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Old Guard / IF Central Command Post / Public Areas / IA Quadrant - Cell Block
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Emotions Legend
[quote][b]Asmodeus (Oct 22, 2001 01:36 a.m.):[/b] The hallway seemed exceptionally long and narrow, but the cell door approached far too quickly. Nathan had been to the cell blocks several times during the past few years. Interrogations were usually conducted in the rooms set aside for that purpose at the ends of the corridors, but Vaisou had instructed him to handle their interview in her cell. That made him uncomfortable. The interrogation room made things official; within that room, everything was business, no matter how ugly things got. Using the prisoner's cell for this seemed less...professional. More personal. Whether this was for the subject's benefit or his, or both, Nathan didn't know. Either way, he didn't like it. The four guards Vaisou had assigned followed him. During his time at the IA compound, he had almost ceased to notice them. They were always following him places, and very rarely interfered with anything he said or did. They were fixtures, and he treated them as such. Now they were acting towards him as they had acted towards his captors, and the change in their accustomed demeanor was palpable. Instead of insignificantly menacing, they were now insignificantly deferential. Unimportant as their presence or absence was, their altered manner served to underline his apprehension with a reluctant appreciation for what his new position would offer him, if he were successful. [i]Power[/i]. The guards flanked him, and he was the one to card the door open and step inside. There was an immediate scrabbling as the occupant of the cell sat up on the low metal bunk that hung from the wall opposite the door, and Nathan held his hand up as the guards followed him in. It was the same gesture he'd seen the other interrogators use, and he did it perfectly. They responded immediately, ceasing their forward entry into the cell and holding their positions behind him. The girl blinked rapidly, trying to accustom her eyes to the sudden light as one of the guards keyed the room illumination, and Nathan examined her more closely. Dark, straight red hair hung about her face and just brushed her shoulders. This was her fifth day in IA custody, and whoever had previously been in charge of her had been relatively humane; she had been allowed access to bathing facilities and had been issued standard prison garb to replace her own clothing, the dull yellow jumpsuit all IA prisoners wore. Her jawline was a little too strong for beauty, her features a little too plain to be called delicate, but decidedly feminine. Her skin was milky white, with a healthy smattering of freckles. She sat very straight, and her nervousness was in plain evidence as she pushed a pair of smallish glasses back into place and swallowed. When she stopped blinking so rapidly, he could see her eyes were pale blue, and they fixed on his with frightened defiance. It occurred to him they had probably not bothered attempting to question her before this, and so she naturally assumed he was one of the typical interrogators. She was probably expecting violence...yet she did not look away from him. He could see her pulse in her throat, and she was trembling slightly, but she did not look away. There was a quiet thud as one of the guards set down the metal chair he had requested, and Nathan left it where it was. He made another curt gesture, and the guards quietly exited, and he clasped his hands comfortably behind his back and watched her watching him. He was in full uniform for this, and he let her look him over without changing his expression. When she realized he was observing her examination, she flushed lightly, but held his eyes anyway, as if to drop her gaze would be an admission of defeat, a prelude to surrender. Interesting. She broke their staring contest briefly to watch the door close, and then looked back to him with a resigned, weary terror that made him pity her and become furious with her at once. Pity, because she had suffered something to make her look at him with that expectation, and fury, because she did not know him, had never met him, and had no right to expect such loathsome behavior from him. Rape was the single act he would have hesitated to perform, even to get Katera back. [i]Maybe she can just tell you've done it before.[/i] He kept himself expressionless by the thinnest of margins, and regarded her coolly until he knew he could speak calmly once more. "Hello, Clara," he said quietly. "My name is Nathan. I'm here to ask you a few questions." At the sound of his voice, she started a little, and her expression shifted from resigned to wary. Her features became a little more difficult to read; she was not adept at masking her emotions, but he could see she was making an effort. Palani was a distinguished university; the girl was intelligent, but untrained and inexperienced, and her attempt to dissemble shielded little of her thought processes. She drew her feet up onto the bunk, as if touching the same surface he stood upon was distasteful, and crossed her arms tightly across her stomach. "I'm not afraid of you," she said fiercely. "I haven't done anything wrong. You have no right to keep me here." Her hands were fists tucked under her forearms as she glared at him. "I'm not keeping you here, Clara," he said matter-of-factly. "I'm here to ask you some questions, and depending upon how you answer those questions, the people who [i]are[/i] keeping you here will be happy to let you go. You know why you were arrested. I have read your file. I will get to the point. I need information from you concerning Phillip Highland and the planned demolition of Lunar Base VII." "I don't know what you're talking about," she said angrily. "You IF people are all the same, thinking you can push everyone else around like you push each other, no respect for any individual rights. Yes, I know Phillip Highland, and I haven't seen him in six months! And if I [i]had[/i], it wouldn't be any business of yours." A little of the fear drained out of her voice, replaced by anger, but it sounded...forced. It sounded rehearsed. When Nathan took a slow step forward and pulled the chair to a position roughly in front of the bunk, that fear returned, and he turned the chair to face the door and sat down easily, resting his arms on the back and watching her scoot back against the wall the bunk was hung from. He was closer now, and her rapid breath was an easy indicator