During the walk to their destination, Cole couldn't help but look through the glass panes that offered a view into the cells. Some of the rogues in the cells were dead, others were in a state of permanent shift, unable to shift back into human. Some had severed limbs and were strapped to a table that stood at a forty-five-degree angle to allow them to sleep and wake up with no need to move. "Do you not like what you see here?"
"It's inhumane…" Cole said.
"This is the cost of being a hunter. Hunters trade their humanity for the right to keep the peace between the two races. We will go to any lengths if it means finally defeating the Rogue King. Once he is dead, we merely need to kill every other rogue that avoids a Prometheus evaluation," the Director explained.
"When you speak of giving them a chance to go through a Prometheus evaluation, you sound human just for an instant," Cole replied, drawing a smile from the middle-aged man.
"You might just make a fine King, Lycaon," he said, "Protect the peace that your forefathers have worked so hard to create within this war. Maybe then the moon goddess can finally atone for wronging Prometheus the way she did."
"I don't like the way you speak of our goddess… but I can't argue with what you're saying," the two seemed to be getting along in Katie's point of view.
"Is he in 'that' room?" Katie asked, her voice once again cold in the way it normally was when she masked her emotions completely.
"Yes, he is… You are the only one who will be allowed to see him. No one else is allowed to see the prisoner, is that understood," Anthony spoke, turning to the rest for answers. They arrived at a dead-end; something Cole was now sure was a common illusion here. Anthony placed his hand upon the wall. The sound of locks and gears could be heard rocking the wall before them before one loud click that had the stone walls sliding open, splitting in two like double sliding doors and letting them into a room that trumped everything Cole had seen with ease.
Right before them were hunters in lab coats standing at monitors, watching someone through a glass pane. They turned to see the director and the people he'd come with, "Oh, Director Anthony, welcome back. You brought her…" one of them spoke up hurriedly, a hint of shivers running through him.
A large control panel attached to the wall right before the glass panel caught Cole's attention. Words such as adrenaline, wolfsbane intake, anaesthetic, voltage and many more in relation to torture occupied the panel. Through the glass pane, a boy whose was strapped to a chair with needles poking and tubes poking into him at numerous vessels. Wires were attached to the chair and connected to a power supply.
The boy in the seat barely looked seventeen. His knees and elbows were purple with deep cuts that leaked all manner of disgusting fluids. If it wasn't for the gas masks, Cole was sure he wouldn't be able to stand the stench that might have been in the room. Furthermore, the boy sat with his head limp, cuts riddled his body even appearing on his bloodstained rugs of clothes. "He still hasn't said anything, sir. He insists that no manner of torture can bring him to speak and that all he'll say is what he wants to 'smite' Katie with."
"What bothers me is how confident he is that whatever he has to say will hurt her and that we will just hand her over to her," Anthony said, his voice low once again, "Katie…"
"I'll be fine. I don't think there is anything he can say that can…"
"Think about what you are saying first. Do you mean to tell me that you weren't hurt by Ash's death?" the question drew a sharp breath out of Katie. Anthony was right… despite all the training she'd had that hadn't let her develop strong enough emotional vulnerabilities, there were still things that could hurt her. She was strong, very strong, but she could be hurt in different ways indirectly… and that was what Anthony was trying to warn her about.
"In that case, might I ask a question then?" she asked.
"What might that one be?"
"Am I allowed to torture him as well?" the question was met with silence. This was something that would have been perceived as a normal question, but something was amiss when Katie asked it. Something turned within Cole's stomach when she asked for permission to torture the prisoner. The expression on the Director's face suggested that he too was thinking, maybe trying to decipher what she meant by that. Or maybe he already knew something Cole didn't, for he wouldn't have hesitated this long over a question to continue the torture they'd already been doing.
"Very well, do as you see fit." With that, Katie walked to the side of the panel and placed her palm there, another door sliding open once again. The design of most of the door was getting on Cole's nerves. It would be impossible for someone to escape a prison-like this one without knowledge of where the doors were and without the access that everyone seemed to have in their palms.
This would probably explain why Cole could not go through the Agency without a pro hunter to escort him. They all looked into the room while Katie appeared on the other side of the glass pane. In front of the chair was a small pedestal with controls on it that Cole could not make out. Katie put her hand to the pedestal and began scrolling through the touchscreen designed piece of hardware.
She reached what she was looking for and tapped it. A green liquid began to move through one of the needles that were attached to the wolf. On the main panel, one of the many screens began to react showing what had been activated to be 'adrenaline.'
The seemingly asleep captive's head shot back as the contents of the syringe hit his system to rob him of any last ounce of sleep he was probably hunting for. The boy looked around until his eyes landed on Katie. A smirk occupied his face, an evil glint in his eyes that made Cole clench his fist immediately.
"I almost felt sympathy for him because he looked young," Cole spoke up.
