Title: Hunter - Dido

13 – If You Were a King Up There on Your Throne

'What the fuck.'

Liz ground her teeth and turned away from Macbeth's unconscious body slumped in her office chair, completely and utterly perplexed.

So, it seemed that plan had failed.

'Fuck,' she hissed again, resisting the urge to punch something. Those damn kids cleared their tracks well, and though she knew what had just happened, she couldn't do anything about it.

How did they shut everything down so quickly? It had been, what, forty-eight hours? How can four kids take down like, twelve brainwashed soldiers? How?

She'd been underestimating them, it seemed.

She scratched the back of her neck, glaring back at Macbeth for a short moment. Reattempting the experiment would be useless – INK had managed to incapacitate the woman for the time being, and if Liz's suspicions were correct, her mind would be wiped of the incident. Liz would be on her own if she wanted to try again, and she honestly didn't like her odds.

How did Sadie deal with the failure?

Actually, never mind, Liz didn't want to know. Her only business was to expose this espionage group, and thus graduate with a senior certificate. Anything else that happened in between was completely irrelevant. When it was all over, she could take off into the city and leave it all behind.

She'd never been one to be influenced by her conscience, anyway.

She turned to leave the room, before pausing at the doorway as a thought occurred to her.

Maybe . . .

Perhaps she subconsciously hadn't wanted this plan to work. After all, it was sick – slavery, submission, brainwashing – Liz might not have been one to listen her conscience, but she perfectly well knew right from wrong. And everything she was doing at the moment was wrong. Hell, all the trouble it was going to cause Ginger if she exposed him . . . and his friends . . .

He'd never forgive her.

No one could forgive her when she was through with all this.

She sighed heavily, shaking her head to rid herself of the thought. She knew what she was getting into when she accepted the proposition, she just hadn't expected to become, well, attached to anyone. Not Ginger, and certainly not –

Trixie.

Clenching her fists, Liz finally forced herself to leave the room, shoving all thoughts of beautiful smiles, wit, and liveliness deep down where they wouldn't plague her.

(It didn't work.)

When Trixie finally stirred, groggy and disorientated, it took her a long moment to comprehend why she was sleeping amidst a pile of limbs, and another to work out who they belonged to.

Though she tried to keep her movements as small as possible, Zero was quickly roused and rolled over with a long-suffering groan, which in turn woke both of the boys. After that things got a bit confusing. After finally managing to extract herself from the pile, Trixie staggered to her feet and stretched, yawning as her back let out a series of satisfying pops and cracks.

'Man, I hate Mondays,' Vin grumbled, taking the opportunity to kick Newton in the stomach. 'Get up, dipshit.'

'Fuck off,' Newton replied, not opening his eyes. 'I'll sleep if I wanna.'

'Remind me why we choose to sleep in a dog pile when we stay up here?' Vin muttered to Trixie as he scratched the back of his neck.

She shrugged absently. 'Basic survival instincts? I don't know. Zero - ?' She cut off as Zero staggered abruptly to her feet, face oddly flushed considering the cool weather. She looked around wildly for a minute, letting out a strangled whine of distress, before nearly sprinting to the waste-basket in the corner of the room and throwing up.

The reaction that got was fairly obvious.

After Vin's predictable 'holy shit!', Trixie winced and crossed the room to help her, pulling her hair back from her face.

'It's alright, just let it all out,' she said soothingly, patting her on the back. She was pretty sure she heard her hiss 'piss off,' but chose to ignore it, murmuring reassurances whether she wanted them or not. 'Throwing up is normal, this'll just probably be a bad day. You'll be alright.'

'Piss off.'

'Oh, shut up and finish puking, would you?'

'Bitch.'

'Cow.'

'Not that isn't a . . . touching moment of sisterly affection,' Newton interrupted, tapping Trixie on the shoulder, 'but I think you've . . . forgotten something.'

Vin shoved his way to get to Zero's side, his face white and horrified. He handed Zero a box of tissues, before exploding, 'What do you MEAN "this is normal"? She is literally throwing her guts up!'

Oh.

Right.

'Vin, this isn't -' Trixie began feebly, but he cut her off with a sharp glare.

'Alright, I know you lot have been leaving me out of the loop here, but I've absolutely had it. Tell me what's going on.'

'Somehow I don't think you want to know,' Newton quipped. Trixie elbowed him sharply and he yelped, before adding, 'But y'know, I probably wouldn't be the best judge of that.'
'Vin, it's very complicated,' she added softly. 'We don't know anything for certain yet, and Newton's waiting for some results -'

'I just want to know what's going on,' Vin pleaded. He actually looked pretty distressed – though, Zero was still throwing up, so that was probably why.

