"I suggest you start talking." Decha pulled a small blaster pistol from his holster and turned the dial on the side. Blasters were guns that fired small laser beams that would burn the skin. The higher the charge, the more detrimental the burn. "Or else I start shooting."

"I have nothing to say to Austellian swine like you." The man let the words glide out of his mouth like they were poison.

"Start talking, dastard!" Amir stepped forward, but Decha raised his hand to stop him.

"Easy," Decha commanded before looking back at the prisoner. "That's no way to talk about yourself. Don't we Austellians learn how to esteem ourselves in secondary school?"

"I'm not an Austellian! Don't insult me."

"You were born in Sector A. Last time I checked, that means your nationality is here."

"You're wrong," The prisoner smiled and crossed his arms. "I may have been born here, but my father was a Bracketer. I was raised in the Brackets. I am a Bracketer."

"And what about your mother?" Decha tilted his head. He wanted to know more about his family history. This would be a key to understanding the reason why he bombed the building across the agency. If this man was raised in the Brackets, then it would lead them to conduct a more strict investigation on the other side. Maybe he was part of an organized group, being urged to kill because of his emotional turmoil.

The prisoner kept quiet, but Decha knew the answer. "You're a Hybrid."

"He's a what?" Amir questioned.

"A hybrid. According to the Council's more recent laws, An Austellian and Bracketer may come together in union and marriage according to strict procedures. Through that union, if a child is born, they are hybrids. But because Bracket Blood lies in you, you don't have full access to citizenship as the pure-blood Astellians do."

"Decha, what are you trying to say?"

"His mother was Austellian. That explains why he was born here." Decha simplified it to Amir's satisfaction. "Isn't that right, Lindsey?"

Hearing his name roll out of the most feared General made his skin crawl. "You Austellians are so foolish. You carry yourself as if you're high and mighty, but you're as easy as the rest of us."

"Why did you kill all of those people?" Decha went straight in, not wanting to waste his time. "Innocent children, parents, people who were working. All of their lives are gone because you decided to play god."

Lindsey, the prisoner rested his head against the wall. "Because they deserved it."

Amir clenched his fists. "Crazy dastard!"

"They deserved it!" Lindsey outspoke and leaned forward. He was very close to Decha's face, but the general before him didn't flinch. "When the 5th war occurred, Astell took over the land that rightfully belonged to the Brackets. They claimed it was to establish the uniting of our nations. But what did your leaders do?"

"They established a peace treaty," Amir answered. "Bracketers rioted and wreaked havoc, so the Astellian government enforced patrol."

"Wrong," Lindsey smirked and looked right into Decha's eyes. "But you know what happened."

Decha's body tensed, but his expression remained the same. He wasn't going to allow the lowlife prisoner to see how much he was affecting him.

Decha knew the History of the 5th war. The true history behind it. Only a few generals assigned to the Outside knew the truth.

When the Austellian government tried to establish unity, they stole resources from the Brackets. The operation was hushed to prevent another war, and thus the council was formed. The Brackets were forced to keep quiet under the new hand of the government. The Walling occurred to enforce the silence, but over time the Brackets began to suffer economically because they were walled in with Sector A. So they went to rely on Astell for help with funds, and resources. The agreement was for the Brackets to keep quiet about their past to receive any goods for somewhat normal living.

"The disgusting part is that you people still haven't changed. You're the same as before." Lindsey seethed. "My father was taken away from me brutally. I saw your 'heroes' kill him. My mother didn't last much longer after that. And because I am not pure blood, your law forced me out of the Sector. So I'm serving my purpose, delivering Astellian's their coming destruction."

Amir couldn't take it anymore. He stormed out of the room before he could cause the prisoner Amy harm. When the doors shifted to a close behind him, Decha took a deep breath and stood.

"Is it too much for you to handle, general? The truth hurts. But believe me, it'll hurt more when you sow the consequences."

Decha walked over to the cell and clicked on the keypad. The bars began to shift back in place with Decha standing on the inside of the cage. He began messing with the features of the security system, and the bars thickened and pressed together to prevent anyone outside from seeing what was happening.

Decha turned around and folded his sleeves back. "Lindsey, there's one thing you need to understand."

"What?"

In a Flash, Lindsey was pressed against the wall with Decha's hands around his neck. Decha's pupils began to dilate. "I'm an Austellian, but I'm not fond of them. However," Decha tilted his head back as Lindsey choked. "I can't stand people like you. I tolerate the idiots you despise, more than I allow mass murderers to roam around in the same air I take in."

Lindsey tried clamming his way out of Decha's hold. "You want to avenge Bracketers? Then you should do it peacefully."

"Is that how you... resolve issues... N96?" Lindsey croaked. "We're not much different. How many people have you killed while working for the Agency?"

