Chapter Text
Agent Twilight would have been on his last nerve today but Loid Forger had already learned from experience that Anya would somehow manage to become even more unreasonable if he scolded her again. It was all the more agitating that he tried that open communication technique from Mrs. Willis’ Guide to Temper Tantrums after cross-referencing with Dr. Blackwood’s Just Kidding! and had even been extremely transparent with her about what a blood test would entail alongside its purpose in order to try to anticipate her potential responses towards receiving one. She hadn’t seemed to have any qualms about getting it done beforehand—but perhaps her mind had been too caught up in playing her ‘Spy Wars’ game to have fully understood the implications and that this was not just part of some sort of make-believe spy mission—however, she had even used her most polite manners when the doctor who had just left had asked her questions during the routine check-up component of their appointment. It had been the exact moment when she had actually seen the needle getting uncapped that she had gone absolutely feral.
“No blood tests! I hate them! I hate them! No! No! No! No!” The little pink haired girl repeatedly shrieked with her eyes squeezed shut as two nurses firmly held her arms and Loid forced her into the patient’s chair but she still fought like a furious little storm, even kicking one of the nurses in the stomach and causing Loid to apologize to the woman profusely as he too attempted to calm the girl.
”Come on Anya, It’ll only take a minute.” He said exasperatedly as he tried to restrain the still squirming six year old after requesting both nurses to step aside so that he could take on the brunt of her blows and deal with her himself. “You’ll barely even feel it.” Ow! She had accidentally struck him in the jaw with one of her flailing arms and despite the fact that he’d certainly been through worse pain, he’d been taken by surprise at how hard she had hit. She apparently took to Yor’s training a lot better than her studying.
Her green eyes finally opened and they were wide, chockfull of tears and her arms finally went limp as she looked at him in horror. “I’m sorry papa! I didn’t mean too!” She cried. Ughhhh, he hated when she gave him that look but still he forced himself to power through. Come on Agent Twilight, remember your training. Do not give in to the torment. Stay strong!
“It’s alright, Anya, no serious harm done.” He grumbled but willed himself to be patient as he rubbed his chin. He let her go and knelt at the side of her chair while keeping an arm across the armrests to prevent her from attempting to run off again. He released a breath, forcing patience into his own bloodstream. “But I’m going to have to ask you to sit still long enough for the nurses to do the test. It's only a pinch at most and will hurt for a few seconds, truly Anya.”
She flinched. ”But papa! They wanna steal my blood for science stuffssss!” She wailed, mercilessly flopping her head into his shoulder.
”No Anya, remember what we talked about at home? They just want to check your blood to make sure that you are healthy so you can grow big and strong.” Loid corrected firmly as he patted her back and an idea popped into his head. He gave her a sly smile. “Just like Bondman, in fact. Would he shy away from a little needle?”
The child lifted her head and bit her quivering lip, quieting for a moment all whilst still trying to steal his soul with her gigantic pleading puppy eyes. “Yes…” She whimpered. “Evil Doctor Meanie Man stole his blood for science stuffs last ep!”
“What? No, he didn’t!” Loid exclaimed, immediately caught off guard. “Doctor Meanie just put him in a jail cell and then Bondman escaped.”
”Bondman got kidnapped by Doctor Meanie again today! I saw it! Ep 78!” She began bawling again as though even that memory had pained her and proceeded to bury her face into his shirt.
Dang it! This probably explained her fear of the needle beyond just being a typical six year old. He should have realized that Yor had probably let her watch a little TV in the morning while he’d been meeting with The Handler. It was Saturday after all and he supposed Yor really did help with keeping his authoritative parenting in check by paying extra attention to Anya’s moods. Given Yor’s experience, he actually learned a lot more about raising children from her than any of his parenting books. Still, this was a reminder of another one of his failures in that regard. He also made a mental note that if wanted to keep using the SpyWars series as a motivator for Anya, he would have to make more of an effort to keep up to date with the TV schedule and the ongoing storyline. Maybe he needs to consider pre-ordering the manga to keep ahead…
“Listen kiddo,” Loid sighed, stroking her hair gently. “Once the blood test is done, I’ll take you to the sweets store and you can get any special treat you want, like ice cream?” He offered.
Her voice was muffled but he understood her next word just fine. “Peanuts?”
He sighed again. He wasn’t sure if the amount of peanuts she consumed on a daily basis was healthy and still struggled with introducing her to alternative snack foods. Honestly, the only way he could get her to try anything new was by sprinkling crushed peanuts over it.
“How about peanut-flavoured ice cream?” He offered, trying to set the stage for a compromise. Silence rang for a few moments until finally she spoke again.
