I feel the cold metal of the table on my back as I wake up once again. The harsh blinding light, the tight metals restraints, and the feel of dry blood on my face all serve as unwanted reminder of my current reality; I'm being held captive by CONCORD's Directive Enforcement Department. The same well dressed man with Caldari features stands in front of me holding a datapad. His perfectly styled hair, white suit, and polite mannerisms mask his brutality. He hasn't been sleeping for these past 3 days of interrogation, his calm indifference has been turning to frustration, and he's been really stepping up the torture the past few hours. The mask is starting to crumble; he's becoming more dangerous.
I cough blood, and feel the nanites embedded inside me start to repair my damaged flesh once again. I wonder if maybe I should just talk, I'm getting tired from passing out from pain.
"Just tell us what you know about Namir Serr and her current plot, we know Stateless Society is planning more attacks." He added while looking down at his device, scrolling through in search of something.
I look around for a while as my vision adjusts, thinking of my next course of action. There aren't many things I can do at this point. I see the automatic door open, several DED personnel in black assault dropsuits and scrambler rifles escort a woman into the room before leaving. The woman has black hair, green shirt, black jacket, black pants, and carries what looks like a briefcase; she looks Gallente. I notice 2 cameras directly above my face.
"Let us review this again... Our sources told us you were in Stateless' Elite Guard, you were one of her highest ranked mercs, yet somehow you think can play the ignorance card. You must know something. Give us the information we need and we'll greatly reduce the charge; we might even let you go depending on how much you cooperate. You look like a reasonable guy, this is obviously better than the whole 'torture you for 3 more days' thing." He says to me.
"The tox report says he's been on anti-psychotics, traces of a human flesh not his own was found in his clone's digestive track, and brain scans reveal abnormalities consistent with psychopathy; We're not dealing with the reasonable type, he's a cannibal, and an animal." The black-haired woman interrupts.
"Oh... you're here already." The man says.
"So we have ourselves a cannibal? First cannibal I've seen that wasn't a Blood Raider" He says in an intrigued tone.
"Alright you had your time with him. Just let me inject him already, the shared-jusrisdiction deal said that we could use him for testing our new method." The woman comments.
"Alright... " The man says in a reluctant tone.
As they talk, the weight of his previous comment hit me; he said "sources" earlier, what sources? Someone ratted us out to CONCORD DED. Did the Mariokhom Alliance guys get back at us? or was it someone from inside Stateless Society? The woman's voice interrupted my thoughts as she walks towards me holding the briefcase. She places it on a table next to me, and opens it. She pulls out what looks like a very large nanite injector connected by a thick tube leading back into the briefcase.
"I specially programmed these nanites alter brain structure of the victim to alter the mind. Forces victim's mind to change in such a way that it tricks the body into feeling pain, malfuntioning, all sorts of horrible symptoms, even dying. This psychosomatic disease persists even after the victim is reborn in a new clone, you'll burn through 20 clones in a week. Would make make torturing you so much more... effective." She says enthusiastically in an almost sexual tone.
"Wait, if I get a new clone, wouldn't the new brain fix the problem?" I ask her.
"The mind is created by the physical structure of the brain, for you to be immortal necessitate that the physical brain structure from the time of death be copied and reapplied to the new clone's brain. This means if your brain was diseased when you died, then the new brain will the same disease copied and reapplied to it as well."
"You sound very passionate about your work." I replied jokingly. Her cold eyes look into mine, and she quickly reacts to the comment by grabbing me by the hair and slamming my head against the metal table. She pushed the needle under my chin, ready to pump me full of mind-altering torture nanites.
Oh fuck, oh fuck OH FUCK! I can feel the needle pressing and about to pierce my skin. I haven't been this afraid in a long time.
"Alright... I'll tell you what happened." I finally gave in.
I told them about the rise of Stateless Society through the cooperate world. About Serr's bold lie. The Mariokhom Alliance accepted Stateless Society's membership, but Serr tricked them into thinking we were the product of very deep genetic enhancements that made us unstoppable, she made them think they needed us for their war with the Razdalek group; she even manipulated the TACNET readings to make us appear as unstoppable "war gods" with double digit KDRs. Once they were convinced, she negotiated a deal where we gain majority of the alliance's conquests in exchange for our supposed super mercs. She used them for their resources, and gained dozens of solar systems in the process. When we were done with them, we made deals with some of their directors, and convinced them to steal the entirety of their respective corp wallets and assets in exchange for membership in our corp. We had our mercs board many of their ships, and even stole several titans I told them all of this, and of our massive acquisition of smaller mercenary corporations.
