"We can only be nice for so long." Buckner grumbled.

His eyes were set in a tight glare, his mouth working angrily at the end of a cigarette, and his pristine, white marine issued coat hung off the back of his chair. He'd been here a while and needless to say, he was getting tired of you.

You'd been stuck in a small interrogation room with your chair in one of the corners and your hands cuffed behind it's rigid back. A table sat between you and Buckner's seat but he'd abandoned it long ago. A camera hung in the opposite corner from you, right up against the ceiling with a small red light blinking every couple seconds.

The room was warm and stuffy and the more Buckner moved, the worse it got. But you weren't going to complain, not like it's do you any good anyway. The heavy smell of cigarette smoke didn't help either and was giving you a dull, throbbing headache that you just couldn't shake. That you might complain about, who knew.

He let out a grumble as he slapped the thick minila envelope he'd been carrying against his hand. It was full of information on Kid and his gang and to you, it was almost all new information. Maybe it was good for Kid to keep all his happenings to himself for the most part, it meant you couldn't spill anything to the marines. It helped you stay silent this entire time at least.

No matter what questions Buckner asked, how often he raised his voice or changed his tone to something more patient and sweet, you didn't have an answer for him. He could try any tactic he wanted to get you to talk but nothing would work. When he'd told you what he knew, you tried saying you didn't know anything. All the information he had was what little you knew and more, but he wouldn't buy it. He was convinced that you were hiding things and nothing you said could make him think otherwise.

And that was when you decided it was best to just shut up and let him try to interrogate you to his heart's content. You weren't sure how long this had been going on or for how much longer he would try but you were hoping it'd end sooner rather than later.

Suddenly, Buckner slammed a fist into the table, denting the metal surface and making your head jerk around so you could glare at him.

"I know Kid keeps you up to date on his gang's operations and you will tell me what he's told you." He spoke through grit teeth, his neck an angry shade of red and the veins under his skin popping into view. He was pissed.

You forced yourself to relax and rolled your shoulders in an unsuccessful attempt to relieve the strain in your arms as you met his stormy eyes with a blank stare. You kept your mouth pressed into a thin line, trying to scare you wasn't going to get results, even if you really were scared. But he didn't have to know that.

With a snarl, he whipped around and headed for the only door in the room, grabbing his coat and throwing the door open to stomp out of the room without another word. The door slammed shut behind him and you were enveloped in a blissful silence. The smell of smoke still lingered in the air and clung to your clothes but at least he wasn't making it worse. You never were a fan of smokers.

The quiet stretched on and the tension slowly left your body as you realized he wouldn't be coming back for a while. You'd won this first round but there was no telling how many more there'd be in the future. The thought alone exhausted you.

You let out a sigh and leaned forward, your back popping from no longer having to be stuck in the same position anymore. You were tired and there was no better time than now to rest your eyes. You might not get another chance for a while.

Your eyes fluttered closed and you focused on calm, steady breaths, finding the closest thing to some kind of inner peace before drifting off.

----

There was a splash of ice cold water drenching your body and you let out a gasp and a cry of surprise as you woke up.

"What the FUCK!?" You yelled, your teeth chattering.

You were soaked head to toe and the once stifling warm room couldn't have felt any colder in this moment. Tremors ran up and down your spine and you were hit with a wave of fury as Buckner snickered in your face, a large, empty bucket in his hands.

"Morning sleeping beauty. You looked like you could use a pick me up." He chuckled as he tossed the bucket across the room.

"How thoughtful of you." You growled.

"Oh and it'll only get better." He reached around you to grab the back of your chair and dragged you to the center of the room. "Here's our agenda for the day; we'll try talking again despite your unwillingness to do so last time and if you give me what I want, we'll be able to let you go. After we've caught the Kid gang that is."

"And if I don't?"

"Then chatting isn't obviously a good solution now is it?" He stalked around you like a delighted predator, taking his time and sliding his fingers along the back of the seat each time he was behind you. "We'll have to try other options."

"So we move on to torture? Seriously?"

"I like to call it advanced interrogation techniques, torture's such a harsh word."

You'd be crazy to want to go through with whatever he had in mind and the way he smiled at you sadistically only made you shudder. Kid was a pain at times, he liked to pick on you from time to time just to get under your skin. He had sadistic tendencies that you knew about despite him keeping them to himself for the most part. Seeing the same signs from Buckner did not bode well for you.

And now the question was, how were you going to avoid him?

You could try telling him you didn't know jack shit again and see if he'd finally buy it. Staying silent would mean he'd probably hop right into it. And then there was a third option, one that was more high risk than either.

Escape wasn't going to happen, you had no idea how to get out of the cuffs and even if you did, you probably wouldn't make it very far once you left the interrogation room. But if you believed Kid still might save you, and a small part of you did, you could try buying time. Buckner wanted answers and you could feed him some. They'd be wrong of course and you'd be sending him and his men on a wild goose chase, but it'd give you, and possibly Kid, enough time to figure something better out.

