Upon recovering her consciousness, the Captain of the Royal Guards turned her head to survey her surroundings.
It was a mere chamber hewn from stone, almost impossible to see anything had it not been for the little light the cloth curtain that covered the entrance of the chamber permitted in. By the appearance of her surroundings, how the manacles around her wrists and ankles bore a steely shine unlike the worn stones of the chamber, Quintia Presidos guessed that this was most likely only recently converted into a prison cell.
What had gone wrong?
Her memories traced back to the beginning of the attack, running through every second of it.
Vividly, Quintia recalled the searing pain in her lower back (which had lessened considerably by now), and that flash of light which seemed to drain all of her energy from her in no more than a few seconds.
"Recalling your failure, Captain?"
Her face immediately turned toward the source of the voice. It would have been rather difficult to distinguish who it was, had she been a normal human: being a clockwork, her vision had adjusted immediately.
"It was nothing but a miscalculation."
Atticus Mercilus chuckled, resting one hand on the sword at his hip, striding slowly, leisurely from the shadows where most of his form had been concealed until he stood directly before Quintia.
"A mere miscalculation, you say? I beg to differ, Captain. I believe it is the same reason that your Commander, that weakling who called himself Kane the Second, is nothing more than a fool, just like you."
Quintia did not reply, instead returning the Templar Grand Master's sneer with a cold gaze of her own.
"As how you humans say, beating around the bush will get you nowhere: I take you are here to seek information regarding the Supreme Commander? Then realize that I will give you nothing, Templar."
Mercilus' lips curved up into a smile, not one of happiness nor anything she could instantly recall, until Quintia pinpointed the expression as one of pure malice; it was the very same expression Ulysses, her Commander and creator would often wear, whenever some unfortunate fool was dragged down into his private torture chamber for their untimely doom.
What is it that you are planning?
Had this been any other clockwork, Quintia knew, this would have horrified them, as the Templar Grand Master made no other gesture that would even hint to what he was planning on, taking away the statistical calculations that so many of the clockworks would rely on. But, considering the Ulyssean Triumvirate had been programmed with observation based calculations, Quintia felt no trace of fear.
Instead, she simply continued to watch, observe the Grand Master Templar and each and every one of his movements. Observations had never failed her before, and through observations she had outlasted, outsmarted many of the most stubborn enemies of the Armada.
She could do this again, Quintia was certain of it.
"It seems that you are much smarter than I initially gave you credit for, Captain, and not many can actually surprise me, congratulations."
The Templar offered a mocking bow.
"Precisely what I am looking for, yes: I want a way directly into the fortress of Cadiz, a way to enter and do the Spiral a favor, by disposing of that tyrant Kane the Second. But if you insist on being stubborn, I will have no other choice but to force it out of you."
At his words, a trickle of emotion crept into Quintia's processor.
Fear.
The same emotion that would often send frightening images of what might happen into the minds of humans, reduce mighty warriors into nothing but cowards. It coursed through the Royal Guard captain's veins like some sort of infernal snake, curling up within her very core and threatening to consume her.
But she could not allow it. Not now.
Atticus tutted disapprovingly.
"I thought you were at least smart enough to spare yourself some pain. Oh well, I am not surprised."
The Templar stood there for several seconds, just like when he had only entered her prison, although this time his actions were that much more obvious; a smile spreading through his lips with enough malice that Quintia felt another chill run down her spine. It did not take someone intelligent to realize whatever thought that may have entered the Templar Grand Master's mind was one of ill intent against her creator and Commander, maybe she herself as well.
"I would love to stay for more, but unfortunately my new plan requires my utmost attention."
Mercilus whistled sharply, one that reverberated through the ancient ruins and would no doubt attract attention.
"My soldiers here are more than happy to... make you open your mouth, Captain, unless you make the wiser decision and give up the information that I want."
What can this man do other than threaten me with death?
"Never."
Quintia could only describe the smirk on Mercilus' face as that of "a hunter seeing their prey falling into the trap they had designed," based on her memory of something she had seen in a book within Cadiz's extensive library archives.
"Then I have no other choice, Captain. Boys! Show her the Templar greeting!"
