Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Into The Void ❯ Agata's Secret ( Chapter 33 )

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Into the Void

Chapter 33: Agata's Secret

By: Melissa Norvell/Revamp

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“Beloved? Okay does anyone else find that frightening?” Sari didn't want to think about anything of the sort. In all honesty, she just wanted to purge her mind of the terrible mental images she was getting by just hearing the words.

“More like nauseating,” Udo remarked before something whizzed by his head. It came dangerously close to hitting him, and he could feel the heat of it against his skin as it made its way to the wall and exploded on contact. The boom rang in his ears as the building shook. Debris was flung everywhere as he hit the ground to avoid the impact.

“I'm not here to play games. No one's getting past me,” Esta put one hand on her hip and played with a yo-yo, making it dance up and down along its string.

Sari could hardly believe her eyes. She blinked a couple of times and pointed to the toy in her hands. “What? Is that puny little toy your weapon? Puh-lease.” Like someone who screwed around with a yo-yo was going to beat her! In fact, it was embarrassing that she thought so highly of such a stupid, little thing.

“That's no ordinary yo-yo. It's a specially designed weapon, manufactured by Helio Power Company's weaponry division,” Agata brought more light to what exactly they were dealing with. It would have been in their best interest not to undermine such a thing or pass it off for a child's toy. It was anything but.

“The Helio Power Company?” Sari was a little confused. Was that supposed to be important?

“One of the branches of Ibuki's massive terrorist establishment,” Ionna informed them. “By day, they're a seemingly harmless power company, providing many people with hydroelectricity, but they're really just a shady bunch of sharks who do research for the biochemistry and weaponry departments.”

“They design experimental weapons,” Udo added, “and test them on human subjects.” They were quite a dark place, and something he wished he would have forgotten in all honesty. That place left a bad taste in his mouth.

“I'm beginning to hate this place more than I already have. Bunch of low-down, dirty scum. How can you even say that you're human?” Vincent didn't know how much more terrible information he could take before he wanted to scream. This place had some of the most awful people in it that he ever had the displeasure of meeting. He wanted nothing more than to see that place fall into ruin.

“We're not here for compassion,” Esta sounded impartial to the bounty hunter's feelings. If they were there to care, then they wouldn't do what they did. The only good they strived for was to see how far they could stretch the limitations of humans and to further their exploits in bioengineering.

“What are you? Another bio-humanoid?” Vincent could only guess that she was just like Shigeki, Valentino, Rubio and anyone else that was a product of that purgatory that called itself a scientific institute.

“No one here is normal,” Esta's voice darkened as she charged at him, poised to attack. If they came in here on the notion that they would find normal people, they were sadly mistaken. The mere thought of it made her laugh.

Ionna warned him to look out as she got in front of him. The black-haired beauty stood her ground as she pulled out her weapon and blocked Esta's hit. The blonde hit one of the cross-beams on it, which caused Ionna to swing her weapon in circles. Due to the centrifugal force, she couldn't escape it. Her opponent released the weapon, sending it spinning through the air with Esta still attached. The blonde hit the wall and felt the force of the beam drive her into the surface, beating the breath out of her body. It made a horrible crashing noise as it did so.

“Ionna?” Vincent was shocked that she pulled off something like that. He knew that she was the physically strongest female on the team, but that took him by surprise. The raw power she displayed was breathtaking.

“She's fast,” the black-haired girl glanced over her shoulder, “don't let your guard down.” Running over to the wall, she grabbed her weapon and watched as Esta slid down in pain.

“You bitch!” The blonde scowled, holding her mid-section as searing pain shot through her.

“You have to be one to be in this position. I'm here to take you out.” Honestly, it wasn't the first time she was called a bitch, and it certainly wouldn't be the last. Ionna wasn't there to make friends. She had her own personal goals to obtain.

“I think everyone wants a piece of her,” Udo smirked in amusement, “and not in a loving kind of way.” For once, Esta was getting what she deserved and he loved every moment of it.

Zidane pulled out his gun, ready to blast her full of lead. In fact, he would love nothing more than to see Esta on the ground, bleeding and begging for her life below him. He couldn't stand that woman. “Yeah, she's been our misery for years.”

“I never liked her anyway,” Rubio grumbled to himself. Shigeki and Esta were particularly irritating beings to deal with. In the end, they were no different than Ibuki himself, and harbored all of his beliefs.

