The European man's voice came through the van's speakers once again, "Now then Mr. Reed. We still have your son in custody, I suggest you tell us where the Serum is." he said calmly, as if he had not just had my mother murdered in cold blood.
My father said nothing though, and he just eyed the man with a frosty gaze, his eyes burning with anger through his tears.
The man behind the camera sighed, "Have it your way then. Richard, scan the house for residual traces." he said.
The man in the glasses said nothing as he pulled out a silver pen-like object from his jacket pocket.
A blue light began to flash from the pen, seemingly scanning the house as it covered it from top to bottom.
The man frowned, "It's picking up something… in here."
He walked towards the kitchen table, "There are large traces coming from this table, actually, wait a minute." he said, leaning down to point the pen closer to the table.
"I'm picking up traces on this.. Tamagoyaki." he added.
The European man was silent, before he seemed to realize something.
"Good god, there's no way you actually did something so moronic!" he exclaimed while looking at my father.
The man then started to address the camera, perhaps talking to the headquarters.
"Reeds has dosed these omelettes with the Serum. I have to presume that he's already fed it to his entire family." he said.
When I heard this, it shocked me out of my state of despair.
'What the f*ck! Dad drugged our food with the miracle water! Is that why mother's food tasted so much different?' I realized, my eyes still watery from tears.
A muffled voice came from the other side of the camera video, it was most likely the European man's superior issuing him new orders.
"We've already taken care of the wife, we'll promptly dispose of the rest." the man replied, making my blood turn cold.
The European man let out a sickening laugh, "Well then Mr. Reeds, it sounds like your time is up. I'm feeling generous today, so if you quietly hand over the rest of the serum I'll give you and your son a painless death."
My father chuckled darkly, "I can't do anything with your enforcer holding me like this."
The man sighed, "You think I'm dumb enough to release control of you? Just tell me where the Serum is."
Father clicked his tongue, "It's in the cabinet, right next to my wife." he said calmly.
"I appreciate your cooperation." said the man, walking up towards the side of the kitchen where my mother's mangled corpse lay.
I forced myself to look away, for I couldn't bear to see the sight of her corpse in such a disgraceful way.
The man opened up the cabinet and saw the black case sitting within it. Satisfied, he radioed in to his command, "Target acquired. Bringing it back to base."
After the man opened the cabinet, a subtle beep could be heard from somewhere.
I was unable to look away any longer, and turned my eyes back to the camera feed.
I looked back just in time to see my father's bone chilling smile.
Suddenly, a flash of bright light overcame the camera feed as the sound of a deafening blast went off. The man's camera cut off to static, and I could see my entire house explode into a fiery blaze from the other camera feeds in the van.
The blast was so great that it rocked the vehicle from wherever it was sitting in the neighborhood.
The suited man next to me frantically stood up, pressing a finger to his ear in an attempt to reach the agents who were in my home.
"Charles! Charles, come in! Sh*t." he exclaimed, moving to pick up a phone-like device from the corner of the van.
He pressed a series of buttons and put the device to his ear, "Central, come in. Charles and his enforcer have been taken out. Reeds must have planted the home with explosives."
The man waited a few seconds as he listened to the response, "No, he wasn't able to extract the Serum before the explosion. It was likely destroyed in the blast." he replied.
Their headquarters must have told him something, for after they responded he turned to look at me.
I couldn't guess what he was thinking because of his thick-tinted glasses, but I could imagine that it was anything but good.
I could do nothing but watch helplessly as the man reached into his pocket and grabbed what looked like a leather glove. Putting the glove on, the man reached towards my face. He paid no mind to my venomous gaze as his hands touched my temple.
Without warning, my vision blacked out, sending me back into darkness.
***
When I opened my eyes again, I could see that I was in an entirely different environment.
I was in a room with white walls, but I couldn't even move my head to look around. All I could see were the blinding white lights of the fluorescent bulbs above me.
A man wearing what looked to be a surgeon's gown suddenly appeared above me. Gaining a hold of my senses, I realized that I was completely naked.
