The Hitman and His Consort

XXIII - Compromises

Third Person P.O.V: - - -

Mere minutes after that, a honk from a car on the side of the street caught their attention, and there Denis was in the driver’s seat, couldn’t be more himself as he’s donned a shiny beige suit over a black turtleneck, designer sunglasses and a frappe at one hand.

Madeline, being held within arms-length by Valentin, looked at the new mysterious character and mentally groaned at the thought that he’s going to deal with such a frivolous person. Valentin shoved Madeline into the backseat, grunting and throwing daggers at the large man who doesn’t appear to be apologetic. Not noticing he’s beside Arthur, who seemed to lose all of her compassion for her brother after hearing his reasons.

Valentin, of course, sat in the passenger seat next to his brother. Peeking over his glasses, he looked at Madeline from the rearview mirror and revved the engine as he spoke.

“Who’s the new guy?” he asked,

“I’m Madeline,” he introduced,

Denis then looked at Valentin, gesturing to Madeline expecting more clarification from his brother, questions about why the man was bound, why he looked like a fugitive, and why he’s got strikingly familiar features of someone he met before but couldn’t put his finger on it.

Valentin, however, only shrugged, “He’s Madeline…” he repeated, offering no clarification whatsoever.

Rolling his eyes with a sigh, Denis just asked, “Where to?” to which Valentin replied, “To Rodrigo’s” and they were back on the road. The car ride was silent if not awkward to the point Denis was compelled to turn on the radio but it was relatively short, Madeline didn’t stray too far from the clinic, at least not on foot and not in that state of his.

When they arrived at the place, Arthur stomped out of the car looking disheveled and pissed that it dawned on Madeline that he must’ve been thinking too rashly after all. But what can he do? He’s desperate. His escape must’ve meant that August is dealing with punishments right now.

They must’ve started hurting her and threatening her again.

He couldn’t get the image of her crying as she disinfects the wounds he got from the experiments with her bandaged arms. Unlike Pierre, who willingly walked into that lab with the intention of doing what it takes to finish an amoral project, August was lured in with the promise of scientific glory and learning.

Madeline was aware that that’s not what outsiders know, he’s heard from the other scientist and they somehow have this misconception that August was working behind the curtains because she was in charge of the more gruesome parts of the ‘project Herc’ which is what they call the experiment that Pierre and August are working on.

It couldn't be more strayed from the truth.

Madeline had a thousand negative and intrusive thoughts running in his mind ever since he woke up, and it doesn’t stop. He’s gone past the point of desperation. He’s only keeping it together because no one else is going to rescue August if it wasn’t him. Valentin got off and grabbed Madeline again, dragging him inside the clinic, and Denis followed right behind.

Inside was Arthur who’s already sitting on the couch, Rodrigo who’s holding an ice bag over Inka’s head, and Inka who’s glaring at Madeline.

Valentin sat Madeline down on the soft fabric recliner chair with force before taking a seat on the couch next to Arthur, unaware that he’s only filling out Madeline’s reasons to hate him. Denis walked in and locked the glass door behind him, taking off his sunglasses,

“What is up in this atmosphere?” he asked with a chuckle, as he gazed at the familiar faces, standing beside Rodrigo.

Arthur sighed and leaned her elbows on her knees, giving Madeline a firm look, “Talk Mads,” she bellowed,

The said man clenched his jaw before he did, “August is as much of a victim as I am, she’s held captive in there, and in the first place it was her who helped me escape, do you really think I was able to stage that f*****g rescue mission when I was out of it 20 hours a day?” he began,

“She heard Pierre talking about how he was being tailed by two people, he got the guards to catch them but none of those came back, that made her hope that it was somewhat my ‘friends’ who wanted to rescue me, so she sent out that letter, I manage to tell her to put my name on it so she won’t be at risk if that wasn’t the case,” he added.

Inka, already frowning with concern turned to Arthur who’s already dragging her hands across her face, Rodrigo, not really knowing the full story somewhat got the gist of it, Denis was watching with the same intensity as when he does with telenovelas. Valentin… well he’s just waiting for the discussion to get to the part where actual decisions and actions will be made.

He’s just mildly glad to be here and have something to do.

Inka swallowed a lump in her throat, holding the icepack on her own and muttering a small ‘thank you’ to Rodrigo, then she turned to Madeline, “Maddie, I’m pissed as f*ck and I really want to punch you right now, but why didn’t you just tell that in the first place?” she complained, walking over to him and smacking the back of his head.

