Chapter 73: Good Cop, Bad Cop, Worse Cop

Rick had moved the dead bodies of what Rachel decided and insisted to call ‘Ooze’. With all the fluids they were leaving behind, it made sense to him. They were put in a corner of the med-bay and forgotten.

Next came Raymond. The man, still unconscious, was put on the very table where Rick had treated Rachel’s leg and used lots of bandage they had found around to tie up the man to it. Of course, that was after stripping the man of any and all equipment he had on himself. He was basically in his underwear.

When Jill had asked how it was possible for Raymond to not wake up during all this, both Rick and Rachel gave her a look. The former’s was impassive while the latter’s was predatory. It was clear it wasn’t the first time the pair had done this and that it was kind of a secret.

“How did you catch him?” The former STARS asked.

Rick shrugged, while making sure the bandages were tight enough. “I broke the red door. Found an Il Veltro flag hanging on the left wall. Then from the vent some gas came pouring out. I faked breathing it in, fell to the ground and played possum.”

Jill interrupted him there. “How did you know what kind of gas it was?”

“What else but sleeping gas?” Rachel looked at her with curiosity. “If Raymond wanted Rick dead there were easier and better ways to go about it.”

“Yes,” he nodded, then continued his tale. “Then he came in and crouched down to check on me.”

“Rookie mistake.” This time it was Rachel who nodded in understanding. “Always put your foot on the chest.”

“Your breathing is different when you’re awake than when you’re not.” Rick explained when he noticed that Jill didn’t get it. “I knocked him unconscious and brought him here. Killed a few… Ooze…Oozes?” He turned to Rachel for confirmation since she was the one to tag the name.

“Oozes.”

“Killed a few Oozes on the way and here I am.”

Rachel took the knife at her ankle and began to check its sharpness. “You do it or I do it?” She asked Rick.

“You.” he answered without thinking about it. “It makes more sense. You’re the one he betrayed.”

Jill interjected then with a scowl on her face. “I hope you’re not thinking of doing what I think you’re going to do?”

“Oh, we’re going to do exactly what you’re thinking.” Rachel gave her a cold side glance.

Rick clarified for Jill. “If he doesn’t answer our questions properly.”

“No. You’re not torturing him!” The former STARS members walked forward and stood defiantly in front of Rick. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing, nor that Rick would not only agree but be part of it.

“As I said, it all depends—”

Jill grabbed his head with both hands and pulled it down so they could be face to face. “You… are not torturing him. That’s not you.”

“I told you, Jugs.” He put his hands on hers. “There is nothing I wouldn’t do for you. If torturing a man is the way to keep you—”

“You. Are. Not. Period. End of discussion.” The steel in her voice didn’t leave room for a rebuttal. It was clear that she wouldn’t let him or Rachel torture Raymond. It was going too far in her opinion.

“Let’s see what he has to say first.” Rachel cut in.

It wouldn’t be the first time she or Rick had to torture someone. She never liked it when she did and Rick never cared since he compartmentalized it. Of course, she would do it without hesitating. Their survival may very well depend on it.

Rick gave his ex-partner a side glance to have a silent conversation with their eyes. He nodded in agreement and let go of Jill’s hands.

“Alright.”

Another look at Rachel and she began to slap her partner’s face. Not too unkindly, they needed the man coherent enough to answer questions. Hitting the head when you were interrogating someone was a counter productive way to get information. The mind could be jumbled, you could do irreparable damage and if you somehow make your suspect bleed there would be blood everywhere, the face being the part of the body with the most blood vessels. No, hitting the head was ill-advised.

After the fifth slap, Raymond began to awaken. His eyes fluttered, the pain on his cheeks or perhaps from Rick’s blow earlier, made him grunt. A few seconds were all he needed to finally become cognizant. When he saw Rachel and Rick leaning above him he tried to move but to no avail. The bandages were too tight to allow him more than an inch of freedom.

“Rachel! What—”

The blonde put her knife in his mouth and he stopped talking on the spot. “You were knocked out wearing an Il Veltro uniform, Raymond. Right after trying to incapacitate Rick over there.” She jerked her head toward her ex-lover. “So, save us all the waste of time of your lies. We’re going to ask questions and you’re going to answer them truthfully. Capiche?”

Rick put the tip of his own knife onto the redhead’s chest and applied a slight pressure. Not enough to draw blood but a bit more and that would be the case. Slowly, he moved it down.

“You're going to tell us the truth, Raymond, and give us all your secrets. Either on your own volition but painlessly or on your own volition but very, very painfully. Rachel and I would prefer the latter, because you see…”

“A naked man has few secrets, partner, but a flayed man has none.”

The evil and mad grin on Rachel’s face was horrifying. Her lone eye, the other covered by her hair, didn’t make things better. Rachel looked very eager to skin the man and he could see it. Rick on the other hand was perhaps worse. He looked utterly bored and perhaps a tad bit curious. He wasn’t in for the pleasure like Rachel presented herself to be, he was here to experiment, Raymond could tell.

“Luckily for you… Miss prude over there got us to agree to give you a chance to spill all your little beans first.” Rick half-lied and pointed at Jill at the end of the table. She looked disturbed.

“But the moment you lie and believe me, Raymond, we will know,” Rachel nodded while talking. Leaning down to his ear, she whispered the end of her sentence. “We’ll start ssssssskinning you.”

Rick picked up then. “Now it’s been a while, we’ve done this… two years, four months, eleven days and six hours to be exact. We might be a bit rusty.”

“It’s like riding a bike. You never forget but in flaying’s case, we might make a few mistakes or two.” Rachel stirred her knife in Raymond’s mouth for a bit. “A finger could be lost, or an ear.”

“The eyes are mine.” Rick gave the blonde woman a firm glare. “Last time you wasted them.”

She quickly defended herself. “It was an accident!”

“It wasn’t an accident.” His tone was as cold as his face. “You use a spoon to scoop out the eyeball. That’s the only reason why you’d use a spoon during an interrogation session.”

“Okay… Maybe… It wasn't an accident but it doesn’t matter doesn’t it?” She looked down at Raymond and smiled again. “You’re going to talk right?”

The man nodded as fast as he could while making sure he wouldn’t hurt himself with her knife in his mouth. Raymond may be many things but he wasn’t a masochist and he certainly won’t get himself tortured by two lunatics for the mission he had. A muscle interrogation? With knuckles to the face or the stomach? Yeah that, he could endure, he was a bit familiar with that. Part of the job. But being flayed? He drew the line there. He could have called it, thinking it was a bluff but the consequences and results were not worth it if he was wrong.

“Ah… Alk…”

Rick and Rachel looked at each other in silence. It was enough for a short silent conversation between them. The former sighed in disappointment while the latter pouted.

“And here I thought I’d have the occasion to pay you back for leaving me to die.” Only then did she sighed and put away her knife. Rick had already taken a step back from the table to let Jill approach.

For a moment the Mistress of Lockpicking really thought they were going through with the torture session. The way they spoke, the banter, the coordination…. All confirmed again, they were more than just familiar in this situation. She also knew that Rick had relented when she told him too and so won’t go through with it. It was the only thing that she was certain of and made her hold back to intervene. Otherwise she would have because the pair had been very convincing.

“First question,” She started with. “Who are you working for?”