"No doubt that lie regarding your degree of genetic augmentation was inspired by the Jove, we were hoping that part was true to use for... our purposes, but oh well." The man says in a disappointed tone.
"We've already been informed of most of your history with the Mariokhom, that's not what we need. Tell us about the attack, what is it that Namir Serr she wants?" She said, her injector still held firmly against my flesh.
"Informed by who?" I ask surprised.
"You're in no position to be asking us questions." She says calmly while pushing the needle under my chin. She forces it up, skewers though my tongue, and pushes it into my soft palette. She softly caress my face as I scream and writhe in pain. I violently shake and try to break the metal restraints, but in vain. She yanks out the needle after stabbing through maybe a millimeter away from my brain.
"Would you PLEASE be more careful! If you kill him then he's free, and will just as they say 'respawn' back in a new body." The DED man yells.
"I've dealt with his kind before, he's not my first patient you know." she replies to him while still looking down at me.
"There there, sweetie. Don't worry, I didn't inject it in yet. I don't want to have to hurt you, but you need to learn the rules of this interrogation - even if it means teaching you the hard way" She says in a strangely affectionate tone.
"But I'm willing to teach you the rules, I'm good with pets." she adds.
I died so many times, but I don't think I will ever get use to pain. The nanites in my blood do their job and repair the damage while I try to mentally prepare myself for what she might do next. There are way worse things she can do to me, that has already been done to me, but those nanites of permanent suffering will definitely be the longest lasting form of torture I ever heard of. I look up in fear and see her smiling calmly, and still caressing my cheek. On her chest I see a Black Eagles logo on a badge... why the hell are they involved?
"Now, please tell us about the attack." she asks.
"Serr and us were on Caldari Prime, we acting as her bodyguards during a meeting set up by director Vallus. The meeting was with a businessman." I tell her.
"Us?" She questioned.
"The Elite Guard, my squad." I answer.
"Who is this businessman, and what corporation did he work for? What's his name?" The man interrupts.
"The man she was meeting was part of the Mariokhom alliance. He's Amarr, his name was Stalez, but I don't remember his corporation, but I know he wear a monocle." I answered, hoping she would not catch the lie in my eyes. I fucking hate monocled bastard.
"Well go on, what did she want with him of all people" she asks.
"He wanted to join Stateless, at that point his corporation was nothing, and he took out all of the ISK that was left. We offered him a chance to join us in exchange for his donations, and for information on how to acquire the weapon. We gave him a glorified title, somethimg meaningless; I don't remember what exactly, but its something like 'executive delivery boy' for his ego. Serr is most likely hiding with him since no one would suspect that he'd work with her after what she did." I tell her.
She just stares at me for a second to try to gauge the truth of my words.
"He's lying." The DED man yells.
"I have been interrogating him for 3 days and he hasn't told me anything but lies." he says.
I just start to wonder 'what if she's bluffing?' She can't inject me with something that will kill me even if the effects will persist through the next body, if she does then she won't have me in here anymore to interrogate. I could get her stab me with the needle again and move around to make it hit somewhere vital, but I'm not willing to risk her pushing down on the plunger on the off chance that I'm wrong. Maybe they found a way to force me to respawn in a clone that's in their custody? Shit, she might not be bluffing... There is another way, but it can't be with her and her possible nanites of eternal suffering; I need to get her to leave.
"Yesterday I overheard him mentioning a top secret experimental neural imaging scanner (NIS) with a CONCORD scientist, have him bring it in an scan me if don't believe me. I hear its suppose to detect lies." I tell her.
"I'm not going to put my trust on such experimental methods." She says.
"Your methods aren't exactly conventional either." He interjects.
"Rumor is that the NIS its unreliable because that immortal mercenary Sleeper implant interferes with the scan readings. Would be more accurate to just go analyze the camera footage for facial ticks." She says while gesturing up at the cameras above me.
"Actually we can't." says the DED man.
"The drug used to disable the clone killswitch has residual side effects on facial muscles; side effects which render your method of assessing honesty unreliable." He adds.
"The NIS is the best way to know for sure if he is lying." He says.
This man really should know better, but he's desperate, and sleep deprived.
"I'll handle the scan; why don't you leave and go watch those videos of yours, or listen to more silly rumors about things you do not understand. Whatever security clearance they gave you, your spectating CONCORD classified technology and procedures was not part of the agreement." The man says with muted anger in his voice.
