They Call Me the Coroner | Top Gun: Maverick

Spitting Is Vile

~~Jasper~~

"How'd it go?"

I blink at the guard outside Tesha's cell when I exit, but he is not the one speaking.

A haunting smile creeps up over Michael's lips as he eyes me curiously. His hands behind his back as he rocks back and forth on the balls of his feet.

"Well, I assume you had good reason for your visit. Mind to tell me what it was?" He warns me with his eyes.

"She wasn't back in her room. I was checking on her wounds and coming to see where she stood on your offer." I lie. "What happened to her bandages?"

He shrugs and ushers me to follow him down the hall. "She ripped them off in her little tantrum."

"The tantrum is why you threw her in the isolation cell, yes?" I ask. My heart trembling at the sight of her curled up in the corner.

"Yes." Michael leads me into his office. "She was annoying me with screaming and all. I told her that until she was going to appreciate all the hard work we did keeping her alive, then she can bleed out in the floor."

He pauses for a long moment and gives a depressed look. He motions to a seat in front of his desk and sits himself behind it, folding his hands over his stomach and leaning back in his chair.

He gazes out the window behind him a long time and seems as if he's reminiscing about times long past.

"She seemed content to bleed out, you know." He says quietly, twiddling this thumbs. "She spat in my face."

He sighs long and hard. "I know I'm not a good man. I know I have hurt...a lot of people. But after all that I've done for her, I didn't deserve that. To be treated so...vile. Don't you think so?"

After all he's done for her? He's fractured her mind. He took an angel and made her believe she is a demon.

He's insane.

Seriously, mentally, twisted.

I frown and shake my head. My whole job here has been to infiltrate his system. I have done that, but to do that...I had to go back on my word to the United States. But if they told me to do it...then wasn't it really just following orders.

My orders were to gain the trust of Michael. People had to die for that to happen. The people who Tesha killed were all collateral damage. They died just for me to gain access to Michael's inner circle. America didn't care.

The world powers at work here...think of us, people, as nothing more than cattle. Those that hinder their progress are simply...removed.

Such a cruel world Earth turned out to be.

I have worked hard and sacrificed my integrity to get on Michael's good side. He trusts me. I need to keep that trust just a little longer, and if that means acting as twisted and maniacal as he, then I can do that.

If that's all it takes to get Tesha out of here, then I would be more than happy to do it.

"She won't accept my offer, will she?" He looks almost as if he's going to cry.

I shake my head. "Perhaps she just needs a little more time. She's not stupid. She doesn't really want to die. No one does. Just give her a little time to see how much she needs us and she will fall into whatever you say."