Author's Note: Listen to EPR2 from the DtB OST while reading for great mood! Also, I updated chapter 5 with a music listening suggestion too. Future chapters will have the same.
- Chapter 8 -
Be wary of the man who urges an action in which he himself incurs no risk. - Joaquin Setanti
- Three Days Later -
"Major." Captain Fieritz saluted crisply at the approaching man. Major Hanoch hobbled over to the observation glass, worn from the biting cold outside, and after a moment nodded at the man to put his hand down.
They stood in silence as the Major steadied his deep breathing until he pursed his lips and decided it was time to find out more about their intruder.
"Has he spoken?"
"No. We've been interrogating him for over three hours now but he isn't saying anything." Captain Fieritz drew the words out carefully, not keen on disappointing the older man and bearing any brunt of his infamous snapping anger, even though he knew no such thing would happen.
"And you found him where, again?"
"Unconscious by the Gate, sir."
"Now why would that be?" The Major often thought aloud, posing rhetorical questions to help stimulate his imagination.
"He was found injured."
"Injured? Well, I certainly doubt he would scurry over to the Gate just to pass out from wherever he came. No, I think it far more likely someone else intercepted him and he lost the fight." He craned his neck to get a better look at the figure slumped over and handcuffed in a small chair. "He doesn't look so bad. Must have been quick."
Captain Fieritz remained steadily silent, waiting only to fill in whatever information the Major was missing.
"I want to speak with him." By the time he uttered the command, he was already pushing through the door to the small chamber. With a wave, he dismissed the interrogator and plopped himself down heftily opposite the man.
Hanoch glanced around, admiring the simplicity of the space. It was completely bare save for the table and two chairs. The lamp overhead was fluorescent, casting everything in a sickly shade as it hummed. The sound could be quite unnerving. And then, there was the glass. Spotless and sound proof, with a perfect reflection back into the room. No amount of staring would reveal the people right behind it, observing like hawks. Microphones were implanted into the solid ceiling, but they were not visible or accessible. The same went for the speaker. Essentially, anyone inside was isolated from the outside world.
Hanoch's gaze returned to the man. Well-kempt black hair, only slightly ruffled from handling. A sleek black coat. Nothing else. No identification. Impossible to track. He cleared his throat, drawing the man's attention, but he did not stir.
"I've heard a bit about you. You managed to sneak by our base, found yourself at the Gate- and then what? We just find you unconscious? I thought a man such as yourself was capable of better." It was a clear taunt, but Hanoch held no personal regard behind it. He was a skilled interrogator in his own right, and riling up people's feelings was one of the fastest ways to crack their silence. So far, this man held. He continued on.
"I'm curious, really. Why come out here? I'll admit, these Gates can be fascinating and terrifying at the same time, but this is quite a god-forsaken place. Of course, I'd be lying if I said you were a stranger to that." He waited a few seconds. Still nothing.
"Now, you could be hired. With the way you handled those guards earlier-" his tone darkened for just the right effect, "-I'd venture to guess you're a professional. A professional killer?" Another rhetorical question. There was no doubt about it. "But assassins aren't hired for reconnaissance. And how many people are hired to inspect a Gate? No, your reasons must go a little deeper than that."
He paused, but by now he had resigned himself to the fact that the man sitting before him would not speak. It would be better to simply layer intelligence onto his conscience, perhaps make him shudder.
"You find yourself in a poor situation, so I suggest you cooperate. It is not hard to recognize a Contractor, especially one as infamous as yourself. BK-201." Finally, that elicited a response. The man stiffened ever so slightly, barely disturbing the evenness of his cape or even his breathing; but for a sharp eye like his, Hanoch could detect these things. He had made the crack, the first breakthrough in the stone surface. Now to exploit it.
"I wish I knew the circumstances surrounding your arrival, but those can wait. I am a patient man, Mr. Black Reaper. In the meantime, I shall enjoy myself interrogating your friends." It was a bluff- he couldn't be certain if the Reaper had come alone or not, but it was worth playing. If it turned out to be false, he could always fall back on a reasonable excuse. And if not… Well, that's what one hoped for.
It turned out conditions were favorable. A gruff snarl escaped BK-201's lips. Hanoch smiled inwardly. This match was won.
"Oh? It seems I hit a nerve. For someone as unattached to the world as you, do you think you would writhe watching them squirm under some… torture?" Personally, he disliked the idea, but there was no trouble to resorting to threats, empty or not. BK-201's head slowly inched up. When his hair parted from his eyes, Hanoch saw the deep, burning rage in their depths. They contained an unspeakable fury, glassy and as soulless, as cold as metal.
