TW: Blood, Murder, mentioning of abortion.
Miss Maia's mind still could not fully comprehend what she was witnessing. Or rather, she would not accept it. But the wicked smile her sister gave her was impossible to misinterpret.
"Tasha..." Maia gave her a hopeful smile, hoping until the last second that this was all a strange joke. "If I keep hanging like this, I will fall off the skyscraper. Come on, pull me up."
"Pull you up? Yeah, why not." Tasha actually grabbed her sister's jacket and helped her climbing back into the building.
"I knew- I knew there was a misunderstanding." Miss Maia breathed a sigh of relief as her sister pulled her up, trying to ignore that she was still very close to the edge. "Why is there blood on you, Tasha? Are you hurt?"
"You just don't get it, do you? Weren't you the smart one in the family?"
"... excuse me, what?"
"I pushed you on purpose, there was no misunderstanding."
Tasha's eyes were hidden behind a veil of darkness that enveloped everything in the dark hallway, but Maia could still feel a heavy, penetrating gaze on her.
"Surprise, surprise. I am the spy. I knew very well anyway that your trick of pretending to give false information on purpose was just a bluff. I know you all too well, Maia."
Those words felt like they cut through her chest, piercing her heart like a bullet. "What are you talking about? Stop joking around, come on."
"I've never been so serious in my life." Tasha put her hand between her breasts and pulled out a knife hidden between them. The blade was crusted with blood, but a few drops still slid down the sharp metal.
"No..." Maia's voice grew in intensity and sharpness as the realization of what was happening finally dawned on her. "No... No! NO! I can't believe this! Not really you! Were you really the spy? Is that Ninja's blood?"
"Again, weren't you the smart one in the family?" the girl fiddled with the knife, swinging it from her hand and twirling it between her fingers. "I'll be honest, I'm undecided whether to kill you now with my own hands or to call the other officers and enjoy the spectacle of them butchering you in front of me. That way I wouldn't ruin my clothes any more."
"But why! Why are you doing this to me, Tasha? How is it that you, of all people, can do this to me?"
"Why? You always needed a why, didn't you? Like when I told you to keep the baby and that it was not the poor creature's fault that Eddy had cheated on you. But no, even then you asked me why should I keep him?"
"Seriously, Tasha? You pretended to be my ally for years, betrayed me and killed Ninja just because I got an abortion?"
"Just because of that? You killed your own son, my nephew, Maia. You didn't even have to ask me why you should have kept him. Abortion shouldn't even have been an option."
Maia knew she had to react, to attack Tasha immediately, before it was too late. But the shock had completely paralyzed her. She stared in disbelief at the stranger she had considered her sister until a few minutes before, a confidante and friend who had always been by her side through thick and thin.
"Anyway, no, it's not just that." Tasha continued, her voice sounded impassive. "They offered me a lot of money. Honestly, between a life of luxury and living like a criminal for years as a guest of a rotting corpse, I choose the money. Plain and simple. Zoe didn't even bother to come to say goodbye this time, she won't probably give a shit if I betray her."
"Tasha..." Maia's voice trembled. She instinctively took a step back, slamming her back against the plastic ledge of the shattered window. "You've always been materialistic, but I never imagined you would betray your own blood for money. I have no words to express the disgust I feel for you right now."
"The disgust is mutual, my dear. Ever since we were little, you were mom and dad's favorite. Always telling me how I should have been like you, a brilliant athlete with a bright future." A sarcastic chuckle interrupted her bitter words for a moment. "I, on the other hand, was always the dumb little girl who was only good at combing dolls. Pretty but stupid. Dad used to tell me that my beauty compensated the lack of brain cells in my head."
"Tasha, it's not my fault that mom and dad underestimated you!"
"Yes, it is your fault. It wasn't always like this. Before you came, I was their favorite. May the day day you were born be cursed. You destroyed my life."
"Don't you think it's childish to hold a grudge from childhood to this day?"