“I'm going to stay back here until you need me,” Yaritza was sure that multiple people at a time could take care of her. If they couldn't handle Esta, then should would involve herself.

“Fine,” Valentino hooked his gun into its holster under his cape, “but I want to have Ibuki for myself.” That was his ultimate goal. More than anything, he was going to make sure that terrorist paid, not only for what he had done to him but others as well.

“Like hell,” Rubio argued. He had his own scores to settle with Ibuki. He might have let his boyfriend have a little revenge, but there was no way that he was getting away with taking all of the glory.

While the two of them talked, Agata ran into battle. She wasn't about to sit on her hands and let her team mates get hurt by the yo-yo wielding warrior. That wasn't her style at all. Agata looked to assist people, to serve and protect. That was her motto and she lived by it in strict fashion.

“I guess she changed her mind,” Valentino noted as he watched her get farther and farther away.

“I hope she'll be okay,” Bosnia looked a little worried, but hoped for her safety. She knew that Agata was strong, but they were also going up against a strong enemy.

“Haaaa!” Zidane yelled as he charged in. His feet tapped against the floor as he fired his gun at the blonde. Esta dodged the bullets with superhuman speed and back flipped, sending out her yo-yo, only to have the string cut by Udo's large blade. The spiky-haired man swung it around and tried to cut her with it, only to have her jump out of the way and evade it.

“Damn,” Esta scowled in discontent. She didn't expect her yo-yo to go down that quickly. Now, she was going to have to revert to alternate plans.

However, she didn't have time to think about that before Udo jumped after her, hot on her tail. “I don't have time to play with your toys!” He flung his weapon once more, set on making sure that she ended up in pieces. Esta dodged the weapon, jumping up as it clinked across the ground, bouncing off of the metal surface. The blonde moved across the ground, only to receive a forceful punch to the stomach. Her body jolted forward and spit flew from her mouth.

“One,” the bounty hunter began to count as he punched her in the chin. “Two,” he then punched her across the face so hard that her head turned. “Three,” he then upper cut her in the stomach, “upper!” He shouted driving the fist into her as hard as he could.

Esta didn't have much time to recover before a sword blade was jutted towards her face. She evaded the stab, but she couldn't evade the foot that kicked her with such force that it propelled her right into a wall.

“That's what you get, you stupid bimbo!” Sari shouted before a blue ball of neon energy was thrown at her. “Warg!” The girl shouted as she dodged it. She could feel the heat of the china plate-sized ball as it came close to her.

“Yi-uh!” Ionna called out as she threw her weapon once more. It spun with such velocity that it turned into a red, heated ball. “Solar Burst!”

“What?” Esta's eyes widened and a look of shock and dread crossed her face as she's blasted back with red energy. It seared into her skin as she let out a soul-piercing scream.

“Nice shot!” Udo flashed an impish smile.

“See? They don't even need us. What do you know about that?” Yaritza was happy about the events that were playing out before her. So far, things looked pretty good for them and she could stay at ease. At this point, they'll see Ibuki soon enough.

“She's not dead,” Rubio knew they didn't need to celebrate too soon.

“Huh?” Yaritza blinked.

“Burn bitch!” Sari boasted, and then laughed out loud. Watching Esta suffer was the highlight of the fight in her eyes.

Ionna's hand grabbed her weapon as one of the spikes on it dug into the ground. “I won't let you hurt the ones I love.” No way was she letting Vincent die. The both of them were going to make it out alive, as long as she around to make sure to.

“Ionna…” Vincent was touched by her actions.

“I love you, Vincent. I really do,” the dark-haired woman smiled at him tenderly. “Maybe one day, you'll stop aiming so high and get a girl who really is here for you, one who doesn't reject you. You could go to her a million times and I'll still be here, waiting.” She knew that he loved Agata. Even finding out that the white-haired woman was married, he probably still held emotions for her, and Ionna knew that. However, she wasn't going to stop pursuing him, not as long as she had a chance.

The bounty hunter was conflicted, as his green eyes hit the floor. “Don't say that kind of thing.” That was the last thing he wanted to hear in a battle this big. He would have rather washed that moment from his memories than face it, not now.

“It hurts more not to,” Ionna didn't care. She wasn't going to let it die, “I'd rather be honest.” She had always hidden her love for him. She always had to keep it under wraps, and she was sick of it. Ionna wasn't going to hide from her feelings or him any longer.