Hanoch lowered his voice, speaking ominously now. If BK-201 did not respond to this, he would be sitting in a cell for… well, a long time. At least until he could figure out what to do with him.
"You are running on borrowed time, Reaper. This is your one and only opportunity to tell us what you know, or you may find yourself short a few friends while you twiddle your thumbs in a cell." He spoke with a clipped harshness, and then waited as silence descended upon them.
Ten seconds passed. Then twenty. Deciding he had enough, Major Hanoch made to stand. Then, BK-201's eyes flickered, and he finally broke.
"Wait." Monotone. Deep. Detached. But caring enough to finally speak.
"So you finally grace us with cooperation." But Hanoch was anything but amused. He slid back into the chair, leaning forward. Any defensive body language would put the Reaper at ease, and he could not afford to lose his hard work.
"What do you want to know." The way he spoke, it wasn't even a question. The Reaper, to his credit, may have been interrogated before. His voice did not waiver, and he did not naively ask. He only made statements.
"What were you doing snooping around the Gate?" Hanoch would waste no time.
The Reaper chose his words carefully, unwilling to give away more than was necessary. "I needed to inspect it." Hanoch resisted the urge to sigh.
"That much is obvious, we both know that. That does not tell me why."
Begrudgingly, BK-201 spoke again. "There are certain properties of the Gate I need to understand. They- …" He paused, collecting his thoughts once more. Hanoch waited passively. "-They may be able to assist me… to…" Hanoch could feel his uncertainty, his trepidation. Whatever it was, he really didn't want to give it away. "To enhance my powers." Well, that was anti-climatic.
"Properties..?" Hanoch chose to dip into one of the key words.
"The Gate has abnormalities." Again, obvious to anyone who has been around them.
"Are you referring to the Meteor fragment?" Hanoch had only heard a bit about the thing, so he couldn't be certain if that was part of the situation.
"No. Just the abnormalities."
"Are you saying you wished to harness them somehow?"
"That's what research is for." Answering the question without answering it. Hanoch was starting to grow fond of his composure, even If it proved difficult.
"You said to enhance your powers…" BK-201 made no motion. "I was hoping your reasons would be a little less vain and straightforward."
And then, the Reaper smiled. Thinly, with an obvious façade that stole away the warmth of the action, but it was a smile. "I'm a Contractor."
"…Yes, which makes this all the more troubling." Hanoch racked his mind for any details he may have missed, anything important he could bring up. Then he remembered.
"Oh, one more thing. How exactly did you find yourself knocked out with your ass hanging in the air like a drunken mule?" A jab at the man's pride, but he took it with stride.
"It's hard being popular. I figured you would appreciate my ass more than a middle finger when you found me- and those three guards." If Hanoch bothered to glance back at the Reaper, he would see the satisfied smirk plastered on his face. He was already halfway through the door by the time BK-201 finished, slightly infuriated with the unwarranted cockiness.
His vision was bleary. There was a dull throbbing in the back of his head that wasn't present when he last checked. That annoying hum of the fluorescent bulb had penetrated his uneasy sleep, and it irked him even more since he was handcuffed to a chair. A chair.
With a groggy glance, Hei scanned the room. Empty. Decidedly unattractive, too. When one was being interrogated, there was no choosing. At least it was better than that one time back in-
The door creaked open. An older man stepped in, quietly taking a seat. From the split second that he stole a glance at him before hanging his head down, Hei noticed various medals. A decorated veteran.
It was silent for a little while, Hei testing the man's patience. And then, he spoke. Slow, steady and with the vibe of age.
"I've heard a bit about you. You managed to sneak by our base, found yourself at the Gate- and then what? We just find you unconscious? I thought a man such as yourself was capable of better."
It was amusing how he tried to rile Hei. Blows at pride would not work. Hei had already discarded that long ago, when he first donned the white mask.
"I'm curious, really. Why come out here? I'll admit, these Gates can be fascinating and terrifying at the same time, but this is quite a god-forsaken place. Of course, I'd be lying if I said you were a stranger to that."
Another common technique. Trying to spoon feed motives into the targets mind. Hei saw no reason to say anything yet, so he stayed mute. It was working. The next comment was a shot in the dark.
"Now, you could be hired. With the way you handled those guards earlier-" his tone darkening in a bid to be frightening, "-I'd venture to guess you're a professional. A professional killer?" A rhetorical question. There was no doubt he saw Hei's handiwork with the guards. "But assassins aren't hired for reconnaissance. And how many people are hired to inspect a Gate? No, your reasons must go a little deeper than that."
