Part Three:
"The Tortured Knight"
Darkness.
"Euphie," he murmured under his breath. "Where are you? Death beckons me, but I can't find you."
Suzaku awoke to the sting of freezing water splashed in his face.
He grunted from the shock, and shivered from the cold. Then he blinked quickly, and looked upon his captors, who were standing before him, or rather it was two more insignificant marauders. The one's that attacked him in his home, he had killed. One man here, was holding a bucket, once filled with water.
He looked around. Blanketing the walls was darkness. Only one light shone above, bathing him in a circle of illumination.
I remember being shot in the chest with the tranquilizer gun by Hachirou Chika, a golden luger also pointed at me, poised for a kill shot, then falling unconscious when the dart took affect. After that, nothing. I expected never to wake up.
"Good, you're awake. I didn't want you to sleep the entire day away," said a familiar voice.
Suzaku recognized Hachirou Chika's voice, but didn't see him. He was a disembodied voice within the surrounding darkness. He then emerged, and without his leather jacket on. He was almost naked except for a pair of black speedos. Suzaku could see that Hachirou Chika's dragon tattoo did coil around his entire body, like he surmised. It was of admiring artistry.
"You spared me? Why? I thought you wanted revenge for your brother's death?" Suzaku sat in a wooden chair, his arms bound behind him, half naked himself, wearing only his shorts. They had taken his robe.
"Most people would be happy their life was spared, but you sound almost disappointed," said Hachirou.
Suzaku sneered. "Where's Arthur?"
Hachirou stepped closer. "We left him behind. A beloved pet and his master parted. A remarkable cat. When I was dragging you away, he woke up. There was enough tranquilizer in that dart to knock out five cats. He attacked me and scratched me on the arm." He displayed his left forearm. Three deep claw marks scarred it with dried blood.
"Good," Suzaku said with a devious smile. "I hope you get an infection."
Hachirou chuckled. "I should've just killed him. I know his death would have pained you so. I shot him with another dart. You should thank me."
Suzaku curled a lip. "Thank you. But you're still going to pay for hurting him."
"Oh, I think you should be more concerned with yourself at the moment." Hachirou spread his arms out. "Look at me. Do you see my tattoo? I wanted you to see it. My brother was a beautiful artist."
"I agree, he was. And he should have stayed one."
"Daisuke snapped when he saw the injustice Britannia was giving to the Japanese, especially after the massacre at the Administrative Zone of Japan. He wanted to join the Black Knights, but I talked him out of it. Instead, he foolishly did what he did, and paid with him life."
"So what do you intend to do?"
One of the two men with Hachirou stepped away and disappeared into the surrounding darkness, then returned, rolling a metal medical tray into the light with a white sheet covering hidden items. The cover was then removed. There was a large bowl of ice cubes and a electro-shock stick.
"What are they for?"
Hachirou smirked, with a chuckle. "For you."
Hachirou gave a slight jerk of his head, a signal of sorts, and one of his men picked up the bowl of ice cubes. He went to Suzaku. The man looked down at Suzaku, as Suzaku looked at him. Then the man pulled open Suzaku's shorts and dumped them in, snapping the elastic band back.
Suzaku hissed from the sudden stinging cold, and flinched as the ice cubes began to numb his nether region. "You sick pervert!"
Hachirou snorted a smirk. "Allow me to explain," as he stepped over to the medical trolley. He picked up the electro-shock stick. "When electricity touches water, it's a shocking experience. You took something very precious away from me, now I will do the same. From this moment on, you will be the last of your lineage. I know you are the only son of former Prime Minister Genbu Kururugi of Japan. It will be the price you pay for the power you have achieved in betraying your own people, and punishment for the life you stole away, namely my brother."
Hachirou ignited a spark in the electro-shock stick, and a current of dancing electricity surged between the two antenna rods.
Suzaku's eyes opened wide with fear, and he tried to move away, inching the chair back. He knew what Hachirou intended to do. But one of Hachirou's men held the chair stable.