“This is a lot to bear.” Really? Did she have to let that be known right now? Vincent didn't want to think about something this trivial. There were more important things to do.

“It is for me; too,” Ionna let him know that he wasn't the only one hurting, “unrequited love hurts.”

“Yah!” Esta launched herself towards Ionna at super human strength and delivers a precise punch that goes through one of the holes in the weapon. It made contact with her face a she's knocked to the ground. Everyone's faces lit up in shock as Vincent called out her name.

The blonde stood before her, looking down on the scantily-clad woman in disdain. “You make me sick. You dare to call yourself a female warrior with a weak heart like that?” Drawing back her foot, she kicked Ionna in the ribs with such force that her body rolled across the ground a couple of times before the heeled shoe stomped down on her chest with a thunk.

Vincent rushed in to attempt to save the woman, but he was blasted back into the wall by a bright, blast of energy. It hit him with such force that his body bounced off of the wall and the impact pushed the breath from his body.

“Don't underestimate me,” Esta warned in a sharp voice. “I am Ibuki's top-ranked female warrior.” Turning back to her intended target, she gathered that familiar, blue energy in her hand and sent the blast driving down into Ionna's body. It burned her flesh and caused her to call out in pain.

A satisfied smile spread across her face as she listened to the melodious tunes fill her ear drums. “You're so pathetic. I've killed cockroaches with more fighting spirit and skill.”

Ionna slowly pulled herself off of the ground and stood before her, knees slightly bend and body slightly slumped. She showed signs of wear and burn marks from the attacks. “Compassion doesn't make me weak.” Then, with a sudden burst of energy she shot towards Esta with all of her might and her body glowed a magnificent golden color. She called out the name `shooting star' as the glow expanded and consumed the room, bathing everyone in light.

Esta tried to put up a barrier, but Ionna's catapulting body broke through it. Blue eyes widened as she could do nothing but watch the girl's form speed towards her. The impact drilled her into the wall as Ionna uppercut her with uncanny strength, even for someone like her. Esta felt the pain searing through her and her body was burning hot.

“You seem to forget that I was trained by Ibuki to be an assassin,” Ionna noted and performed a spin kick to Esta's head as her body was launched through the air, spiraling around and around before it crashed into the ground.

Vincent attempted to axe handle her but he received a kick to the face as Esta flipped up and shot energy from her wrists at him. The orange beams flew out and he tried to dodge, but to no avail. He was caught in the fire and his body was propelled forward. Agata called out to him as he fell to the ground.

Esta took her belt off, and surged it with energy. This caused the article of clothing to stretch and expand, looking much like a leather ribbon than something worn around the waist. “I dare you to come and get me,” she taunted, tired of screwing around with them.

“I'll hack through your stupid ribbon,” Sari held her twin blades behind her back, ready to strike as she jumped into the air.

“Fool,” Esta called out as she sent her ribbon flowing through the air. It spun around her, encircling her body. Then it glowed a brilliant yellow and sent waves of electricity out, striking the swordswoman who screamed in agony as power jolted through her form. Her body spazzed and convulsed before she fell to the ground.

“Are you alright?” Vincent ran up to her with a worried expression.

Sari sat up and groaned a little, rubbing her head with her hand. “No! I got shocked, you douche!” She screamed at him before her attention was taken away by something on the battlefield. “Eh?”

Agata stepped in front of her and said nothing as Sari stared at her back.

“What the hell are you doing?” Sari demanded to know. Was she going to take on Esta? That was HER job!

“I have no choice,” the white-haired woman's words were steely as she reached up to the blue and black eye patch on her face. Pulling it away, she revealed that her eye was closed and she did, in fact, have an eye. She was sure that everyone wondered why she had worn it, knowing that fact. Agata then opened her eye to reveal something shocking.

She in fact, had a computerized eye that was had a green iris with binary code that flashed across it, reeling information.

“Hey!” Sari rose to her feet and stood beside of her. “You can see out of that eye!” Why the hell was she walking around with an eye patch all of that time? It made no sense.

“This eye is my biggest secret. When I was serving as an undercover agent, I was gravely wounded. To save my life, it was implanted into my head. It measures the special abilities of my opponent, and allows me to mimic their attacks,” Agata explained the purpose and reasoning behind her weapon. It was integral to hide it because of those aspects. If anyone found out that she had such a talent, someone would try and take it from her.

