Damian did not know much about Adrian Kuning, but what he did know was this: he was a new student, he wasn't very friendly at the best of times (mostly being awkward and withdrawn), and he had taken an immediate interest in Anya, only to be quickly rebuffed. Since then, he had barely interacted with the rest of the class at all.
He also happened to know that Adrian did not live in the dorms with them, and commuted from somewhere every morning by private chauffeur. Now that Damian had the file containing Adrian's address, he felt that he could actually start making progress on finding Anya.
History was his favourite subject, but it was also his last class of the day - which, crucially, he did not share with Adrian. If he was too slow in finding Adrian after class, then the opportunity to question him might disappear too quickly.
Being an Imperial Scholar came with some special privileges, including being able to attend the Imperial Scholar meetings that sometimes happened during the school day. Thankfully, the teachers ahd to give him leniency to attend these, so it was not entirely unusual to miss a few classes ehre and there.
This time for the first time in his life, Damian skipped class on purpose, and lurked by the school foyer, waiting for the last bell of the day to ring so that he could go and corner Adrian. In the meantime, he called for a taxi, and instructed them to wait by the school gates.
When the bell went, Damian zipped across campus to the school gates, where he could at least wait without looking too suspicious. He watched the students file out of the building and into their respective rides; buses, taxis and private black cars. Damian jumped into one of the taxis, and pulled the manila files from his jacket pocket. He unfolded Adrian's file and read the address to the driver.
Rush hour forced the taxi to slow down throughout the drive, but Damian couldn't hide his impatience. His leg jiggled nervously throughout the entire journey. He almost tried to get the driver to hurry up a few times, but Damian held himself back. It wasn't their fault that the roads were busy.
To his surprise, the taxi stopped in an area which he knew he had seen before. Imposing grey buildings and classic architecture surrounded him, and a hazy, sparkling memory resurfaced in his mind, where Anya had slipped on the pavement and he had caught her.
And their faces were so close.
All this time, and Adrian lived in the same neighbourhood as Anya?
Damian paid the driver and got out of the taxi before looking around. It would be hard to hide out in the open street to scout for Adrian, but he managed to find a tree to hide behind.
He stayed there for a few minutes, but his body was already aching. Damian was forced to admit that stake-outs looked way cooler in Spy Wars than they were in real life.
A breath tickled his neck.
"What are we looking at?"
"Arrrghh!" Damian screamed and jumped a meter away from the voice.
He landed painfully on his backside, and Damian yelped again with surprise. After a split second in the dirt on the hard pavement, he raised his gaze to see what had startled him.
Yor Forger smiled at him while holding shopping bags full of groceries. She was the picture of the innocent housewife.
"N-nothing!" Damian stood and brushed the dirt off his once-pristine uniform.
"Oh," said Yorger, then narrowed her eyes at him menacingly. "You're not peeping, are you?"
Damian was sure he had never been redder. "N-no! Of course not! How dare you!"
And once his racing heart had calmed a fraction, he resigned himself to the terrifying woman in front of him, deciding that it was actually less embarrassing for her to know the truth.
"I'm looking for classmate."
Something in Damian recoiled as he remembered her predatory and aggressive behaviour from the other night, and a lightbulb went off in his mind.
Damian couldn't believe what he was doing, but he pushed aside his embarrassment. "Actually, I… Think he might have something to do with Anya's abduction, but I don't know how to get to him."
He raised his gaze to Yor imploringly. "Could you interrogate him with me?"
Yor didn't exactly know what Damian's whole thought process was, but she nodded enthusiastically all the same. Anything to get her daughter back - even if she had to intimidate a... child? Is that what Damian wanted?
"I'm sorry for dragging you into this," he said to Yor. "But if there's any chance that there is something worth following, it would be great to have some help."
"Of course!" said Yor energetically. "Even if we are just eliminating a suspect, it will still help."
Of course, Yor's definition of 'eliminating' was entirely different to Damian's, but neither of them knew that.
"Right," nodded Damian, and he walked closer to the building, stopped, then turned round with a grimace. "One problem, uh, how do we know which one he lives in?"
Yor regarded the building with a puzzled look, noting every crevice, cornice, and ledge. "What does he look like?"
