Zanna let go for a moment as she went and cracked up the voltage. Again, not enough to cause major damage but it would get more than a twitch from him. She was being careful not to permanently hurt him wanting to break him slowly. That's what she told herself. Not that she wanted to not hurt him. She put her hand back and let the voltage go from her hand to his body once more. Her voice was cold and uncaring as she said, "Now how depending on how cooperative you are today will impact how much I hurt you. So the more you cooperate the less pain you'll be in at the end of the day. Am I understood?"
This time, despite his greatest efforts to suppress it, a half-scream escaped through his gritted teeth, his body convulsing against his restraints. A few beads of sweat had already began to form on his forehead as he glared up at her, panting for breath through that blasted muzzle. "I am cooperating," he growled. "What do you want me to do? Lie to you and say that there are still Reformers? Make up a story about some base in the middle of nowhere that's chock full of a bunch of them? I'm starting to think deceiving you is a better option, because so far the only thing the truth has gotten me is more abuse." His glare hardened, shooting to the commander– who simply observed, eager to watch Day's slow demise. Day grumbled a little, his brow furrowing.
Zanna removed her hand again and thought for a moment. She only clicked her glove up one notch before looking at Day. She believed that there was just a possibility that he was telling the truth. She blamed the softness for that thought. He had to be lying, he, he had to be. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at him. Zanna moved so she was behind the chair as she didn't put her hand on his arm instead gently placing it on his neck. In a way, she was partly cupping his lower jaw. The glove sparked again letting the electricity flow into him., "If there are people who will fight for you then there are still Reformers out there. So tell me, are there still Reformers out there?"
Day yelped this time, something that he definitely wouldn't have allowed if he had been able to control it– but there was only so much one could do when electrical currents went firing through their veins. When it stopped, he gasped for breath, growling a little. "That's a trick question. There are no Reformers. I'm not a Reformer. And there are only a handful of people who will fight for me now, anyways– and none that would risk their families. Nobody will be coming after me in here, I promise you that. I don't blame them. That said, I'm not telling you anything about them. Enough men have died from this blasted war, and I'd like to be the last, so crank that glove of yours up as high as it'll go and send me into cardiac arrest already, because I'm not interested in playing games with you people. There are no Reformers, and that's that."
Zanna looked over at Ward. She removed her hands cranking each of them up to a close, but still not lethal, voltage. Her heart wouldn't let her kill this man no matter how logical it would be. Her stupid softness that Day had opened up through revealing his truth to her. She took a subtle deep breath before moving her gloved hands back to touching his skin. This time she held his neck and partially his head with both of her hands. She knew, somewhere deep inside, she knew that was the truth. But that wasn't the answer her commander and superiors wanted. She was starting to hate herself as she shot another jolt of electricity through him.
Day involuntarily screamed this time, his muscles convulsing violently, though his restraints hindered his movement from being too extreme. His eyes were wide, pupils the size of pinpricks by now. Pain and fire shot through him, travelling down his spine, down his limbs. His heart thumped violently, though he wasn't able to wonder if it would stop or not. He would've preferred cardiac arrest, anyways, but deep inside he knew he wasn't lucky enough for that.
He'd be stuck in the land of the living to endure torture for awhile– but it wasn't the physical pain that he feared. No, no, no. It was something else. Something deeper. Something worse.
Not that the physical pain didn't suck, because he was definitely not fond of getting scourged or electrocuted like this. This time, he didn't even speak when she stopped, but merely focused on catching his breath and trying to relax his body, which continued to quiver and twitch involuntarily even when she relented.
Zanna released him and let him catch his breath. The sound of his scream made her stomach churn heavily but she couldn't show any physical signs. If she shocked him again she risked stopping his heart, she needed to let the electricity settle within him before she tried that again. She let her hand trail on him as she walked over to her commander to grab something else to use on Day. She didn't click her gloves off since she could use them later. As she moved she began to speak, "Commander, I do know where one of their bases is. If the superiors are desperate to start getting rid of the remaining Reformers I could tell you the location?"
Zanna knew she wasn't going to tell Ward this, but let Day believe she was. Maybe that would get something out of him, even though she didn't want him to say anything. Curse her inner conflict.