"Fine, I'll be back when you're done using that failure of a system on him. Regardless of the readings, no one will accept this thing's readings as hard evidence." She says defiantly as she walks out of the room, and the automatic metal door closes behind her.
He seemed desperate to take back control of the interrogation from the Gallente outsider. Me mentioning the NIS is just the classified tech excuse he needed to get rid of her. Now we're alone, I just have to wait until he's close enough to me.
"I know you're lying, and I'm going to prove it you Minmatar shit." He whispers as he leans down and grabs my neck.
He activates the machine; it hums loudly, and a color-coded hologram of my brain is projected forward from the machine.
Its finally time. I yank one hand through the tight metal restraints feeling my bones dislocate, and break as my fingers try to slide their way out. I scream in pain as the mangled bloody mess that I once called a hand snaps and crackles its way to freedom. Had the NIS machine been any less loud he would have heard the bones snapping. I wait for a few seconds for the nanites to do their magic.
"What the fuck are you screaming about!? You think this is some low security prison where you can just fake some pain and scream to get sent to an infirmary!" He yells as he chokes me.
My hand still hurts like hell, but now its at least functional. I suddenly grab his head with my newly freed hand and pull him closer to my face. I bite deep into his cheek and rip the flesh off his bone with one fast rip. He screams as loud as he can, but screaming in a torture factory is never cause for alarm, its just the norm.
"Release me now or I'll rip the meat off your entire fucking face! DO IT NOW!" I yell at him while staring into his eyes with 3 days worth of suffering and rage.
Hot tears streak down his bloody face as my fingers squeeze tightly around his neck. His panicky fingers fumble to press the necessary combination on his datapad, and the restraints release.
"See, that wasn't so hard." I say to him while trying to contain the joy and excitement.
I grab and twist his arm with my secondly freed hand until I hear a violent snap, and I force him down the the floor. I struggle to get up on my feet naked as he tries to crawl away, it takes a while to readjust to walking after days on being strapped to a table, but nanites help. I see him reaching his left hand into his white coat, and pulling out a scrambler pistol.
"Well hurry up and shoot, you want to live right? and I want to get out of here." I say.
He starts shooting as walk forward to him. He manages to shoot 5 times in quick succession, and land 2 out of 5 shots on me and rip into my leg and shoulder; none of them even close to lethal. I grab the gun from his weak grip, and aim it at his head."
"Looks like you're D-E-D de(a)d Mr. space policeman." I joke.
"Please stop! I'll do anything... I don't want to die!" The cute mortal sobs uncontrollably.
"Come on, I know that D-E-D equals d-e-a-d thing was a dumb pun, but wasn't that bad." I taunt him while I kick him in the face, knocking him down to the floor as he pleads.
"I'm not going to shoot you anyway, relax." I tell him the truth.
"I'm still going to kill you though." I say.
I press my foot down on the side of the crying man's face, and stomp down on his head over and over as he screams until the force shatters his cranium. I laugh loudly with sweet pleasure as blood and gray matter splatter everywhere. I then wipe my bare foot clean on his jacket as the nanites repair damage done to my foot.
The automatic door opens again. I lift my head up and look at who it is.
"Are you done with the... oh fuck." The Black Eagles woman says.
Shocked and paralyzed by the gruesome scene before her, she is speechless. I raise the pistol to her face while wearing my very happy smile. I slowly turn the gun to my own head and fire the last shot. While I released that blast of brain scrambling laser-induced plasma channels into my own head, I have never been more thankful for its 450% headshot multiplier... it was the only shot left, and would have been disappointing had I survived because of the nanites, and DED soldiers rushed in to capture me alive.
The electric impulses and chemical transmissions that is me, Varrian Wulf, restarts in a new brain, in a new clone, wearing a new logistics dropsuit, hanging from a rack of clones inside a CRU. It seems I'm in a Stateless Society titan star ship now; I exit the CRU as its door opens, and I go forth to see what awaits me. I enter the corridor, and first greeting is a loud siren followed by a hard thud as something smashes against the ship like an earthquake. Fires erupt, and sparks fly all over as the force of whatever is smashing into the ship knocks me down to floor. Long rectangular objects breaks their way past the hull, and protrude through the corridor. The hatch doors of the rectagular containers open and slam loudly against the metal floor, and squads of heavies wielding plasma flamethrowers step out. I run.
"All mercenaries prepare for combat! We are being boarded!" I hear Namir Serr announce over the intercom.
This is not the welcome I hoped for.
still loling @ the 450% modifier. great work, fix that crap, CCP!
ReplyDeletegood stuff as always.
ReplyDelete+1 GREAT SERIES
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