Chapter Text
January 8, 2061 (14:30)
Gideon came to being dragged down a hallway by two Atlas soldiers, each one holding him up by his arms. As he began to piece together the moments prior -- being bitch-slapped on numerous occasions, getting launched into a cell from a wire attached to his cuffs, and a needle approaching his neck -- he was suddenly forced onto shaky, slightly uncoordinated feet and pushed forward to walk. He stole a glance from behind and noticed Ilona going through the exact same process. Before he could ask if she was alright, a fist came out of nowhere, forcing him to look forward.
‘Fucking prick.’
After a couple of moments, one guard proceeded to leave Gideon and the remaining guard. Refusing to receive another blow to the face or risk endangering himself, as well as Ilona, Gideon opted to remain silent and continued to walk forward. Suddenly, a door slid up and he was shoved into the room along with Ilona, each one of them with their own guard standing behind them. Gideon took in the glass wall that separated himself and Ilona from two other soldiers who were tied to a cross-like pole. He squinted his eyes and discovered that one of the soldiers, who was slumped against his binds, had crazy brown hair and a prosthetic leg.
'Mitchell.'
He instinctively moved towards the glass, but was immediately pulled back by his guard, who now had his gun pressed against his back. He bit down a curse and turned to the other soldier across from Mitchell. He instantly identified the stirring man as Cormack. As Cormack blinked his eyes open, Gideon looked over to Mitchell to see that he was finally coming to. After a few tense moments, Mitchell finally opened his eyes and instinctively pulled against his binds, only to realize that he was locked into place. They were all here, trapped inside this room. Not good.
Suddenly, the door across from their cell slid open and revealed Jonathan Irons, who was escorted by another Atlas soldier behind him. Those lost pieces and memories from Gideon's consciousness returned to him at break-neck speed, nearly making him dizzy. He remembered landing outside of Atlas Headquarters, Knox's bloody corpse following the release of Manticore, Mitchell getting shot back by an AST's missile, and finally getting knocked out himself. With those memories grew untamable fury, hatred, and greed. Not only had they failed their mission, but they also failed everyone who was executed by Manticore. Gideon directed his eyes to Irons, the man who was responsible for the deaths of Sentinel troops and over 50,000 civilians following the KVA's attack. He felt the urge to annihilate him right on the spot. He was going to pay for everything.
He had become so lost in his memories and hatred that he only just realized that he couldn't hear the conversation that transpired between Irons, Cormack, and Mitchell. He instead tried to gain details from their facial expressions, all which were strained and tense. During the exchange, Irons turned his back to Gideon and Cormack and reached for an object outside of the soldier's vision. Suddenly, with a couple of muted words, Irons turned back and shot Cormack in the hip with a handgun he obtained from the guard. As Cormack fell to his knees in pain, Gideon tried to run forward but was stopped by one of the soldiers behind him who forcibly pulled at his uniform. Irons handed back the gun to the soldier behind him and proceeded to walk towards Gideon and Ilona. He picked up what looked like a wrench, stared at it, and then looked at the British man. It took all of Gideon's strength not to launch himself at the glass barrier. He restrained himself and looked at Mitchell, who looked absolutely furious and a little anxious. Their eyes met for a couple of seconds, both of them silently asking the same question: 'What the fuck do we do now?'
Gideon tore his gaze from his friend to Irons, who shot him a look of confirmation... and sadism. When Irons proceeded to move towards Mitchell, Gideon's focus immediately turned back onto his friend. He saw Irons gently stroking Mitchell's face with the wrench, which made the younger soldier flinch away from the touch. Suddenly, much to his absolute horror, Gideon saw Irons raise the wrench and viciously slam it down onto Mitchell's prosthetic arm.
“Shit!” Gideon yelled, advancing towards the glass barrier.
The guard behind him gave his uniform a sharp tug and repositioned the gun's barrel from Gideon's back to the back of his head. “Stop moving or I’ll put you down right on the spot.”
Before Gideon could retaliate, Ilona’s voice chimed in. “Gideon, stand down,” she quietly order.
The older soldier shook his head before directing his attention back to Mitchell.
