#sorry ghostie im love you but you shoulda been more careful yknow

[nii-chans-rabiddogs]

Interrogation

TWs: Dehumanization, collars, muzzles, threats, panic attack.

@cupcakes-and-pain @maracujatangerine

Seren was just taking off a really constricting harness when Hunter stalked through the door. I don’t like him, cuz he towers above everyone all the time and looks really mean and scary and he’s always glaring no matter what he’s looking at, and I’m scared he’ll start yelling but he never does. Seren looks up at him for a second, before folding the harness up and putting it back in the box. We were only halfway through the second one, and it was the worst; Seren kept baby-talking me like I was just a puppy and I couldn’t respond cuz my mouth was too dry and she never gave me anything to drink, or any more chocolates cuz I’d “get too spoiled” which was rude. 

“Trainer Seren. I hope it has been well-behaved for you?” Hunter inquired, politely nodding at her. She nodded back, and I curled into myself.

“Puppy gets a little confused sometimes, but that’s expected, what with everything. Reacts nicely to chocolates, but can be a bit stubborn, which, again, is expected. Terribly anxious though, but seems like he might have quite a bit of energy. I’ll verify later, although I do have to ask: Is he goin’ to be attack, recon, or guard?” Seren unhooked my leash as she spoke, making me stand up. Hunter took the leash, which was really scary cuz he looked really, really strong…

“Whichever you think will work best. He will be kept either way, so it’s entirely up to you what you train him in, and how. He’s simply too… open, to let back out. No need to leave loose ends lying around.” 

“Aight, I’ll run him through some tests once you’re all finished. Might want to get going though; Puppy’s trying to merge with the floor.”

I glared at Seren, angry at how she called me out. I curled further into a ball as Hunter turned his gaze to me, and it felt like someone was trying to drive needles under my skin, which was a horrible feeling and made me want to cry and rip off my skin. He tutted, and nodded again to Seren before turning around and walking out of the room at what I think he thought was slow, but I had to jog just to keep from getting dragged. I went a little faster while also trying to stay as far as I could from him. He led me out of the kennels, turning right and walking down the hall. How many halls were there? Just how big is this place?! It didn’t look very different from the first hallway, but the paintings were normal and there’s a lot more people walking around, too. They all greeted Hunter, but none of them ever tried to stop us. We turned around another corner, and went all the way to the end of the hall towards a door that had Hunter’s name on it. I leaned back, trying to slow him down or make him stop or something, and he yanked on the leash. I stumbled forward, just barely catching myself, when he opened the door and shoved me inside. It looked like those really rich people’s offices, but darker and several bones everywhere. They actually looked kinda cool, but they had little nameplates under them that made them a lot less cool and a lot more scary.

Hunter shoved me forward, so I went back to staring at the floor and focused on getting away from him. He told me to sit, so I sat in the chair next to us. It was all metal, a lot unlike the one across the desk, which is really soft looking, and a dark blue-ish grey. Hunter slipped the end of the leash around a hook on the side of his desk, and took the wire muzzle off before sitting down. I folded my arms around my stomach and looked around. He stared at me so I stared at everything else. I don’t even know why he wants me, it’s not like I ever get told anything. Detective says that he can’t talk about his work cuz it’s “confidential” and the heroes always go to a boardroom, leaving me with snacks and my switch. I really want to be with the heroes right now…

“Drink up. You won’t be getting much more after this.” Hunter snapped, setting a small glass of water in front of me.

I jumped, snapping my head up to stare at him, before immediately looking at the glass instead. I stared at it for a couple seconds, before slowly reaching for it. My hands were shaking, cuz Hunter hasn’t looked anywhere else this entire time and he always hurts people, cuz he’s a supervillain and that's what they do, don’t they? I let out a loud huff, before flinching and deciding to just drink the water so he wouldn’t get mad and start yelling. I took a small sip at first, before drinking most of it in one go. I set the glass down, trying to get my breathing back in control, while Hunter just kept on staring. I started fiddling with part of the leash, feeling around the letters on it and watching as it reflected a bit in the light. Finally, he leaned back and settled his hands on the arms of his chair. At least he was a tiny bit further away, now.

