Shattered Innocence

Unveiling Connections

I kept my eye on Nora as I hacked the doctor's terminal. I had to leave some programs running to try and crack some of the encrypted notes and locked folders, which could take weeks, but I also searched the computers and hard drives for anything I could get to. Minutes turned into hours, and all of us were still working. We had hoped it would be easy, but we should have known better. That didn't make us give up, though, because we were destined to stop this once and for all. If not for us, then for Nora and all the children who didn't make it. None of us deserved what he put us through, but we could make it right. We couldn't change the past and what we endured, but we could stop it from happening to others. We just needed to find the right pieces of the mad scientist's puzzle.

Zack forced everyone to take breaks except me, knowing he wouldn't get me to rest no matter what. Nora sat with me every now and again, talking and joking, distracting me from the screen even just for a few minutes. She didn't get it, though. I was determined to find the information for her. I needed to do this. It was all on my shoulders. Even Zack was trying to help, but none of them are as good with computers as I am.

I feel the heavy weight until my eyes sting, my hands cramp, and my back aches, but I still keep going late into the night. Nora, Zack, Nikolay, Ivan, and Yuri stay with me, and food is brought, but it remains uneaten. We all continue to push forward, refusing to stop when we are this close. Then there's a ping. We cracked a folder. I quickly navigate to it, saving it in case there's any kind of virus or trap. It's labeled with a date, and there are video files inside. I stiffen when I examine them, wondering what they are and if I should play them.

"Nora," I murmur, and Zack turns from the screen next to me.

"Should I play them?" It must catch the others' attention because they crowd around us, and I feel Lily's hand on my arm.

"Play them," she orders. Zack nods, so I pick one at random. It loads quickly, and we all swear. Lily freezes, and I wish I could protect her. I try to close it, but she knocks my hand away. On the screen is a screaming Lily.

She's young, an early teen, and her hair has grown back, but it's stuck to her skin with her sweat. I can't see what is being done to her, but she's screaming, and her father is watching her from the corner while making notes.

I close it and open another, only to see her at another phase in her life. She's curled into a ball, sobbing on the cot. Another one has my eyes closing. There's a gun between her and a man on the table. All of them are of her torture, her experiments, and all the while he's there, watching and making notes.

Closing them, I lean back and scrub at my face. Those images will haunt me now as well. What she endured... Fuck. I'm more determined than ever to make them pay, but when I look up at her, I find her eyes still locked on the screen.

"I-I need a break," she murmurs and hurries from the room, wrapping her arms around herself. We all track her worriedly. "Don't," I murmur when I feel Nikolay begin to move after her. "She needs a moment. She will feel raw and weak with us all seeing her pain. Give her a moment alone."

I hate it as well, and he hesitates before sinking heavily into a chair, holding his face. "How could he do that to his own daughter?" Ivan murmurs sadly. "How—" He shakes his head, looking away.

"Because he believed it was a necessity." I hate that I think like him. "Love is a useless sentiment, a useless feeling, remember? He never loved her or cared beyond her purpose in his experiments. She was just like us—a thing to use."

"Save them all and any others you find. We will all watch them so we know what she was forced to survive and to remind ourselves why we are doing this, but she will never see, do you understand me? Not ever again. We cannot protect her from her past, but we can protect her from this," Zack orders, and we all agree. She shouldn't have to watch them again, not when they still fill her every waking and sleeping moment, but I will watch every single one, even when it fills me with hatred and helplessness.

I will keep them with my own memories and pain, so whatever happens next, I'll remember why we are doing this now. Not just for us and the other nameless faces, but for Her. Nora