EquinoxSol x RangerKay

Niko sighed, leaning forwards in his chair slightly. "Okay. Fine. How about this then: they're definitely going to kill you. However, I can get it so that you won't be tortured for any information you have. I can make sure you are executed humanly."
 
"Humanely?" Annabel laughed. "Well, that's not my style. Let them kill me...the secrets of the slums will die with me." She leaned back in the chair staring at Niko. "I find it funny that you think this is right...I guess all Republic-scum is alike after all..."
 
"Suit yourself," he answered. "But I can't guarantee your safety until the execution. As soon as I'm through with you, you'll be handed to the dogs at the State Prison, where they won't show you any mercy." He didn't know for sure about the State Prison, but had heard enough rumors from others he had worked with that the guards there were all those that the Republic had deemed too dangerous to keep around the other soldiers.
 
"One day, after you are promoted and find out the truth, you will have long wished that I had escaped today...the good ones always do once they find that out." Annabel looked at the wall where she knew the superiors were hiding. "Don't they?" She said with a sad smile. It was not beyond her that now she faced her demise. It was written plain as day on her face. She had been warned that the gods held no power on this day, not that they were real gods anyway. All they were, were a bunch of saints that had died for their deeds and had been granted the sainthood by the Almighty. All she could hope for was to become a saint, not that a petty thief like her could ever be. Even the Queen of Shadows did not get it until she had stolen the night itself.
 
Niko didn't respond. He was silent for several moments, his hand now not moving over the paper, his expression one of a man in deep thought. Finally, after what seemed like an hour, he asked, "In what way are you connected to the US? This is one of the last questions."
 
Annabel grinned. "That, I hope you will never find out...." It was her last tidbit, her saving grace. Or it could be a bit of information that would cause her even more pain. It depended on whether she died during torture or if she held out. Her pain tolerance was pretty high, so chances were she would last through a long interrogation. If she admitted that she was supplying the US with information, they would just drag out her punishment even longer.
 
"So you are admitting that you have a connection with them?" he asked, thinking he's got her. He looked to her, an eyebrow raised.
 
"I admit nothing." Annabel smirked at him. "Why, are you going to admit something?" She winked. "Trade you a secret for a secret..." She was hoping to set him off balance.
 
"Very well," he answered calmly. "Beneath my bed at home, I have exactly three pictures. The first is of my mother, the second is of my first girlfriend, and the third is torn from a magazine and of a woman I've never met before. Your turn."
 
Annabel masked her surprise at his quick reply. "Okay then." She sat back, suppressing a yawn. "I had a book at the orphanage that I kept hidden under my mat that served as my bed." She wasn't going to give him more information until he had something equally as secretive for her to trade. After all, information was knowledge and knowledge was power...perhaps enough knowledge to help her get out of this hell hole.
 
"You want something better?" he murmured, thinking. "Okay then. My father is a part of the US, and is attempting to become leader. Your turn."
 
Annabel smirked. "Oh, how interesting. Well, I guess for a first date you should know more about me." She winked at Niko. "I used to give information to the US." She shrugged. Why delay her torture? Why delay her death?
 
"What sort of information?" he asked her, clasping his hands together.
 
Annabel tsked, "Hey, hey...secret for secret."
 
"Fine," Niko replied. "My father was the one who killed my mother in a bombing five years ago. It wasn't intentional, but it still happened. Now, what was in the book?"
 
Annabel grinned. "History. It was pure history on this country." She stretched out her legs.
 
"On the Republic?" he asked, writing down on his notepad, Book on history of R.--'history is doomed to repeat itself'.
 
Annabel shook her head. "No, when we were one country." She rolled her eyes. "Any history about the Republic has to be pretty boring.
 
Niko cocked an eyebrow. "The Republic was always from the western coast to the Rock Mountains in the east," he tells her, spouting exactly what he had been taught in school.
 
Annabel laughed. "Oh, sure...that's what they want you to think." She continued to laugh.