Ruin // Danger Days (Book 3)

27.

Sunset awoke to white.

For a second, she thought she'd died. No one actually knew what happened when people died, though most said that the Phoenix Witch took them to the afterlife.

Unfortunately, Sunset learned, that was not what was happening here.

When she came to more, she realized that she was lying on a cot. Fluorescent lights stared her in the eyes, and the white walls of the room she was in reflected it. There was a large metal door on the opposite wall from her cot.

Then, she remembered what happened.

After she'd helped Val, she'd run back out into the fight. There weren't many 'Crows or Dracs left, and the ones that remained were either fighting one-on-one or retreating to their vans.
She'd jumped back onto the van that she and Val had claimed before Volt was ghosted. She'd tried to take down all of the enemies inside and around it, because it was a free vehicle and it might have important weapons or supplies in it.

But just as she'd blasted the driver and climbed in, she had been blasted in the back and was knocked out.

And now, here she was. Back in Bat City.

Then, she noticed something. Her head felt lighter than it normally did. She reached up to feel it, and realized that her hair had been cut to the length of her chin. Of course, she thought, that was the only dyed part. Though she was sad, she wouldn't let it get to her until she figured out how to get out of here.

Suddenly, the door to the room—cell—she was in opened. Two Scarecrows stood there, unreadable because of their masks.

"We have been instructed to bring you to the Director for interrogation," one of them said; she couldn't tell which.

"O... okay?" Sunset stood. "I guess I can't object."

They marched into the room and took her by the arms, then walked her down the white hallway that the cell was attached to.

Sunset tried to formulate a plan to escape from these guys, but she realized that there were two of them and only one of her, and in that case small size was not an advantage. She couldn't get away from them if she tried.

After several turns through the maze-like building, they finally arrived at a door that was slightly less identical than the others. One of the Scarecrows let Sunset go and opened the door, and the other shoved her inside.

It looked exactly like the interrogation rooms you saw in old action movies. One light lit up the room, there were multiple security cameras on the walls, there was a (supposedly one-way) mirror on one wall, and sitting at a table was a woman whose face had haunted Sunset's nightmares for years.

The Director. The CEO of BLI.

The Scarecrow holding Sunset's shoulders sat her down roughly in a seat across from the Director. She gave her a clearly artificial smile.

"Hello. I am the Director. What is your name?"

Sunset realized that she would have to be tough in order to stave off her manipulation. "The name's Sunset Flash."

The Director sighed. "You know I'm tired of this, right? Every one of you always says that your alias is your real name. No matter, I already know who you are. Now, Miss Castellan, let's continue."

Of course they already know, Sunset cursed internally. They've been looking for us for three years now. "Alright, what do you wanna know?"

"Where is the hideout of the Killjoy General, Atomic Alien?"

Sunset almost wanted to laugh. They don't even know she left! "She died," she told the woman, who looked pleased. "There was a battle between two rebel factions, and she was killed by their leader."