“So, you can copy me?” Esta was amused upon being educated. “How cute. It's easy to mimic an attack, but it takes more than that to be able to you use it.” Conjuring up golden energy, her whip glowed as she sent it spiraling at the white-haired sergeant.

As the fight went down, Valentino decided to make his escape and took off running. Yaritza caught sight of him and took chase. She called out for him to wait. The ninja's feet sped up their pace as she gained ground, inching closer to him. Yaritza asked what was going on.

“I'm going to find Ibuki while Esta and Agata fight,” Valentino had a plan of action and he planned on carrying it out.

Determination leaked through onto the girl's visage, “I'll help you.”

“So will I,” another set of footsteps could be heard as Rubio ran behind the both of them. “I, Zidane, Ionna, Sari and Agata are going to face off against her and Loreli, Udo, Aeris, Hisamichi and Bosnia will back them up. Besides, this is our fight.”

“We need to know if he's here. If not, then he's probably in the cooperate building,” Valentino didn't want to waste time going after someone who wasn't even in their location. Scouting the area while Esta was side tracked was the best course of action.

“Where's that at?” Yaritza wondered aloud.

“On the other side of the compound,” Valentino instructed.

“He'd better be here, or I'll be pretty pissed for coming here for thing,” Yaritza didn't want to think that would be the case, but it seemed like Ibuki to pull something of the sort. What bad guy made himself easy to find?

“That is all a part of his game,” the assassin was sure of it.

“Man, after learning what I did about you, I can't wait to kill this guy,” the ninja wanted to take him out of the world as soon as she could. Scum like him should never have been allowed to live at all.

“He's an evil, cruel man,” red eyes closed as the three of them made their way down the darkened hallway and came to another hall that was lined with doors on both sides. Valentino turned to his two team mates and told them to look in each room, but do not go into any sub-doors.

Yaritza was a little confused by that request. “Why? Shouldn't we check everywhere?” What if Ibuki was hiding behind a sub-door? That seemed like sloppy detective work to her.

“Sub-rooms can be filled with lethal gases. These are experiments that we're talking about. Valentino and I are used to this kind of stuff, but you aren't,” Rubio knew that they could both stand the fumes, since they had breathed them before and were specially engineered for such environments. There was no way that normal humans could breathe some of the noxious fumes without suffering or even dying.

“Right,” Yaritza nodded as they split off in different directions and began to check the various rooms.

They all ran around, opening doors and checking around for any signs of the terrorist. Valentino went inside of a room where several scientists were stationed. Upon walking in the room, they all glanced at him and locked eyes with the wayward experiment. When they realized what he was, pandemonium broke out as several screams were heard. Valentino decided to cut them off before they could get away by slicing them up. No one could escape and tell Ibuki about them being there.

Yaritza walked into a room and encountered more scientists. She threw a barrage of pinwheels that stabbed into lethal areas on the scientists, killing them.

“You're not allowed to come in here!” A scientist shouted at her before she delivered a decisive strike to his neck with one of her weapons.

“Get her!” Another scientist shouted as many men left their posts to pursue the girl. The sounds of multiple footsteps sounded throughout the facility of scientists and guards alike who were all trying to stop her by whatever means necessary.

The red-haired ninja was going to put a stop to as many of them as she could. Charging towards them, she fought her way through them, delivering hit after hit against guards and scientists. There was no way that someone hadn't contacted Ibuki now. This was bad. “None of these idiots are Ibuki.”

Bodies littered the ground in an array of positions. Some of them had no blood, and others were covered in it. Rubio scanned over the masses of the dead as he put his gun to his side. Just then, something caught his attention. In one of the rooms, there was half of a tank protruding from the wall that contained a man's body and what appeared to be two fetuses being fed a strange liquid through their umbilical cords.

Rubio cast the trio a sympathetic glance, “I feel sorry for you. It's not our fault that you're caught up in all of this. I'm an experiment, too and I've spent plenty of time in that tank,” he placed his hand on the glass, feeling the smooth, chill surface with a conflicted expression before he yanked his vision from it and turned away.

“Ugh, forgive me but my hands are too stained now…After all, just like Valentino, I'm a project as well…only, I was a successful experiment.” Walking over to the wall, he flipped a switch causing the tank to explode in a mass of shattered glass, fluids and blood.