"Do not be deceived…. These rogue spies are rotten to the core. You should know that already from the way the rogues fail the Prometheus evaluation. It is meant to save werewolves that still have some humanity left within them. That thing you are seeing in that room doesn't have any humanity left. He finds pleasure in watching the world burn at his feet and everyone die away," Anthony spoke, his voice vile. The hatred that the hunters held for rogues didn't come as a surprise and it was the one emotion that they were fine with expressing freely for all to see.
"Yeah, his current expression says it all," Cole said. The eyes that stared at Katie weren't those of an innocent seventeen-year-old. This was a cold-blooded killer who didn't give a damn about anything. It made sense that they had not been able to draw information from him by simply staring at him.
"I like your game face, Katie," the boy said, smiling while he watched her.
"Did you get our little present? That traitor never did have what it took to be a true rogue… To carry out the mission that our goddess bestowed upon us centuries ago… The extermination of all mankind to every last man, woman and child," he said laughing hysterically.
Katie stared at him all the while he spoke, "It's hard to think rogues are born like that, Chandler."
The hysterical laughter died down at the mention of his name, "So you know my name, huh… Nothing truly escapes you, does it? It's possible by now that you've realized that all the missing students are wolves that you killed yourself. You see this as the death of one wolf in the prestigious Brigade High School. No, there have been seven deaths in the school and they have all been registered as absent students. It's only a matter of time before everyone finds out that the missing students are either students that were undercover rogues…" a smirk appeared on his face while he finished the statement, "or students the rogues killed and no one ever noticed until weeks later, their carcasses will be found in the forest damped to be eaten by vultures in…"
The rogue found himself unable to speak as Katie darted forward with a knife in hand placing it to his throat. One more word and his larynx would impale itself on the sharp blade. A red bead of blood leaked from the knife wound as the blade dug into the skin of the boy's neck. "Katie, calm yourself," Anthony yelled out.
"Oh, but Director Anthony… I am calm…" her voice came out with so much venom it tore sent chills down everyone's spine. She retracted the blade and walked back to the panel… scrolling through the controls before tapping the same configuration she had earlier.
The same green fluid began to flow into him through the syringe in his right arm, "Katie, you already… It's no use… That boy is going to die," Anthony said, lowering his voice as he watched Katie pump more unnecessary adrenaline into the boy.
"Why is she adding him adrenaline?" Caden asked.
"Adrenaline heightens one's senses and increases their awareness of something. That way they can respond to stimulus faster," he said.
"Yeah, but adrenaline, in some cases, also dulls pain," Caden said.
"Yes, that may be true, but what happens when adrenaline runs out when you have major injuries," Anthony asked.
"The pain comes rushing back to you," Caden said, "but why would someone do that? It's sadistic."
"No, it's mercy… Katie will torture him all she wants with him feeling barely any pain… the rest you will have to see for yourself," Anthony said, his voice wasn't loud anymore as he watched this happen. It was clear that even within the Hunter's Agency, Katie was not normal in the slightest. Cole watched with more concerned eyes… 'Katie, what have you been turned into?'
..............
"You're adding me more adrenaline… You're dumber than you look, Chase. This will only make me numb to any of the torture tactics you have in store for me…" the hysterical laughing continued, the boy becoming evidently more confident, "Show me your worst, Chase."
"Well, if you insist then… I'll just leave this electricity running. I won't lecture you on how much voltage a human can handle or on when it is that a werewolf can also stop feeling… I'll just turn it up to your satisfaction," she said.
"What do you mean when you…" he stopped as Katie turned it up to an insane voltage.
"You see, you have adrenaline coursing through you. So you can withstand more than an average wolf can… You won't even notice when the meat on your bones even begins to get charred until right before you're dead, a quick painful death if you ask me…" she said.
"Is this how you plan to get information out of me…" Chandler screamed, "It's certainly an uninformed way of doing it… You think this is pain. Look at me, my limbs are practically useless and rotting. What is this going to get you? Didn't you come here for information?"
"You know…" Katie said, in a sing-song tone, taking her time with her words. A seat next to the panel proved convenient to drive this point into his head, "I really don't care how I walk out of here. With or without information, it doesn't matter. I'm not obligated to turn off that dial at any one point. I can already smell your roasting carcass even now," she said, smirking at him as he turned red.
"You're a monster… get to the point…" he yelled through gritted teeth when he noticed Katie was not going to turn down the electricity.
"Katie, that's enough. You'll kill him without getting anything out of him," Anthony yelled through a microphone.
"That is not my concern, Director Anthony. It's up to him if he gets to live longer really. I definitely don't feel motivated to turn down that power," she said, yawning within her seat.
Chandler's body was begin to smoke as the electricity continued to go through him. Katie did not show a single sign of bluffing and Chandler was starting to see just how worthless he was to her. "If I die, you will never know what I know about who killed that… traitor," Chandler yelled.
