When Steel came to, he had none of the comfort of his memories coming to him slowly. He knew he had been captured by the enemy and the word 'prison' echoed strongly in his head. He didn't open his eyes immediately, but rather spent a few minutes to gather information slowly while appearing not to be conscious. The ground beneath him was cold earth, slightly damp. He felt like he was underground by the temperature. That would explain why he couldn't see the prison.

Steel nearly laughed at himself. Why was he concerned about the mission now? He had no patriotism for America, but he did have hatred for the Chinese--something he picked up over the course of the war. He heard things. He saw things. He trusted the truth in them explicitly, so he knew the only person he needed to be concerned about now was himself. As unloyal to his own country as he was, he knew he would never give these bastards any information. If he was given the chance, he would find a way to hasten his death before he could break.

Finally, he opened his eyes to look at the cell. Sounds that had been only background to him before were suddenly clear. Screams. So he was right about the Chinese and where he was. As if he could have been wrong. Steel pulled himself to a sitting position and thanked whatever god was left that he at least still had his pants. He leaned against the wall and stared out past the bars of his cell.

He wasn't awake before long before some chinamen came by to give him some rice. A morning meal perhaps? It was impossible to tell the time here. He'd been counting time in his head to track it, but he suspected that wouldn't last long. The little bowl filled with rice mocked him and Steel's eyes narrowed into a growl. "I don't want your stinkin' food!" he snapped, knocking the bowl into the floor so it spilled it's little white maggot shapes on the ground. "Just get on with it and kill me already! Kill me. Just do it like you've been wanting all this time!" he yelled as he gripped the bars, shaking them with his taunting anger. He didn't care if this was the end here. He wasn't giving anything up.