In Your Head [IC] Part 1 – Inmate X

Before Allistair could speak further, he noticed something. "X, do you notice that? His rank insignia--the chap in front of you. That's clearly a sergeant's emblem, but--oh, dear. I can't positively identify what nation that's from, but the man sitting over there. Could you look at his rank closer for me? I do believe that these men come from wholly separate nations, even if they've all removed their national flags."

But there were things closer to hand.

"You are under watch here, and physically restrained, but you can still speak." Allistair laughed for a moment, with uncharacteristic mischief in his voice. "Let's see if we can't mess with our captor's head as much as they seem intent on messing with ours. Let us interrogate our interrogator."

Of course, there were certain considerations to be made. Questions could be phrased in a certain way to elicit a greater effect; certainly this would be useful, but with equal certainty a question from prisoner to interrogator would also have shock value. However, it was always imperative to maximize one's advantages--and they needed something good to screw with their captor's head right about now. But they'd need a better opening.

Hannibal appeared again just after Alistair, giving a look of disdain toward his counterpart. He could almost feel his hosts resignation to fight back. Patience wouldn't get him anywhere... he was already condemned to a life in a cell. Whomever this soldier was, he wasn't there to free the man, and was full of empty promises.

"X, how does it feel to be question by a desk-clerk, huh? They are looking down on you, putting you in yet another cell. Is the only moving you will be able to do... the short travel to other cells more miserable than the last, and to boot, with your ankles chained together like that? Your existence is becoming pathetic. What are you, a man, or a caged beast meant to slurp down the gruel they call food?"

Anathema finally appeared, viewing the situation with poorly contained laughter. All these situations X seemed to get himself into were hilarious to him. Misfortune seemed to follow him everywhere, and that's why Anathema enjoyed his job.

"Heh, looks like they've got you in quite the fix!" Anathema laughed, his voice gravelly and rough. "These are the people who probably ruined your life and now they are going to spend the rest of it asking you pointless questions to amuse themselves. And there is you, so helpless and defeated. What are you going to do now, you rat?"

Anathema listened to the other voices as they cast out their own opinions of the situation. As always, he had something to disagree with or complain about.

"As much as I love recklessly getting killed, I almost agree with the Doctor on one point," Anathema said, laughing. "Waiting before the charge is probably a good idea. You must stalk your prey before you murder it. We are murdering them, right? Of course we are. They deserve it. The feeling of their blood on your hands will be....exhilarating..."

Anathema laughed.

"You must find ways out of this hell hole. Look for errors or points of notice that could aid you in your escape. When the chance is given to strike, take it!"

Erebus sighed, his voice being heard as he realized his mutual friend, Doctor Allistair, was outnumbered by the other two evils of X's mind. "Murder isn't necessary, and right now isn't the best time to leave. If you want to live, I suggest that you listen to these questions, and ask as much as you can. You need to know almost all there is to know without being hit." He explained, looking around. Noticing the Sergeant, he felt confused.


"These men seem to be either of no nationality or a mixture of them, and they don't seem to be policemen, are you sure this is a prison?" he question, confused why their nations symbols were removed. It was rather surprising, although totally unrelated to surviving, so he ignored it. The matter at hand was figuring out whatever they could and going by this information to eventually escape. The sooner the better, although safety shouldn't be neglected.

Something was clearly off about the three men in the room that X hadn't quite yet worked out, and not forsaking the whole situation he found himself in overall, this particular point bothered him. He wanted to take a better look at the other two men in the room, but as the Sergeant, -and the Sergeant alone-, continued pacing across the room and glaring into X's eyes with a look somewhere between spite and amusement, X found it difficult to peel his eyes away.

The Sergeant continued. "Then allow me to remind you. While you are here, you will go by one name, and one name only. YOU ARE INMATE X!"

Shouting towards the end of his sentence, the Sergeant succeeded in startling X, though, he did not show any expression particular from the usual in his reaction.

The Sergeant stopped pacing, and the two continued staring at each other, all the while, everything remaining as it was. After a few moments, the Sergeant, nodding approvingly, continued. "Good. So, Inmate X; Now; Do you understand?"

Inmate X, still restrained, could not nod or suggest any movement indicating one way or the other, but not particularly wanting to be shouted at again, and guessing what the Sergeant wanted to hear, responded accordingly. "Yes."

The Sergeant leaned back against the table. "DO you? Then. Tell me; What is your name?"

Inmate X continued. "I am Inmate X."

The Sergeant shook his head disapprovingly. "No, no, no! That will not do! I asked you WHO you are, not WHAT you are! You must SAY it! If you don't say it, how will I know that you understand? If you don't say it, then clearly, you do not understand! If you don't understand, then how can WE understand YOU? Nobody understands you, Inmate X. Do you like that? Is that what you want? Help me to help you — I need to know that you understand."

