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The cuffs around his wrists were tight.
Far too tight for him to wriggle out of– even if he attempted to dislocate his thumb, the chances of them coming off were slim to none.
Hanging from a steel beam in what he presumed to be an abandoned warehouse, Kajii began to regret his cockiness. He should have accepted the bosses offer to send someone with more combat experience along with him on the mission. He'd be sure to never make that mistake again.
Kajii had heard rumors of abductions happening within the organization, whispers here and there of members going out on missions only for brutalized corpses to return, though nothing had been confirmed among those of the upper ranks.
Still, the rumors persisted.
As he once again attempted to find any give at all to his cuffs, Kajii began to wish he’d listened to those rumors a little more carefully, had been more cautious and less prideful when taking on a mission for the boss outside of the safety of his lab, then he wouldn’t be in this situation.
Squinting, Kajii began attempting to take in more details of the room around him; it was difficult to see without either his glasses or goggles, but he could still make out a few things, most notably the table off to the side, the bright yellow of his lemon bombs unmistakable as they sat piled up atop his white lab coat and green scarf beside what he was pretty sure was a gun. There were also several glints of silver coming from the table top, which he presumed to be his captor’s tools of choice.
Continuing to look around, Kajii began examining the door as best he could from a distance. The dim light of the room was not helping his poor eyesight, but he was pretty sure he could make out a keypad on the wall beside it. Meaning… he’d probably need to hack it before he could leave the room, not wanting to waste the few bombs he had with him just to open the door. Especially when he didn’t know how many individuals there were inside the building.
Unfortunately, the room he was being kept in had no windows, so the door would be his only way out, meaning there were almost certainly guards posted on the other side of it.
Without much else he could do, Kajii decided to simply wait for his captor to show up and begin their interrogation, this wouldn’t be the first time he’d been tortured, it would also give him a chance to learn what these people wanted from the Port Mafia, why they’d been capturing, torturing and killing their members.
His initial mission may have been impossible for him to complete, but that didn’t mean he would return home empty handed.
Kajii was sure Mori would forgive his failure if he came back with relevant information on their enemies– or better yet, their heads.
While field work may not be his forte, it didn’t mean he couldn’t still pile up bodies when the need for such work arised.
He just needed to get his hands free.
With nothing else to look at, Kajii kept his gaze firmly on the door, meaning he was able to catch the movement of shadows behind it as someone finally decided to grace him with their presence.
The door creaked on rusted hinges when it was pushed open. Though their face was covered by a mask, Kajii could still make out that his abductor was a man; not overly tall, with a skinny build, but still unmistakably a man.
In one hand, the man held a long black rod with two small prongs at the end, it took him a second to recognize it as a cattle prod, in the other, what Kajii presumed was a bucket of water.
Kajii couldn't have suppressed the way his eyes rolled even if he tried.
If they expected him to be afraid or begin begging for his life, these people would have to try a lot harder than this.
“Glad to see you're finally awake, Motojiro Kajii, I have a few questions to ask you, if you would be so kind as to answer them,” the man said as he placed the bucket on the table beside Kajii's things.
Kajii tried very hard to stifle his laugh at the cliche greeting, unfortunately, he wasn't quite able to completely conceal the giggle that escaped him, it was just so ridiculous, Kajii wasn't sure how he would take anything else this man said or did seriously.
In retaliation, his abductor rammed the prod into his stomach, giving him a quick jolt of electricity, turning his stifled laugh into a shout of pain.
While not something he couldn’t handle, Kajii knew this entire ordeal was going to suck.
“Apologies for my rudeness,” he groaned as the pain slowly subsided, “my reaction was completely uncalled for, I will do better to act accordingly as our meeting continues.” Kajii almost surprised himself as he got everything he wanted to say out without stuttering over his words, but he’d survived torture before, he knew how to compartmentalize pain, he’d survive this too.
The masked man let out an indignant growl and swung the prod at his head, the hard metal burning the side of his face where it struck him. “You will speak only when asked to answer my questions!”
Even with the aches already forming where he’d been hit, Kajii couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at his captor, it was like they were reading from the world's worst abduction movie script, Kajii feared it would become harder and harder to take the man seriously, no matter how much he hurt him if he kept talking the way he was.
