Haeun's bones ached.

She was shure she could feel them vibrating from the wicked current that had been her entire world for the last six hours.

Surely, she thought, I can't have survived. Surely.

But she had, and a part of her wishes deeply that she hadn't. God, even her teeth ached.

She was finally back in her own precinct, making her way down the hall and trying as hard as she could to make it seem like every step wasn't a monumental effort. She remembered walking down the same hallway just that morning, excited and nervous and eager to begin her career as a protector of the people. Could that really have been only half a day ago? Could she really have been so naive?

Strong hands gripped her shoulders from behind, and suddenly she found herself being shoved headfirst into...a janitor's closet? What? Was this another test?

"Haeun-ah," a familiar voice whispered, and she tensed, even though she couldn't quite muster up the energy to be angry just then.

"Seungri-ya," she sighed, refusing to so much as look at him. She felt more than a little ridiculous, feeling so betrayed by someone she'd only just met, but...but he was supposed to be her partner. He was supposed to support her. She thought back on the events of six hours ago with a tired frission of resentment and confusion.

The Hub - something of a headquarters for all of the city's civil  service departments - was a buzzing, active hive constructed of organized chaos and stainless steel, a bastion of civic dedication and moral standards. Well, that was how her instructors had always sold it. Walking in behind the small parade of pubescent perps - all of whom were still shaking, crying, and filthy - Haeun felt more than a bit uncomfortable thinking of it like that.

Seungri, at the head of the line, was stone-faced and stiff, seeming so different from the playful young man he'd been at first. Haeun hadn't been able to look him in the eye the whole drive there, but then, he hadn't exactly been making an effort to make eye contact, either. He seemed to be lost in thought, almost, and again Haeun found herself thinking he looked much older than he had before.

As they reach the Peacekeepers' central office (often referred to as Central Central), she felt more and more off-kilter. She'd been there before, during her time at the academy, but its long, narrow hallway and plain, gray doors had never seemed so cld and forbidding. The doors were numbered - 1a and 1b on the left, 2a and 2b on the right, and so on - and she counted them off in her head as they passed by, trying to focus only on the numbers. It didn't help. In fact, as they passed 13b, she thought it might be making things worse.

When they reached 16a, an interrogation room, her reticent partner stretched one hand back and grasped the oldest boy's shoulder, half-dragging him - and thus the rest of the kids, tethered at the ankle as they were - forward to go through the door first. They quieted down as they filed past him, probably, Haeun thought, out of sheer terror.

Seungri and Haeun didn't follow them, instead moving down to the next door, 16b. This was  the officer report room, where Peacekeepers are debriefed (first separately, then together) and  relieved of any recordings, contraband, or a service weapon if one had been fired.

A memory of Seungri, his gun aimed between the eyes of a twelve-year-old boy, flashed in Haeun's mind, and she clenched her teeth as they sign in at the desk. Name, badge number, datapad serial number. As she unclipped her pad and dropped it in the collection box, her memory takes her back again, this time to Seungri's fingertips tapping at his own datapad, and later to that little unlit light, his strange, severe advice going unrecorded.

"It's glitching again," he said to the officer at the desk as he dropped his own datapad in the box, cheeky and grinning as though the last couple of hours hadn't happened. "I think you like giving me the stubborn ones, noona."

The woman - a neatly pressed officer with a short bob and a smile that seemed a little out of place given the location - rolled her eyes at Seungri. As they bantered, Haeun was suddenly overcome with a feeling of misalignment, like the world had suddenly shifted a bit to the left and she hadn't shifted with it. Anger flared again - how could he be so calm? How could he laugh and flirt like it was just another day at the office?

Maybe, it occured to her suddely, it was because this was just another day at the office.

How often does he do this? she wondered. How often must all of them have to deal with this disconnect between the law and what feels right? Because surely this isn't right.

Maybe that was why they all seemed a little...off, she thought.

Seungri looked back at Haeun as though he could hear her muddled thoughts. His expression was...complicated. For a moment, she thought he might try to sling an arm around her shoulder again, joke with her like before.

She wasn't sure she wouldn't hit him if he did.

"Ready for your first official debriefing?" he asked, seemingly nonchalant. With a distracted grin, he thumped her on the back, and just like that, all of her frustrations and questions dried up, leaving behind a sour taste and a lot of exasperation. She was starting to learn that those feelings were the customary response to Seungri's...well...existence.

"I guess," she muttered. She was, though. She'd done this enough in class, and she'd always been good at just sticking to the facts then, and leaving emotion out of it. Besides, she was positive that this whole arrest was all just a misunderstanding. The kids would be questioned, hopefully allowed to clean up and eat something, then released, or given to Child Services to locate a relative or guardian to take them in. Standard procedure.

Thus calmed - very calmed, actually, the Hub was oddly relaxing in its structure and orderliness - Haeun gave Seungri a little smile and nod and followed a new officer back to herr debriefing booth.

