End Wars: A Hi5 Studios Story

Interrogation: Chapter 8

*Connor's P.O.V*

My eyes widened as my thoughts scrambled. "W-What?" I whispered, mostly to myself, but as I looked at the man sitting across from me, I realized that under that stupid mask of his, I could tell he was smiling.

"You heard me, Connor. Now I have one question for you. Why did you blow up your own building?" He glared at me and stood up, slamming his fist down on the table.

Bad cop. Now where was the good cop?

"Do you really think I'm going to fall for that? Me and my friends DIDN'T DO ANYTHING." I paused. My shoulders went up in a shrug. "And besides, why would we blow up our OWN BUILDING? That doesn't really make any sense, does it?"

The man's face contorted in anger. He grabbed a box that was on the floor and hefted it up onto the metal table. The box came down in a loud crash, reminding me of the explosion at Hi5 Studios. I could still remember the wailing screech of metal grinding against metal. My ears started ringing loudly. I closed my eyes tightly and put my hands against my ears. I groaned loudly.

The man on the other side stopped what he was doing, and I could see a sympathetic look in his eyes.

"Ugh, what's happening to me?" I said, trying to rub my temples but failing, since the handcuff chains didn't allow me to reach that far.

"Ever heard of PTSD?" He asked.

I nodded. Of course I've heard about it. Who in this world hasn't heard of it? It's on every crime show ever.

"It's like PTSD. Every time you hear something that reminds you of the blast, your ears start ringing. It's painful, isn't it?" 

I didn't want to answer. What if this guy was a psychopath who got off on seeing people in pain? I wasn't going to let him do that.

"No, it's not too bad."

The guy shook his head, laughing. "You don't think I saw you when it happened?" He paused, walking closer to me. "Listen, Connor. I know what it feels like to have that happen, okay? We're friends here, I promise."

I rolled my eyes. "There's the good cop. You played bad cop for a while, and I was wondering when you'd stop."

"Listen, the government just want answers. You were inside your own building when it blew up, okay? My superiors believe that you have something to do with it."

I looked at him, as serious as I could, and said, "What if we didn't?"

The man across from me had a thoughtful look come across his face, and I knew immediately that he was going through indecision. I had a lot of it when I thought about joining Hi5 Studios. I didn't know if it was the right choice.

The man kept looking at me, then at the floor. For a few moments, I thought about yelling at him to hurry things up, but then decided that would probably not help, so I sat there, and as patiently as I could, waited for him to come to a decision.

After what seemed like an hour but was probably only ten minutes, the man rushed over to where I was sitting, leaned down so his mouth was beside my ear and started whispering to me.

"Listen to me carefully, okay Connor?"

Before I could nod, he quickly said, "Don't nod. They're watching everything. And listening, but I don't think they can hear us when we whisper."

I thought about that for a minute, and doubts started creeping into my mind. "And if they can hear us?"

He paused, worry creased his face, but then he shook his head and had a decidedly calm demeanor. "I don't think that'll be much of a problem. I don't think you and your friends are the bad guys here. I just can't get my supervisors to believe that."

"So then, if it's not us, who is it?" 

The man looked at the floor, and I immediately had an inkling of who it was. "It was the other car that took the others, isn't it?"

The man nodded so slightly that I didn't think the answer was a yes, but then he whispered in my ear again. "I believe so."

My heart sunk. So Matt, Woods, Tanner and the others are with the people who are behind all these bombings?

"Wait, but why are there bombings? Do you or your supervisors know?"

The man nodded again. "Yes, we have a sneaking suspicion, but I can't tell you that. It's classified information." He paused. "Well, I suppose I could tell you, if I wanted to die or be tortured to death."

My eyes widened. Was the reason why that bad? That the government would torture the people who work for them? I shivered, chills running down my spine and up. It felt like I was doing the worm involuntarily. 

"But I can tell you that your friends who are with that group are in VERY serious danger. They kill anyone they don't agree with, and I'm thinking they definitely won't agree with your friends. Like, any little fight or argument could get your friends killed."

I gasped a little, but then remembered I had to be quiet. "So what do you propose to do? It doesn't seem like your superiors agree with you."

He shook his head and chuckled. "No, they really don't agree with me. Do you want to know why I think they don't agree with me?" 

I shook my head. Not really, I thought. I just wanted to get me and my friends out of here. I just wanted to go home. Home. I vaguely wondered if more bombs had gone off. What if there wasn't any home anymore? For anyone? No more sleeping on comfortable beds. No more dogs, no more fun, happy memoires with Bailey or my parents, or anyone else.

Tears started forming in my eyes as I pictured a world without a home. I would be homeless. I would have to steal to get food or anything. But the man shook me out of my stupor, and said the thing I knew was coming. Didn't make it any easier to hear.

"I think my superiors are working with the group that's been blowing stuff up."