The whole room froze in time, the only sound being the muffled footsteps from the hallway outside. Ben and I glared at each other, mutual hatred flowing between us. Fuji broke the silence.

"Why, Ben?"

There was a second of further silence before the corrupt asshole answered.

"I was paid. Promised a whole investigative team just for me. That's all I know." He glanced over his shoulder at his old friend. "Please, Nick. You have to believe me."

I gritted my teeth and before I knew it, walked up to Ben and gave him a well-deserved backhand to the face, the satisfying sound echoing through the otherwise quiet room. His head whipped away from Fuji and towards me, the look of fake desperation quickly changing into one of hate.

"You can try to bullshit your way out but you will never get me to believe that you were a simple pawn in this sadistic game. Now what I want to know is who attacked the Survey Corps' Special Operations team. Either you give me a name or I can teach you how to properly torture information out of someone." I stabbed a finger at his chest, roughly shoving him back a step.

"Fuji, what the hell is this? You're letting a newbie lead you around? I thought you were a fully trained investigator?"

Now it was my turn to be shocked as Fuji rounded his desk and sent a left hook towards his former friend's face. Ben stumbled and tripped, collapsing on the floor by my feet.

"Fuck off, you traitor. The second you went corrupt, just proves you were never meant to be an investigator. What happened to you?"

Ben chuckled weakly. "You tell me when you borrow from the wrong person and need to pay them back."

"You'll never get an answer from me then."

"Let's get back to the subject, gentlemen. Fuji, I told you to get in line. I bagged the first crack at him." I flicked my head down to the sorry excuse of a human at my feet. I pulled out a blade and grabbed a fistful of Ben's uniform with my free hand.

"Special Operations' attack. Who did it? Who ordered it? Name and relation."

Ben spit out on the floor, missing my boot by centimetres.

"Screw you."

I rolled my eyes, threw him away from me and lashed out, my blade nicking his arm as he flew back. Ben yelled out in surprise.

"Hey, hey, hey! No blood on the floor! It's a pain in the ass to clean out." Fuji rushed forward, his arms waving around like crazy. Despite the situation, I smiled.

"Sorry Fuji. Either he gives me a name or you better have some bleach in this office of yours." I pointed the blade at Ben again. Silent satisfaction passed through me as the officer scrambled away, pinning his back to the furthest wall.

"Let's try again, shall we?"

"You didn't have to go that far." Fuji sulked as we quickly made our way to the training grounds. I glanced over at him.

"Hey, I didn't get any blood on the floor, did I?"

"For your information, vomit is just as bad! You scared the living lights out of him to the point of him going projectile vomit. The whole bloody place reeks."

"It was either vomit or go around in circles for another week. If you could choose which option-"

"-I'd take the extra week of chasing our tails any day."

"And that is why you are a Military Police officer and I am of the Survey Corps. You guys are no fun."

"You have a very disturbing definition of fun. By the way, what was your plan of leading the cadet instructor away?"

My eyes narrowed at the mention. Cadet instructor Andras had been betrayed by Officer Benjamin, noted as one of the main players of this corruption game and also as being the key member for choosing and recruiting new players. So that meant he knew everyone involved in the corruption circle. Pretending to be a new recruit wouldn't work on him. Going face to face in a physical fight wouldn't work either. He trained the cadets and hence was fully capable of holding his own, even against me. The only other way was through a mental fight. He had no immediate family and his record was relatively clean (apart from the corruption, of course). Through further brain storming, Fuji and I discovered that what he valued the most…

was his job.

"We'll have to attack his position as an MP instructor. Also, we have to find a way to search his private quarters. There has to be some sort of record of when and where and who are in this corruption circle."

"You're hoping for some sort of black ledger." Fuji frowned at this thought. "Did you think they would be that careless to leave such a record lying out in the open?"

"No…but we have to at least try and get some sort of connection linking the corruption to every member involved. Andras is the recruiter, he must be keeping tabs on who's joined and who hasn't."

"Is he now?"

Fuji and I turned around too late, before Fuji was sent flying by a giant kick to the gut. Another blur soared at my head and I instantly ducked. Crouching, I grabbed at the offender's knee and yanked it towards me. Naturally, the knee buckled but instead of falling onto their back, the body merely knelt onto the knee. Startled at the counter, a punch connected to my right cheek, sending me sprawling.

"So it seems that you have caught up to me. I didn't think Benjamin would break so easily."

I gritted my teeth and locked eyes with Andras while we both stood upright.

"He's not one used to torture." I commented, rolling my now sore jaw.

"Unfortunately, your hunches are right. Even with my young mind, this corruption circle is too much for me to remember and hence, I write it down."

Shit.

I tensed and slowly pulled out both of my blades. The only reason he would be admitting to that would be…

"But, it's not like anyone will ever hear from you again. I'll make sure of that."