The fluid was cold and washed over the floor, soaking all of the cloth mats and washing over the tile as glass and pieces of the contained experiments were washed out in a horrific display that would forever be imprinted into the experiment's mind.

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The ribbon made contact with Agata's mid-section and propelled her into a wall. Her body made impact and bounced off of the hard surface, landing on the ground on her stomach. Vincent called out her name and darted off towards her, but not before he caught a certain blonde's attention.

“Oh no you don't! Die!” Esta shouted as she fired another beam from her wrist at him.

The bounty hunter skidded to a stop and was overcome with shock. Agata looked up from the floor and shouted his name as his body was illuminated with that familiar glow.

“Oh shit! I can't block that,” Vincent was screwed.

Or so he thought…

Suddenly, the light was blocked as Ionna appeared in front of him. The light impacted her as she threw out her arms and took the brunt of the blast. It burned against her skin and shredded her clothes. The woman screamed in agony as blood welled to the surface of her skin. Loreli screamed her name and Vincent watched in horror as he stood by helplessly.

She stood there, panting and bleeding onto the floor. Ionna had been nearly stripped of all of her clothing and what little remained looked like a bathing suit. Streams of blood ran down her face, arms and legs. The force of the blast broke the band that held her hair back in a ponytail, and all of her raven locks hung freely around her.

“Vincent…are you alright?” She turned to the bounty hunter with a look of worry and kindness on her visage.

“I didn't get hit but, you did,” Vincent didn't know how to feel about what just happened. His heart fluttered, and at the same time he wanted to hug her. He wanted to apologize for being an idiot once more and allowing her to get hurt for his sake. “I should be asking you that.”

“Weakling,” Esta scowled. “How are you ever going to protect your precious boyfriend if you keep throwing yourself into the line of fire like that? I guess you're too useless to be anything other than a human shield. So, I'll put you out of your misery!”

Conjuring up a large beam, she fired it from her wrist. The laser was so wide that it was the size of a small car and hurled itself towards the two with amazing speed. The force of the beam knocked Ionna off of her feet and sent her body tumbling through the air like a rag doll being discarded by a cruel child.

Vincent turned and shouted her name in dismay, running over and jumping up to catch her before she hit the ground.

“This isn't going well,” Zidane commented, and sighed to himself.

“Wh-What should we do?” Hisamichi glanced around, as if the answer laid somewhere in the group.

“Kick her ass! What else?” Sari wanted to take more affirmative action to make that bitch pay for frying her.

Agata took out her pole and spun it around, then charged at Esta. The blonde smiled slyly and found her efforts to be just as pathetic as that black-haired woman's. Who did she think she was going to hurt like that? Didn't she already learn from her friend's mistakes that rushing in was going to be ineffective? “Don't be so stupid. You know that won't work.”

“I'll take you out personally and bring you to justice,” Agata would serve and protect. That was her job.

Esta waved off her profound sentence in dismissal. “Spare me your good cop bullshit. This world has no place for inferior beings like you. I'll avenge Shigeki and prove my love for him.”

“He won't care. He's dead,” Agata knew her plans were pointless. There was nothing to be accomplished from trying to please a dead man.

Somewhere in Esta's chest, she felt something snap, a wave of uncontrollable anxiety hit her and she felt panic run cold in her veins. Blue eyes widening, a crazed expression crossed her visage. “HE DOES CARE!” She shouted in denial and haphazardly flung her ribbon at Agata.

The white-haired woman's eyes widen and everyone looked shocked.

Protruding through Esta's chest was her bokken. It made a sickening pop as it jabbed through her chest. Blood leaked through her clothes, staining the white and blue into a deep crimson. Blue eyes gazed down as a sense of dread washed over her as her muscles spasmed. She felt herself become light-headed as she stared at Agata's wound.

Her ribbon had done its work, piercing through her body in the same fashion as the wooden weapon had her own. Their blood mixed together in splattered on the floor. She gazed into the two eyes of the cop to see nothing but resolve in them after a few moments. It was a resolve that sent fear through her body.

“My mission ends here,” Agata let the words slip from her bloodstained lips as a placid smile tugged at her cheeks. `I'm glad I could be of use to everyone. Even if I never said it, I grew fond of you all. I hope that my family won't be too sad that I won't be there.

