Three days had passed since Minho had turned traitor and Yuki had been caught.

The girl didn't even look like herself anymore.  Her spy suit was in tatters.  She herself was a bloody mess.  One of her eyes wouldn't open anymore because of the swelling.  Her entire face was covered with bloody scratches.  The skin on her back was torn and ripped from the Nine Tails Whip.  Her hair was tattered, tangled, and splotched with blood.  Her lip was split.  Burn marks touched her finger tips and different parts of her arms and legs.  Multiple bruises adorned her body, making her skin color appear more purple than cream.  This, coupled with the mental grief that Yuki was suffering from because of Minho's betrayal, made the girl even more miserable.

However, she didn't give in.  

Jinki once explained to Yuki that in times of unbearable pain, torture victims pick something to focus on.  A memory, perhaps, or maybe even a physical object.  Anything that can take their focus off of the pain.  It makes the torture more bearable.  Jinki himself had seen it when he was interrogating captives.  Yuki decided to follow Jinki's explanation.  Every time the pain delivered to her became unbearable, all the girl had to do was look down at her dragon pendant.  One glance at the pendant would give her renewed determination to keep shut.  But sometimes, the torture hit her hard.  

Every second of every day, Yuki silently prayed that everything would end and she would just die.  Unfortunately, Wu had other plans for her.  His torture pushed the girl past her breaking point, but he made sure that he didn't kill her.  Wu was a very. . . interesting man.  As a child, he had murdered his own parents and was apprenticed by a serial killer.  He knew nothing of the word "compassion."  His time with the serial killer taught him the worst, most frightening and painful methods of torture, making him fit to be S.S.D's Interrogation Specialist.  

The older man stood behind the one-way glass of the interrogation room, watching Yuki's shaking form with emotionless eyes.  "I'll have to give her some credit," he said, "after everything I've done these past couple of days, she's still keeping shut."

A man standing next to Wu his lips.  "You know," he said, "there are. . . other ways we can get her to talk. . ."

"No," Wu replied, "I don't want any of my men interacting with a filthy South Korean in that way."

The other man frowned, but argued no further.  There was a few seconds of silence as Wu began to mull something over.  Perhaps. . . he thought, perhaps he's right.  There are other ways we can get this girl to speak.  "Chang," he said, addressing the man next to him.

"Sir?" the man called Chang asked.

"Bring me the informant."

Chang nodded and exited the room.  He returned within a few minutes with Minho right behind him.  "You called for me?" Minho asked.

"Yes," Wu said, "I need some information from you.  Regarding her."  He jabbed him thumb in Yuki's direction  He looked directly into Minho's eyes, searching for any sign that the boy was staging a ruse and was actually still loyal to South Korea.

He was satisfied when he saw nothing of the sort.

"What do you need to know?" Minho asked.

The sound of the door opening and closing jolted Yuki out of her pain-induced stupor.  She looked up slowly trying to see who had walked in.  Her heart rate quickened in fear when she realized that it was Wu who had entered the room.  "Hello, Kota," Wu greeted, "glad to see that you're still alive.  Still not talking, I presume?"  

Yuki simply stared at Wu, saying nothing.  Wu nodded in understanding, humming a soft tune as he walked towards the tied up girl.  "I must compliment you on your endurance levels, my dear," the older man said, "I didn't think you would last this long under my hands.  I am duly impressed."  Again, Yuki remained silent.  "Now, what was I going to tell you about again?  Ah yes, you're little. . . er. . . friend has given me some very interesting information."

Yuki's heart throbbed at Wu's reference to Minho, but she kept her face smooth.  The door open and closed again.  "Ah," Wu said, glancing behind him, "speak of the devil."  Yuki's eyes flickered towards the door only to alight on the traitor himself.  A glare so venemously intense and laced with absolute hatred filled Yuki's eyes that it was a wonder that Minho didn't spontaneously combust into flames.

The phrase "if looks could kill" ran through Yuki's head.

"Anyways," Wu said, pulling back Yuki's attention, "as I was saying.  It's amazing how you still haven't spoken even after everything that we've put you through. Your dedication towards your country has earned you respect from me.  But. . . as I'm sure you know, everyone has their weak points.  And, thanks to Minho over here, I've found yours."

Yuki finally scoffed.  "I have no weak points," she said in a cracked voice.

"Really now?" Wu said, raising an eyebrow.  He allowed his fingers to press into different parts of Yuki's face and arms.  The girl grit her teeth in pain.  The wounds from just an hour or two ago were still raw.  "I've heard otherwise," the older man continued, ignoring Yuki's flinches.  Wu's fingers traveled down Yuki's arm until they arrived at the dragon bracelet Minho had given her for Christmas all that time ago.  

"Take it," Yuki growled, "it means nothing to me."  Wu chuckled and removed the expensive bracelet with one hand.  As the bracelet lost contact with her wrist, Yuki felt an unnerving sense of loss.  It means nothing, Yuki said inside her head, I want no memories linking me to him anyways.  

"Of course it doesn't mean anything to you," Wu conceded.  His hand traveled to Yuki's dragon pendant.

