"Are you prepared for this, Seraffo?" The aged, frail voice of the Elder seemed to boom from the computer screen, echoing throughout the small, dark room. "Are you truly prepared to bring glory and honor to not only yourself, but your race, and by extant, our entire regime by taking on this responsibility?"

"As I have sworn to you before, I am, your greatness," the lone viper before it replied in low tone, her head still bowed in respect, never looking up to the member of her and her kind's venerable masters.

"Then it is by my will that you have been given this undertaking. May you have luck in prying the information we need from this human. I have no doubt in my mind that you will succeed."

Those were his final words before his image vanished, leaving the room silent. It was a good two minutes after the transmission ended that the viper finally uncoiled her long form from the ground and slowly slithered to the rack nearby. As she quietly began to place on the black-and-steel colored armor over her scaly body, one piece at a time, she couldn't help but let her thoughts drift to what it was she had been told to do.

Seraffo was chosen for this assignment because no ADVENT personnel who were willingly on their side (and still had minds of their own) were available, and she was one of the more proficient members of the alien regime that studied most things human, and was looking to finally prove herself to her superiors and be recognized. Human history, mannerisms, and literature were where she shined best. Especially literature. And it was for that sole reason she was tasked to find out how the members of XCOM acted to the letter, so that they could tell when the civilian populace was being infiltrated by their members.

How she would manage to do this was in the form of a freshly-captured XCOM agent, who was being detained in the same prison complex she was currently in. She would get him to speak eventually, and when that would inevitably happen, her talents would finally be recognized.

There was an aura of excitement around the viper as she finished placing on the final piece, and began to make for her room's door. Even if this was an astoundingly important mission in her mind, it was not the reason Seraffo felt so giddy on the inside. It was the young snake's first prisoner interrogation on her own. She had been craving for a chance to do this by herself, having watched how her teachers, commanders, and so on had done it in the past, but now it was her turn. All those years she spent preparing lead up to this moment.

With a confident gleam in her eye, she left her room and slithered down the hall.

Sectoid unit Eighty-Four-dash-One-Nine was part of an extinct species. He was one of the last remaining "old world" sectoids; sectoids not infused with human DNA, and thus being significantly less superior in most aspects than their more advanced kin. His shape was squat, skinny to the point of being skeletal, and possessed a mouthless, black-eyed, bulbous head that stood out from his gray-green body. But his physical features weren't really all to important, considering he was currently encased in a mechtoid exoskeletal suit; given to him after he was repurposed to guard this prison and act as an active enforcer, considering his kind were deemed unfit for service in the field of combat and war.

He marched down the hall, emitting the sound of moving pistons with every footstep while pointing his dual plasma mini-cannons at a human charge in front of him. His hands were bound behind his back by a pair of cybernetic handcuffs, making any attempt at escape practically impossible. Though the mechtoid didn't know any better, he thought this man, captured less than six weeks ago in a large skirmish many hundreds of miles from this prison facility by ADVENT soldiers, looked young but tough.

After passing into a long corridor, where most prisoners were typically sent to be 'talked to' in private, the shape of the viper Eighty-Four-dash-One-Nine was more than acquainted with came into view. She was standing in front of one of the many doors, patiently waiting for him.

The human is here, my leader, he spoke to the viper, through the power of his innate telepathic powers, upon reaching her. He pushed the human into the room with a prod from the barrel of one of the weapons on his mechanical arm, and stared back at Seraffo with his black eyes, ready for his next order.

"That is all, Eighty-Four. You have my appreciation for bringing the guest to me," the snake-like being replied. "You are to watch the corridor for any interruptions until I have use for you once again."

The mechtoid bowed its head obediently, and promptly turned around, stomping away. Seraffo entered the interrogation room, and saw the man had already taken his seat behind the metal desk, his head still bowed and not willing to look at his current captor. She slithered behind him and took out her key, inserting it into the handcuff's lock, and upon twisting it, let the restraints fall to the ground with a clatter.

The second they were gone, he rubbed the wrists of his hands together, happy to be rid of such a tight feeling the cuffs packed. Upon finishing, he lifted his brown-haired head up and saw the sleek, tall, and attractively feminine form of the viper that had taken the very uncomfortable metal objects off and circled back to the other side of the desk. She looked back at him through her red eyes; their black, reptilian, slit-like pupils dilating as they adjusted to this room's lighting, while her hood remained drawn and wide.

Silently, she picked up a nearby cup in her four-fingered hand and placed it in front of him, on the desk; its clear, liquid contents rippling back-and-forth like miniature waves.

"I know how little hospitality the conditions of your imprisonment beget," she began, in a soft, somehow civil tone that caught him slightly off-guard. "Drink this. I know you must be thirsty."

As much as he wanted to take a large gulp of that life-giving substance he craved for what felt like an eternity, if only to quench his dried thirst, he resisted the urge and instead eyed the drink suspiciously. "There's something in there, isn't that right?" he asked, looking back up to the alien with a lowered brow.

"Of course there is," she responded. "It is a common chemical native to this planet that goes by the formulaic name of H2O, or, as I've witnessed you humans prefer to call it, 'water.'"

The man loosed a small chuckle from his lips after hearing her speak, causing the snake-like extraterrestrial to look at him with wry expression. He reached for his drink, huffing something under his breath whilst performing the act. "Hmph. Smartass."

Before he could even touch the cup, a clawed hand suddenly wrapped around his throat, and violently hoisted him from his seat. He found himself staring into the furious, cool, eyes of the viper; her action perpetrated by what he knew was pure rage.

"Insssults will not be tolerated, human. Doing that is what will get you punished, severely," she whispered to him in a clearly angered hiss, her tongue lashing out from her mouth in one, brief instant before returning, flicking some metallic-scented saliva onto his face. Gently, she returned him to his seat, and pulled her appendage back before her expression returned to one of calmness.

"I have brought you in here to learn about how your kind, so to say XCOM, acts. Nothing more," she spoke. "As long as you cooperate, things here will slowly, but surely become better for you, as I have been told by my masters. If you choose not to cooperate, however, things will gradually become more difficult, as you just witnessed first-hand."

After rubbing his stubble-ridden throat for a few seconds and clearing it with a cough, he motioned to the undisturbed cup of water. She nodded, and allowed him to grab it and down all of its contents until it was empty. When he was finished, he put it back.

"The first activity we'll start with will be a name exchange," she began, after picking up the data-pad from her curved, humanoid hip, and looking at what was written on its glass screen. "My full designation is Seraffo 'nes Vorpalzi. And yours would be...?"

"The King of Versailles."

She sighed, sensing his sarcasm. "Do you remember what I just told you, human?"

He stared at her with an amused expression, before lowering his head. "Quint. My name is Quint."

Her body relaxed after he finally responded appropriately. "You need not tell me your surname. I am fine with just that."

"What... questions are you going to ask?" he inquired.

"Just ones about the simple mannerisms and activities your kind perform when not actively committing acts of terrorism and war against my people," she answered. Just hearing how she phrased that last part caused another grin to form on Quint's face.

"Alright then..." he mouthed, getting into a better position on his chair. "Let's get started."