Aliya pulled herself together long enough to finally get dressed. The teenager got dressed in a dark red blouse and dark blue jeans. The next thing she did was go over to vanity and brush out her hair, running the brush through the dark, wet tangles. She kept brushing her hair even after the tangles were out. She wanted to keep her mind off the situation at hand, hoping that Helena would be all right.
Aliya immediately got up when she heard Lida unlock the door and enter the room.
"Matthew is ready for you,"
Aliya nodded and followed Lida out of the room, looking around as they went down the spiral staircase. Lida led her to a sitting room where Matthew was sitting in a brown leather chair by the fireplace.
"Ah there's my niece! Come sit down," he says, gesturing to the red velvet chair across from him.
Aliya sat in the chair, looking down at her lap as Lida put a teacup on the mahogany table between them and poured some tea into it.
"How do you like your tea?"
"Uh just milk please," she says shyly, watching as Matthew put his cup down and grabbed the silver container in the middle, pouring milk into her tea, "thanks,"
Matthew smiled, "so is your room to your liking?"
"My room? You're not going to put me in one of those cells? Or back in that cold basement?" she asks, taking a sip of her tea and staring him down.
"Not unless you would like to be."
"Did you find Helena? Is she alright?"
"We did. She is being looked over right now and then we will move her to a cell for observation."
"No," she starts, glaring at him, "why would she need a cell? I want us to stay together."
Matthew nodded, "say no more. As soon as she is awake, she'll be brought to you."
"Why are we here? Why did you kidnap me?"
"Wow you are getting right down to business, aren't you?" He chuckles, looking over at her and being met with a stony gaze, "very well. Three years ago, I discovered Natalia's burnt body in the rubble after the place blew. That day, I vowed to find her killer and get my revenge and to do that, I am creating a much stronger virus, one that makes it easy to control once infected and you are my key to do that."
"You're after Leon."
"Correct, we shot down that chopper, but Leon was buried, and we couldn't exactly get to him to confirm death or not but what better way to get back than to take his wife too?"
Aliya stayed silent while he talked, trying not to panic. She felt lucky that he didn't know that she had been the one to pull the trigger on that fateful day. Aliya felt increasingly nauseated, not knowing if it was because she didn't have her serum or because Leon was dead, and she felt as though it was her fault.
"Are you alright, my dear?"
Aliya gagged and immediately rushed to the nearest trash can in the room, emptying what little contents she had in her stomach.
"I-uh-I'm sorry. I need a serum, but you know that. Your people took it off me when they took me."
"Come with me, I can help with that," he says, holding his hand out for Aliya to take, which she did so hesitantly and followed him out of the room. Aliya followed him to a nearby office, Matthew closing the door behind them and heading over to his desk. Matthew pulled out various files and opened them for her to look over.
Aliya looked at the files to see various notes about her time as an experiment from years earlier and the results from the various tests.
"What's this?"
"Years ago, me and Natalia realized that you needed a serum to survive but we had started to try and produce a way for you to not need that. If you would let me, I would like to get you there."
"Oh, so I'd be an experiment again?" she asks with an eye roll, crossing her arms and pursing her lips and staring at him.
"Oh no don't think like that, sweetheart. I only want to help you."
"Would you let me have body autonomy? Let me decide when we're done for the day? Give me complete freedom to decide things?"
Matthew nodded, "Whatever you need to be comfortable,"
Aliya thought for a moment, "Alright fine. When do we start?"
"First thing tomorrow."
Aliya nodded, the two of them looking up as Lida entered.
"Helena's awake."
"Perfect, send her down."
Lida gave a curt nod, turning on her heel and leaving to collect Helena but Aliya immediately followed, feeling relieved as they got to the main foyer, and she saw Helena. Helena was still wearing the same navy-blue V-neck and jeans as in the cabin with the black moccasins.
"Helena!" Aliya called, the older woman turning and feeling relieved as she saw the teen, limping over and hugging her tightly.
"Are you alright?" Helena asks, pulling away and holding her at arm's length to look her over, wanting to make sure that the sixteen-year-old wasn't hurt. She didn't even care that she herself was hurt and that she almost died. She cared more about Aliya's safety than her own.
"I'm fine," She nods, looking at Helena as tears started to fall, "I am so sorry. I don't know what happened, it's like I couldn't even control it."