"DON'T TOUCH THAT!" Yuki shouted, wincing in pain due to her sudden movements.  

"Ah," Wu said, "but it seems like this little trinket does."

Ignoring the pain, Yuki struggled against her bindings.  "LET IT GO!" she yelled at Wu, "IT'S MINE!"  The older man simply chuckled as his grip around Yuki's dragon pendant became more firm.  Slowly, he began lifting it from the girl's head.  "NO!" Yuki screamed.  She thrashed against her restraints wildly, desparately trying to keep her beloved necklace around her neck.  Her one anchor to sanity.

Unfortunately, it wasn't enough.  Another cold laugh left Wu's lips as he succeeded in removing the dragon pendant.  Yuki swore that she felt a piece of her soul being ripped away from her body.  "No," she said in a choked whisper.  Wu turned the pendant over in his fingers.  Surely the material was costly.  If his eyes didn't mistake him, he was holding pure silver.  And that gem looked pretty pricey too, not to mention the diamonds and gold on the dragon bracelet.

"You, Choi," Wu said, turning to Minho, "take these."  He held out the two items.  "They could get us a lot of money."

"NO!" Yuki's voice cracked as she screamed.  Minho chuckled and walked towards Wu.  He took the bracelet and necklace from him.  

"Trust me," Minho said, a wicked glint in his eye, "I would know."  He then turned and exited the room.

Yuki couldn't help it anymore.

A tear slid down the eye that was still open.  

Wu turned to the girl, that cold smile plastered on his face.  He grabbed a chair and dragged it towards her.  After sitting down on it, he looked straight into Yuki's eyes.  "Why don't you just kill me already?" Yuki asked, her voice remaining steady, "you're not going to get any other information from me."

Wu laughed.  "Don't worry, I'm not going to physically hurt you.  I'm too tired for that right now.  Actually, I'm here to tell you a story."

Yuki looked at the man in front of her.  Something told her that this wasn't going to end well.  And with her necklace gone. . . 

"Before we were. . . properly acquainted, you falsely told us that your name was Bul Yuki," Wu said.  Yuki's heart skipped a beat.  Had her lie been discovered?  "The last name 'Bul' rang a dull bell inside my head," the man continued, "it bothered me for HOURS, so I simply had to find out why it seemed so familiar to me.  Last night, I finally went back down to my old files to see if I could find any connections there.  And believe it or not, I did."  

Yuki's expression remained slack, but her mind was in chaos.  What connection could this man possibly have to me?!  she frantically wondered.

"Here," Wu said, "I even brought the files so you could see."  He stood up and walked over to the table at the far end of the room, picking up two manila folders before returning to his seat.  The files were labeled "TOP SECRET."  Yuki eyed the files warily.  For some reason, she had a feeling that she didn't want to see what was inside of them.  "How long have you been in S.M., Kota?"

Yuki remained silent.  Wu sighed.  He supposed that he could try to force it out of her, but he was tired.  "I suppose long enough to know its history.  I suppose I should tell you a little bit about myself.  When I was younger, I used to work as a field spy.  Espionage and Reconnissance Missions were my specialty.  It didn't take long for my superiors to recognize the extent of my abilities.  Especially after this particular mission which I executed fifteen years ago.  You see, Kota, all those years ago, I took on a special challenge, a challenge that I fulfilled to its completion.  I was responsible for the capture of the two top spies of your agency at the time.  Perhaps you've heard of them before.  Here, I'll show you their pictures."

Yuki made the connection before Wu even opened the files. 

The older man placed the two files on his lap and opened both of them.

It took everything Yuki had to keep from screaming.

Two files.  Two photos.  Two faces.  Two red stamps across the pictures that read "TERMINATED."  Two, oh-so-familiar names.

Bul Hyunki.

Ryu Saya.

Yuki stared at Wu's face, unable to shield her horror.

Wu was the man in Yuki's nightmares.

The man that had taken her parents away.

Wu chuckled at the look on Yuki's face.  "So you recognize them, I see?  You know, it's almost strange.  You kind of look like the two of them. . . but that's probably just me.  All of you South Korean mutts look the same to me.  Ah yes. . . I remember that day very clearly.  Bul Hyunki and Ryu Saya.  They were fools, blindly walking into my trap the way they did. . ."

It was then that Wu began to explain in great detail what had occurred that day.

"Of course, they put up a fight when I staged the ambush," Wu explained, "but it didn't take them long to succumb, particularly when Hyunki took a bullet to the thigh.  Saya, the foolish girl, got distracted.  I disabled her myself.  Two fingers just below the spleen, the perfect way to disable someone."

Yuki shut her eyes.  STOP TALKING!!!! she wanted to shout.

"Of course, I didn't kill them," Wu said, nodding, "we took them back to S.S.D.  They were interrogated mercilessly.  In this very room.  Saya sat where you are sitting right now.  Hyunki was right next to her."

The girl's eyes watered.

"The Nine Tails Whip, the bed of nails, partial asphyxiation. . .  Oh, I remember in particular one of the top interrogators breaking Hyunki's fingers one by one just by smashing them in. . ."

