Two Years Ago
The Inquisitor, as he was known, finished attaching the modified defibrillator to the bucket of salted water at the woman's feet. It amused him to think that something that was designed to save lives could just as easily be used to destroy them.
He stepped back after he had placed her bare feet into the water and admired his handy work.
This should be… electrifying. He mused and lightly stroked the defibrillator's controller as he dialed in a slight voltage. It would be a shame to end this too soon.
"What is your name?" The Inquisitor purred. And pressed the button.
He watched as the woman jerked slightly, closing her eyes as the voltage passed through her body for five seconds. He expected a moan of pain; however, she didn't make a sound other than the slight grinding of her teeth. She slowly opened her eyes and inhaled, meeting his eyes with such a laser focus of hatred that he would have feared for his life if she wasn't restrained.
"Who are you?" He asked with a bored tone. He calmly watched as she spat at him, missing his Italian loafer by a mere two centimeters.
"Oh, you don't know? I'm the woman who is going to put a bullet through your head." She responded. A smile spreading across her face as she blew away a piece of her chestnut hair which had fallen forward.
He gave no reaction other than the pressing of the button, this time at a higher voltage. The torture continued for two more hours like this, with no progress. No answers. Ah, he mused. A tough nut to crack. But not impossible. The Inquisitor changed tactics, bringing in a tub full of water and dunking the woman's head into it. The barrage of questions continued, still with no answers from the impressively tough woman. He had seen many people break after only a couple of hours. This wisp of a woman showed no signs of giving in. Her eyes were still lit from within by the fire that was inside of her. A fire not yet doused by the water which was periodically forced into her lungs and expunged by her wracking coughs.
The torture continued for days, bleeding into weeks. Methods which were used varied from needles being shoved under the nail beds to sleep deprivation. And still there were no answers. Not a single one. His employers were starting to question his abilities. They needed answers, and they were running out of patience with him. He knew she was close to breaking, and that cracking even a small amount would weaken the walls and the floodgates would burst open.
His final method was starvation combined with isolation in her pitch black cell. The combination of the physical and psychological methods would hopefully produce the desired result.
The woman broke in one week.
"What is your name?" The Inquisitor asked in his dulcet tones.
He watched as her head slowly rose, her arms wrapped around her gaunt body. Her eyes meet his as she whispered the answer he wanted.
"My name… is Sydney Bristow."