Zoey.

  “Your fucking with us!” The thunderous man yelled, his abrupt aburst causing Zoe to let out a small squeak as she shied away, curling in on herself as the gravitational manacles fought to remind her that there 'was' no escape from the chair.

  The smming hand and its furious retort as a metal ring cshed against the polished steel rang through the young woman's ears, adding to the tears already streaming down her rosy cheeks, Zoey whimpering and sniffling, remembering clearly what that 'ring' had done to her face.

  “Hey! I said you had to cool the fuck off before coming back in here!” An older woman shouted, her gloved hand wrapping around the older and mustachioed man’s shoulder, tearing him away from the terrified girl and shoving him against the wall.

  Frank sneered, baring his teeth, the crevices filled with tiny bck seeds, presumably from his breakfast, before he dragged himself free from his captor.

  “That little ‘girl’ over there fucking knows something! Look at her! Nobody cracks that fast, not unless they have a guilty conscience!”

  “Or, you're just scaring the everloving shit out of her…” Phil, the man’s supposed ‘partner’, commented, though he didn't say much more when the older man gred at him.

  If silent conversations could be said to be visible to the naked eye, then Zoey would say that the one she saw pass between them was colored by bright rainbows and prancing unicorns.

  Oh, she’d just known it was all too good to be true.

  And she’d been right!

  After all, here she was, locked in solitary detention, left to stew in the wake of her own mistakes for nearly two weeks!

  Zoe had no idea what was really happening, but what she had gathered was, likewise, completely terrible, horrible, and absolutely horrific.

  They were calling her a terrorist!

  They were saying she was a conspirator!

  Oh, dear god, they were saying she was responsible.

  Needless to say, Zoe had pissed herself—which had actually gone quite a long way towards a far gentler touch than that in which they’d begun interrogations with.

  She didn't conspire to appear so meek and, in their own words, ‘miserable’ but rather, she just couldn't help it!

  Zoey cracked like an egg!

  She’d told them everything.

  Spilling her guts not thirty seconds after it had all sunk in, even going as far as to deep dive into the reason she had all the suspicious things in her closet.

  As it happened, Niomi, the captain of the guard of her neighborhood block, had always been a woman who was known for both her fair if not stern treatment of her wards, but also her judicious purpose.

  Unlike some other captains that she’d heard of, the older woman didn't inflict violence for the sake of violence alone. She would if she felt it necessary, but so often, such applications of force were known to be level-handed.

  Yet, Zoe was neither a proud nor a strong individual. And when presented with the charges being id upon her, she’d crumbled to dust the moment pressure was applied.

  Sadly, despite this trio coming to visit her, day after day, Zoe truly had nothing more to give! She’d already told them everything! She’d given them every st detail that very first day this had all started, and since then, the only thing that had changed was the visible tension in the Paradise representatives' jawlines.

  “How well do you know this man?” Niomi asked, again, tapping the holo emitter at the table's center where it formed a now very familiar figure that she’d seen more in the st week than she had for the st several years.

  It was Warren Fletcher. A—well, a somewhat unpleasant man, and neighbour, of her’s that she’d purposefully gone out of her way to avoid at all possible costs.

  Admittedly, Warren had always scared her.

  Oh, he was cordial enough the few times she’d run into him in the hall, but unlike her and the vast majority of those she knew in the Meadows, Warren was one of those rare cases of people who were of a higher status than herself.

  For Zoey, the Meadows had simply always been her home. Born to a mother and father who, likewise, had been born in the vast mega-structures enclosed community.

  In truth, nobody in her family had a violent bone in their bodies!

  It just wasn't how people of the Meadows did things!

  Theirs was a peaceful community. At least, for the most part. And while Zoe had taken a new apartment in a neighbourhood that housed criminals rather than the simple and happy folk that were born and raised in the complex, the truth was that, until this point, Zoey really hadn’t had too many negative experiences.

  Apartments in the less desirable neighborhoods were known to be a good deal cheaper, mostly due to one's unsavory peers that would invariably live right next door.

  However, she had nded herself a ‘comparatively’ cheap apartment that was both reasonably renovated and rger than the space she’d previously had with her parents in such a neighbourhood, and—well, she’d taken it!

  It had almost been like a dream for her! A-and, the only downside she’d even contended with was the odd suspicious person who might follow too close behind her…

  Thankfully, not all her neighbours were terrible people. Some, like Mr Jackson and his barking puppy, would even offer to escort her if ever she felt particurly threatened by someone getting a little too friendly for comfort.

