A9 opened the door, and stepped into the room, wearing a CBRN overpressure suit atop his ECA, making his massive form look bigger.
The man sat in a metal chair, devoid of clothing, his hands handcuffed to the sides of the backrest, and his legs bound by the ankle as well as just below the knee to the legs of the chair. He was shivering, even as the ambient temperature in the room read 74 degrees fahrenheit.
A nylon strap bound him under each arm, across the chest, holding his torso firmly to the back of the chair.
C7 stood behind the man at parade rest, having ignored the man's questions and pleas for mercy. She was simply there to make sure he didn't expire during questioning.
A9 squatted in front of the man and looked into his eyes.
The man looked back, even as he couldn't see through the visor of his helmet within the suit.
"So, I don't see the need to be professional with you, as what I might do to you won't be professional," A9 sighed. "Here's how this is going to work." A9 said.
"Please," the man managed. A9 ignored him.
"I'll ask questions, some of which I know the answer to, and if you answer, and honestly, nothing happens, and you're just another UNPC detainee." A9 said. 'But if not," he paused for effect. "I will make you, shall we say, uncomfortable? At least until you answer my questions."
The man's eyes went wide, and he started to hyperventilate. "Plase, no, I told you all I don't know anything" he said quickly, stumbling over his words.
"Where is the chemical weapon production facility?" A9 asked, his tone flat.
"I don't know" The man sobbed, "please don't hurt me."
A9 sighed, "I don't want to, believe me." He put his massive right hand on the man's bare thigh. "If you just tell me, I won't" he said, looking the man in the eyes.
A9 paused for the length of two breaths. "Alright, we'll circle back to that one later when your memory is a bit better." he supposed.
"What types of weapons does the facility produce?" He asked, his tone inquisitive this time.
The man looked at him blankly, shaking his head. "I don't know" he squeaked.
A9 gripped the man's thigh hard, using his enhanced strength through his ECA gauntlet and rubber glove to pinch the meat of the man's thigh. He screamed in pain, trying to retreat from it.
A9 let him scream as he bore down a bit harder, and then released his grip and let the man take two gasping breaths, waiting patiently.
"Please" he squeaked again. A9 ignored him once more.
"Weapons, what kinds?" he asked.
"I don't know." the man sobbed again.
"Oh come on, we found trace amounts of blister agent on your clothing." A9 said. "So, what types?" he asked again.
"I don't know, I was just a guard" he sobbed, tears streaming down his face.
A9 sighed, standing up.
"Last chance before I stop being so nice." A9 said.
"I don't know" the man breathed into his lap before looking up at A9.
A9 hit the man with a fast jab, feeling his nose crackle beneath the layers of protective material cladding his fist. Before the man could recover, he drove two fast punches into the man's stomach, one right on his belly button and the other just below his sternum.
The man's breath went out of him in a woosh, and while he had the wind knocked out of him, A9 took a thick clear plastic bag from a pouch, and wrapped the man's head in it, pulling it tight against his face, balling the material up behind his head.
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He started to thrash, unable to take the whooping breath his lungs were dying for, the blood slicked plastic sealing off his breath.
A9 gave him two rapid punches to the right ear, and took the bag off.
"Weapons, what kind?" A9 asked as the man struggled to breathe.
A9 slapped him across the face, hard. "Weapons, what kind?"
"I DON'T FUCKING KNOW YOU STUPID MOTHERFUCKER" The man screamed into his face.
A9 didn't react, letting the man scream at him. "You done?" he asked after a moment.
The man screamed in rage, long and loud, his voice going hoarse. A9 ignored it, looking down at him.
"Do you know where the last shipment of weapons were used?" A9 asked. The man didn't reply. "A small village, the warlord they were sold to wanted to test the mortars. Seventy two civilians had chemical weapons used on them just because someone wanted to play with their toys." A9 stated coldly.
The man looked at him, breathing through a hung open mouth with open unfiltered hatred in his eyes.
"Must suck to be them" the man mumbled after a dozen breaths.
A9 grabbed the chair and flipped it backwards, the man's head bouncing off of the concrete floor, shooting stars through his vision.
