alrighty... ima start off by saying I'm sosososososososososososoooo sorry about how late this chapter is... but life got in the way and then writers block, but no more excuses... here is the next chapter i hope you enjoy!:D

Chapter 11: Torn

2 September 2011

Commander Ruiz walked the marble hallways of the Jefe's villa. He didn't bother to look around him: he knew the place well. Every expensive painting, every golden treasure was already familiar to him.

As he walked further, the light faded. The deeper he went inside the mansion, the darker it became. Ruiz walked up to a large mahogany door and took a deep breath to reassure himself. He had been under a lot of pressure ever since the siege of the Neiva base. He pushed through the doors and walked confidently in. "Don Guillermo," he addressed the man sitting at the head of a long conference table with a stiff salute.

He was an average-sized man with greyed hair and a matching beard and mustache. His face was round, wrinkled with age, but he wasn't too old. He looked about fifty and wore black slacks and a button-down white shirt. He was surrounded by men, slightly younger than himself, and dressed in military attire, just as Ruiz was.

"Commandante Ruíz," the older man acknowledged. Ruiz took a seat in the last empty chair. "Your presence here implies you were successful, yes?"

A confident smile spread across his face. "I was. All the pieces are in place, now all we must do is wait."

"Good. I am pleased. Now on to other matters…"

"Don Guillermo, if I may?" the man to his right spoke up. "there is a matter that has remained unresolved for quite some time now."

"And what is it?" the boss inquired.

"Comandante Ruiz's little pet? This…" he searched through the files in front of him. "That soldier that was captured… this Cristal. What of her?"

Ruiz's smile disappeared, he crossed his arms defensively and leaned back in his chair. "What of her, Comandante Valencia?"

"Is it not obvious, Ruiz?" there was clearly enmity between the two. Valencia and Ruiz were always fighting to one up each other. And Valencia couldn't stand that Ruiz had once again found favor with their leader. "Your second in command was captured by the enemy. We do not know how much she knows and it could be dangerous for us."

"Cristal only knows what she needed to at the moment. Our future plans are a mystery to her. Besides, I have trained her well. She is faithful to the Guerrilla until death. Of that, I am certain."

"They have had her for what, two months? No matter how well trained that child might have been, she is merely a child, a girl to make matters worse. You believe she will hold out indefinitely against all the resources the American government, not to mention those super-powered heroes, have at their disposal?!"

"Like I have said, she is well trained." Ruiz watched Guillermo he could tell he was loosing his leader's confidence. He had spent many hours figuring out a way to turn this around. From Guillermo's perspective Cristal allowed herself to be captured and one of their main bases was compromised. Her failure in Neiva was considered Ruiz's failure too. He did, after all, leave Cristal in charge, so he is just as responsible. "I have been working to use Cristal to our advantage."

Guillermo was obviously intrigued and it seemed to frustrate Valencia. "Go on."

"If we can contact her, before the Americans break her—now I am not saying that she will break—" he quickly corrected himself. "but if we can assure her that we still support her, perhaps we can get the better of our enemies."

"You intend to use her as a double agent of sorts?" Guillermo inquired.

"This is ridiculous," Valencia exclaimed. "She is a prisoner, probably being tortured as we speak. What insights could she possibly have?!"

"She could give them information that would be beneficial to us," Ruiz suggested.

Valencia scoffed, "and how, exactly, do you plan on contacting her? The American government has kept her location confidential. We don't even know where she is! And if we did we should use the opportunity to silence her for good."

"Her location will not remain a secret for long. There are only a few prisons the Americans would send someone of Cristal's abilities." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a flash drive. He held it up and a soldier took it from him and handed it to Guillermo. "There is a list of 23 the American Senators, Congressmen, military officials and the like that are…" he took a moment to search for the right word. "sympathetic to our efforts. I have also included the leverage we have on each of them. We can use this to find Cristal, possibly, even get a message to her."

Guillermo chuckled deeply, "how did you manage to get so many, Ruiz?"

"Well," Ruiz smiled with pride. "You would not believe the arrogance that comes with position and power. They believe they have the upper hand, completely oblivious to our abilities and true motives. Fortunately for us, they will not realize what they've gotten themselves into until it's too late."