"Uh, long blond hair, pointy chin, annoying face, probably still wearing the Eden uniform-"
Yor ripped a small section of her pencil skirt, and took off her heels, handing them to Damian. "Hold this, I'll just be a minute," she said confidently, and jumped.
"What the actual fuck-" she heard Damian gasp behind her, but she moved far enough away in a short enough space of time that she didnt hear the rest of the sentence.
Yor grasped the first ledge she could reach and nimbly lifted herself to the top of it. She peered through the first window. A man in his underwear sat facing the wall, watching TV. She rolled her eyes and jumped to the next one: a woman and a man, kissing passionately.
Yor flushed bright red (even twelve years later, she was ever the modest person), turned away, and jumped to the next ledge.
And the next.
And the next.
And the next.
Yor stared into an empty living room, and was about to jump away when she saw a flutter of movement in the corner. Her assassin's instincts kicked in, and she pressed herself against the wall while still trying to peek inside.
A boy with long hair and a stony face walked in with a bag slung round his shoulders, wearing what was unmistakably an Eden uniform.
Yor turned away from the wall, and let herself fall to the pavement, and landed so gracefully, even a cat could not compare.
Damian took a shaking, tentative step back from Yor, who didn't notice Damian's retreat.
"I found a student from Eden," said Yor with the utmost seriousness. "I don't think he noticed me, but it looked like there was no-one else around. If we get to him now, we can interrogate him before we get interrupted."
Damian just nodded mutely, while he stared at the most fearsome woman he had ever met in his life. She indicated for him to follow her, and managed to open the security door without too much trouble.
(Really the lock was already broken in, so all she had to do was give it a push.)
The entryway was dark and gloomy, which made Yor feel right at ease. It felt exactly like she was on another mission from the Garden. Only this time, she had to be even more careful of the young man which her, who was also a friend of her daughter's. Of course she wanted to find Anya, but she had to make sure that Damian was also protected at all costs.
They snuck their way to the top floor, where she had seen the student, and Yor crouched in front of the door with a finger to her lips, and indicated that Damian come closer.
She whispered in his ear: "I'll do the intimidation, you stand back and get ready to clear the area if we need to, okay?"
"Uh-" Damian didn't get a chance to clarify what she meant, before Yor kicked the door down.
"Adrian Kuning!" she declared. "Show yourself at once!"
Not a sound.
Yor closed her eyes, and listened. The ears of an assassin were second to none, and she would be able to track and kill any prey with the blink of an eye.
Her eyes snapped open and she darted to the living room: "There!"
And to Damian's astonishment, she pulled a shaking boy from behind the sofa, and plopped him down on the cushions in front of her.
She felt Damian hesitate behind her, before he took another step closer. "That's him."
It was all the permission she needed.
She seized his collar with one hand, and held her other back in a claw shape, as if she would strike at any moment with her manicured talons. "What did you do to Anya-san?"
"N-nothing!" shrieked Adrian "I swear-"
"Where did you take her?" roared Yor. "Answer me!"
"It wasn't me! I didn't take her anywhere!"
Yor narrowed her eyes at the boy. Something didn't feel right.
If she was on a killing mission that happened to involve interrogation, the responses from her victims were something along the lines of: "Arrrrgh what's going on! I demand to know this instant! I don't know anything! Please don't kill me!"
But looking at this boy in front of her, Yor could sense that his reaction was not typical. It was almost like he was expecting them. He had already hidden himself by the time they had entered the apartment, and Yor was one hundred percent sure that he hadn't spotted her at the window ledge.
Her skills as an assassin were second-to-none.
Calm down Yor! You've killed hundreds of people in your lifetime. Interrogating one boy is not going to defeat you.
She levelled him with another dangerous glare.
I will find out what happened to Anya, even if I have to torture it out of him.
To her complete and utter amazement, Adrian suddenly burst into tears, and held a trembling hand in front of his face. "P-please don't torture me!"
"Who said anything about torturing-" Damian started to say, but Yor silenced him with a murderous look.
She gripped Adrian's collar tighter in her hand, and lifted him up from the ground.
This child knows what happened to Anya, I know it.
"Why do you care so much about Anya?" Adrian gasped, as she lifted him high into the year. "She's supposed to be a commoner! Worthless!"
Yor bared her teeth and growled. "Anya is my daughter, and I would die for her." And I would kill for her.
