Columbine

Alice looked at the file in her hands one more time, and then through the glass, into the interrogation room. She was back to her old role of interrogator again, and she wished more than anything that she could somehow evaporate before the time came to question the man that she saw through the glass. She bit her lip, trying not to think about all the past interrogations she’d been forced to do, and how terribly each one had ended.

“I can’t wait to get my hands on this vigilante piece of shit.” Jack said.

He was standing next to Alice, flexing his fingers and undoubtedly thinking of new, innovative torture methods.

“Those bastards think they can get away with anything, don’t they?” Jack continued. “Think they can plant a bomb on us and just waltz away unpunished?”

It was obvious that Jack was talking to himself.

Alice hated to think it, but he had a fragment of a point. Her ears still weren’t hearing as well as they used to. The explosion had no doubt blown her eardrums to hell. She tried not to think about the brace on her leg as she edged away from Jack.

A piece of shrapnel from the explosion had pierced her thigh, making her look a lot like a human shish kebab. It had later been pulled out and her wound had been healed by the infirmary doctors, but it still hurt like hell to move that leg. That’s what the painkillers were for.

Unfortunately, she’d had to skimp on painkillers this morning, so she could have her full wits for the interrogation.

She’d all but begged the men not to make her interrogate again, but had been told that she had the best record of extorting information in a given time frame of interrogation. It was the one thing that she wished she wasn’t nearly so good at.

“Let’s get started, shall we?” Jack beckoned to Alice as he opened the door and walked into the room that was visible through the glass. Alice nervously followed him. If the prisoner only knew how lucky he was to have been assigned Alice and not anyone else…

Alice closed the door and limped over to the table. Jack took his place in the darkest corner, leaving Alice to attempt to leech at least a little information from their prisoner.

He was wiry-looking -- hair cut short, clothes greasy with weeks of unwashed grime, fresh scars on his face, and a mural of bruises all over his body. The last thing he needed was a new level of pain.

“Are you Robert Newman?” Alice asked him, looking down at the file one more time to confirm.

Not that she didn’t know the answer to that already. It was a filler question. She always tried to drop in as many filler questions as she could, to try to buy some time.

Robert Newman nodded.

“You took part in the attack on the Demataxt center that occurred two days ago, is that correct?” Alice asked. Robert Newman nodded again.

“Please tell me why.” Alice said. Robert Newman smirked.

“You’re honestly asking me that?” He sneered. “I think you know why.”

“No, I don’t.” Alice lied. “Please enlighten me.”

Robert Newman leaned back in his chair, as if he was tired of the questions already. It made sense, of course, but Alice was only trying to give him more time. More time to cherish the feeling of being alive.

“First, you come in and tell us you’re in charge now,” Robert Newman said, “You force all your stupid rules on us. You tell us you’re somehow better than we are because you’ve got freaking superpowers--”

“Shut up, swine!” Jack interrupted him. “You think you’re better than we are because you’re a human?”

Alice held her hand up to show him that he needed to be quiet. It was the one time that Jack ever obeyed her. He closed his mouth at once, and Alice tried not to smile.

“Go on.” She said to Robert Newman, who had a look of intense contempt stamped on his face.

“Anyway,” He continued, “You freaks have no idea what you’ve got coming. But when it hits you, I damn well hope that you know exactly what you’re up against.”

“Is that a threat?” Alice asked. Robert Newman shrugged.

“Nope.” He grinned. “Just a warning.”

This was just a typical example of why Alice was considered the best interrogator. Unlike so many of her co-workers, she merely let the prisoners talk. It was shocking how much information they allowed to spill out when they went on their tirades. With a little probing and some torture on Jack’s part, all sorts of useful facts came out into the open.

“I see you’ve got a bit of an injury.” Robert Newman pointed at the brace on Alice’s leg, not even trying to hide his smile.

“Yeah.” Alice nodded. “Some shrapnel got stuck in my leg during the explosion.”

“Ouch.” Robert Newman said sarcastically. “That had to hurt.”

“Lucky I got some really nice pills to help with that.” Alice said, mirroring the snideness of Robert Newman’s tone.

“Pills can’t take away your fear.” Robert Newman grinned. “I mean, you’ve got to be afraid, right? You thought you were safe in that building of yours, weren’t you? But look at it now. Guess it doesn’t matter how many superpowers you’ve got. You still can’t stop a bomb.”

Alice frowned. She was starting to both admire and dislike Robert Newman at the same time. On the one hand, he didn’t seem to be afraid of pissing any of them off, but he was also incredibly rude.

“No one can stop a bomb when it’s already gone off, for your information.” Alice snapped. “And the fact still remains that you were involved with terrorist activity.”

Robert Newman smirked.