"No, wait! Please don't! It wasn't my fault!"
"As my brother said before he died: For Japan. Get ready to feel pain, Suzaku Kururugi."
And Hachirou touched the electro-shock stick to Suzaku's crotch.
Suzaku screamed. It was a horrified, blood-curdling, ear-shattering scream. The ice cubes amplified the electricity, delivering pure agony. And a pain he had never felt before.
Hachirou held the stick there for five seconds, then pulled back. Then continued. And did this continuously for as long as he desired.
Tears rolled down Suzaku's cheeks from the god-awful pain. And he cried out for Hachirou to stop. For the first time since receiving Geass instructions from Lelouch to live at all costs, he felt he truly wanted to die. The pain was so unbearable.
Hachirou tortured him like this for three minutes and then stopped. He placed the electro-shocked back on the medical trolley.
Suzaku whimpered. "You…bastard!" he sobbed out. His entire nether region burned with a never before felt pain. He looked up at Hachirou with bloodshot eyes. "I never signed your brother's death warrant."
Hachirou appeared like he took a mental step back. "What? Who then?"
Suzaku knew if Hachirou knew that information then he would go after Anya Alstreim, the Knight of Six, and he couldn't let that happen. "Go to hell!" he spat out.
"Defiant to the last," Hachirou said, almost amused. "I'd expect nothing less from one of the Emperor's Knights of the Round."
"For someone whose name means 'wisdom' and intellect', you're a very stupid person," said Suzaku, with a hate he had never felt before even towards Zero after he killed Euphie. "Once the rest of the Knights of the Round hear about my death, they'll hunt you down without mercy."
"And when did I ever say I was going to kill you?"
Suzaku's brow folded. "But..."
"Again, you almost sound disappointed. I wonder what happened to make you wish for death? Your father died when you were young, maybe that's it. Or perhaps it's the fact your dear princess, for whom you were knighted to protect, was killed by Zero on national television. That must have scarred your pride."
Despite the pain in his groan, Suzaku frenzied anger. But Hachirou's henchman held him down. "I'm going to kill you, Hachirou Chika!"
"Maybe, but before then, I'm going to hurt you. Just like you did me." Hachirou ignited the electro-shock stick again.
Suzaku prepared for pain. "I swear. I will survive this, and then I'll come after you!"
Hachirou smirked. "You might not want to live after this. Death isn't the only way a person can die."
Hachirou was just about to use the electro-shock stick, when a metallic canister rolled out from the darkness. It hit one wheel of the trolley, and then exploded with a plume of smoke.
It was tear gas.
Suzaku coughed as the smoke filled the area, and his vision became blurred. With squinted eyes, within the smoke, he thought he saw a dark shadowy figure, assaulting Hachirou and his men. He heard grunts, and the sounds of impact, either from punches of kicks.
Eventually all was silent.
The shadowy figure came into view and placed an oxygen breather with a small canister attached to the bottom, to Suzaku's mouth, and he breathed in deep. But he also detected something else within the mixture, the slight hint of a sedative.
He looked at his mysterious rescuer, and his eyes widened with shock, as he saw the mask of Zero. But how can this be? Lelouch is still subjected to the Emperor's brain-washing, returned to Ashford Academy to live a normal life, without knowledge of his alter ego, or the Black Knights.
He kept close tabs on his friend. If his memory had been restored, he'd know about it.
"Who...are…you?" he slowly stammered out.
The impostor began to unmask, and he upon the face of Zero dreamily, tears in his eyes. The sedative was beginning to take effect, and the once scourge of Britannia was bathed in an almost angelic hue by the overhead light.
Suzaku cried. Despite his friend's wrongs, he was very glad to see him.
Zero put a hand on Suzaku's shoulder, assuredly. "Everything's all right now, Suzaku. They can't hurt you anymore."
"Lelouch..." Suzaku said softly, smiling.
It was then that the sedative took full effect, and he fell into a deep unconsciousness, his head dropping to his chest.
To be continued...