A hand slapped my face and my eyes fluttered open. They hadn’t been closed for long, as far as I knew. But I could easily be wrong. It didn’t really matter. The room swam in front of my eyes, and attempting to blink my eyes clear only made the rippling worse, somehow. I tried to focus on something. The walls were white and unadorned, with no windows, only a silvery mirror that took up most of the wall opposite to me. A two-way mirror, of course. The floor was bare cement, and the only furniture was a metal table bolted to the center of the room and chair where I was currently bound. I should probably have been more worried about that, but I didn’t really have it in me to be too concerned about anything, currently. The hand gripped my chin and directed my eyes to his.

“Stay focused, Rayna, we have a lot to discuss and little time to do it in,” Wallace scowled down at me.

I laughed lightly,

“Sorry, I guess I am a little easily distracted, at the moment. Which reminds me, I haven’t even thanked you for getting out the good drugs for me, Wally. Honestly, I am a little flattered. Especially because you know it isn’t really going to help.”

“No?” Wallace raised an eyebrow, bemused. “Why do you say that?”

“Oh, come on. You’ve been in the business too long to think that truth serum is real. If your scientists convinced you that it was, you are more gullible than I thought. The CIA has tested it thoroughly, far beyond the bounds of ethics some would say, and it never works for getting information out of someone. Especially if they have any sort of training.”

“Do you remember yours, I wonder?” Wallace asked. “It has been some time.”

“We’ll see, I suppose. Regardless, basically every government in the world has been chasing this one longer than both of us have been alive. If they haven’t cracked it, I doubt you managed. But, if you just want to have an exceeding long and pointless chat, I am apparently very up for talking. That part generally works, you just don’t get to control what I choose to say.”

Wallace sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Resisting this is just going to drag things out, you know that. Why waste both of our time?”

“For one, I don’t really have anything to tell you, not that you will believe that, but the fact remains that I am not the one in control of when this ends. For another, I’m not sure you know this, because I hide it well, but I am not your biggest fan, Wally. And if wasting your time is the last little inconvenience I can offer, well that seems like a better way to go out than the alternative, doesn’t it?” I grinned. “Besides, at the moment I am having much more fun than you are, so let’s drag this out.”

I leaned my head back and watched the trails of light falling from the bulb in the center of the ceiling.

“I could change that at any time, you know,” Wallace took a menacing step towards me, fists clenched at his side.

I laughed again,

“Oh? Well, I am looking forward to finding out how.”

Wallace turned back to the two-way mirror behind him and gestured for someone to join us. A moment later, the door opened, and Tom entered the room. He looked over at me and shook his head sadly. Well, at least it was obvious who was playing the good cop.

“Hey, Tommy. Here to finish what you started, then?” I asked.

“That isn’t fair, Ray. I hate seeing you like this.”

I snorted,

“Bullshit. This is what you’ve wanted the whole time, don’t pretend it isn’t.”

Tom looked down at the floor, as if truly saddened by my response.

“I don’t know why you’d think that, Ray. How did it come to this? After everything we’ve been through? We were friends.”

“There was a time I believed that, too,” I replied.

“Then how could you do it? How could you lie to me like this? Betray me? Betray all of us?”

“You sure you want to talk with me about lies and betrayal right now?” I asked. “I am being chemically encouraged to be honest, at the moment, and I’m not sure you are going to like hearing this particular truth.”

“What are you talking about?” he raised an eyebrow. “I am not the one with something on my conscience.”

“No? Not ready to admit it, even now? Or perhaps it just doesn’t bother you.”

“What are you talking…?” he began.

“You drugged me, abducted me, held me here against my will,” I ticked off points on my fingers. “Worse, you lied to me about it and pretended you were trying to ‘help’ me.”

“You know about that?” his eye widened.

“Of course I do. You aren’t half as smooth as you think you are,” I shook my head. “If I hadn’t agreed to help you here, what were you planning to do with me, huh? Let me go?”

Tom refused to meet my eyes.

“I didn’t think so. Some friend,” I scoffed. “And that isn’t even touching on what you two idiots are trying to do, here. Which, frankly, is a complete and utter betrayal of everything we ever fought for in the Organization. So, yeah, I think it is fucking rich for you to try lecturing me about betrayal, Tom. At least take a good look in mirror first.”

