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#1
Old 02-07-2014, 06:18 AM

Name: Dustin Steeler aka "Steel"
Age: 25
looks: http://i903.photobucket.com/albums/a...s/givingup.png

He has short, well styled brown hair. His skin has been darkened by the sun and he's a lean, compact sort of guy. He's only about 5'6", short for an american guy. He stopped growing half way through high school and has never been that happy about it. He's someone with a very good fashion sense and likes to wear casual, but always well planned outfits. His gloves cover a half sun tattoo on his wrist. His small size and youthful looks with clothing that matches usually throws suspicion off of him. He is never without a few knives hidden on him though, a particularly nasty one in his boot. He is left handed.

Skills: He is well suited to being a spy because he is a natural liar with the charisma to get his way. He is also good with languages and knows quite a few such as Chinese, English, a little bit of Russian, and some broken French.

nationality: American-- born in North Dakota

Rank: unknown. his files have been destroyed so he can work off the books as a spy.

History: Steel always had an easy sort of life. Oftentimes quite brilliant, but lacking in ambition. He could have been one of the top students in high school, but rarely put in the effort to do more than 'good'. He has an older brother (7 years his senior) and was raised mostly by his dad. Their mom died when he was 6, so he doesn't remember her, but bonded with his brother in an attempt to learn more about her. So when his brother joined the army through pure patriotism, Steel followed after. It was around this time that he lost touch with his close childhood friend. This was right after high school and Steel was already failing miserably in the army when the war started. His skills became more useful then and he was trained and sent into enemy territory. He gained the nickname 'steel' inside the army and used to go by Dustin.

Personality: He's someone that's not fond of other people that much. He may have been popular in school and have many acquaintances, but most people talked behind his back and said he's not a good friend. He doesn't show emotion well and he doesn't give a shit about anyone but himself (or even himself sometimes). Very few people have seen the side of him that is good or really happy, but that side does exist.

Last edited by Kat Dakuu; 02-07-2014 at 06:20 AM..

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#2
Old 02-07-2014, 07:15 AM

Name: Lee Alkaev (Known as Mr. Misery)
Age: 27 years
Looks: His hair is pitch black and long enough to be put back, and his skin is lightly tanned. His eyes are dark and thickly lashed, and he stands almost six feet. At first it was thought he would have his mother's height but his father's Russian blood seemed to accelerate his growing process near the end of middle school. He wears close-fitting clothes that could be described as office garb, but prefers to look presentable at all times. He wears a bandage on his left arm that he says covers a burn wound, but it hides a past tattoo of a small dragon and a moon that he prefers not to mention. He doesn't go anywhere without a knife in his belt and usually carries a gun at his side when he can.

Skills: Lee has a well hidden sadistic streak that allows him to be detached in torture and bargaining from prisoners of war. He speaks four languages beyond Chinese and English and speaks them well, and has high upper body strength.

Nationality: Chinese/Russian (Russian father)

Rank: Specialist and prison warden

Personality: Most know Lee as very detached, cynical, silent, and curt when he needs to speak at all. He speaks coldly and quickly and doesn't try to make friends. In school he was always focused to keep his China-based family happy, though his Russia father was always hard on him too. He found little escape, and as such has little concern for friend-making, or even wanting someone to like him. Few know Lee's warmer, softer interior, a kindness hidden within a hard, rocky shell that he doesn't want anyone to see because he's afraid of being hurt.

History: His family was always hard on him, keeping him at the top of most of his classes---except mathematics. Because of this he was deemed not quite good enough, though his father did keep a slightly softer tone with him. Despite this he was taken from the States, where he and his immediate family lived, and shipped back to China with them, where Lee decided he would be more useful in the army. He was quickly singled out as a powerful negotiator because of his growing cold exterior, and quickly found himself engulfed in a full war with America. After a few months, he discovered himself in charge of the entire underground prison, and the torture master, though he's mostly referred to as 'negotiator'. Lee gained the title of Mr. Misery because of his effective torture techniques that often keep the subjects alive for a very long time, and he purposefully keeps the prison cells dark, cramped, and uncomfortable.

Last edited by Tachigami; 06-25-2014 at 07:15 AM..

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#3
Old 02-07-2014, 08:13 AM

Tall dead grass surrounded Steel, going on for miles around him. A half full moon offered little light in this area and stars refused to shine in a sky heavy with the refuse of war. The last Russian city had been left long ago and only three miles ahead sat between Steel and the Chinese border. He lay in the grass in a natural hiding spot formed where a stream had cut into the earth and then dried up at some ancient time. He should have been perfectly covered. No one should have even looked for a small American hiding in the bushes just outside enemy borders. He had no fear about this mission, not that he ever feared them.

