A Vicious Interrogation

Champion stalked into the space, stooping under the door frame. The contesters were lined up, kneeing on the ground and arms bound with three soldiers standing behind them. At the sight of him, most of them visibly tensed. The swell of pride and self-importance engulfed him.

This was often his favorite part. He got such a thrill from making others give them what he wanted against their will. Slowly, silently, he gauged them each individually looking for the one who was going to be the most fun to watch cave under his pressures.

There were three men and woman. Women tended to inhabit the more strategic roles in the contester sects. She would be the one he targeted for information.

He walked up to the one man who didn’t seem to recognize him – a young guy, maybe 20, at the end of the line. And he had a steel in his eye that dared Champion to challenge him, test him. Likely a newer recruit to their so called cause.

Champion pulled him to his feet and dusted him off. The kid had a bruise on his face from the ambush and was breathing heavily. He glared up at Champion, chin up and head held high. Champion looked straight at him and leaned down a little.

“Walk to the door,” Champion said strongly, softly.

The instant confusion on his face was gold. He was trying to work out the angle – was it a test? Was he being released? He tried to glance down at his fellow contesters – but Champion blocked his view with his open hand and gave the kid an encouraging jerk toward the door with his head.

The kid gave him a confused look and Champion stepped aside, deliberately moving so that he could see the woman still kneeling on the ground. The flustered and suspicious young contester took a tentative step forward, and then started walking cautiously toward the door to the outside.

When he was halfway through the space, Champion pulled his gun and shot him in the spine sending him sprawling forward, arms still bound. Even before the boy landed dead on his face on the floor, Champion was already watching the reactions of the remaining three. The two men were breathing heavily, looking struck at the body of the young man in front of them. The woman, was looking at Champion.

She looked scared, horrified – and resolved. She expected him to do this.

Oh yeah, she’s the one I need.

He fought the slightest smile he felt creeping in. Getting information from her was going to be fun. He turned is gun onto the next man in line. Keeping eye contact with the woman, he gave the second man the order.

“Walk to the door.”

The man shook his head, shrinking away from Champion. So Champion addressed the soldier behind him.

“Cut him loose.”

The soldier looked a little startled and hesitated for a moment before caving under Champion’s gaze. He pulled the contester up and released his arms before stepping back to him position.

The contester stood looking terrified, rubbing one of his arms absently where the binds had been removed. Champion addressed him again, “Walk to the door.”

The man shook his head more vehemently. Without hesitation, Champion shot him through the eye. The man crumpled to the ground and rolled into the woman still kneeling there. Champion moved his aim to her face, then slowly shifted it to the last man kneeling farthest from him.

“Where is the central contester base?” he said to her. She flinched, but shook her head quickly.

Champion looked to the soldier standing behind the last man.

“Bring him over here,” he said stalking into the center of room.

The soldier dragged the man over to Champion, and he was pleased to find the woman was starting to look more panicked. The last man was much smaller than Champion. While there weren’t too many that could come close to his stature, this man was nearly a foot shorter than Champion. He picked up a tipped over chair and dragged it over before grabbing his victim’s collar, forcing him to his knees again, and sitting down in the chair himself.

“Let’s try again,” he said to the woman. “Where is the main base?”

She glanced at the man on his knees for a brief moment, and then drilled Champion with a piercing stare as she replied.

“Fuck you.”

Her steely look and calm opposition actually gave him the smallest jolt of electricity. He took it as an added bonus to the usual thrill this brought him – the control and power that came from prying things from others – making them give him what they didn’t want to. She was going to draw this out, even better. The slow pull could be even more fun than getting what he wanted quickly, reading the next move and the next.  

He placed his boot on the heel of the man on the ground, twisting his foot under it was nearly sideways.

“Where is it?” he demanded. She shook her head.

Champion slammed his foot downward on the man’s ankle as he stood, placing his whole substantial weight into it. The sickening crack it made only preceded the man’s scream as he involuntarily twisted trying to relieve the pain and free his now shattered ankle.

He had to raise his voice now, to be heard over the agonized sounds of the man under his boot.

“Where is the base!?”

“No! I’m not telling you shit!”

Champion picked his foot up and drove it down again – this time on the man’s calf. Another crunching snap, another excruciating scream. Her eyes were shining a little, but her demeanor seemed to become more resolved.

His fist collided with the side of the man’s head.

“WHERE!?”

“Toni, don’t. He’s going to kill me either way,” the battered man’s voice was hoarse from screaming.

“Toni,” Champion used the woman’s name. “Where is the main base?”

“Fuck you, Bannor. We know who you are – even if your sister won’t see it. Your tactics won’t work here.”

How DARE she bring up Caraline.

His composure cracked. Straying from his plan, he strode forward and struck her across the face with his open hand, hard. So hard she was thrown sideways to the ground. With her arms bound, she couldn’t catch herself and her temple hit the ground. She released a sharp breath and shook her head.

He was feeling a little off his game now, he’d meant to maintain pressure on the woman by using the man as leverage. Now he’d slipped. Changing his strategy, he turned to speak to the man instead.

“Where is the base?”

The man was looking rough and staring at the woman, intensely. It felt too intense to be familial.

They’re a couple.

If he was right, he might be able to redeem this if he turned his physical attention to the woman to leverage her against the man. She stared back for a moment and his gaze returned to Champion.

“Fuck you,” he spat at him.

Champion kicked the woman in the gut, and she gasped and struggled for breath from the impact which probably broke a couple ribs. Leaving her writhing, unable to breathe behind him, he grabbed the man by the collar lifting him off the ground. His broken leg dangling awkwardly beneath him.

“Where. Is. It?” Champion’s drawled, regaining his cool. “I might kill you, or her, or both. But I can drag this out for a while. Where. Is. The base.”

The smaller man’s eyes were starting to look glassy. He was running out of time to get information from this one, the pivot in the plan wasn’t going to work.

“Eat shit,” he said, spitting blood into Champion’s face.

Champion threw him to the ground, wiped the foreign fluids off his face and then laid into the man on the ground, hitting him over and over. He didn’t know how long he’d been beating him before he realized the man had gone completely limp.

He left the man battered, barely alive and turned back to the woman. She was still gasping for air and the tears were flowing down her face unbridled now. He lifted her off the ground with one hand and threw her over his shoulder. If she wouldn’t talk here, he’d bring her somewhere she would.

“You’re in for it now,” he seethed at her. “He’s dead, and you’ll wish you were soon enough.”

This encounter had left him feeling dismantled. His efforts didn’t get him what he wanted – he prided himself on reading people, knowing what moves to make to get what he wanted. These two hadn’t even budged – and what’s more he’d deviated from his plan unexpectedly. The man was dead – or as good as. He’d hand to woman over to Maddox for interrogation.

Maybe a more gendered approach would work. Maddox specialized in women.

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