"More than enough to know that you're a dastard worse than I." Decha released his hold, and Lindsey fell to the ground, coughing and grabbing onto the bench as if his life depended on it. "Whatever happened to you in the past doesn't concern me. I'm concerned about your organized scheme. How did you get the bomb? Who smuggled it in for you?"

"I'm not telling you anything."

"That's fine by me." Decha raised the blaster to Lindsey's arm. "I was just being cordial. It's the law. Even without you speaking, I can go back and trace your steps. Since you're an Austellian, legally, I can have access to any of your records." Decha pulled the trigger and a beam smacked again Lindsey's arm.

The alarm went off the moment Decha inflicted harm. Lindsey tumbled over and screeched in pain. His skin was burnt from the hit.

Decha used his fingerprint to unlock the doors and walked out. "The doctor will be in soon."

"Y-you're insane! My arm!"

"You didn't know? You know my rank, and yet you thought you were going to walk out of here unscathed?" Decha smiled. "It might be amputated if you're lucky. But hey, that's the price you pay when you take the lives of others." Decha shrugged and left the cell room with Lindsey's excruciating screams echoing from behind him.

~~~

Rory stood by the large golden statue of Grandell's founder, waiting for Asher to arrive. It was 9:15 and she was starting to get a bit nervous again. So many thoughts ran through her mind.

Did he get expelled from school? Was it because he protected her? He was a risky student. That would be a shame. She didn't want to admit it, but he was the first Austellian person who kept her out of harm's way, and she felt like she needed him.

Where was he? Rory didn't want to be late for class.

Her worries ceased when she saw him. He was staring at his phone while placing an earpiece in his ear. Maybe he was on the phone with someone? Did he even have friends at this school? It didn't matter. Rory ran up to him with a big smile on her face.

"Asher!" She called, and he looked up. He frowned when he saw her skipping over to him. "I thought you weren't gonna come."

"You're supposed to keep quiet, remember?" He nudged her out of the way and stepped toward their first class. Decha was busy setting up a device provided to him by the Agency. He wanted Amir to listen and take notes of his conversations with Rory since she was a Bracketer.

"Hey! Wait for a second," Rory grabbed Decha's arm and pulled her small tablet out of her bag. "What's your number?"

"My what?" Decha snapped. Did she really know of his true identity? Was she asking about his rank number? If that were the case, he was going to have to arrest her sooner than he thought. Decha reached for his pocket and glazed his fingers across the small stun gun stashed in his pants. "What did you just ask me?"

"Your phone number. What is it?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"Our quiz is tomorrow. I was worried that you wouldn't pass, so I took some notes. I'll send you the ones I took. You can study it when you're free." Rory showed her tablet to him, displaying her pretty penmanship all across the passages of text.

Decha couldn't believe her. He didn't know how to react. "Do you think I'm stupid?"

"Of course not!" Rory shook her head. "You've been sleeping through all the classes. I'm not sure if you're going through a tough time outside of school. But I wanted to help."

"Rory?"

Her ears perked up like a puppy when she heard him use her name. "Yeah?"

"Come with me." Decha rolled his eyes, grabbed her by her arm, and dragged her away. Rory was taken aback by his sudden change in behavior.

"W-wait! Class is that way!"

"Class can wait." Decha ignored her protests as he led her in the opposite direction of Professor Mass's classroom.

"But we'll be late!" Rory feared for her perfect record. She was never late to class. Never. Her father had convinced her that lack of punctuality was a severe crime.

Decha didn't care. Arriving late to class wasn't an issue. What was more important was finding out more about her. He needed to rule her out as a suspect. To do that, he needed to understand where she was coming from mentally and emotionally.

Grandell admitted 3 students from the Brackets. The students from Sector B were high-risk. But since he didn't know who the other two students were, he was going to have to question Rory thoroughly.

Decha walked with Rory over to a small cafe. Instead of going inside, he sauntered toward a tight alley. What surprised him was how complacent Rory was about him taking her. He released her and sighed. "About the other day—"

"I forgot to thank you for helping me." Rory looked to her feet.

"You dropped your ID." Decha took her card out of his pocket. The night before, he already did everything he could to find out more about her. But he was still restricted. However, going to Sector B city hall would be a waste of time.

"Oh! Thank you!" Rory reached for the ID but Decha snatched it and raised it above her head before she could grab it.

"You're going to have to give me some answers," Decha's black eyes dilated as he began to use the inquiry method from the Outside on her. It wasn't lawful, but he wasn't going to allow a short Bracket woman like her to make a fool out of him.

"Okay?" Rory frowned.

"You're from the Brackets, aren't you?"

Rory felt her chest ache. She hesitated, leading Decha to believe that it was a sensitive topic for her. "I think the entire school knows, unfortunately. I am."