This guy is a moron.

Inmate X did not like this Sergeant at all.

Finally finding the focus to do so, X looked right, turning his eyes towards the Colonel. Seeing the Colonel, X quickly realised that indeed, the Colonel, too, was watching X; Possibly watching X much more closely and carefully that even the Sergeant was, and taking notes while at it, though, not focusing too heavily on these notes; The Colonel seemed much older than the Sergeant, and held his body in posture and with expression that indicated likely many more years of experience than the Sergeant; He held almost no presence in the room, and on first impression, X did not take much interest, but on second glance, X thought to himself, The Colonel would pose a much greater threat in a confrontation than the Sergeant.

Having no national emblem did not seem normal, and having now seen them both clearly, X began trying to figure out where they were from. Both had dark brown eyes, black hair — the Colonel's hair including numerous strands of gray, indicating his age, a slightly tanned complexion and an overall appearance suggestion South-East Asian descent. Though, ofcourse, this didn't necessarily mean anything. Both wore similarly coloured camouflage gear and similar apparel, which indicated likely being of the same organisation, but again, this didn't necessarily mean anything. X had not yet heard the Colonel speak, but atleast, the Sergeant seemed to carry a quasi-Korean accent, possibly either fake or influenced.

"Oi. Eyes on me."

Inmate X turned left and looked at the Lieutenant. The Lieutenant's body language suggested an element of fear, though, he did rather well at hiding this, remaining motionless, fixed to attention, staring directly ahead — Indeed, unlike the other two, the Lieutenant did not appear to be watching X, though, likely remained well aware of any disturbances that may potentially have arisen. Everything about the Lieutenant screamed 'Guard Duty'. That, and possibly also 'Trying not to prematurely evacuate my bladder'. After the moment or two, X realised that he wasn't really seeing any of this — Rather, the Lieutenant did look quite disciplined, and was merely doing his job in the manner that any guard should.. But none the less, X could sense beyond that, though, he did not quite know how. Instinct? The Lieutenant would pose the least threat in a confrontation.

The Lieutenant, just as with the other two, did not carry any form of national emblem, name stitch or tag. He had dark blue-green eyes, sugar-blonde hair, trimmed with precision to a perfect crew cut and a pale complexion — He looked like a jar-head poster boy, albeit, lacking the appropriate body tone. Just as with the other two, this did not necessarily mean anything. However, something that clearly caught X's attention — Just as with the other two, the Lieutenant wore standard camouflage gear; However, the colouring and design of his gear was clearly different from the other two, indicating that in all likelyhood, he was from a different organisation than were the other two.

It seemed that Allistair was correct — They were from different organisations.

Quickly thinking it over in his head, and not entirely sure how he'd even know the differences between such things, X realised that the Lieutenant's uniform bore the same design and colourations of the United States Army, and not a moment later, that the uniforms of the other two bore the same design and colourations of the South Korean Army. Though he couldn't be sure, and something in the back of his head told him that this might all be an elaborate fictation, if he had to guess, those origins for those men would be his guess.

I think you are correct, Allistair; These men are not all of the same nationality or origin.

Erebus.. Clearly, this is a prison, for we are being kept as its prisoners. But.. I do not think that this is an ordinary prison. Not by a long shot. This.. Is something very different.

Ofcourse I want to escape and leave this place! And I agree — We must find points of weakness. But.. I do not yet see very many available to us..

Only a few mere seconds had passed, but this was enough to make the Sergeant impatient. X had heard the Sergeant the first time, but in thought, it had not registered. Picking up and slamming the bucket back down onto the table with a loud band, the Sergeant repeated himself.

"OI! I SAID EYES ON ME, INMATE!!! I don't understand you; Are you stupid?"

No. Ofcourse I'm not stupid!!

Somehow, Inmate X's response remained in his head — He could not articulate the words he wanted from his mind to his voice.

The Sergeant continued. "You need to say it so that we can all understand it! 'My name is Inmate X'. It IS your name, isn't it?"

Inmate X could feel rage boiling up inside; He could clearly visualise in his mind what he wanted to do at that moment — But he knew, even more clearly, how impossible that would be at that time, and he did not want to give the Sergeant the pleasure of seeing this rage boil up to the surface. He did not want these men to see him angry; Atleast, not while he remained bound to shackles; But, the rage continued to boil.

Inmate X, after a slight pause, decided to do the one and only thing that he knew would make the rage subside, atleast, temporarily — he gave the Sergeant what he wanted. "Yes, I understand. My name is Inmate X."

The Sergeant peered at X scrutinisingly. After a few short moments, he nodded approvingly once again. "Good, good, good! Now, Inmate X; Tell me; Why are you here?"

