They finally let me out of my cell. It's not freedom, or the ten minutes the other cell mates get for lunch, but I'm out.
Ten, this time. I counted. Ten carried me out of the cell. An ironic number, I thought. They were armed to the gills with guns and other assorted weaponry.
I let out a low growl and kept my eyes closed for a moment. This was going to be torture. I was off to yet another cell—no. An interrogation room for questioning.
Reopening my eyes, I examined the cells we passed. One of Wild Mutt's species was locked up, unshackled, unrestrained. Another of XLR8's. And Big Chill... Even a Grey Matter and a Brain Storm.
And... Rika. Rika? Why the hell is Rika in a cell?!
"Rika!" I shouted. The guards tightened their grips on me, my limps throbbing with the lack of blood.
The elfin girl gave a seductive smile and wave, with a kind of torturous feeling in the air.
I let out a tense breath and relaxed all the muscles in my body. The guards held me off the ground, but lessened their tight grips on me. I sighed. So Rika is a prisoner? Or maybe she phased through another barrier of a cell to talk to another prisoner? No...
There was no one else in that cell.
So... how did she escape from her cell and yet no one noticed? She made it all the way to my sector and was there for at least twenty minutes, and no alarms went off. No one came rushing with arms after her. A guard or two even passed by while she was talking to me, and no one gave it a second thought.
She said she was a Plumber. Maybe she has allowances to roam the prison? No prisoner is that lucky.
She escaped. She used... whatever that word was... Slavink... something... She said the cameras couldn't see her.
Then, why could I? Why could I see her, yet no one else could? And I doubt my cell is the only one with cameras posted from the floor to the ceiling... I wonder how she could just... walk out of her cell without consequences?
I would have to think about it later. The guards opened the door to the room and tossed me inside, ordering me to sit in the metal chair until someone else arrived.
"Piss off!" I spat at them, unwilling to move from the floor if it meant complying to their demands.
They threatened me with their fancy guns and other alien tech. Personally, it didn't bother me. I knew they would never shoot. They couldn't. I held too much information for them to kill me off just yet.
My brown hair fell in front of my eyes. My hands were bound behind my back with yet another set of stasis cuffs, so I couldn't even scratch the annoying itch on my nose.
The guards cautiously left, poking their guns through until the door was safely shut.
I quickly noticed that alien police forces didn't have the all too familiar mirror in the room, evidence that there were no 'secret' viewing rooms. Nor were there any cameras or hints of wires or microphones of any type. This room was entirely sealed off to anyone except those inside. Even the door was sealed around the edges. That is, until someone keyed in a code and slid a translucent card. That's when the seamless wall opened up a door.
The technology was fantastical at the very least.
I tried lifting my head to what would be considered my right side, looking around to see if there was anything to gain leverage on. Nothing. Damn.
Luckily, my legs and feet weren't bound, so I could use those to sit up.
I moved around in an awkward fashion, grunting a bit. My subtle noises grew in volume as they echoed off the metal walls. In what seemed like forever, I finally got myself upright. I tried to blow my hair out of my face, but slight perspiration made half of it stick.
Suddenly, a man walked in. A human. Good. Maybe it was a familiar face.
Closer examination, no. No one I knew. Damn.
He looked at me, old, gray eyes angered. I could read him easily; he wanted to know why the hell I wasn't sitting in the chair.
"...I fell," I laughed. I found joked really pissed off the staff here at the prison.
Walking over, the man picked me up by the collar of my black shirt and dropped me carelessly in the metal chair.
I wanted to rub my neck after gasping for air, but my hands were a little... tied up. "What do you really want from me anyway, huh?" I asked, my voice raspy.
"I want you... to tell me everything...,"—he paused quite a few times, flipping through a folder with my mug shot paperclipped to it—"...that you could've... possibly been thinking the night of the incident." He slapped the folder shut, Frisbee-ed it across the metal table, and looked me dead in the eye.
I looked at my bare feet. The wouldn't let me have my shoes, the laces considered weapons. Realizing he was staring, I jerked my head up and glared back confidently. What did he want to hear... "I was thinking I would commit an intergalactic crime... maybe go out for coffee afterwards...," I smirked, laughing quietly yet confidently.
Huh. I actually had a criminal side.
"This is no time for jokes, Tennyson!" he slammed his palms against the surface. "We know what you did, you've already been convicted, so there's no point in beating around the bush. Give us what we want and maybe we'll lessen your sentence!"
Maybe? Maybe?!
"Why should I give you what you want when all I get is a broken promise, huh?" My hair hung in front of my eyes, an evil smile on my face. I truly looked devious from where the man was standing. My hunched-over position (caused by my arms bound behind my back) only added to the criminal appearance.
The only person who could pick me out of a line up of 'pick the innocent from the guilty' would probably be Rika. Kevin would joke around too much, and Gwen would be blubbering too much for anyone to comprehend "Ben, number thirteen! Him!"
I laughed at my thoughts.
"What's so funny, huh?" he pushed, a fake friendly smile on his face.
Lie smoothly... "I was just thinking of a couple years in the future when I'm out of this joint and track down your scrawny ass."
The smile disappeared instantly. "Look, the deal is on the table. Give us what we want and I'll have the council consider looking at your case."
"So you're saying without giving up all my information, they wouldn't even consider parole?"
A crooked smile. This one was sincere and hurtful. "They don't know the meaning of the word."
I pursed my lips, let out a quick breath, and returned to my malevolent pose. As if it was even possible, I made the smile just a little more evil.
A quiet tap came in the direction of the door. "Mister?" A soft, sweet, childish voice came from the other side.
The man groaned and turned around. He punched in a code and slid his card, the door reappearing. Rika, surprisingly, was the soft voice on the other side.
I kept my evil pose.
The man looked a little confused. "Look, a little Plumber girl is trying to save Ben. Here, toss in a few words, I'll allow you that much," he chortled.
Through my mischievous smile, I was grinding my teeth. This man was blatantly insulting Rika... and I was feeling incredibly protective.
Rika's innocent smile turned serious. Rika swung out and hit the man square in the jaw.
This was worth ruining my pose. I threw my head back, laughing heartily. If my hands were free, I would be clapping.
Sadly, the guards keeping the room safe reacted, taking a hold of Rika.
"That's for keeping Ben locked up!" she screeched at the man on the floor, restrained by the armored guards. She then started yelling at him in her own language, my name tossed here and there.
The man rubbed his jaw, looking over at me. "Screw you, kid. You're not worth this kind of trouble." He got to his feet, watching the guards carry Rika off, back to her cell. He rubbed his jaw again. "We'll get what we want from you at some point. One way or another, we will. Now get your ass out of my interrogation room..." He threw his index finger towards the doorway, what was left of the guards coming in after me.
They picked me up and carried me out of the room. I could still hear Rika yelling at the guards, my name still being mentioned.
I smiled, satisfied.
What an eventful interrogation...