“Dealios.” She whispered and despite the fact that she didn’t look consoled in the least and sucked in a breath “What are you doing?” He asked her curiously as one of the nurses had proceeded to prepare the new needle and set of bottles, this time very quickly. It seemed that they were trained for dealing with fussy children… far more trained than him, clearly.
“Preparing for the mission.” She huffed out before holding her breath again and drumming her fingers anxiously on the armrest. “Do your worst Doctor Meanie’s henchmen.”
“I’m really sorry, she doesn’t mean that.” Loid apologized hastily as he rolled his eyes at his daughter and turned to face the nurses.
“Do not fret Mr. Forger. Believe it or not, her tantrum isn’t the worst one we’ve faced and they never tend to calm down this fast with just words alone. She’ll certainly be getting a lollipop after, won’t you Ms. Anya.” Nurse Myeong—the dark haired nurse whom Anya had kicked—sing sang towards Anya with a kindhearted, forgiving laugh that caused Loid to envy how easy patience with children came to her as she proceeded to use an antiseptic wipe on the girl’s arm. Anya flinched again at the contact which made Loid bite his tongue anxiously.
God, after all that he really did want to just carry her out of here without getting the blood test done but he did suspect that her previous place of residence hadn’t exactly been up to regulation standard given that she also barely even had a properly filed medical health record. They needed to make sure that she was actually healthy as that shady man who ran the orphanage had stated. She did still seem rather small and scrawny for a six year old in his opinion, indicating that she had likely been on an undernourishing diet but it could also be attributed to potential abuses or neglects she had faced in an unenriched environment, genetic health issues or even a combination. He had actually considered requesting for her DNA to be tested through the blood samples as well to see if there was any trace of her biological parents in the Ostanian or Westalian systems but given that they were at a physician’s clinic funded by Eden Academy itself, such a request would certainly arouse suspicion surrounding their family’s status and jeopardize Operation Strix. Obtaining information about her parents wasn’t necessary for the mission… but then again, she did seem to remember her birth mother, however mildly, based on her reaction during the Eden interview when that imbecile brought it up. It was quite unsettling given that she hadn’t spoken a word about her past, however. Perhaps he could get someone at WISE to run the test another day to see if the could find any matches.
“I’ll say.” Nurse Advik agreed. He had been called in as backup after Anya had knocked the original needle out of Nurse Myeong’s hand just in case there was an escalation. “I honestly can’t believe how quickly you got her to calm down, kudos to you Mr. Forger.”
“Well, I think that is quite a relief then that I haven't been entirely disgraced today.” Loid joked but he had definitely noticed how Anya seemed to have only stopped fighting once the nurses had backed off which had made his heart hurt because of how much this meant she placed her trust in him. Keep it together, Twilight. He gently ruffled Anya’s hair before realizing that she had stopped and restarted holding her breath yet again.
“Sweetie,” Nurse Myeong began as Loid shifted aside for them to begin. “You don’t need to hold your breath.” Anya squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head, determined face turning as red as a tomato this time.
“Anya, please breathe.” Loid ordered apprehensively. She remained stubborn for just a moment more before she gave in. “But -“ She said as she gasped for air. “Doc says I have to not breathe when getting blood tests.”
Loid frowned. “I don’t recall Doctor Patel telling us that.” The girl’s eyes widened, looking quite shocked.
“Oh sorry!” Anya piped up quickly, shaking her head rapidly. “I mis- mismem… dismembered!”
Nurse Advik chuckled as Nurse Myeong seemingly used the girl’s distraction as the opportune moment to wrap a band around her arm to test for the vein.
“The word is misremembered, child.” Loid corrected flatly, fighting off the urge to laugh at that mispronunciation too. Still, she pouted at him in embarrassment.
“Alright, Anya.” Nurse Myeong said kindly, meeting the girl at eye level after tapping her arm in several places and handing her a cylindrical bottle to grip onto. “This is only going to hurt a little bit but you are a very brave girl, aren’t you?” Anya’s eyes glazed over again and Loid feared she would throw another fit but suddenly her free hand was outstretched towards him. “Papa…” Her voice hitched and was just so small as she had let out an obvious plea for help.
“It will be okay, Anya.” He immediately wrapped his hand around hers with a gentle squeeze and knelt down beside her again. I’ve got you, Anya. I promise. He thought as she kept her eyes firmly directed at him and a tiny, finally reassured-looking smile made its way onto her face as she nodded sharply. He nodded at the nurse and felt pained when Anya scrunched her eyes closed again as he watched the needle pierce her skin, her blood instantly beginning to flow through the tubing as the nurses collected vial after vial. She was still shaking, her face blanching and palm becoming clammy as she dug her fingers into his skin even tighter. He didn't flinch, he would be her rock and source of stability. He just didn’t know why it felt like she was just as terrified as the time she had been kidnapped from their first apartment and suddenly, he almost didn’t care that this was for her own good or that she was likely long overdue for a proper check-up anyhow. He absolutely hated how distressed she both looked and sounded. Even if it really was just a must for her own sake and of Operation Strix’s that she was a healthy, active student at Eden Academy.