Well, at least he drew conclusions fairly well. But even this did not disturb Hei; unless he spoke, they would never understand what he was doing in Germany, or how he came to be in their unfortunate grasp.
"You find yourself in a poor situation, so I suggest you cooperate. It is not hard to recognize a Contractor, especially one as infamous as yourself. BK-201."
Hei felt himself stiffen, a bit involuntarily, but mostly on purpose. He wanted to give the illusion of being surprised, even though it was the furthest thing from the truth. The world over of intelligence agencies and military organizations knew him. That was the price of being such a sought-after Contractor.
"I wish I knew the circumstances surrounding your arrival, but those can wait. I am a patient man, Mr. Black Reaper. In the meantime, I shall enjoy myself interrogating your friends."
That caught him by surprise, even though it shouldn't have. Kenji, Alice and Yin were nowhere close by, although it was just as easy to pretend that he had come with a team. Then they would devote resources to finding ghosts that didn't exist. The man's tone softened, gleeful with an imagined victory.
"Oh? It seems I hit a nerve. For someone as unattached to the world as you, do you think you would writhe watching them squirm under some… torture?"
Again, it was a gamble on his part. Hei knew there was no way in hell they could have found three people that were well over one hundred miles away. The man lowered his voice, speaking ominously. Another attempt at emotional manipulation.
"You are running on borrowed time, Reaper. This is your one and only opportunity to tell us what you know, or you may find yourself short a few friends while you twiddle your thumbs in a cell."
That last idea was discomforting, but to keep the illusion, Hei would have to feign caring for his captured operatives. He let time slip by, pushing his luck to the edge to make it seem like he would only crack at the very last moment.
When the man stood to leave, he finally spoke.
"Wait." He used the dark tone when wearing the mask, the one when about to end another's life.
"So you finally grace us with cooperation."
If only you were so lucky.
He heard the man shifting back into his seat. Hei took a deep breath, hoping the man would notice.
"What do you want to know."
"What were you doing snooping around the Gate?" Straight to the important bits. Well, at least this wouldn't drag out.
At least in this case, he could tell the truth. He spoke carefully. "I needed to inspect it."
"That much is obvious, we both know that. That does not tell me why."
So he wasn't a complete idiot like the previous interrogator. He didn't take false leads. Even so, Hei now had to make certain his act was unquestionable.
"There are certain properties of the Gate I need to understand. They- …" He paused, collecting his thoughts once more. The man waited passively. "-They may be able to assist me… to…" He purposely stuttered, purposely seemed unsure of himself. They would think it was important, this bit, and they would focus on it. "To enhance my powers." And no one would suspect otherwise.
"Properties…?" The man was thorough, combing over the information in order.
"The Gate has abnormalities." Another false lead, but this one was for fun. Now he was toying with the older officer.
"Are you referring to the Meteor fragment?" If only. Amber had one, and the only other known one was crushed in front of his eyes by Izanami. Suou…
"No. Just the abnormalities."
"Are you saying you wished to harness them somehow?" Perhaps Hei was a bit quick to hand out credit; the man was a little senile, having asked a redundant question.
"That's what research is for." A stupid question deserved a stupid answer, and in retrospect, this one wouldn't even answer anything. Hei smoothed his voice, adding a hint of obviousness.
"You said to enhance your powers…" And what about it? "I was hoping your reasons would be a little less vain and straightforward." Hei had succeeded in quelling the man's interest, drawing him away from the truth and to a purely emotional basis. Or perhaps the man was that naïve.
"I'm a Contractor." He allowed himself a smile, satisfied with the work. They were done.
"…Yes, which makes this all the more troubling." He paused, trying to come up with other topics of interest, but Hei's mind was already wandering.
"Oh, one more thing. How exactly did you find yourself knocked out with your ass hanging in the air like a drunken mule?" A jab. Time to trade blows.
"It's hard being popular. I figured you would appreciate my ass more than a middle finger when you found me- and those three guards."
Hei watched with a satisfied smirk as the man stormed out of the room, his patience worn thin.
Now, it was time to sleep. At least until the next fool walked in to interrogate or lead him out; he would prefer the latter, at least then he could begin escaping.
Author's Note: Don't you just love those little quotes at the beginning? :D Come on guys, where are those reviews? I love to hear from you all! Who knows, suggestions might even be added to the story! *hint hint*