Adrian's eyes widened, and he gripped her forearm to keep from suffocating. "You're… her mother?"
Yor's hand did not move from its clawed position, ready to strike. "I will not back down until you tell me what you know."
Adrian's fearful eyes darted between the frightened Damian, and the frightening Mrs Forger. Even an idiot could calculate the chances of survival in the face of her rage. "Okay, okay," he wheezed. "I do know something! Please let me down!"
Slowly, Yor lowered him to the ground so that at least his feet could touch the floor, but she did not loosen her grip on his collar. She cast him a venomous glare. "Speak."
Adrian coughed, possibly in an effort to get his voice back. To the surprise of both Damian and Yor, he directed gaze towards Damian. "You have to be sure you want to hear this. Once you know, there's no going back."
But to Adrian's (and Yor's) amazement, Damian stood his ground, holding Adrian's eye contact for some time before he spoke.
"Anya is my closest friend, so I am staying to hear what you have to say." She's the most important person in the world to me.
Adrian once more cast a look at Yor's hand around his collar. "Can you let go of me? I can't fight back, and I won't run away."
Yor loosened her grip, but didnt let go. "I can compromise," she said, while she cocked her head. "You have sixty seconds to speak before I consider violence."
Adrian baulked, while Damian took a fearful step back.
I swear this woman is terrifying, he thought with a gulp.
All waited for what seemed like an eternity before Adrian spoke.
"Okay. Okay okay. I'll tell you."
He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, as if bracing for impact.
"My real name is Subject 009."
Clearly Adrian expected something more than just silence, as he cautiously opened one eye, trying to gauge the reactions of the other two. When he was met with two dumbfounded looks, he sighed, as if in resignation.
"I'm from a place that… raises very special children all in one building. The experimenters - well, they don't like it when we call them that - the care managers are trying to make our powers grow so that we can help the world, but a long time ago one of the other children ran away. I was sent to recover one of the subjects, and bring her back to the lab."
"Her…?" Damian squeaked.
"Subjects?" Yor breathed.
Although many people might have thought differently, Yor was not an idiot. There were times that she was naive, and when she couldn't quite tell what was normal, but even Yor Forger knew that raising children in a lab with 'experimenters' was not a normal thing.
With one hand cupping her chin, Yor tried to process the information that Adrian had told them, and one clear thing that Yor could deduce was that if the subjects were children, then this was a case of human experimentation.
"Adrian," said Yor gently. "The experimenters, or care managers, what is it that they are trying to accomplish, exactly?"
"Uh," said Adrian, clearly uncomfortable. In an effort to avoid Yor's blood coloured eyes, he accidentally made eye contact with (a very pale and horrified) Damian, so he quickly looked away.
Yor waited in silence for Adrian to speak, but she kept one hand placed on his collar. It was a miracle what people revealed when they tried to fill the silence.
And Adrian clearly could not take the silence anymore. "I'm part of a program that is trying to create telepathic soldiers. Anya ran away before she could get her soldier training, but since we're government property, they told me I had to, um, retrieve her."
Adrian finished his sentence uncomfrotably, but Yor had frozen in place, while she still had a hold of his shirt collar.
The words "human experimentation," "telepathic", and "subject" spiralled in her mind.
She let go of Adrian, and took a step back with her hands over her mouth.
"Anya was…?"
Meanwhile, Damian shook in the background. "You're lying!" he burst out eventually. "If you're going to make up a story, at least make it believable! Even Anya has come up with better lies than this!"
Adrian trembled under the gaze of his two interrogators. "It is true," he said softly.
"But… but…" Damian stammered, and then he blanched, and turned on his heel.
Yor did not turn, but she listened to him leave the apartment. She sensed that he had just stepped outside, given the lack of echoing footsteps in the stairwell. Probably to get some space and compose himself.
Meanwhile, Yor tried to move her own body piece by piece, out of her frozen state.
She sat on the chair in front of Adrian, and gestured for him to do the same, which he did.
"Adrian, right?" She said in the most friendly manner that she could muster at that moment, which was impressive given only a minute beforehand, she was seconds away from killing a teenager.
"Tell me everything."
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Guys, imagining Damian's face when Yor is being her assassin self gives me life
Aaaalll the tea is getting spilled!