A/N: Thank you all so much for your patience. I cannot tell you how much it means to me that you take the chance on this fic and give me the time to write it (even when my mind is running rampant in other fandoms lol). As always, please tell me what you think and feel free to send in asks on tumblr at 'asirensrage' if you have questions about the fic, characters or more. I also post more works in other fandoms on ao3 under the same name as this one.
I'm in a bit of a despondent mood today but we're beating it back and working to make someone's day better. I hope this helps.
Thanks again! Hope you like it! 3

Chapter 56

We were separated.

It was a classic interrogation technique. I wasn't sure what the others were going to say but I hoped they were smart enough to know not to say anything. Especially names. At least their real ones. If we got out of this, it would be better if they had nothing they could pin on us or trace back to us.

"Who are you?"

I stared at the man interrogating me. His accent was thick but it was nothing compared to my babka's. He had to be high ranking enough to be responsible for this but I didn't think he was the top. He didn't look like a General or Sergeant or whatever. I didn't know military designations. Especially Russian ones.

He backhanded me when I didn't answer. Pain blossomed in my cheek. It hurt but I had been hurt worse in my karate class.

"Who are you?" He asked again.

I stayed silent. The longer this took meant the more time the kids had to escape. I could do this. I could delay them at least a bit.

"How did you find us?" I didn't answer. "Perhaps you need more persuasion, hm?" He touched my hand and I tried to pull it back, away from him. He grabbed my wrist before using his other hand to hold out my pinky. "We'll start with breaking this one."

Fear shot through me. It wasn't my body. It was going to hurt. Still, I needed to stall for time. Tammy would just have to forgive me. He started to bend it back.

"Who are you?" He asked again. "Who are your friends?" I clenched my jaw and tried to take a deep breath. I tried to repeat in my head Erica and Dustin's names over and over, to remind myself why I was going to let this happen. He jerked my finger sharply and I heard a crack. Pain unlike anything I had really known before burned through my finger and my hand. I screamed.

"Who are you?" he asked. I tried to take a deep breath again. That's how I got through my cramps. It's how they trained women through childbirth. To breathe. I could do this. I could hold off. I had to try.

He moved to my other finger. Instinctively I tried to pull it back. He held it tightly and pushed against my broken pinky. I couldn't stop my tears.

"How did you find us?"

I took a deep breath. He broke the other finger. I screamed again and I felt myself cry harder as he pushed the broken fingers aside. My nose was running with my tears.

"Stop!" I heard myself beg. "Stop!"

He grabbed the middle finger on my hand. "Who are you?" He used his hand to push the broken fingers aside again and I screamed in pain.

I heard the guards say something in Russian. I dredged up the little Russian I knew from my Babka Ekaterina and translated it quickly. "[She is strong little girl!]" The men laughed.

"[Not so little]" I murmured back without thinking. The men fell silent.

"[Who are you?]" The man nearly snarled now. I stared at him. Unsure of what to say. I didn't know that much Russian. He grabbed my hand tighter, shoving the fingers move as he pushed my middle finger back. In the wake of the pain in my hand and the thought of him breaking another finger, I gave him the only name I could think of: my own.

"Katya! [I'm Katya]!"

He let go of my hand, looking more confused than I expected. "Katya? [You are Russian]?"

I didn't answer. I wasn't sure what he said except that it had something to do with Russia. My grandmother back home was as Russian as a woman could get. Despite all of her efforts, I was Canadian.

"[How did you get here]?" He demanded. I stared at him and he asked me again in English. "How did you get here?"

"I followed my friends," I said. It was the truth. Just probably not the truth that they wanted. I tried to keep breathing through the pain.

"And what were they doing? How did they find us?"

"I don't know!" I exclaimed.

"Who are you?" He asked again.

"I told you, my name is Katya."

"A Russian name for an American girl. What are you doing here?"

I was tempted to roll my eyes but I had only managed to get my tears under control and my hand felt a million times worse than when I caught my fingers in my own car door last summer. "I told you, I followed my friends."

"What are you doing in America?"

"What?" I stared at him confused. Tammy was American. He had no way of knowing that I wasn't. "I was born here."

He looked away and said something to the guy next to him. It was too fast and soft for me to pick up. Someone knocked on the door before opening it. They said something to the man interrogating me. He left.

They all left and I was alone. This was bad.

It felt like ages had passed. I didn't know how long it had been or where everyone else was. My fingers felt like they were twitching occasionally and every movement brought the pain back to the forefront of my mind. It was impossible to ignore.

I prayed that Erica and Dustin made it out. That they were safe. I felt like crying thinking about Tammy's parents. They already felt like they lost their little girl, which they did, but now they were really going to lose her. To lose both of us. The thought of that, of Tammy's and Robin's and Steve's parents losing their children because of some assholes doing some crazy government experiments, and the pain in my hand, twisted my fear into anger. How dare they. They infiltrate the town, the mall, pulling all this shit where there are children and families above them. Where at any moment it could explode and destroy too many lives.

