K A N E

One of Hunt's assistants led us underground to a place that we'd only been once. We followed him down the passageways underneath the ONNT building, passing lab coat-clad scientists and important-looking people in suits.

I was dreading what would happen here. My last interaction with Benny was four days ago at the gala and it had left me feeling anxious and confused. That person was not the brother I'd remembered. I'd gone into the mission knowing that he would be different but actually seeing him like that was disconcerting.

The ONNT worker stopped in front of the same door we'd gone through the last time. After typing in a password on the keypad next to the door frame, the door slid open with a metallic scraping sound. Inside sat Hunt and a few counsel members that I vaguely remembered.

"Sit down," Hunt gestured to a row of seats next to him. "It's about to begin."

So we did. I sat on the end of the row, staring down at the large room below us. A single metal chair was fused into the ground before a table where a curly-haired doctor sat. As of now, the chair was empty, but I knew that it wouldn't be for long.

My brother was about to be questioned for his crimes. I felt partly guilty about it, but I was glad that he was here. It was better for him to be locked up under the ONNT's care than in the clutches of Imperium's leaders. At least he couldn't do any damage here.

Gigi sat next to me. Glancing down, I saw that her hands were balled into fists. For a moment I was confused, but I then realized the reason: Benny was the Imperium agent that had most likely murdered her mother in their home. It couldn't have been easy for her to see him now. The knowledge that he probably killed her mother only added to my mixed feelings.

The room quieted when two ONNT soldiers led Benny into the room, his arms and legs in chains. He was pushed into the metal chair and tied down to prevent any escape attempts. The doctor in front of him opened his notes and spread them out on the table.

I looked sadly into my brother's face again. With his straight nose, low brows and piercing eyes, he looked almost exactly like me. The only things that had changed were the scars on his face and how his eyes now had a cold, hardened look. But now that I'd seen how he'd changed, he almost seemed to be a whole different person. It was devastating to look into the eyes of someone you'd once loved to only see a stranger.

I wondered if the ONNT had alerted my family that they'd found my brother. They'd be so happy to hear that he was alive, but once they were delivered the news of what had happened to him, I knew the smiles would drop off their faces. My younger sisters would have to be led away from the scene so they wouldn't hear any gruesome details. Mama would cry for what her oldest son had become.

Letting out a breath I'd been holding, I kept watching my brother, pondering how things could have come to this.

"Hello, I'm here to ask you a few questions," the doctor told Benny, beginning the interview.

"Let's begin slowly. What's your full name?"

"Benton Miguel Shires." I heard Arlo snort at his preppy name.

"Where have you been for the last five years?"

"I've been working as an agent for Imperium."

"What were they having you do?"

"Everything. I steal things they need. I spy on people they need information from. I take out their enemies." I crossed my arms across my chest as it became clear to me that my brother was being much more open to interrogation than I'd expected.

"And what happened when they took you from your home as a child?"

But Benny shook his head. "I wasn't taken. I saw that something great was happening with Imperium and I joined them. It's been an honor to serve them and their purpose."

"He's lying," I murmured, keeping my eyes glued to my brother. "They kidnapped him from our house." Why wasn't he telling the truth? Who was he protecting?

"What is Imperium's purpose?" The doctor questioned, folding his hands on the table. "What exactly are they trying to do?"

The assassin said nothing. He stayed quiet for long enough that it became obvious he wasn't going to answer. I understood why; if the ONNT figured out what Imperium was trying to do, they'd be able to stop them much easier. But the question was: why was Benny still protecting them after all the horrible things they'd done to him?

After making a few scribbles on his notes, the doctor continued on. "We'll come back to that question. Who is your leader?"

"You already know who my leader is." Benny's voice became something like an angry hiss. "Delphinium Tesla told you everything she knew." This was the first time I'd seen him genuinely angry.

The man went through his papers again. "So you do answer to Orion then. I thought so."