“Oh, sh*t. you’re really going to let her hit you like that?” Denis asked, provoking Madeline, which didn’t really have any effect,

“Don’t start unnecessary drama, Denis, for f*ck’s sake,” Rodrigo scolded in a whisper, lightly smacking Denis’ chest with the back of his hand, which the brunet took personally.

“Inka has every right to, hit him harder,” Arthur noted with a scoff, making Madeline whip his head to her with a disbelieving frown.

“Can I do it?” Valentin volunteered, raising his hand,

“F*ck this—are you going to help me or not?” Madeline yelled, stunning the room again,

“….Oh! Is this your brother, Art? I’ve been thinking he looks familiar, and I realized you two looked almost the same!” Denis exclaimed all of a sudden, acting like he wasn’t aware of the tense aura of the room,

“Yes,” Arthur answered, which led to Madeline and Denis exchanging glances, figuring out who’s she answering,

“She’s talking to me,” Denis immediately said, making Madeline glare at him and groan in annoyance as he turned to Arthur, struggling with the makeshift handkerchief-binding on his hands.

Arthur admits that she’s not in the best state of mind to make decisions, and she also knows Inka wouldn’t want to make the decision for her but she knows Inka internally wanted to help Madeline, he’s been calling her ‘Nanay’ for a long time now that she started acting like one for them both.

August may have been the reason why he’s out here, but how does she know it’s not an elaborate scheme of something bigger? She just got her brother back, and she doesn’t want to raise the stakes again. The last thing she wants is for both of them to be trapped in that place because deep inside, it's not that she doesn’t want Madeline to go back.

She is the one who doesn’t want to go back. It nauseated her to even recall those tiled bright hallways and the smell of strong cleaning agents mixed with the smell of formalin and faint traces of chloroform.

It made her hands sweat with the mere reminiscence.

“What are those?” Valentin spoke out of the blue as she gestured to the stack of paper on Rodrigo’s desk pushed on the far corner. It caught everyone’s attention and Madeline’s face lit up once he recognized what those are,

“Did August tell you to get those?” Madeline asked Arthur,

“Well…seeing as it was her who wrote the letter, yeah,” Arthur replied, raising a brow, just now recalling that she did walk around the facility to gather those. Inka gathered those in her arms and flipped through,

Her expression gradually changed as she did, from a rather neutral expression to a horrified one that set a new aura in the room, moreover when she shoved them to Rodrigo before turning away and making gagging noises.

“What the heck are in those—” Denis said, reaching for the files,

“Don’t touch, you’re the last person who should look,” Rodrigo said after scanning the content of what Inka flung at him, cutting Denis off and swatting his hand away.

Valentin sighed and stood up, offering his hand to take the folders which Rodrigo gave him, making Denis take it as another personal attack.

Valentin flipped through the files, the usual human testing, details of a project, something about mutilation, some more human testing on children, on teens, and on adults, the missing file of a scientist, a deformed woman, a deformed man, some mathematical equations and more graphic photos of cells that Valentin has no f*****g clue about.

But even he could admit... that it was some gruesome sh*t.

He looked at Madeline and flicked the folder, “What’s this supposed to be?” he asked,

Madeline frowned, “Well you read it, how the f*ck am I supposed to know,” he argued, making Valentin mimic his frown,

Arthur also stood up and took the folders to form Valentin, flicking through the pages herself, not looking that intently, just trying to get the gist of the contents and her eyes widened in shock when it clicked,

“This…This is a threat! This is something that the lab is guilty of, it’s our blackmail to them!” she announced, and Valentin’s gears started turning, and just hearing that explanation made his brain release a high dose of serotonin.

“Oh this is fun,” Valentin noted,

“I don’t think I feel nice hearing that from you,” Rodrigo quipped,

Madeline scoffed with a smile as he looked at Arthur, “See? Do you still think August is there willingly?” he asked and Arthur sighed as she gave the folder back to Valentin as she took the handkerchief off of Madeline who rubbed his reddened wrists, yet another reason for him to hate Valentin.

Inka got a hold of herself and breathed in, “That was disgusting,” she said,

“Now I’m really curious,” Denis whispered to Rodrigo, making him roll his eyes.

Arthur rubbed her nape as she focused on making a decision first and foremost. She weighed down the options, risks, and consequences if she made the choice.