Steel had a pair of night vision goggles over his eyes as he scanned the horizon. Intel had it that a prison sat somewhere in this area. No brilliant lights caught his attention, but this did not disprove anything. He was one of the best spies in the American army so they sent him over here as soon as the war broke out. He still remembered that day clearly. His brother screaming bloody murder to the Chinese, news showing images of broken bodies on reruns, himself strangely glad because it meant he had a use. He was no good at school, or the army, but he was good at this because he didn't need to play well with others.

The softest sound of a twig snapping caught Steel's attention. As silently as possible, he pulled a long knife with a hooked blade out of his boot. Angry whispered Chinese reached his ears, the content something about needing to fan out because someone was snooping around. He'd been made. How the hell had he been made? He'd been laying in the god forsaken ditch for two days now, watching a whole lot of nothing and he'd done nothing, nothing to give himself away.

Right as one of the enemy soldiers was almost on top of him, Steel jumped up and knifed the guy. It wasn't quick enough to stop him from screaming through. Three other soldiers came running from out of the grass at the sound of their comrade's death. Steel barely avoided a bullet and cut another guy, but next thing he knew, he was disarmed and his arms twisted behind his back. "Who are you? Are you American? Do you want to die?" the soldiers screamed, the point of a very large gun jamming itself against Steel's head.

He just grinned and stared the soldier right in the eyes. If he was going to die, then he would do it with dignity. "I don't speak Chinese, you dumb chop-sticks. I bet it's hard to walk with those chop-sticks shoved so far up your-" The butt of a gun slammed against Steel's head, making blackness swim in his eyes. The last thing he heard before he passed out was, "Take him to the prison."

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#4
Old 02-07-2014, 09:00 AM

It was the middle of the night, but Lee didn't sleep. He was at his computer, hating his current situation. The only reason he joined the Chinese army was because he didn't think things would really come to blows. People said things all the time, after all. Sighing, he filed through the American profiles, the men and women that he had seen come through the compound gates and come into the prison. Most were dead. Others were near death. A few were still healthy, but growing despondent. He walked the earthy halls every day, oversaw torture techniques and interrogation tactics. His superiors never called his methods 'torture', though the entire compound knew him as Mr. Misery. He created the most horrible torture techniques, sometimes bringing back ancient methods whose devices were often shown off in museums as testament to the horror they created so long ago.

Lee, however, brought them back in more high-tech manners; a rack that was laser controlled to keep the bones from snapping, but only just. Waterboarding that was controlled by movement and on a timer. A metal chair that drilled into the subject's most sensitive body parts. An electric plate that one was strapped to and adjusted to keep the subject's heart and brain from exploding. But others were still rather primitive, and just as effective. Whipping, burning, cutting, and mauling often left those with intel ready to talk, or at least die before they would. He pressed his hand against his forehead, pulling his hair out of its ponytail as an alert arrived on his computer screen. His scouts---men and women that he controlled to scour the countryside in the evenings alongside the other soldiers that resided in the compound---had collected a spy. He hadn't had many spies, and the ones he had were all dead. Standing, Lee stretched and stepped around his desk. They would be bringing the prisoner to the prison's receiving bay outside the compound. It was a large, remote control trap door that was hidden by a layer of fake earth and foliage, and simply raised when it needed to. He stepped into the main guts of the prison, walking stoically past the bars of various cells.

He glanced sideways. In each earthy wall protected by powerful steel mesh, a pipe fed into the torture rooms. The screams of the prisoners did well to torment those that weren't in the grips of agony, mentally pushing them and breaking them down. They were all his ideas---even keeping the prison underground and putting security measures in place so that the prisoners couldn't escape or send messages to one another without one of his many constant guards seeing it. He didn't like doing what he did, but everyone thought he derived some sick pleasure out of it. No---he just didn't want to have to face those as he shot and killed them. It was the only thing he was good at---planning, organizing, thinking up creative methods of interrogation. At least this made his family proud, where he failed everywhere else.

A troop was already in the bay, the bright white lights chasing away any shadows that dared try to light on the walls or the floor. Between two large armed Chinamen an American stood, disarmed and nearly stripped of everything but his pants. Even then one of the other men patted him down well and at Lee's behest, a dog was brought out from the kennels to sniff down the man, whose head was lolling to the floor as he came out of unconsciousness. "Who is this man?" Lee demanded in fluent Chinese.

"The spy we informed you of, sir." One of the younger guards spoke up immediately. "We found him in the dry riverbed between ourselves and Russia. He had quite an arsenal of weaponry."

