INVESTIGATING BTV: Part 2
You awoke gradually - your eyes still closed, but the sound of muffled voices in the distance slowly stirring you from sleep. Too muffled to make out the words, but a conversation taking place, perhaps in another room. You tried to arrange your thoughts before opening your eyes, your mind still so fuzzy from⌠what happened exactly? You remember being sent out to investigate the BTV building. You got inside, made it to the head office, downloaded the files⌠something else? Whatever else had happened, your brain wouldnât - or couldnât - give you that information right now.
Your first outward signs of consciousness came in the form of a loud, involuntary yawn.
More muffled voices - you definitely made out â...woken upâ - but the rest is just a slow blur of sounds, moving further away. You opened your eyes to survey your surroundings.
A white, blank room - bright enough that itâd probably sting your eyes to look at, even if you hadnât just woken up. A tannoy speaker in both top corners that you could see. You were sat in a chair, arms bound behind you. In front of you was a TV screen - switched off, for now. Something struck you as familiar about it all, but you were still dazed and the connection was just beyond your mental reach. From behind you, a door opened.
âGood morning, sleepy-head.â
A womanâs voice - soft, but authoritative. The boss, maybe? They walked past you, softly brushing their hand across the top of your head as they moved into view.
She stood before you. Looking every part a businesswoman, your eyes studied her from the ground up. Black high-heels. A black, tight-fitting skirt, stopping at around the knees. White button-up shirt and back suit jacket. Soft lipstick⌠peach? Dark brown hair falling past her shoulders, with a white streak at the front. Dark, smoky eyeshadow framing Oh God, those are the greenest eyes Iâve ever seen! They have to be contacts, you thought. No oneâs eyes are that green naturally. Unnatural or not though, something about them drew you in, something -
The rational part of your brain yelled at you. Youâd been flat out gawking, actually leaning forward - as much as you could while tied to a chair, anyway. She laughed and turned away, exuding the confidence of a woman who knows exactly how beautiful she is, and you imagined sheâd always revel in the opportunity to use that to her advantage.
You had to focus. All of the training, the previous missions had led you to this, and letâs be honest, you were in trouble here. First time youâd ever been caught, and you couldnât even remember how it happened. You knew youâd be interrogated, and you couldnât afford to let anything slip. The agency you worked depended on its clandestine nature, and you couldnât reveal any part of that. You made sure not to carry anything that could identify you when you went on assignment precisely in preparation for situations such as this. They could never know who you are.
As if reading your mind, she turned back around.
You said nothing. Youâd been trained in case of capture, how to deal with interrogation, so you had a rough idea of how this might go - the old adage of the carrot and the stick. Theyâll come across as reasonable at first, then when that fails, theyâll move to tougher tactics. Physical or mental duress. Maybe both. You were nervous, but you were trained. You were ready for this. You were ready to -
She laughed. Sheâd caught you gazing at - no, into - her eyes again. She walked toward you, stopping a few feet short, and leaned forward.
âIf you wonât tell me who you are, do you mind telling me why you were sneaking around here at night?â
She stood straight once more, looking down at you. You noticed the space between two of the buttons on her shirt had folded out, revealing a hint of a full, firm bust covered in black lingerie. Sheâs done that on purpose, the rational part of your brain stated firmly. Remember, she knows sheâs alluring - thatâs why theyâve sent her in here! The carrot, then the stick!Â
âAnd why were you here so long?â
She laughed, meaning youâd failed to conceal your confusion at that question and your face had betrayed you. Why had you been here so long? You arrived outside the building at 2am, as planned. You made it inside through the parking bay. You⌠the fuzz returned to your brain. You⌠snuck into the security room to disable the cameras. You saw people in seats just like the one youâre in now⌠doing something? You took the elevator to the top floor, got into the office⌠somethingâs missing⌠downloaded the information and left. You remember being surprised that it was almost 6am by that point, because it did not feel like youâd been here that long. You got into the elevator and⌠felt good? She laughed again.
âYou really donât remember, do you? Well, thatâs not surprising. The gas does that sometimes.â
Her emphasis on the word gas triggered a memory. You remembered getting in the elevator. You remember it slowing down⌠and the smell. You remember sliding down the wall in a sleepy, doped up heap, giggling to yourself until you passed out. And your frustration at yourself grew as you remembered enjoying it. You remember part of your brain - and definitely not the rational side thatâs giving out the orders here - feeling excited and tingly as that feeling of drowsiness engulfed you and you couldnât stay awake any longer. And that you - an agent fully confident in their abilities - had been left feeling like that infuriated you.
âLike I said, the gas does that sometimes.â
Your face must have given you away again. You were definitely on the back foot here. Thinking fast, you tried to turn the conversation. Even if you didnât get a direct answer, you might be able to pick up something - an offhanded comment, something in their body language, anything.
âNevermind who I am, who are you?â
She smirked. She leaned forward again, grabbing you by the collar this time. She pulled herself close enough that one of her breasts pressed against your shoulder - a calculated move to throw you off, of course, but not an unwelcome one - and whispered in your ear.