With that, the Grand Master of the Templar Order swept out of the darkened chamber, replaced by two impossibly bulked up men dressed in the armor of the Templar soldiers. So impossibly large they were, Quintia could almost daresay that if one of them tried, they could likely snap her in half if they tried.
Both of the men uttered sounds the captain of the Royal Guards had only recognized as laughing after at least two seconds or so.
One of them had brought out a golden key, almost delicately balancing the little item in between his thick, gauntleted fingers as he undid her shackles. And likely out of some deeply programmed combat instinct, she lashed out against the brute with her arm; the horror that she had only barely stifled back minutes earlier returning as a tsunami when the brute seized her wrist within a crushing grip Quintia had only thought possible to be from a Brute clockworks.
They do appear powerful, but how could this be-?!
She could feel some part of her tremble deep within, for her keen powers of observation were the very fundamentals of her programming, they were what she had based everything upon. And now they are rendered useless-!
Quintia turned her gaze to the other brute, who took the key from the first and undid the shackle of her other wrist, gripping it in a hold so tight she swore she had felt her inner skeletal structures bend under the pressure.
"That officer actually managed to live through our greeting!"
The first brute laughed, a sound that could only be described as the jeering of a predator who had just caught his dinner.
"Let's see how long you can last."
Sentus actually managed to live through it all?! What is the meaning of this?!
Countless possibilities begun to sprout within her mind of what could have happened to the more experienced officer. It was all but impossible to tell which one was more dependable, which one she should base her next moves off of, for none of them had observational evidence to form a solid ground to stand on. There was no proof that he actually lived, and she could not hear him nor perceive him within her range of vision.
And without observational evidence, Quintia Presidos found herself all but paralyzed: her breathing threatening to accelerate to an audible rate as the emotion of fear began to crawl its way through her very being like a leeching parasite.
Had she possessed the heart of a human, it would have been thundering within her chest in this very moment, she was certain of it.
It also did not help that both of the brutes had slammed her form against the wall, her chest pressed against the cold stone and her back facing them. Already the ratio of observations versus uncertainty had been tipped to a dangerous degree, and this only served to further the gap between the factors.
Quintia could feel her frame seizing up when she felt one of the brutes fumble at the leather straps of her armor, all but ripping it from her frame, leaving her entire torso bare and vulnerable to whatever sick ideas they held within their minds.
But out of all of these possibilities, she did not expect the pain.
It was as though they had lashed fire across her skin, all while ripping off chunks of it in certain places and carving deep gashes that no doubt spouted blood like a waterfall. Granted, she had been wounded before whilst in the middle of battle, but this was nothing like it at all, the pain lingering and burning with an intensity she had never felt before.
And again and again those blows came. By the time the thirtieth came to pass, Quintia had lost count of the lashes.
She wasn't certain when she had lost consciousness, but by the time the Captain of the Royal Guards recovered, she could tell that her tormentors had already left the chamber in which she was confined: the silence telling it all.
Quintia winced sharply, the burning wounds in her back sending a jolt of pain through her entire frame.
Danger: Damage over thirty percent.
This was swiftly ignored, however, when she realized something.
While the chamber was ill lit, she could still see a certain distance in front of her, enough to see the gaps in the stones of the wall before her. But now, she could see nothing, nothing but darkness, overwhelming darkness that threatened to choke her within its grasp.
And with even more horror, she realized that she was blindfolded.
As though that was not enough, she could not even hear anything aside from the scratch of some tiny organism on the stone floor outside -
Observation had always been Quintia's primary method of analyzing her surroundings. Without being able to see or hear, it was impossible to observe or feel anything aside from the painfully burning lash wounds on her back.
Without observational evidence, it was impossible to not feel fear and uncertainty.
What would become of her now...?
Yep, Quintia is not exactly in the best of all situations right now, especially considering this is none other than the Grand Master of the Templar Order. I almost did feel bad for putting her though all of this, but hey, what is a story without the suffering of characters? It would be boring as all out hell and no one would actually read it, plus, it's good for character development, no? Check back later to see what will happen to her and to cyborg marine Sentus Optimus.
Reviews are much appreciated :D until next time, my dear readers!
-Hades