[And like a little girl cries in the face of a monster that lives in her dreams
Is there anyone out there cause it's getting harder and harder to breathe
Is there anyone out there cause it's getting harder and harder to breathe]
--- Lyrics to 'Harder to Breathe' by Maroon 5
A Silver Lining Part 14
Wufei was leaning against the wall of the observation room, his arms folded and his dark eyes glaring at the three prisoners sitting on the other side of the transparent glass. It was difficult to just stand there, gazing on the three surviving traitors responsible for causing so much grief for his circle of friends the last two years. His fists clenched and unclenched as his seething rage continued to course through him.
A gentle hand fell on the Chinese pilot's shoulder, causing him to peer up to face his lover. With a small, comforting smile, Sally said quietly, "Steady, love. There is a long line of people waiting to have their shot at them."
Sighing deeply, Wufei ran a hand over his smoothed hair and began to pace as a means of releasing some of his tension. As he continued to stride across the room, he replied, "It's still such a disturbing thing, knowing how much trust we had put in them.
"We've trained each of them, flown missions with them, turned to them for assistance when we were outnumbered. Now..." His anger caught up with him as his teeth clenched, unable to continue his thoughts.
As she stepped in his path, Sally rested her hands on his shoulders, forcing his eyes to meet hers. "I know," she said quietly, sincerely. "Believe me when I tell you that I know what you're feeling right now. But, we have to go about this with our heads on straight."
His shoulders sagging, Wufei conceded with a deep frown. Slowly, he took a deep, soothing breath and nodded, "You're right."
Sally smirked and winked, "Of course I am." Lowering her hands, she stepped back and walked towards the table in the dimly lit room and suggested, "Come sit with me. The others should be here soon." With another nod, Wufei took the seat beside the tall woman, his dark eyes looking back through the transparent glass to the three agents sitting in the next room.
The door opened and Noin and Zechs stepped in, their own faces turned immediately to the three agents. Sitting across from Wufei and Sally, the couple turned their chairs so that they could also watch the prisoners intently. "Were you able to reach Trowa and Anna?" Sally asked after a long silence between them.
Zechs peered to the braided woman over his shoulder and replied with a nod, "Lady Une still wants them off of the premises to rest for the next couple of days, so as much as they want to be here they will have to be updated on our progress."
Again, the door opened and a very grim-looking Lady Une entered the observation room. The four Preventers rose from their seats quickly, the anticipation clear on their faces in waiting for her orders in how to handle their captives.
Easing a bit at the sight of how eager her team was, the brunette smiled a bit, raising her hand as she chuckled deeply, "At ease, everyone. We're in for a long day." Slowly, the two couples took their seats again while the Commander stood before the transparent glass.
Nearly everyone jumped when the metal door grinded quietly as it opened once more. When Heero and Duo entered, they could already feel the tension in the air. His arms wrapped around his waist, the braided pilot walked up to the glass beside Lady Une. As Heero stepped further into the room, his friends smiled or nodded to him in acknowledgement.
With a deeply frown, Duo gazed on the three familiar faces in the other room. Heero stayed in the back of the room, leaning up against the wall with his arms folded. From that spot, he could keep an eye on the traitors and his partner at the same time.
Having to struggle to keep her voice calm while she continued to glare heatedly at the prisoners, Lady Une began, "We are going to let our friends, here, sit and wait for the next couple of hours. I want them to sweat out what we may or may not have in store for them."
"And after that?" Heero asked, speaking for everyone present in anxious readiness for some form of payback for what the traitors had done.
Turning to face him, Lady Une grinned wickedly, "And after that, we start drawing straws to see who gets their first shot at breaking them." Five, smug, satisfied smirks replied their own acceptance of her plan. Duo seemed to only be partly listening, his violet eyes trained on the three individuals on the other side of the glass.
* * * * * *
Two hours later...
Peering at the reflective mirror, which they all knew to be a transparent glass on the other side, Sara Rivers narrowed her green eyes. Adjusting her long ponytail of mouse brown hair, she growled under her breath, "How the hell were they able to pick up on the break in signal? It was supposed to be fail-safe from ever being indicated."
