Feyd stared at the closed door for a few moments before sighing and falling back onto the bed causing it to creak in protest. He sighed, slightly exhausted. His body still hadn't properly recovered yet he had done all of that, placing a burden that his body wasn't ready to handle.
He was about to say something aloud, and maybe try to wake up Ray, when he heard something in his head.
(Hey, keep quiet. Actually no, pretend to talk to yourself, but don't reveal anything important)
'?'
Feyd was confused for a second, only reacting after seconds had past. His eyes glanced at Ray who was still pretending to be asleep.
"Woah... I really didn't expect to wake up here after fighting that bandit..."
'You're awake!? Since when? Do you know anything?'
(I've been awake for sometime now. They don't seem to have particular evil intentions, though I did notice that vice captain hide a spying device or something of the sorts)
Feyd felt somewhat surprised but didn't let it show. He wasn't about to say anything important out loud anyways, but he could use this opportunity to his advantage. If they were about to spy on him, then let them. Who's to say they'll be the ones benefiting from this exchange?
"I really wanted to join the military but now that I did this I don't think I've made a good first impression"
Feyd mumbled to himself just loud enough for the spying device to catch it, hopefully. Which it could.
Jace and the others were spying from the outside as they saw a slightly despondent Feyd express his regret before turning towards the other elf.
"Hmm it seems like he planned to join us. We can probably administer a test, though that seems unnecessary considering their estimated power level. Though the main issue is his reason for joining and loyalty to Cecillia"
Jace mumbled to himself as he stared at the monitor in his hands.
'Anything else you got?'
Feyd wanted to talk about their fight with Steam Cannon but now didn't seem like a good time. He wanted to have a proper talk when they get the opportunity. Ray felt the same way thus they had a tacit agreement to focus on the current predicament for now.
(Just try to get on their good side since they don't know we know about the device. But don't over do it, they might suspect you)
(Also I suspect they will interrogate us separately and with special methods. I hav– actually no, scratch that. Forget I was gonna say anything. Just tell the truth, that'll work out. It's not like we were committing any crimes)
'Mhmm, understood'
Feyd continued to talk aloud things that might give Jace a better impression of him for a brief while before Ray 'woke up'. They talked for sometime naturally without raising any suspicions while communicating telepathically at the same time to coordinate with each other.
They talked for only about 15 minutes before the door opened and Jace walked in, along with another man who was in a black full body uniform and had a mask on. He glanced at the two briefly before turning his gaze back at Jace.
"Alright, I've given you enough time. And it seems like your friend has already gotten up!"
Jace smiled and clapped slightly before gesturing to the masked man behind him.
"This man right here will be asking you a few questions. I hope you two can comply and follow us. I promise that if nothing strange happens to be revealed you two are free to go! And we won't charge you medical fees"
Feyd and Ray shared a slightly worried look before turning to Jace and the masked man. He obviously seemed like an investigator but since Jace didn't refer to him as so they decided it would be best to follow suit.
"Alright, we're fine with answering some questions. But we have some difficulty getting up so–"
Feyd was interrupted by Jace who tossed the two of them some red potions.
"These are some simple healing potions, enough for your body to be able to walk. We are also curious about your guys' healing abilities, so if you guys could satisfy our curiosity we can provide sufficient compensation"
Jace smirked while connecting his thumb and index finger.
Ray and Feyd chose to remain silent as they drank their potions. Even they weren't sure about their healing factor so how could they answer him?
Jace's face remained ever smiling as if he was unbothered by the fact that he was just ignored while the interrogators expression couldn't be distinguished due to his mask.
They began to guide Ray and Feyd from the medical bay through some corridors, down a few floors, and towards an interrogation room.
Feyd entertained a few of Jace's simpler questions like 'What are your names?', 'Why are you guys in Cecillia?' and 'Is your friend mute and deaf, or only mute?'. The last one was repeated a few more times even after Ray answered the question himself.
Ray had constantly been using his Shadow Senses and psychic powers to investigate the surroundings and had realized that there were three separate interrogation rooms. And they all seemed to be different in some way.
Maybe they used magic spells or other supernatural components but either way he had secrets he couldn't let others know. Even certain questions about Steam Cannon could paint him and Feyd as suspicious people.
If they asked him 'Why were you going after Steam Cannon?', 'What Is your goal?', 'Did you find anything strange in the bandit camp?', and more it would be particularly troublesome.
But one of the rooms seemed to involve a device that detects the subconscious psychic waves released by the brain, something he could tamper with or conceal changes in.
'Nice. Now all I need to do is influence them to use it instead of the others and...'
Subtle psychic waves hit the interrogator causing him to pause for a second. The others turned towards him but he continued on without much change.
However he was constantly being affected by psychic frequencies that would influence him to use the interrogation room with the psychic device.
However he didn't plan on having only one plan. The other rooms used a machine that seemed to work by tracking an individuals involuntary physiological responses while the other seemed empty without anything inside.
He had a method to bypass the first room but he hoped he wouldn't have to considering its lower chances of success compared to the room with the psychic machine. Meanwhile he had the least amount of information about the third room, which literally just had two chairs and a table, so he hoped he wouldn't end up there.
They soon reached the corridor with all three interrogation rooms. Jace had finally finished asking the "trivial" questions, which had been escalating in their un-trivialness, and instead gestured towards the interrogator to pick a room.
He looked at each of the three rooms before glancing back at Feyd and Ray. He grunted slightly before tapping Ray on his shoulder.
"You, go inside that door. And you, inside their"
Ray cheered inwardly since he had gotten what he had wanted, the room with the psychic machine. However Feyd ended up having to go to the empty room. Jace had made a strange face when he heard the room chosen for Feyd.