Hannibal appeared at that moment in the back of his hosts mind. In his usual lazy manner, he leaned against... apparently nothing... but he wasn't falling. A single hand strayed toward the hilt of his katana. He looked at Inmate X with something between an expression of disdain and concern. Then, he suddenly started looking down to the man's feet.

"X.... tell me you aren't going to take these questions any longer... please!? There isn't a man alive that deserves such senseless verbal torture... You deserve so much better, but the only way to get out there to EARN that is to grab the bull by the proverbial horns! Now, look, I'll help you, because I am just that nice a guy. Those shackles you have right now are long enough where you could take out those three assholes! We all know you have the power to do this... I do at least, not sure about the 'good doctor'. You can bash that Sergeant's face into this metal desk.." Hannibal started. "Shut him up... FOR GOOD! Then, you could take out that weak Lieutenant guy, snap his neck... and that Colonel you could take last. We could escape, TODAY!"

Allistair laughed. "This man is an idiot! Let's see if we can't turn the tables on such an unbalanced individual by simply asking him questions. Perhaps, if we were to make up a story we know to be false--but which is also believable--we could slip in a question he would be inclined to answer."

His chuckling receded for a moment. "I'm sure we can think of something. In fact! X! I'm fairly certain you grew up in Canada. Land of diversity. In Ontario, I suspect, and that you held an office job for... hmm... Ubisoft, the games developer, in accounting. Ask him where he's from. Be genial, be friendly. Conversational."

Anathema observed the situation quietly, taking in many details and scoffing about a few things.

"Some of these observations you are making are pointless, X, don't waste your time with them," Anathema said bluntly. "It doesn't matter where they or from or what flag they are under. Dogs are dogs. And these dogs need to be put down."

Anathema was very angry at the moment, but he kept his composition calm and cold.

"Don't submit to them so easily," Anathema said to X. "That's exactly what they want from you. They are asking you these pointless questions demotivate you, and so far, it looks like they've won. Don't give them that. If you are afraid of getting pummeled for a smart ass remark, then you don't have a chance of surviving anyways."

Anathema sneered.

"This does make you a bit angry, right?" he asked mockingly. "I mean, there is nothing you can do right now but take in all this abuse! It's brilliant! Soon enough, they'll have you rocking to yourself in a corner crying for a mother you've never had. Jesus, grow some balls already. Let their words fuel your rage. You can't bottle it up forever. Sometime a screw is going to go loose in your head and you're going to blow. Just wait."

With that, Anathema became silent once more, laughing to himself quietly. This was all so amusing. Messing with someone psychologically was so interesting...

Inmate X chuckled a little to the thoughts of his companions.

To that of Anathema — Despite being in the midst of a deplorable situation, from an outsiders perspective, indeed, what Inmate X was going through could be seen as quite ludicrous, and laughable.

To that of Hannibal — The thought of taking these three out and escaping had great allure, but Inmate X doubted he'd be able to take out all three without being taking out himself in due process of it.

To that of Allistair, especially — X would rather find amusement than rage, and the idea of returning the interrogator's questions with stories and more questions, did seem rather amusing; Above all else, however, judging from observation, X's greatest capabilities at that time were his words, the capacity for doing much else being greatly restricted by the shackles of his keepers.

The slightest and most minute twitch on the Sergeant's face told Inmate X that the Sergeant clearly had no idea as to the cause of X's chuckling. This did not come as a surprise, seeing as the only person that could hear Inmate X's voices, aside from the voices themselves, was Inmate X; However, this did serve to reinforce X's opinion of the Sergeant, seeing as most people really shouldn't care one way or the other.

Inmate X looked up to the Sergeant, a grin over his face. "Why are any of us here, Sergeant? Some people spend their entire lives in the pursuit of an answer to that very question. Sometimes, some of these people think that they've found an answer of sorts — But do any of us really have the answers to such things?"

The Sergeant paused for a moment or two, before continuing, irritation detectable in his tone. "I am asking the questions here! You will answer questions, not ask them! You are here to answer these questions!"

Inmate X responded almost immediately, an attempt to prevent the Sergeant from having adequate time to think of further things to say. "I am here to answer questions? Then have you not just answered your own question? Clearly, you seem to already know why I am here."

The Sergeant's inflection raised once again. "You do not understand..! You are missing my point! I told you before!!"

Inmate X's grin widened to something somewhat mocking of the Sergeant. "What did you tell me before? That I am 'Inmate X'? I thought you wanted to make sure that I understood who 'Inmate X' was and make sure I understood why you are here. Or have you already forgotten about that? We've been through this before. What exactly is your point, Sergeant?"

The Sergeant stopped in his tracks, glaring at X with a eyes filled with fury, looking very unsure of what to ask next.

"..So? What's your point? Speak up, Sergeant!" X retorted.