“What’s the plan,” Valentin asked again as he mindlessly took a seat on the couch and proceeded to read the other content of the files, hardly unbothered by what he sees but that was expected from him, nevertheless it bothered Inka that he’s able to stomach those contents, not questioning her sensitivity but doubting his empathy.

And she was bitterly reminded of what he is and what he needs Rodrigo for.

Arthur, on the other hand, threw him a look of disbelief while Madeline beamed, despite being sudden in this decision, changing his outlook on Valentin by a fraction.

“Hold on, why should we—” Arthur burst,

“Great! I bet we can plan to get her out of there without having to do major damage,” Madeline agreed, overpowering Arthur’s objection.

“Hey don’t decide this on—” Arthur attempted to intervene once more,

“A stealth rescue mission? That could work, but we’ll have to communicate the plan with her like last time,” Inka noted, not noticing Arthur’s attempt, leading to Arthur making a stressed tug at her hair that Valentin noticed,

“What’s the matter?” he asked in a hushed tone and Arthur gulped as the others started talking about their tentative ‘stealth rescue mission’ she sucked in a deep breath before speaking.

“I don’t think I can go back there,” she whispered to him,

Frowning, Valentin leaned closer, “Why are you whispering?” he asked, making Arthur roll her eyes as she stared at him with desperation in her eyes,

“Because I don’t want them to know,” she answered with a solemn expression,

“Know what?” Valentin asked,

“That I don’t want to go back!”

“Why, it makes sense that you don’t want to go back,”

“No, I don’t want to get back... because..” Arthur trailed off,

“Finish your sentences otherwise it won’t make sense,” Valentin quipped,

“Because I’m scared, okay? Happy?” she hissed, throwing a glance at the others to make sure they didn’t hear her, especially Madeline,

“Why would I be? Anyways, wait for me outside then,” Valentin said, pulling out his cigarette pack and placing a stick between his lips.

“Wha—what do you mean wait for you like—”

“I meant it like it is, Arthur what’s going on with you?” Valentin said, cutting her panicky words off as he fished his lighter, “If you don’t want to go back in there, then wait for me, or us, I’m not saying that you should do everything by yourself,” he added as he lit his cigarette and brushed Arthur’s hair behind her ear bothered by how it was all over the place after she messed it up when she started to pull on it.

Unaware of the feelings it triggered in Arthur that rendered her speechless as he turned to face the others to join their discussion.

‘Oh sh*t, look at that, she’s flustered’ Inka thought to herself,

‘Did Valya actually do that?!’ Denis mentally screamed, biting his nails, trying to calm himself down,

‘I bet he’s not aware of what he did, this brat, really’ Rodrigo thought, taking a mental note to task about that in their next therapy session since Valya would be his sole patient for the rest of the week or for how long this situation would last,

‘THIS MOTHERFUCKER—RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME?! THIS b***h,’ Madeline thought as he hid his annoyance with a forced smile, trying to be present in the discussion rather than his sister’s questionable love-life and affairs.

None of them said anything or took action to indicate they even saw that happened.

“What’s the plan?” Valentin asked for the second time,

Inka was the one who answered, “We’re going to milk Art’s last plan and go with another infiltration,” making Valentin frown,

“Wouldn’t it be impossible to do that again? They’re probably losing their s**t in that facility right now. If their security was high before, it’d be im-f*cking-possible now,” he argued and Denis stopped himself from snorting on Valentin’s vulgar choice of words.

“Yeah, if we’re sending another single person in there then it is… im-f*cking-possible, but if we get in there, all of us then how the hell are they going to figure out which is which among the staff?” Madeline reasoned immediately making Valentin shake his head.

“There’s no need for all of us, At least one could stay behind,” He argued, making Arthur wince as she looked away from the discussion.

“I could,” Inka offered,

“No, you’re fit enough for confrontation we’ll need actual muscle because I bet we’ll be anything but stealthy, Arthur should stay behind,” Valentin said, making Madeline snort,

“What? No, she’s perfect for things like these, we can trust her to do this kind of work no problem—” Madeline reasoned once again but Valentin cut him off,

“Is she like your little lackey, Madeline? She just went in there to rescue you, couldn’t you clean after your mess this time? You seem pretty recovered enough since you even tried to escape this morning,” he countered, maintaining eye contact with a look that almost seemed to challenge Madeline to talk back.

