Red Strings of Fate (Haunted Series 2)

Strings 45: His side (Part II/II)

"I made a call."

"You and your brother." He sighs, shaking his head in disappointment. He looked tired, my old man should worry less. "You know what comes next,"

I held his stare. "Yeah."

"This isn't just punishment," He said. "It's containment. You're compromised. Whether you meant to be or not doesn't matter anymore."

I nodded. "Then let's be efficient about it."

He paused. I think part of him was waiting for me to beg. Or apologize. But I'd done the calculation already.

This was the cost.

He walked back to his chair and pressed the intercom. "Send in the Red Team."

Two agents immediately entered, faceless and wordless. Procedure.

As they took me by the arms, I didn't resist, and they brought me to the dark room.

I was the Captain.

And now, I was about to be torn apart like a traitor by the very system I'd spent my life upholding.

You'd say I'm supposed to be used to this, but as the agent made slashes on my arm, I gritted my teeth, stopping myself from grunting. It has been hours. I don't know what time it is. I don't know if it has been days—it feels like it.

The dark room is located underground at Ces Vallis. True to its name, it's isolated from the outside, with no light coming in. The only source of it is one bulb overhead.

The room is cold to make the interrogated uncomfortable. I was cuffed into the steel chair, and various equipment was on the side of the room, while strapped into machines that read my heart rate.

I don't know the agent questioning me, it just means my father recruited other agents from other Ces Vallis branches. It must be his lucky day. Not every day can you brag that you've tortured the Captain of Ces Vallis' main headquarters.

"Sabihin mo kung sino ang pinagbigyan mo." He said.

"I don't need to," I replied. "You've got my file. Basahin mo. Or are we just skipping literacy in interrogator school these days?"

His expression shifted fractionally, but enough to tell me he's offended. He injected something into me. Truth serum. 

Pain flashed—white, sharp, like lightning behind my eyes. I know of all people, it doesn't work that well. It just makes the captors be in excruciating pain and hallucinate, making them compelled to say bullshit—not the absolute truth.

"Nabasa ba niya ang Itasaki Operation?" He leaned in and whispered, "Ano pa ang binigay mo?"

The metal and chain clang as I move to lean back, the cuffs biting at my wrists. I opened my eyes, which I didn't realize I had closed, driving myself to deal with the pain.

"Binigay mo ba ang information ng Unit Zero?" He watched me carefully. Finding an opportunity to ask more about the classified operation. "Age eight was the baseline, wasn't it?"

"No idea what you're talking about," I said, casually, but my sight was forming different hazy shapes in the room. My head was throbbing, and  I grunted in pain. "Sounds like you're describing a summer camp run by Satan."

"Don't play dumb," He said. "You trained those soldiers."

They weren't soldiers. They were children. Unit Zero was the taboo class. It's when Ces Vallis had its time training children.

"Nakita niya ba ang file na 'yun?" He asked. "Did you show her how they're trained?"

I smiled without warmth. "If I did, I'm sure it was the part where we taught them to gut a man twice their size with a toothbrush. Always gets a good reaction."