Ray glanced at Feyd for a moment who was oblivious to Jace's reaction or Ray's, and instead gazed intently at the door to the empty room.
"Go in quick will you! And vice captain Jace, I'm sure you know what to do"
Jace awkwardly chuckled before nodding his head. Ray was shoved inside the room but before he left he gave Feyd a pitying look that seemed to say 'Goodluck unfortunate one, you might need it'.
"Well, just go inside for now. Your... Interrogator will be coming soon", Jace remarked as he took out a strange rectangular device that could tramsit voices. It was apparantly called a walkie-talkie.
Feyd went inside and looked around only to see a single table, two chairs and a bulb dangling above it all.
'This is... Depressing. Is funding really that bad?'
Meanwhile Ray was being hooked up to a machine by the interrogator. A helmet of sorts with many different wires was put on him.
"Alright now say an obvious truth"
Ray thought about it for a second before deciding to play along. He was really tempted to mess with the guy, but it wasn't the situation for that unfortunately.
"I'm a male Elf"
A green light flickered from the machine.
The interrogator checked the machine for a minute or so before nodding his head. He then adjusted a few things before speaking again.
"Now say an obvious lie"
"I'm a dragon, and I can spit coconuts"
A red light flickered from the machine.
The interrogator listened with an impassive expression. Ray's brows lifted slightly at his stoicness.
"Alright I'll start asking questions now. Do you have any special capabilities?"
'This is a good time to see if I can deceive the machine like I planned'
Ray was slightly excited but he couldn't truly enjoy being able to mess with the interrogator as some thoughts occupied the back of his mind.
"I'm a Manipulator of shadows"
He seemed impressed slightly, or maybe troubled. Ray couldn't tell. Anyways he jotted it down before continuing his questions.
"Why were you after Steam Cannon and his bandit camp"
"I had deard he sold Elven slaves which made me pretty angry. And so me and my friend went after him"
Green light.
The interrogator nodded while jotting down his responses and the machine's reactions to them.
The interrogator continued to ask more questions about Steam Cannon, himself, Feyd, and anything related. Ofcourse Ray continued putting up a facade and even got "flustered" at some questions and tried to deflect or evade them to varying success.
Eventually however Ray built an image of a composed yet inexperienced Adventurer who wanted to join the military with his friend. He made sure to build up his rapport while keeping it at a believable and not suspicious level.
Ray left the room with a "haggard" expression along with the interrogator. Jace, who was sitting on a sofa seat, looked up at them when he heard the door open.
Noticing Ray's expression Jace paused for a moment before the smirk on his face grew slighter wider. "How was it with him? Drained you dry?"
The interrogator narrowed his eyes but swiftly left, as if he disdained staying near Jace any longer. Meanwhile Ray's mouth genuinely began twitching as an awkward expression appeared on his face.
Jace tilted his head with a feigned confused look, yet his smile remained ever present.
Ray stared at him for some time before sitting opposite to him and closing his eyes, seemingly resting. 'Time to check up on Feyd'.
He began to use the shadows to perceive what was happening inside Feyd's interrogation room when he suddenly felt an extreme sense of danger.
Ray broke out in a cold sweat as a shiver went up his spine. He felt an extreme pressure weigh on his mind as something turned its gaze upon him.
He barely cut off his connection before whatever, or whoever, was inside detected him. Ray's eyes trembled slightly as he tightly gripped the chair he was sitting on.
Jace glanced at Ray thinking, 'Was the interrogation really that bad? Or is he just weak?'
Ray barely manged to calm himself down and steel his resolve. Whatever he felt was the most danger he had felt his whole life. More dangerous than Steam Cannon, more dangerous than the creeping sense of death, and almost as dangerous as Eribos.
Although it wasn't powerful, it was dangerous. Although it wasn't malicious, it was crushing.
'This... What was that? What could possibly command such a presence!?'
Ray's eyes began to tremble as a thought raced through his head:
'What is Feyd facing in there!?'
...
A few minutes ago, in the middle of Ray's interrogation. Feyd was waiting inside and nothing had happened in the past few minutes.
At first he thought it was a test of some kind, maybe to psych him up or pressure him, but after five minutes had passed his thoughts began to wander as he lost himself to a day dream.
He thought of the fight against Steam Cannon, seeing Ray almost die, and the strange thing inside of him and being taken over.
It truly had been a terrible day, and what he had felt then was even worse. The helplessness and powerlessness was something he wished to never experienced ever again.
'I'll grow even more powerful, so that something like this won't ever happen again! I might not know what I want to do, nor the purpose of my life, but I don't want to die helplessly before I do'
'And I definitely won't let Ray, or any other friends I make, die either'
'I also have to find out about whatever is inside me and the extent to which it can control me, and my past self. It feels wrong to doubt myself, but something tells me I wasn't completely a good guy in the past. If I was, wouldn't I have given my future self some kind of heads up to being taken over!?'
However just as Feyd was about to think even more the door swung open and a man walked in.
He was middle aged with graying hair. His face had a slight, vaguely gray beard. The white suit he was wearing had a white coat draped over its shoulders.
He walked in confidently, with a height of almost six foot, and crossed his arms before looking down at Feyd. His strict eyes and disciplined expression was scary to say the least.
An invisible pressure bore down upon Feyd casuing him to grunt in pain slightly. The force felt both mental and physical. He had to put all his focus and effort into keeping himself seated with a proper posture.
He gritted his teeth and glared at the man slightly, who looked down without any change to his expression.
The silence that hung around them was eventually broken by the man as his words seem to almost command Feyd, compelling him to answer.
"Why did you go after Steam Cannon?"