“Alright, ask away then.”
While Kajii liked to believe he had high self preservation instincts, he unfortunately also had a mouth that never shut up– it was a wonder it hadn’t already gotten him killed.
Rather than responding right away, his captor picked up the bucket and threw its contents at Kajii, as he’d presumed, it was water. Fuck. He was really not looking forward to the next jolt of electricity coming his way now.
Tossing aside the empty bucket, his captor began circling him, tapping the pole of the cattle prod against his gloved hand as he moved. “Where are the Port Mafia weapon stores held and what are the passcodes to get in?” he asked as he rounded back on Kajii. “The faster you answer my question, the less painful this entire ordeal has to be for you.”
Kajii carefully considered his options before responding, obviously he couldn’t just answer the question, he’d die before he betrayed the boss, but staying quiet wasn’t something he was capable of for long. Playing dumb was an option… But considering this man already knew who he was, it was doubtful he’d believe Kajii knew nothing.
Deciding on how he would respond, Kajii prepared himself for the pain to come, This time, he didn’t attempt to stifle his laugh as he met his captors eyes head on, “you really think a little water and a few jabs of your toy are gonna get me to talk?”
It really was laughable, if the members of the Port Mafia were really so easily broken, they wouldn’t have been able to amass the power they currently held.
As expected, he was once again struck with the prod, the water now drenching his body acting as a conductor, sending the electrical charge through his entire body, rather than just where the prongs were pressed into.
Blood dripped down from Kajii’s split lip where he bit down on it to stop himself from screaming out in pain.
When the prod was finally pulled away, Kajii let out a few gasping breaths as he tried to regain his bearings, Kajii had electrocuted himself numerous times during his experiments, it was unfortunately, not something one could just build a tolerance to, though the experience did allow him to ground himself once it was over.
“How about a different question, how many guards does Mori Ougai have at any given time?”
Even as painful tremors still wracked his body, Kajii still mustered up the energy to glare at his captor, “you’ll kill me before I tell you anything about the boss!” he practically growled out through gritted teeth, more offended by the fact that this idiot thought he would ever be willing to betray Mori than anything else anyone had ever said to him in his entire life.
His captor let out a condescending snort, “loyalty like that’ll get you killed.”
“Better to die a loyal dog than suffer the fate that awaits those who betray the Port Mafia.” Kajii replied, spitting out the blood welling up in his mouth from the tear in his lip. “Sorry to disappoint you, but there is nothing you could possibly do to me that would be worse than the fate I’d suffer for betraying the organization,” he continued, eyes narrowed at his captor, “and even if there was, I’d still never consider betraying the boss!”
Clutching the cattle prod even tighter, Kajii’s captor let out a growl before jamming it into his neck and unleashing another bolt of electricity. “We’ll just see about that!” he said as he pulled back the prod and turned to leave, slamming and locking the cell door behind him.
Once alone again, Kajii finally allowed his body to go lax, tremors from the cold of the water still drenching him and the electrical currents wracking his body as heavy breaths left him.
While he talked a big game, Kajii wasn’t sure how many more shocks he could take before they began to do irreparable damage to his body and psyche, and his captor hadn’t even gotten to using those shiny tools lined up on the table. Kajii fully believed that he would never give up any information on Mori or the organization. How long would it be before they grew tired of his refusal to speak and just decided to kill him?
Kajii needed to find a way out before that happened.
Everything ached, but Kajii refused to allow that to stop him, gripping the chains holding him up, Kajii found every last remaining bit of strength he had and pulled himself up towards the beam his restraints were chained to.
It took more effort that he wanted to admit to reach the top beam, throwing his leg over, he carefully seated himself atop it and began examining the lock holding the chain in place, it was a pretty simple lock, easy to pick and release the chain, Kajii quickly began patting himself down, looking to see if his captors had been thorough with their search of his person or if they’d stopped at just taking his bombs away.
Kajii had to suppress his victory cry when he discovered the hairpin tucked into his shirt sleeve, he quickly got to work bending it into shape to begin picking the lock.
Just as he began to hear the pins move, the door below was once again opened, freezing in place as the man cursed and stormed in, and began looking around the near empty room, Kajii hoped that his captor wouldn't look up.
