Between Walls of Steel

[Centurion]

"Cade?"

"Mm..."

"Are you still sleeping?"

"Mhm..."

"I wanted to ask you something."

Cade rolled over, rubbing his eyes against sleepiness. He glanced up from the floor at the alarm clock on Kirby's desk: 3:34. An unholy hour, but who really sleeps at a sleepover?

"What's up?" Cade could feel his hair sticking out in every direction as he begged his eyelids to stop weighing a ton and a half.

Gwen was sitting up, knees hugged to her chest, up by the window of Kirby's room. The blanket and blow up mattress she had been given was made and looked as if she had nevr even slept in it. Her red hair hung loose around her shoulders and down the back of her loose white shirt. The dim light of the night created heavy shadows, her face mostly hidden. However, the slightest glistening of tears on her cheeks instantly snapped Cade awake. He glanced at the bed behind him, Kirby snoring quietly. Satisfied that he and Gwen were relatively alone, he spoke with a hushed voice.

"Gwen, are you okay?"

"N-no..." She forced the words past a tightened throat and welling tears.

Cade sat up, tugging his shirt to cover his stomach and watching the girl with concern. "What's wrong?"

"I..." She started to speak, but went silent. Her shoulders shook in the dark, the quietest sniffles breaking Cade's heart. He just watched and listened, letting her cry. Eventually, the girl took a deep and shaky breath. "I don't want to go home in the morning, Cade."

The boy closed his eyes to maintain control, anger welling in his chest. "Did he hi-"

"No. No, he just... I don't want to go home."

"You can come with me if you want. I don't have work tomorrow."

She didn't respond

"Gwen?"

"Do you hate me Cade?" Her voice was almost inaudible.

"What?"

"Do you hate me?"

"No, Gwen, you're my best friend. Of course not."

A moment of silence passed and Gwen turned to stare out of the window. "I hate me."

Cades heart was sliced in two by the words, each half burning up with anger and sadness. He pushed his way out from under the blanket Kirby had given him and moved next to the girl. He held out an arm invitingly. She looked at him, eyes red and tears streaking down her freckled face. The blue light of the moon cast harsh shadows over her. He smiled reassuringly and Gwen leaned into him. She rested her head on his shoulder and her wrapped his arm around her. The moon watched as she quietly grieved.They stared out into the night, Gwen sobbing quietly. He didn't let go until she finally fell asleep. He watched her for a moment, her face finally peaceful. Heartbroken, Cade gently lowered Gwen to the floor and covered her with his blankets. He sat by the window, in case she woke up again.

"I don't hate you," He whispered. "I promise."

The night stretched on, Gwen's quiet breathing a constant salve to the boy's aching heart. He stared at the floor, lost in his own memories.

"But I know how you feel."

-

A gurney crashed into the cell accompanied by a team of angry Stormtroopers. Spector was restrained on the gurney, eyes wide and manic. Cade leaped up from his cot, snapped out of his thoughts, and moved towards the gurney. A trooper shoved him harshly back down onto the bed. Two others grabbed Cade, restraining him.

"Moon Knight!" Cade shouted, appalled.

Cade raged against his captors, the troopers gloved fingers digging into his skin through the prison jumper. Both Troopers grabbed him roughly by the arms and hoisted him up. Dragged out of his cell and into the hallway to the interrogation room, Cade snarled like a wild animal. He struggled for footing as he was forced down the hall. Arms restrained, he resorted to more creative methods of resistance. Cade kicked off the wall, slammed one of the troopers into the railing. With a curse, the Stormtrooper rammed the boy back into the opposite wall and barked incoherent orders. The troopers resumed the trek, grips tighter than before, and arrived at the Interrogation Room. Tossed into a lonely chair, across from a man in a white coat, Cade could feel his adrenaline pumping. It took a good amount of his self-control not to lash out at any of the troopers nearby. Cade sneered at the man across the dull metal table.

"Another one for you Walters. This is the one that started it all." The trooper Cade had shoved squeezed the boy's shoulder harder than necessary before backing out of the room.

