Thanks a bunch to Coffee Monsta(FFn), Hudson(AO3), and BreakingRust(AO3) for your reviews (That's right, I'm shouting out my AO3 reviewers now too), I'm glad you guys enjoyed it :P Well, anyways, here goes chapter two. This is gonna be a fairly short story, so I'm gonna try to finish it before doing too much on Another End (although I am still working on getting that next chapter up and it'll probably go up in the next couple weeks if I can get out of the rut).

Thanks for Reading, Fly High Aim Higher

~Spitfire out

In all honesty, roughing up the surviving members of the 141 wasn't exactly necessary. More like a precaution. If it looked and seemed like they had been nothing but cooperative, they would almost look innocent, and Shepherd didn't want a shadow of a doubt in the minds of the people he would try to convince. A shadow of a doubt could become more, a lingering wonder, making them question whether they were prosecuting the right people. That would be dangerous, and something Shepherd wanted to avoid.

Although his man didn't seem keen on his suggestion of harsher methods. He had to wonder just what Williams had told him. Shepherd wanted as few people in this mess as possible, he would avoid putting him in the same position as the 141 if he could. However, if he had doubts about who was to blame, he would have no choice. Perhaps he should interrogate the 141 personally, keep them from sowing the seeds of doubt into the minds of his men.

This exact line of thinking was exactly what led him to stepping into the interrogation chamber just as the blindfold was taken off a struggling and very fearful Ian Richards. Odd, Shepherd thought, how a simple piece of cloth had reduced such a stoic man to a whimpering mess. He was wide-eyed and looking around in a panic when the cloth fell away.

"Sir?" Shepherd's interrogator turned to him, "Is there a problem?"

"No, no problem. I'll take it from here," Shepherd insisted, waving off any attempt at an argument before it had a chance to be made.

The younger man seemed relieved as the guards strapped Richard's hands into the restraints on the table. He left with the guards once they were done. Shepherd took in Richard's form carefully as the door closed and locked with an audible clang. He seemed much more at ease, now that the blindfold had been removed and his sight restored. Maybe it wasn't so much that he was nervous, that being unable to see made him feel vulnerable, and that unnerved him.

"Why?" Richards questioned, his crestfallen voice betrayed his stoic expression and posture.

Shepherd took a breath, walking behind Richards and planting his hands on the man's shoulders. He supposed these men deserved answer. After all, they would be giving their lives to get Shepherd his retribution.

"Five years ago, I lost 30,000 men in the blink of an eye… and the world just sat by and watched."

Archer swallowed thickly, he knew the tragedy Shepherd was talking about, he had just enlisted when it happened, Makarov triggered a nuke after leading several battalions of Army men on a wild goose chase. There hadn't been a single survivor. It made a sick kind of sense, Shepherd wanted revenge. On the world. For not lifting a finger in aid of the men and women who died or their families. At least, Archer hoped that was what had sent Shepherd along this path of destruction and manipulation.

"There was nothing that could be done," Archer insisted, keeping his voice level, "It was a nuke what did you expect the world to do? There was nothing they could do. Yeah they sat safe in their homes and watched, there wasn't anything else they could do about it, what was done was done there was no saving the men and women who'd died, they were already gone. If you want to blame anyone, blame Makarov, he's the heartless fuck that killed those men, not us. So why are you taking your anger out on me and my friends?"

Shepherd scowled. It was men like this, who were more than willing to simply let the disaster go unanswered, that had let his son and the lives of tens of thousands of others be forgotten so easily. His grip tightened on Richards' shoulders, enough that he was sure it would bruise.

Alex couldn't stop staring curiously at Toad after they brought him back. He seemed okay, other than being mildly annoyed and frustrated, but that wasn't what had him curious. He was blindfolded, and it didn't seem anyone else had been.

"Why are they keeping you and Archer blindfolded?" he asked curiously.

Toad looked in his general direction and shrugged, "Thought it'd be obvious. Archer and I are the most observant men in the Task Force and we can communicate with each other precisely without ever saying or doing anything that would tip off someone watching us."

"Okay?"

Toad sighed, "They don't want us studying guard patterns and mounting an escape. They're not worried about the rest of you because you'd have to talk or move obviously and it'd tip them off to your plans, making you much easier to stop than Archer and I."

"Why don't you just take it off?" Alex asked after a long moment of silence.

"They could come back any moment," Toad shrugged.

"And? Then you fight them."

"And then I'd lose," Toad countered, "Do you never think ahead? It's like a chess match, you've got to consider every possible move carefully and anticipate your opponent's reaction and counter."

"Never took you for a chess jockey…" Roach's strained voice came from somewhere in the same direction as Alex.

Alex pulled Roach close to him and pressed his hands over the worst of his injuries.

"I'm not…" Toad replied, "Arch is. Besides, it'll come in handy. Shepherd's manipulated us, manipulating everyone, making everyone think we're the traitors," he stretched his back a little, working his shoulders, "Chances are he's playing it like a game of chess. We're the rook and Shadow Company's the queen. Queen takes rook," he sighed, "which means to Shepherd, we're already out of play and he's already checked the king."

"But we're not? We're still alive, still have a snowball's chance," Alex argued.

Toad nodded, "Now to figure out the lay of the board, and bring Shepherd to a check mate… Any idea where we are?"

Alex shook his head, but spoke when he remembered Toad couldn't see him, "All I know is that it's a Shadow Company base."

Toad nodded slowly, "I saw sand on the floor by the door of the interrogation chamber. It was hot outside, really fucking hot. Must be in the Middle East…"

"Site Hotel Bravo," Roach supplied, "I saw it when I was helping the Captain with some paperwork."

He was feeling much stronger now, much better, but he could feel Alex tiring out beneath him. Roach pushed Alex's hands away from his abdomen.

"Good, that's good Roach we have a location… Middle East, Site Hotel Bravo," Toad repeated, "Okay. Do we know where Shepherd is?"

He was met with silence.

"I take that as a no then…" Toad sighed.

"So, explain this to me, how are we the rook? Seems to me like we're pawns," Alex questioned.

Toad almost answered immediately, but stopped and thought about it. The rook was generally a backline means of forcing your opponent into a checkmate, which seemed to fit the way Shadow Company was operating. The Task Force was the opposite, they were more like knights, always on the attack. Which would make Shepherd the Queen. He was playing a game of chess. And only he could see the entire board.

Toad frowned, "We're pawns and knights, the pieces you sacrifice to get to the king…"

"I thought you said we were the rook…"

"I was wrong. Shepherd's the Queen and he's playing us all. The Queen in chess is the most powerful piece because she can move in any direction endlessly except for occupied squares. That describes his situation pretty well if you ask me…"

"So… who's the king then?" Alex asked cautiously.

Toad shook his head, "I have no idea…"

Sorry this is so short and took so long. Writer's block is a bitch. So, since it's been so long, I decided to just cut this one off early and get the chapter out :P Also, you should know, I don't play chess and I'm probably wrong about a lot of the strategy and stuff that goes into it, seeing how I'm terrible at chess, so just… idk suspension of disbelief? xD See you guys next time!

Thanks for Reading, Fly High Aim Higher

~Spitfire out