  Despite her size, Zoe had often been likened to a mousey giraffe by those close to her. As unthreatening and unassuming as could possibly be…

  A harmless and cute animal.

  Not a dangerous thought floating through her head.

  All the same, ‘Warren’ had always had this certain—bizarre light in him…

  Not insanity, as if she knew what such a thing would look like…

  It was more that the man had been zealous. Had possessed some kind of crazed devotion, though, he’d never struck Zoe as particurly religious, nor had she ever seen him at church.

  She herself, despite her many shameful acts upon herself and secretive desires, was a faithful devotee of ‘The Trinity’ or—well, she’d admittedly been less faithful as of te, but she still said her prayers and offered tithe to the church at least once a month.

  No, Zoe was a good girl. And she’d already told the trio before her everything of worth that she knew about Warren, despite the fact that nobody seemed to believe her.

  All the same, she knew what would happen if she didn't answer. The one time she’d tried silence having resulted in a heavy-handed sp that had shaken the young woman to her very core.

  It had been the first time she’d been hit, at least in real life, and it had not at all been a pleasant experience…

  Swallowing, she nodded, rolling right back into another expnation that, likely, wouldn't be any different than any of the others.

  “H-he's Mr… w-well, I already told you what his name is…

  “Doesn't matter, keep going.” Phil insisted, making the young girl hunch in on herself as she peered from person to person.

  “I—well… He lives down the hall from me… A-and, I know he doesn't attend service… I rarely see him at the mall or cafeteria or on any of the rec-floors… I think he mostly just keeps to himself…”

  “You say that like you know him,” Niomi commented, her voice stern as ever.

  “I don't know him any more than I did st week! You are the only reason he’s even been on my mind more than a passing thought! I’ve only spoken two whole times with him since I moved to the neighbourhood!”

  “He actually arrived after you did,” Phil stated, and though the news was just one more glimmer of information she was learning of the man, it honestly changed nothing.

  “Do you remember the first time you met with the man before you?” The captain asked, tapping her finger on the table to regain Zoe’s attention.

  “N-no…”

  “Yesterday, you said you did.”

  “Well, then, no more than I did yesterday! I… I told you all I remember is seeing his creepy stare! He just opened his door like he was going to leave, gred at me as I was walking by, then smmed it!”

  “You commented on the smell yesterday as well.”

  Zoey wanted to scream.

  This was—futility incarnate! Absurdity for absurdity's sake alone!

  She was innocent.

  She was a victim.

  She’d—Zoey…

  “Look, I don't know anything!” She pleaded, not for the first time. “A Paradise doll simply appeared in my apartment, told me there was—”

  “Bullshit.” Frank burst, his violent intent all but washing across Zoey and causing her to whimper. “Paradise dolls don't make mistakes with appointments. And if they do, you need to make an account to even—”

  “Frank,” Niomi warned, pulling in a deep breath through her nose before she leaned against the wall, gncing momentarily at a very frightened Zoe before she met the furious agent's gaze.

  “She’s right, Frank, this hasn't gone anywhere fast for two straight weeks.”

  “We just need to get rougher, is all…” The older man ground out, menacing and making Zoe’s legs tremble and her jaw ctter.

  “Rougher?” Phil ughed, “We could break every finger one by one and the only thing we’ll learn is how much it takes her to start telling us what she thinks we want ta’ here.”

  “I second that assessment.” The captain remarked, sighing as she did so. “The girl clearly knows nothing. Not only that, she’s got a perfect record with us. Not so much as a documented argument in public.”

  “She has to know something!” Frank shot back, seething as much as he looked himself like a frightened beast backed into a corner, hair disheveled as was his attire.

  “No, she really doesn't. Zoey is not a violent individual. She is not a talented ‘hacker’ or even a modestly capable cybernetic engineer. Every single day of her life has been documented and accounted for, save the short span in which she was visited by your droid.” Niomi paused, staring hard at the Paradise agent, meeting his eye with a gaze unyielding as iron. “There is simply no evidence save circumstance and your own desire. Nothing changes that.

  “Now, I’ve indulged your demands for a chance to interrogate her, and as I said before we all came down here today, if I didn't see anything worthwhile that hasn't already been explored, then I would be ending what has become a complete and utter waste of my time.”

  “Paradise will not accept that as an answer!” The man hissed, his face hagrid and sleepless, expressing a twisted mockery of the already stressed human he’d been when first they’d met.

  “That—is simply not my problem.”