"It's alright, let's not think about that right now. The important thing is that you are here right now and that you are safe, alright?"
"Yeah. Yeah, you're right."
Helena nodded, putting both hands on either side of Aliya's pale face, and pulling her in closer for a hug. She hugged Aliya as tight as she could without hurting the girl or causing herself further pain, smoothing down the teen's dark hair before finally noticing Matthew. Helena pulled away from Aliya.
"I'm taking Aliya and leaving," she says sternly, taking Aliya's hand and beginning to bring her to the big double doors.
"Helena, wait!" Aliya says as guards blocked their way.
"I am afraid, Agent Harper, that that is not possible," Matthew starts, approaching them with his hands folded behind his back as guards blocked their way, "see, Aliya here has agreed to let me run more tests and help with my experiments."
Helena turned and glared at Aliya, appalled that Aliya would even allow herself to become an experiment again. Aliya had so much difficulty coming to terms with her past and now it was like they were going back down to square one.
"I'm sorry, he said that he can make it so that I don't need the serum,"
"But of course, you yourself are allowed to leave."
"I'm not leaving without Aliya," she says sternly, knowing that this was a trap.
"Very well. Please bring them to their room."
"Yes sir," one of the guards says, grabbing Helena by her arm and beginning to lead her back up the spiral staircase and Helena ripped her arm from the guard's grasp, falling back in step with Aliya.
Aliya looked down as they walked, feeling anxious about Helena being upset at her. She hated it when she felt as though she had done something wrong. She had never seen Helena be so disappointed in her before, not once in the three years since she started living with the two agents. The guard stopped outside the room that Aliya had been in and gestured for the two to enter the room, making sure to close it and lock it behind them.
"So, you want to stay? With someone who's using us like guinea pigs?" Helena asks, crossing her arms and pursing her lips.
"It's not about that, Helena."
"Then what is it? Do you want to be normal? Is that it? You are as normal as they come, and you don't need to be cured!"
"It isn't about being normal, Helena! We are trapped here until we find a way to reach home and tell them where we are. Why not cooperate? We can find out more and by cooperating and making them trust us, we can use it against them."
"Yes, but these games could kill us, Aliya! We are playing with fire here. We need to get out of here and find Leon."
"Helena, you don't get it! We have no choice but to stay here, okay!? They shot down the chopper, they couldn't confirm if Leon were dead, but they also couldn't confirm that he was alive."
Helena looked away, not wanting to hear anymore. She knew that Leon could be dead from the crash and Aliya had confirmed it.
"Did you find out a motive?"
"He wants revenge for Natalia's death, and he wants to be able to use the virus as a way to control others."
"Does he know that you killed her?"
Aliya shook her head, "no, he thinks it was Leon."
Helena let out a shaky sigh, putting her hands on her hips as she walked around the room that was now dimly lit by the fire as she tried to stop the tears.
"Are you okay?" she asks softly as Helena sat down on the edge of the bed.
"Let's see, I have no weapons, no way to communicate with HQ, I'm pregnant and the father is probably dead so even when we get out of here, I'll be completely alone."
"You aren't alone though," she says, moving to sit next to her, "there isn't any proof that Leon is dead other than through speculation. Even if he is dead, you'll have me and when we get out of here, you'll have Sherry, Jake, Chris, Jill, and even Hunnigan."
Helena knew that she had a point, but just the thought of Leon not being there to see his child grow up terrified her. She didn't know the first thing about raising a child, especially on her own.
"I know it's scary, but you won't be alone."
Helena sighed as she wrapped her arms around Aliya, pulling her in for a hug and rubbing the teen's back to calm herself down.
"Let's get to bed," she says softly, getting up and Helena helping Aliya into the queen-sized bed.
Helena went around and got into the bed on her side, the two laying in bed facing each other. Helena rubbed Aliya's arm, watching as she fought to stay awake.
"Helena, what if we don't get out of here?"
"We will. Just try to sleep."
Aliya nodded and yawned as she drifted off to sleep.
Helena stayed awake a little longer, watching Aliya sleep. Now that she had found Aliya, she was going to do everything in her power to keep her safe until they were able to make it home.
Helena watched Aliya until she could no longer fight it and fell asleep herself.