Katie crossed her legs and leaned back into the chair rocking herself slightly, her composure that of someone that was sitting on their front porch watching fields of wheat in the countryside. "Even if I keep you alive, there is nothing that guarantees that you will tell me. To be honest, you're just wasting my time. If I cannot get information out of you, then you're better off dead, but if you do tell me something, then things can change. You don't have much time though. I honestly don't care about your life and I have other leads and sources to chase. So, I would say you have about three minutes before you die from the electricity. In two, you…"
"Fine, I'll tell you what I called you here. I am the one who called you here, wasn't I?" he yelled out at the top of his lungs. Katie stood up calmly and scrolled down the panel.
"Where was it… Or here it is…" she said, casually lowering the voltage and pumping more adrenaline into his system.
"No, please, no more adrenaline…"
"I don't want you passing out in the middle of your big reveal…"
Chandler chuckled darkly, "You're a true monster. The boss will enjoy snuffing the life out of you… I'm a dead man, but there is still something that I have to tell you…" he said, laughing once more, "It gives me a rush thinking of it every time I do… every time I think of just how surrounded you are. You will never see it coming… You will be so surprised when you find out who killed that poor traitor… someone who has been in that school for far longer than you have. You will never see them coming. I pity you, Chase… no, all I regret is not having the opportunity to see the look on your face when you find out. My best bet is that now that all of this has happened, he won't need to stay in hiding for so long."
"Is there anything else you intend to say to me?" Katie asked.
"What's with that look on your face? Why do you look so calm? Why isn't any of this bothering you? I've been watching you for a long time now… Why do you still look at me with that same bored expression?" the boy continued to yell out.
Katie walked up to the panel scrolling through the controls, "You know, you must have known what you were getting yourself into when you became a rogue and decided to carry out this kind of work. Instead of choosing a life that would get you a happy ending, you chose one that was most likely to get you killed… and look at you now, strapped to a chair with no limbs, on the brink of a gruesome death. I wonder if you ever ask yourself if you could take it all back and finally live a life that brings you joy rather than…"
"Spare me the pep talk… I know all of that. Those sweet words and empty promises are probably what got that traitor on your side in the first place. Just because you have me in this state of weakness doesn't mean my resolve will change so easily. I see you still have the same empathy I deduced while I studied you all these years. Don't take pity on rogues, Chase. We'll kill you without a second thought because that's our one and only purpose. To rid this world of all humans and the werewolves that betrayed their moon goddess' original will," with that he fell silent, staring at Katie with a defiant look in his eye.
Katie tapped something on the panel. A syringe began to inject a colourless fluid into his system. "What's that?" Cole asked the director from the other side of the glass pane.
"A drug that will give Chandler a painless death… It seems he wasn't as capable of breaking through Katie's will as he'd hoped or maybe he did. With Katie, one cannot be very sure of anything, because she can hide it if she wants to," the man said.
Katie watched Chandler's body go limp, his gaze going lifeless and his head lolling back when his muscles went slack. She walked up to him and shut his eyes with her right palm before walking out of the room, her face still expressionless.
"Why did you kill him?" Anthony asked her once she was out of the torture chamber.
"He was useless to us at that point," she said.
"Who let you decide that?"
"It was I who decided to capture him alive in the first place. His prolonged life was decided by me. I am not wrong when I decide he's no longer of use to us…"
"You lost those privileges when you handed him over to the Hunter's Agency," he said.
"Would it give you more comfort to know that he was already going to die regardless of what you could have done to prolong his life?"
"Elaborate…"
"His body had already been put under a voltage higher than his normal body was capable of. When the adrenaline wore off, he was going to die immediately. His healing was no longer functional as most of his cells were already halfbaked. He was living on borrowed time and he had already given up on trying to draw a satisfactory reaction out of me," she explained.
The two stared each other down for a while, tension building in the room, "You forget that you are still a prime…"
"We just confirmed right now that it was a rogue that killed Ash Myster," she stopped him before he could finish his statement.
"That information only works to prove your case worthy of investigation. Other than that, it was your blade that cut through the boy and led to his unfortunate demise…"
"Why are you fighting?" Cole spoke up, stopping the exchange, "Ash's killer is still on the loose and you are bickering amongst yourselves over trivial matters that shouldn't be your concern at all. What do you care what the people think about this? I just want the killer found. If anything, my say on the matter goes because Ash was my subordinate…"
The director didn't have anything to say to that but apologize for his behaviour. "What's your next step, Katie?" Cole asked. Katie walked out of the room without another word. Sandra followed her to find out what was going on with her best friend. 'Could it be that she was affected by what that scoundrel said?' Cole thought to himself. It was undeniable that she still wore an expressionless to hide something. He thought he managed when she left out the main door, a teardrop falling from her cheeks.