Careful to keep his voice down, a lanky Brian Hefner's blue eyes locked with hers as he hissed, "Before we go pointing fingers at who is responsible, let's try to think logically." His shoulder-length, deep red hair swayed as he sat back in his seat.
Making sure that he kept the back of his head to the mirror, Brian mouthed to the woman across from him, 'They don't have all of us, anyway.' Sara gave a discrete nod, visibly relaxing a bit at that knowledge.
With a deep growl, Mark Conner rose from his seat, announcing, "I'm tired of just sitting here and waiting." The right side of his face was marked by a darkening bruise from where Zechs had landed his fist. Walking before the observation glass, the blonde double agent extended his arms and laughed madly, "Come on with it! Let's not play any more games here!"
Both Sara and Brian smirked wickedly to the glass, folding their arms in defiance to whoever was on the other side. There was no response from those watching them. With a loud cry, Mark punched the glass, the force of the blow nearly breaking his fingers. Despite the throb in his hand, it was good to have relieved some of his tension before returning to his seat.
On the other side of the glass, Lady Une faced the Preventers gathered there with a satisfied smirk. "That would be our cue," she announced. "The other holding cells were cleared so that you can separate the three of them. We may have a better chance of getting some information if they're on their own."
The straws had already been drawn as to who would have their first chance to handle the prisoners. From there, the three Preventers decided amongst themselves which of the traitors they wanted to deal with alone. It was agreed that the first team would have an hour to get what they could out of their chosen captive. Duo had opted to stand down from having any contact with the traitors, contenting himself to wait the interrogations out.
"All we need is a name," the Commander continued. "If we can get the name of the person they have been sharing their information with, we'll be able to slowly work up the chain of those working for White Out." With firm nods, the first three agents who drew the longest straws made their way out of the room.
In their holding cell, Sara removed her ponytail and her straight hair fell to the middle of her back. Chuckling deeply, she shook her head, "They have no idea who they're dealing with. Whatever they might try, they won't be able to get anything out of us."
Suddenly, the door to the holding cell grated open. Zechs, Heero and Noin entered, each of them with a heated glare fixed on the team gathered there. Quickly, Zechs took hold of Mark while Heero grabbed Brian before they were taken from the room with a brief struggle.
When the door slammed closed after them, Noin turned to the stunned young woman. Leaning towards Sara from across the table, the Agent Fire smirked darkly, "Looks like it's just you and me."
* * * * * *
Another hour passed before Mark and Brian were thrown back into the holding cell they had been sharing with their accomplice. Noin stepped out of the room while the three beaten captives lied on the ground for a moment to catch their breaths. Together, Zechs and Heero worked to remove the table the three chairs from the room before they slammed the door closed again.
As they left the table and chairs in the hallway, Lady Une was approaching following one of her conferences. Tilting her head, she gave the three Preventers a confused look. Answering her unspoken question, Zechs shrugged, "Now they won't have any way to hang themselves from the ceiling."
Realization filled the young woman's brown eyes as she nodded, "Ah. Good thinking." While appraising the three interrogators, she shook her head in amusement in noting that not one of them had broken a sweat during their 'one-on-one time' with the captives. Gesturing to closed door of the holding cell, she asked, "Were you able to get anywhere with them?"
Noin sighed deeply, "No. They're not about to give us any information." She ran a hand through her short hair and commented, "We'll have to have the next team have their shot at them."
"I hope that included us," a familiar voice announced. When the shocked eyes of those gathered in the hall fell on him, Trowa smirked, "I'm up for a little payback." Beside him, Anna grinned mischievously. At the sight of his friends, Heero chuckled deeply to himself, not surprised at all by their sudden appearance.
Her brown eyes narrowing a bit, Lady Une placed her hands on her hips and frowned, "I thought that I had order the two of you to stay home and rest." While no one would ever tell her, everyone did find it quite amusing how quickly Lady Une could switch from being a Commander in charge to being a concerned mothering figure.
Anna pushed off of the wall that she had been leaning against and frowned, "With all due respect, Commander, we did what you had asked. Being here is more important to us right now." Trowa nodded, the concern of being sent away again clear on his face.
