#muzzle gag

The shackles didn't suppress his powers. But they also hadn't returned when they took off the suppression cuffs for processing. Eclipse figured they were using a force field around the building, though he was surprised they didn't use any suppression cuffs as a precaution in case the force field fell.

Good to know...

Finally they dragged him into a room, with nothing but a chair in the middle, and a drain in the floor.

They pushed him down into the chair, extra chains already attached to it to keep prisoners extra secure. They first clipped the chain between his shackles to the backrest of the chair. An extra pair of shackles was already welded to the legs of the chair, and locked around his ankles. A chain wrapped over his hips, to further pin him down. And if that wasn't enough, they crossed two more chains over his torso, like an X-shaped seat belt, the weight of the chains pressing painfully onto his shoulders.

The two guards left, the lights in the room dimming until there was only darkness left. Eclipse forced himself to stay calm. They were just trying to make him sweat before some head honcho would come and interrogate him, and Eclipse already knew what he was going to tell him.

Not a damn thing...

His interrogator seemed to have a much higher rank than the other guards, considering that he was wearing a suit rather than a uniform. He slipped his jacket off as he circled Eclipse, handing it to one of the guards before rolling up his sleeves.

"Aren't we lucky?" he said, "Not only did we grab ourselves a resistance leader, but also his little terrorist friend~"

Eclipse stayed quiet, not even making eye-contact, which then prompted the interrogator to grab his jaw and force him to look up.

"I'm glad it was you," he said, "cause I got a bone to pick with you."

Eclipse tried to pull his head from his grip, but the interrogator only squeezed tighter, not seeming at all impressed by Eclipse's silence.

"That crater you left in Wyoming?" he continued, "My folks lived there, and my sister, her husband and their kids...all gone. And for what?"

Eclipse scoffed, but still stayed quiet. If he didn't he might accidentally reveal how guilty he felt about that, and he didn't want the interrogator to use that against him.

"And then I realised..." he continued, "You weren't working with Frostbringer in Wyoming, were you? You were working with Chaos. So I wanna know...why the sudden change of heart? And where is Chaos now?"

Eclipse finally managed to pull his head from his grip.

"Eat me!" he hissed.

The interrogator just laughed as he stepped back, before suddenly jabbing his fist in Eclipse's stomach. The chains prevented him from doubling over, rattling as they held him back and he could only gasp for air, before taking a fist to the face.

Eclipse's head jerked to the side, and he could feel his mouth fill up with blood. The taste alone made him nauseous, but he let it fill before defiantly spitting at the interrogator, dotting his stupid white shirt with red.

That earned him another punch to the face, on the same side again. Something more than blood filled his mouth this time, falling from his mouth before he could look up. A chunk of white landed in his lap along with a mouthful of blood. Great. Another tooth gone.

His jaw was grabbed again, the interrogator bearing a look of disappointment.

"Too bad it's protocol to damn near shave you," he said, "because this is usually the part where I yank your hair out of your scalp..."

"Ghnn...Up yours..." Eclipse said through gritted teeth.

The interrogator moved his grip from his jaw to his throat, squeezing his airway shut.

"Here's what's going to happen," he said, his voice barely audible over the rattling of the chain as Eclipse began to struggle, "you're going to tell me where that rat bastard Chaos is hiding, and if you're lucky...you'll tell me even more, and I just might let you live."

He waited another extremely long moment before finally letting go. Eclipse gasped for air, accidentally breathing in some blood, sending him into a coughing fit. The interrogator walked away, wiping some blood off of his throat and hands while Eclipse caught his breath.

"Cough! ...I'm not telling you shit!"

Now it was the interrogator's turn to stay quiet, ignoring the hero and turning back towards the door, pulling it open and stepping aside. A woman entered, pushing a trolley with an insulated container on it. She was wearing a lab coat and a face mask, her brown hair tied back into a simple ponytail.

She anxiously avoided looking at Eclipse altogether, parking her trolley against the wall to his right and focusing her attention and eyes on the container.

Eclipse tried to keep an eye on her, but then he got distracted by a ruckus by the door, which was still open as two guards dragged in another person. Eclipse cursed mentally as he recognised the blond man. His hair trimmed short and stained red with blood, but still unmistakably blond.

They'd been separated as soon as they got captured, and while Eclipse wasn't sure how much time exactly had passed, he knew it had been enough time for the guards to rough both of them up — and they'd obviously done that.