The booth itself was tiny. It was barely wide enough for her to sidle in sideways, and there definitely wasn't room to sit down, or fidget, or even raise her arms for that matter. She'd usually been a little claustrophobic whenever she'd been doing the practice debriefings. Today, though, she felt calm and collected. She sent a magnanimous thank-you to Seungri; confused and angry as he'd made her, his laid-back, casual attitude seemed to have rubbed off on her for the better.

She could totally do this. All she'd have to do is be honest, and everything would turn out okay.

"I told you to keep your mouth shut," Seungri hissed, eyes flashing hotly in the gloom.

Haeun bristled. "I wasn't going to lie," she shot back. "Those kids were innocent, and you know it!"

"No," he replied, "I don't, and neither do you."

"Yes, I do!" She lowered her voice when he cringed at the echo of it in the little space. "I know it, you know it, and the Peacekeepers know it. Since when are we in the business of arresting and charging minors like that? Without an Advocate, even!"

"Oh, my G-..." Seungri stared at her. "What, exactly, do you think the PPD does? What the entire Peacekeepers organization does?"

"We keep the peace," she retorted.

"Not even close," he said in a bitter sort of way. Leaning back against the door, he ran a hand through his hair. Haeun waited, resisting the urge to push him into speaking. She could feel a tug in her stomach, as though the two of them were standing on the edge of a precipice, waiting for this person she'd only just met to drag her over that edge into a freefall.

"Okay," he murmured, almost to himself. Then louder, "Okay. Listen up, because I have to make this fast, and I'm only going to say all of this once. I can't get into detail, but I can at least let you know the basics, okay?"

Haeun nodded to show she was listening.

"This is not a peacekeeping organization, or a police force, or a noble fellopwship dedicated to protecting and serving the people. This is, and I'm not exaggerating here, an abyss of political agendas and corruption. Literally the only function of this operation is to serve the purposes of the ones in power."

She stared, shocked at the treasonous words.

Seungri didn't stop there, though. "So much goes on that you don't know about - that the government doesn't let us know about. None of it is good. There are people, like those kids, who are a part of it, and it's awful and it's sickening, but it's the way things are, and it's not going to change any time soon, okay?"

"How..." Haeun stopped, swallowing against the bitter bile rising. "How can you...what are you saying? That's...that's ludicrous!"

But the old fear in Seungri's eyes and the steady ache in her jaw from the mouthguard told her it might not have been so ludicrous after all...

"-at which point we led said rebels into the interrogation room, entered the officer report room, surrendered our datapads, and moved to the debriefing booths to give our reports. End R-three-three-three-dash-eight."

The automated dictation finished, and Haeun read over it quickly, anxious to move on to the next part.

"Thank you, Officer Yoo Haeun, badge number one-zero-zero-four. Would you like to file a correction, amendment, or complaint?"

"Yes."

"Please state the series number of the type of submission you would like to make."

"Query. Q-seven-seven-seven-dash-three."

There was a moment of silence, a series of metallic clicks, and then-

"Please state your query."

"Under what regulation or procedure were these suspects arrested?"

Another silence, this one longer, and her ease from before began to wane.

"Federal Mandate SH-dash-five-six-point-six, section B, subheading Known Rebels. All registered and flagged rebellious and/or malcontented individuals are to be apprehended and brought in for questioning immediately." A pause. "End query?"

"No. Q-seven-seven-seven-dash-three-B."

"Please state query addendum."

"For what crimes or activities were these suspects flagged?"

The silence was not so long this time, but the answer made Haeun even more uneasy.

"Classified. End query?"

"No. Q-seven-seven-seven-dash-three-C."

"Please state secondary query addendum."

"What is the current status of these suspects?"

Once again, a long silence, and then...

"Suspects all processed and retained for hearing, pending, to confirm confessions of rebel activity."

She frowned.

"End query?"

It wasn't right. Not the kids, not the intuition she was trying to ignore, not Seungri's strangeness. None of it fit, and she knew she should accept it, but...

"End query?"

"No," she said, and it sounded as though her voice was coming from a long way away. "Q-seven-seven-seven-dash-three-D."

"Please state tertiary query addendum."

"What is the name of the Advocate assigned to these suspects?"

This silence was the longest, so long that for a moment Haeun thought she might have a malfunctioning booth.

"Counter-query C-C-Q-seven-seven-seven-dash-three-D."

Startled, Haeun floundered for a moment - the booth had never asked her a question before.

"O-okay-"

"Please state reason for requesting this information."

"I would like to speak with their Advocate about-"

"Arresting officers are prohibited from discussing an open case with Advocates, witnesses, jury members, or other parties involved in the case and/or prosecution except in officially sanctioned cases and with an official mediator."

"What? Since when?"

"Error-"

"Yes, I know. No, I don't wish to make another query addendum."

"End query?"

"Yes," Haeun sighed, pushing at the door.

It didn't open.

"Officer Yoo Haeun, please remain in the debriefing booth until you can be collected by an Interrogator."

