Subjects

51 - Mission Is Possible

"Mission report?"

"Successful, all targets were eliminated."

"Very good, agent, I knew I could count on you to finish this once and for all."

"Thank you, sir."

Roa was about to walk out of the room when her commander stopped her. "I know what happened to your brother was difficult for you. You must remember that this is all for a good cause, the humans are the ones responsible for making him lose sight of that. I know you will not repeat his mistake."

"Of course not, sir."

Roa walked down the halls to the pod that will get her back to earth, back to the training facility where she normally stays. The scientists on the mothership always were annoying, but now it is even worse. It seems like around every corner there is someone in a lab coat looking at her like she took their favorite toy. They were the ones who wanted to eliminate the subjects! Why do they have to be so whiny about it?

"Agent Roa," great, another scientist. "I need the blood samples you got from the subjects."

"Blood samples?" Roa didn't know they wanted her to get any blood from them.

"Yes," the scientist spoke slowly, condescendingly. "We need samples of blood from each of the four subjects. Give them to me."

Roa held back the urge to punch him. "I don't have any samples."

"Why?"

"Next time you want something from me," Roa crossed her arms. "Maybe you should tell me before I kill your precious humans."

"But... But..." The scientist got stuck for a moment. "Well, can you go get them then?"

Roa walked past the scientist and couldn't help but hit his shoulder on the way. "Sure, I will just take out their bodies that I keep in the... Oh, wait, I didn't keep their bodies. Because I'm not a creepy scientist!"

Roa was so glad to be finally out of the ship. The fact that she has to go over there every time for a mission report is just plain stupid. She took out the human device Leo once gave her so that they can communicate. Turns out it does much more than just communicate. You'd think, with all of their technology, that they would have a device that allows her both to communicate and to blast furious winged-things.

Roa opened the thing that she knew always reads out information that humans find useful. She knows how to speak human, she just hates the language. Nevertheless, she put the device next to her ear so she can hear what it is saying. The beginning was not very interesting. For some reason, humans find information about where to buy certain products more relevant than anything else, because they always transmit it first. By the time they got to the interesting bit, Roa was almost on earth.

The device was saying their names, the names of two of her targets. If Roa knows about it, the human investigations department surely heard it by now. Even for humans, this is a stupid move. Why would they have their name transmitted to the whole world? Do they want to die?

Roa thought that they would hide, make it easy for her to keep her reputation, and for the scientists to stop looking for them. Of course, she planned to come back later and finish what she started, but she doesn't have to do that right away. At least she thought so until she heard that they decided to make it known to the whole world that they exist.

No matter, she will find them again easily, and this time they will not escape.

Angie is skipping through the aisles of the convenience store. She has a small basket in her hands, full of every type of chocolate she could find, and more than ever she looks like the blond version of little red riding hood. Her positive energy is spread through the store, Emily and Roger can feel it. It is hopefulness, in its most rare and raw form. It makes the sun brighter, the smiles wider, and the problems... Gone.

When they walk out of the store, they already feel much better than they did before. Emily is even considering not ignoring Eva for the rest of the drive. That is until they see the unhappy assassin standing next to their car. Generally, bumping into an assassin is not something you want, but when they are in a bad mood...

"Roa!"

No, Angie isn't at all fazes by the alien's annoyed expression. If anything, she seems even happier now that her family is getting reunited.

"Stop," Roa holds her hand out in front of the girl. "You are coming with me. The rest..." Roa does not finish her sentence. Instead, she takes out her gun. Like she always says, who needs words when you have guns?

"No, please," now that Angie knows Roa won't hurt her, she comes even closer and pulls on her clothes. "You don't have to do this, don't hurt them."

Ben and Eva are already out of the car, both looking terrified.

"I gave them a chance," Roa says. "I can't let anyone know they are still alive, and they just had to get their names all over the human news."

"Please, Roa," Angie begs. "I need them. Do it for dad, he knew that they are important."

"Leo lost sight of what is important," Roa tries to keep her voice still. "It cost him his life."

"He was right," Angie insists.

"Child," Roa speaks as calmly as she can, pushing away the resurfacing memories of her brother. "Humans are meant to be controlled. It is how they thrive. Leo made the mistake of thinking they are more capable than they actually are. They will never be us."

"We don't need to be you," Roger says. Only he doesn't say it in English. His friends all look at him with confusion. They don't understand a word.

"How do you know that?" Roa hisses in that same language.

Even though they don't know the words that he speaks, the name Roger says sounds the same even with the strange accent Roger speaks in. "And this is not the only thing we know. He had a plan for us," Roger continues.

Roa remains speechless. She looks between the girl, who still holds on to her coat, and then back at the four teens and the mother. Then she frowns. "What did he tell you?" Roa talks in English again, she can tell Roger is the only one understanding her tongue.

"Everything," Emily says. "I know all about the experiment. Everything that Leo knows, every discovery he made, he taught me about it."

"Why would he do that?" Roa whispers, mostly to herself.

"He wanted them to do something," Alice says. "The Leo I know always had a plan."

Roa looks at Alice with a strange expression, like a mix of annoyance and disregard. She is the cause of this. She has to be. If it weren't for this human Leo never would have abandoned the plan. Wouldn't he?

"You can help us figure this out," Eva says. "For your brother's sake."

Roa does not like the way things are going. Not at all. She is supposed to be the best, to have everything under control. They keep ruining it for her. She has to think. She needs more time.

"I have a cabin," Roa says. "You can stay there until I decide what to do with you."

The look of joy in Angie's eyes almost makes Roa feel better, almost. She walks to her motorbike parked not far from the car. Despite being very unhappy about not finishing her task, she also has a feeling that this is the right thing to do.

She has to find out what her brother wanted. If it turns out these humans are indeed liars, she can always just kill them. Who knows, she might even get a blood sample for that stupid experiment. But on second thought... Nah. As she said, she is not a creepy scientist.