Is it Torture if the Guy is a Scumbag?

It's remarkable sometimes just how close television can get to reality, particularly in ways that one would never really expect. For example, anyone who has watched a modern cop show will have undoubtedly seen the stereotypical interrogation room. They all have a single large table in the center of the room, unadorned walls that were often bare concrete, and one wall dominated by an opaque window that everyone and their mother knew by now was a two-way mirror. And despite having a near unlimited budget and the best architects in the world, the interrogation rooms (yes rooms) of the Shatterdome were completely indistinguishable from those you might find on an episode of CSI. And for whatever reason Miki found that circumstance rather annoying.

"You'd think we'd be able to do something different," she murmured to herself as she walked into the back room with the Marshal right beside her. "Unique maybe."

Pentecost smiled and pulled out a chair for the young woman. "No need to improve on something that works just fine as it is, Miki. Not everything is in need of innovation."

Miki sighed. "I know. I just… expected more I guess."

"Given how little we use these rooms it wouldn't really make sense to do more with them would it?"

Before Miki could give an answer the doors of the interrogation room opened. A very scuffed up Laoshu was the first one sent through, his hands tightly cuffed in front of him and followed by a stern faced Cassidy. The IBI agent shoved him down into the empty seat then took up a place behind him. Laoshu held up his hands at her, clearly wanting them unshackled, but Cassidy just smirked and ignored him. The man looked like he was about to growl at her when two more people entered the room.

Gondo stepped through first, a grim smile on his face and carrying an air of determined confidence. But Laoshu paid him no attention as he spotted Taiyou following in behind him, dressed in her all-black Red Dawn uniform from the week prior. Laoshu's skin paled at the sight, then lost even more color as he happened to look up at her face. The telepath's eyes blazed at the small man with the intensity of a desert sun. Her fists were tightened into iron balls and she took a step toward him. He immediately tried to leave his seat, only for Cassidy to push him back down and step in front of him.

"Hey, Sunnie, hold it steady huh? I don't know what kind of baggage you got with these guys, but we need this one alive for the time being, so try to lock it up. Otherwise we'll have to get another chick to do this."

Taiyou froze in place and stared at Cassidy, her gaze burning into the agent for an instant before she briefly nodded and stepped back. Gondo gave Cassidy an appreciative nod before pulling out some files and clearing his throat. "Mr. Laoshu, you have been charged with conspiracy to commit murder, several counts of conspiring with known terrorists, attempted murder in a public place, and poor service hygiene in your restaurant. That's a rather long list, fella. Now I don't know about you, but I don't fancy your chances of getting off on good behavior on any of this. Particularly the one about the hygiene. Hong Kong health department are rather stickily about that."

Laoshu sniffed dismissively. "As if the charges matter. You would keep me here even if I were squeaky clean like one of those bath toys you Americans are so fascinated by."

"Oh but you ain't clean, Lao," Cassidy said from over the man's shoulder. "I've been following you for a while now, and I gotta say you are one of the dirtiest guys I've ever seen. Gun running, corporate espionage, human trafficking. You've had your grubby little hands in every part of the mud pie, and there's nothing you can do scrub that crud off."

"Is there any way to be clean with you filthy foreigners running rampant in our city?!" Laoshu raged. "Our people are kept downtrodden and weak by your Western technology and 'survival of the fittest' philosophies. If we are to become great again you and your kind must be expunged from these lands by any means necessary!"

Cassidy slammed her fist on the table and shouted in Laoshu's face. "Even enslave your own people Lao? How does making them suffer and die in someone else's war help them huh?"

Laoshu leaned away from the blue-haired woman and looked down at the table. "Sacrifices must be made for the betterment of all."

"Yeah, just as long as those sacrifices don't cost you anything." Cassidy stepped back from the table, folding her arms over her chest. "You're just another selfish coward using grand ideas to justify their greed. God I hate hypocrites."

Taiyou smirked at the IBI agent. "What was that you said about not losing your cool?"

The former terrorist got a middle finger in response.

"Alright, settle down you two," Gondo said. "Look Lao, you and I both know that, personal beliefs aside, you are in some serious shit right now, and no amount of ass-kissing is going to save you. No matter what you do here you are going to be sitting ugly in a prison cell for the rest of your natural life. So here's how it's gonna go. You tell us everything we want to know, and you get to choose what kind of prison you get to call home for the next forty years."

Out in the observation room Miki turned to Pentecost with a questioning look. "But I thought we were going to give him over to Chou? That was part of the deal we had with him right?"

"It is and we are," Pentecost answered. "But he doesn't need to know that." He signaled back at the room, where Laoshu was laughing without a trace of mirth.

"And what would be the point of that choice?" he said with a dull tone. "You will ensure I go to a place a cannot possibly escape from no matter what I do, so why bother telling you anything?"

Gondo gave the guy a smirk. "Two reasons actually. See, reason one is one that you might have some immediate personal interest in. We're not going to have you tell us the information. It'd be all too easy for you to 'accidentally' leave something out if that was the case." He waved his hand at Taiyou, who gathered a nasty smile at the cue. "Instead we were going to have Taiyou here scan the information direct from the source. You know, just to be sure."

Laoshu stammered a bit before saying, "A telepath… But that's illegal. Looting a person's mind is against the Geneva Accords!"

"Ah, but that's the thing," Cassidy said while waving her finger. "Those rules and laws only apply to lawful combatants and innocents. You are neither, Mr. 'Associates with Terrorists'."

The man looked back at Gondo, the fear plainly evident on his face. "B-but… you can't do that!"

Gondo smiled. "Oh but Lao, would you expect any less from us 'filthy foreigners'? Don't worry though. We're not completely heartless. If you cooperate and lower the mental barriers you have apparently been trained to have, then we promise that Miss Taiyou here will be gentle in your mind."

