Interrogation - Part Two Individual Assignment (Scarlett Waters)

Scarlett got the paper, reading through the situation, and could guess what was going to happen. Her suspicions confirmed when she was taken into view the video. After viewing the video, she was taken into a damp, dark room, by men whose faces were covered. There, forced into the stress position. All she could see was darkness, all around her, nothing else. She felt uncomfortable, not being able to see, really uncomfortable.

Thankfully, she could still hear, though there wasn't much to be heard. She could smell, the dank room, the air sharp and cold. Holding the stress position so rigidly was making it hard to concentrate as her muscles ached and complained. Her knees especially, holding the bulk of her body weight and pressed against the hard ground, felt weak. Her arms trembled slightly, but she tried to remain as straight as possible.

It had felt like hours she'd been in the room. A cold sweat had formed from the strain of remaining so tense, trying not to slouch. But despite the position she was in, she tried to think through it, logically. She knew she wasn't in position to fight back, certainly not after the exhausting amount of time spent in the stress position. She thought back to the theory part of the lesson, going through the tactics generally used in interrogation. None of them nice, and Scar would need to hold herself well against any of the tactics they used against her.

She heard the door open and braced herself.

Watching the blonde witch in the room, it was clear to see that the stress position was working to weaken the witch. They stood for hours watching the witch, knowing that there was no specified time to be worn down, but when the trembling became noticeable, the man nodded towards one of the henchman who lurched out of the room and in to the adjoining one.

In his hand there was a bucket, filled with ice cold water. The witch could not see, that much had been taken care of, and the man moved to stand in front of her, slowly, but surely, the water cascaded over the witch's head, making sure the water moved slowly enough to get the numbing effect it needed and soaking the witch completely.

The room was cold enough without ice cold water soaking in to your skin.

There was no other sound, only the man straightening her stress position and leaving as silently as he'd come in. No words, no light, nothing. In the adjacent room, the man turned the heating off, allowing the room to plummet (much quicker than Muggle heating) to a temperature just above freezing. And now they would wait.

It had seemed like forever that Scar was alone in the cold dark. She expected that soon, she would be questioned. What she didn't expect was the sudden steady stream of ice water to be poured over her. It seemed to seep into her skin, chilling and numbing her right to the bone.

She bit her lip to avoid crying out, recoiling from her rigid position, but that was quickly corrected. She held it the best she could. Wisps of her hair plastered her face and her ponytail stuck to the back of her neck, and she felt icy drops running down her back. Somehow, though she didn't know how, the temperature seemed to drop even more.

With the mixture of icy numbness and aching muscles, Scar was trembling and shaking even more. She held herself, but it was becoming too much. All the cold and the strain on her body was painful. She wasn't going to quit the exercise, but she was eager to move on from this. Finally, she relented, unable to hold the position any longer, her limbs weak.

It was unsurprising that the witch's body started to shut down. It was human and nobody could mark her down for that. Such temperatures should probably have been endured with much more clothing than the witch had on in that moment. The notes on how she was doing were scribbling and the Healers on hand kept a constant flow of do's and don'ts to the interrogation squad in regards to what the witch could withstand.

The shivering came more pronounced as time passed, her muscles trying to keep the position together, but her body was fighting itself. But only when she fell from the position did the men move back in to the room, or one man, to be precise. Flicking his wand, a single candle lit in the room, and her moved to pull the witch up, righting her in to the stress position.

"Tell me your mission, and I'll bring you a blanket to get warm." The man told her. False sense of security moving in as made sure the witch was going to stay in position.

A dim candle light flickered into existence, and Scarlett felt someone straighten her back into the rigid position. Her muscles screamed in pain, and she flinched in attempt to try and regain some sort of strength. But, damn it was difficult.

"Tell me your mission, and I'll bring you a blanket to get warm."

She, of course, desperately wanted warmth and comfort, but she wasn't going to be so weak as to compromise the mission. She thought for a moment, mulling over her limited options before deciding to reply "So, in exchange for incredibly valuable information, I just get a blanket?" Her words were slow and teeth were chattering, but she tried to appear resilient, though her body was blatantly exhausted.

The young woman was trying very hard to keep her composure, of that much the people watching were noting very clearly. None of the candidates had experience in this field except one, so it was not surprising that the witch's body was not ready for the complete shock to the system.

"So, in exchange for incredibly valuable information, I just get a blanket?"