Newton clicked his fingers. 'Hey, now that I think about it, the computer should have finished the, uh, the stuff. Maybe I should -'

'Now?' Trixie cried in frustration. 'Of all times, it's finished now?'

'Well, I'm hoping so -'

'Can you all please shut up?' Zero growled, finally straightening up and wiping her mouth. 'I've had enough, alright? I'm just gonna tell him. I'm sick of hiding this, and I won't be able to for much longer anyway.'

'Zero -'

'No, Trix. Vin, sit down. Newton . . . do whatever the hell it was you were gonna do.'

Newton nodded mutely before skittering off to the computer, and Trixie crossed her arms, fuming. 'D'you want us to leave, or -?'

'If you leave, I will kill you,' she replied simply. Though she seemed fairly nonchalant about this, her eyes were particularly wild, and Trixie knew she was starting to panic internally.

Trixie sat down on the beanbag. 'Alright. We won't go, so just . . . do your thing, I guess.'

Vin looked between the two of them, face uncertain. After a moment he sank weakly down beside her, gesturing vaguely with his hands. 'I, uh, well . . .?

Zero took one look at him and seemed to falter. Trixie could have sworn she saw something akin to fear flicker across her face, but it was gone as soon as it came, replaced with her usual stony resolution.

'I'm gonna have to punch someone to regain my dignity,' she muttered bitterly, absently threading a hand through her hair. The white-blonde strands fell in her eyes, and she seemed so exasperated that she didn't bother to fix it. She then parked herself on the floor before the two of them, face still curtained by hair.

In an effort to lighten the mood somewhat, Trixie flicked a hairband at her.

Zero yelped in indignation when it bounced off her face, but the tense lines around her eyes and mouth loosened as she poked her tongue out in retaliation, before reluctantly pulling everything back into a ponytail.

Vin arched an eyebrow. 'What dignity?' he asked jokingly. 'What, has everyone found out that you're secretly a softy?'

Zero snorted. 'Fuck off.'

Trixie watched the interaction between the two of them, noticing how Vin was subtly relieving her tension before the serious conversation had to start. She had no idea if Zero noticed it or not, as her social skills were particularly poor most of the time.

She pretended to look thoughtful, the corner of her mouth tugging upward in a grin. 'Is there anyone who would willingly let themselves get smacked around for the greater good?'

'Probably many,' Vin informed her, 'though I doubt anyone would consider your purpose the "greater good".'

'You're an asshole.'

He smirked at her. 'Whatever helps you sleep at night, babe.'

'Repeat: You're an asshole.'

Trixie felt it was time to flick another hairband, but only because the conversation was derailing too far away from what was supposed to be happening. Once again Zero yelped when it hit her in the eye, but before she could respond Newton let out a yell from the computer.

'Holy shit!' he cried, nearly falling off the swivel-chair. 'I've got it! I-I've got it!'

Trixie's stomach immediately performed a gymnastics routine, and Zero went ashen-faced. 'Do I want to know?' she asked carefully, not meeting his gaze.

'Yes you do!' he announced, eyes alight. 'Everything is a-o-kay!'

Trixie blinked, trying to process the new titbit of information this implied. 'You mean -'

'Yep!' He picked up the nearest pen and pegged it at Vin's head, beaming widely. 'Vin, you dog!'

'What?' Vin asked, looking around at the other three confusedly. 'Hey, what did I do?'

'Literally everything!' Newton was openly crowing now, the biggest shit-eating grin plastered across his face. 'And I think I'm freaking out. Okay, I'm freaking out.'

'Very smooth,' Trixie deadpanned. 'Will you let them talk, now?'

Newton bounced a little on the chair, trying (and failing) to reel in his grin. 'Alright, alright, I'm good, do your thing.'

'Hang on a second.' Vin held up a hand, brow furrowed. The smirk had faded from his face, replaced with something slightly suspicious. He looked over at Zero who, despite the good news, looked like she was about to throw up again. 'I've done something that's connected to you,' he stated, as though telling himself was cementing it in his mind. 'Something that Newton thinks is good, whatever it is. Meanwhile you're sick, for reasons Trixie won't explain.' He trailed off, clearly thinking hard.

If possible, Zero went slightly greener, seemingly unable to speak.