It actually felt kind of good to get that off my chest. Perhaps it wasn’t wise to antagonize them, but really what difference did it make? They were going to kill me either way. At least this was fun. Kind of therapeutic too.

“Hey, at least I was doing something,” Tom recovered his voice at last. “You were just hiding away, wallowing in self-pity. It was pathetic. So yes, I drugged you and brought you here. It was for your own good. Just like the ubarae need to be exterminated, for the good of humanity. We will be the ones to finally accomplish this,” he preened. “We will win humanity’s freedom. We cannot coexist.”

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“Except that we did, for thousands of years,” I noted.

“Does a rabbit coexist with a fox?”

“Yes. Obviously,” I rolled my eyes, then made a mental note not to do that, it made me very dizzy. “They are both key parts of the ecosystem, they coexist in a balance. I could explain…”

“Humans are not rabbits; we do not allow them to be killed for the sake of balance.”

“It was your analogy,” I shrugged.

“And you are being willfully obtuse. How many people died, under the old system? Innocent people,” he retorted.

“Probably less than will die when you attempt to implement your insane solution,” I observed. “Even if you choose not to count ubarae as victims, the human death toll is going to be staggering. Surely you can see that?”

“Sacrifices are sometimes necessary. We will minimize them, when we can.”

“Sure you will. How about you just admit it, Tom? Just admit that you don’t really care about anyone else, as long as you get to play the savior. Just like you didn’t care what happened to me after I arrived. You wanted me here, and that was all that mattered. And I think we both know why, don’t we? To demonstrate how much power you have now, how much better you are at this, compared to me. You wanted to order me around, maybe even make me feel a little indebted to you for saving me. Am I close?” I shook my head. “I mean, I knew you were always jealous of me, Tom, but I never thought you would take it this far.”

“Jealous? Of you?” Tom forced a laugh. “Who would be jealous of washed-up has-been?”

“Good question. You tell me,” I paused. “Actually, Vicki and I had a little chat about that. She thinks…”

“You’ve been talking about me with that succubus?” I could hear his teeth grinding as he spoke.

“Oh, yeah. She was very insightful. She may be a murderous asshole, but at least she is honest about it,” I studied the ceiling tiles idly. “Now, she thinks that…”

Tom punched me in the face before I could continue. In fairness, that was pretty much the expected result. So much for the good cop, though.

“Shut your mouth,” he turned back to Wallace. “We are wasting our time, surely you can see that. She isn’t going to give us anything. But there are other ways to make her talk.”

I grimaced. Really, Tom, so quick to torture? I had known that he was beyond saving when I looked in his eyes, the day he left Liz to die. I had known there was nothing left to salvage in our relationship. But that still hurt a bit.

“Let me give you a tip,” I idly licked a trickle of blood running down from my nose, over my lip. “Drugs or torture. Don’t try to do both at the same time. Because I am pretty much feeling nobody’s pain right now.”

Tom snarled, balling his fist again. Wallace put a hand on his shoulder,

“Tom,” his voice was taught with irritation. “Back off.”

“But I…” Tom began to protest.

“I said back off,” he raised his voice slightly. “She is taunting you; don’t you see that? We have more important concerns than whatever petty personal squabbles you two have. Do not let her sidetrack this interrogation. Do not let her get under your skin.”

“Too late for that, I think,” I grinned, blood reddening my teeth.

Tom lunged at me again, but Wallace held him back.

“Enough,” he commanded, more sternly this time. “I am going to ask some questions now. You go out in the hall and pull yourself together.”

Tom gritted his teeth, but he nodded tightly and slipped out of the room. I leaned my head back, shifting in the chair.

“You choose your people so well, Wally,” I observed.

“Yes, well. These days few of us have the luxury of choice. Why do you think I even entertained the thought of keeping you around? I should have known better.”

“You absolutely should have,” I agreed amiably. “I was very clear where I stood on all this the first time Tom spoke to me. Should have believed me.”