"I see." Lee stepped forward, grasping the man's dark hair and raising his head, and a painful shock immediately struck him like a bullet through the chest. He must have appeared differently, because one of the guards nodded to him. "Sir, are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Take him to cell B-112, now! You leave him there until morning, feed him white rice but do not give him water." Lee spun on his heel and stalked away as the others moved, pulling the American into the prison bowels. For once, Lee's heart was racing, and it wasn't because of guilt for what he was doing, which he was accustomed to biting back.

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#5
Old 02-07-2014, 09:40 AM

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.

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#6
Old 02-07-2014, 10:10 AM

Lee immediately returned to his office away from the prison and sat at his desk, feeling his racing heart begin to slow. It had been years, but he knew the man. He knew the contours of his face, the shape of his nose, the expression in his eyes though Lee had had to open them by force. Steeler. His old friend. It had been so long since he left the States---had been forced to leave by his family---and he hadn't seen the young man since. How long had it been? Lee couldn't even remember. And now Steeler---American spy captured by Lee's own---was in the hands of a man known by the moniker of misery. Mr. Misery, the source of pain that the American prisoners felt and heard and thought about every single day.

He stood, hand grasped around a glass paperweight, and he threw it across the room with an enraged wail. He was conflicted more now than ever. He didn't support the war---didn't even support the Chinese. He knew they were buying out small countries one by one and threatening the States, and it was only fair that they dared retaliate. But Lee didn't think about that. He thought about making his family proud of him in some way. Some way, finally. But now it meant hurting a friend. Did Dustin even remember him?

His office door opened. "Mr. Alkaev, are you okay?" Several guards had come in, looking concerned after the crash.

"No! I'm in an extremely bad mood right now, officers! Begone!" He waved them off, pressing his hands against his eyes and growling loudly as the door closed. He couldn't just not do anything, however. Dustin was a spy. A spy! Spies were especially frowned upon but very necessary. Truthfully he couldn't care less if the spies talked, but he needed to appear as if he tried. He went outside, passing a guard and grabbing him as he went along. He had to see Dustin.

Stopping at the cell with the guard, Lee could barely keep animosity in his expression. He looked so grown up now... He probably hated Lee. Glancing down, he regarded the mess. "Guard, please take note." He spoke in clear English, but the guard was bilingual, and he nodded. "As it stands our spy will be given food once every seven days. This will be a piece of bread no more than ten ounces and a small bowl of rice no more than fifteen ounces. He will have water once every two days. This will be no more than ten ounces and no less than five. If he tries to harm himself in any way he will be shackled from the ceiling by the arms. If he tries to use anything currently on his person to remove himself from his current predicament he will be stripped and will remain in his cell naked. Is this understood?"

The guard nodded, and at Lee's command, went to spread the word to others. When they were left alone, Lee turned his gaze to Dustin. "I'm sure you don't recognize me." He said simply. "But I recognize you, Dustin." He could hardly bear doing what he was doing to Dustin now. No food but every seven days, and no water but every two? It was barely enough water to keep someone alive, and enough time between meals to create a backlash in his body. Lee turned swiftly, stalking away.

Last edited by Tachigami; 02-07-2014 at 11:52 PM..

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#7
Old 02-07-2014, 10:10 PM

Steel was angry and though he would never show it, he was scared. Scared meant anger. It was the only way to stay safe when he was the only person he could rely on. Even before getting caught, he had little contact with others. For so long he'd been alone and now, he didn't think he'd be alone ever again. Screams would be a constant companion. He saw guards pass by the cells often enough. It didn't take very long for him to figure out this prison was escape proof, so much so that even someone as stubborn as he wouldn't bother trying.

He was starting to regret spilling the rice. Steel was just thinking that when he heard someone approaching. He stood up to his full height, as pathetic as that was. He refused to look weak as a tall man with a guard stopped in front of the cell. Steel returned the hostile expression the man was giving him. "Message understood," he muttered. Considering that the dictations about food were said in English, they were obviously meant for him to hear.

But then came words he didn't expect. The second the guard left and he was alone with this strange man. This strange man that the more he looked at him, the more Steel got a weird feeling. He kept that off his face though. Of course he didn't know some Chinese dude. But...

"Dustin? How do you know that name?!" he exclaimed as second after the strange man had turned away. He didn't stop walking, but Steel still yelled after him. "Who the hell are you, bastard?!" It had been so long since Steel heard his birth name. No one used it anymore. His army files had been burned. For all intents and purposes, Dustin Steeler had died when the war started. Now, the only person left behind was Steel. He knew he didn't recognize the chinaman, but he was worried. The man said he recognized Steel. Was it even possible he had forgotten?

