Her Breakdown

The guards fastened the handcuffs tightened around her wrists and made sure the chains attached restricted her movements. Trapping a prisoner in chains and cuffs was one of the most “normal” methods of punishment guards of The Agency practiced. The Agency liked to torture its prisoners, this being a typical way of doing so. There were no morally or humane methods of torment in this organization; everything was done with no thought as to the harm it would cause the prisoner. After all, prisoners were believed to require forceful attention to get the message across. They especially liked to inflict the most pain on criminals such as villains.

The Agency had finally arrested Villain Yvi after many unsuccessful attempts to catch her before. She was too good for them, except she hadn’t been as sharp as usual. Her jobs had been careless lately, it seemed like she had lost her interest in thievery for the moment. Maybe it had something to do with her earlier dispute prior to her arrest.

“Alright,” affirmed one of the guards. “I think this will hold her in place.” The guard next to him, his colleague, a man the age of a college student crossed his arms and smirked looking at the view in front of him.

“Who would’ve thought we would be the ones to catch her huh?” He slowly inched towards Yvi until his face was just a few centimeters away from hers. His body wore the confidence and pride he felt to see her be put in her place. There was no reason to act or be intimidated now. She couldn’t do anything, and he knew that could be used against her. “What’s it like being alone ag l ain? Such a shame your friends aren’t here to witness your downfall huh?”

Yvi pierced into his eyes without speaking. Her glare was enough to show her fury; her tightly slit pupils looked at him with pure hatred. Her eyes were like a cat’s after being provoked, except her anger wasn’t to be compared with a feline. She had the rage of her dragon counterpart boiling through her veins.

The guard snickered a devious laugh. He found enjoyment in her confinement, yet his confidence deteriorated when he looked her in the eyes. After triple-checking the chains, he and his companion retreated out of the room. Closing the door, they locked Yvi inside. A small, flickering red light revealed two words engraved on a metal nameplate above the brass door; 0bservat10n R00m.

The guards were in a monitor room located in front of the 0bservat10n R00m. The monitor room had an interesting layout that differed from its other sister rooms. Instead of various rows of office desks perfectly aligned with each other, there were only two desks in the center of the room. A large ergonomic desk holding the majority of the monitors was located on the right of the room instead of the back. There was also a large table adjusted along the large, durable window the duo would use to witness the suffering they would inflict on Yvi.

The guards sat down on comfortable desk chairs aligned with the technology. The monitors recognized their movements and lit up their young but wicked faces. They began plucking at the keys of the control panels laid on the desktops.

Yvi continued her scowl from the glass window allowing her to see the guards typing frantically. The monitors were like huge modern televisions that covered almost the entire wall where they were located. Even though Yvi was a good length away from the monitors, she could still make out various symbols such as The Agency’s logo along with other numbers and variables.

The room she was in was bigger than a storage room yet less spacious than a classroom. It was definitely more compact than the monitor room. The Agency liked to call it the 0bservat10n R00m to hide its dark and hidden intentions. The room itself was off-limits for unauthorized agent personnel. Only guards and high-positioned agents were allowed inside and were told of its true purpose. Guards typically referred to it by the name of Room 01000 as it was one of the many rooms only they had access to. To the agents, the 0bservat10n R00m was just another common room where nothing important was being held except supposed research. To the guards, however, it was the perfect place to experiment with various forms of torture.

The room itself was visibly empty, yet there were speakers in the ceiling’s tiles with pipes and tubes faintly noticeable. Although at first glance, the room seemed like any other with its chipped-off paint, it was all a trick to hide its highly advanced capabilities. The pipes were meant to fill the room with water, and the glass window was well structured to avoid breakage due to the water pressure or other conditions.

The window gave a clear display of Yvi chained up by the handcuffs piercing her skin. The guards had secured them tighter than manageable so she wouldn’t try to escape. After all, they knew she was a master of freeing herself from tricky situations. The chains trapping her were connected to the wall and only had enough length for Yvi to take a step if not less. The room was a cage. Yvi was like a rare marine animal inside a suffocating aquarium made for display. The guards were the visitors who found interest in her prison.

Both of the guards made their last interactions with the keyboards and rolled their chairs up to the table across the window.

The guard that had taunted Yvi reached for a microphone lying on the table and turned it on with the press of a button on the side. He leaned back on the pleasant cushioned chair and rested his feet up on the table. “Hello, hello? Can Miss Short Temper hear me?” His voice echoed. “This is AgentG 240 speaking.”

Yvi’s ears twitched. She squirmed, squeezing her eyes shut as she gritted her teeth. The speakers on the ceiling tiles rang with a high pitch coming from the microphone. AgentG 240 noticed Yvi’s expression and adjusted the volume and pitch of the microphone. “Woops, my bad” he apologized sarcastically. The laughter of the other agent could be faintly heard from the speakers. Yvi opened her eyes to glare at the guard laughing. AgentG 240 cleared his throat and continued without waiting for a response from her.

“Welcome, to the 0bservat10n R00m, or Room 01000! Here we’ll make sure you have a nice and painful misery for your brief stay. How might we achieve that you may ask? To help us out, we’ve gathered information on some of your worst fears! Ooh, spooky.” AgentG 240 wiggled his fingers in a mockery attempt. The guard beside him chuckled, handing him a beige file folder containing a single sheet of recently printed paper. He opened the folder and skimmed through the letters, reading past the slight information he deemed unimportant until he found what he was looking for.