The longer he watched Anya make her incredibly slow academic progress, the more he wished that he could have had the choice to enroll her in the normal stream academic program for children where he was sure she would excel. After all, she was bright and incredibly—rather eerily—perceptive to people’s emotions and body language, his own included, unfortunately. But not every child was suited for such an intensive regime that Eden, the school for the gifted, enforced. It was worse to know that she could have been doing just fine in the schooling system at the better orphanage he had tried to send her to during their first few disastrous days as a family.
It often felt cruel involving citizens in his missions but never before had he had to involve a child. She could be happy. She could study at her own pace. Yet here he was still playing the devil’s advocate. He could see the unspoken judgement in Yor’s eyes whenever he lost control and got overly frustrated at the young girl’s grades when she pointed out several times that this wasn’t even the normal curriculum for first graders and that it was incredible how far Anya had managed to successfully power through the midterms anyhow. Beyond her distress over this blood test, he wouldn’t wish for any child to have to be used as an asset.
Yet with peace and millions of lives on the line, he really had no choice.
“Sorry papa… for being so scared.” Anya said as she let go of his hand finally leaning against the chair’s back, sniffling as she wiped her eyes with a sleeve. The blood test was done but Nurse Myeong then expressed her desire for Anya to be monitored in the clinic for the next thirty minutes given her age and size.
“You did good today overall, Anya.” Loid said gently, “And you don’t need to apologize for being afraid. There is nothing wrong with being scared so long as you don’t let it control you.” Or break you or change you into something else. He had seen that happen too many times and knew full-heartedly that it had happened to him as well.
Don’t become like me. That was what he truly wanted to say.
”Can you promise me that, Anya?” He asked, ruffling her hair somberly.
She looked stunned for a moment and then blinked at him a few times with those bright, innocent and trusting eyes before slowly nodding.
“It’s okay, papa. I won’t.”
As they walked home after the blood test, he ended up getting her a peanut flavoured ice cream cone topped with crushed peanuts as well as an additional bag of peanuts because who the heck cared.
Good parents spoil their children from time to time. He justified as he tucked away the receipt to turn into WISE later. Therefore, this action aligns perfectly with the objectives of Operation Strix.
For the mission, as everything always was.
Later…
Minty’s heart was racing with fear, excitement, anticipation and trepidation all rolled into one as she paced impatiently in front of the Eden Academy Clinical Laboratory’s printer, continuously sending anxious glances towards the lab doors and silently praying that no one would enter and ask questions. Not now, not when she had actually done it. After an entire year of spending her days toiling as a medical laboratory technician, testing blood samples from the children of Eden Academy—a meager, gruelling and repetitive task far below her skill level—as per her assignment requirements.
The dark green haired woman flinched when the printer beeped to indicate that it had finally finished. She cursed at herself for being so jumpy but her heart skipped a beat as she removed the printout with shaky hands.
Student: Anya Forger
Age: 6
”I did it… I am the one who did it.” She couldn’t help but whisper in awe. This would change everything. Her handler would have to fast track her application now. She pushed her thin framed glasses up her nose as she read through the blood test results again just to ensure that her eyes hadn’t deceived her, looking over the DNA Maternity Report category over and over.
<< PROBABILITY OF MATERNITY: 99.999% >>
<<The alleged mother cannot be excluded as the biological mother of the tested child. Based on the analysis of the STR loci listed above, the probability of maternity is 99.999% >>
Minty pulled out the signal jammer from the printer’s USB port and then erased its last recorded print job. She grabbed the confidential envelope that she and the other interns in The Organization’s Super Human Capabilities Research sector, whom had all been placed in various medical biological sample testing laboratories across both Ostania and Westalis, had been given at the end of orientation day.
She placed the document on the table to view one more time before she sealed it in the envelope and finally left the laboratory at long last to personally deliver it to her handler. She whipped out a pen and made the following corrections:
Student: Anya Forger
Age: 6
Test Subject: 007
Age: 5
Everyone in her life had told her that she would never succeed. Her parents had scorned her dreams of creating superheroes. Her classmates and teachers in high school had always mocked her, saying that she needed to get her head out of the clouds and that her dreams would never be realized.
But the day she had met her handler, everything had changed.
And very soon, everything would change again.
”Thank you for the opportunity, Test Subject 007.” Minty whispered as she poured the remaining blood from the runaway subject’s samples into the autoclave. When she was finished destroying all traces of evidence and following the standard protocol, she put the envelope in her briefcase and dutifully exited the room, leaving her set of keys inside it with her past.
See you soon 007, I can’t wait to work with you in the future.