âYouâre the one whoâs going to tell me everything.â
If you had given into the shiver that coursed through your body when she said that, you absolutely would have told her everything. Luckily, you were made of tougher stuff than that, and were able to hold yourself together, and responded.
âYou think just going to fold? Youâre not getting a damn thing from me!â
She laughed fully this time in genuine amusement, a loud, taunting, wonderful sound, then turned back to face you. Reaching forward, she grabbed your jaw and tilted your head up to look directly into her unusual and intoxicating eyes again.
âWhen weâre done with you, youâll not only tell us everything⌠youâll do it with a smile on your face.â
She clicked her fingers - another sound that sent a tingle throughout your being - and you heard the door behind you open again. She left, stroking your head again as she passed you, and the door slammed shut. You breathed a sigh of relief. Your training served you well, but she was such a commanding, authoritative, entrancing presence that it was difficult to focus. You shook your head to try and collect your thoughts. Probably an aftereffect of being drugged by that gas, you told yourself, though there was that small bit of worry that something more was going on that you couldnât quite shake.
You heard the muffled voices from the other room again - a bit clearer now, but not so much that you could make out everything - just the occasional word. âIntruderâ, âinvestigationâ, and âcaptureâ were all words you picked up from one of the voices. Then âsusceptibleâ, âbroadcastâ and âinfiltrateâ, from the voice you now recognised as belonging to the woman you just met. Then from her again - clear as day âthey will talkâ, followed by the start of an electrical hum in the room you were in. Here comes phase 2, I guess, you thought. Carrot and the stick.
You braced yourself, thinking torture was on the way - by the sound of that humming, maybe electrocution - and tried to steel your mind against what was coming. In training, theyâd taught you a mental exercise - not dissimilar to meditation - to disassociate your mind from body to endure the pain without giving up. Itâd still suck, but youâd at least be able to get through this without spilling the beans and ruining everything.
To your surprise, no shock came. Instead, the TV screen in front of you flickered to life with the animated green on black spiral emblem of BTV, and nothing else. Maybe it was how white the room was, but the green seemed⌠brighter, somehow. The hum intensified. It wasnât loud, but somehow it felt deafening. The brightness of the spiral and the hum together overwhelmed your senses, and you scrambled to gather your thoughts.
You quickly tried to think over your training, case history within the agency, studies⌠Unconsciously, your eyelids fluttered briefly, feeling heavier, but you were too busy trying to figure out⌠you knew what this was! They were trying to psychologically break you using sleep deprivation! And by pure chance, this was one of the forms of torture youâd been trained specifically to deal with it! Youâd caught a lucky break, and started laughing. There was no way they were getting anything out of you!
âHa-haâŚ! You think⌠you think this is going to break me? Think again!â
The word âbreakâ, to your pleasant surprise, actually came out in the form of a yawn. You laughed harder. They were trying to keep you awake to break your spirit and, if anything, you found yourself becoming more relaxed! You smiled as your eyelids began to droop in earnest, as a wonderful wave of sleepiness washed over you, confident that theyâd never be able to keep you awake. You laughed out loud once more.
âThisâll never⌠never work. You canât keep⌠keep me⌠awake.â
In response, a bombastic laugh echoed throughout the room from the speakers.
âThatâs right, we could never make you give in like that, youâre too strong for thatâŚâ
Her words, spoken in that mesmerizing tone of hers, flooded your brain, making it harder to think. What the hell did she -
In that one moment, you realised what was happening and what a terrible, wonderful mistake youâd made. You realised you were being hypnotized, and that you hadnât taken your eyes off the enthralling spiral on the screen since this started. You had to avoid sleep at all costs, no matter how badly you wanted to close your eyes and drift off into drowsiness again and⌠what were you thinking about?
You tried to look away - closing your heavy sleepy eyes at this point would be a euphoric disaster - but it was no use. You couldnât tell if you simply couldnât move enough to look away, or if the spiral was just everywhere by this point⌠or if it just felt too good to tear your eyes away. The part of your brain that had been giving the orders earlier was much quieter now. Look away! Wake up!, it tried to warn you, but you werenât listening anymore.
I donât want to, the now-dominant other part of your brain replied.
âReady to give in, sleepy-head?â the woman purred over the speakers.
âI⌠must⌠stay⌠awakeâŚâ
You tried to yell, but your words were barely audible over your yawning, the weight of your eyelids too much to bear. Her taunting words had melted the last of your resistance like butter. The only reason you even wanted to keep your eyes open at this point was to keep staring at the spiral, but you knew giving in to drowsy pleasure would feel so much better.
âYou wonât stay awake, nor do you want to.â
Her soporific words were all the prompting you needed. Your vision blurred as your eyes rolled back into your head and those heavy, heavy lids slumped closed. You slipped off into slumber with a smile on your face, just as you were promised.
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