Kara gets questioned, pt. 2
Collaboration between
@The Savant and myself.
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A couple of knocks on her door. In an otherwise quiet room, the sound startled Kara. She sat up from the spot on her couch, puzzled as to who would be paying her a visit. The only expecting guests were her family later in the evening who were coming over for dinner.
"Kara Voss, open up."That sounded...official. She rushed to the door, not bothering to don her slippers. It was the mid afternoon but she hadn't yet changed out of her pajamas. Clearing her throat, Kara opened the door to see a man who was easily 6 and a half feet tall dressed in all black. "May I help you?"
He looked her up and down without so much as an introduction, his face bearing an expression as if she were a lowly criminal.
"I'm with The Crystalline Council. Get dressed, we need to ask you a few questions." "Oh...okay." she nodded, mindlessly tapping the edge of the door. "Give me a minute and I'll be right out."
He nodded in response, signaling to someone down the hall she hadn't laid eyes on. Kara felt uneasy. "May I?" she motioned as if she were about to close the door.
"Of course." She closed the door, backing up against it as her mind raced. They either caught Pilka or they found out she was lying. Kara played out multiple scenarios in her head, and she didn’t like any single one of them. But there wasn’t time for “what ifs”. She pushed herself off the door and headed to her bedroom, eventually getting dressed in black pants, a white turtleneck, and an olive green jacket. Kara was quick to fix up her hair, pulling it back into a ponytail. Lastly, she looked herself up and down in the mirror to double-check she looked presentable, to her standards anyway.
A few moments later, she again made her way to the door, this time with her bag holding some of her belongings. Who knew how long she'd be away, or whether she’d be back that day at all.
"I'm ready," Kara smiled lightly, turning her back to the man to lock her door.
This man was not familiar, it was not Klay, and he didn’t give off the impression that he was going to investigate Kara or ask her questions. He was simply a retriever. Without saying anything else other than, “
Follow me,” with a gesture. This agent of the Crystalline Council would lead Kara all the way from the safety of her home to the city district of Esille. They would enter a government building that required badges to be scanned in to get past the common spaces for the public.
He would have led her down a very long hall or at least it seemed long before he turned to a door and opened it, “
Please wait in here. A safety officer and a public servant will be in to go over the events of the other day with you,” the man would have waited until Kara entered the room to shut and clearly lock the door with a click. Then there was no sound on the other side of the door for a moment before his footsteps could be heard going down the hallway.
"Okay," was her only response.
He locked it... Kara was curious, and slightly disturbed as to the man's actions. As far as she knew, one typically didn't get locked into an interrogation room. Sure, there was always the chance of the individual running out, but in a government building, one wouldn't get very far. And so Kara sat alone with her thoughts, mindful of her actions as she was very likely being recorded. Not that she had much to hide save for the fact that the report was fabricated. But at least she had the bumps and bruises, and most importantly, the hospital visit on record. Now she only needed to wait and wonder what they wanted with her.
It was probably somewhere between fifteen minutes and a half hour before a knock could be heard on the door, “
Kara Voss, I am Safety Officer Kapin and with me is Public Servant Akito Dwell,” a much older woman’s voice rang out while the door unlocked and opened up.
Safety Officer Kapin was actually the department head of the dweller and burrower initiative on understanding their behaviors, genetics, and other aspects of their being which was publicly known. She went to university to study genetics, biology, and to figure out how different and similar people were to burrowers and dwellers. She had written various journals about their behaviors, communities outside, and had actually spent as little as a few days to a handful of months outside of the walls to study the communities and people.
Akito Dwell was no one of importance, not heard about publicly for the most part, but what Kara or others might have heard about the woman was that she was good at being a public servant and someone that laid neutrality on the table for individuals and worked on cases to clear people’s names about mishaps and situations like Kara found herself in though she was known to be viscous when it came to categorizing people; who did wrong and who did right.
“
I’m sorry that you had to wait, would you like a glass of water or anything to eat?” Safety officer Kapin asked while gesturing for Akito to close the door, which she quietly did. The older woman came to take a seat on the other side of the table from Kara while Akito stood at the end of the table with Kara on her left and Mrs. Kapin on her right.
"I'm okay, thank you," Kara stood up, formally greeting Officer Kapin and Ms. Dwell.
"Nice to officially meet you." Kara smiled politely, slightly relieved when the woman had entered the room and not someone else. When Kara was undergoing orientation for her new position at the lab, she had sat in for a presentation put together by Kapin. It was mainly about dwellers and burrowers...safety measures, etc. She'd seen her in passing a handful of other times too, but never had a one-on-one with her. And now, well, Kara was going to be asked a handful of questions by her regarding her interaction with Pilka. Unnerving, but not something she couldn't lie herself out of, or so she hoped.