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#8
Old 02-07-2014, 11:36 PM

When he returned to his office, Lee stepped toward his desk and leaned on it, pressing his hands onto the cool top. The way Dustin looked at him didn't place a doubt in his mind: He didn't recognize Lee. To Dustin Lee was just another Chinese, like the others no doubt thought of Dustin as just another American. He couldn't stand the thought of harming Dustin, or giving the order to make it happen. Thinking about him on any of Lee's remade torture devices sent his stomach flopping, and Lee growled, swallowing quickly. Torture physical and mental was a common enough thing, and Lee had managed to handle it by detaching himself from the reality. It was why everyone in the nearby compound feared him as they did---he didn't twitch when someone screamed, didn't look away when they were whipped or stretched, made to stand on ice or hot coals, run to exhaustion. His cold exterior cracked, though. He could feel it, as if it were on him. A crack forming right over his chest, and he put a hand there as if mending it.

Once they had been so close. Had they promised to keep in touch? Now Lee couldn't remember. He pinched the bridge of his nose, cringing. Now he was more torn than ever. He didn't exactly like harming people directly or indirectly, but he was the best at it. He didn't like fighting against the Americans when all they wanted was to be left alone. Sighing angrily, Lee thought back to Dustin. Did he not recognize his old friend because Lee had changed so much? Did he look more... evil? He growled, coughing and leaning against his desk as the door opened again. "Sir, are you well?" The guard seemed concerned.

"Why is everyone asking me this?" Lee demanded, slamming his fist on the desktop. The guard flinched, but stepped in a little more.

"Well, you seem very stressed, and not at all well---"

"I seem stressed? In the midst of a war, manning these prisoners and spies and forcing confessions and information out of them, passing their cells each day to watch their emaciated, dehydrated, wounded bodies twitch in cramped cells as the screams of their friends echo through pipes to wrack their psyche? Stressed? Of course I am, you damn fool! Are you stressed?" The man nodded. "Then it's very safe to say I am as well. I want you to leave that spy alone for the next week, are we clear? With rationed food and water he'll eventually grow... weak." Lee turned, sitting heavily in his chair and dismissed the man with a wave of his hand. When the door was closed, Lee sighed and cradled his head in his hands. The guilt was beginning to set in already. Dustin didn't remember him, but Lee certainly remembered Dustin. Maybe he would recognize his name... But Lee doubted it, despite possibly being the only man with a Chinese-based name and a Russian-based surname.

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#9
Old 02-08-2014, 01:29 AM

Time did not exist in the cell. Just like Steel expected, he soon lost track. Two days? After that, morning was night and night was afternoon. Time became regulated by when water was brought to him. Even though he told himself he would not break, Steel's resistance already started slipping away. Like a good little prisoner, he drank. He couldn't afford not to. He expected that someone would appear--maybe that man who knew his name--and torture him for information. That day had yet to come though.

Instead, Steel slept. Without proper sustenance, plans of fighting back or shows of anger became less and less likely every day. With sleep came his usual dreams. Every time he closed his eyes, he found himself on the sunny bank of a lake with a chill in the air that felt comforting. He knew he wasn't alone beside the lake, but he never turned his head to the side to see his companion. He never heard their voice. Always, every night for as long as he could remember, he sat on a lake shore in his dreams. Part of him wanted to believe it was a memory, but of what?

He woke to the sound of a scream. Or was it his own stomach churning with hunger? The hunger cramps had become his friend. Most of the time he could put them out of his mind, but some moments there was no ignoring them. He sat up and stared out past the bars. Was he supposed to think of himself as lucky that he wasn't being tortured? Maybe he would be alone in this cell forever now. If that was the case, Steel didn't know what he would do with himself. Maybe bite his tongue and end it sooner. Something needed to happen soon or he would do it.

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#10
Old 02-08-2014, 02:50 AM

It had nearly been a week. Every day Lee passed his cell he turned away to the empty one across from Dustin's. When he slept he could only see the happiest times of his life, his life when he was younger and not around his parents, his family, their disapproving gazes and their sighs of discontent. Any time he could get away, any time he could sit with his longtime friend, was a vacation he wished would never end. Lee spent his days above the prison, in the compound, answering questions about the prisoners and the tactics he used to get information from them. In the evenings he went below, sitting at his desk and dreading when he was called upon to force answers where they otherwise would remain silent.

He kept track of food and water stocks and logs, making sure the guards weren't mistreating the prisoners where they weren't allowed to. He was forced to pass by Dustin's cell every day because of its location, however, but tried not to look in on him. It was hard enough depriving him of food and water so desperately already. He could only imagine how hard it was for Dustin---trapped where there were no clocks, no windows, no indication of time. Starved and dehydrated.

