Soul Drive: Ignition

Chapter 20: Interrogation

Hiro clenched his teeth as the gut-wrenching screams of his loved ones echoed through the barren interrogation room. His heart thudded in his chest, but he forced himself to push through the fear. They couldn't possibly be real.

The door creaked open, and Daiki re-entered the room, his cold eyes scanning Hiro's battered form. "Impressive," he said, a twisted smile playing on his lips. "Not many can endure that kind of mental torture."

"Tell me who gave you the Mach, and if there are others like you," Daiki demanded, his voice low and menacing. Beads of sweat trickled down Hiro's face, but he remained silent, defiant.

"Come on, Hiro," Daiki said, feigning sympathy. "We know you're not working for the Japanese. Did Masato hire you to show off what a Mach can do, or has someone else developed the technology?"

Daiki leaned closer, his breath hot against Hiro's ear. "Or maybe," he whispered, "you found your missing parents, and you're plotting to destroy their creations together."

Hiro's hands curled into fists. "My parents died in an accident at their lab," he growled, the pain in his voice unmistakable.

Daiki straightened up, his face a mask of surprise. "Who told you that?" he asked, narrowing his eyes.

"The government," Hiro spat. "They told my uncle when they gave me to him as a baby. He told me later."

Daiki fell silent, processing the information. In his mind, it made sense that Mary and her husband would be dead rather than on the run – but why had the Japanese lied about their deaths? The only logical explanation was that they had orchestrated the accident themselves, but Daiki kept this thought to himself.

"Tell me more about your parents," he demanded, his voice hard.

Hiro's eyes flashed, he had found something he could use to bargain. "Not until you prove to me that Kimiko is okay."

"Who do you think you are, making demands?" Daiki snapped, his anger flaring. But Hiro stood his ground, his jaw set.

"Then we're done talking," he said simply, his voice firm.

As the silence settled over the room, a game of power and secrets played out between captor and captive.

-----

Osamu stood in the dimly lit Embassy hallway, his nerves on edge as he waited for news from Daiki about Hiro's interrogation. The tension weighed heavy on him, making it difficult to remain still. He glanced around, noting the sterile walls and faint hum of the air conditioning system.

"Any progress?" Kenneth Ward, the diplomat running the Canadian Embassy, approached Osamu with a mixture of curiosity and impatience.

"Nothing concrete yet, sir," Osamu replied hesitantly. "We still don't know where these two Machs came from."

Ward raised an eyebrow, disappointment etched across his face. "Well, at least Canada will have two more Machs in the fight to build a better army," he said, his tone dripping with sarcasm.

Osamu's eyes widened at the comment. "I thought we were going to destroy them..."

Kenneth laughed, a cold, harsh sound that echoed down the hallway. "We can't seem to reverse engineer them, so we might as well make use of them. As for the kids, Kimiko and Hiro...we'll have to get rid of them. They know too much. But don't worry, people go missing every day."

The casual cruelty in Ward's words sent a shiver down Osamu's spine. He watched as the diplomat walked away, each step echoing like a ticking clock. It was in this moment that Osamu realized he couldn't allow the blood of two innocent teenagers to stain his conscience.