"They won't be there," Day snapped. "Even I don't know where they'll go, but they're not stupid. They saw me get taken. They'll know what happened to me, and they won't sit there and wait for you people to go slaughter them like animals."
"Nobody asked you," Thomas hissed at Day before turning back to Zanna. "Yes. I think giving the location to our superiors would be wise. We can go in and sweep the area, obliterate anyone who looks like they even might have any ties to the Reformers."
"And we can get rid of a good chunk of the criminal population as well," Zanna added on as she eventually grabbed a different tool to use on Day. She had grabbed a knife and turned away flipping it in Day's sight. She glanced over at Ward with a smile since at the moment she wasn't sure if she could hurt Day, "I think I'll tell them after we're done here. But first. Would you care for a crack at him? I don't want to take all the fun."
On the flip side, Thomas felt no remorse for any harm done to Day. His mouth quirked up into a dark smirk as his eyes rested on the blade. "Don't mind if I do." He snatched it from her hand and walked over to Day, who did nothing but glare at the commander. "I'm not really trying to interrogate you, by the way. I just want to remind you of whose hands your in– and how much I loathe you." Thomas flipped the knife around in his hand a few times before stabbing it into his thigh– into the non-cybernetic leg– which earned a pained grunt from Day. The commander looked bored, so he twisted the knife around, and blood began to ooze from around the blade and stain the leg of Day's pants. Day squirmed, his glare hardening, though he refused to scream if he could help it. He merely growled through gritted teeth, probably wishing with all of his might that he had a hand free.
Because everyone– even Thomas– knew that Day would kill the commander if he were able.
But since he wasn't, Thomas calmly ripped the knife out, watching numbly as Day's wound bled. "There are so many things I can do to you with just a knife that it's not even funny," he muttered, trying to decide what kind of pain he wanted to cause his prisoner. A lot. Because he wanted revenge. He wanted to see this beast suffer and beg and plead for mercy– just so that Thomas could laugh in his face and reject it. Monsters like Day didn't deserve mercy, as far as the commander was concerned.
Zanna realized her mistake as she watched her commander rip into Day. She stayed in the back her arms crossed as she watched. Her stomach churned as she watched and she really started to wonder what had happened to her old ruthless ways. She refused to look away though, it was her punishment of sorts. Her heart wanted to go soft, then her heart would suffer as she watched Day be in pain. He deserved it anyway, he should deserve it. Does he really deserve it?
Thomas wasn't interested in killing Day, wasn't interested in watching him bleed out. Nah. He just wanted to see the man suffer. And, by tearing into some of his muscles, he could do permanent damage. Maybe even render Day unable to fight ever again.
But, before he got around to ruining Day completely, he got intrigued by Day's cybernetic leg.
"Where'd you get this?" he inquired, giving it a kick.
Day didn't respond.
"You haven't always had this, had you?" Thomas asked, calmly cutting off Day's pant-leg at the knee just so he could look more at the false leg.
"No," Day growled. "I haven't. And I'd appreciate it if you'd leave my clothes in tact."
Thomas ignored him. "Hm. What happened to your leg? Did someone cut it off?"
Day hesitated, then nodded slightly.
Thomas grinned. "Wow. Someone bested the great Absalom Day and severed his leg. Who?"
"I did."
Thomas looked taken aback, but then he frowned, as if he thought Day were just being sarcastic. "Sure." He didn't bother asking why, returning his attention to the leg and tapping his knuckes against it. "Do you have feeling in this thing?"
Day knew that this wasn't going in a direction he wanted it to, so he didn't respond.
Thomas poked around at it for a minute, until Day realized he actually couldn't feel it now– though he had been able to earlier. It took him about three seconds to realize that the electrical shock had fried his leg, since it was mechanical.
Normally, he would've been quite upset about losing feeling in his false leg– mostly because that would mean he couldn't walk– but considering the fact the Thomas proceeded to grab a couple extra tools and tear it apart, it was probably for the best.
"I kind of need that," Day hissed, because even if it wasn't hurting him yet, that was his leg– and he needed it to get around.