Judging by the position I was in, I also had to have been laying down on some type of bed.
It didn't take a genius to figure out what was going on here.
I strained my eyes to the side and was able to catch a glimpse of a suited man standing in the corner of the room.
'He must be the one holding me in place.' I figured, but I noticed that it wasn't one of the men who had initially abducted me.
The man above me in the surgeon's attire spoke up, "It seems that the subject has awoken."
I could hear another man's voice off to my side, but I couldn't see him at all.
"Good. Go ahead and start the tests. We urgently need to synthesize the next batch of Serum. Our clients are growing restless." the man said.
"I heard that he was dosed with a strain from the experimental batch, we haven't even discovered how it fully interacts with human physiology." replied the doctor.
"No matter, it must be done regardless. It would take us years to recreate the original batch with our current technology." said the man, his tone brokering no rebuttal.
The doctor sighed, turning to look down at me.
"As you command, sir. It will be done." he said.
"Excellent." said the man, and I could hear his footsteps get lighter as he left the room. The door to the room opened with a whir and closed silently, presumably leaving me alone in the room with the scary doctor and the suited man.
I had heard both my father and the man in the van call them, 'Enforcers', perhaps that was the name they used for the people who could wield that strange power to control your body.
The shock from finding myself in a new environment was too great, but I was starting to remember everything that had occurred.
Anger flashed in my eyes as tears welled up, but I couldn't even hurl out curses like I wanted to. It seems like this time the control of my body even extended to my mouth.
The doctor seemed to have sensed my emotions, for he laughed, "Do not get so worked up so soon, my boy. We have a lot of work to do."
I could hear him pick up some metallic object from a nearby tray, and a few moments later I felt a sharp pain in my abdomen, and I could feel it slowly creeping up towards my chest.
The pain quickly became unbearable, and it felt like my body was being torn open.
I realized belatedly, that it actually was!
'That bastard is cutting me open!' I thought to myself, unable to do more than clench my teeth as my vision swam. The pain was so great it made me wish for death, but I couldn't even scream.
For many long minutes I could feel myself slowly dying under this man's blade, but I was unable to lose consciousness. I wished more than anything for darkness to take me, to free me from this agony.
No matter how much I cried and prayed though, the pain didn't stop.
"Goodness! Your body's healing factor is absolutely incredible. All of my earlier incisions have already closed up." The doctor said to himself, knowing that I couldn't respond.
I was unable to even comprehend what the man was saying though, for my entire mind was blinded by the intense pain covering nearly every inch of my body.
I couldn't even scream as his blades sliced me open a dozen times, a hundred times even.
Minutes turned to hours, and hours turned to days as I lost track of time. Every moment became a blur only distinguishable from the brief moments of peace where I imagined the doctor went home to sleep.
Occasionally, in the rare few times I was able to sleep myself, I had vivid dreams of a beautiful woman looking down at my bed. I wished that I saw more of those, for it was the only thing that I experienced besides pain and agony.
There was always a man in a suit standing in a corner of the room, sometimes it was the same man, sometimes it was a different one. I could hardly even tell their faces apart anymore.
Eventually, even my short moments of painless bliss were taken away as they brought in more scientists to perform tests on me around the clock.
They drained the blood entirely from my body at one point, taking notes and timing each attempt at my life to see how long it took my body to return to its normal state.
I didn't know when I had fallen asleep, but I had only figured out I was dreaming when I saw the familiar face of the beautiful woman who would visit me in my slumber.
Her skin seemed to be glowing with a subtle white light. When I looked at her eyes, I saw that they were a golden yellow that pierced through my very soul. However, those eyes looked unfathomably sad.
"W-who are you?" I muttered, surprised to hear my own voice.
I had actually been unable to speak for what had probably been weeks, so it shocked me that I could still talk, even if this was just a dream.
The mysterious woman didn't answer my question though, but instead asked a question of her own.
"Do you wish for me to free you from this world?" she asked.