She froze. "What?"

"Officer Yoo Haeun, please remain in the bebriefing booth until you can be collected by an Interrogator."

"I heard you the first time," she snapped, "I just didn't believe you," she continued in a mutter, slumping back against the narrow wall.

This was not how things were supposed to have gone.

"What did those kids really do?"

"Does it matter?" Seungri's face twisted in disgust. "It's all wrong, New Girl." And there was that cheeky humor again, a little too sad to be genuine. "And it's not gonna change. All we can do now is protect ourselves."

"Every man for himself?" Haeun asked with a wry grin.

His eyes snapped to meet hers, angry again. "Don't. I warned you, didn't I? I warned you to keep your mouth shut."

She couldn't argue that, perhaps, but she could still taste the fear and betrayal she'd felt when the Interrogator and his guards had pulled her from the booth, unresisting because what could possibly happen, and she had looked over their shoulders to see Seungri watching with dispassionate eyes.

He'd watched them march her into an interrogation room of her own, and never once had he offered her a comforting glance or a word of support. He'd just stood there, against the wall, and when she'd looked to him, he'd turned his back on her entirely.

"Do you know what they did to me?" she ground out furiously. "How painful it was? How humiliating?"

She felt her heart pound so hard it was painful. She'd long since lost track of the number of wires they'd attached to her, some of them in places she'd never imagined wires being placed.

The attendant pushed her back onto the cot and strapped down her wrists and ankles. "These are just so you don't hurt yourself," she said kindly. "We all want this to go quickly and smoothly."

Haeun shook more than ever.

"Officer Yoo, given name Haeun, badge number one-zero-zero-four?" the Interrogator asked.

"Y-yes, sir."

"We hope you understand why this is necessary," he began in an almost bored voice, not looking up from his clipboard. "Most of our officers accept the apprehension of dangerous people, no matter how innocent they seem, as a necessary part of the job. Thus, your concern for the suspects you brought in today is worrisome."

They thought she could be a malcontent, she realized belatedly. A rebel, like those kids. Anger welled up within her, and a strange sort of determination that she had trouble understanding. Somehow, she felt as though, whatever was to come, she could weather it.

The attendant asked Haeun to open and slipped in a mouthguard when she had done so.

"We're going to start with a few control questions," the Interrogator said in a business-like manner while a pair of what she thought must be doctors played with dials and peered at monitors full of fluctuating numbers.

"Breathe normally, and we'll begin."

I can do this, Haeun thought.

I can do this.

I can-

The last thought she had before the pain hit was of Seungri, watching her being escorted from her debriefing booth, observing it all without emotion before turning away.

But then, as fire crawled along her bones, she thought he might've looked a little sad.

"I know exactly what they did," Seungri replied. "And how it felt. And I know that you got through it and convinced them you're trustworthy," he added with another wry little grin.

"How do you know that?"

"Because the ones that they believe are the only ones I ever see again," he answered softly.

Haeun's heart clenched. "Oh." He shrugged, and she had to ask, "How many...?"

"All of them." He tilted his head in the direction of the squad room. "The only ones that ever came back are the rest of the guys and me...and now you."

"Oh," she said again.

"Yeah."

It was all wrong, she thought again. This wasn't what she'd wanted her career to be. It wasn't how she'd wanted to spend her first day.

Dark humor struck Haeun, prompting her to giggle, and Seungri looked slightly disturbed.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing," she snorted, "nothing at all. It's my first day and I've already fallen headfirst into a government conspiracy and been tortured under suspicion of being a rebel sympathizer, and I didn't even get to take lunch!"

Seungri's lips twitched. "Well, I can't fix the rest of it, but I can spring for dinner for the newbie if you're up for it."

She considered saying no, going home alone with her aches and pains and questions and fears. And she knew that the two of them wouldn't be able to talk like this once they'd left the closet, but suddenly it occured to her that she wasn't alone. At least five other people understood exactly how lost and scared and helpless she felt, how frustrated and confused she was. And one of them was offering...comraderie? A chance to feel a little less alone for a few hours?? A hot meal after what was easily the worst day of Haeun's life?

"Okay," she agreed tiredly. "Just nothing too adventurous."

"Gotcha," he said, his grin taking on a relieved tinge.

"I've had enough adventure for one day," she put in as they exited the closet, trying to look nonchalant.

Electricity coursed through her again, white-hot and agonizing, and she sobbed even after it had stopped.

"Are you now or have you ever been affiliated with known or suspected rebels, or with persons that have been flagged as dangerous or malcontented?"

She thought about saying yes, just to make it stop, just to give them something, anything to make them stop.

Determination filled her again, strength and comfort in the knowledge that she was innocent, that she was right, and she shook her head, 'no'.

The current caught her on fire again, and she screamed.

Seungri slung his arm over her shoulder, already a familiar move, and Haeun let him, even though it hurt.

"I know, New Girl," he said lightly, giving her a brief squeeze. "I know."