“Ahh, my dear Yvi. It seems like you have a fear of drowning and compressed places. Well, isn’t that fitting?” The guard paused. “By the way, don’t question how we knew this,” He smiled, “it’s not like we’ve been watching you.”

Yvi’s eyebrows pressed together.

AgentG 240 continued with his announcer voice. “If you take a look to your left, you’ll see pipes and tubes connected to the wall. And if you look to your right, guess what? You’ll see the exact same thing! Pretty identical huh? Anyway, to make the show more thrilling, my companion AgentG 330 and I have decided to add electric eels to the exhibit! It was all a courtesy of dear AgentG 330, so thank him for the excitement.” The sound of clapping echoed throughout the 0bservat10n R00m.

As if in command, the room’s ceiling tiles slowly opened up to reveal two small aquarium tanks filled with three electric eels each, six eels in total. The cages moved slightly downward than their original position. AgentG 240 clapped while the other agent, AgentG 330, reverenced in his seat.

“Well, I say it’s time we cut the talking,” AgentG 240 broke off. With a lower and deeper tone, he added, “And get this show on the road.” In sync, AgentG 330 and AgentG 240 went back to the control panel. They inserted and turned keys that opened two cases with a big red button each; they both pressed them. Nothing happened. Confused, the guards looked at each other wondering what had gone wrong, but soon enough, the water ejected from the large tubes and pipes inside the room. The pressure was so strong the water made crashing noises like two metals colliding.

AgentG 240 whistled and AgentG 330 pumped his fists up. Yvi wasn’t able to hear their celebrations of the water functioning, but she despised every second of it. How much she would have given to break loose of the cuffs seizing her hands to give them two, or even one good blow in the chest. However, she could do nothing. With every pull she tried, the cuffs compressed onto her skin even more. She clenched her teeth to not give the guards the satisfaction of seeing her pain.

The water poured onto the floor slowly raising its level. Yvi could feel the splashes of water drenching her high-heeled boots which was unpleasant. She didn’t like the feeling of being wet⎯⎯of course, showers and baths were exceptions. Fear was starting to make its way to her. She didn’t know how to swim let alone hold her breath for long periods of time. It was rare for her to feel scared. It was so uncommon that she had forgotten the sensation of it.

Fear, what was the sole definition of fear? She wondered at times. Was it the feeling of uneasiness followed by anxiety? Or was it the feeling of losing the people she slowly began to trust after being separated from them? Either way, she had stopped feeling that particular emotion a long time ago, three years ago to be precise. What’s the point of being afraid if there’s nothing to lose? She had asked herself.

The water levels increased by the minute, now more rapidly than before. Yvi looked at the handcuffs grasping her wrists seeing if there was anything, a loose part, or uneven spacing of the chains she could use to break free. There was nothing. She discreetly looked from side to side. The guards were right; there were only tubes and pipes in the whole room. Even if there had been something that would help, it would’ve been out of her reach. Sh!#, she cursed. Glancing up at the two agents, she saw them observing her every move. They seemed to be entertained by what she would do to survive, sneaking giggles every once and a while.

Minutes passed by and the water now reached up to Yvi’s waist. Her movement was now completely minimal from what it had been just a few minutes ago. The water made the floor slippery and her high heels didn’t help. One small step and she would most likely trip, lean, and end up floating in the blues of the water. The chains strapped to her would surely increase her mortality rate. So, she stayed still. Still like the trees on a calm, peaceful night, except Yvi was anything but calm and peaceful. Her emotions were a jumble now. She was unable to tell whether she felt true fear, anger, resentment, or disappointment that out of all ways she could perish, it would be inside a room filled with water and eventually eels.

The agents, realizing where the water reached Yvi, decided it was the perfect time to set the eels loose.

“Prepare to have company!” AgentG 330 pulled down the lever that released the angered electric eels. One by one they dropped until the cages were empty and the eels slithered around the room. At first, they took no particular interest in Yvi until a few realized her presence.

By now, the water reached her chest. Her tailored, fitted suit was fully drenched. Yvi winced. It didn’t take long before she started feeling electrical shocks from the eels. With every eel making contact with her, the sting’s pain increased. It seemed impossible to survive a good majority of shocks yet Yvi wasn’t going to back down. Little by little though, she felt her body weaken. She felt tired. Surely she’d still be alive if she let herself doze off for a couple minutes, right? She tried to shake the feeling off but it was like temptation was tugging at her.

A little rest wouldn’t hurt, her mind lured her. It would just be for a minute. While she was fighting the various thoughts and emotions that crossed her mind, the water was up until her chin. It would just be a matter of seconds before she’d be fully covered in water. No oxygen source, no more life source.

Realizing this might truly be the end of her and her villainous legacy, she let herself feel long-hidden emotions. She accepted she was scared and frustrated with herself. She allowed herself to resent her last moments with the people she knew; her friends, even though she preferred not to call anyone a friend after The Election. She remembered the last conversation she had with them earlier in the day. After she attempted to push them away, she admitted she wished they were here. She wished he was here.