"F-Frost?" Eclipse croaked, as his friend was shoved onto his knees in front of him.

Frostbringer looked up, and he pretty much looked like shit. Half his face was smeared in blood, like his hair. A sturdy, leather muzzle was strapped over his mouth, keeping him from communicating with Eclipse other than a subtle nod in an attempt to let him know he was okay, even though his arms were wrapped around himself in a straitjacket, and one of his eyes was swollen shut with bruising.

"So much for being a fearless leader," the interrogator said, giving Frostbringer a shove, causing him to fall over, with no option to catch himself.

"You think hurting him is gonna make me spill the beans about Chaos?" Eclipse asked, "Nothing you can do to either of us will be worse than what Chaos would do if we sell him out."

"You claim to be the good guys, yet you fear one of your own?" the interrogator said.

"Not much different from you being afraid to get a pink slip if you don't deliver," Eclipse said, "which you won't today. Because I'm not talking."

"You'd be surprised," the interrogator said, taking a frosted vial from the scientist by the trolley. He held it up against the light, observing the cold, clear liquid inside. "Oral ingestion, right?"

"Y-yes, sir," the woman replied quietly.

The interrogator nodded, and stalked back towards Eclipse, grabbing him by the jaw again and tilting his head back. Eclipse cursed under his breath, the chains rattling again as he struggled against the man's grip, keeping his lips pressed firmly shut as he had no idea what they were trying to feed him.

"Don't be difficult!" the interrogator growled, suddenly slamming his knee against Eclipse's chest, causing him to cry out in pain, before gasping for air again. The interrogator grabbed his chance and emptied the vial into the hero's mouth, before clamping his hand over his mouth so he couldn't spit it back out.

Eclipse tried to pull his head free, fighting desperately against his grip and the chains as he let out a muffled string of coughs, even after he accidentally swallowed the contents of the vial. It was ice cold, yet it burned at the same time. It stung in his nose and caused his eyes to tear up.

Somewhere in the distance, he could hear Frostbringer's muffled protests, followed by a dull thud and a muffled pained groan. Eclipse tried to pick up his struggle in protest, but there just really wasn't anything he could do, but to throw the interrogator a furious glare until he ran out of air, and he had to settle down to catch his breath.

Thankfully the interrogator let go by then, allowing Eclipse to heave his breath in an attempt to replenish his oxygen. He mockingly patted the hero's cheek, grinning as he flinched at the touch.

"That wasn't so hard now, was it?" he said, "Now let's give that a minute to take effect..."

He turned away from Eclipse and focused on Frostbringer now, looking down at the straitjacketed hero with his hands in his pockets.

"I didn't get the honour to interrogate you personally, but I hear you were pretty adamant that your lil soldier here wouldn't give us any information, no matter what we would do to you..."

Frostrbinger could also only glare in response, straightening his back in an attempt to look even more unimpressed.

"Did you ever stop to consider, that we don't need to do anything to you to get him to talk?" the interrogator continued with a shrug, "Maybe your little soldier isn't as loyal as you think."

Bullshit... Was the only thought on Frostbringer's mind, still glaring at the interrogator until behind him, Eclipse seemed to suddenly pass out.

"Mmmph?!"

Frostbringer cursed mentally as he lost composure, not to mention the fact it was pretty pointless as he couldn't produce any intelligible sound. But who cared about that now? Eclipse had been forced to swallow an unknown substance and had now passed out. That couldn't be good.

"Oh look at that," the interrogator said as he turned back to Eclipse and saw him slumped in the chair, "he must be a lightweight."

We haven't eaten anything since last night's dinner anyone would be a lightweight at this point... Frostbringer thought annoyed.

But the interrogator had no more eye for him regardless, focusing back on Eclipse, tilting his head up with another jaw-grab to check if he was conscious.

"There you are~" he said as Eclipse blinked his eyes open, "How are you feeling? Good?"

"Uhuh..." Eclipse nodded a bit.

"It's nice, isn't it?" the interrogator continued, "You feel nice and relaxed?"

"Hmn...y-yeah..."

"Your lil mind all numbed and quiet? No energy or space for lies..."

"Um..."

"Don't think too much about it." the interrogator said, squeezing his cheeks for a bit, "Just answer my questions. I'll start simple. What is your name?"

"Hmm...Xander Walsh."

Frostbringer rolled his eyes. What kind of half-assed hypnosis was this? His name wasn't even really secret info anymore after every super's identity had been publicised. There was no point in keeping it secret, which was probably why he answered.