"That means that you've got a decent brain. There are other colleges in Astell, why did you choose Grandell? Besides the scholarship." Decha knew that Grandell wasn't the only University in Sector A to offer opportunities to Bracket students. Other schools offered full scholarships too. He wanted to know what her purpose for being there was.

"I chose Grandell because of their engineering program." Rory smiled, which was a very different expression than he was expecting from her. He expected her to talk about her oppression, and her struggles, choosing Grandell to teach Austellians a lesson. But instead, she was grinning at him. "You know, I've always been interested in technology. When I heard that Grandell had an engineering program, I was ecstatic! Astell has some of the best technology to offer."

Rory went into full ramble mode, and there was nothing Decha could do to stop it. Was this intentional? She was putting up a facade to trick him, right? "What is it that you like so much about our Technology?"

"Back at Home, we use Astellian technology, but ours is outdated. Bracketers refuse to use more up-to-date machines because they feel that they can be used to harm people, but when I started studying at Grandell I learned the opposite. You know, in Professor Mass's class, we learned about the history of your transportation. You guys have hyper-speed trolleys, they travel to different parts of Astell at the exact times they're set to. But what's impressive is that every 30 minutes, oxygen is released to help those with disabilities travel more efficiently."

Decha was amazed that she was able to answer the question so quickly. She was doing too well. Maybe it was a script she had practiced. There was no way that a Bracketer like her would be so overly positive about Astell. He was going to make her crack one way or another.

"Why are you so happy about the technology we use if the people in the Brackets believe that it's harmful?"

"Bracketers are often misled because of their lack of knowledge. We don't exactly have a great education system in place. But I get so excited because I get to show them that what they think isn't true."

Why wasn't she complaining about how Astell put them in the position to have limited proper study materials? Why wasn't she going on about her struggles? Was this woman even a Bracketer?

"This is my last year at Grandell." She pointed to her golden senior pin clipped to her jacket. "We have to finish a project at the end of the year. One that contributes to Sector A to pass our class. You wanna see what I'm working on?" Rory smiled wide.

Decha opened his mouth to refuse, but Rory bent down and opened her backpack before pulling out a small circle flash disk. She inserted it into her tablet and a holographic screen appeared between her and Decha. He jerked back so hard that his elbow scraped against the wall.

"What the h—"

"Meet POYO." She pointed to a cute tiny holographic robot that stood at their feet. "Isn't it adorable? I designed him myself."

"Uh..." Decha struggled to find the right words.

"Sector A already has a scanner that can identify your health problems when a person walks through. But it's all about your physical well-being." Rory explained, "So I thought, what if everyone had their own personal scanner on the go? However, physical health isn't the only thing that matters. When people are in hospitals, they go through an entire emotionally and mentally draining process. POYO, is designed to help with all 3. And look! He's customizable!"

Rory tapped the screen and scrolled through the various accessories that POYO could wear.

"Can he carry weapons too?" Decha snorted. He acknowledged that POYO looked cute, but he could secretly be a killing machine.

"If you like action movies, I was thinking of adding cute-themed stickers to his arms and legs to make him look cuter. He won't carry actual weapons since he's supposed to be a person's support, but he'll have stickers with the themes!"

She was good. Decha only asked to test how long she could keep it up. But seeing her go on was starting to make him question himself for trying to investigate her.

"What exactly does it do?"

"I'll show you! Hand me your ID."

"I don't have one on me." Decha lied, and hid his wrist behind his back. If the robot did what he think it did, he didn't want his true identity to be revealed. His identity was stored on the microchip surgically inserted into his wrist. If it was scanned, the mission would be compromised.

"Okay, give me your phone." Rory snatched it away from him before he could even register.

"Wait!" Decha tried to grab it, but Rory already inserted the flash disk into the bottom of it. He grabbed her wrist harshly and pinned her against the wall. "Are you crazy!? Do you lack manners or something? You don't take other people's things without asking—"

"Body temperature rising, and blood pressure increased. Please take a deep breath. Repeat after me. In. Release." POYO's chirpy robotic voice cut in. Decha glared at the robot. "Your body is in a state of stress. Please, take a deep breath."

"Based on whoever he's connected with, POYO acts as their therapist, Doctor, or whatever support a person may need." Rory finished. Decha released her, and Rory snatched the disk out of his phone. She handed it back to him. "I'm sorry, that was rude. I just got so excited."

Decha felt his gut wrench, feeling a bit guilty for his aggressive behavior, but he ignored it. "I... don't understand you."

"Huh?" Rory blinked at him.

"I'm going to class." Decha walked away from her. This was the first time that he couldn't identify what a suspect was thinking. This was the first Bracketer he encountered that didn't call him a slur.

But he wasn't going to let her get away with it. This was only the first trial.

~~~