Chapter 139 Internal Battle
At the crack of dawn, after receiving thorough medical attention and getting a few hours of sleep, Xavier lay in his infirmary bed with his eyes open. His hand was still tightly grasped around the handle of his gun. And after being shot twice, it was difficult not to be in pain. Especially since he refused to take any painkillers that would numb his senses and dull his reflexes. However, thankfully, one was only a flesh wound, and the bullet had passed cleanly through, while the other had struck his collarbone.
His bone had cracked but would recover in a matter of weeks as long as he didn't put extreme strain on it. The medics in the infirmary had also carefully taken out the bullet and stitched up all his wounds. So, as long as he was careful and got the rest he needed, he wouldn't require any more medical attention.
However, it was the mental damage he sustained that was impossible to recover from.
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The first time he killed someone was then followed up by killing 3 more assassins, and the last in a very gruesome manner. In that case, it was reflexive since he felt as though if he didn't act, he would have been the one to lose his life. But that didn't change what he had done.
However, what else could he have done in that situation?
It was almost impossible to take down the evidently determined and desperate assassins without killing them, especially in the state he was in. And even when he tried to question the last assassin, he resisted to the bitter end, even with a knife at his neck.
Despite that, Xavier still figured out everything there was to figure out, and he was wondering whether the little girl had been able to do the same. He had given her all the clues she needed. He was also sure she was smart enough to find everything she needed, even without him nudging her in the right direction.
But with all that had happened, it was understandable if she struggled to remain level-headed and it was hard to be objective when at the top of such a large organisation. It was built upon trust and Xavier had only been able to figure out what he had, as he had observed everything from an outside perspective.
However, it seemed as though he had no reason to doubt her, and after re-establishing order in her organisation after the shocking assassination attempt, she headed over to the infirmary.
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Hearing the footsteps of a large group heading his way, Xavier stayed lying down but was prepared to act or move if need be. Also, catching on to the sounds of the footsteps was none other than '3' who had somehow regained consciousness so soon despite eating the poisoned food.
'She must have taken some sort of metabolic enhancer to break down the poison faster. This is going to make stuff more annoying,' he thought to himself as he pretended to still be asleep.
However, she just couldn't take a hint.
Heading his way, it was clear that she was trying to pry Xavier's gun out of his hand while he was asleep. She was probably planning on using it to aid her escape. But as soon as she got close, Xavier sprung up and fired at her leg.
Falling to her knees after being shot, he followed it up with a kick to her head. He was expecting to knock her out with a single strike, but surprisingly, it was only enough to send her backwards.
"Impressive. You are good at concealing your intentions and decent at combat, but you couldn't hide from my instincts. At first, I thought it was those 2 idiots that gave me an uneasy feeling, but it was you. Unfortunately for you, I showed up today to ruin your plan."
Screaming and lunging towards Xavier, after being shot in the leg and disorientated by Xavier's kick, she fell before even reaching him. Then Xavier walked over to her and stepped on her body while aiming at her head.
Moments later, the armed men escorting their boss stormed in. After hearing a gunshot, they couldn't help but rush. Even '1' and '2' had woken up despite having lost so much blood and barely clinging to the land of the living.
"What are you doing?" one of the 2 injured men managed to get out, but seeing that their boss was calm after Xavier took down her third closest subordinate, they were confused.
"You took too long. She got desperate and decided to act. I couldn't let her grab my gun, so I took her down. I'll leave dealing with her to you. I'm going to go back to sleep," stated Xavier nonchalantly before returning to his infirmary bed.
Everyone was dumbfounded, but after a quick explanation from their boss, they realised that Xavier had saved their organisation once again. If she had somehow managed to get away, which wouldn't have been difficult with her skill and insider knowledge, she would have been able to leak more information. And, even if she hadn't managed to escape, she could have killed everyone in the infirmary with her as well as the doctors working there. However, before she could have a final attempt at doing damage to the organisation that she had been in for so long or escaping, Xavier stepped in. Taking down their third most capable operative with ease, Xavier didn't realise how incredible of a feat that was in the eyes of the others in the organisation. But there were more bothersome things on his mind as he returned to his infirmary bed.
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"That kid really did save us twice, brother," uttered '1' in a hushed manner, barely able to get his words out.
"Yeah, and he was even smart enough to figure out what we couldn't and vomit out the poisoned food. He is also more skilled than us, taking down all 4 of the assassins alone. Just who is that kid?"
"I don't know. Maybe we should..."
"Hey, shut up over there. I'm trying to get some sleep here. Unless you want me to put bullets in your brains?"
Hearing Xavier's threat, they both fell silent, and no one dared to make even the slightest noise. Even the doctors working in the hospital were nervous about moving around and doing their job.
Of course, Xavier was only joking, but it seemed as though after he killed 4 assassins and shot down one of their most skilled operatives in front of them, it wasn't difficult to believe he was capable of doing such a thing.
'Well, at least I can get some rest now,' he thought to himself, but it was challenging to fall back asleep.
Previously, it was only because of blood loss and fatigue that he managed to sleep. Now, on the other hand, he couldn't get rid of the feeling of having warm blood on his hands. He was also thinking about how others would view him if they saw what he was capable of and how easy he made killing seem.
Meanwhile, what frightened him most was the fact that he was struggling to feel ashamed or guilty. Remembering the horror on his mother's face and the way she looked at him for the following months after he stabbed his father in his sleep, Xavier wanted nothing more than to be by her side. At the same time, he also wanted to keep her as far away from him as possible so that she didn't have to see what he had turned into.
He continued torturing himself with his thoughts for a while longer before snapping out of it. Sinking into despair wouldn't solve anything, and he was too tired to continue his internal battle. Instead, Xavier got up and decided to get things done to distract himself from everything on his mind...