Amanda's eyes narrowed and her hands clenched into fists. "What did you give me?" she asked, her voice full of anger.

It was the first resistance he'd seen from her after the first week, and he decided that was a good thing. After she'd stopped interacting with her environment, he'd known there was no way he would get anything out of her with normal methods. Not that he'd planned to get information that way in the first place. The only reason he'd bothered to use actual torturing methods was to see how she would react and determine the proper dose of 'truth serum' to give her.

"It's a special truth serum I mixed up myself," he told her. "It floods your body and stimulates the part of your brain that holds your memories and affects your decisions. With it, I can make you tell me anything I want, and you won't even be able to resist me."

"I don't believe you. Anyone, the bad guy only tells the hero their secret plans in the movies. You've got to be smarter than that. Which means you're probably lying." Or planning to kill me the second you get any information. She didn't voice that thought. No use giving him the idea if he didn't already have it.

"Who says I'm the bad guy? Maybe I'm the hero. And besides, lying isn't the only option. I could also be planning to kill you," he pointed out.

She laughed, a hint of bitterness in the tone. "You're torturing me. Protesting your role in this is just stupid."

He glowered, fists clenching. "Enough of this. Tell me your name."

"No."

His smile faded and he glowered at her. "What is your name?" he demanded, his tone menacing.

"Um... how about... Elaine? Does that work?"

His fist slammed into her stomach and knocked the breath out of her. "No more sarcasm. Tell. Me. Your. Name."

She gasped and struggled to draw a breath. When she could breathe again, she lifted her head and smiled, the expression making her look almost delirious. "Maybe... we should play this... like Rumpelstiltskin. Just keep... guessing. I might tell you... when you get it right."

His face reddened, and he unlatched the straps holding her to the table. I pushed him too far. The realization made her shiver. Still, he was releasing her. If there was ever a good opportunity for escape, this was it.

***

"How do we know where she is?" Shadow whispered as they cautiously walked through the halls.

"We don't. We'll work our way down to the basement." Zephyr peeked around the corner with her gun ready beside her head. Seeing it was clear, she rushed through, sticking close to the blind side of the walls.

"Who knows how far this thing goes, we could be here for hours!" Ajax said as the two of them followed close behind her.

"That's why we'll work fast. Whatever happens, we do not separate."

***

She nearly fell on top of him when he unlatched the final strap. He grabbed her and threw her over his shoulder. "If you won't tell me anything willingly," he growled, "I'll make you."

She struggled, but weeks of inaction and lack of food had made her too weak too do anything. He entered a room full of water tanks and threw her into the nearest empty one, slamming the glass door and walking to a wall lined with red knobs.

***

She pushed herself up onto her knees and pressed her hands against the glass. He watched impassively as she slammed a fist into the glass and yelled at him, the sound almost completely inaudible through the glass. A few seconds passed and she stopped yelling and sat down fully again. It's been so long since I've done this, he thought. The thrill of holding someone else's life in his hands never faded, and he would enjoy watching her die.

With a quick, decisive twist, he turned the appropriate knob and watched as gallons of water began to flood the tank. She just sat there for a few seconds, and her eyes met his. He saw resolve there. A deep-set determination to keep her information to herself no matter what he did to her. Perhaps, as she drowned, she would regret that determination. Either way, she wouldn't survive. Still, although she must have know this, she just stood and stared at him while the water swirled around her, until it covered her completely.