"It wasn't just my childhood, it was my whole damn existence that revolved around you. When we were classmates, the others would look for me just to get to you. Boys would talk to me just to ask for your number. Even when you were promoted to general in the army, I would get messages asking if I really was Maia's sister." Tasha gripped the knife tightly between her fingers. "I am. And always been. My sister's shadow." She hissed through clenched teeth.
Maia did not know what to say. She felt exhausted, as if all her thoughts had suddenly fallen from her mind and flown away in the wind of the city of neon lights. She had always thought of her sister as a shrewd and courageous person, capable of deceiving even the smartest of enemies and brilliantly steal any information from them. A person of culture and magnetic charm, out of the ordinary. But in all these years, she had never really noticed her suffering, her sense of inadequacy, and all the resentment her sister harbored toward her. She had only been concerned with how useful her sister was to the cause, using her as a tool. Society's exact same reasoning of focusing on a person's usefulness instead of their essence. The irony. She felt hypocritical to the core.
"Tasha... I'm so sorry... I never thought of you as my shadow. You have always been important to me. You were my friend in difficult times, my wake-up call when I did something wrong. I thought our relationship was one of complicity, not competition."
"You-you-you! See! You only think and talk about yourself! You thought we had a good relationship because I used to give YOU advice! Because I always told YOU when you were wrong! But what exactly have YOU done for me all these years?"
The more she heard Tasha speak, the more Maia saw in her mind's eye the image of a black hole that threatened to destroy everything around Tasha, including herself. And it scared her so much.
"You have always been like everyone else!" Tasha's voice was full of frustration. She sounded broken, as if she was trying to hold back tears. "Caring about me only when I would give you something in return! Whether it was my beauty, my body, my sensuality, and my ability to deceive others! Everyone loved my abilities, but no one ever loved the real me!" she suddenly inhaled loudly, as if she lacked air. "No one ever cared about me! No one ever stood by me all those nights I cried! No one ever asked if they could help me!"
Miss Maia said nothing, feeling a dull pain in her chest as she heard these harsh words.
"My existence has always been that of an empty doll! So yes, forgive me if the mindless empty doll follows her materialistic nature, even if it goes against you!"
"Tasha... I never realized you felt that way. I'm really sorry. I apologize for that. But it doesn't change the issue of abortion. It was not for you to decide about my body."
"It was not up to you to decide whether or not I could have a nephew! You robbed me of a good thing for the umpteenth time! Of someone who might have genuinely cared about me for once in my life! You didn't even asked me if I was okay with it!"
"For the umpteenth time? I understand your frustration, but that doesn't give you the right to make decisions about other people's lives! Ninja included, damn it! You brutally killed him like it was nothing! What did that poor man ever do to you?"
"First of all, I didn't want him to come to your rescue. Second, he deserved it. He was one of those men who lusted after me just because of my appearance, without caring about what I was really like! Another one who pretended to love me in order to have something else!"
"I never pretended to love you, Tasha! I always loved you as a sister!"
"You love me on your own terms, when I do something that can be beneficial to you. I bet you wouldn't love me as much if I threw you off this building right now."
"No, I wouldn't! I would still love you and I will care about you until my last breath! I'm so sorry, Tasha! Please listen to me!"
"Bullshit. You're just a hypocrite to the end. At least have the guts to admit it."
"Stop with this madness! Damn it, Tahsa!"
"That's enough." Tasha pulled a small remote out of her pocket. "That's enough now. You get out of my life once and for all."
"What are you going to do?"
"Report you. I want to see your hypocritical face erased forever."
"Tasha, no!"
"Goodbye, sister."
Tasha lifted her finger to press the button, but suddenly she gasped violently. A strange liquid hit Maia's face. She did not have time to check what it was before Tasha's body suddenly dropped dead weight to the floor in front of her.
"TASHA!!!" She cried desperately, throwing herself on top of her sister's helpless body. In the dim light, she glimpsed an expression of fear and surprise that crystallized in an instant on Tasha's face. A small stream of blood began to flow from one temple, soaking the girl's soft golden hair. A dark stain spread like olive oil beneath her head.