4 September 2011

"Alright Conner, when you go in there and talk to her, just be yourself. Try to relax, it'll let her relax. Don't be accusing or judgmental, it'll only make her close up. She's not naïve enough to think she has a way out, so don't offer one. She'll think you're just trying to trick her. Don't go in there thinking she'll open up today. This type of thing could take a while. You need to build a rapport with her. Be kind and understanding, make sure she knows you empathize with her. The first step is to get her talking. It doesn't matter about what. We build from there. Okay?" Canary coached Superboy. He had never done this sort of thing. And this was it. Showtime.

Cristal sat in the cave's interrogation room. It was completely different to Adams' torture room. The room was clean, it didn't seem like it was used often. She sat at a metal desk, strapped down to a nice padded seat. Directly across was a large mirror, Cristal assumed it was a two-way glass and the heroes were watching her every move.

Canary had brought her in and sat her down less than 5 minutes ago, but Cristal wondered how long she'd be waiting. It was a common enough tactic: bring in the subject and let them sweat under the pressure and anticipation before coming in to get the information. But Cristal wasn't about to give them that satisfaction. She sat still with a mocking grin, eyes locked onto the camera to be sure they knew she was not afraid.

The door behind her opened sooner than she had expected, but she didn't turn to look at who had entered. She could hear two sets of footsteps and was flattered that they considered her enough of a challenge to bring in two interrogators.

Superboy walked in holding a manila envelope and sat across from Cristal at the table. She was surprised to see him again, but concealed it. She shifted her gaze to Canary but this time she didn't bother to conceal her emotion: contempt. Cristal assumed Canary had been behind Adams. She had to have known. Unfortunately, in Cristal's mind Adams only did what Canary was too afraid to do and that threw away the little respect Canary had earned after a month of interrogations.

"Cristal, I'm sure you remember Superboy. You two met in Colombia a couple months back."

Cristal watched the young Kryptonian closely, but he showed no emotion, no weakness, nothing she could use. She thought back to the intel she had acquired before approaching the Team in Colombia. There had to be something she could use. She wasn't naïve. She didn't think she could manipulate him enough to get back her freedom, he was too smart for that, but if she was to be a prisoner for the rest of her life, she at least wanted to make her captors' lives hell.

"We just want to talk to you—about anything, anything you want," at this point Canary just wanted Cristal to speak. She had yet to hear her voice. "Do you like your new room?"

Cristal glared at Canary with her contempt written on her face, plain as day. 'Room' seriously? Why doesn't she call it what it is? Her cell. Cristal thought to herself.

Canary could read Cristal's expression and knowing she would never speak with her in the room she turned to leave. "I'll leave you two alone."

Curious. Why would she leave her here with him?

Superboy rubbed the back of his neck and then flipped through the files he had brought in. Cristal could tell he was uncomfortable, though not necessarily nervous. He skimmed over pages looking for some topic of conversation, but nothing jumped out at him. He got frustrated and pushed the files away, "what's your name?" he asked bluntly.

Cristal didn't respond. She just looked at him with curiosity. He had the weirdest interrogation style she had ever seen. "Those look uncomfortable," he said pointing at her restraints. He pulled a key out of his pocket and freed her from them. "It seems like we're going to be in here for a while so can I at least know your name? Your real name, I mean."

She shook her head and smiled to herself. He has no idea how complicated that question is, she thought. Superboy watched her. This wasn't working, she was never going to open up to him. If she didn't talk to Canary, why would she talk to him?

"This isn't going to work," he said to himself out of frustration. Then he returned his attention to Cristal, "Canary sent me in here because they think I can relate to you."

That, to Cristal, was almost comical. What could this pampered gringo ever know about what she had been through?

"I think she's insane. I'm not good at talking to people, as you can tell. My friend, you know him as Kid Flash, and Miss Martian, my girlfriend, they… they're really good at stuff like this. I don't get why Canary chose me, but I follow orders, that's something you can relate to I guess…" Superboy trailed off. What was he supposed to do? He was good at punching things and screaming and getting angry, not this.

Black Canary and Batman watched on from the opposite side of the glass. "He's not making any progress." Batman said

"These things take time," Canary responded.

Superboy stood up from the table and paced across the room. His movements made Cristal nervous. She was afraid he was going to strike her.

As he walked back and forth he thought of Canary's instructions. But the more he thought about empathizing with her, the more disgusted he became. He thought back to the kids they had rescued from the guerrilla base, the multiple attacks on Holtz, and every disgusting detail of every assassination written in the file Kaldur and M'gann had saved from the guerrilla command center.