of how uncomfortable that made her. "Clara," he said reasonably, his voice still quiet, still even, "I'm afraid we don't have time for this. That base has a full complement of staff and soldiers, over two thousand people. If you don't tell me where the bombs are, they're all going to die. That doesn't bother you?" He saw the flicker of uncertainty pass through her eyes. She was loyal, but not a fanatic. That was good. An idea began to take shape. A new strength came into her eyes then, replacing the uncertainty. "I don't know what you're talking about," she said calmly, and her breath began to slow. "But I do know Phillip Highland. I haven't seen him in six months, but wherever he is, whatever he's doing, it's probably the right thing." Nathan saw that light, her pale blue eyes suddenly serene, and any doubt he had harbored vanished. He studied her with an excellent imitation of surprise and frustration. "How can the right thing involve killing so many innocents, Clara? Do you really think those people deserve to die?" "Those people are part of the IF, aren't they?" the girl responded coldly. "They're soldiers. During war, soldiers die. No one [i]made[/i] them join up, did they?" Nathan frowned, his face set in serious concern, and said nothing for a moment. When he did speak again, his voice was heavy with bitter frustration. "You really believe that, don't you? There are children on our Lunar stations, Clara. You're going to let them die too?" She said nothing, just glared up at him sullenly, and he nodded and stood, his posture rigid, and despite her newfound calm, she shrunk a little as she looked up at him. "Alright," he said roughly. "I can see this is going nowhere. You fanatics are all the same." A sad, angry smile touched his mouth and he shook his head. "In a way, I envy you people, to think what you're fighting for is worth dying for, worth killing children for. I just want to know one thing, Clara. Do you think you're a martyr? Is that why you're doing this?" That serene look didn't leave, but it faltered. He saw it falter, if only for a moment. "You can't kill me just because I know Phillip Highland," she said warily. "I haven't done anything wrong." Nathan looked at her in confusion, and then released a brief, harsh chuckle, as if she were making a poor joke. "No, I imagine they won't. But I don't think you're going to be one of the first people they evacuate. There are [i]children[/i] here, Clara - but that doesn't matter to you, does it?" He watched that serenity stumble again, and her eyes widened a trifle. "Why would they evacuate the IF Command Post?" she asked, deadpan. He stared at her, and when pity crept back into his grey eyes, it wasn't entirely feigned. "He didn't tell you, did he?" he asked her gently, his tone wondering. It was his turn to hold his expression while her eyes searched his face, and that serenity tripped and fell away from her and did not rise again. "Tell...tell me what?" she asked a little hoarsely. Nathan shook his head again, like he couldn't quite believe the situation, and looked into her frightened eyes with the same sincerity he had once manufactured to put Dante at her ease. "We have video footage of Phillip Highland departing the Command Post early this morning on a transport shuttle, bound for Earthside. Mr. Highland," he added sarcastically, "rarely visits our installations for social reasons. Several elaborate detonators were discovered in the resulting sweep, and we're working on disarming them, but frankly, it doesn't look good. At least, with these, we have a fighting chance. The Lunar base is as good as gone." He let reluctant awe creep into his features, but his voice was still bitter. "Maybe if the IF could command that kind of loyalty we could figure out a way to win against you people. You must be proud." He turned to leave without another word, but she was already shaking. Her skin had gone several shades paler. He walked towards the door, counting his steps. [i]One...two...three...four...fi-[/i] "Wait." Her voice was a whisper, ragged and weak, and he kept walking, as if he hadn't heard. "Wait," she said, a little more audibly, and he immediately paused and turned to face her. Her face was blank, but tears were already spilling down her cheeks, her eyes dulled. She stared at the floor, and made no attempt to meet his gaze as he walked back to her, silently took his seat, and waited. [center]***[/center] Vaisou was waiting for him when he came back into the conference room, and they exchanged the necessary information without pleasantries. Vaisou left immediately, and did not return for at least forty minutes. When he did return, he was smiling, but it was not the idiotically cheerful smile that was normally pasted on his face. It was the cynical smirk he'd only seen once before, and it put Nathan immediately on edge. Had she lied? "Congratulations, Mr. Terrence. The codes worked. They're removing the detonators now. Congratulations, also, on an extremely well-played gambit. I couldn't have done it better myself." There was something else behind that smile, and Nathan did not relax, not even when Vaisou reclaimed his seat. "Johan was right about you, Mr. Terrence, no doubt about it. It's a difficult job...but it has to be done, and I think you'll manage quite nicely." Nathan watched him silently, but Vaisou just continued to smirk at him, and so he rose, preparing to depart. His tension began to leave him. It was over, and soon Katera would be with him, and he would be content. He could do this. It wasn't pleasant, but it was bearable. He could do this. "A shame about the girl, though," Vaisou said offhandedly as Nathan pushed his chair in. He forced the motion to be smooth, but inside, his heart began to pound. "Yes?" he said non-committally, and met Vaisou's reptilian gaze. "Bright girl, just fell in with the wrong elements," he said reprovingly. "Even so, wouldn't think she was the suicidal type. Damndest thing. I guess the guards weren't paying enough attention. You wore her out pretty well, Nathan, but I guess we're lucky she didn't try to shoot anyone else." He grinned his crocodile grin, and Nathan stared, and then turn and left the room, before he cost himself all that he'd just paid for. He left, and walked, and then ran, but the cell block was already empty, any trace of her stay already erased. He could have asked. He could have looked it up...but he knew he didn't have to. Instead, he slumped on her bunk, where he'd spoken with her less than an hour before, and cried.[/quote]
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