He stared at the black screen of his computer for a while, wondering about the implications. What if he switched sides? He could destroy his files, crash the computers, set Dustin free on the premise of taking him along to fight on the other side. Perhaps even get on the front lines if necessary. But he couldn't do that. He stepped out of his office, walking slowly down the hall and turning left. His heavily-booted feet were quiet as they came to a stop outside the cell and he crossed his arms lightly. Lee didn't want to speak. He felt as if he would let it all out, and maybe Dustin resented him for not really saying goodbye before he left. Maybe he didn't even remember his old friend.

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#11
Old 02-08-2014, 04:34 AM

Steel felt eyes on him, though he hadn't heard anyone walk down the hall. He lifted his head slowly and did his best to clear the cobwebs from out of his mind. Eyes focusing slowly, he took in the sight of the man who said he knew him. He licked his dry lips nervously and stared into the man's eyes, only showing his nervousness in small movements. To most eyes he would look composed despite his circumstances, but Steel felt as if he were on the tip of the knife waiting to fall.

When it became obvious that he wasn't going to be spoken to, Steel licked his lips again and decided to speak first. "Who are you? Why do you know my name? No one should-" he cut him self off and looked down. Maybe this was some kind of new ploy, a mental tactic to trick him easily into giving away information. Steel wasn't stupid enough to fall for that. "I don't know you, so whatever you think you're gaining by saying that you do, just give up. I have no intentions of breaking." Some of his usual strength came back into his voice and he glanced up with burning eyes. He was not weak and he wanted everyone to know it.

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#12
Old 02-08-2014, 04:59 AM

Lee closed his eyes at the man's words. Harsh. Serious. But there was a waver there only the most skilled would catch. He was nervous. Concerned, but he wouldn't go so far as to say terrified. After all, Dustin wouldn't have gotten into the spy business were he terrified of being captured and tortured. He stepped forward, uncrossing his arms and opening his eyes. "I don't doubt you'll hold every piece of vital information to the very bitterest of ends." He said in English. "And I know you probably don't know much more than the bare bones of your orders. You're a spy, you don't like working with others because they slow you down, you feel watched. You function better by yourself and you get results. No one knows your name, I'm sure, because every possible file that has information on you was destroyed the moment you became a spy or sealed so securely not even the world's best hackers would get at them, or they're in an underground vault as well-protected as the secret of God Himself."

He looked down, then back up, and sighed. "They probably call you some variation of your name, don't they? Steel, maybe? It's hard, cold, and doesn't easily give. Just like you. Do you... think about that place you used to go to? That quiet little place... that lake. It was nice there, wasn't it, Dustin? Beautiful, especially during sunset. It's hard to admit that it hurts that you don't remember me. Dustin, my name is Lee Alkaev. Maybe you don't remember me. I guess it just means I'm too attached to the past, even now. Even the detached, cold bastard Mister Misery feels a little too strongly." He chuckled bitterly, and shook his head. "No one will torture you yet. Hopefully never. Maybe this damnable war will end soon and we can go our separate ways again." He turned, starting away to do his rounds about the prison.

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#13
Old 02-08-2014, 06:26 AM

Steel shook his head. He refused to hear this, but as much as he tried not to look it, he knew his reactions were showing on his face. Every description the other man said was a perfect match for Steel. Other people slowed him down and were unwelcome. He was a loner and yet this guy knew everything so perfectly. It was more than being a good profiler. Steel looked away when his name was guessed, but a second later, he looked back up at the other man.

"A lake..." he started, but the words choked in his throat. He touched the tattoo on his wrist unconsciously. He didn't remember how he got it, but it was already there when he joined the army. If it had meaning at some point, he had long forgotten it. Like a million other small things that never seemed important until now. He couldn't just be this forgetful. He had holes in his memory, little ones, and maybe some very big ones if this stranger called Lee was to be trusted.

Just as the other man started to walk away, Steel pulled himself to his feet and called out to him. "A lake with tall pines all around and a half buried boat on on its side, the red paint almost all peeled away?" He didn't care about hiding information anymore. Every part of him that was a spy went on hold because of his desperation for information. "How do you know about the lake from my dreams?! I never told anyone about it!"

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#14
Old 02-08-2014, 06:40 AM

Now he could see it as perfectly as if he were there. Lee froze, turning and going back to the cell and leaning against the narrow bars that could barely allow the arm up to the elbow to be pushed in or out. "A large, rounded lake with a small stream feeding it near that peeling red boat. If you look closely at the side of the boat you can see letters, but the whole name is buried in the earth. You just see ALA. And you always speculated as to what it might really say, and you thought one day you might dig down to see what's under that boat, and what that name really is. In the evening, the sky over the pines becomes a crimson red and orange tone like orange and raspberry ice cream. I know the place because it's real. Perhaps you dream about it?" Lee shrugged a little.

