Chapter Sixteen: Prison
"So does this work like real life? I get one phone call?", I cackled loudly. One of the guards walked up and banged on my door, "Quiet down, clown! Save the questions for interrogation". I chuckled silently to myself and layed back the brick slab that they called a bed. My interrogation was tomorrow, I couldn't wait. I heard a buzzing noise coming from outside my door. Quickly, I rushed to the small window on my door and peeked out. It was Kirito bringing in the others. I looked closely and realised that Rosalia was there, and her cursor was orange. I guess she tried to attack Kirito but failed.
"Kirito!", I called out, "Welcome to the fortress of fun!", then I winked at him. He knew what to do. Once again, I cackled unhinged like a maniac. Without warning, my door opened and a large hand grabbed my neck, pulling me out of my cell. "Your interrogation has been moved to today. Have fun rotting, freak". I thought for a second, "'Freak'… Why don't we cut you up into little pieces and feed you to your pooches? Hm? And then we'll see how loyal a hungry dog really is! It's not about money. It's about… sending a message", he then threw me into a cell to wait for my turn. "Everything burns!", I called out.
The cell was in the center of the room, comprised of iron bars making the walls and a large stone slab for the ceiling. I had been waiting for over an hour and I was starting to get impatient. A booming voice filled the room, my guess was that it was the warden. "Everyone, staff meeting!", he yelled as every soldier in the prison made their way to the bottom level, gathering up in front of my cell. "Today…", he began, "We have caught one of the most notorious players in Sword Art Online… Player ID: Joker". He pointed to me and I glared back at him. "He has killed 63 players in total, 16 of whom were with the Holy Dragon alliance. The rest were green bounty hunters". That was a lie. All of the bounty hunters and mercenaries I killed were orange or red.
"Congratulations to Lieutenant Corbatz for arresting him and bringing him in", he barked. Every soldier began to applaud Corbatz, while I held my hands out and clapped sarcastically until all eyes were on me. One of the soldiers opened my cell and grabbed me again. "Your turn", he whispered. He walked me to a metal door, opened it, and threw me in. I sat at the table, calling out, "Seriously, do I get a phone call or something, like messaging a friend?". I continued to cackle maniacally. I waited for what seemed like forever before the door opened again. From his outfit, it looked like he was a representative from a guild I was very familiar with, The Holy Dragon Alliance. I looked at him carefully, he was deathly familiar to me, but I couldn't remember where I had seen him before.
He sat across from me at the table, folding his hands in front of him. I ask, "Do I know you?", but I was barely able to finish before he slammed my head down onto the table. I pinch the bridge of my nose, "Never… start with the head… the victim gets all fuzzy. He can't feel the next…", he cut me off, punching me in my face. I paused, waiting to feel the sting, but it never came, "See?", I asked. He picked me up and threw me against the wall, then he walked over and barred the door. Then it hit me. He was there that night when I helped Klein's guild fend off the HDA. I could tell, this wasn't going to be over quickly.