Laurens had interrogated multiple people before, but this felt like a whole different beast.

Hamilton hadn't been allowed to come with. Laurens didn't want Hamilton to attack his father, again. Laurens was already worried that he would be doing that, himself.

The interrogation room and holding cells were kept far away from the rest of the facility for safety and privacy, even though they were rarely used. Only certain people were allowed to enter. Therefore, if any interrogation needed to happen, one of these specific people had to do the interrogating. Unfortunately, Laurens had been chosen, even though he had woken up only yesterday.

He wasn't even allowed to take his medicine, yet, so he really didn't want to deal with this.

James Hamilton's hands were cuffed to the top of the table in the interrogation room. Laurens just looked at him through the one-way mirror for a couple minutes. The man didn't look nearly as intimidating and strong as what Hamilton had described. James looked disheveled and generally done with life. His hair was greasy, his beard was scraggly, and he didn't look nearly as strong as he should be for his line of work.

Laurens pressed a button on the wall, allowing James to see him, but the man didn't look up. Laurens spoke into the microphone on the wall. "Are you ready?" James didn't respond. "Okay."

Laurens went into the room and sat across from James, who finally looked at him.

"I've heard a lot about you," Laurens said. "Your son has talked about you plenty of times."

James huffed.

"Anything to say about that? Or have you forgotten who he is?"

"I have no son. Not anymore."

"And why is that? You thought he would die when you left him alone? Is that when you joined the Thirds?"

"The Kingsmen offered me food and a place to live for free if I worked with them. The kid wasn't involved in that decision. He wanted nothing to do with me, so I figured he'd like it if I left."

Laurens leaned forward and snarled at James. "He was twelve and you had just made him kill his mother."

"She was dragging us down. It taught him how to let go faster."

"Right. Like how beating him everyday was teaching him how to fight."

"It was."

"You and I have very different definitions of training, then."

James rolled his eyes. "Is this really what you're supposed to be interrogating me about?"

"I can interrogate you about anything I want," Laurens retorted. He then sat back in his chair. "But there are more pressing things I could ask you about, I suppose."

"Let's get it over with, asshat."

Laurens' eye twitched, but he refused to retaliate. "What is your job over there? What do the Thirds usually have you do?"

"Not interrogations, that's for sure."

"Yeah, I figured that out."

James exhaled. "They just had me clean weapons and shit. I'm nowhere near a higher-up, if that's what you want."

That was what Laurens wanted, actually. "I don't believe you. You answered too easily."

"You aren't threatening."

Laurens lowered his voice to sound menacing. "Do you want me to be?"

James scoffed. "That's cute, kid. Is torture not allowed here?"

"I can make it allowed."

"Go on, then. Show me what you've got."

Laurens stood and grabbed the gun on his belt.

"I'm not lying to you, though," James mentioned before Laurens could do anything.

"Again, I don't believe you. Why would you goad me on if you weren't lying?"

"You aren't used to this kind of thing, are you?" James smirked.

"I've interrogated people plenty of times, for your information."

James narrowed his eyes. "Then why do you act like such a child?"

It felt like a punch to the gut. So, Laurens retaliated. He moved behind James and punched the back of the man's head. James only reacted with a puff of air.

Laurens spoke close to James' face. "Alright, asshole. Listen. I couldn't give less of a shit about your well being, but I'm not allowed to say that here. So, you have two options. Make this easy for me and tell me what I want to know, or make it difficult for both of us and not talk at all."

"You look like you could use a challenge. What do you want to know, Kid?"

Laurens clenched his fists. "We know there's a spy for the Thirds in here-"

"And we know that you know."

"Shut up." Laurens ran a hand through his hair. "Tell me who they are."

"No."

"Tell me what they do, then."

"Not going to happen."

Laurens grabbed the front of James' shirt. "Stop fucking with me and answer my questions."

James was silent for a moment, then quietly said, "I'm not scared of you."

Laurens just blinked, trying not to react.

"If you really know so much about me, then you should know that I won't be that easily scared by people like you, who are are trying too hard."

"From what I know about you, you are a coward."

James shrugged. "Even so, do you really think I would be afraid of some whiny, bratty kid? I already dealt with one of those for twelve years. I think I can handle one more."

Laurens punched the man in the face. "I'm not scared of you or any of your people, either. I will get what I need out of you, and by then, you will be scared of me."

"Again, you're trying too hard to be taken seriously. If you're the leader of this place, it's no wonder the Union is going down soon."

"Are your leaders planning on attacking us sometime? Is that what you mean?"

James turned his head away. "Why the hell would I tell you?"

"For fuck's sake..." Laurens moved to the other side of the room. He figured out all he needed to know for now. "Next time I'm in here with you, you won't have such a good time." Laurens slammed the door behind him when he left.

Hey, so, uh...about those silent months...sorry! I had to come up with ideas (which I still don't exactly have) and I also lost interest or motivation for writing literally anything, regardless of the fandom. I'm hoping making myself write will jumpstart my interest again so. We'll see how well this goes. Thank you for the patience.