Chapter 5: Interrogation

Hours ticked by slowly in Chaud's cell. Those hours ticked by into days. After what Chaud thought was three days he was moved into a bigger cell, with a bed, a toilet, a shower and the weirdest feature; a giant mirror. He was having withdrawls from his drugs and was too whacked out to realize it was one way window. His physical appearence started to deteriorate: his hair became greasy, his skin oily, his eyes bloodshot and sunken in. He looked like a total wreck. Everyday a woman in a white coat and mask came into his cell, and when she did he was chained to a chair; she then proceded to feed him. The food was good, but he couldn't register it. He couldn't put together a coherent thought. The withdrawl made him hear only a loud shrieking noise when he was awake, and when he slept he was filled with visions of terror. After what seemed like a week, the nice woman in the white coat came in and demanded he clean up. She waved a syringe in front of his face as an incentive. He quickly did as he was told, keeping his eyes on the tube of clear fluid. When he stepped out of the shower and got dressed he rolled up his sleeve. As he was about to shoot up she smacked his hand with a whip, much to the fashion of a nun or dominatrix. She instead gave him just enough to bring him back to a predetermined degree of normal. "That what you do in your free time?" he smirked as he nodded to the whip. "Please, give me more. I've been a naughty boy. Perhaps a tug of the hair, mistress?" he said with a wink. He imagined she was rolling her eyes behind her dark goggles.

"The Director wants to speak to you." she said simply. The door then slid open, Chaud then noticed a flicker in the mirror. A table was brought in, then three chairs. Chaud sat in one, the other two remained empty for a few minutes. The Director, a grey suit clad older gentleman with long white hair, and Hideo Izinski joined him in the room.

"What do you two want?" Chaud asked.

"No need for hostility, we just want to ask you a few questions. Answer them in any order you wish, we only have four: Why are you here? How were you involved with the Arcadia Movement? What happened on the eve of your birthday last year? Finally, what led to this addiction?" the Director said as he pointed to the syringe the nurse was holding.

"Director Goodwin, you're asking a few really personal questions. You sure you want to tread on this ground?" Hideo asked.

"It's fine, my life is an open book, if you want me to read it fine." Chaud replied. "But I must warn you, the things I'm about to mention will shake your very soul. The American branch wasn't as easy to simply research as the Japanese branch was."

-F-l-a-s-h-b-a-c-k-

I was five years old when they took me. I remember a kind doctor telling me that I'd be ok, that these people would be able to help me control my ability; although, my memory has been shot since I became an addict. At the time it (my ability) was just manifesting and I was just freezing water under my feet.

A five year old Chaud was hooked up to a large silvery machine. It whirred quietly and was generating seemingly random numbers which the scientists recorded. A female doctor whose strawberry-blond hair was pulled back into a tight bun kept looking at the young Chaud's vitals; heart rate, blood pressure, etc.

"You're doing very well sweetie, just stay relaxed and try to freeze this glass of water." she said calmly as she held up a small glass of water. Chaud touched the glass and watched as the glass fogged over and it frosted. The water itself soon became slush, then solid ice.

"Why could I only use my power after you gave me that shot?" Chaud asked innocently. The doctor's eyes filled with sorrow, Chaud was too young to understand the look.

"It's to help you control your special ability." she said with a slight break in her voice. She unhooked the boy from the EKG and let him leave the room. Two more doctor's walked into the room. "You know you're going to kill him don't you?" she said withholding a sob.

"It's a sacrifice we're going to have to make. If we even have a chance at creating the perfect army then we have to do what we have to do." one of them said. It was impossible to tell which, they both wore masks.

"He's going to become addicted to this stuff and you'll have to kill him like you did the last batch!" she shouted. "He's my sister's baby boy! His father left them before he was even born! I'm not going to let this take him away from his mother!" she started to cry and left the room quickly. Chaud was waiting for her outside.

"What were you talking about?" he asked. He then switched gears when he saw her crying. "Why are you crying? Did those two guys say something mean?" he looked up at her with his big, blue child's eyes. She smiled down at him and took his hand.

"No, it's fine, let's get you up to bed. You must be getting tired." she said as she began leading him down a hallway.

A few years later I learned that doctor was my Aunt Kasi, and she was crying because the other doctors were making me a monster, a concept I hadn't grasped quite yet. I was then nine or ten. Civil War had broken out again and the scientists were beginning to experiment with amplifying abilties. My best friend Bass was a decipath or whatever it's called. He could control sound. He was the first successful experiment. He was shipped off to fight for the Eastern Alliance, a mission he barely came back from.