“So, Ghost, would you like to tell me how you and Detective Gunner met? Quite interesting for Detective Gunner to just take on a child out of the blue, after all.” 

“...um, well- he, I, uhh. I don’t, I dunno.” I muttered leaning back into my chair and shrinking into myself again. His gaze hardened and I ducked my head down so I wouldn’t have to look at him, cuz he was really scary.

“You don’t know. Ghost. I would like to inform you that this would go much easier if you told me now. I’d hate to let such a good little dog get damaged for being difficult.” 

I froze, and had to manually start breathing again, cuz Hunter was glaring at me, and he was really scary and he was gonna hurt me and yell at me and the detective isn’t here, or the heroes so they can’t stop him and they don’t know I’m here or else they would’ve already gotten me, or they left me here and, and-

I tried to take a deep breath, but it didn’t work and it feels like I’m getting choked, and suddenly I was back in the warehouse with a gun shoved down my throat choking and coughing and dying and no one's gonna help me, please, help me, just make it stop please, please, please- I jerked back, staring at the hand Hunter just slammed down on the desk. He scoffed at me, glaring like I killed his dog, and I stopped breathing again-

“Calm. Down.” He commanded, and I’m too scared to look away right now.

“Now, how did you and Detective Gunner meet? Do not make me ask again.” 

“...He was… He- him n the police were checking out a warehouse I was in when I was seventeen…” I whispered, trying to keep my breathing level but it still felt like I wasn’t getting enough oxygen. 

“Seventeen? And how old are you now exactly?”

“...nine, nineteen, sir…” 

“Hm. Why were they checking out the warehouse?” He leaned back again, and I looked down at my duckie socks. They weren’t very bright anymore.

“I dunno. They just said something about a villain being… oh, uhm. Just something about a villain being spotted, uhm, sir…”

“Hm. So you are the little streetrat that snitched, I see.” He mused, and I tensed, trying to remember to breathe.

“Well, nothing I can do about that now, I suppose. You and the detective visit the Xertic Agency frequently, correct?” I nodded, still staring at my little duckie socks. 

“It’s incredibly curious, a detective bringing in a random child to a hero agency. What did you do that had Detective Gunner let you into the agency regularly?”

“...I dunno… I just- he brought me along one day then kept doing it?” 

“Is that a question or an answer? You must have done something.” 

“I- I dunno, I never, I don’t think so? I just told him about- about villains I saw during the night, or whatever, cuz they were always cool looking or, or doing something weird. I didn’t do anything.” I whispered, wiggling my toes cuz they started feeling really numb again. Hunter sighed, and feeling my heart stop beating for a split second is really scary.

“Fine. Who were the heroes you interacted with?”

“Uhm, Monsoon, X-ray, and that one intern that always has candy on her.”

Hunter stared at me, not saying anything so I tried to think of more heroes I talked with.

“Well, there- uh, I talked to Skyrise once too? And some of Detective’s friends, but I dunno their names, so…”

“Have you ever talked to Phoenix? Or have you been around him?”

“...No? He- Phoenix is always busy, doesn’t have enough time to talk to me or the interns, usually. I’ve only ever seen him on TV.” I feel like I shouldn’t be saying this, cuz no one ever gives info up this easily in the movies, but Hunter’s really, really, super scary and I don’t wanna get yelled at or hurt, and he’ll be nice if I just say stuff, right?

“Interesting. The detective started focusing on finding me and my base, why.”

“I- I actually don’t know, cuz he disappeared n didn’t tell me or anyone the reason, I don’t think. Ms. Secretary said he wanted to get promoted that one time though, and he said something like that too when I was… when you found me, so. He, uh, really, really wanted a promotion? Well, he sometimes talked about it before, but never.. That much?” Hunter raised his eyebrow at me, so I shut my mouth again.