He sat back down rather forcefully and rubbed his hands through his hair in frustration. "Look I'm supposed to sympathize with you, or empathize or whatever, but I… I can't do that. I would be lying. I just... I don't get it." His tone surprised her. He was worked up, but sincere. She looked at him with increasing curiosity. "I don't understand how you could join those monsters, how you could kill all those people for so many years, just because they ordered you to. I don't get how someone who has known the terror and pain of being taken from their home and losing their family, could do the same to someone else. And even now—" he stopped himself trying to get control over his anger. "Even now, I don't get how you can sit here, defending them, after all they've done."

Canary shook her head. "Maybe this was a bad idea." She moved for the door, to stop Superboy, but Batman stopped her.

"No, let's give him a chance."

Cristal's eyes narrowed on Superboy's. Is this another interrogation tactic? Adams and the other soldiers, screamed at her, yelled insults among other things. Canary tried to be her friend. Superboy, what was he doing? He was making her think.

Superboy shook his head, frustration was clear on his face. "I don't know why you did what you did. I don't know why you're doing this now. What I do know is you can't make your pain go away by taking it out on innocent people. What happened to you, it's horrible, but that doesn't justify your actions. They are going to hurt innocent people and you're just sitting there protecting them!" He slammed his fists down on the table, leaving two fist-sized dents in the table.

He turned and stormed to the door, but stopped before he reached it. He turned around and reached into his side pocket. He pulled out her rosary, turning it over in his hands. The guerrilla wouldn't have given her this. It had to be from before. It has to have some significance to her.

He turned around and laid it on the table before her. He walked back to the door and reached for the handle. Cristal jumped for her rosary she held it close to her heart and fought back the tears that swelled in her eyes. "Why?" her voice surprised him, she even surprised herself, but the second she saw her rosary whatever self control remained went straight out the window.

Superboy turned to her in shock. She struggled to form the words in the foreign language, "why couldn't you just let me die?" she managed to choke out in a quiet whisper. A single tear rolled down her cheek. She turned to look at him, holding her rosary to her heart.

Superboy closed his eyes and sighed. "Because… because maybe you weren't always the monster I thought you were." Cristal laughed, he was using her own words against her. "You can be that person again you know? You don't have to let them win."

Cristal laughed again, defeated. "They've already won. They destroyed everything, everyone, I have ever known and they turned me into…"

"No, no they haven't won. They only win, when we stop fighting. When you stop fighting."

"It is too late, you said so yourself. I am a monster."

"No, you're a victim, even here you're more their prisoner than ours. Now is your chance to get your freedom back." He took out a map of Colombia. The base they attacked to save the Senator was circled in red. "Where are they?"

She shook her head, no. "I can't."

"Why not?" Superboy asked, his frustration coming back to the surface. "They used you like their puppet. They tortured you and called it training. They killed your family, took you way from your home, dehumanized you and god knows what else. They—"

"Kept me alive!" She yelled, tears running down her cheeks. "I'm alive because of them!"

"No, you're alive IN SPITE of them!" He lowered his voice, "you're alive because they couldn't kill you. You're here because they couldn't break you." He took out a pen and handed it to her. "Now, prove that they can't beat you." He laid a pen on the table and walked out. Leaving Cristal alone to her thoughts.

Canary walked in quickly after Superboy left. "Come on, let's take you back to your room."

They walked through the hallways, un-cuffed and unshackled. Did they trust her now? Cristal wondered to herself.

Canary took her down to her basement cell and locked the door behind her. "When you want to talk, just let us know." She left her alone.

Could she do it? Despite all they had done, could she betray them? She had fantasized for years of getting her revenge, making her Commander pay for what he did to her. But every time an opportunity had presented itself to turn on them, she just couldn't bring herself to do it.

She looked down at her rosary and turned it around in her fingers. Had it been anyone else: her father, mother, brother, or even little sister, she knew they would be strong enough to fight them. Why did it have to be her? How was she the one that survived, if they were so much stronger? Well, that didn't matter now. She is here and they aren't. This whole time, she had devoted every waking moment and thought to survival. Now, she had her life, what she needed was revenge.

Black Canary met Superboy in the hallway outside of Cristal's cell. "I'm sorry I–"

"Don't be Conner, you got her to speak. That's a start. Besides..." she pulled up the camera feed of Cristal on the monitor outside Cristal's cell. "Look at her. She's thinking about it. She's torn."