"Hey, Chaud, look at this!!" a boy of African American descent shouted excitedly as he ran over to the blue haired boy who was casually eating a candy bar. Bass thrust out his palm and it distorted the air and moved objects in its path. A loud boom also sounded across the courtyard. Chaud stared in amazement.

"Cool! How'd you do that?!" the blunette squeeked.

"The doctors put me in a weird box and had me breathe in this fog stuff and when I came out I could do that!" the young Bass exclaimed loudly.

"That's awesome!!" Chaud shouted.

"I have some bad news though." Bass said, suddenly solemn. "They're sending me to a field experiment. I'm leaving tomorrow." he kicked at the dirt.

"Lucky, I wish I could get out of this place. Well you should be back here soon anyway, you can just tell me all about it then!" ten year old Chaud exclaimed.

He did tell me, three years later, he told me all of the horrors of war. I guess I never told you what led to the addiction, the drug they gave us was a fabricated chemical they call H-Two-O, but it's spell with the Roman numeral for two, and it ain't water lemme tell ya. It was made originally as a means of completely supressing abilities, but when they brought in a strongman who's ability was merely dampened by it they remade it into a controllant. At this point I'm about fourteen and I'm in the middle of puberty. I'm fully addicted to H-two-O and am getting rehabed out. It was around this time I recieved my Ice deck and 'The Dragon's Skull' my Duel Runner.

"Chaud, you have to do this without the drug, you need to freeze this water." an older Dr. Kasi was talking to an older Chaud. "Please, for me?" she tried again.

"I'm not a child, I don't need to do this for anybody." Chaud said as he faced the tank of water in front of him. It was large enough to hold an orca whale, and Chaud had to control his ability without the drugs. He held his hands against the glass and concentrated. His brow furrowed as he tried to freeze only the water in the tank. Instead giant pillars of ice shot up from the ground and burst from the sides of the tank. The water drained away and left Chaud standing next to a disappointed Dr. Kasi.

"At least you have the ability to use your power clean. We just need to get you completely clean and work on control." she sighed. Chaud didn't say anything further. He merely stepped out of the room and headed to the dueling arena.

-At the Dueling Arena-

A black haired girl with pasty pale skin was facing off against another girl of similar colored hair, the difference was in the style; one had short, pixie cut hair. The other had her hair down to her waist. Both were in school uniforms, gray blazer's, black tie, black skirts, mid thigh high socks. They were in the iron cage meaning this was a fight, not a normal duel. Chaud recognized the long haired girl and immediately rushed over to the cage, jumping onto the chain link fence to see what was going on. According to the score board she was down by eight thousand life points, her opponent used a point gain deck. The long haired girl was calm though as she drew her next card. She cooly set two cards and wordlessly ended her turn. The audience of hormone driven boys cheered for the pixie cut girl as she drew her next card. "I activate Cost Down, and by discarding two cards I can make Airknight Parshath a level three monster. I think I'll utilize that by summoning him! (3/1900/1400)" she squeeked.

"You've triggered my trap card, Life Equalizer! This can only be activated when you have eight thousand more points then me, it now makes us both have three thousand." she said with no clear emotion. Her eyes glazed over as vines shot up from the ground and wrapped themselves around the duelists, squeezing them both. They then rushed back into the ground as a loud uproar of boo's and hisses rose from the crowd.

(Both player's LP: 3000)

"So what drop-out, I'm attacking your life points directly!" the turn duelist ordered. The defending player the revealed another trap. Blasting the Ruins.

"You lose." The cage doors swung open as the vines shot up from the ground again, this time they crushed the life out of the other girl, then took the lifeless body back into the dirt with them. A grim fate to the losers of Arcadia Cage Matches. This was the only effective method of weeding out the undesireables. The winner's eyes began to fill with tears as more jeers came from the audience. One of the spectators, a red headed boy with the muscle of a full grown bull charged into the cage at her. Chaud intercepted the attacker with a quick punch to the jaw. He then proceded to fight street style with the much larger boy. Only after Chaud froze him completely in place did the audience stop completely. Chaud was a force to be rightfully feared when he was angry, for he was never angry, in a complete rage he had total domination over his deadliest of abilities. He ran over to the weeping girl and held her close to him.

