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“Ray, it's so good to see you. I’ve missed you!”
Roach hears her voice and winces.
“Hey, Tali.” I smile. “I’ve missed you too, kiddo. You sure you wanna do this?”
She nods, so I step in front of the tripod with my back to Roach and attach it, stepping back and sitting down. “Can you see okay?”
“Yeah, is that really him?
“What's left of him.” I laugh out loud, and she chuckles.
“So, Sixteen, before your release, is there anything you want to say?” He shakes his head but hasn't once looked at the tablet. I lean forward, pinching his chin between my fingers. “You will fucking look at her before we leave, Sixteen,” I spit. I turn his face towards the screen, and he closes his eyes. “Fucking look at her, or I will remove your fucking eyelids.”
His eyes flutter open, and he gazes in her direction. Something flashes across his gaze as he looks back at me. “C… can I go now?”
“Not quite, Sixteen. There are some formalities, a matter of payment for your stay, if you will. You have nothing to say to Tali before you leave?” He shakes his head but refuses to look at her; she sighs. “Tali, is there anything you want to say?”
“Yeah, I hope he burns in hell!”
“I can do one better than that.” I grin. As I nod to King, he and Rook grab Roach from the bed. He tries to scramble, I take a remote out of my pocket, and a neck collar slides out of the wall; wrist and ankle brackets follow. They drag him to the brackets and clip him into place, securing him at the wall with his ankles, legs spread, and his arms wide palms up. I turn the tripod so Tali gets a good view.
“Is that Roach?” I hear Carmen gasp.
“Shush, Mom, he's called Sixteen now. Sit and watch. This is gonna be fun. I wish I had popcorn.”
“Ah, I thought that, too.” I rummage in the bag, pulling out a bag of kernels, and shake it at the camera. Tali laughs, and Carmen shakes her head. Walking over to Roach, I place a handful in each hand. “Don't drop it, Sixteen. I don't want floor on my popcorn, got it?”
King and Rook have taken their place on either side of Priest, and Roach’s eyes keep flicking to him, but when I look, Priest's eyes have never left mine. His face looks bored, almost impassive, but we shall see.
“It's no good looking at Priest. He isn't here to save you.” I take out the Swiss army knife that's Tali’s and wave it at her, and she grins. She made me promise to stab him with it at least once. I jab it into his gut and step back while he screams. It's up to the hilt, just hanging in there. Tali squeals and claps with delight.
“You two really need to spend less time together.” Carmen chuckles.
“Never!” We both say at the same time and burst out laughing before both screaming, “Jinx!” and laughing again. I squirt the lighter fluid all over his scrubs and then some around the kernels.
“You sure you don't want to say anything other than the squealing like a pussy that you're doing right now? And… Ah, fuck, and pissing yourself. Tali, when you were kidnapped, did you piss yourself?”
“No, Ray, I didn’t! You know why?”
“No, kiddo, I don't. Why don't you fill us in?”
“Because I knew you would come for me. Who's coming for you, Sixteen?” She grins, and I wink. “I will always come for you!”
As I pull my matches out of my pocket. A good Enforcer always needs a box of matches. They're so handy, am I right! Tali wanted you to burn in hell, But fuck you, Sixteen. You—”
“Wait!” Tali yells.
“You don't have to look, Tali.”
“No, Ray. I want my knife back!”
Roach is still screaming and pleading, but we're all just ignoring him as I yank the knife from him, and he screams again. Well, I say yank, there was mild sawing.
“Don't clean it. I wanna see his blood on it.” I nod as I strike the match and toss it at him. WHOOSH! He goes up in flames and screams constantly. His hands are held in place, and as we all stare at the flickering flames, we ignore the blood-curdling screams until we are broken out of our daze by loud popping.
“Holy shit,” Carmen laughs out through the screams as I step closer and as the kernels pop and fly in the air. I catch one in my mouth before spitting it straight back out.
“Ow, that motherfuckers hot!”
