"What do you mean you captured only one?"


    Ingrid''s voice echoed in a dimly lit basement. In front of her was a badly beaten man hanging from the ceiling with thick rusty chains. His head moved upon hearing a young girl''s voice, his confusion clear even with the bag covering his face.


    "I kinda went overboard." Simon scratched his nose, showing a little embarrassment. "By the time I realized, most of them were dead."


    "God, did they kill your dog or something?"


    Clicking her tongue, the Nephilim dragged a chair and sat a couple of meters away from the restrained man.


    "Please tell me he isn''t just some grunt."


    "Well, he was driving one of the trucks," Simon replied. "We might figure out where they took the kids, at the very least."


    "Bring him down." She said. "I don''t want to look up while doing this."


    Following hermand, two of the gangsters that followed them to the basement went around releasing the chains and lowering the captive to the ground. They weren''t worried about him escaping, and with a Nephilim around it would be the epitome of stupidity tosh out. There was no way to tell how stupid someone was, however, so they kept him cuffed just in case.


    Once he was sat down on the floor, they took off the bag covering his face. The man did his best to remain calm, his expression stoic while looking at his captures one by one. His eyes must''ve taken some damage as it took him a few seconds to notice the beauty sitting in front of him since he did a double take when he finally realized she was one of the aliens.


    "Talk." Ingrid said, her voice even.


    The man struggled to close his mouth, continuing to gawk at the dark-haired Nephilim while fear slowly took over his face. They waited a few seconds, but no words came out of his mouth. That was natural for someone in his situation; he might as well be looking at Death herself right now.


    A few more seconds passed and the man appeared to havee to terms with his fate. Instead of giving up and confessing his sins, however, he chose to stick to his guns, turning a defiant re at Ingrid and pressing his lips tightly together.


    His expression amused the alien, even if a little. Unfortunately for him, she didn''t have the time to mess around so, returning the re, she stopped holding back and allowed her presence to permeate through their surroundings.


    A heavy pressure suddenly fell on those gathered in the basement, most of it concentrating on the captured terrorist. It soon became clear that she had gone too far as the captive began frothing and copsed on his side. He wasn''t the only one as the two gangsters passed out as well, leaving only Simon standing.


    "Oh, right…" she said with a grimace. "Humans. Completely forgot."


    "W-what was that?" The young gang leader asked, his face so pale it seemed all the mnin had left his body.


    "Soul Pressure." Ingrid answered. "It''s a handy way to show how strong you really are, but if those you use it against have weak minds it turns into… that."


    "Is everything okay?" Came Juni''s voice from outside.


    Being the good friend she is, Ingrid didn''t want the bright and cheerful Valkyrie to see what she intended to do. What they witnessed at the hospital was enough for the night.


    "Everything is fine!" The Nephilim replied loudly. "I just got a little excited, that''s all!"


    "Oooh! I thought we were under attack!"


    "If you don''t get back to keeping watch that might happen!"


    "Okay okay!"


    The silence returned soon after and the two turned their sights to those copsed on the floor. Simon hesitated for a moment then asked.


    "They aren''t dead, are they?"


    "Does any of them have heart problems?" Ingrid replied sarcastically.


    Lights began to flicker above her head and in a matter of seconds, a halo formed. Raising her right hand, droplets of water began to gather over it, coalescing into three balls.


    "Alright, that''s enough sleep." She said, throwing a ball at each of the unconscious men. The gangsters jumped to their feet right away but the terrorist was slow to wake up. "Feel like talking now?"


    The terrorist regained the same terrified look from before. When he took too long to reply, Ingrid sshed him with another cold water ball. She had to do it again a third time. Only then did he open his mouth.


    "You… you can kill me if you want…" he forced out the words, his brows knitted into a determined look. "I''m not… telling you anything… alien… scum…"


    "Kill you? Nah, why would I give you the easy way out?" Ingrid rotated her index finger, causing the water ball floating over it to circle around. "You think you''ll get to rest after everything you did? There are fates worse than death, you know."


    The man''s expression remained determined, but his confidence seemed to leak out as the Nephilim exined what she was going to do with him. Leaning forward, Ingrid rested her chin in her hand and smiled, her halo still shimmering above her head.


    "We will take you out of the settlements and tie you to some tree. You will start hearing voices in your head. They will be quiet at first, but then they''ll keep getting louder and louder. Eventually, you won''t be able to resist it and start losing your mind. You will be trapped inside your own body, watching as you slowly turn into a monster."


    Fear gradually took over the man and Ingrid''s smile reached her ears.


    "The big guy is a scientist, you know? He''ll definitely try to find a cure. Oh, but he would need a lot of test subjects to do that. You''ll get a front-row seat to what goes on in thosebs. You might even get your name recognized as one of those who contributed to the cause. So, what do you say?"


    Nothing. The terrorist couldn''t say anything. And what could he say? The video released by the Resistance instilled some kind of primal fear in anyone who saw it. Even if they didn''t fully understand it, no one in their right mind would wish for their sanity to be taken away, or for them to beb rats for a mad scientist who ims to know how to create aliens and humans.


    "I… if I tell you, will you let me go?"


    The man finally spoke after a long silence. With a satisfied smile, Ingrid leaned back into her seat and dismissed her halo.


    "Go on." She said. "Your life depends on it."