"You dueled well." he said reassuringly. The girl continued to sob uncontrolably into his chest. He picked her up and started for the dormitories, nobody dared speak. Chaud had the grim look of death itself on his face.

"Thanks Chaud, I never wanted this. I just want out." she whispered as he carried her away from the arena.

"That's not an option, not now." he said quietly. He then heard a voice from the crowd.

"So he's just going to protect his girlfriend forever? The bitch oughta learn to face her fate instead of running to Chaud 'ere!" the voice rang. Everyone backed up and formed a ring around the other boy. Chaud gave the girl to one of her friends and charged the other boy. Before anyone could say a word Chaud jumped up and kneed the boy in the chest. He then pinned him to the ground and began to mercilessly pound on the loose tounged bastard, stopping only to clench his fists together and deliver a final blow to the nose. The second boy lay there, bleeding from his nose and many cuts on his face. Chaud then picked the girl up and continued on his way.

That guys was right about one thing; she was my girlfriend. Her name was Audrey. We were paired together around the time we started to mature. We were to mate, have a child and bring in a new generation of soldiers. Of course since we weren't fully mature they merely threw us into a room and let us be. We grew to love each other. She always knew something to say or do that would make me happy.

Chaud was sitting in his and Audrey's room, his head hung low and held up by cupped hands over his temples. He was feeling the worst of his withdrawls. Dr. Kasi had taken Chaud down a few dosages and it started to make him different. He was relaxing more, he was even calmer and was never angry unless put into an emotionally trying situation. The only major damage was he became really depressed very easily. The situation wasn't helped by the fact that he barely knew his parents. Audrey pushed open the door to see him pulling a razor blade out of his sock drawer. She quickly stepped over and grabbed his hand before the razor made contact with his wrist. "Something you want to talk about?" she asked. Chaud shook her hand away and threw the blade away.

"I don't know my folks and it's bugging me, on top of the withdrawl." he replied.

"Well you need to know, the withdrawl is going to happen, but you're going to need to vent in a way that's not going to damage you physically. Now are you doing better in training or not?" she continued.

"To an extent, but I'm still heavily dependant on the drugs."

"Well, you'll get better. And as far as parents are concerned, relax, we'll get to see them soon enough. Anything else on your mind?"

"I killed Mac didn't I?"

"He didn't die of the beating, he died much later from alcohol poisoning. I doubt he would have said anything unless he was drunk." Audrey reassured. Chaud clutched his temples and groaned.

"I don't want to hurt anyone anymore Audrey, I just can't do it. I'm sorry if I don't seem very strong anymore but I can't handle the pain..." he whimpered. Audrey lifted his face by his chin.

"You're trying to get a handle on your addiction, I think that makes you very strong. You're trying to overcome a difficult obstacle, you'll do it." she said warmly.

"Hey before I forget, what was Blackthorn doing here?" Chaud asked.

"The guys upstairs want to send us to attack the weakened armies. They want to make a full force effort to rule the country." she said grimly.

"What'd Blackthorn have to say?"

"That sending minors into the grinder would get their asses killed so fast they'd be dead before they started falling. His exact words. He always uses some stupid line. He also said that if one of the subjects were to ever be released, the world would probably end and that those stupid ... would be the blame. He said a forbidden word, my virgin lips couldn't repeat it." she said innocently. Chaud laughed.

"Nothing about you is virgin, 'cept maybe..." he replied smartly as he quickly looked over her body. Audrey rolled her eyes. "What?"

"Nothing..."

A year passed and the Arcadia Movement crumbled. Aunt Kasi smuggled Audrey and I out of the facility. She sent us both to see our parents. It was there that my mom told me about my biological father; where he had come from, about his family. I searched the database of the Arcadia Movement and found a person who matched the name. They lived in Neo Domino, Audrey and I went out to find them and a new mentor, someone to teach me to control my abilities. That's what shocked me so badly about you Izinski, your daughter could teach me complete control. While we were here Audrey mastered her abilities and we soon started a small flower shop to provide some income. Which brings me to your final question, Director. November eightteenth.

"I'm so glad we were able to start this business, baby." Audrey spoke softly to Chaud as the two examined a room filled with colorful flowers.

