening blade as he moved to cling to Ava's skirts, clawing at them desperately. "Please, please, I was wrong but it was my mistake. Please don't hurt my family."

Ava frowned slightly, lightly placing her hand on the man's back. He tensed up immediately, flinching from the contact but she only lightly patted his back. "Let go of me then we'll talk."

He immediately withdrew, looking up at her with a desperate but hopeful gaze. She smiled at him with some warmth. "You have one chance. You're a clever man and a good father. You have one chance not to let us down again. From now on, your family will be accompanied by one of our more… specialized agents, and you'll be under observation. You'll all be able to live freely but if your loyalty ever wavers again…" There was a cold glint in her eyes and she dropped the smile, speaking seriously. "Your children will be killed first. You'll get to hear them scream and cry for you before they die. Then your pretty little wife will be next and she's sure to suffer before she dies. And finally, we'll take your hands and you'll get to drink poison. It won't kill you but you won't be able to speak again. Then you can live the rest of your life like that." Eric was shaking again, curling in on himself, not daring to speak a word.

"Eric." Ava called lightly. He slowly raised his head to look at her. She smiled to him again, a smile he was sure would haunt his nightmares. "Do you understand?"

"Y-yes… I won't disappoint you again Miss Alira," he managed to force out, his voice sounding a bit strained and his voice cracked part way through but Ava looked satisfied. She curled her fingers, withdrawing the strings that bound his legs.

"Good. You'll receive your next assignment in three days after your legs have recovered. I hope I won't be seeing you again Eric." She nodded to her companions who collected themselves to leave, following after her as they left Eric curled, alone in the darkness of the night.

'Wasn't that a bit much?' Covin wrote in the air as they paused to remove their cloaks and half-masks while on their way back to Ava's room.

Ava frowned at him, shifting her cloak onto her arm so she could sign back. 'I wouldn't have actually punished him like that. His crime wasn't deserving of such a harsh punishment. It was an empty threat.' She felt a bit offended, Covin should have known her well enough to know that.

'I know that. I meant scaring him like that. He might have collapsed under the pressure.'

Ava pouted, waving her hand dismissively. 'He won't sleep well for a while but he'll be fine. I know where the limit is, have more trust.'

Mila raised her eyebrow just slightly as she looked at Ava. 'Last time…'

Ava's brows furrowed as she looked even more upset now that both of them were poking at her. She hastily signed back with emphasis. 'That was an accident. An accident!'

Covin clicked his tongue, continuing on more to tease Ava than to make a point. 'He was crying for his mother.'

'Don't remind me.' She massaged her temples in frustration. 'It took hours to calm him down. I had to give him stress leave for two months.'

Covin chuckled quietly while Mila smiled faintly. 'He still collapsed onto the ground the next time he saw you.'

Ava sighed as she recalled it. 'Enough, enough. Leave already.' She made a shoo-ing gesture, clearly fed up with the two of them. They both bid her goodnight as they parted ways and Ava slipped back into her and immediately fell backwards onto her bed, a dissatisfied look on her face as she recalled that she had to get up early the next day. But Rodney came to rescue her foul mood, waking up just long enough to roll over to her side, letting out a deep doggy sigh as he pressed his head against her. Ava smiled faintly. "Why is it that you're the one upset here? All you do is sleep all day, how can your life be so hard?" But Rodney only started snoring quietly in response.