"Maybe when you dream about it you feel like someone's with you there. Maybe he's just out of sight, though. Maybe when he speaks, it's too low for you to hear." When he dreamed, it didn't feel like pieces were missing. He was there with his childhood friend, but now they were all grown up. Now the war didn't exist, only they did, only the lake and the sky above them, constantly changing, shifting, becoming more and more beautiful the longer he slept. Lee scratched his arm, pulling at the cloth and gauze bandages he kept there purposefully. Underneath was a small dragon tattoo that held half a moon. He just called it a burn he didn't like to look at anymore.

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#15
Old 02-08-2014, 07:02 AM

"Aladdin." The word came unbidden to Steel's mind and he said it without thinking. Though he tried to decipher the word, but couldn't remember its significance. "Did I think that was the boat's name?" It seemed important to him, but he couldn't remember at all why. Maybe he did dig down and see the boat's name. This entire conversation felt surreal. He couldn't help but think that Lee's words were beautiful when he described the lake, but the details of it meant nothing to Steel. Besides his reoccurring dream, he had no memories of the place. No time spent with another person. He felt a person's presence, but it was no more than that. No sunsets, no memories of what ice cream tasted like if he really thought about it.

"I don't remember you at all," Steel whispered. He lifted his arm to show the tattoo there, then inspected Lee's arm. "I don't remember what this tattoo means either, or how I got the two inch scar on the back of my leg. You'd think that would be significant enough of an injury to remember. How can I remember my brother and my parents, my friends from school and the name of my fifth grade teacher, but not remember any of these other things?" He couldn't help but let his emotions color his voice. He was confused, worried, doubtful, and a little ashamed to admit the shortcomings in his memory.

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#16
Old 02-08-2014, 07:18 AM

Aladdin? Was that the name of the boat? He hoped it was. Maybe it was. He could only imagine Dustin finally deciding to dig into the earth and pull out enough earth to finally understand the name of the boat. "I'm not sure why you remember so little... Maybe you were conditioned to forget a certain amount of your past. Maybe you pushed it away because it was easier to cope..." He barely remembered his goodbye to Dustin that day. Had it hurt? No doubt about that. It hurt so badly that Lee closed it off in a quiet little part of his mind.

He had to get going with his rounds, but didn't move yet. A guard passed him and gave him an acknowledging nod, which Lee returned with a curt coldness that sent the man walking a little faster. But when he turned back to Dustin his expression softened a little. "Dustin... I know because I was there. That other person there, the one you can't see, it's me. When we were young we decided that was our favorite spot to go. We went every day to escape our family lives. We sat on and played on that boat and skipped stones through the water, and we'd sometimes lose track of time there. We'd never run out of things to talk about and... would lose ourselves." He pulled his shirt sleeve up, and the bandage as well. "That looks like mine." He said, nodding to Dustin's. "I'm not fully sure where I got mine but I feel like we got the tattoos together." He slid them back down, shaking his head. It was the second of only two things he couldn't recall well.

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#17
Old 02-08-2014, 08:31 AM

Steel wanted so badly to believe that Lee was his friend. He needed a friend, now more than ever. The fact that the friend was now his captor never escaped him though. Thinking about Lee's words made him all the more nervous. "Conditioned to forget things? Who would do that though? Do you remember everything?" He wanted to think that the holes in him memory were someone else's doing, not just that he wanted to forget. He couldn't even tell if there was something painful to forget hidden in the depths of his mind.

He looked nervously at the guard as he passed, then focused his attention on the tattoo that Lee revealed. Steel's eyes widened slightly at the sight of it. He felt instantly like it matched his own and something flashed in his mind. Recoiling, he dropped back to the ground away from the cell bars with a small cry. He clenched a hand over his forehead and refused to lift his head to look at Lee. Whatever had flashed in his mind, it was gone now. He never got a clear sense of what was there, but rather an emotion. And absolute deep connection with another person, almost like love. He felt this when he looked at Lee's tattoo and that scared him more than anything he'd encountered in this prison yet. That deep feeling had quickly become overtaken by a stab of pain though. Now Steel looked up at Lee out of the corner of his eyes. "You should leave. Someone will think it's weird you're talking to a prisoner like me."

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#18
Old 02-08-2014, 08:50 AM

Lee's eyes widened, and he studied Dustin carefully. Did he remember something? Did it hurt him? Lee bit his lip, and crouched down. "How long I spend talking to each prisoner is to my own discretion. I'm the master interrogator, after all. But I do remember everything, Dustin. The only things I've forgotten... I can't remember why we got the tattoos and if we decided to get them together... And I can't remember the day we were forced to separate. Both of these I don't doubt I forced myself to ignore, if not forget. But they're in my mind somewhere. I'll up your food to twice a week but I can't go easy on you or... they'll know I'm showing favor." He stood, sighing before stepping away.