"STOP IT!!!" Yuki finally shrieked, "SHUT UP!"  Wu ignored Yuki's cry.  He chuckled mentally.  The last of Yuki's sanity was finally being stripped away, and he could see it.

"Saya was truly beautiful," he purred, "a pretty face and a fiery personality.  Many of our men looked upon her with lust.  Finally, our leader acquiesed when one of us mentioned that it might get her to talk.  I remember Hyunki screaming at them to not touch her, to leave her. . .  We stripped away every last shred of dignity she had that night.  Unfortunately, we didn't get far.  I don't know where her sudden strength came from, but by the time we had stripped her of her clothes and the first man touched her, she turned into a wild demon.  She clawed and kicked and bit and stabbed.  In the end, I ended up killing her.  A blade coated in acid straight to the stomach.  She suffered quite a bit before she died.  I remember coming back here to get Hyunki and bring him to the room where Saya was slowly dying.  As soon as he laid eyes on her, he lost every shred of sanity he might have had left.  He became completely demented.  In the week that they were here, neither of them revealed anything.  They were strong.  Strong enough for me to acknowledge them.  With Saya close to dead and Hyunki turned insane, I saw no purpose in keeping them.  I lodged a bullet in Hyunki's stomach.  The acids from his stomach lining filled his wound, which meant he would live in torture for the next 15 minutes before he died.  It was pathetic really, watching them leave this early.  They crawled toward each other like animals and held each other.  They said a name, I don't remember what is was anymore, and then, they passed."

Yuki's sobbing had become uncontrollable.  She couldn't take it, knowing what her parents suffered through.  She was better off not having known at all.

She wished death would come to her in that very instant.

"I'll take my leave," Wu said, "I have other things to do.  The girls should be in here in the next couple of minutes.  Sit tight.  I hope you enjoyed my story."

With that, the elder man chuckled darkly, closed the files, and stood up.  He pulled on Yuki's hair roughly, forcing her to look up.  "Maybe you'll cooperate now.  Unless. . . you want to meet the same end as those two."  He released her hair and left, closing the door behind him with a sense of finality.

Rational thoughts.  That was the one thing that Yuki needed.  Unfortunately, she was lost in her own personal hell.  Coming up with any type of plan seemed impossible.  The girl's sobbing had yet to stop.  She tried with all her might to control herself, but every time she shut her eyes, the image of her parents, tortured and broken, filled her mind.

There was no way out.

Suddenly, as if another part of her mind had , a single phrase passed through Yuki's head.

Happy thoughts.

Yuki's mind started running on autopilot, a small section of it opening and letting its contents flow out.

Jinki, Jonghyun, Kibum, Taemin.

SHINee.

Jonghyun's childish antics, Key's nagging, Taemin's laughter, Jinki's lecturing.

No matter where she was, they were a part of her.

And they always would be.

Finally, finally, Yuki's mind cleared.  Her thoughts grew more frequent, clinging on to dear life those memories of herself and her team. . . her family.  You're not out of the game, Bul, the girl thought to herself, this isn't over just yet.  

Knowing that she probably only had about a minute before Orange Caramel entered the room, the girl knew she had to come up with a plan, fast.  She let all of her thoughts flow out of her, letting basic animalistic instinct take over:  the desire to survive overpowered everything else. 

"Against the wall, a human being becomes a different animal" (Professor Wasserman, Robopocalypse).

"You don't understand.  We won't die.  You can't kill us.  We aren't DESIGNED to surrender" (Professor Wasserman, Robopocalypse).

[A/N:  I recommend this book guys, it's very good.  Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson :)]

Yuki took a calming breath and closed her eyes, remembering Jinki's teachings.  Her body relaxed completely and her breathing slowed until she was barely breathing at all.  Footsteps could be heard coming towards the door of the interrogation room, but Yuki ignored it.  The girl concentrated on shutting down movement through her vital points.  She muttered a final prayer to her parents.  Let this work, she silently begged.

Just as the door to the Interrogation Room slammed open, Yuki managed to successfully stop her pulse.

I was too much of a wuss to try to write an actual torture scene, guys~  Sorry!  God, this story is starting to kill me from the inside. . .

ANYWAYS, I HAVE AN IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT TO MAKE: 

I will be going on a temporary hiatus ;-;  Very temporary!!  Just know that you won't see an update from me next Friday!  I have AP Exams going on and a whole bunch of other crap to deal with~ (UGH)  I may or may not update the Friday after that, though, but most likely not.  The hiatus will most likely be for about to weeks SO PLEASE DON'T UNSUBSCRIBE!!!  <3

That was all ^_^

In other news, WELCOME NEW FLURRY!!  :) 

SHINing_Me 

Thank you guys all so much for the love you've been giving S.M. Spies!  Hopefully, some of you decide to up-vote or leave your first comment soon!!!  It would REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY be appreciated so please think about it! :)  Okay, I guess I'll see you guys. . . in two to three weeks?  Stay safe everyone!!! ^_^ <3

~Yuki ❄