The Rise Of The Consortium

"I'm fifteen minutes late but still you couldn't find it. Why?" his voice made her shiver now and then. Oddly, there was no sound audible to her except her rough breathing.

"I don't know which one you're looking for," Rio answered in a whisper. "I tried finding the file bu--but don't know which one is it." she pinned her eyes on the screen, keeping her voice normal.

He shifted the screen towards him and opened the file which she thought looked like made of letters z, o and l. She felt that might be related to Zolzeim. Did she do something about Zolzeim? Is that why Ms. Sokestyn met her? The file now asked password on the screen, her hands stayed glued together, her mind unable to think of anything. She wondered why she didn't make up any excuse so that she wouldn't have to face his wrath anymore. 

She felt his eyes focused on her from the corner. He motioned her to type the password through his eyes. She quickly looked at the screen, slowly placing her fingers on the screen, but they were frozen in the air. She felt she must have laid out the truth from the beginning. What she must do now? She turned towards him, taking a deep breath.

"I don't remember the password." Kner listened to her, his left eyebrow raised. He turned the chair on which she sat towards him, and she felt she can't look away from him anymore. She has to confront him anyway.

"Last week you were sitting here typing that out. And today you don't remember a thing." Rio knew he often looked like that to her, but this time, there was something different, as if he's searching for what she has hidden in her and won't let go till he gets what he wants.

"See, I'm not doing that on purpose. I don't remember." she didn't know when she started speaking. A sudden change of expression gave Rio another series of shiver.

"You used to do that very well. Then it was you who insisted on not sharing it with me." he walked away from the chair towards the middle of the room. "Now, tell me how are we supposed to retrieve the file." she saw him waiting for a response from her. A clear ambiguity was reflected from her face. 

"No idea, right?" said Kner with a short laugh. "Have you written that somewhere? Does anyone else know about it?" he stopped in his tracks to hear any utterances from her. 

"No." Rio sighed saying that. "that's against the rules." 

"You know the rules quite well. Good." Kner suddenly turned towards Rio, a hint of jeer in his voice. "then you would have known what happens when one goes against it. Isn't it?" 

"I don't remember when I had worked here last time. Trust me, I don't--" 

"A well-fabricated fact, I see." he made sure her convincing intentions doesn't divert him from the matter. "So, Ms. Tarnilier needs a bit of proof. So here we have." her breathing paused as she saw him pick up the tiny screen projector suddenly and throw it towards the glass window in front of her. Surprisingly it didn't break it. Rather it got stuck on the top middle part of the window. "All the proof of when you worked and what you did." The window became black and slowly light from the projector fell on the black window. A video played on it, a girl sitting on the same chair where Rio sat right now, typing something on the screen. 

"Go, have a look. Take in as much as you want." It was unbelievable. It was her there, but she couldn't understand how. The short video kept playing over and over. She leaned back on the chair, now feeling utterly scared. So that was true whatever happened on that day was done by her. Why she couldn't remember that was unknown to her? Another one to know that was him, now piercing her with a questioning gaze. Who must tell her that she had no fault? She didn't like being treated like that. It was true that he wanted his password right now, and she had no memories of it. But from the point of views of both of them, the other was guilty. No one was trying to understand each other right now. She wanted to get out of there as soon as possible but didn't know how. 

"Anything to defend yourself?" Her mind was brought back to reality by him with eyes filled with tears. Her head started aching all of sudden and couldn't understand how to answer him calmly. All she could think of was to hit something so hard. She didn't want to feel defeated now. She raised her head to have a look at him and sensed something wasn't quite right. 

"It's me but I don't remember when I was here doing all these in the last week. Why I don't remember anything?" Rio spoke in an unexpected raised voice, stamping her right fist on the table. The next moment she found her head pressed on the table. Her neck was going cold being pressed from his hand.

"Ask the rusty brain of yours, Ms. Tarnilier. Or get a doctor. No one told you to be a hero last night." Kner spoke through his gritted teeth. 

She felt it was difficult to breathe, and tried to wriggle out of his pressure, only to find it increase gradually. 

"Well, I don't care. Get that file else or take what I give now." Her mind was going blank as she coughed to take in more air, but was pinned hard on the table, to which she whimpered in protest. 

"What did you give me for the last three years except for the rotten fame? It's not your fault, but what your mother thinks of us and the way you're acting on it." her muffled cries intensified with his confessions. She couldn't understand suddenly what did he refer to the 'rotten fame' to. She wished she had made up some excuse not to come to the lab today. It was a simple password. Yet he treats her like that. Why? "You can't deny how much I gave you the last three years, yet you can't give me the simple password." so, he also admits that it's the simple password. Does his world revolve around it? Rio, who just faced her mother act weird last night had no idea how much pressure she had but wasn't bothered at all. But Kner, on the other hand, was muffling her voice when he has no worries of the world. "By the way, that doesn't belong to you. Did you hear that? That's not yours." he stressed on the last three words. That's not Rio's. Had she ever known his way of dealing with things and what exactly was the thing, she wouldn't have agreed to work with him in the first place. 

'Resist'

A faded voice was ringing inside her mind. It felt as if her mind was submerging in the deep water, cooling down her storming mind. Rio doesn't resist. Her mind responded quickly to the water taking it down. She was still whimpering, trying to breathe more despite her nose blocked under the pressure. 

"Even if you think of running away from here, I will get it from you." Rio heard him say close to her ear. 

'Resist'

The same faded voice was audible to Rio inside her mind. This time, it felt as if a cold wind was pushing the water deep down, taking down the mind with it. She felt her mind to slowly stop working. She had no responses anymore for either force. Both of those wanted her to drown, but whether the direction was the same, it was hard to tell. The whimper to take in more air was also dying down. Still, her lips moved to what Kner thought as if she said 'I won't resist'. 

"What? You don't resist my offerings?" his voice made a short laugh, making him more determined to strangle her. "Good, a bit of simulation will help you remember where you have hidden such a valuable treasure." 

'Resist'

This time, the voice felt as if it reverberated for long. But she was too limp to move a bit. The thudding of the ear being pressed was slowed down to occasional beats. 

" I can't." her dried up voice was able to say that much. Her eyes were closed and her mouth, was open when she gave out her gathered breath. After a few moments, her eyes shut tightly and took a deep breath, coughing more loudly. Her eyes flung open and shook her body herself, trying to free her body from his clutches. When his grip was adamant, she pushed hard her head on the table, and bounced back on the chair, pushing him back. She then sharply turned back, throwing his hands away. He got moved a couple of steps away, his face gaping at her. 

"Stop it. If you want to strangle, strangle your murderous wishes."

Kner felt as if the ground beneath him disappeared and he stumbled on his place to what he heard from her. It felt as if she spoke in a different language. His mind started whirling upon experiencing such an impossibility. How did she even dare to bring that on her tongue? Was he having illusions? Did he attract her diseases? He stood frozen in his place, pretending not to have heard anything while she got up suddenly from the chair, knocking it down, and headed to the door without looking back. 

Just when he thought she would not look back, her steps paused on the way and turned her head slightly to speak with the same language she dared to speak. He held his breath, pretended as if he didn't care what she spoke, while each word gave him shivers.

"I will not let you have what's mine, you idiot waif."