`This is how I truly wanted to die, going down in a blaze of glory with a mission accomplished.' She could feel Vincent's strong arms around her, catching her as she fell. Wait…when did she start falling? Who knew? At this point, she couldn't feel anything other than being light-headed and numb.

`Vincent,' she peered at his face, distorted by her blurred vision as she clung to life. `I'm sorry I broke your heart. I actually thought that you were a nice guy. Maybe I should have been kinder to you. Forgive me…'

Her eyes felt heavy, as if she was extremely tired and with that, Agata took her last breath as she slipped into darkness. Her body fell limp in the bounty hunter's hands. She could hear him shouting her name with emotion as tears fell from his face.

“Agata…” Sari felt tears bite at the corners of her eyes, stinging them. She screwed her eyes shit and wept as Zidane looked down and Hisamichi could be heard crying.

Esta's lifeless corpse laid on the ground, vacant eyes stared straight ahead.

“Vincent…” Ionna's features twisted in sorrow.

“I loved you…even if you didn't love me…” Vincent held the dead cop close to his body and continued to sob. He never wanted that to happen. He never wanted anyone to die. If he knew Agata would have done something like this, he would have taken her place. The bounty hunter would have rather died in her place than let her slip away like she had. He was full of regret and dismay. Part of that moment didn't seem real.

Ionna clutched her arm and walked over towards the sorrow-stricken bounty hunter. She couldn't help but feel a crushing grief that accompanied the ache of her body. Red lips turned into a frown as a mix of emotions overcome her.

“She died…for us…” Bosnia sobbed, wiping her eyes with her hand.

“That's it!” Zidane had enough of his team mates dying. “If we don't find Ibuki, then I'm going to go on a killing spree!”

“I'm with you on that,” Udo agreed for completely different reasons. Not only did he want to find that bastard, he wanted to bathe in the blood of the slaughtered. There was nothing like a little sadism to get his gears turning.

“Poor Agata,” Loreli looked down. Her heart went out to her. She could only imagine how bad her family was going to feel.

Ionna fell to her knees, wincing in pain as she placed a hand on Vincent's shoulder in an attempt to console him. After looking at him with tears in her eyes for a few moments as she listened to him weep in distress, she hugged him tightly.

“I'm sorry,” Vincent's voice was small. That was all he could say.

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Valentino stood in the hallway as Rubio and Yaritza ran up to him. The red-haired ninja told him that they didn't find anything. The assassin looked to his fellow experiment, who shook his head. He too, had found nothing.

“Then we should get out of here,” there was no use in staying if Ibuki wasn't there. He'd probably escaped by now. They both agreed with a synchronized reply of `right' before they headed back to the rest of their group.

Upon coming back, they stumbled upon a horrific sight. Vincent was still holding Agata, who was motionless on the floor. Esta lay a few feet from her, resting in a pool of blood as everyone wore solemn expressions.

“What happened?” Rubio entered the room first.

“Is she?” Yaritza didn't want to know the answer to that question. She had a feeling that she already did.

“Yes,” Aeris clarified her worst fear. “She and Esta killed each other at the same time.”

Valentino turned and glanced around the room. His careful eyes scanned every crevice, making sure not to miss anything. “Ibuki isn't here. We should leave.”

“That's even worse,” Bosnia sighed. “There wasn't even a point in coming here.” That meant that Agata died for no reason whatsoever. Her heart dropped just knowing that.

“You mean…she died for nothing?” Vincent felt a sense of anger, outrage and panic wash over him before Valentino's voice brought him back into reality.

“Everything has a reason. Her death wasn't without cause,” the assassin wanted to keep Vincent's feet as close to the ground as he could. Now wasn't the time for anyone to go flying off the handle.

“Where are you going?” Sari asked.

“We have to get out of the research lab. We'll do something about Agata afterwards.” Staying around would only mean they might as well have handed themselves to the terrorists. He had run into some scientists and before long their back up would arrive. Valentino wanted to be out of there by then.

“Okay, I'll go with you,” the girl offered and turned to everyone else. “Come on, guys. Let's go.”

Sari followed Valentino off, and everyone else followed suit. Vincent carried Agata's corpse in his arms. He wasn't going to leave her alone on that cold, hard floor. He was going to give her a proper burial.

…To Be Continued