"Not really. You won't be going anywhere for awhile." Thomas was mostly just intentionally being spiteful at this point; no leg meant that Day would have to either convince them to put it back together for him or he'd have to have help constantly and someone would have to take care of him– both of which would be extra discomfort and unnecessarily humbling on Day's part.
Zanna didn't stop Ward from taking Day's leg. Though she found it cruel, what if he could feel the leg? Then again she had probably fried it earlier so that was out of the question. As Ward walked away from Day she finally stepped back up t the sitting man. She had grabbed another knife in Ward's stead and flipped it in her hand. She was watching Day carefully and continued to flip the knife as she stood there studying him. He would need help if he ever moved around now. Ward was making her life more difficult than Day's life, or he would be if it wasn't for her enhanced strength. She frowned slightly as she looked at the blade before digging it into deep Day's arm. Her glove fired off electricity through the knife and into Day as she held the blade there, "I don't believe you would sever your own leg. But even if so, why would you want to do that to yourself?"
Day winced and tensed at stab– and the electrical shock that followed, unable to give her a well-earned glare until the latter had ceased. He huffed through his nose, glowering up at her. He looked tired. Annoyed. Strained, even. His heartrate had been increased again due to the volt of electricity that shot through him, and he didn't appreciate it one bit.
"Well it's not like I woke up one morning and thought, Hey, I'm just gonna chop my own leg off today," he snapped harshly. "I did cut off my own leg during my escape from that infernal prison camp. It was a bloody mess, but I didn't have much of a choice if I wanted out. It's a wonder I didn't bleed to death. I guess I had my healing factor to thank for that."
Okay, Zanna earned that glare. It had been a little cruel to add that jolt into the mix. She would admit to that. Though at hearing about his healing factor her eyebrow raised just slightly. She hadn’t heard about that before, even before she went on the mission to kill him. She looked down at him in curiosity as she lowered the voltage to a more mild level, still irritable at his current state but wouldn’t cause him as much pain as before, then she shocked him again, “What healing factor? Commander did you know about this?”
Thomas cleared his throat. "Well, yes, I had heard about it." His eyed flickered to Day's wounds, which seemed no better than earlier. "Though it seems to be inactive now."
"You know why it's inactive," Day growled in response. "Your soldiers are to blame for that." He snorted, and he was about to say something else before Thomas slammed the hilt if his knife into Day's temple to silence him.
"We're not to blame for any of your problems, except for the wounds we're giving you today," Thomas hissed.
Day's head snapped to the right, and he growled.
Zanna watched the two men converse and stepped away leaving the knife in his arm. She pulled out another knife and flipped it in her gloved hand. So Day was able to heal himself at some point. She turned her glove up again, just slightly since the last time hadn't gotten a reaction at all. There was no reason for Wars and Day to start going at each other. This was her job. She wasted no time stabbing the knife into his other arm, digging deep. She the other knife with her gloved hand and sent another wave of electricity through him, "Why is it inactive now?"
Day let out something between a growl and a hiss, fists clenching, muscles tensing, eyes growing wide. "If you people would stop stabbing me and trying to fry the crap outta me maybe I could tell you," he snapped, irritated by the involuntary trembling that resulted as a result of the electrocution. And the pain. That sucked a lot, too. He paused to take in a breath, then glared up at Thomas, as if he half-expected the commander to whack him in the temple again just for breathing. "Shortly after I got out of the prison camp, a bunch of friggin' soldiers chased me down and tried to recapture me. I don't know what they did to me, but they shot me with like–" He squinted a little, as if he were trying to think of how to accurately explain it. "I don't know. Some weird dart thing. It wasn't a tranquilizer, because I didn't pass out. It just messed up my healing factor I guess, because now I heal as slow as the rest of you dingbats." He tried to relax, though his heart was racing and his body still refused to still. "Which really sucks, because I used to be able to hold my liquor without getting drunk, and now I can't."
Thomas had no comment, and his expression hadn't changed any.
