The Price of Righteousness

The interview was small and dimly light but Trox had been in far worse places. This ‘close encounters’ style interrogation didn’t bother him. So while he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his bulging belly he wondered what the grand and arrogant DPA had lined up to get information out him.

Trox wasn’t used to the self imposed peacekeepers who did nothing but ruin business. Dumb governments. What use was righteousness and laws and morals when millions were being slaughtered. It was simply the dumb choice. In peace or war you make yourself useful. If that means making a deal with the devil then so be it. Trox was perfectly happy with his conscience because he was alive and that was all that mattered.

“For God’s sake...” he muttered. They had taken everything from him, he didn’t enough know the time. About an hour, that’s probably how long they’d kept him waiting. They couldn’t hold him here for long, they had no charge or offence to hold him, and as the DPA loved their rules and their own morality, he would be out of here soon enough. That was for sure.

A rhythmic clicking of heels on a tiled floor beckoned the arrival of Doctor Roberts. She disliked these ‘interrogations,’ but there was no choice in the matter. The Home Secretary had tasked her with the responsibility of finding and bringing back Katelyn O’Connor so she could stand trial for her crimes. Roberts had mixed feelings about this to say the least but they deemed her knowledgeable enough of the woman and senior enough in the DPA to head the task force.

Step one was always research. A team of five members, a couple were former MI5 agents, were currently gathering information from surveillance, media channels, travel records, anything which would give them a clueless as to what she’s been doing all this time. Another team were currently gathering up known Nahash and bringing them in for questioning and this is what brought the doctor down to the detention centre. Not her favourite place to say the least.

She walked as quickly as her pencil skirt would allow, wanting to get out of here as quickly as possible. She hated these cells which seemed to emanate a sense of gloom and despair. Before long she reached the small questioning room. There was only one guard outside and so Anna looked up and down the corridor for anyone else. She’d been assured that there would be a soldier in with her for protection but so far there was no sign of anyone.

After a short wait, Anna’s radio crackled and she plucked it from where it was attached to her thin, leather belt and raised it to her lips. “Roberts here.”

“Sir, the guard who was assigned to you today is unavailable. Please use the guard stationed outside for protection.”

Nodding her head, she replied, “very well. Thank you.” With that she closed the channel.

She looked up at the tall, young man and smiled, “well it looks like it’s just us two. I’m Doctor Roberts.” She extended a hand which he took and shook.

“I know,” he smiled, “I’m Sergeant Benton.”

With that they entered to find the small goblin sitting at the table. The goblin race was one which had very little experience with in terms of one to one contact such as this. She’d met them in passing and even battled against them occasionally. She sat down across the table from him and placed the clipboard on the cheap, plastic table which reminded her of school dining tables. Benton hovered by the door, his P90 sat firmly in his grasp.

“Good afternoon, I’m Doctor Roberts and I’m here to ask you a few questions about Katelyn O’Conner.”

== Sorry Gemilar I’m back now though  ==

The cranking sound of the heavy metal door being opened made Trox jump slightly and he sat up straight as a result. He was surprised when the image beautiful woman stepped in, dressed not in bog standard human uniforms, but something more formal and smart. The goblin had spent enough time with human culture to know what the woman wore showed her to be a professional and probably not a soldier.

Her name sounded familiar and he was sure he’d heard it before. Her title proved to him she wasn’t the usual brand of gun carrying automatons. He racked his brain but where the doctor had come up on the radar, she wasn’t quite sure yet but he still replied to her introduction like he would any of these trigger happy government folk. “Finally. You already know my name so let’s get this over and done with.”

He leaned forward in the human sized, cold plastic chair which meant his feet dangled far from the floor. “I’ve heard of her.”

== No worries, I know what it’s like  You will be punished next time though lol... You have been warned! ==

Roberts let the attitude fly past her and focused in on the man before her. Trox was a goblin with a far reaching circle of contacts and she knew if he didn’t know where she was, he would know someone who would. This was the reason she wasn’t going to give up too easily.

She took her place on the cheap, uncomfortable seat opposite him and crossed her legs underneath the table. She leaned forward like him and rested her arms on the cool plastic of the equally as cheap table which she placed the manila folder on. Anna pushed the bridge of her glasses up as she looked down at his file.

Trox wasn’t a complicated personality to understand from the surveillance and background checks on him and so she opened with the obvious preposition for him. “We’ll make it worth your while Mr Trox. If the information you give us leads to her capture, you will be rewarded handsomely. You are probably unaware of how desperately we want her and we want her alive.”

She answered his unasked question almost instantly, “you’ll get full government protect, a place to live in one of the guarded cities and a generous income of £20,000 a year.”

It an interesting proposal however he earned at least triple that measly pay in half the time. Protection would be nice... but safe meant lazy. The doctor’s proposal meant giving up his life, one which wasn’t perfect, but one he enjoyed nonetheless. British currency was useful at times but guns, materials and food were far more valuable.

“Not good enough Doctor Roberts. I won’t become another human in another city living in fear.”

As he spoke her name, a rush of adrenaline suddenly flooded his system. The revelation hit him and hit him hard. A devilish smile tugged the corner of his lips, well this would be interesting. His mind worked quickly to find a solution as to how he could this to his advantage. Truth be told he knew little about Katelyn O’Conner and didn’t care to know much about her and the DPA probably wouldn’t accept this as an answer. Now however, he had something to throw them off the scent.

“In all honesty I don’t know much about O’Conner. She moves around a lot, anything I ever knew about her will be out of date. I do have some information I can sell for a much higher price that what you offered.”

He looked into her incredibly (for a human) green eyes and wondered how she would react to this. Probably with disbelief.

“She has been known to associate with a man, a former DPA solider, by the name of Samuel Jansson.”

== I'm doing this on my phone so I apologise in advance for any mistakes lol ==

This was a losing fight, Anna knew this and probably knew it before she entered the room. Nahash were born liars, thieves and mistrustful and always know how to talk their way out of situations. She understood his misgivings over her proposal, to be stuck and confined like lambs ready for the slaughter wasn't too appealing to her either.

Suddenly there was a flash of something in his eyes. She didn't know what for she hadn't had much experience of his kind but it was enough to unnerve her. What came next was something she definitely wasn't expecting.

Anna's first reaction was disbelief and she acted according. "That can't be right. We know he's almost certainly dead."

As she spoke the words she knew there was some doubt her in mind. Sam had always been... Difficult. There was seemed to be something going on she wasn't aware of, especially towards the end. The problem now was if the Nahash were aware of her relationship with him and if they were, were they going to use it against them. The best thing now was to fish for more information.

"So, what can I offer you for this precious intel?"