'She wouldn't tell me what, 'cause it's probably really gross or something.' He frowned to himself, mouth moving wordlessly, as though it would magically reveal the answer. 'And Newton said "Vin, you dog," in the way that generally implies . . .' He trailed off into inaudible muttering. '. . . something where I did "literally everything" . . . implications . . . "literally ev –" holy shit.'

Zero made a choked noise and staggered to her feet, leaving through the chest passageway before anyone could stop her. Vin was frozen where he sat, mouth agape and eyes wide. His brain seemed to have short-circuited once he realised what was going on, and his hands trembled.

'Oh my God,' he breathed. 'Oh my God.'

'Please don't freak out,' Trixie begged.

'Freakingout?' He drew in a shuddering breath. 'I-I'mnotfreakingout - I'mverycalmI'msupercalm - sorelaxed - Imeanit'snotlikeIjustfoundoutI'mgoingtobea -'

'Vin, breathe!'

He drew in a great gasp, limbs prone and eyes huge.

'I'm not ready for this responsibility,' he said quickly. 'Oh my God, I'll be useless. What the – She's only sixteen, for Christ's sake!' He paused. 'And I'm only seventeen! I'm already a failure, damnit!'

'Okay, first of all,' Newton said sharply, interrupting Vin's ramblings by putting a hand over his mouth. 'First of all, you haven't run away yet. That already makes you better than Zero's mom. Second, you haven't thrown punches or gone into a violent rage. That makes you better than her dad. And third, your immediate thought wasn't of an orphanage, so you're also better than your own parents. So far you're doing pretty well.'

Vin shook his head, mouthing wordlessly until he choked. 'Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my . . . God.' He paused, realisation dawning over his face, and then the corners of his open mouth tugged upward slightly. 'Holy shit, man. I – I'm gonna be a -' He cut off, making an indistinguishable noise. 'Wow.' A short whoop of laughter escaped him, and he clapped his hands over his mouth. 'Trix, Newton, I'm gonna have a family! A real family!'

'I'm offended,' Newton quipped dryly.

'Oh, you know what I mean. I – I – oh my God!'

'Do you think he knows how to say anything else?' Trixie murmured to Newton out of the corner of her mouth. Despite the calm attitude she was displaying, she couldn't help the feeling of relief that spread through her at how this was being handled.

Vin heard, and wrinkled his nose at her. 'Oh, shut up. I'm gonna – I've gotta find Zero.' He scrambled to his feet, eyes wide. 'Oh shit, she's been freaking out, hasn't she?'

'Just a bit.'

'Oh man – I'll talk to you guys later, alright?' He ran to the chest passageway, pausing only to whoop again. 'A baby! Oh my - I've gotta – see ya!'

The trunk lid closed with a snap behind him. Trixie turned to Newton.

'So it's definitely his, then?'

Newton squinted at her incredulously. 'Of course it is. You think I'd be happy if it was Burt's?

'Vin!'

Vin skidded to a stop at the top of the stairs, turning around at the familiar voice. 'Oh hi, Mr Soper. What can I do for you?' Though he tried to appear remotely calm, he could feel the thrum of adrenaline coursing through his veins. After a second however, he realised that Mr Soper's expression was particularly grave.

'I'm afraid I have to talk to you about something.' He faltered momentarily, something unreadable flickering in his eyes. 'Would you come to my office?'

He immediately thought of Zero, and where she could possibly be at the moment. Then, weighing his options, he decided it could wait a few more minutes. Besides, if he was getting "A Talk" in Soper's office, it probably couldn't be delayed, no matter what the reason.

So a few minutes later he found himself seated in an all-too familiar chair, fidgeting anxiously with the wristband of his watch. Soper paced around the room, pausing occasionally to straighten a relic or tapestry, seemingly unsure of where to begin.

'Sir?' Vin said hesitantly.

'Vin, I . . . I received a call about an hour ago,' Soper started slowly, finally making his way to the desk and sitting down. He grimaced, and the weary lines in his face seemed ever more prominent. 'It was . . . I -' He shook his head slightly. 'It was from the orphanage.'

Vin wasn't usually one to assume the worst of situations, but anything and everything from the orphanage was bad news.

'They don't wanna take me away, do they?' he cried, nearly springing to his feet. 'I – I swear I haven't been misbehaving -'

'No, nothing like that,' Soper hurriedly assured him. 'Nothing like that, I promise. They won't take you away, Vin.'

Vin let out a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding, jaw unclenching. 'Oh. Okay.'

'But all the same, it . . . it wasn't good news.'

He swallowed uncomfortably. 'What do you mean?'

'I need you to promise me that you'll hear everything I have to say first.'