The doctor was an older man, older than Cade at least, with dark skin and thinning hair. His hands were well kept: the cuticles were trimmed and the nails cleaned. Overall a specimen of cleanliness, there was something inherently uncomfortable about the doctor. He had a notepad and pen in one hand, the other spreading out documents and folders in a show of intelligence and control.

"Hello, Prisoner..." Dr. Walters rifled through his folder and nodded. "Prisoner D773F. My name is Doctor John Walters, the prison Psychiatrist. I'm hoping you can give me your name?"

"Yeah, I can." 

Silence. The doctor furrowed his brow. Another difficult case. "Then what can I call you?"

Walters' patience cooled Cade's temper a bit and he allowed his glare to ease. "Centurion."

"Is that your name?"

"When it needs to be." Cade kept his tone professional and curt.

"I see." Dr. Walters jotted down a note in his book and carried on. "This Avengers team, are you associated with them in anyway?"

"No sir."

"So this altercation in Coruscant, it wasn't an internal affair?"

"No sir. It was entirely my fault."

"Witnesses say that it was the larger, wolf-like individual that started the fight."

"My fault, sir," Cade insisted.

Walters nodded and wrote a few more lines in the book. For a newcomer and a firsthand victim of the Avengers' more violent talents, the boy was surprisingly loyal to a team he claimed no linkage to. Nonetheless, the Doctor carried on his string of questions.

"How did it begin?"

"There was a lady, she had been disrespected. I had to stand up for her."

"Noble. You are aware those three men you fought with preceding the brawl with the Avengers have all been hospitalized?"

"She was also my friend. That's two very serious lines crossed sir. Where I come from, we don't stand for that."

"I see." Dr. Walters watched Cade sit in his chair, the boy barely fidgeting. It was almost as if he had been trained against interrogations. "How about your suit, Centurion. We had to try a few variants of the Inhibitor frequency before we found the right one to scramble your suit. It's rather fascinating."

"Trade secret."

"So you can't tell me where you got it?"

Cade paused, eventually shrugging. "Space."

"Aha." Walters noted it. "I feel as if you're avoiding any lengthy explanations, Centurion, care to explain?"

"I'm still not convinced you're not the bad guy here," Cade responded flatly.

"Ah. What can I do convince you?"

Cade simply stared.

"Hm. I understand, Centurion. How about we talk about this girl. Are you in love with her?"

"Excuse me?" Cade flinched, breaking his consistent record of stoicism.

"The girl you defended, with the blue hair. Was it because you love her?"

"I've known her for barely a couple of days." The young man seemed agitated by the suggestion, leaning back and crossing his arms defensively.

"It's just surprising you'd go to such great lengths for a girl you barely know."

"You must not know how being a hero works."

"So that's a no."

Cade glared at the doctor, vehemence coloring his gaze. "Yes. That's a no."

Dr. Walters nodded and started to write again. This time his pencil danced across the notepad for almost a minute straight, laying out lines of notes and annotations. Cade simply watched, his blank exterior regained. The quiet humming of lifts buzzing by outside the door randomly provided an empty ambience to the room. The young Faulkner watched the doctor's face as he wrote, absorbing every detail. Finally, Walters finished his notes and looked back up at his subject.

"So, tell me about the hat."

The reaction the doctor's request elicited was instant but undefined. Cade's eyes widened, but his jaw remained set. He uncrossed his arms and folded them on his lap. He could see the hat in his mind's eye, that green beanie with its loose thread under the brim and soft material. However hard he tried, he couldn't picture it without imagining it on Gwen's head: Her red hair peeking out from under the hat, a big smile on her face. The Hawaiian sun gleaming through her auburn locks and highlighted the most perfect smile in existence... Cade had to force himself to focus as he caught himself drifting. 

"It belongs to a friend." He swallowed back memories.

"Is that why you fought our guards when they tried to take it?"

Cade didn't remember that. He had likely been more unconscious than conscious. At the very least, the boy derived some comfort from knowing he had tried. The doctor noted Cade's vacant expression and nodded, recording his observations on the pad.