His boots were silent on the earthy floor. Passing a guard, Lee stopped her and told her to up the food in B-112 to twice a week to make sure he didn't completely detach, and raise the water to twenty ounces. She nodded, looking unconcerned with the message, and stepped away as Lee went on his rounds. He could hear the torture was high today, and screams and begging were coming through the pipes. He went to one of the torture rooms and lingered by the farthest wall, watching Americans as they were tormented for what they knew about troop movement and quality information. It was always hard to watch, but he managed to put on a stoic, statue of an expression as the torturers worked.

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#19
Old 02-08-2014, 09:37 AM

Steel looked at Lee, his body relaxing after a second. "Thank you...for being my friend. Or whatever you are." It felt weird to say the word friend at all, but he had to thank Lee for something. There were a lot of things he could say. A thank you for more food. For information about himself and his past. But somehow saying friend sounded like exactly the right thing to say. He watched the other man walk away, not looking away until long after he was out of sight.

After that, he curled up on the floor with his head resting between his knees and his hands laced behind his neck. It only took a minute of being alone for his doubts to come back. Doubts that Lee was really a friend and that the lake was a real place. Wasn't it too good to be true? Maybe it was just this place that made him distrusting, but all of his training told him to distrust when his heart wanted to trust without question. The only solution Steel could think of was dream again and try to unravel the mystery of the lake, so he closed his eyes and let himself sleep.

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#20
Old 02-08-2014, 10:27 PM

Lee was running through the words in his head. Thank you for being my friend... Whatever it was, whether it was some learned spy tactic or sincere, Lee wasn't entirely, fully sure. The expression in his eyes seemed more than real, the cold hatred and questioning sliding away to make way for confusion, perhaps a warm look. Did he remember something? Lee didn't know. How strongly was his memory erased? How had it been erased at all?

A coughing scream brought him out of his thoughts and Lee studied the man. He was hanging from the ceiling by the wrists, his skin around the rope raw and bleeding. A plate was attached to the ground below him, keeping his ankles in place as one of the torturers hit him with a whip tipped with a sharp steel topper that cut the skin. The American---he appeared to be in his mid thirties---screamed again, but this time it resembled a ragged, hoarse 'No!' Lee shook his head. "Again. Five lashes. If he doesn't speak, acid treatment. Start below the waist."

"No, God I'll tell you, God! Don't, s-s-stop..." The man twitched hard, lowering his head. "Look... Th-the...there's a movement... m-movement to the... to the... e-east... Troop of... s-s-seventy. T-they... they're... sweeping..."

"Sweeping?" Lee demanded.

"The... border. They... they're... c-coming... this way."

Lee nodded. "You. Spread word in the compound. And if he's lying, give him an acid bath until he dies."

The American gasped, but Lee didn't stick around to hear if he spoke. He slammed the door behind him, stalking down the hall. The smell in the torture rooms was repulsive, but he'd gotten used to it. The smell made it even more uncomfortable for the prisoners, and the torturers wore masks to take away from the smell. Halfway down the hall, Lee sighed, sagging a little. Harming people was, in itself, torture. Torture he had managed to insulate himself from feeling.

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#21
Old 02-09-2014, 05:45 AM

In Steel's dream, the familiar lake spread out in front of him. The day wasn't a mild spring afternoon like usual, but a chilled day with high winds that signaled the start of winter. Steel knelt on the ground, his skinny legs those of an adult, but one who had not yet been toughened by war. This dream was not a childhood memory. It was real and close. Heat billowed in his face despite the cold and when he looked up, he saw why. A fire raged on the other side of the lake, taking over most of the horizon as a dancing orange wall. The town was burning.

The dream did not end there. Though the fire should have been the most important things, it wasn't the focus. Steel was looking down at a hole that had been dug in the soil in front of him. About a foot down, a preserves jar had been buried. He reached a hand into the hole and felt the cold glass fit perfectly in his hand. He ran a thumb over the lid and started to twist it open.

Steel woke with a start, his gasps filling the room. Tear tracks stained his face, but his eyes were dry. For a minute he couldn't even think. The lake didn't even exist anymore. The town he grew up in, gone. And somewhere in the cold soil of North Dakota was a jar. He knew he'd buried it years ago, maybe with the companion from his dreams, maybe after they had parted ways. Either way, whatever was in the jar was the answer to everything he wanted to know. His friend...Lee, his missing memories, and why his memories were missing in the first place. Now he just needed to remember what was in the jar.