Another heavy silence took up the room and in the passing silence, Madeline bit his tongue and clenched his jaw as he glanced at Arthur, looking at Valentin with a panicked expression. Arthur then spoke “No, Mads is right—”

“No, it’s Frankenstein who’s right,” Madeline interceded, turning to Inka, “Since that place is probably shitting themselves trying to find who did what, speaking off—how did you get in, Arthur?” he followed with a question,

Now with everyone’s attention on her, Arthur gulped as she explained “I got in there as someone else, I took this staff the goes around the lab normally and got his info, his I.D’s and assumed everything about him even how he acts or talks and luckily he doesn’t do that much, and that’s just basically it,” she explained, it quite vague but everyone else seemed to understand well enough.

“Wait, what happened to the actual staff, then?” Denis asked,

“Well, he’s dead,” Arthur replied,

“Oh,”

Waving that off, Valentin sucked another huff of smoke, “Alright, then we need to kidnap… what three new staff, people who’re tall as us at least, and Arthur can do her magic,” he said as he exhaled the smoke,

An act that Arthur curses because it’s something she found attractive in him to the point it was foul.

Inka shrugged as she titled her head, “Alright, let’s go with that, I’ll try to contact August again to tell her this and see if I can look over some of the staff in the labs, we’ll go from there, Maddie pull yourself together, you're worthless to us if you die in the middle of the mission, you’d be able to do that without an adult close by right?” Inka joked with a chuckle, making Denis frown.

“Whoa, whoa, you’re not dragging Rod with you, right?” the brunet intervened, raising an arm in front of Rodrigo in an attempt to set a boundary between the older man from the rest,

Inka threw Denis a confused grimace, “No, why would I drag a random man in this, no offense Rod,” she exclaimed and Rodrigo uttered a quick ‘none taken’ to her before Denis raised a brow and sighed with a hand over his chest,

“I just thought you’re bringing him along when you said adult,” He said with a relieved smile, that then evened him and Rodrigo out because the older man took that as an attack,

Scoffing, Inka circled her index finger around the group, “We’re all adults, aren’t we? F*ck, I’m already 34, Maddie is—”

“Hah?! 34? You?” Denis exclaimed with a look of awe on his face, not bothering to hide his shock,

Now glaring, Inka crossed her arms and stared at Denis, her voice lowering as she’s starting to get fed up with his antics and ad-libs, he’s never left a good impression on her even as they met before, “Is there a problem?” she asked, yet it appeared more like a threat,

Denis, on the other hand, meant no actual harm and just merely expressed his amazement, placing a hand daintily over his mouth, “No… it’s just, you look awfully young for your age, you just… I mean, you look good, I guess,” he said in an attempt to fill the emptiness that passed after she asked that question.

“oh… uh, thanks?” Inka said in sudden bafflement, confused, conflicted, and yet caught off guard enough to be mildly flustered.

'I forgot he likes older people,’ Valentin thought, furrowing his brows at Denis,

‘Did he just casually hit on her?’ Madeline thought, admittedly impressed,

‘…his kinks from his unresolved child neglection are acting up again,’ Rodrigo thought stopping the urge to shake his head,

‘Oh, what’s this?’ Arthur thought, not masking the grin on her face.

This thought process, however, did not go overlooked and Inka opted to diffuse the weird tone it created in the room of which the culprit is unaware of, as he basks in the new light he sees Inka now.

“Then we’ll gather the resources now, I need a ride to the van so I can get my computers, and Art’s stuff,” she announced,

“I’ll drive you,” Denis offered,

“No, no thank you, Valya? Can you drive me?” Inka shot down Denis before asking his brother. Valentin, whose one of many hobbies is to piss his brother off, agreed with a nod and threw a sly grin at the brunet that Denis will surely remember for the rest of his life.

“Maddie, don’t do anything unnecessary, Art maybe you can go read up on those folders and find if there’s anything useful, Rodrigo I’m not going to ask you to do anything we're already f*cking things up for you by staying here so thank you and Denis…” Inka listed her orders and instructions, pausing as she looked down on Denis who’s waiting patiently,

“…Get us lunch,” she said with a shrug,

Valentin smirked to himself as he opened his hand to Denis who begrudgingly gave his brother the keys with a frown as everyone did as they’re told, with the exception of Rodrigo who’s just doing what he wanted but, out of his kind nature, chose to help Art as she inspected the content of the said folders.

As Valentin and Inka left the clinic, she glanced at him, “Your brother’s weird,” she mentioned,

“He’ll get much weirder from here on out,” Valentin replied as they both rode the car to prepare for their next immediate mission.