Maia searched for a pulse or at least a sign that her sister was still breathing. But in vain. A deep, guttural, vaguely animalistic scream suddenly escaped from the depths of her soul. A cry of agony, despair and pain. Her sister was dead.
For several minutes, she stood there calling her name in vain as her tears mingled with Tasha's blood.
For a moment, she forgot the mission. As if time had stood still and the universe had ceased to exist.
[...]
After a while, she noticed that her earpiece was making noise. She heard everything muffled and distant, but after a few tries, she began to intuit what was being said.
[I apologize for your loss. I have carried out your orders. You should now have enough time to complete your task before they become aware of your presence].
It took Miss Maia a few seconds to recognize Frank's voice. The pieces of the puzzle in her mind magically fell into place.
Of course. She had given Frank strict orders to shoot anyone in the group who acted suspiciously or aggressively. No exceptions. She had even placed him in a strategic position on the skyscraper in front of them so that he could practice his sniping skills undisturbed.
Still, she could not help but feel a deep anger towards the masked man. It was good that he was distant, because at that moment, she did not feel completely in control of her actions.
But soon after, she felt a crushing sense of guilt and panic. By giving Frank the order to shoot to kill, she had indirectly killed her sister herself. She could not blame him for following her orders. Miss Maia closed her eyes and breathed deeply. She imagined a huge monster of shadow with sharp teeth and fierce eyes. She imagined trapping this monster in a cage and placing the cage in an underground bunker that could not be reached from anywhere.
She opened her eyes again, feeling calmer and clearer. "Good work. I will learn to move forward and put my passion for music above all else." She answered the earpiece, even having enough presence of mind to remember to speak in code.
[I think you could do it if you really tried.]
Maia pondered Frank's completely impassive tone for a few seconds. It seemed absurd to her that the man did not seem the least bit upset, even after he had just killed a teammate in cold blood. He had probably even secretly listened to their entire conversation, since he had waited to shoot Tasha until she was about to call for backup. Miss Maia did not know whether to consider him a gentleman or a voyeur of human misery. Maybe both. It didn't matter.
She had a mission to accomplish.
She finally reached the roof with her heart in her throat, having miraculously dodged several alarms and traps set for the various floors of the skyscraper. She opened a small pouch around her neck and pulled out a small black sphere. After placing it in the middle of the roof and pressing a button, she called Frank's attention again.
"Ok, Friedrich."
She said simply, sitting back and waiting for events to take their natural course. After a few seconds, the sphere lit up, projecting huge holograms directly over her head. With a trembling finger, she turned off the earpiece.
She needed to disconnect from the rest of the world, to face alone the monster that already threatened to break out of its cage and destroy everything. She let her soul wither like forgotten flowers. She had to do it now, before it was too late, before this monster would go to keep other monsters company that had been caged for too long, hidden behind heavy layers of emotional flattening and scattered in the fog of memory.
The cheerful and inspiring melody that served as the background to a complex motivational speech hid her crying and unanswered questions that shouted into the night sky while the vibrant colors of the holograms decorated her tears that never stopped flowing like a raging river. She could still smell the blood in her nose, still see her sister leaving her forever in that moment. The realisation that they had parted forever with a grudge in their hearts devastated her.
She hated Frank for following her orders so flawlessly, but at the same time she was strangely grateful to him and felt disgust at herself for feeling such a cowardly thing in her heart. She hated herself for allowing this to happen, for always being so blind to her sister's deep suffering, which had now poisoned a relationship she had always thought was solid. She felt that she had deeply failed as a sister, as a friend, and as a leader when she thought back to Ninja's death. She had sworn that she would always protect her group, no matter what the cost. Instead, she had not only failed to protect him, but had even suspected that he was the spy. Her normally excellent judgment had been completely clouded by her own prejudices and feelings.
Meanwhile, holograms sped through the sky, over the heads of the citizens who watched in disbelief. This tremendous hubbub gave her the blessing of being able to give free rein to her grief without being heard or disturbed by anyone, as she waited patiently in those seemingly eternal moments for the rest of the group to return and pick her up with their ship.