The Sergeant began pacing, again. Always pacing. "You are here because we allow you to be here. You did something very bad, Inmate; Something very bad. Do you remember what it was?"

=== OOC ===

Will post more later. Have a friend over at the moment and need to cut this short. As per usual, feel free to reply with whatever you want to reply with. Whether people do or don't reply, I'll continue this soon. Once again, sorry about the delays everyone.

"Yeah, somewhat. Didn't I try to develop some video game that the military didn't like? You know, the one that can predict everything you do, the one that compromised some top level military security protocol back home, you know, that one."

The Sergeant looked at Inmate X weirdly. "What are you talking about? What security protocol?"

Inmate X continued. "Oh.. They didn't tell you..? Maybe they don't trust you. In which case, I don't think I should tell you. You could always try speaking to my manager - He might be able to tell you. I think he should still be working at Ubisoft, or maybe Blizzard, or Red Ant, or Microsoft, or somewhere like that by now. He should know."

The Sergeant suddenly looked angry again. "You are a liar! You don't know what you're talking about!"

Inmate X continued, making effort not to raise his tone in turn. "Maybe I am, maybe I am not. But is that something you can really trust, either way? Is it something you can risk? You should be careful - Clearly, your superiors do not trust you."

The Sergeant suddenly had a strange look in his eyes - Something told Inmate X he was about to strike out. "You lie!"

Picking up the bucket once more, the Sergeant motioned to hit Inmate X; However, before he could do so, the Colonel spoke up. "Chang!"

The Colonel's voice, though sharing the same accent as the Sergeant, had an entirely different inflection to it - Unlike the Sergeant, the Colonel's voice remained quiet, calm and collected, yet at the same time, commanding - With only a single word, the first impression given by his voice suggested that of a man that rarely raised his voice, yet always got what he asked, potentially out of subordinate fear of what would happen if he ever did need to raise his voice. "Sergeant Chang, Enough!"

So now we know this moron's surname...

The Sergeant stopped dead in his tracks, immediately turning to look at the Colonel. Inmate X could not see the Sergeant's face from his position, but the Colonel's remained as calmed and fixated as always. The Colonel slowly shook his head, suggesting with the utmost clarity, disapproval of what the Sergeant may have been about to do. After a moment or two, the Colonel tilted his head towards the door. The Sergeant, without uttering another single word, calmly placed the bucket back onto the table, turned towards the door, and without so much as glancing at Inmate X, opened it, walked out, closed it behind himself, and was gone.

In the slight moment while the door was opened, not much could be derived - Beyond the door was a dank hallway, dimly lit with concrete wall - Little could be seen.

Inmate X very gently pulled at his shackles, as to confirm what he believed he already knew - Indeed, they were tight, and provided little to no leeway for movement.

The Lieutenant standing by the door, to this point, had done nothing beyond stand there, simply.

Several minutes passed as the Colonel calmly waited for Inmate X to give him his attention, without speaking or making any demands as had the Sergeant. When this had finally happen, the two remained transfixed on each other's gaze.

The Colonel began. "I apologise for my subordinate's behaviour; He can be very enthusiastic at times and is easily excited by his work. While I make no apologies for your being here, I do hope that you are not too uncomfortable - there are others here that are also very enthusiastic at times. Now that my subordinate has successfully wasted time for both of us, and that it now over with, hopefully we can now.. Get to the point."

Inmate X waited several moments for something to happen - A sound, a noise, a door to open, a light to flicker, a response from the companions in his head, from the Colonel or one of his companions - Nothing happened. Remaining at each other's attention, Inmate X prompted; "..And what would that point be?"

The Colonel continued. "There are to be some changes of arrangement. You are to remain in the same cell that you currently reside in; However, with the recent arrival of an additional inmate and lack of alternative accommodation... This new inmate will be sharing your cell. I hope you enjoy having roommates; Not that you have any choice, ofcourse."

Inmate X listened silently. "New rules; You may now have, in your cell, anything that you desire - the restrictions that previously applied to requests have been removed. With the exception, ofcourse, to anything that may aid escape or bring harm to either staff member or others. As was before, you are not permitted to leave your cell except to our discretion. Internal procedures and protocols have been modified; New requests on our part will apply, to which you will comply."

X frowned, slightly confused. "..Anything that I desire?"

The Colonel nodded, still as ashen-faced as always.

Inmate X continued. "..Was there anything else, or was that the entire 'point'..?"

The Colonel calmly stood up. "No; That was all."

Everything remained still. "What if I choose to not to comply?"

The Colonel made his way to the door. "This is neither a request nor a demand; It is a statement. You will comply, whether you choose to or not."

The Colonel nodded to the Lieutenant to the door as he opened the handle. "You will be escorted back to your cell shortly."