"I'd like you to open up to me a bit more, Centurion. We don't have a lot of time left before I have to move on to the other Avengers."

"There's nothing to open up about, sir."

"Obviously this 'friend' meant something to you. Do you see her in the blue-haired girl? Is that why you were impassioned to protect her?"

Cade narrowed his eyes and stood up. "You're right doctor, we're running out of time. I'd like to return to my cell."

"I'm afraid that won't be possible. We'll be moving you to an observation room where we can moniter and study you."

"Excuse me!?" Cade clenched his jaw and his fists.

"Your suit poses an interesting research project that the Warden here is interested in exploiting. Besides, seeing as you aren't associated with the Avengers you won't mind being separated, hm?"

The young man jabbed a finger at Dr. Walters. "I am NOT a science project! The suit stays with me!"

"I'm sorry, but that's not my decision to make. As long as I deem you psychologically fit, it's up to the Warden what happens to you here."

"If your tin soldiers touch me, I'm gonna show them firsthand what this suit can do!"

"Centurion, you're powerless." Walters leaned back and picked up his notebook, scanning the annotations. "Just as powerless as you seem to always feel. Don't worry, we can work on that."

The doors opened as Walters pressed a small button under the interrogation table. Two Stormtroopers entered and grabbed Cade by the shoulders. He tried to shake them off, glaring at the doctor. Walters stared at his notebook, enthralled in his own recordings.

"I look forward to getting to know you, and your suit, much better Centurion."

Cade opened his mouth to retort but a swift strike with the butt of a rifle caused a burst of light to overpower his vision. The Troopers dragged him from the room, kicking and shouting. He pulled and bucked like a wile animal as the Stormtroopers forced him into the hallway. Desperately, Cade mentally screamed for the Apparatus to encase him. The nano-machines stood silent, overpowered by the disc on his neck. Cade passed his own cell and watched as Spector was aggressively shoved back to his own cot. Cade pulled towards his cell, tearing free of the Troopers and running for anywhere that wasn't there. He made it a few feet before his whole body locked up, searing pain shooting through every nerve and muscle. He dropped to the catwalk, too agonized to scream. Heat radiated from the Inhibitor Disc as it unloaded an electric shock into the young man's body. After what felt like hours, the Disc started to cool and his muscles were no longer screaming. 

Panting to catch his breath, Cade didn't have enough strength to fight the Troopers as they took him past Marc and to another cell a few columns over. The two men locked eyes for a moment, the younger of the two still hazy. Spector simply watched, unable to do anything from behind the wall. He gave Cade a tight smile to reassure him. Cade stumbled as he was pushed in front of the opening to the cell. He stood just outside where the barrier would activate once he was inside, staring at the blank room. One of the Stormtroopers jabbed Cade in the back with his rifle.

"Get inside."

"Bite me."

A boot slammed into Cade's ribs and he collapsed into the room. The energy barrier burst into existence, shimmering and humming as it closed Cade off from the rest of the prison. The Troopers carried on, leaving the boy to lay on his stomach and breath. Eventually, he pushed himself to his knees and dragged his body onto one of the empty cots. He rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling. It was hard not to cry, partially from the pain and partially from fear. Gwen, Kirby, his mom, they were all gone. Cade would likely never see home again. He would never ride a wave with his best friend or go to the movies with his mother. He was alone, cut off in an alien universe and surrounded by nothing he recognized. The ceiling of the cell started to shift as his watery eyes overflowed. Cade felt his chest twitch involuntarily, sobs breaking his resolve.

As the crying intensified, Cade rolled onto his side, hoping to hide himself from sight. Curled up on the cot, he had never felt smaller. He wanted to close his eyes, to dream of home... to dream of Gwen. Instead he just stared at his hands. He was too afraid to sleep. He knew he wouldn't have dreams, just more nightmares. This one he was living was nightmare enough. His heart burdened by despair and anger and heartbreak, Cade Faulkner clenched his fists to fight his own emotion. It was a long and arduous battle. He lost.