"I know."

Karen froze. She was too afraid to turn around. She remained still. She knew that voice; she knew who it was. And he had her trapped in an elevator. There was no escape. Her eyes welled, incoherent pleas escaping her lips. She felt a hand on her shoulders and her legs gave out; she fell onto her knees, her pleas becoming louder and more incoherent. She buried her face in her hands.

Alex leaned in close to her ear, licking his lips. "I wonder what I should do with you…" he said, a hand touching the back of her head. "You did choose your side, after all. It wasn't smart to go against me." He listened as she started sobbing. "What, you have nothing to say to me about your betrayal?" He grabbed her shoulder, turned her around and pinned her to the elevator wall. He licked his lips again, quickly brushing his mouth against her ear. "Well?"

Karen slowly raised her hands to her face. "I… I…" She jumped when she caught a quick glance at his face. Her body quivered. She felt her heart beating faster. She tried to slide down, but his hand kept her in place.

"Please, I would love to hear about it." he said, leaning in close again. He took his hand and brushed her ear, touching it tenderly.

She screamed, shifting her hands toward her ears. Her eyes closed. She banged her head on the elevator wall. "I… I didn't do it because I wanted to!" she said, falling onto her knees; slowly, she looked up, half-expecting Alex to be standing in front of her.

Instead, he stood on the other end of the elevator, arms crossed. "Really, now? I find that hard to believe." He stepped forward, shifting his hand into a claw. "You were the one who fed Intel to Blackwatch. We were the only ones who knew that I would be at that hive." He grabbed her arm and forced her onto her feet. He pinned her with his hand and scratched at the walls, tearing right through them. She gasped, looking at the shaft; she stood, frozen, as he ran his claws gently, slowly, across her face. She opened her mouth, her breath stuck in her throat. She watched as he shifted his claws back into a fist.

"N…No!" She looked down, trying to cover her face with her hands, but found no escape. She removed her hands from her face; she only saw his face, even in darkness. "Y…You don't understand!" She shouted, tears running down her face. She tried to stifle her sobs. "B-Blackwatch burst into my office. They had orders to capture me alive. Otherwise I would have been dead." She grabbed her sleeve, forcing it up; Alex let go of her arm to allow her to pull up her sleeve. The bruises on her arm had not healed. "I tried to fight back, but since they couldn't kill me, they beat me instead. I fell unconscious – I woke up aching, handcuffed, and… bare. For a minute, I thought they had raped me." Her eyes glazed as the memory resurfaced; she lightly shook her head.

Still, she kept an eye on him, hoping he was still in a talking mood. "They threw me into a chair and tied me up." She rubbed her head, feeling the bump she received from the beating. "Some Blackwatch Officer pulled out my file – everything. They knew everything. They knew I had contact with you, that I helped you, that I…" She shook her head again, closing her eyes. "They… They threatened to expose everything and kill me unless I cooperated with them." She paused, looking up to his unchanged face. She panicked. "I… I had no choice! I held out as long as I could to protect you! Please, Alex, please…! D… Don't kill me!" She cried again. Her head felt heavy, seemingly lowering on its own.

Alex scoffed. "You're hiding something." He knelt, grabbing her head so she stared at him. Her eyes widened at his smirk, and gasped. "Perhaps I should just… add you to my collection. I'm sure the men within me would love to have you." He leaned in close again, licking her ear.

Karen screamed. "N…No, no, no…! Please… not that! I'm not hiding anything! I'm not!" Her sobbing grew; she kicked at the elevator's walls, hoping someone would hear her. She closed her eyes, tears flowing in greater number. She screamed again; eyes closed or open, she could not hide from his face. "I'm not hiding anything, I swear to God! They… They told me they just wanted to capture you at the hive, not kill you!" she kicked the wall again. "I didn't want you to die or anything! If I didn't cooperate, they were going to expose our work and then kill me!"

Alex chuckled. "That certainly sounds like you were hiding something. Maybe there's more you're hiding."