“Yes. What can I say? We are desperate for people. Even the dregs will do. No offense,” he added insincerely.

“None taken. If you recall, I didn’t want back in. All I wanted was to be left alone in my early retirement. If your people hadn’t specifically sought me out, I wouldn’t be here, and we wouldn’t be having this conversation. That has to sting, I imagine,” I smirked.

Wallace flared his nostrils, but he had a much better handle on his temper than Tom did. He took a deep breath and relaxed his shoulders.

“It’s alright, no real harm done, was there?” he looked at me pointedly. “You clearly aren’t as effective as you once were. How disappointed James would be if he could see his protégé now.”

It was blatant manipulation, but that didn’t always make it easier to hear.

“Perhaps he would be,” I admitted. “But I think he would have understood. James was a good man, one of the reasons I respected him. And what you are doing here, he never would have stood for this, never would have allowed it. It’s why he was put in charge, instead of you. Well, one of the many reasons.”

Wallace scowled,

“No, he was in charge because he was weak. They were all weak. I am the only one with the strength and vision to do what must be done. And I cannot allow you to jeopardize my plans. So, you are going to tell me who sent you, Rayna. Who is aware of us? Is it Gail?”

“Oh, god no. Gail wouldn’t have let me anywhere near this, if it were up to her. You know that.”

It was, essentially, the truth.

“Who, then? Another government agency?” Wallace raised a questioning brow.

“Nope. I came all on my own. You are imagining a vast conspiracy that isn’t there, Wally. I wanted to see what you were up to. Maybe try to talk you out of it, that’s all. If I had realized how serious you were, maybe I would have been more careful. But by the time I figured that out, it was too late. So, I just tried to slow things down as best as I could.”

“Why help steal the drug, then?” he asked, skeptically.

“Because your original plan was going to get a bunch of people killed. I didn’t want that, so I found a better way.”

“That’s it? No orders or support from anyone?”

“Like who? Surely you have been monitoring me, while I was here. Who could I have spoken to, without you knowing?”

“What about the incubus, Britton? Why would you free a rogue like that?”

“He said he wasn’t, Jess vouched for him.”

“Yes, the coroner,” he shook his head. “She always seemed very competent, but the fact remains that she is not Immune. Surely you can see that he must have been manipulating her. Even now, you aren’t that stupid.”

“I couldn’t be sure. What was I supposed to do, send him back here to be executed no matter what?” I shrugged. “I made a judgement call.”

“And demonstrated precisely why your judgement cannot be trusted. You acted out of foolish sympathy and guilt, instead of logic.”

“True. But I am not too keen on your judgement, either. You’ve let fear, anger and a decades old grudge shape your entire adult life. You have spread the blame for one person’s heinous act out to an entire species. I wouldn’t call that logic, myself,” I held his gaze. “I will not be party to the massacre you are planning just to soothe an old wound.”

“It isn’t just about me,” he sniffed. “It’s about the security and future of humanity.”

“You keep telling yourself that, champ,” I closed my eyes. “But I’m not buying it. Now, are we done, here?”

“Who have you told about us, Rayna? Who else knows?” Wallace demanded.

“I told you, nobody. I came here on my own, and I haven’t spoken to anyone since, so who could know?”

Wallace snorted and turned away in disgust, pacing the other side of the room. I could tell that he wanted to believe me, believe that his plans were safe, but he wasn’t sure. I would keep up the pretense; hopefully if he did accept it, he would let his guard down a bit. And on the personal side, I just didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of revealing anything he actually wanted to know. Finally, he threw up his hands.

“This is getting us nowhere. Maybe Tom was right. We’ll try this again with another form of persuasion. It should take a couple of hours for the effects of the serum to wear off. I’ll be back then, and we’ll resume. Maybe you should take that time to consider your options, Rayna.”

“Is there anything I could say that would convince you that I have already told you everything? I mean, we both know I won’t say anything more, and we both know you are going to kill me, so… any chance we can just… get this over with?”

Wallace’s expression turned dark,

“Not yet,” he said softly, voice filled with quiet malice. “When I put a bullet in your head, I want you to really feel it.”

With that, he opened the door and disappeared into the hallway, slamming it shut behind him.