Zanna stepped away leaving the knives in him. She had a frown on. An ability like that and the only thing he disliked about losing it was that he could no longer hold his liquor. Her eyes narrowed on him as she turned down the setting on her gloves she could comply slightly with one of those things. She pulled out another knife as she thought, "Neutralizer most likely. Takes away all given abilities when injected. Though how did you get an ability like that in the first place?"
Thomas stepped in to interrupt. "It doesn't matter how he got it, or how he lost it. What matters is that he's hiding information from us about the Reform–"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hang on just a second." Day narrowed his eyes at the commander, his gaze flickering between Thomas and Zanna. "Eager to change the subject, are we?" Day's eyes glimmered with– some unreadable emotion. Not happiness, but curiosity, but maybe a bit of interest, as if he had came across something important.
Thomas's face reddened with anger, and he ripped one of the knives out and jabbed it back in– which earned a loud hiss of pain from Day. "Watch it, Day! I don't have time to listen to you babble about your past or tell us your story. I have a job to do, and if I have to rip you limb from limb to get answers about the Reformers out of you, believe me, I will."
Though neither of them could see it due to his muzzle, Day smirked a little. He was amused by Thomas's threats more than terrified, even if it was crazy of him to be. After all, he was strapped to a chair with knives stabbed into him. Maybe he should've been more concerned.
"I never knew you'd be so desperate to hide their secrets, Commander," Day murmured softly.
"There are no secrets," the commander hissed, looking like he was nigh to killing Day right then and there. It was likely that only the command of his superiors kept him from doing so. "Now I order you to be quiet, or I will request that we cut out your tongue."
Zanna gave her commander a side-eyed glare. She was upset that he had interrupted her line of questioning, especially since it mattered so much to her at the moment. At least it did to her soft heart which had been growing throughout the time. Though her actions said otherwise. Her eyes had a hardened fire to them as she looked to Ward and then back to Day. If her commander was so set on Day not telling her, she would just have to ask him when Ward wasn't around. The knife her hand flipped a few times before she skillfully jabbed it into his shoulder area missing all major arteries and tendons, but still pushed it deep, "Fine, what about the Reformers have you not told us? You deny their current existence and say there is no one willing to come after you here. Both clearly lies," You know they're true, "But fine. Say they are true. Are there any other groups ready to rise up as the Reformers did?"
"Agh!" their prisoner hissed as she jabbed the knife deep, squeezing his eyes shut momentarily before they snapped open again, glaring directly at her. "How the heck would I know? I wouldn't be in contact with them. They wouldn't be led by me." He grunted a little, casting the knife a glance. "All things considered, I wouldn't be surprised if there's a crap ton of groups all over the place just waiting to rise up. Can't necessarily say I'd blame them."
"So there are, then?" Thomas asked quickly.
Day's glower shot to the commander. "I just told you, dipstick– I don't know."
Zanna pulled out the other knife and repeated the action on his other side. She knew he was telling the truth and he made sense. Even to her commander, it should have made sense. Her eyes narrowed as she let a volt run through him just to get him shaking again, "Fine, you don't know about other groups. What about the 'former' Reformers? Where are they?"
He twitched, convulsed, shook– all that stuff he hated again. The pain was never enjoyable, really, but more than that was when he felt like he was showing weakness. Even if it was involuntary, he loathed his body's natural responses to pain. They reminded him that he was mortal. He hated the feeling.
"Mostly decomposing in their graves," Day spat. "The rest scattered in hopes of being able to get back to their lives now that this infernal war is over." His expression tightened in anger. "Or at least, it was supposed to be over, but I guess I was wrong. You people are just so eager to bring it back to life, like some Frankenstein monster."
Zanna pulled both knives out of his shoulders. She watched as the blood oozed out of the open wounds and flicked the blood of the knives. She pocketed the knives and clicked up the shock factor on her gloves. Her hands reached to remove the knives in his arms only to shock him again once she had a hold of them. It wouldn't stop his heart, not at this level. She wanted the war over like everyone else, killing off Day would be the end of it. Yet they weren't doing it. At this point, her hurting him was less of torture and more of a stress reliever. She said nothing as she sent volts through him at an inconsistent pace. Never enough that it would kill, but more than enough to ware him down.