"Yeah, it'll bring in more then enough income to survive. The fact that you mastered your ability amazes me to no end... Just remember, if any of your plants ever talk to me or make sucking sounds when I bleed, I'm torching it." Chaud chuckled. Audrey gave a small laugh.

"What kind of man are you?" she asked jokingly, she had questioned his masculinity everytime a musical he knew was ever referenced.

"The perfect one. Oh! That kind of reminds me, I need to go out and get some stuff." he said quickly. Audrey kissed him slowly before she let him go.

"I'll text you later if you're not back by then. I love you. Happy Birthday!" she said cheerfully.

"Love you too."

Of course, I didn't know what was going to happen next. And you may lose me here. This is where the story gets its saddest. I got a text message from Audrey telling me to meet her at an old building near the unfinished Daedalus Bridge.

"Hello?" Chaud called out. A soft laugh was all that could be heard in response. Chaud couldn't see anything in this darkness. Almost as if as a response to his thought a single light turned on. Beneath it was a chair and in the chair sat a completely bound and gagged Audrey. A man wearing a white suit appeared behind her, a knife in his hand.

"Looks like I'll be having a two-fer. Two freaks for the price of one." he crooned from behind a solid white mask. He held the knife to her throat. Instead of cutting her then he took the gag from her mouth. He then quickly sliced the blade though her neck. Crimson blood sprayed from the wound, Audrey screamed. Chaud couldn't move, he was held in place by fear. He soon mustered up the courage and ran over to his dying love. The killer backing away cautiously.

"Audrey... No! You can't die! Not now! Not after all that's happened!" he yelled, beginning to go into hysterics.

"Chaud," she whispered. "It's ok... I love you." and with her last strength she kissed him. And before it even registered, she passed. Her blood still trickling down Chaud's fingers. His eyes began to fill with tears. He began to sob uncontrolably. The killer then made an advance to finish his task. Before he could strike Chaud stood. His eyes burning red. The blood on his fingers had frozen into claws. He rushed the assailant and punched quickly, knocking him back several feet. A scorch mark on the suit where Chaud punched. Chaud then charged again, a trail of fire where his feet were. He clutched the suited man by the throat, the man screamed as his flesh burned. Chaud then threw him into a nearby wall, a jet of flame bursting from his palm as he did. In an instant the entire building was burning, the man was unconscious. Chaud grabbed Audrey, chair and all, and left the building. Within seconds of his evacuation the building collapsed.

-E-n-d- -F-l-a-s-h-b-a-c-k-

Chaud was crying now, his head in his arms. He pounded the table a few times in frustration. "It was one of those bastards from Illiaster, a hunter! This..." Chaud looked up at the Director, his eyes red. "This is your fault! You sent that hunter! He took the love of my life! You took her from me! I should kill you!" Chaud made a half hearted attempt at a lunge across the table, but he was quickly slammed down by his depression. "I can't kill you, I just can't. She wouldn't want me to be a murderer." he mumbled. From behind the mirror he heard the song 'Carry on my Wayward Son' he turned to the mirror and stared angrily. He jumped at the glass "Is this something funny to you!?" he screamed.

-Behind the glass-

Commandant Hyate ordered that the music be turned off. He turned to an officer standing next to him. "You thought this was Alias?" he asked.

"I did, not anymore though. Not after those testimonies from the people who were in the suits during those shootings. I'm surprized how many suicdals we found actually, there were tons of psychos in there too. Kind of scary to think about. As far as the tape goes, it couldn't have come from here. He had no access to a camera."

"You're missing the big picture behind that; it was filmed and sent from a computer. Dates aren't even important, he could have made them anytime," Hayate said as he pointed to the still raging boy in the cell. "Nevertheless, he isn't Alias. He's too enraged and heartbroken to be a madman. No, we're dealing with a whole new breed of villain."

"What about Mr. Clyde's statement about psychics needing to be 'protected' during this time of crisis, doesn't that raise some suspicion?" the officer asked.

"No, Balthasar's just looking for votes. He's a politician, that's what he does." the commandant said simply.

-Back in the cell-

"So you've come here looking for my daughter so you could learn how to control your powers clean?" Hideo asked after Chaud settled back down. Chaud chuckled and looked at the floor.

"You can say that, but remember earlier in my story? The name my mom gave me. Tell me; does the name Daniella Blaare mean anything?" Chaud posed. Hideo thought about it. He then shook his head. Chaud looked up at him with a smirk. "Well it should, Dad."

End of Chapter 5