Chapter 3: Family

Roi's Pov:

Family. I had never had one. But I always wanted one. Deep down. Really deep down. As much as my sister has been there my entire life she wouldn't understand what I go through on a regular basis. If she were to find out about me then her fear would allow her to give the power of termination to my father and it was clear to me that my father had no qualms about killing me off. That's why my family dynamic is how it is. My mom ain't perfect but she was the closest thing to me as my mom. There have been plenty of times where my dad hasn't treated her right or fair. My sister was always blind to it. But of course she would be. My dad was never an ass to her. But this is why as much as I really care for her that I can't trust her with my life. She's too naive.

It's been days since I've seen Lyle. Days since we gave him up. We were trying so hard to save Lyle on our own and we had done it. But now Lyle has to do a lot on his own and for that neither Anna or I can be there for. We managed to get rid of the timer a minute before he would've died and then Anna had set the chest piece to signal that Lyle had been terminated. Then amongst other things we thought about Lyle's wishes. Something that he admitted to having. Or lack thereof. But that will be fixed thanks to a few more pieces that I managed to get my hands on. Not without a price however. I was going on mission after mission, I was playing double agent. I was working my ass off and so was Anna. But that's nothing new for us. We have those bouts from time to time. But this is a bit different.

There was a heavy knock at my door and I took out my gun and looked through the peephole. For a moment I thought it was Lyle. But I would have gotten a call from my acquaintance first.

I opened the door and Kyle walked in fast and furiously. I put on my stoic face and turned around to greet him but Kyle had already brought me into some type of hug.

"Roi where is he?" Kyle asked.

"Who?" I said nonchalantly.

"Lyle. He said he was crashing at your place for a while."

"Lyle hasn't been here." It was true. He hadn't.

"We got into a fight and I did something I shouldn't have." I clenched my gun for a moment. Kyle took notice of this.

"Go home Kyle." I said smoothly.

"What? But I need your help! I don't know how much time he has left." He said with a sense of urgency. If we weren't there for Lyle he would be dead. Little did he know how quickly his twin would be rid of.

"Get out of my house Kyle." I said softly.

"Why- wait." He blundered and looked at me.

"No. There's no way that-"

"What you assume is probably true but he's in the administration's hands or so they tell me. Now if you ever blab about me to anyone I'll make sure you hang in the streets like chimes in a door."

"You mean that your-"

"I validate nothing. Just know that Lyle might come around and if he doesn't then deal with it and stop being a fucking pussy foot. Now get out of my apartment before my next job is to wipe you and your family out." I threatened.

"But Roi. You got to have some sympathy. Lyle he's my brother and I never should have said what I said when I found out."

"Tough noogies." I opened my door and pointed for him to get out of it.

"Roi." He pleaded.

"You think I would trust you after what you did?"

"Just tell me where Lyle is."

"I don't know where Lyle is." It was the truth to an extent.

"Just go home and wait." I pushed and then I shoved him out of my house. I locked the door and listened to him as he banged on the door.

"Come on Roi!" He hissed.

"ROI!" I walked away and climbed back into bed next to Ben.

"Who's dat?"

"Go back to sleep baby." I responded. He snuggled into my chest and I put an arm around him.

It wasn't that much later that I got another knock at my door. Stopping what I was doing for the umpteenth time I headed for my door but before I could even open it someone walked in and looked around. What is going on today? The person has a hood over their head and they were tall and covered in black. It was then that the person flopped on the couch. He took off his hood and it wasn't long until he opened his arms.

"Umm…"

"So you really don't recognize me?" He said and I felt a set of tingles up my spine.

"Lyle?"

"Who else walks in your house like that?" I went over to him and gave him a hug.

"Thank you." He said.

"No problem big brother." He squeezed me and I felt something poke me in the stomach.

"Oh! Well I see that-that's there." I said.

"Also thank you for that too. I feel so much more complete."

"I think you need a shower."

"Yes I do." He stated.

"Yes you do." I said after taking a whiff.

"Alright. I can take a hint."

"You know where the bathroom is." I sighed.

"I'll be done in a jiff."

"Your clothes will be on the counter."

"Alright." Lyle got up and headed for the guest bathroom and closed the door. I called Anna and told her to come over. Which she was over in a heartbeat. Way before Lyle was done. Ben had woken up due to the commotion and had joined us too. He even looked slightly happy this time around.

"Hungry, baby?" Ben nodded his head before following me to the kitchen. I sat him on the counter and got to cooking as Lyle came out of the bathroom all dressed and without a tent in his pants. Something he hasn't experienced before.

"Hello Brother." Anna said. Lyle patted her head and then scooped Ben up from the counter.

"Hi Unca Lywe."

"Missed me Benny?"

"Yesh."

"His speech got better." Lyle comments.

"Yes it has. I've been taking him to a daycare recently. They've done well." Lyle pecked Ben's cheek something that he never did. Even with me and Anna.

"Listen Lyle. Kyle was here earlier looking for you." I stated.

"Did you tell him where I was?"

"No." I responded.

"We didn't even know where you were." Anna spoke up.

"Good. I don't want to talk to him right now. Or ever. Matter of fact, let him think that I died."

"Lyle…"

"No Anna. He betrayed me. He's done that way too many times in my life and now that I'm not attached to admin or him, it's time I focused on other things besides him."