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#22
Old 02-09-2014, 06:18 AM

His head was aching painfully, pounding as if a drum were lodged inside his brain. Grimacing, he reached up and pulled his hair free, running his hand through it. Thinking about the American he just left, Lee grimaced and stalked down the hall a little faster. He had to tell the sergeant in charge of their compound and get a troop moving in on the Americans immediately, before they found the base and radioed back to reveal it on a larger scale. But he had a few minutes to mope. Soon he would have to see Dustin hurt. He would at least hear his screams. He couldn't actually allow himself to stand by---watch---as Dustin was tormented for information he probably didn't even have. He pinched the bridge of his nose as he walked, thinking.

If he had a valid excuse, he could personally take over torture regimens regarding Dustin. It wouldn't exactly be odd---he'd done so before with the especially tough individuals and they'd cracked after a time. He nodded, curling his hands into fists and stopping outside Dustin's cell. He was awake, and Lee tried to muster something of a smile, but he was sure it turned into a grimace. "Hey." He said sternly. "Come here. There aren't any patrols on this line for the next ten minutes so we can speak freely." He crouched down so Dustin didn't have to stand. "Are you aware of an American troop coming in from the east of here? We were just told of a group of seventy doing a sweep on the border. I'm sure you're not, but I want you to understand that if you hear the sounds of a scuffle, that's what's happening. I can't afford not to tell my superiors."

He ran a hand through his hair again, looking down. "To tell you the truth I hate this damn war. I'd prefer you guys to live however you want and I'm helping to suppress that. I feel like a two-faced bastard..." Lee spat the words, pressing his head against the narrow bars.

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#23
Old 02-09-2014, 07:48 AM

Steel rubbed his eyes and when he looked up, Lee was crouched down in front of the cell. He scooted closer to listen as he rubbed at his cheeks to hide any evidence of his earlier tears. They were the last thing he wanted to be noticed by Lee or anyone else. Americans were coming? Seventy wasn't a big size, but Americans were persistent. They would send more if these didn't come back. He wondered vaguely if this meant he could be rescued, even if by a small chance. He wanted hope and he clung to it desperately.

"Why are you telling me this?" he asked quietly. Not just the information about the sweep of the border, but of Lee's own two-faced admission. He himself wasn't patriotic, but it surprised him to hear similar sentiments from an enemy. He had to remind himself that this enemy might actually be a friend, but even if he was, Steel wouldn't give information readily. "You know I won't tell you anything I know, if I know anything at all. I may hate this war too, but I still don't trust you. How can I just trust someone I may or may not know?" Just saying those words made him want to laugh. Really, how could he trust Lee? No one gave information this freely without expecting some in turn, and information was used for self empowerment and selfish wants.

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#24
Old 02-09-2014, 08:06 AM

Lee raised his head as a flash of annoyance lashed through his mind, and he banged his hands on the bars. "Damn you, I don't want information you have! It's worthless to me, for the love of God, I just want you to remember!" He gritted his teeth, feeling the drum in his head pound with an intensity so great it wanted to explode from inside out. After a moment, Lee sighed. "You really think I'd risk my damn life telling you all this if I just wanted to get information? I'd send you straight to one of my torturers! I'm trying to keep you from unnecessary pain, Dustin, and there's only one way to do it. Either you go with it or I give up..."

He paused at that, shaking his head. "But I know who I'm talking to! I know you, and I'd know you from fifty feet away and ten, twenty, thirty years older. I don't know why you can't remember me but it's killing me. And if I can find ways to talk to you, help you somehow... somehow... without raising others' suspicions... I'll do it. But you have to want to remember. There's got to be something you want to remember... Even if it's not me, Dustin... But..." He didn't know how he'd handle being the only component that Dustin couldn't remember. He'd been there so long, after all, as Dustin had been there for him.

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#25
Old 02-09-2014, 08:36 AM

Steel lifted his head, leveling a look steely enough to match his chosen name. "Dustin is dead. That person you say you knew died years ago and the only person who's left is me, Steel." Even if he did remember the things he'd lost, he didn't think he'd get that person back. Too long in the army listening to orders and seeing too many people die and just walking away. He was a spy, not a soldier. He didn't pick his battles, just ran when he saw them coming. For a second, he slipped his eyes closed. Did Lee really think he didn't want to remember? Clenching a hand so tight that his nails cut his palms, he flashed his eyes open again.

"Do you want to know what I remembered just now? I remember looking out over that damn lake and seeing my home town burning to the ground. My parents are dead. I joined the army because my brother has stars and stripes imprinted on his brain, and I'd be dead too if I wasn't stupid enough to follow in his footsteps!" Steel snapped. "Of course I want to remember happier things than that!" The anger sapped out of him as quickly as it had come. He sagged, hanging his head. "I'm trying to trust you, but it's just not in my nature anymore. I don't know if it ever was."

 


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