The Mission (7) - Payback

A few minutes later, we had Valera shackled to a metallic chair. The police station didn't cease to amaze me - what the hell was a metallic chair doing in a clinic? Anyway, Sandy had managed to fix the door and lock it again. We didn't want any surprise. I had one of my men posted outside, with explicit instructions on not letting anyone get in, no matter who or what or how.

Sandy looked at me, silently asking for my opinion.

I grinned at him. "Do as you wish, boy. It's up to you. I couldn't care less about what you do." I gave him the green light.

Sandy took another chair, and put it in front of Valera. Then he went behind our man, and  leaned onto him. Valera was still unconscious when Sandy softly caressed his cheek. His voice was almost a whisper. "Hey. Hey, man, wake up. We don't have all day, you know."

The man awoke in a jolt. He froze upon seeing me. Sandy put a hand on his shoulder, making him jump in place.

Sandy kept whispering. "Shh... it's okay, man. Life happens, doesn't it?"

"Sandy, Sandy, look, you don't want to do this. You don't want to be like him, you know that."

Sandy looked at me for a split second. His eyes cold as ice. I couldn't help smiling. Sandy, the shy boy, too scared to admit what he was. Now he had finally torn the leashes of the prejudices. Of the education of a system thought to produce mindless livestock. Finally himself. A hunter.

He sat in the empty chair. His eyes gleamed with malice. "I'm just following orders, man. You want me to not do this?" He subtly pointed at me with his chin. "... Ask him."

The poor Valera had started to sweat. "You don't have to do this, Sandy."

Sandy smiled softly. Almost sadly. "Then he'll take care of you, man. You see. I'm doing you a favor." He drew a knife and got up. "Am I not?"

"Sandy, look, I'm... sorry about what I did, okay?"

"Stop lying. Nobody believes that, Valera."

The man closed his eyes for a moment, unsuccessfully trying to appear calm. Idiot. Nobody could fool us. Especially not such a bad liar.

"Sandy, I swear, I'm sorry. You're not the only one who has to follow orders, you know."

"Oh, about that. I don't really have to, you know. I just want to."

The look on Valera's face was priceless. Sandy was being blunt as a hammer. And I couldn't see a hint of a lie in him. Wow. I almost couldn't believe it. Sandy grinned again. "So, welcome to Hell, my friend."

"Sandy, listen... listen to me." Valera's voice trembled.

"Shut up. I'm the one doing the talking in here." He took the knife to Valera's face. "You know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna make your life Hell. I'll show you the mistake you've made, you piece of trash."

The man was almost in tears by now. "Don't do this, okay? ... Please. Sandy. Please. You don't know..."

"I DO know, Valera. I told you. I'm gonna wreck your life." He went on to carve the mark on Valera's face. Slowly, so it would hurt. I couldn't help but to smile as the man started shrieking.

The man's eyes were red and full of tears by the time Sandy was done. I looked at his work. Wow. He couldn't have cut deeper. I winked at him, and he winked back. I couldn't be more proud of the kid. He sat again in the empty chair.

Valera kept looking at the floor. Heh. Guess he couldn't possibly look at Sandy. "Please... oh, god, at least tell me what do you want from me..."

Sandy took his chin, forcing him to look into his gleaming eyes. Valera couldn't help closing his. This was too much for the poor thing. And it had just started. I smirked at the whole situation.

"Hey. Hey, look at me." Sandy said, softly. Almost a caress. Wow.

Valera finally opened his eyes. "Please... at least tell me what you want from me..."

Sandy smiled softly. The kid may well be the best actor I've ever seen. "Nothing." His voice was almost an insinuating whisper. I felt a chill going down my spine. Holy shit, Sandy.

"What-what do you mean.... Please... I... I'll do- I'll do anything, but please..."

Sandy's smile was like a hammer. A sledgehammer, actually. It tore through everything. "No, no. That's not enough. I want you. Your life. Except I'm not gonna take it."

Valera looked at him mostly confused. 

"You think I'll just break you? Hah. You'd wish that. No, no, no. First, I'll break you, into pieces, you know. Then I'll step on the pieces so they become the tiniest shards. But that's still not enough. I'll then take the shards to a grinder, so they become dust."

Our man froze in terror. He got the idea. His very soul. I smiled at Sandy's words. The kid was good at this. Like, really good.

Sandy continued his brutal monologue. "It's once you're reduced to dust that we can build something. You see, with the pieces, you can just try and build the same thing again. But, it's pointless, you know, we don't want the same piece of shit, we want something new. With the shards, well, you can start building something. But it won't last, the shards are too big for it, and it will soon crumble. The shards aren't malleable enough. It's with the dust, that you can properly build something else, something different. A new you."

Valera was sobbing, too terrified to listen.

"Are you even listening to me?" Sandy whispered eerily into his ear. I got another chill down my spine.

"Please... Please..."

"Andrei, you got that briefcase of yours?"

I simply pointed at the bedside table with my head. Sandy silently took it and placed it open, in full display, on the empty chair.

Valera made the mistake of looking at it. "Shit. No. No, no, no..." He started mumbling at its sight. I guess it's kinda scary too see all that stuff together.

"I don't know if you're familiarized with our... tools." Sandy took a syringe out of the open case. "You've ever tried our serum?"

"Please. Oh, god, please, no, no, I'll do anything, I swear, but don't do this, please...."

"Shut up. That nonsense won't get you anything, I've told you. I'm gonna assume you've tried it. But, how much? A full syringe? Two?"

"Please..."

Sandy gave him a shot. Valera started mumbling again, clearly in pain. A single syringe was almost too much for anyone not used to it. It was physically harmless, mind you. But the nervous system went into frenzy. The result? Pain. Lots of it.

Sandy took a second syringe. "How many shots do you think I'm going to go for, Valera?"

"Oh, god, please..."

Sandy took his chin and again forced the man to look into his eyes. "How about, five plus a dose of crystal? You think that will be enough to break you?"

Holy. Shit. We had never got that far. A single dose of serum plus crystal was already too much - for anyone, period. Crystal was like our emergency plan for the few people who could stand high doses of serum. It also acted on the nervous system. Technically, it was the fancy new drug in the streets. Supposedly it produced physical pleasure. But, together with the serum, the pain was something you couldn't possibly forget.

Valera let out a scream as the second dose got into his bloodstream. "Oh, god, kid, please, you don't know what you're saying, you'll kill me..."

Sandy smirked. "This doesn't kill, man. It's the good thing. It just causes pain." In silence, he injected three more doses into Valera.

After the last one, he was whimpering pathetically. It was painfully obvious he was not used to our serum.

Sandy got behind the man. Leaned over him, resting his forearms - and letting most of his upper body weigh rest on - Valera's shoulders. He hunched a bit so he could murmur into his ear. "Does it hurt, Valera?"

The man could barely mutter a nearly unintelligible "Please..."

"Well, then I have bad news for you." Sandy said, showing him the white syringe of Crystal in his hand. "That's nothing compared to what you'll go through once I give you the last shot. For now, you know. See, you think this hurts? ... Yeah, you do. Well, it can get much worse. I'll make it last for days. How about that?"

He slowly let the needle pierce Valera's skin. The man started mumbling "No, no, please..." He already had too many chemicals running through his veins. And this... this would be Hell. The very definition of it. I held my breath as Sandy slowly pressed on the plunger, letting the drug get into Valera's body.

It took almost a minute for him to react - for his blood to start flooding his nerves with the chemical. Then he started whimpering. Lost in his own mind. In his own hell of pain.