"Good, very good," the interrogator said, "What gender do you identify as?"

"Male."

"What are your parents' names?"

"Mary Walsh and...Zack Carpenter."

Frostbringer frowned as the interrogation continued, and Eclipse just continued to answer the questions without any protest. Had they really managed to chemically force him to tell the truth?

"Very good," the interrogator praised, "now let's ramp things up a bit...What's your fearless leader's name?"

He mockingly looked at Frostbringer. Eclipse just stared off into the distance as he responded.

"Evan Kennedy."

"What was your last mission under his command?" the interrogator asked, still leering at Frostbringer, as if wanting to see his reaction.

"We destroyed a dog-hunter hub while they were out on missions so they can't continue their work in that area," Eclipse dutifully replied.

Frostbringer just glared at the interrogator. If he hadn't been gagged he would've shouted at Eclipse to shut up, but of course he couldn't. They orchestrated it this way. Still, he wasn't mad at the young hero. The interrogator and his guards and that scientist bitch by the wall were the ones to blame.

"And what was going to be your next target?"

"The processing facility the dog hunters worked for," Eclipse said.

"That would be this place," the interrogator said, "did you know that?"

"It...crossed my mind," Eclipse said honestly.

Frostbringer was glad he was gagged for a second, as he caught himself grinning underneath the leather panel of the muzzle gag. Good. They knew where they were. That means they would still get some use out of the plans they studied. They might just be able to escape.

"Some terrorist you are," the interrogator mocked, now fully focused back on Eclipse, "is that why you don't work for Chaos anymore? You weren't good enough?"

"I don't work for Chaos anymore because I left," Eclipse said, but he didn't elaborate.

The interrogator narrowed his eyes for a second, before deciding it wasn't worth pursuing.

"Are you still in contact with the other terrorist cell?"

"Not yet."

"Not yet?" the interrogator repeated, "Why not yet?"

"I didn't leave with the intention to cut contact," Eclipse said, "but there hasn't been any need for contact yet."

"So they might not know that you're here now?" the interrogator asked.

"I don't know," Eclipse said.

The interrogator shrugged. A fair answer. Annoying, but at least he knew for certain he wasn't being a deliberate pain in the ass. Time to get back on track.

"How close were you to Chaos?" he asked.

"Very close," Eclipse said, "he was my mentor when I was just a sidekick, so I was one of the only few he trusted."

"Shmmph mmph!" Frostbringer suddenly shouted.

The interrogator didn't even look at him this time. He just snapped his fingers, to which one of the guards stepped forward and jabbed his taser in Frostbringer's side, to which he left out a muffled scream as he fell over and writhed on the floor.

Eclipse briefly looked at him, before the interrogator grabbed his jaw again and forced him to focus on him instead of Frostbringer.

"Don't worry about him, just keep your eyes on me." he said, "Would you say you were in Chaos' inner circle?"

"Um..." Eclipse said, hesitating now that his concentration had been broken. "...yes."

"So you've been at his hideout?" the interrogator asked, squeezing his cheeks a bit in excitement.

"Yes. I lived there for a while."

"Where is it?! Where is Chaos' hideout?"

"Dmmm!" Frostbringer cried from the floor, only to get tased again.

Eclipse got distracted by that again, to which the interrogator squeezed his cheeks painfully.

"Look at me!" he hissed, "Where is Chaos' hideout?"

"Um..."

"Nmmm!!"

The guards now grabbed their batons, battering Frostbringer to keep him quiet so the interrogator could get his answer. He even stopped squeezing the young hero's cheeks and instead cupped his face in both hands.

"Where is Chaos' hideout?" he asked again.

"It's in...New Mexico..."

The interrogator grinned, mockingly patting his head in praise, while behind him Frostbringer slumped onto the floor in defeat as he failed to prevent Eclipse from spilling Chaos' location.

"Good boy," the interrogator said, "you can go take a nap now."

He let go of him again, allowing his head to drop onto his chest. The interrogator straightened himself, undoing the top button of his shirt. The silence was deafening. Frostbringer was too exhausted to have any fight left in him, and Eclipse would be out of it for quite a while.

"Put them in separate cells and wait for further orders. The main office will probably need to argue about what to do with them next first," the interrogator ordered, "I have a phone call to make..."

@whumpay

Frostbringer belongs to @illustriousshadow

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