  “It is, actually, your problem, the same as ours,” Phil countered, though he continued as the captain's icy gre fell upon him. “But, I agree, the kid doesn't know anything.”

  Zoe, in another life, might have commented that she wasn't a ‘kid’ and, certainly, ‘Phil’ couldn't have been much older than herself, yet she remained silent in light of the direction the conversation had been going.

  For his part, Frank looked like he was ready to lunge across the table and start strangling her, but the winds of fortune had finally seen fit to grace her with a chance, and now, two of her three interrogators had decided enough was enough.

  “Look,” Phil muttered, closing his eyes and letting his head tap the wall behind him, “clearly, the bot went rogue after Warren did something to it. We know that much at least. There was enough evidence around his apartment that we can also say it was premeditated, but beyond that, I just don't see the connection here.

  “To me, it honestly just seems like the damned thing picked a random door to walk through, took itself a shower to better hide, then—maybe in an attempt to blend in and not raise the arm, it just—pretended to be exactly what it was…"

  “Again, I agree.” Niomi nodded. “The machine was clearly still learning. I know nobody likes to use the phrase, but I earnestly believe the city might have a genuine AI roaming its streets. Warren was ex-military, of this we now know. And while I believe he indeed had a co-conspirator based on what we found, I strongly doubt that individual is this young woman.”

  “She’s the only lead we have…” Frank insisted with a growl.

  “What lead?” Phil barked without warning, “the damned thing slept with her! If that’s enough of a reason to consider her a suspect, then we’ve got—what? A few hundred other people who were all in contact with the doll? If that’s all we've got going on here, then what the fuck are we still doing questioning the clearly innocent woman who probably should count herself lucky to be alive than anything else.”

  The two agents gred at one another for several tense moments, the air growing thick with frustration and disagreement.

  Still, Niomi broke the standoff once things felt like they might come to blows, waving her hand and causing the hologram to fade. “As I said, I believe we are finished here.”

  “We're not finished until Paradise—”

  "Then take it up with your boss, as I will with mine.” The captain cut in, interrupting the sputtering agent without a care for subtly. “Currently, you are in the 'Meadows', and deputized by the city or not, we are, as I am sure you are well aware, a separate entity from that in which you serve.

  “Now, unless you can come up with an angle or question for young Zoey that is not one of a repetitive nature to those already presented in these trials, I believe it is safe to decre her innocent of any wrongdoing.”

  Frank didn't reply. He didn't even try to do as she said. Rather, he spat, near enough to the captain that the insult was made clear, without, of course, giving her a good reason to detain him.

  Afterwards, he stormed out of the small and square room, disappearing past the heavy sliding door which closed with a hiss and a magnetic lock as soon as he’d departed.

  “I’m—going to go grab a coffee…” Phil grumbled, hauling himself off the chair and proffering his hand to the captain, who, after a moment's consideration, took it and shook. “Sorry for my partner, he’s—ugh… he hasn't really been sleeping much…”

  “Nor, I think, has anyone else been involved with this incident…” Niomi countered, not accepting the excuse, but allowing the matter to drop all the same. “This entire fiasco and its aftermath with fighting the worm has been a nightmare...

  "That said," she added with a sigh, "please do contact me if you have any other—meaningful evidence you discover and wish to pursue. But—also understand that your organization's mistake has been 'incredibly' costly to us when considering getting into another argument with our people, an overstayed welcome is never viewed upon fondly.”

  “Thankfully, that’s above my pay grade.” Phil chuckled, though there was no humor in it. “I’m supposed to be the new guy…”

  “Then, you have my apologies, young man. Truly, for a disaster this rge—well, perhaps this might just be goodbye.”

  “Until they ship me right back here as an inmate!” The agent ughed, running a hand through his hair as he did so. “Between the constant battle to rangle all our bots, the facility trying to kill us with doors, and the nonstop music bring all hours of the day, I don't think I've actually slept since this all started, so, like I said, coffee.”

  He spared a final look for Zoe, his expression almost regretful, but that was all she got for the trials she’d endured, yet didn't offer an apology via spoken word, merely exiting the room, same as Frank.

  Before long, it was just Captain Niomi and herself in the chamber, the other woman looking at her with expectation, as if, in a way, she possibly thought that Zoe might finally admit to something now that the pressure had eased.

  When the terrified young woman merely stared at her with wide and doe-like eyes, the Captain merely shook her head, gesturing for Zoey to rise as the magnetic cuffs powered down.