"No!" She shook around, kicking the wall again. "I… I did everything… everything I could! To protect you! No… No, no, no, no… I don't want to die… I swear that's everything! Please!" she closed her eyes, sobbing. She felt his hand on her face. She screamed, her chest aching.

This was it. She was going to die. Or worse.

She felt his hand sweep some of the tears off her face; she no longer felt his touch. Was she dead?

"So everything was true…" She heard him punch the elevator's wall. "I'm sorry you had to go through all of that."

She gasped. Slowly, her sobs died down. Her rapid heartbeat slowed. Her breathing evened out. Her head pounded. Her chest still throbbed. Her feet ached from kicking the walls. She was too afraid to open her eyes. She lay there, feeling hopeless and confused. She was too tired to lift herself. Even with her eyes closed, she felt like the elevator spun quickly around her. She felt his hand on her torso and screamed again, only to find her back against the elevator wall. She winced at her aching chest, her throat sore. "You… You're not… not going to…?"

"No." He paused. "After your betrayal, I started gathering information on where you were. Everyone involved, or had contact with you, is now within me. I saw everything they did. I know of what you went through, through their eyes."

"You… you knew?"

"Yes, before we even started talking."

Karen resumed crying. "Then… Then why…? Why…?" She sobbed, pausing. Her lip quivered. "Why?" Her face must have looked miserable, as he looked away. That or he understood what she was trying to say. She ignored the pain in her throat. "Why? Why did you…?"

"I wanted to hear the truth from you, so the only way to get that was to break you." he said, setting himself down on the other end. "I didn't want anything hidden, so I held nothing back. For that, I needed you to think I was going to kill you." he looked away. "Besides, that virus they put in almost killed me, so I couldn't let you off easy."

She bit her lip, burying her face. "It… it… did…?" Her stomach knotted. "I… I'm so sorry… I was only…"

Alex chuckled weakly. "I know." He tossed his arm over his leg. "I'm guessing you were told it would simply weaken me enough for capture?" He watched her head nod. "Figures."

Karen looked away. "What… What happens… now? You… You really aren't going to kill me?"

"No."

"Why?" She said. "Not… Not that I… want to die, but… I guess I'm a little… shocked, given who you are." she said.

Alex chuckled lightly. "You mean how I used to be." He turned his head away. "I admit, I was a complete bastard, Alex or no. But the Marines I… consumed changed me. At first, I wanted you dead for betraying me. But now… The Marines' discipline quelled my rage, my anger. They calmed me. And for the first time, I could see clearly." He looked up at the ceiling. "I realized everyone was being used by Blackwatch – The Marines, the scientists, you, even some of their own soldiers." He chuckled slightly. "But only some. Most of them are just fucked up."

"I… I see. But that only… answers half my question."

"True." Alex stood, flipping off the emergency switch. With a shift of mass, he transformed into a Blackwatch Soldier. "We'll talk about that when we get out of here. I have a copter waiting just outside." He grabbed Karen's hand, pulling her up.

"You… have someone else helping you?"

"No, I flew it myself." He heard Karen's gasp. "I'll explain later. Just do what I say for now, and then we'll discuss where to go from here." he said, walking her off the elevator.

I admit, I feel like I made a bit of a milestone. First time I ever used a word of a higher degree than "damn" in a fic. Ah well. It's an M rated game, what the hell would you expect, right? "Frack?" Hah.

I'd have to say, I'm kinda with my fellow tropers on this. Karen's not dead. By the time this would have happened, Alex would have started shifting more toward the heroic in the heroic sociopath (Though the page itself is hilarious. One of my favorites.). But that's just me. However, this was supposed to come about as a means of Nightmare/Paranoia Fuel. (Thanks to TS for the tortuous ideas.)

Also, ambiguous ending is ambiguous. It was meant to be that way. Take it as you will. Wrote this over the summer as I finished Prototype (Achievement-wise, not for the first time). Either way, now I'm digressing.