Agent Red turned to look behind her when the pressure change caused her ears to pop. The mirror wall behind her was sliding to the side, revealing a much larger room with a slender table. There were only two chairs, one already occupied on one end, and the other near to Agent Red. The only ornamentation on the table was a glass display cube in the center. She couldn't read the words from this distance, but it was unmistakably a skull. A trophy of the woman at the other end of the table, and perhaps a warning.
At the head of the table sat a woman that had the air of authority, and the glare of the guilty. Her eyes were beginning to have wrinkles, despite looking otherwise barely over thirty. But that was a hazard of the job, seeing horrors unfathomable to the populous, and watching your humanity slip away.
"Am I to understand you are the Queen of Hearts?"
"I am. And am I to understand that a red-level agent is in my presence?"
"I am. I assume by this point you've already started verifying my statements, so let's cut to the chase. I will continue the mission I was given, without intervention or reporting to you, using this base and its resources. When I am not on mission, I will have my own room to maintain security, and will not interfere with this base or its operations."
"No."
"As you've stated, I am a red-level agent. Protocol demands.." but Agent Red was cut off.
"Protocol demands that advanced notice be sent for the transfer of reds. Protocol demands hand-off of the red. And protocol demands that I lock anyone falsifying their identity in the brig to await questioning. So far you're just a kid that opened a briefcase and decided to go on a goose chase. Press your luck and you'll be lucky to even make it to the brig. Or we can sit, have a chat, and spare both of us the hassle of waterboarding you."
Agent Red looked into the eyes of the woman across the table. She was a bit older, but still fit. Her hands had long ago run red with the blood she had spilled, but it was a mere trickle compared to the river Agent Red had been responsible for. The Queen may have been older, but just by looking into the dark void of her eyes, Agent Red knew she had left her humanity years before her. She looked around the room again, still bare but for the table, skull, chairs and occupants. She thought about her options.
"Three questions."
"I'll ask as many questions as I need to."
"You either can save us both time and choose to ask three questions now, or torture me for information, even though I've been trained not to talk since before you started bleeding. Three questions and three answers; or as many questions as you want, but no answers."
The older woman stared back at her, sizing her up as she had from the moment the wall had slid open. Her eyebrow had raised at the recent outburst, though, and she took a moment to choose her words carefully before responding.
"Three questions, off the record, so I can judge if I can trust you in my base. If I determine you are, no detention, no torture, I spare you a room, but if I need you for a mission, you're part of my team."
"My mission takes priority over the missions of this base. If you agree, ask your questions."
"How did Monochromatic Dawn find you?"
"I was lucky enough to be in an orphanage that sent psych evaluations to local governments bodies. The Dawn got wind of it and took me into custody."
"How long ago was that?"
"Twenty-two years... three months... and seven days ago. Approximately."
"That's a rather specific answer to be called approximate."
"The more thorough my answer, the less reason you have to distrust me, and the sooner I can get back to what I should be doing."
"Well then. Last question. And now that you say it's dust, there's little reason not to disclose it. What happened to the original agents stationed at Monochromatic Dawn?"
"It was before my time there."
"Only by a few years. I'm sure people talk."
"Rarely to a red agent. But there were documents. Redacted, of course."
"What. Happened?"
"There were two scientists funded and supervised directly by the military. Dr. White and Dr. Black. Codenames, probably. No government oversight, and no ethics committee. They were told to find a cure for cancer, by whatever means necessary. Bodies would come in regularly, sometimes not yet dead, just terminal. Dr. White made a break-through in his research, and was preparing for testing on cadavers. Not wanting to fall behind, Dr. Black went directly to live human testing. He referred to a Subject Zero, but something went wrong. No documents were found after that, and instead of witnesses, the base contained corpses. Less than there had been staff members. Original theory was that they were taken as hostages, until we realized they were being infected and turned. Since then it's been mostly about containment, and collecting the information that was lost about the experiments."
The Queen of Hearts opened her mouth, but was quickly interrupted by Agent Red. "Those were your three questions. I have been awake for nearly thirty-six hours straight. I trust any other concerns you have can wait until you've upheld your part of the arrangement."
"As you wish," the Queen said, standing and opening the door behind her.
Agent Red stood and went to follow her, glimpsing the small plaque on the skull's display case as she walked. It had only two words. "Subject Zero."
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