It was a gloomy night in the large metropolis of Seattle, as was the case most nights in the American Pacific Northwest. While parts of the area were still active, the majority of people were asleep, but regardless of their state of consciousness, none would know of the screams resonating from a chamber deep under the waters of the Puget Sound, right off the coast of Seattle’s waterfront.
While these cries of pain were inaudible to the average person, they could be heard throughout the sprawling underwater complex, where engineers and scientists proceeded to create weapons and perform experiments of questionable morality. Nestled deep in the base, past all the laboratories and workshops, was a room that had one sole purpose: torture. All the pained shouts stemmed from this room, wherein a small fennec fox sat strapped to a chair, tears running down his face as his vocal cords involuntarily announced his agony.
After half a minute, the screaming stopped, and the fennec sat still, save for shaking and shuddering in the chair he was in, his head hanging down as ragged and shallow breaths escaped his open muzzle. Every single one of the nerves in his legs were tingling from the painful sensations they had just been exposed to. After all, the cybernetic terminals on his leg stumps provided an excellent interface to his nerves, and what better way to hurt someone than by stimulating the nerves directly?
Well, it certainly worked. He could even feel lingering pain in the lower parts of his legs that had not been part of his body for more than half a decade.
“Y-you... just had to make it feel like fire... huh... bastards...?” The teenage fox’s voice was hoarse, and he was barely able to even croak that single sentence out as he lifted his head. It felt as if one statement was tantamount to delivering a whole speech, but that didn’t stop him from continuing to speak. “I should’ve... believed Roland and Milly... about you people...”
Ignoring what the fennec had just said, a wolf leaned in close and spoke in a deep, gravelly voice, one very fitting for his build and facial features. “I’ll ask one more time, Cypher... How did you know where to find us? How did you get information on our head councilors? We have to plug any holes in our intelligence network, and the sooner we know how to do that, the sooner your suffering will end. Isn’t that a fair trade?”
Oh, yes, it was fair. And it was extremely tempting, as well. It wouldn’t really mean much in the grand scheme of things if he exposed a few people he barely cared about in exchange for an end to this torture, but regardless of that, he wasn’t about to do it. He had made a promise to protect as many people as he could, and these people were no exception.
“G-go to h-h-hell... asshole...” He knew these people wouldn’t kill him. He was too valuable. “I can handle... more torture...”
The lupine man stood up and sighed, putting his large paws in the pockets of his rather nice slacks. “Unfortunately, I know you’re right. There’s no way we’re getting this information out of you with these crude methods. We might have to try the mind probe...”
Cypher couldn’t help but inquisitively tilt his head slightly, and the wolf smiled a bit. “I knew you’d be curious if I said something. See, we have a mind probe. We could just extract the information we want from you. However, there are some... shall we say, complications. It has a chance of turning you into a vegetable, and that’s a relatively high probability at this rate. Oh, and it could also fry your brain. But there’s a good chance it will get the job done.”
The wolf seemed to think it over for a moment. “Oh, yes. I think we should try that. And by the way... it is still very painful. Don’t expect relief quite yet.”
The next half hour flew by from Cypher’s point of view as a team of scientists prepared him for having his mind probed. The fur on his temples was shaved off before sharp needles poked a bit into each one, causing the fennec to flinch.
Before he knew it, he was fully hooked up to the machine, lying on a medical table, which he was strapped down to. They really weren’t taking any chances... “Sir,” started one of the scientists to the wolf, who was now pacing near the table, “it seems that his memories are too unstable for the probe to properly sequence more recent ones. We’ll have to start much earlier. It looks like the earliest and stablest memory we can see is when he was nine years old.”
The wolf frowned. “I suppose this setback cannot be helped... Oh, well. I’m sure there was some suffering in memories that early... and that’s wonderful.” At this point, the wolf was speaking to Cypher. “It’s wonderful because you’ll have to relive all your painful memories, and maybe that’ll cause you to think about giving me the information I need!” The lupine man’s voice had slowly been raising through that statement, and then he yelled at the lead scientist. “Begin the probing!”
After that, the fennec found himself entering a rather dream-like state as he entered the body of his nine-year-old self, walking home from school, but that, to him, was the weirdest sensation, as he was walking on his own two legs.
![[NaNoWriMo Preview] Another - by CJ Roth](https://va.ib.metapix.net/images80/overlays/writing.png "[NaNoWriMo Preview] Another - by CJ Roth"){kind=small}