The man looked up at C7, who stood unmoving, and blinked twice, his breathing quickened once more.
"Since you wanted to cop an attitude" A9 mused, moving over to a wall and twisting a valve, then grabbing a red garden hose off of the floor and taking two quick steps towards the man. He drove the toe of his heavy hardened steel cleated right overboot into the man's kidney.
The man howled in pain as A9 crouched down next to him, holding the hose kinked in his hand. "Every time you piss blood for the next two weeks." He paused. Grabbing the man's unwashed mop of dark hair in his left fist, lifting his head and turning it so the man could see himself in the reflection of the CBRN oversuit.
"I want you to remember how much of a pussy I made you today." He finished, dropping the hose, spewing cold water across the man, and making him flinch away from it as it pooled beneath the chair, and producing a thick piece of OD green cotton canvas.
"Weapons, what type?" A9 asked again, looking down at him.
"Fuck you." The man spat.
A9 dropped to his knees, put his left knee next to the man's head, the edge of the canvas fabric beneath it, the other end held in a fist. He pulled it tight against the man's face, his knuckles against the floor on the other side of the man's head, pressing against the already obliterated cartilage of the man's face.
He started to squirm.
"Already? I haven't even started the water works yet," A9 said, lifting the piece of fabric.
"Ready to talk?" A9 asked, looking down at the man.
The man said nothing, just breathed quickly, fear on his face. A9 paused for a moment, allowing the man to deliberate his options.
"Okay then" A9 said, tightening the fabric against his face again.
A9 unkinked the hose, spraying the man with the water as he held the end in his fist, and pummeled on the man's solar plexus with a full force punch, one he followed all the way through with, watching the man's torso buckle a bit.
He held the hose so the water was spraying against the fabric. The man squirmed for a moment before his instincts overcame him, and he took a whooping breath, sucking in water through the thick fabric and starting to thrash.
A9 gave it a 10 count and let up, still hosing the man's face, but without the fabric. He kinked the hose and switched it to his left hand, freeing up his right.
Which he promptly used to strangle the man, pinching off his carotid arteries as the man coughed and sputtered.
"Weapons, what types?' A9 asked, keeping a steady grip. He wasn't trying to kill the man, just give him the headache and blood pounding sensation.
"Everything" the man squeaked after hesitating, still trying to catch his breath while struggling against the restraints.
"What was that?" A9 asked, letting go of his neck and grabbing him by the right ear instead, lowering his head so he was closer to the man.
"Everything you can think of" He said.
"That being?" A9 asked, as casual as ordering a coffee.
"Nerve, blister, blood agent, all of it." the man breathed, seeming to relax.
"See, that's more like it, how easy was that?" A9 said, rocking back on his heels and lifting the chair up in a single smooth motion. The metal chair clanged, and A9 moved over to the wall, and twisted the valve in the opposite direction, shutting off the water.
"Okay." A9 said, walking past the man, and grabbing the chair so he was pivoted to face the left wall, which had a map. "I know you can read a map, what grid square?" A9 asked, pushing the man towards the wall so he was closer to the map.
The man stared at the map for a moment, getting his wits about him, and eventually spat out a grid square.
"The industrial complex there, we used it as a cover up, moved the base chemicals in modified tanker trucks." The man said slowly.
"Pretty much what we suspected," A9 shrugged.
"Anything else you would like to tell me?"
—
Several hours later
—
Anton sat with his head in his hands, his elbows against the steel table, his helmet off but still wearing his ECA. He sighed, deep and long, letting out his breath slowly.
Kate rubbed his back as she sat next to him in the busy facility with people milling about. "You did what you had to." She told him.
"I tortured a man" he stated flatly, not moving his gaze from the table in front of him.
"You tortured scum, who manufactured chemical weapons and sold them to warlords" she said.
"That doesn't make it any better." He said.
"You did what you had to" Kate said again. "You just saved hundreds more, if not thousands" she said.
Anton waived her off. "I'm okay, I just need to process things for a second" he said.
"Can you, uhm" he paused, looking at her. "Stay with me for a while, here?" he asked.
Kate nodded, "of course," she said.
"Thank you."