"We can get you a bed, and some food as well, if you cooperate. Maybe some dry clothes too." The man told her, opening up the bargaining. "All of this goes away if you tell me some information." He coaxed, noting her shivering. "If you stay like this, your body is going to shut down soon. Pass out maybe. Could put you out of work for some time." He added, knowing that shivering so violently wasn't healthy and could cause problems.

Though, of course, what the witch didn't know was that the whole thing would be stopped if the witch began to show signs of ill-health.

"All of this goes away if you tell me some information… If you stay like this, your body is going to shut down soon. Pass out maybe. Could put you out of work for some time."

He was, of course, correct. And the cold was now beginning to be unbearable. She didn't want to be out of work for, who knows how long, but she knew she'd be discredited if she disclosed the mission to the enemy. She didn't know how much longer she would be able to remain like this. She had already fallen once, and was close to falling again, her muscles unable to take the stress. "Sc-Scarlett W-Waters, auror-in-tr-training," she stuttered, recalling from class what she was allowed to say "Sq-squadron six-ei-eight-one-f-five," she added "That is all I c-can say," she tried to shift slightly to hold herself up.

"Sc-Scarlett W-Waters, auror-in-tr-training,"

The people in the behind the scenes were scribbling notes profusely, but the man in the room was smirking. Now they were getting somewhere. "Very good." He coaxed, trying to get her to keep talking.

"Sq-squadron six-ei-eight-one-f-five," she added "That is all I c-can say,"

"Your mission? Tell me about your mission." The man continued, wandlessly lowering the temperature in the room a little more. She was cold, they just needed a few degrees more and potentially her head would shut off. But if she kept the words exactly as they were, she would have passed. Comfortably so.

"Your mission? Tell me about your mission."

She could swear the room was somehow getting even colder. With the exhaustion settling in, and the numbness she felt all over, she had begun to feel light-headed. Coherent thoughts were becoming harder to string together, but her determination remained strong "M-might be easier t-to remember-" her voice was shaking as she shivered "if-if I was more c-comfortable," she managed to say slowly. It was a long-shot, that negotiation would work, but if not she would simply pass out without letting them know any serious information. At least with comfort she would be able to think more clearly.

"M-might be easier t-to remember-" her voice was shaking as she shivered "if-if I was more c-comfortable,"

The attempt at negotiation was ignored by the man before her. Completely ignored because she was in no place to negotiate. He simply left the room, having been told to in his ear. Minutes ticked by, with the Healers in the other room denoting that they really couldn't allow them to push the witch much further.

The Frenchman stood before the viewing glass with a blank expression. No sound came from the witch even as the minutes passed, it was quite clear she was going to stick to her silence.

"Blanket." Louis commanded from the nearest Healer, moving from the room to the debrief room and opening the door on the room Scarlett was in. "Waters, please come through." Louis told the witch softly, motioning for her to leave the room from the exit that had no link to the rest of the ordeal.

"Your time has finished, you're no longer under interrogation. Please take a seat." Louis told her, motioning to the armchair that held a blanket. The room wasn't overly warm, but they had to warm her through slowly to stop anything going wrong.

"Do you understand you're safe now?" Louis asked once she'd made herself comfortable, closing the door behind her to shut out the view of the room she'd just been in.

She had expected to be ignored. It was indeed a long-shot that her negotiation would work, but it meant no more temptation, and no more questioning from the man. And now, her method was to just wait it out, until he either returned or she passed out, whichever came first. Her limbs, especially her arms, had begun to feel likes pins and needles, and her head dizzy from exhaustion. Her eyes were drooping closed, and she fell forward, supporting herself weakly on her arms as she tried to remain awake, but was failing.

She vaguely noticed the door opening, and had supposed that he might have returned to reposition her.

"Waters, please come through."

She slowly and steadily got to her feet, her joints in pain from holding the stress position for so long. But she managed to, rather slowly, walk into the debrief room. She was tentative at first, but she saw that it was Clement in the room, and not the man who had questioned her. She walked numbly over to the seat, and with a trembling hand picked up the blanket. She draped it over her shoulders, pulling it tight around her as she sat down in the seat.

"Do you understand you're safe now?"

She nodded a little "U-understood Sir," she mumbled with chattering teeth.

She sat in the seat, listening as Clement explained that she needed to process things. It was quite straight-forward though, and she didn't have much trouble with relaxing from the experience. Though it was taking a while for her body warmth to return to normal. "N-no questions," she murmured to him as she pulled the blanket around her tighter, thankful to be out of the chilling room.

"Oh, and you passed, Waters. Congratulaitons."

She smiled up to him weakly "Thank you sir," she gave a small nod, completely happy that she had passed.