"If I may say something," Zechs spoke up. When all eyes turned to him, the tall man suggested, "The more hands we have in this matter, the better. We're dealing with three very stubborn people and we may tire ourselves out before we are able to get any information out of them, considering how shorthanded we are now."
Heero nodded, "I agree. After Dobson was so quick to see killing himself as a more appealing option than giving information, we're up against the same challenge with these three."
With a deep sigh, Lady Une lowered her arms as she looked back to the young couple. A small smile tugged at her lips and she nodded, "All right. But the moment we have what we need, you are to return home."
Trowa and Anna both relaxed with relieved smiles. "We'll do that. Thank you, Commander," the tall young man nodded. Lady Une just shook her head in amusement before stepping back into the observation room. Noin, Zechs and Heero reunited with the couple with an exchange of embraces and handshakes.
Duo looked up when the door to the dimly lit room opened. His violet eyes widened at the sight of Trowa and Anna entering with the others. Duo, Wufei and Sally brightened at the refreshing sight of the familiar faces.
The young couple grinned to their friends as they prepared for their own tasks at hand. After reuniting with Sally and Wufei, they turned their full attention and concern to the quiet American sitting in the far corner. They both knew that their last encounter with him on the roof certainly had shaken him.
Bending at his knees to wrap his arms around his braided friend, Trowa whispered, "Hey, little brother." Duo smiled as he returned the embrace. Anna took her chance to hug the American tightly and kissed the top of his head.
"I had a funny feeling the two of you would show up," Wufei smirked. No sooner had he made that comment than the door opened again. His dark eyes, and all the eyes of those present, widened when Quatre stepped inside.
The blonde Arab winced slightly at the shocked faces watching him. "Sorry," he began. "I couldn't just sit back knowing what was going on here." Turning to Heero, he reassured, "Relena is still back at the house watching Yuuki, but I waited until Rashid arrived to see that she wasn't left alone."
Zechs physically relaxed knowing that his sister was not left behind. Knowing that the White Out Organization was targeting the ex-Gundam pilots, Relena could very well have been made a mark for them as well. Until they knew who they were dealing with, it was best that no one in their tight-knit group be left by themselves.
Despite his initial shock at the announcement that the blonde pilot was having an affair, and now a child, with his sister, Zechs truly did like Quatre. The fact that the young man went through every measure to see that Relena was safe proved how devoted the ex-Sandrock pilot was to her. With a satisfied smirk, he nodded his appreciation and approval to the Arabian. In seeing the nod, Quatre grinned back.
Sally addressed the group, "All right, who wants the next hour with our friends over there?" Gesturing with her head, she motioned to the three battered and bruised prisoners still sprawled out on the floor in the holding cell. Quickly, Trowa, Anna, Wufei stepped up. Both Duo and Quatre remained out of this end of the interrogation, leaving the new team to decide amongst themselves which captive they wanted to deal with.
Groaning deeply, Hefner pushed himself up from where he lied on his stomach. "Damn, Yuy's a lot stronger than I gave him credit," the redhead winced when he held a hand to his injured lower back. With his free hand, he wiped at his cut and bleeding lower lip.
Now with a matching bruise to the left side of his face, Conner growled deeply in his effort to sit up. "No one said anything did they?" he managed to ground out through his pain.
Rivers was already leaning her upper body against the wall, nursing her right arm and shaking her head, "I didn't." Brian replied the same, not than any one of them would have thought that they would be broken so easily.
The cell door opened again and Trowa, Anna and Wufei entered. Bearing a large bag, the tallest of the three stepped forward, his emerald eyes taking in the traitors, and began, "I thought that you might be wondering where your forth accomplice, Andrew, might be."
At the startled looks on the three faces before him, Trowa smirked-so these were the last of the imposters that were responsible for leaking information to their enemy. The hope that they held onto, in believing that there was at least one other member of their group out there, diminished in the form of a light in their eyes being snuffed out.
Opening the black bag, Trowa threw the blood-covered contents to fall before the prisoners. With startled gasps, they gazed on the distinct college ring that Dobson always wore proudly. It was still attached to the hand and arm of their missing partner in crime. "It was a hundred feet from the remainder of his torso," Anna informed their captives. "The rest of him had to be scraped off of the street."