"I wasn't going to say that but sure. I don't really care. I was going to bring up the fact that you guys still live together and you'll have to face him at some point if you want your stuff." She said with an eye roll. Typical Anna.

"True but I had been thinking about something."

"What?" I pried as Lyle held Ben's small hand.

"I'm worried guys."

"We don't worry Lyle."

"What if they found out about me being alive. I mean my records are still active right?"

"We're working on that Lyle." Anna said.

"Well then I want to propose something." We waited for Lyle to continue. I took down the spices and seasoned the meat then I oiled the pan.

"I'm going independent." I dropped the fork in my hand and turned to look at him.

"You mean your still going to-"

"It's all that I know Roi. I can't do anything else." He said.

"Fine. That aside, what does this have to do with what you're proposing?" Anna said.

"All of our lives we have been treated like non-factors. We have been tools that are wasting away and for what purpose. What is the purpose of why we do what we do on a regular basis? Why do we know what we know or feel what we feel?"

"Cut to the point Lyle." Anna said.

"Let's create a family. Let's live. Let's be human. Go independent." I felt my heart beat again.

"Lyle-" I began.

"Listen to me. We've all had the conversation about being free and living how we want. So why can't we all do that?"

"If we all simply just fall off the face of the earth this doesn't stop them from making more of us and besides they'd know that something is up. We'd be constantly running."

"I understand that."

"So how do you figure we can do this?"

"We need to find the independent." Lyle stated.

"I've been trying to find him since I was in highschool at this point I've deemed it impossible." I said. The independent was known between all of us and the organization. Not even our families knew of him. If they did we wouldn't be here today.

"Nothing is impossible, Roi. We aren't human so to speak." This made me smile.

"No we aren't Lyle." Anna said. She tapped her chin and got up and walked towards us.

"We can do it Roi. It will be a bit messy but we can do it." I gave it some thought and looked at Ben who was laughing at Lyle's funny faces. If I stay in the organization they can alter Ben and Eloise especially if I make a mistake. If I leave they can be used as leverage. But if I don't make strides in this way. It might be worse. Especially if they found out that I can feel. That we can all feel.

"Can you go grab my laptop Anna?" I sighed. I put the meat in the pan and then covered it with a lid.

"Yes!"

"Thanks Roi." Lyle surprisingly kissed my forehead.

"We got work to do." I listened to the cry from the room around the corner.

"And there goes Eloise. Watch the food?"

"Sure." He patted my head as I went around the corner. I opened the door and walked towards the crib which held a whining Eli. As soon as I came in she started to calm down and held her hands out for me. I picked her up and immediately gave her a diaper change. Once she was all cleaned up and calm I walked out of the room and set her up in her high chair. I pulled down a baby food pouch from the cupboard and gave it to her. When she was done, I went back to cooking for the rest of us.

"Anna, I need you to get into some files for me. If it's any other place to start it's with Sykes."

"Sykes?" She questioned.

"Yes. Sykes." I said.

"Lyle if we're all going independent with you then I want you to look for places to stay. For all of us. It doesn't have to be perfect but we need to be closer than how we are now."

"On it." He said and took out his phone to make a few calls." He walked into the guest room.

"What are you going to do?" Anna asked.

"Well if we're going to go independent then I'm going to have to drop some bombs and balls on my end."

"You always get things going don't you?"

"That's what I was trained to do. You're the brains. Lyle is the connected man and I'm the muscle. That's how it goes."

"Boy do I love it."

"When did you start loving stuff?" Anna shrugged.

"I just did." She said and I shook my head.

"I suppose." I smirked at her and then continued cooking.

As we all ate the plan was in full swing. I contacted Sykes and my family to come over tomorrow for dinner. Anna was dropping the bomb tonight and Lyle had already secured something for us in the meantime. Anna and I were filling out independence requests and Lyle being supposedly terminated was looking through Sykes's files that we managed to obtain in the time that we started.

"Done." Ben said.

"Put your dish in the sink baby." I said. He got up and headed to the kitchen. I watched him as he got on his step and put his dishes in the sink. He came back over to me and leaned on my right side.

"Ba!" Eloise yelped. She leaned over my arm and played with her brother who was enamoured with her. Eloise laughed and I stopped what I was doing to look at her. Such a happy baby.

"Let's keep going, Roi." Lyle said, taking Eloise from me.

"Right." Eloise smiled and pulled on Lyle's hair. He made a small face but kept talking on the phone.

"Done! I'm sending it in." Anna said. It took me about ten more minutes but I finished and sent mine in as well.

"Lyle?" We looked at him. Eloise was pulling his hand and tugging his head this way and that.

"Yeah?"

"You okay?"

"I'm peachy." He kissed Eloise's head and she laughed at him.

"Okay." I laughed along with her.

"Yes. I'm still here." Lyle said. "So can you do it?" Me and Anna waited at the edge of our seats. "Good. I need them done in two months' time. Alright. Thanks." Lyle hung up.

"We got the plot you guys."

"What price?"

"Leave that to me, guys. Just know we got it."

"I can't believe we're doing this."

"Nothing we can't do. At least we're in this together." Lyle says rubbing my shoulder.

"At least." It still didn't ease my fears however and my poor twin. She was going to be devastated but hopefully she'd understand.