Deal

In absolute despair, with all hope lost, Zara's thoughts turned to one final wish: for death to take her now. It would be far better to die here, at this moment, than to face the cruel fate that awaited her at the hands of her own father.

"Kill me." She pleaded to Finn.

Finn was taken aback by Zara's sudden demand. Finn had killed many agents throughout his life without an ounce of hesitation. But he had never been in a situation like this. He could kill her here, but he hesitated;

"Are you sure?" he asked to make sure he heard her correctly.

"Hmm…kill me." She confirmed.

Finn's mind raced with a lot of thoughts. Finn had doubts about Zara paying him the promised credits, yet he decided to play along for some reason. He thought beforehand about punishing her if she could not pay up. But now she wishes to die! 

He looked at Zara with his cold blue eyes and pondered what action would benefit him the most. Killing her wouldn't help him in any way. He already wasted his valuable time on her.

"No, I won't kill you." He said, his gun disappearing slowly into the Void.

"Why?" She screamed her lungs out. "Just kill me already, I can't take it anymore!"

"Not my concern," he replied calmly but he seemed to notice something unnatural in Zara's voice as if she was a completely different person from earlier.

"Shut the fuck up. Don't scream like a maniac," he told her while looking around to check if there was any movement.

"Then kill me, please. End my miserable life. If you don't, my father and the others will kill me anyway—I'd rather die here!"

"Why?" Finn asked, his voice calm but laced with curiosity.

What could drive someone to beg for death? It wasn't like him to care about such things; people were either allies or enemies in his eyes. But this was different, Zara hadn't harmed him, not yet. She wasn't an enemy. At least, not yet.

"What?" Zara asked, her voice trembling as confusion mingled with despair.

"Are you dumb? Why does your father want to kill you?" he pressed, his tone sharp and unyielding.

"If I tell you… will you kill me?" she whispered, tears welling up in her eyes, threatening to spill over.

"That depends," Finn replied coolly, his expression unreadable. 

No matter what the story was about, it wouldn't make sense for him to kill her based on her own story, thought Finn inwardly.

She looked around as if to make sure they were alone;

"I know a secret," she said slowly, her voice trembling with the weight of what she was about to reveal. "Or perhaps I should say… I stumbled upon it by mistake."

"Continue," Finn interrupted sharply, his tone laced with impatience. "We don't have all night."

Zara hesitated for a moment as if searching for the right words—or perhaps bracing herself for the consequences of sharing them. Finally, she spoke again, her voice barely above a whisper:

"My father and Asco… they're experimenting on something. Something dangerous." She paused briefly, glancing at Finn to gauge his reaction before continuing. "It's about bypassing incompatibility—the barrier that prevents certain agents from advancing further, no matter how hard they try. They've found a way to break through it."

Finn's expression remained unreadable, though there was a flicker of interest in his eyes.

"But that's not the worst part," Zara continued, her voice growing even quieter, almost strangled. "They're doing it using exchange transfusion. And…" She swallowed hard, her hands clenching into fists. "It only works with the blood of children under five years old."

"And then?" Finn urged her to continue;

"They're monsters," she said, her voice trembling with a mix of anger and grief. "Killing innocent children for their sick experiments? I had no one else to turn to, no one who could help me expose them—except for one person. I trusted her. She was supposed to meet me here so we could plan our next steps." Zara said while rubbing her wet eyes.

"How can you cry this much?" Finn asked, then said, "Continue." 

"I tried to stop them," Zara said, her voice trembling with a mix of frustration and despair. "I know where their secret lab is. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't do anything about it—because I was weak. Miserable."

Finn's brow furrowed as he studied her, genuinely curious now. Just how deep did her misery run? Before he could dwell further on the thought, Zara pressed on:

"Once, I even came close to destroying their financial supply!" Her eyes flickered with a brief spark of defiance before dimming again. "I…"

Finn cut her off abruptly, his gaze narrowing.

"Wait," he ordered, his tone sharp. "Explain the financial part."

Zara looked at Finn with her deep brown eyes and continued; 

"I confronted the man responsible for maintaining the financial department tied to the experiments. He was… incredibly strong." She clenched her fists at the memory, her voice dropping to a near whisper. "After I lost to him, I had no choice but to run. I have been running since then. And then…"Finn cut her off again;

"You will work for me," Finn stated coldly, his voice leaving no room for argument. "I need all the information you have—everything you know."

"What? You were supposed to kill me now!" Zara protested, her voice tinged with disbelief and rising panic.

Finn turned to face her, his expression unreadable yet sharp as a blade. "I'll kill you after you pay back the 1 million credits you owe me," he said flatly, his tone devoid of emotion. "But we can't stay here any longer. Move your ass—now."

Confusion flickered across Zara's face as she hesitated, searching his eyes for some hint of deception or mercy. Finally, she asked:

"Huh? Why would you still kill me even after I pay back your 1 million credits?"