His face reddened with rage, Brian shot his blue eyes up at the trio with a fiery glare. "This changes nothing," he hissed. "You won't get anything out of us." His partners nodded their agreement, their own faces fixed in anger at the loss of their friend.
"Then we'll have fun trying," Wufei snarled. Stepping forward, he took hold of Hefner while Anna took hold of Sara's injured arm, pulling her outside.
Cracking his knuckles, Trowa smirked down at an ever defiant Mark Conner. "And then there were two."
* * * * * *
More than five hours later, there was still no headway in getting anything out of the three prisoners. The two interrogating teams had switched several times now, and they were finally beginning to feel the effects of their efforts catching up with them. Wiping the sweat from her brow, Noin frowned, "I don't know how the hell they could take so much abuse and still not come out with anything."
With a deep sigh, Quatre shook his head, "It's not from lack of effort on anyone's part. From what you told me about Dobson's last statements, they consider themselves dead as it is. They don't have any reason to give away any information they may have."
Duo was sitting on the table in the center of the room, his violet eyes trained as ever on the three prisoners on the other side of the transparent mirror. Behind him, the others were huddled closely when Zechs suggested, "We should start pairing up, instead of continuing this one-on-one approach."
"I'm willing to try that," Trowa nodded. There were a few other voices of agreement, along with a few other suggestions in how to break the traitors.
As the conversation continued behind him, Duo never looked away from the mirror as he said quietly, but firmly, "Let me talk to them."
Even over all of the commotion behind him, the American's words were able to be heard by everyone and the conversation came to a sudden halt. Looking back over his shoulder to the stunned faces watching him, the braided pilot said a bit more audibly, "I think I know how to get them to talk, but I'll need to have the table and chairs set up again."
Heero stepped forward, the concern clear on his face. "Duo, are you sure that you're up to it? You really don't have to-" He stopped in mid-sentence at the intense determination in his friend's violet eyes. Taking a deep breath, the ex-Wing pilot nodded, "Alright."
Rising from the table, Duo turned to his friends and smiled sadly, "No offence, everyone, but I would feel better if only Heero and Lady Une stuck around for this." Her own concern rising now, the Preventer Commander nodded firmly to the others in a silent order to see to the request.
Slowly, the group began to file from the room, a few of Duo's friends squeezing his shoulder or giving some kind of supportive gesture before they left. Zechs and Trowa worked together in setting the table and now four chairs back up in the holding room. As the two Preventers worked, Hefner, Conner and Rivers all watched in confusion while they pulled themselves from the floor.
When the cell was closed off again, Duo took a deep breath and closed his eyes as he released it slowly. After a long pause, Heero gently placed a hand on his partner's shoulder and squeezing it. "I'll be right here, okay?" he said quietly.
Meeting his best friend's eyes, Duo gave a small smile and nodded, "Thanks, Heero." He turned to face Lady Une as she stepped forward with a small recorder to be hidden in his pocket. "I would appreciate it if this conversation was not recorded. All you need is one name, and I'll get it for you."
"Of course," the commander nodded. She stepped back and put the recorder away again. "If it ever gets to be too much for you, no one would think any less of you if you needed to get out of there." With a slight nod, Duo moved from the room without making any further eye contact with them.
When the cell door opened, the three prisoners sitting on the far side of the table paled at the sight of the braided pilot as he stepped in. Unknown to them was the effort that Duo was putting in to keeping his back straight, his steps sure and his face etched in a chilling glare.
Of all of the Preventers that Conner and the others had expected to see, Duo was certainly the last of them. Taking the only seat across from the trio, the American gave them a cold smile as he began, "I am going to make this brief. You're going to give me the name of the person that you were sharing intelligence with from the White Out Organization and I won't have to do anything worse than what the others have already done to you."
There was a long silence as the three prisoners stared at him in shock. Brian was the first to break, his head falling back as he burst into laughter. His partners joined in the same. Duo remained cold on the other side of the table, his arms folded against his chest.