“He… was after a promotion?” Hey, no need to sound so disbelieving. I mean, I had to deal with that first, yknow. I nodded at him, and he looked like he was trying to figure out the world’s worst, horrible-est puzzle ever. It was weird.

“And why, exactly, was he planning on hunting me down to do so?” Oh hunting, Hunter, I get it. Wait. I shrugged, glancing through my bangs at him. He looked a little angry now, actually…

Eventually, he let out a really long sigh. He covered his mouth in the most cliché thinking face ever, so I focused really hard on not biting the leash. It looked like it would be fun to chew on, but I don’t think Hunter would appreciate it and I don’t wanna make him angrier than he already is. I bit my lip, idly chewing on it while I tried to figure out why he cared so much. I mean, I know Detective’s behavior was odd, but that was just cuz he was stressed… I hope. I dunno why Hunter himself would be invested, unless Detective actually found something? But why would he care about me? I’m not allowed to listen to any conversations in the precinct or the agency, they always send me to a different room, or they choose to leave. Maybe, maybe it’s just cuz I was in the warehouse that night? I let out a small whine, and immediately flinch and snap my teeth together. I risked a look at Hunter, but I can’t tell if he didn’t notice or just doesn’t care. He catches me looking and narrows his eyes, which is mildly terrifying.

“Hm. I don’t suppose you have any more answers for me?” I very quickly shake my head no. “So I thought. Stand up.”

I stood up as fast as I could, and almost fell over but caught myself with the metal chair that I forgot about. Hunter unhooked the leash from his desk, before grabbing my face very suddenly and slamming the muzzle in place. He made it a lot tighter than Seren did, then turned around and pulled open the door. He led us back towards the kennels and I tried very hard to not have another panic attack. We passed more people on the way back, but no one said anything this time. They all just got out of the way and kept walking. I don’t like that very much, actually. 

We reached the kennels, and I barely kept up with him walking way too fast. Seren met us halfway, which was amazing, and I tried not to breathe too loudly.

“You may proceed with its training. You have my permission to cause harm. The detective won’t find him. Just be sure he only talks with explicit permission, I do not appreciate how talkative Doctor Everly has reported him to be. Nor do I want him interacting with anyone other than you, and any trainees you may have.”

Seren took the leash from Hunter with a nod, and he very briskly turned around and knocked me outta the way to leave. Seren just shook her head, before leading me back to the kennel I was in before. I didn’t wanna go in, but I also didn’t wanna make anyone else angry, so I reluctantly walked in. She reached over to unclip the leash, and started speaking.

“You sure did something to piss him off, puppy. Not sure how you got out of that uninjured. Whatever. Tomorrow we’ll start your training, so this is the only night you get something to help you sleep, got it? I’ll be the only person you’ll be interacting with for the next few months, so might want to celebrate while you can.”

I bit my lip and tried to say something, but Seren had already walked away to dig for something in the back. I wouldn’t actually be separated from everyone, right? They can't just do that, can they? Seren walked back over with a pill, a tiny little glass of water, and the first muzzle. I hid my face in my arms at the sight of it.

“Move your arms, pup. If you don’t behave, then you won’t get any water at all. Understood, mutt?” Seren snapped, tapping her foot on the floor. I flinched at the insult, but put my arms down and let her take off the wire muzzle. She held the water and pill out to me, so I popped the pill in my mouth and drank the water. She took the little paper cup and shoved it into her pocket. She shoved the muzzle on my face, and made me turn around to clip it closed. After making everything just slightly too tight, she stepped out and closed the kennel door, locking it. She walked off, flipping off the light as she went. I was left in the dark, scared and starting to feel really, really tired. I whimpered, and slid down to the floor. Detective would come and get me soon, right? He has to, it’s his job, isn’t it? He wouldn’t leave me here, would he?