And as for Dwell, Kara was glad she was there but she wasn't letting her guard down. She eyed the woman momentarily, a friendly expression masking her thoughts.
"The wait is no issue at all. Tell me, how can I be of help?" She was trying to sound as confident as possible.
“
I wish we could have formally met in different circumstances,” Mrs. Kapin gave a reassuring smile to the younger woman. It was an honest comment because she hated having to meet anyone through interrogation rooms.
Akito Dwell stayed silent, she happened to pull out a notebook and a writing utensil.
Mrs. Kapin sat on the other side of the table with such confidence in her posture, unmoving, and strong. “
We are hoping you would tell us more about your conversation with the burrower Pilka, because lesser officers are confused,” she got straight to the point while glancing up at Akito when the young woman with dark hair started scribbling.
“
You see, Officer Klay was on this case, but he couldn’t understand the footage of you and the burrower. He said it didn’t line up with your story, so they gave me the case to figure out more,” the woman was not here to be Kara’s friend but clearly she was not here to be her enemy either. Possibly? In her opinion, the footage showed two individuals that looked more like friends than anything, but she would let Kara explain everything in her perspective before accusing her of lying. People could look so friendly while threatening to cut one’s throat. “
What I am saying is that, your description of an aggressor was odd when you watch the footage, Kara. Can you go back over that day with me? What happened?”
She wasn't angry; the question would make anyone wonder the same. Kara nodded, exhaling slowly as if it were hard having to relive that day.
"I can imagine how bad the footage looks, I would ask the same question. But he..." she paused, looking for the right words while theatrically playing it off.
"At first he wasn't menacing, do you know what I mean? I didn't believe him initially, figuring I'd see how far we'd go before the act stopped—I mean, I could have alerted an officer, but at the same time, I was a little cautious, and admittedly my curiosity got the better of me. Why had he picked me out of an entire crowd? If you're in a rally of that size, of course you're going to bump into people. But then he led me away..." Kara shifted in her seat, clearing her throat.
"We walked a little further before being stopped by a couple of safety officers. He was deliberate with his words, demanding I either follow him and try to get way or I’d get hurt,” she scoffed.
”I was hurt either way. They tased me and I was suddenly unable to move but then I was plucked from the ground like a flower…” She stopped, leaning forward on her arms and looking at Kapin dead in the eyes.
”It was then I realized I was a hostage because who in their right mind goes through that much hassle for a nobody?" A sigh followed, and Kara leaned back once more.
"There was no going back at that point. He led through the roof and eventually into some tunnels. I couldn’t see anything at that point. Eventually, he, um, he led me to…" her gaze fell down to her lap, almost as if she were ashamed.
"I'm sorry, I think I’m going to need some water, please."Both of the women sat there and listened to Kara, giving her their full attention, and Akito continued to scribble things down in her notebook. Taking notes of what Kara was saying and probably trying to formulate some kind of case when it came down to it — one never knew if it would be the court against Kara or Kara having to sit on a stand in the future with Pilka in cuffs. Anything could happen.
Kapin held eye contact with Kara when she spoke of the events, especially being plucked from the ground like a flower and she out of everyone knew how strong burrowers could be. She had experienced how easily they could lift someone else up while climbing up walls that looked impossible even with the proper gear. The older woman ignored the comment about water for at least what she wanted to say. “
I understand this is difficult and possibly embarrassing for you Kara but we understand that there is a curiosity. Most people are curious about burrowers even if they have no idea what they look like or will never see one. Humans are curious and you are a scientist. You are in a field of curiosity. However, I need you to go over everything,” the older woman stood up. Looked at Akito before giving a gentle smile towards kara, “
I’ll get us all water and something to snack on. Then we can continue after a small break, okay?”
She did not pause for an answer before gesturing for Akito to leave the room first before she left. Closing and this time there was no click — it wasn’t locked. Maybe it showed they believed her? Or believed she wouldn't run at all.
When the women came back into the room, Kapin sat back down, and Akito placed a tray with water, juice, and a few wrapped snacks in front of her — pretzels, a granola bar, and a wafer.
She nodded silently, taking a moment to go back to that day in her head; the conversations she and Pilka had had. Sometime after they'd been walking, they had touched upon some troubling topics. If one was following their movements through the video feed, then they would have noticed her and Pilka's expressions shifting to a more serious one. Kara hoped that would be enough to corroborate her confession this time around.
"He took me to an area where he had a couple of his friends around. I only heard their voices because I still couldn't see anything. Eventually he began asking me questions. Whether I knew anyone of importance, whether there were any plans in motion to permanently deal with the burrowers. I kept telling him I was no one of importance, but no matter how many times I repeated myself, he wouldn't take my response. Eventually he lost his temper and he...he punched me. I'm sure you read my hospital report, right? I remember signing off a Notice of Release."Kara exhaled, as if a big weight had been lifted off her shoulders.