“I knew you were smarter than the rest of the grunts we’d taken in the past, but you can’t hide forever, this warehouse has been completely sealed off, the only way in or out is through the main door, and my guards aren't so useless that they’d let a prisoner escape without noticing.” As he spoke, the man grabbed the gun from the table.
As quietly as he could, Kajii continued with picking the lock. If he could just release the chain and get to his bombs, everything would be fine.
Unfortunately, the movement of his hand jostled his chains just enough to draw his captors attention towards him, before he could do anything, a gunshot rang out, the bullet clipping his leg and causing him to fall backwards, when the chain once again went taught, he felt extreme pain race up from his left shoulder and all the way up his arm, Kajii let out a scream.
Getting right up in his personal space, his captor pressed the still warm muzzle up against Kajii’s forehead, “you must be in a lot of pain, if you want it to end, you know what you need to do.”
Clenching his teeth once again, Kajii mustered up what little strength he had to lift his head enough to see his captor. “Go to hell!” he muttered out through labored breaths.
His captor responded by hitting him across the face with his gun. “You really are stubborn, aren't you…” he said, before digging the muzzle of the gun into his torn shoulder, “are you sure your loyalty is really worth this much pain?”
Another scream tore its way past Kajii’s throat, tears slowly began to build up behind his eyes and he squeezed them shut, trying to block out the pain radiating through most of his body at this point.
In his state, Kajii had missed the sound of the door opening again, with his eyes closed, he didn’t see the familiar man clad in black and red enter the room. “Wha-”
He just barely caught the sound of his voice as his words were cut off by a second gunshot ringing out across the room.
Kajii only opened his eyes when he felt his captor’s body fall forward, knocking against him as he hit the ground.
Looking up, Kajii met the eyes of his boss, “you didn’t answer his question, Kajii, is all this pain really worth such unwavering loyalty?”
Once again frozen in place, Kajii just stared at Mori as he continued forward, kicking the body of his captor aside before he began going through his pockets.
By the time Kajii had once again found his voice, Mori was standing and holding a set of keys. “I’m still waiting for an answer, Kajii.” he said, smiling smugly as he twirled the keys around his index finger.
Without wasting another moment, Kajii finally gave a nod. "Of course, sir,” he replied, attempting to keep as much of the pain from his voice as he spoke. “As I said before, I’d die before betraying you.”
Mori’s smirk softened into a smile. “Good,” he replied as he began removing the restraints, careful of Kajii’s wounds, he helped ease him to the ground and took the brunt of his weight onto himself to avoid putting any unnecessary strain on his damaged leg.
After retrieving Kajii’s things, Mori began leading the two of them out of the warehouse, Kajii noticed the string of dead bodies leading out towards the sleek black car waiting for them, “I have something to help with the pain until we get back to the office where I can properly treat you, do you think you’ll be okay until then?” Mori asked as he assisted Kajii in getting into the back seat.
“I’ll live,” was all he said as he finally allowed his body to relax against the cool leather of the carseat.
With a nod, Mori closed the door before climbing in on the other side and giving the driver the signal to drive. Once they were on the road, Mori quickly began giving Kajii’s wounds a onceover, being careful not to jostle him too harshly, before finally pulling out a syringe and pressing it into his arm.
The drugs worked quickly, Kajii’s body quickly relaxing, Mori continued to look over his wounds, doing a quick clean and dress of the bullet wound in his leg, before applying burn cream to the areas where the cattle prod had been jammed into his skin. The entire process was rather calming, enough so that Kajii slowly began to drift off to sleep.
His last coherent thought was to murmur out an apology for failing to complete his mission.
Letting out a soft laugh, Mori pulled Kajii closer, allowing him to rest his head on his shoulder. “Think nothing of it, you completed your mission marvelously,” he replied as he began combing his fingers through the damp, tangled strands of his hair. “I knew I could trust you to handle such a delicate case.”
Even drugged and exhausted as he was, Kajii’s mind was still as brilliant as ever, he easily caught the meaning of Mori’s words… on some level, he wondered if he should be angry as him for his deceit, but ultimately, he decided it was fine, Mori trusted that he would understand and that was all that mattered to him in the end.