Suddenly he blinked, a renewed spark of interest lighting up in his eyes.

“You’re French, aren’t you?” He suddenly asked.

“Huh?” Alice asked, the question having caught he off guard.

“You still have a bit of an accent.” Robert Newman pointed out.

“I’m from Switzerland.” Alice explained.

Robert Newman looked a little disappointed at this piece of news. Alice looked at the file again, and then back up.

“Do you know about what happened on Halloween?” She asked after a moment of thought. Robert Newman’s eyes sparked with interest again.

“You mean the music?” He asked, eyes wide with excitement.

“Yes.” Alice nodded.

“I don’t know exactly what happened, but damn, it was something.” Robert Newman smiled. There was a fondness in his smile that Alice couldn’t help but share with him.

“I’m no idiot.” Robert Newman said. “I know that nothing you freaks can do comes even close to what happened on Halloween.”

The word ‘freak’ was no stranger to Alice, but she couldn’t help wincing at it, nonetheless. It implied that she wasn’t supposed to be the way she was -- that she was wrong somehow.

“Perhaps you’re right.” Alice agreed. “But it’s still a mystery what the source of the music could have been. We’re still trying to figure it out.”

“Good luck with that.” Robert Newman smirked.

“Can we please get on with the questions?” Jack finally growled from his dark corner. “If you’re going to keep wasting time with pointless chit-chat, I’d be happy to take your place.”

Alice swallowed, and looked at Robert Newman. If she mentally washed the grime from his skin, she could see the ghost of a handsome face. But there was something else there, too. It was more in his eyes than anywhere else. It looked an awful lot like fear. It was faint, and almost invisible, but it was still there.

“Okay.” She said, voice on the verge of trembling. “I would like you to write down the names of everyone in your terrorist cell on this paper.”

She slid a sheet of notebook paper and a pen out in front of Robert Newman. He looked at her angrily at first, and then realized the same thing that Alice was thinking. Names wouldn’t do the Demataxt any good. If the terrorist cell was in hiding, it didn’t matter if their names were being recited on every street corner. As far as the members that were already in custody, well, they didn’t matter much either.

“The name of your organization too, please.” Alice added. With a forced look of contempt, Robert Newman began to furiously scribble in handwriting that was barely legible.

Alice looked at Jack, who seemed to be more at ease now. She hoped that she could keep him that way for the next half-hour. It was policy that if the interrogation was not finished in the given time frame, the prisoner would be kept alive until the next day, when the interrogation could continue. Thirty minutes didn’t seem that long in retrospect, but to Alice it might as well have been thirty days.

“Finished.” Robert Newman grumbled, giving the sheet of paper back to Alice. He’d doodled a hand with the middle finger raised in the corner of the sheet. Alice didn’t say anything, but instead continued to read.

“Front For Humanity?” She asked, unsure if that was what the title said.

“That would be it.” Robert Newman mumbled.

A list of names continued after the title, coming to a round sum of about ten people.

“This isn’t nearly enough people to make a terrorist cell.” Alice concluded.

“Well, duh.” Robert Newman said. “That’s just the main guys. There’s dozens of others, but they’re not all that important. Kind of like you guys and your demon lords.” He sneered.

Alice tucked the paper into the file, and closed it shut.

“Thanks.” She said. “You’ve been very helpful.”

“Is this the part where you shoot me now?” Robert Newman asked, feigning boredom almost well enough to make Alice believe him.

“No.” Alice said. “You’ll be kept alive for at least one more day. I think there’s a lot more you can tell us. Killing you at this time would not be in our best interests.”

Robert Newman’s eyes widened in what looked a lot like gratitude of a short moment, and then he quickly forced his face back into it’s trademark expression of contempt.

“That’s mighty sweet of you.” He sneered. “You sure you don’t have a crush on me?”

Alice didn’t answer him. She could feel the tears accumulating already. She swallowed, already envisioning herself coming back to her hotel room, closing the door, sitting down on her bed, and letting the tears come out. Then afterwards, she’d down another bottle of cheap whiskey.

Her old life of an interrogator was back, and she could tell that there was no way out this time. She’d be watching pain again soon enough. It was just a matter of time until Robert Newman’s courage became the thing that killed him.

“What’s the matter with you?” He suddenly asked.

“What?” Alice blinked, having lost herself in her thought.

“There’s something on your face.” He pointed.
Alice slapped a hand over the moist spot beneath her eye, shocked that she’d let a tear roll out before its time.

“This session is now over.” She finally said, and got up from her seat. She tried to get out of the room as quickly as possible, but it wasn’t nearly fast enough, what with the brace on her leg.

“If you haven’t got the stomach for this, then you’ve picked the wrong profession, darling!” Robert Newman shouted after her as she finally made it through the door.