"They promise," Taiyou added on. "I don't."

Pentecost could feel Miki's gaze burning into him. "I know Miki. Normally I would be against it too, but this group was willing to directly assault the Shatterdome in an attempt at mass world terror. The line has already been crossed by the enemy in such a way as to remove any ambiguity they might have had. The Red Dawn have marked themselves as a threat just as dangerous as the Coalition, and must be treated as such. Even if it means committing acts that would be considered crimes otherwise."

Miki sighed and nodded. "I know. I just don't like it. It's still wrong, necessary or not."

Pentecost leaned back in his seat, hands over his face. "There is a phrase Gordon said to me a while back, just before Final Wars happened. I didn't agree with it at the time, but since then I've seen the truth in it. 'It is a fundamental part of human nature that, in the face of complete annihilation, every alternative is preferable.' I just wish we didn't have the chance to prove him right."

Back in the interrogation room Laoshu was clearly trying not to panic. With a desperate reaching tone he asked, "What about the second condition?"

"Oh that. Well, part two of our kindness would be that, should you play nice and give us everything we need, then you would be held in our facilities here in the Shatterdome. Good food, nice(ish) guards, and guaranteed safety from any retribution from your former colleagues." Noticing the stricken look on Lao's face Gondo laughed. "What, you thought they would just expect you to keep quiet and not give up everything, and that you would be allowed to live while you were in enemy captivity? Heh, not likely."

"I wouldn't," Taiyou confirmed. "If I had known one of our suppliers got captured our first priority would be to silence them."

Laoshu seemed more like a ghost than a human at this point. "A-and what would happen if I… declined to help?"

"Well first of all Smiling Sunshine here would tear through your head and rip out anything of value that we need," Cassidy said while leaning on Lao's shoulder. "Then, once we were sure we had everything we'd ship your remains off to a very special prison. Maybe you've heard of it? I hear it's got a gorgeous view of the Bay area." She glanced down at Lao's face, only to see him looking at her in confusion. The agent sighed and clarified, "I mean Alcatraz. That's what I'm referring to."

Before anyone could so much as blink Laoshu fainted dead away, slumping out of his chair onto the hard concrete floor. Cassidy blinked in surprise, while Taiyou gave a mocking guffaw.

"Well," Gondo mused, "at least he didn't piss himself."

As Cassidy dragged the limp man out of the room with a still laughing Taiyou in tow, Miki turned to Pentecost again. "Are we sure that letting Taiyou do the mind scan is the best idea? I'm not sure she'll be able to contain herself if presented with such an open opportunity at revenge."

Pentecost rubbed a soothing hand on his surrogate daughter's shoulder. "I think we need to give her the chance. Like you told me earlier, she will need some measure of vengeance to learn how to let go of her past, and if the man it happens to is one humanity would not miss, then all the better."

Miki wanted to believe him, but part of her was hesitant. "Still, we will need to watch her closely to make sure she doesn't go too far. Not just for morality's sake, but to keep her from losing herself to her anger like…"

The telepath suddenly felt herself enveloped in a warm embrace. "That was not your fault Miki. Mistakes always happen, you should not blame yourself for them. Remember the lessons they teach, yes, but do not let your guilt distract you from the present."

Smiling, Miki leaned into Pentecost's shoulder. "I won't. Thank you… father."

The two stayed there for several moments, just taking the time to be there for each other. That moment ended when Pentecost's phone started to ring from within his pocket. He swiftly answered, saying, "This is the Marshal."

"Stacker, it's Mr. Choi. I've got a… well, I'm not sure what I've got to be honest."

"What is it?"

"A, uh, call for you sir. A Miss Joanne Johnson she says. They claim it's urgent. Should I, um, put them through?"

Pentecost blinked in surprise at the name but answered in the affirmative. A few seconds of beeping came over the line before a crackle announced the switch was complete. "This is Pentecost. May I ask why you are calling Miss Johnson?"

"Stacker, don't ask me how I know, but there's something going on in the South Pacific that I have some important information on. I need to see you. Now."

"How do you… Nevermind, I'll find out later. What is so important that you need to meet with me in person?"

A humorless laugh echoed in his ear. "Nothing much. Just that the project I told you about, the one I said would probably never actually happen? Well guess what?"

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Here you are folks. Just as promised. A nice little 'short' to bridge (see what I did there?) parts of the human plot together and add a bit of hinting to future developments. What are those developments? I have absolutely no idea! ... Kidding. I mostly know what I'm doing. Mostly being the key word there. For now though, just keep an eye on that last name there. Doc Johnson will have her role to play in the future, just you wait. For now though, enjoy a bit of world development and RvB shout out.

Also, this short was a personal test of myself to see if I could follow a deadline I made on my own. And what do you know but it was a success! Yay, go me! Now for the real test, the one to get my ass into high gear for you guys. I am going to try and get out Chapter Ten Part 2 (yes, part 2. I'm really doing that) out by... the end of March. Yes, that does seem like a long time, but for all the ideas I have for this next chapter, its going to be hard to sort things out and get it all to fit coherently. If this thing is even half as epic as I'm imagining it to be, it'll be worth the wait. So yeah, look out for the next installment out by the end of March, maybe earlier if I work quickly. In the meantime the side story I mentioned earlier should have its first post as its own separate fic, so keep an eye out for that as well. Until then, adios my friends.

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P.S. I'm also 22 today. So that's a thing.

Edit 02/25/16: For those of you coming in from the latest Bridge chapter, make sure you go back a chapter to the actual new chapter 10. This was a just a short pseudo chapter thing that served to let me get some news out to the readers. The actual second part is... being worked on right now, along with quite a few other things.