Caution: This chapter contains repeated mentions of torture, and is quite possibly the angstiest chapter I've written this year. If that's not your cuppa, this chapter can be skipped in the overall narrative.

1 week before the events of The Lying Voice...

"What!? No!" Tango gasped, affronted. "There are boundaries that I will not cross, and that is one of them!"

"We're not actually going to use it, just... have it as a threat. Like room 101, but you never actually get taken in there." Cub reasoned. Tango frowned, wringing his hands.

"I dunno... I thought we were the good guys." Tango thought aloud, beginning to pace. "Why... why would the good guys have a torture room, even an unused one?"

"War makes us do terrible things, Tango." False explained, almost sadly. "Besides, you built one for Decked Out!"

"That's different! It was never functional! Just set dressing!" Tango protested. 

"Well, this is the same." Cub smiled, grabbing Tango's shoulder to stop his pacing. Tango grimaced.

"Just set dressing." False agreed.

"Then... why does it need to work at all?" Tango asked. "Why not just build a decoy?"

"Because it needs look as real as possible. It needs to look like an actual threat." False explained.

"But we won't use it." Cub added.

"...You promise?" Tango asked, his voice shaking.

"I promise." Cub agreed, offering his hand. Tango shook it.

"Fine." He relented. "I'll get to work."

Time Skip brought to you by podzol, or something. Takes place a day after The Lying Voice.

Cub had promised that the torture room wouldn't be used. He had promised. If Cub's promise really meant anything, Tango wondered, why was Impulse even strapped into that chair? If Cub's promise really meant anything, why did False tell him to stand by the lever that activated the device?

"What is your position within the mycelium resistance?" Cub was asking, staring Impulse down.

"I'm just a foot soldier." Impulse replied. Tango knew he was lying, but he didn't say anything.

"Fine, fine." Cub shrugged. "Let's go with that for now. Who's the leader of the resistance, then?"

"Mumbo Jumbo." Impulse replied. Tango knew he was lying, but he didn't say anything.

"And who is your direct superior?" Cub asked, an almost vex-ish smile appearing on his face.

"...I'm not telling you." Impulse replied, defiantly.

"Oh, that's a shame." Cub sighed. "You were being so helpful before. Maybe if I tell you what the machine you're strapped in to will do, you'll be a little more open." He purred. "The floor beneath you will open up, and your chair will be lowered into a welcoming bed of... flowers. And you will constantly be being soaked with regen, so no matter how bad the pain gets, you won't die."

Impulse swallowed nervously at the threat, then spoke.

"I-it's Welsknight." Impulse stammered out, his shoulders slumping in defeat. Tango knew he was lying, but didn't say anything.

"Good, good." Cub purred. "Now, one more question." 

At this, Impulse flinched. 

"Oh, don't worry," Cub assured Impulse. "It's not for you." He turned to Tango. "Now, Tango, was he lying?"

"I-I wasn't paying attention." Tango lied, realising what Cub was planning, what he'd been duped into participating in.

"Really? You seemed pretty attentive." False pointed out. Tango sighed, refusing to meet her gaze. "Is there something stopping you from telling us, Tango?" She asked. "Do your loyalties lie with us, with HEP, or are you working for someone else?"

"I-I-I'm loyal to HEP." Tango stammered out.

"Then prove it." Cub ordered, approaching uncomfortably close to Tango. "Tell us: is he lying?"

Tango gasped, backing into the wall. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself down, and looked at False and Cub. There was something wrong with this picture, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Sighing, defeated, he gave the smallest of nods. Cub and False grinned, too wide. Tango didn't meet anybody's eyes.

"Pull the lever." Cub ordered Tango.

"No." Tango replied, shocked. "I won't. You promised me that the device would never be used."

"No." False countered. "He promised that we would never use it." At that, Cub took Tango's hand in his, causing Tango to squirm uncomfortably. He placed Tango's hand on the lever, wrapping his fingers around it, pinning them in a grip of iron. "You, on the other hand..." False continued, before Cub suddenly shoved Tango's hand down, forcing the lever.

With that, the device was activated. As Impulse's screams echoed around the room, Tango winced, looking away at a very interesting point on the corner between the wall and the floor, trying to hold back the tears stinging at his eyes.

That night, Impulse fell into an uneasy sleep in his cell, plagued by nightmares and distant reminders of the pain still sunk deep into his mind.

That night, Tango collapsed into bed and cried his eyes out, hoping against all hope that Impulse wouldn't hate him too much.

That night, a very pleased Cub and False handed over a list of resistance members to Scar.

That night, a storm appeared on the horizon.

That night, everything changed.

angst angst angst angst Angst Angst Angst Angst ANGST ANGST ANGST ANGST ANGST ANGST ANGST ANGST

Oh, and disclaimer: this is obviously an AU. I acknowledge that Cub and False are acting super OOC in this chapter.

I've been Entropy, peace out from the present!