"When the hell are you going to get it?" Conner exclaimed through his laughter. "There is nothing that you would be able to threaten that would make us want to tell you anything we know. You may as well kill us now for treason." Slowly, he and the others began to calm from their antics.
A dark smirk curled the right side of Duo's mouth and he replied, "Oh, that's just it. I have no intention on seeing that any of you are given a death sentence. You're all going to live the remainder of your lives just as I had the last couple of years." Suddenly, he had the full attention of the three people before him, their eyes widening.
Rising from his seat, Duo folded his hands behind his back as he paced around the table. "Do any of you know what it was like to be in that kind of captivity? What kind of hell you have to endure at the mercy of someone else? Allow me to fill you in on some of the highlights." The people at the table continued to stare ahead, to the long mirror.
As he walked past each of the traitors, Duo leaned in so that he spoke directly into their ears. "You will be put into a cell secluded from all others. You will have no way of knowing if and when any food or water will be brought to you. Sometimes, you'll go for almost a couple of days before anything is given to you. And that's just the beginning, my friends." He notices Brian swallow hard when he walked past him.
"While you are in that cell, there will be some special visits. You never know when they're going to arrive. It could be while you're in the middle of sleeping, or while you're trying to use the menial shower system when you're allowed to clean up, but they'll come," Duo grinned almost madly as he continued to circle around the table.
Still pacing around the captives, the American made vague gestures with his hands in the air as he continued, "And it may not be one visitor, sometimes it'll be two, three or maybe even four soldiers that come in to hold you down and rape you. And they won't just rape you, they will humiliate you, stab you, beat you, do whatever they wish to do to your body as you're pinned down." Now it was Sara who began to react, her head snapping up to watch the braided pilot.
Leaning forward to speak into the ears again, Duo went on, "Oh, but it gets better. Not all of those unexpected visits are men trying to get off by using your body sexually, but there are also those men who use other means of using you.
"Suddenly, you've just become a lab rat for serums and other injections to be used in warfare. As you are tied down once again, you are filled with a wide range of things. It could be a nerve stimulant, one which makes every single working nerve in you burn in such an agony that you are on the constant urge of blacking out.
"Or, it could be an injection that tests the limits of your heart, causing it to race to the point of bursting in your chest, or slowing it to the point that it hardly moves any blood into your system to cause a near shut down. It might be serum that attacks your lungs, causing such tightness with every breath that you fathom the idea of just not breathing again. Sometimes, the real fun comes when just as you're struggling with these symptoms, it's decided that you're going to be raped again."
Some of the memories of the whole experience were beginning to catch up with Duo again as he had to work harder to keep his control. Forcing another smile, he stated, "Along with so many other possibilities, it may just be a shot of vitamin C, or something else which will cause absolutely no harm to you, but the doctors just wanted to laugh at you at your hysterics and crying, pleading for them to not inject you again. You just never know." Sweat was running down Mark's face, but he and the others still kept their faces forward all the while. They were all pale and looking as though they were about to be very ill.
Duo ended his pacing, resting his hands on the table as he leaned towards the stricken faces watching him. Lowering his voice, he smirked, "And you know what the best part of all? Throughout it all, you can feel death just inches away from you and you want it. You never want something so much in your existence than for that ever present oblivion to take you away. You wait for it, beg for it, pray for it, cry for it to end the suffering."
The braided pilot's voice was a near whisper as he concluded, "But it never comes."
"Stop it," Sara whimpered, tears springing into her green eyes.
Visibly trembling, Brian's voice cracked while he begged, "Please."
"You're forced to continue through that never ending hell that you never know what is coming," Duo spoke up a bit louder, ignoring the plea. "You can only sit and wait-"
Mark squeezed his eyes closed, shaking his head fiercely and cried, "No more!"
"I want a name!" Duo shouted, pounding his fist on the table, causing the three prisoners to jump nearly a whole foot from their seats.
Faintly, Brian whispered, "T-Terry Henderson." Duo's head snapped in his direction, the fire in his violet eyes enough to burn through him. "The name of the person we have been sharing Preventer intelligence with is Terry Henderson."
TBC...
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