'Of course, but why . . . ?'

Soper tented his fingers and carefully surveyed Vin over the top of them. For a long moment all was silent, before finally he spoke. 'I know how . . . how passionate you are about having a family, Vin.'

Vin stayed silent, waiting for him to continue.

'And I remember you've asked me a few times over the years if I knew anything about your parents. I . . . I wasn't lying when I told you that no, I didn't know anything. I'd had my suspicions, certainly, but the orphanage wouldn't give me confirmation on anything.' He exhaled slowly. 'Still, I sent a copy of your report card, and your school photo to the orphanage every year just in case they . . . they knew something, and were in a position to pass those items on. If it were necessary, I mean. And then I got this phone call.'

His eyes then suddenly became very sad.

'I'm sorry, Vin. Your mother passed away during childbirth. Your father made sure you received your medallion in her memory, but . . . he couldn't keep you himself. From what I can gather, he worked in Covert Operations, and that was obviously no place for a child. The orphanage was aware of this, but weren't allowed to pass on any information about it. So, you were kept in the dark. I can only presume you weren't told about your mother because she also had been associated with the forces in the past.'

He paused, absently picking up a pen before replacing it after a moment. Vin's head was spinning, and he couldn't bring himself to speak.

'Unfortunately, something went terribly wrong a month ago. Your father was killed out in the field on a classified mission. He . . . he was supposed to return for you once you turned eighteen, and then the orphanage would have permission to tell you what they knew. And that . . . that didn't get to happen, obviously. But, once the orphanage found out what happened, they phoned me immediately. They . . . they thought you should know.'

Vin's head ground to a halt. The world seemed to be spinning, and he knew he was going to throw up –

His mother had died a long time ago.

His father was going to come back for him. His father who was now also dead.

Gone. They were both gone.

And he would never know them.

All those childhood dreams he had were gone. Even in his loneliness, he always had the slightest hope that something could happen, that he –

That he could have a family.

And now it was all over.

Gone.

He couldn't recall leaving Soper's office. He couldn't recall stumbling across the grassy yard and back into the main building. He couldn't recall reaching the foot of the staircase and giving up completely, collapsing to his knees, trembling uncontrollably.

He couldn't think at all.

He didn't know how long he stayed there, but thinking about it later it would have been quite a while, considering everyone else was in class. It was even longer before he heard another voice.

'Vin?'

The nearest door opened with a quiet groan, followed by a few careful footsteps. Their owner let out a mumbled, 'well, shit,' before closing the door again. The footsteps then approached, though Vin wasn't particularly taking notice of what was going on. Then someone reached out to touch his cheek, and he caught the familiar scent of well-worn leather.

'Hey,' Zero whispered, looking oddly concerned. 'Are . . . are you mad?'

He shook his head away from her, dropping his gaze downward and not speaking. If she was paying attention to him, she would go away.

She was, however, Zero. Rather blunt and to the point. Also as dense as a brick wall.

'Please, Vin. Talk to me?' She tilted his chin back up again. 'Give me something to work with here, would you?'

And just like that, the dam broke.

'They're gone,' he whispered, voice shaking. 'They're really gone.'

It took a moment, a very long moment, but realisation dawned over her face. 'Oh. Oh no.'

He let out a choked sob, screwing his eyes up. 'They didn't come back for me.'

'Vin, I'm sorry . . .'

He wasn't thinking when he buried his face in her midriff, hands unconsciously curling around to clutch at her back beneath her leather jacket. But he didn't care, in the end. Not really.

A hand settled on his shoulder, and another brushed gently through his hair as he cried, unable to tear himself away from that gaping hole in his chest; a hole that had always been there, but now seemed to burn -

She didn't question how he knew. She didn't tell him off for touching her. Instead she just held him, murmuring a senseless string of words in Italian as he tried, and failed, to get some sort of grip. Because, though she might not understand – she had always had a different view of family to him – she knew how much it hurt. How it tore him apart to have lost the parents he never knew, how it gave finality to those unrealised childhood dreams, and that he'd never know what that kind of love felt like -

He wondered, fleetingly, if this was worse than death.

That thought only made him cry harder, reducing him to horrible, heaving sobs that were muffled in her shirt. He'd certainly never lost control like this before, though . . . he hadn't exactly felt like this before. He'd never felt so lost, so alone, so afraid.

That innocent, hopeful part of him that had stayed with him all through his youth was gone. All those dreams, everything he'd truly wanted – gone.

And just like that, his childhood ended.

12/12/2021