"One of his friends intervened before he managed to inflict further damage and I was able to escape. I got away, moving as fast as I could while practically blind until I was back in the city and found help."Kara stared down at her hands.
"I haven't seen another burrower since..." She took a sip of water, grabbing the granola bar right after.
Both of them listened while Kara explained more, Akito continuing to write everything down, and Kapin’s face shifting with questions not vocalized until Kara was done. “
Both of us looked over your hospital report and the officer reports that were filed about that day and incident,” her voice sounded more soothing and almost sympathetic yet too formal for a friend or someone close.
“
I know you said you only heard his friends voices but you have said that one intervened and stopped the violence and that let you get away. Can you describe that one at all?” Kapin was curious if she could or not. She didn’t believe Kara was lying or didn’t have a reason to, yet, but she wanted to see if Kara could remember finer details that she might not have remembered before.
She rested her chin on the palm of her hand with furrowed eyebrows as if trying to recall the information being asked of her. Kara felt a hint of guilt leading them on with nonsense lies that would send them on a wild goose chase, but the atrocities committed against those like Pilka was inconceivable and so that minor feeling of guilt wasn’t necessarily eating away at her.
”If I had to guess, I’d say he was as tall, if not taller than my assailant. I was stunned after the punch, and they got into a bit of a tussle...wait—” Kara straightened up on the chair.
”His name was Kane! I remember now how he cursed his name!”A faked eureka moment was all that was, and Kapin and Dwell were none the wiser.
Akito continued to write down the information that Kara was giving them and clearly made notes besides the statements. Kapin watched with a pleased smile, “A name is good. It'll help us in our investigation of this burrower group. Do you remember any finer details? How did Kane's eyes or skin look? Possibly any markings on the skin like scars or native marks?” This would help them determine if they were nomadic individuals or not as well. A ton of burrowers had tribal markings to link them back to parents or communities. Some had forced marks that meant that a tribe could not trust them.
She chewed on that for a moment, pursing her lips.
"Sorry, I can't do that. I'd only be giving you false leads and that's not fair to you nor the rest of the team." Kara took another bite of the granola bar as her stomach growled. She hadn't realized how hungry she was, and she was making it a point to eat something after the interview.
"It was really dark there too; I could barely make out their outlines. But..." she went on, shrugging her shoulders,
"My best guess is that they are close with one another, or at the least, Kane cares about his friend, otherwise why would he stop him from making matters worse for himself?. Kane couldn't have cared less about me; I believe he was stopping his friend from crossing a line."Kapin sat there cooly while listening to Kara and she wasn’t surprised the young woman couldn’t see the individuals — most burrowers seemed to have some form of night vision or capability. “Not all borrowers want to hurt citizens of Dominion, Kara,” she explained. “A lot of them are very family and community orientated so even if Kane didn’t know you. He still respected your life. And that could be true as well. He could have been stopping his friend from crossing a line. The majority of communities beyond the wall are not aggressive or violent though there are quite a few angry individuals from when Dominion exiled them,” Kapin explained evenly while giving an almost saddened smile.
“You remember Kane’s name, do you remember the name of the burrower that hurt you?” The woman was curious. “Or any of the other names that could have been stated?”
Kara sunk a little into herself. She had become so caught up in her lies that she was bad-mouthing a made-up acquaintance of Pilka's. And oddly enough, for a moment, she was ashamed of herself for generalizing an entire marginalized group. But this lie of hers would keep her out of trouble, and it wasn't like this Kane guy existed in reality.
"You're right, I apologize. I guess I'm angry at them, angry that this happened to me and that I ended up in this position. I really don't think they're all bad, I guess I just figured if Kane is hanging out with those types of burrowers, then maybe he's a bit like them too. I don't know..."She took another sip of water and cleared her throat, hoping to start wrapping up the questions.
"I'm sorry, I'm afraid that's all the information I have on them. I didn't stick around at the end, I only wanted to get away from them as fast as I could." Mrs. Kapin gave a reassuring smile, “We understand that it was a traumatic situation and didn't think you would remember more from when Officer Klay interviewed you. We appreciate you coming in, Miss Voss,” she stood up and Akito nodded her head before leaving.
The older woman gestured for Kara to leave first before shutting the door, “I don't think you will be interviewed again unless we find something new,” she informed her.
Kara extended a hand to shake hers as she stood up.
"Well I'll be back at work soon if you need to find me." She smiled, now more confident than before. Kara had lied her way out of some serious repercussions, but she couldn't exactly pop open a champagne bottle so to speak.
"Thank you for your time in this matter. I really hope you catch him before he hurts anyone else."That wouldn't happen. Pilka was smart enough to stay under the radar even if he did decide to sneak back into the city.
"And thank you as well Ms. Dwell."It was then Kara took her leave, smiling internally at her own small victory.
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