I watched as Benny's eyes flicked up to the window. I knew that it was only one-way glass and that he couldn't see us, but I still felt strange.

"Do you hear that, Delphinium?" He yelled, shaking his chained hands like he was fighting to break free. "They know about our secrets because you told them everything! How dare you? You know that Orion will punish you severely for what you did!"

Everyone in the room turned to survey Delphinium's reaction. She sat in her seat facing forward and watching Benny with an intense gaze. At first glance, she might seem to be holding back a furious rage but I saw her knuckles turning white as she clutched the arm rests on her chair.

"Mr. Shires, you need to calm yourself or I'll have to call in security," the doctor warned, seeming calm and unbothered by Benny's outburst.

Immediately, Benny sat back and stared at the doctor. "Good. Now, tell me, where is the fortress that you lived? Is it the one in Romania?"

"Yes."

"Is that their only stronghold?"

Again, he stayed silent and kept that unnerving gaze on the interrogator.

"I'm going to ask you once more. Is the fortress in Romania all you have, or are there more?"

When Benny still refused to answer, the doctor wrote more. I ran the question and Benny's reaction through my mind. Either he was staying silent because there were other strongholds like the one in Romania or because he didn't want the ONNT to know any more about Imperium's endeavors. Whichever option it was, neither were good for us.

"You'll have to kill me," my brother avowed, not wavering. "I'm not telling you anything."

Then, the doctor pressed a button on the telephone on his desk and said into it, "He's not answering. Bring it in."

A side door slid open. Three ONNT soldiers came out of it, dragging some sort of machine. Holding Benny down, they connected him to it, the wires sticking to his head, chest and arms.

The doctor stared him down. "Where are the other fortresses?"

As Benny stayed quiet, the soldiers clamped his hands down to the chair. When they were finished, they looked to the doctor for instructions.

"Five milliamperes," he said and they obliged, pressing a few buttons on the machine's control center. Even from where we were, I could see the shock that went through Benny's body.

"Still nothing?" The doctor questioned my brother. "Ten milliamperes."

He began to visibly shake now, his hands grasping the chair's armrests as the electricity flowed through him. It was hard to watch but I somehow couldn't tear my eyes away.

The machine switched off. Benny kept quiet, simply staring at the doctor with quiet determination. I knew that he was willing to die in order to keep Imperium's secrets, but I wished he'd say something. I hoped he would give even a small sign that some part of who he was still existed deep down inside him.

"Fifteen milliamperes." The machine was switched back on and Benny began convulsing again. As the doctor raised the voltage, the pain it was causing him greatened. He was in pain now, I could see it. However, he still stayed calm, like the more they upped the voltage, the more determined he got.

"Twenty milliamperes." His body shook and his head was thrown back with the pain. The sound of my brother's screaming filled the room. I closed my eyes. I didn't want to hear any more.

"Twenty five milliamperes." The screaming increased, a horrible sound. Benny wasn't going to talk; they were going to end up killing him.

"Stop," I croaked, opening up my eyes to look at Hunt. "He's not going to tell us."

Hunt set his gaze on me for a few seconds and then turned to the table behind him, which had a phone with an intercom setting like the one the doctor had down below. "Stop the process," Hunt spoke into it, "This is enough for today."

I watched as the curly-headed doctor signaled for the ONNT soldiers to turn the machine off. Benny fell back into his seat, his arms and legs looking like they were made of jelly. The soldiers took him away out the same door they'd come from.

I stood up from my chair as the shock of what I'd just seen set in. To watch my brother be electrocuted was horrible, but to know that he was going to refuse to talk again and again was worse. They would keep doing this until he was dead.

Riley took one look at me and said to Hunt, "We're ready to leave now."

Thankful that we could be leaving this place, I followed her as we all went back upstairs. As we walked through the busy maze of corridors, I clasped my shaking hands together. I wished that I didn't just watch that. But now the image of my brother, screaming in pain and chained down, was burned into my memory.