The problem with lying to Buckner was if you weren't busted out by the time he came back from running around, he'd be pissed and you were sure you could expect he'd be even worse than how he'd be if you just stayed silent. The scary thing was, it was a gamble you were willing to take.

There must have been a look in your eyes that told your captor that you were willing to say something. He dragged the one, raining chair over and sat down in it with a heavy, disappointed sigh.

"I was hoping you'd be willing to put up more of a fight but I suppose getting the job done wouldn't be all that bad either."

"Just ask your fucking questions."

"Already tired of me are we? Well let's start out simple and work our way to the complicated stuff. What's your connection to Kid?"

"I was.....he kinda...." You chewed at your bottom lip as you tried to decide how to go about this. "I live near his workshop, the one you found me in. To get to work or go into town, I have to pass by the workshop and so I saw him often. We didn't ever talk until he saved me from an assault one night, on my way home."

Buckner laughed like you'd just told a joke. "Saved by a gang leader? I find that hard to believe."

"I didn't know what he was at the time." You snapped. "I figured he was just an asshole mechanic. Either way, after that, he decided I owed him and told me I had to stick around."

"See, that makes more sense now. So he keeps you around to entertain him, is that it?" He leaned forward eagerly, eating up your growing look of distain and anger.

"Put it however you like. He made me stay, so I did." You managed to keep your cool and prevent any malice from reaching your voice. You needed to keep this going for as long as possible, every second counted as far as you were concerned.

"Alright, but I need to know why you feel so obligated to keep his secrets if you're nothing more to him than a good time. It just don't add up."

He pulled an almost empty pack of cigarettes from his breast pocket along with a lighter. He tapped the pack against his open palm as he stared out into space before absentmindedly flipping the lid back to pull out a cigarette, only looking back at you when it was between his lips.

"You know it as much as anyone does, Kid's an asshole." You stated simply. "He's greedy, has a short temper, doesn't mind getting in fights, and is willing to go through others to get what he wants. But I've stuck around long enough to realize he treats the people around him better than that."

Buckner groaned. "Are you fucking kidding me? You went and decided you loved the guy? Sad, really, sounds like a serious case of stockholm if you ask me."

"Good thing I didn't."

He grunted in response as he paused to light the cigarette, talking a deep breath in before slowly letting it back out, puffing a cloud of nasty smelling smoke in your face.

"Now that we finally have the niceties out of the way, what's Kid up to these days? Why was he gone?"

You shrugged. "I knew he went out on work, I didn't get told any details, just that he'd be gone a few days."

"So he'd willingly leave his girlfriend alone at his base?"

"He thought I'd be safer there than at home."

Buckner chuckled. "We did have your apartment searched afterwards. You should see the mess."

"There was no point in going through my shit." You growled.

"Probably not but I wasn't about to bet on that. Seems Kid was wrong when he left you by your lonesome but I'm not buying him not telling you details. You're close enough that he'd keep you updated."

You let out a frustrated sigh. They didn't get any more annoying than this guy. You were sure he was the kind of guy to ask a girl out and not take no for an answer, the kind that didn't know when to quit. And this was when you needed to get crafty.

"Start talking or we're going to have to get creative with our questioning." He reminded you casually.

May Shanks forgive you for this.

"Do you know about Kid and Shanks?" You asked.

"Their run in some time ago? Of course, us marines just barely missed the action on that."

"Well Kid's still pissed at him for it. He decided to look into carving a path into his territory and have a second go at him. He said he'd be able to take him out this time and take his whole section of the city."

"That makes no sense." Buckner frowned. "His hideout is in Whitebeard's territory, why not go for him instead?"

"He's got a grudge with Shanks and everyone's got their eyes on Whitebeard anyway, going for him could lead to bigger problems with other gangs."

Buckner nodded as he began to grin. "So he's closing in on Shanks?"

"If Kid's still out there working, he should be beating down his door soon enough."

You felt guilty for how this was going to go, but not guilty enough to not try it. The look on Buckner's face said he'd be doing the same soon enough, marching into Shanks' home in the hopes of catching him and Kid in the midst of a fight over territory. If you were lucky, you'd remain anonymous and Shanks wouldn't know that you sent the marines his way. If you weren't, well, you hoped Shanks still had enough interest in you to let this one slide.

Buckner suddenly stood and headed for the door.

"What're you going to do?" You rushed the question before he could leave.

"Do?" He gave you a sneer from over his shoulder. "Bring Kid and Shanks in so they can rot in jail, what else?"

Any response died on your tongue. Saying anything else just might come across as suspicious and you weren't about to raise any red flags. He'd bought your lie, easier than you thought possible, and ruining things now wouldn't bode well. He walked out of the room and you'd done all you could to buy time. All you could do now was wait and hope for the best.