All the anger and hate I had built up in my life against governments thinking they knew what was best over the people's wants and desires and needs was flaring up. This was bullshit. I was going to tell them that too. If I was going to die down here, they damn well were going to listen to me until they killed me.

The door finally opened again. An older gentleman walked in with the same man from before. The man who questioned me was walking slightly behind him, which likely meant that this was a dude who was in charge. At least, more in charge than the other guy.

"[Hello," he greeted almost kindly. "I hear you are called Katya." His voice was light, as if he was having a pleasant conversation about the weather. I watched him carefully. People like that always turned out to be the psychopaths in movies. "It is an interesting name for a young American." He had yet to ask a question. "With such...animosity between us, there are few with names like yours here, hm? Interesting more that you know Russian." He paced in front of me slowly, reminding me of a jungle cat in a zoo. "Where are you from?"

"Here," I said.

"America?" he asked. These were all weird questions and he seemed uncertain that I was American. I didn't like it.

"What's the point of this?" I asked, more snappish than I intended. Pain tended to make me irritable, and that was usually just mild pain. I was never going to complain about my cramps again at this point.

"The point is that I do not think you are what you are saying you are," he said pleasantly. "You are a young American girl...who has Russian name, knows Russian and happens to find our Russian base."

"That was an accident," I said slowly. "I was following my friends. Where are they?"

He shrugged. "Here, there...I will tell you when you tell me the truth. Who are you?" No one ever mentioned how tedious interrogation could be. I knew that they repeated the questions, hoping for you to slip, whether in frustration or fatigue. It was irritating though to actually experience it.

"Katya," I said. I stared at the man. Fuck you, I thought. I ignored the pain that felt like it was starting to radiate up my arm and focused on all the anger I had left.

"Who are you?" he asked again.

"Maybe you'll understand it if I say it like this," I said, my tone more appropriate for Shop when facing Tommy. "[I'm Katya.]"

He leaned forward and stared me down. It felt like getting into a staring contest with a cat. He suddenly straightened up and barked out orders to the others. [Take her! Follow me!] All I understood was the 'take her'.

They pulled me up out of the chair and I was dragged beside one of the guards who held my arm in a vice grip. My broken fingers kept brushing his side and I was trying hard not to cry out at the feeling. Someone was yelling. We were headed towards the noise and I recognized Robin's voice.

I was shoved forwards as a door opened and caught myself from falling by sheer luck and a little skill. I turned to the men.

"[You sweat off a donkey's balls!] Fucking assholes!" The men looked at each other and I heard one of them try to cover a laugh. I glared at them.

"Kate!"

I turned to see Robin and Steve tied to chairs back to back and on the floor. Soldiers picked them up and set them up straight. Steve looked like he was in worse shape than I was from what I could see. He looked like he went a round with a truck and lost.

"Where were you two going?" the older man from earlier asked them. He pointed to me, "Put her there." He motioned to the side and I realised that there was a large medical chair in the room. It looked like it was meant for the dentist. I suddenly thought of the Marvel movie with the Winter Soldier. One of the guards lifted me from under my arms. I kicked out, before flinging my head back towards his. I heard a crunch as my head hit something. I twisted and was about to shove my knee into his groin when two more soldiers picked me up. One of them grabbed my hand and I screamed. I was strapped down into the chair before I could do anything else.

"Kate!"

"Let her go!"

My hand felt like it had been broken all over again. The older man was leaning towards Robin. "We brought your friends a doctor, [little bitch.] Now you will tell us what you know."

"Hey!" I shouted, catching his attention and pulling it away from Robin. I didn't want her to go through what I had already felt. Or what they did to Steve. I used words I learned at Babka Ekaterina's knee. I knew he'd understand. "[Horse pee hole! Don't be stupid] eh? Don't fucking touch her."

He watched me for a moment before he motioned for the man near him to proceed. I watched as the other man, dressed in a vinyl apron which was never a good sign, headed towards Steve.

"Wait! What is that thing?" Steve protested and questioned.

"To help you talk," the doctor said before he held Steve's neck to the side and injected him in the neck. Steve screamed.

"Hey!" I yelled. "Stop! [Stop!]"

The doctor grabbed another vial and headed for Robin. The older man headed to me.

"[You think you're smart, little cat, but we'll know your secrets. We'll know everything soon.]" I had no idea what he said except that he used my Babka Ekaterina's nickname for me. It probably wasn't good though. I stared at him, refusing to break eye contact and letting him win. He just smiled at me. The doctor shoved my head to the side, his fingers gripping my cheek that had been hit earlier. I inhaled sharply as the needle pierced my neck. I didn't know what they injected us with but it felt weird. Shit.

[tbc]