30

30
“Well, look who’s coming to.”

Hm? When did I…

I blink my eyes open, groggily. I go to wipe them, but a chain snatched my hand back. 

I’m up. I assess the situation. I’m chained to a wall, my eyes covered. It’s black.

I wrack my brain for memories after dinner, but find nothing.

“Red! Red! What have you done to her!” I yank my hand from the chains, leaning forward, trying to use my body weight to break free.

“Oh no, I’m afraid I can’t let you do that,” the man clucks. 

My nerves are set alight, my body spasming as an electrical current runs through me, burning my insides. I hang there for a moment, limp.

Block out the pain. Pain isn’t real. You are not here.

“You’re a hell of a beast arent you? That would’ve killed a normal man.”

I am a normal man.

I go silent trying to escape into my mind. But something keeps flashing, refusing to let me dissociate.

“Red. Scarlet, she has nothing to do with this. She doesn’t know anything. Don’t hurt her. Let her go.”

“You’re so concerned about your little girlfriend. How sweet. Well if you want her safe, you’d better tell us what you know, huh?”

I grit my teeth. “You know very well, I can’t do that.”

He tsks over the intercome regretfully. He sounds about mid twenties. He seems to do this for fun rather than duty for the amusement in his voice.

That means I’ll endure a lot of pain.

I have a cyanide capsule in my teeth, but it’s too early. I need to see if I can escape.

If Red is okay.

“I read your file. A tour in the Volterran War, as special forces no less,” he chuckles. “Best of your class. A killing machine. Only one in your squad to survive.”

I force my eyes shut even tighter. You’re not here. You are at Red’s house smoking a blunt and everything is fine.

“Transferred out to the VIA. You specialize in deep cover missions and executions don’t you? I heard what you did to that kid from your agency,” he leans in, his voice booming through the speakers. “Brutal.”

I shake my head, trying to block out the sound. The truth.

“You killed that protype, the girl. She was a hell of an asset to us, you know and a pain in the ass to acquire. Do you know how much torture you have to put a man through to let his daughter become a nuclear bomb?”

His laugh is grating, and full of joy. It sinks into my bones and melts away at it like acid. I doubt I’m going to leave here.

My wrists and legs are sore. Judging by the way it feels I’ve been here at least twelve hours. Overnight. So that would make it…about 6am? I start counting the seconds, so I can keep my sense of time.

Once you lose your sense of time you lose your mind.

“Hm, it seems like you’re doing something silly. Let me help.”

Another jolt of electricity sends my body flying off the walls, only to be slammed back into it by the cold steel shackles.

It’s just a little electricity. It hurts but it’s fine. It’s not bad.

“Say, when you killed the girl, did she scream? I wish we could’ve detonated her first. I mean…the cancer was gonna get her anyway, on account of the radiation.”

I bite the inside of my cheek, focus on that pain rather than the shocks. They’re not bad now, not enough to do damage or burn. But the longer I’m silent, the quicker that will change.

“Where’s Scarlet?”

“Like a broken record, you. Dawson was it?”

“Yeah,” I grunt. “Where’s—“

“Wrong!” He gleefully declares sending another shock—a higher voltage this time.

He’s escalating already. My mind is spinning a web of lies. My pen. The pen red gave me. It’s gone!

“Your name isn’t Dawson. Is it, Special Agent Kyro?”

It’s been so long since I’ve heard that name from anyone but Scarlet. 

Scarlet.

“I’ve been a big fan of your work since your special forces days, if I’m honest. How can someone be so brutal and so effective?”

“Be in a war long enough,” I grunt. I need to find out what he wants so I can lie way to his answer. Or at least find a way out.

Maybe if I break my wrists—

“That’s funny. So, about the files you stole. What is the VIA going to do with them?”

“I have no idea—“

My body convulses. Romanticize the pain. This is just a shock of clarity. It’s making me stronger. It’s for me. I like it.

“I know you’re a spy, and I know all spies are liars. But you’re not a spy right now, Agent Kyro. You’re a hostage. A victim.”

His disembodied voice echoes off every wall. 

“Victimhood is a mindset,” I swallow. 

“Ah. It’s not though. It’s a state of being. It’s your state of being, Kyro.”

You will feel pain. Embrace it. Enjoy it. It will make you stronger.

“So, about those files. Actually, let’s circle back to the scientist you killed. Where did you hide those blueprints? Do the VIA already have them?”

“I don’t know what VIA has. I’m just a field agent.”

Another jolt goes through my body. Beauty is in pain. Your brain makes these same shocks, small jolts of electricity make you think. Just think.

“You’re the field agent. I wish you wouldn’t lie, but honestly, what else could I expect for you. The best of the VIA. Why would you be easy to crack?”

“That makes me so excited, Kyro.”

His perverse enjoyment of my pain swaddles, pricking at my skin. It will get worse. Enjoy this while you can.

“You Austriland bastards are surely a masochistic bunch,” I smile. “I remember in the war. You’re soldiers would play soccer with kids' decapitated heads. Sick.”

“Weren’t you in that war, too?”

My chest aches. “I was. But I was never like you. I never enjoyed it.”

“I don’t know. I’m looking at this…mushy mess you made of your colleague’s face and I can’t see any reason to go that far other than enjoyment.”

My stomach turns. How did this happen? How did I get captured? Did I forget to lock the door? Did I have a tail I didn’t notice?

An agent in my workplace?

“I mean…there was nothing identifiable left but teeth! His mother was inconsolable.”

Why? Why now of all times? When I finally found a smidge of happiness? Some absolution. Maybe that is why. Why did I ever think I deserved that?

“Did you enjoy it?” 

I shake my head. “No.”

“I told you not to lie.”

A stronger shock goes through this time. My vision goes white, synapses firing in confusion. I take a deep breath.

Just breathe. I’m here. It’s okay. You’re safe. You’re with me. You’re with Red.

“Where’s Scarlet?”

“Are you going to say anything else?”

I shake my head. “Not until you tell me where she is. Show me she’s safe.”

“I think we both know, that’s a lie too, Agent Kyro.”