While sparks and electric shocks shot from his prosthetic, his knees began to shake. Irons lifted his arm again and, with all of his force, slammed the wrench onto Mitchell’s now damaged arm, causing the man to scream so loud that Gideon could hear it through the thick glass. The Captain was eager, and maybe slightly desperate, to reach his friend’s side. However, he knew that if he were to move, he would get shot right on the spot. Mitchell was now on his knees and he head was lolling on his chest. Irons threw the wrench away from him, said something that Gideon couldn’t make out, and then walked away from Mitchell, who looked like he was on the verge of passing out. Before exiting the room, Irons whispered something to Atlas soldier behind him. The pair left the room, leaving the four Sentinel troops in a silent room. Gideon hated the scene in front of him: there was Cormack with a hole in his hip and his blood pooling below him, and then there was Mitchell with a ruined arm. He stared at Mitchell, who weakly returned his gaze. Despite their distance from each other, Gideon could see the younger man silently confirming that he was alright -- even if he were lying, which he totally was, it provided a hint of comfort to the older soldier. Gideon returned the gesture with one of his own; a short, quick smile. Their silent exchange was interrupted when Mitchell's head violently jerked to the right, with blood seeping out of his mouth. Looking upwards, Gideon saw the same guard who left him earlier, as well as a new guard, stand directly in front of Mitchell. When one guard raised his fist, preparing to deal another blow to Mitchell, Mitchell looked over to Ilona, as if she could provide him with explanations or reassurance. She looked back at him and shook her shoulders, honestly unsure (and frightened) about the situation in front of them. Meanwhile, the other Atlas guards made their way towards Cormack, who was going in and out of consciousness, and removed his bonds, causing him to fall limply onto the hard ground. The soldier in front of Mitchell did the same, with the same results. Gideon noticed that Mitchell was trying to crawl towards Cormack, only to receive a very sharp kick to the stomach that forced him to curl in on himself. The soldier standing above Cormack stared at the dying soldier for a moment before shrugging his shoulders and moving towards Mitchell again. Almost instantly, he kicked Mitchell right in the face and then in the ribs. The two soldiers began to viciously beat the already injured Private.
Gideon’s vision turned red and his heart rate accelerated at an unnatural pace. After a couple more seconds of violent hits and kicks, one of the soldiers picked up Mitchell’s body, forcibly dragged him towards the glass barrier, grabbed Mitchell’s hair, and slammed his head against the glass barrier, causing it to crack. Gideon flinched at the sound and sight of Mitchell’s head crashing into the glass and leaving a small trail of blood. He saw Mitchell slump onto the ground, only to be attacked again by the two guards. Gideon couldn’t contain himself any longer; he had to say something.
"Fuckin' bastards!! Lay off of him!"
Almost immediately, he received a fist to the face that almost sent him onto his knees. He quickly recovered though and continued to stare and the abused soldier lying on the ground.
After a minute, the two soldiers picked up Mitchell’s now limp body and bound him back onto the cross-shapped pole. When they locked the soldier's wrists into place, they nodded to each other before leaving the scene. The door slid shut and locked with a loud click. Gideon looked down at Cormack, who was still awake and staring at the former U.S Marines soldier. He then glanced at Ilona, who was smirking. She directed her eyes towards the guard standing behind her. Her eyes then motioned Gideon to his own soldier. Gideon understood what she was communicating to him: ‘Take them out’.
They nodded at each other and quickly turned around and attacked the soldiers. Gideon grabbed the soldier’s gun, causing the soldier to shoot bullets in whatever direction Gideon was forcing him towards. Gideon aimed the gun at the glass window and bullets shot out of the gun, causing the already cracked (and slightly bloody) glass to crack even further. Satisfied, Gideon pulled the gun out of the soldier’s hands and kicked him with all of his force. The soldier crashed through to completely damaged barrier with Gideon charging right at him. Gideon fired the gun but realized that there were no more bullets...so he improvised. Tossing the gun aside, he ran up to the soldier, straddled him, grabbing his head, and slammed it against the ground with all of his force. He didn’t stop until he saw blood spurt onto the ground and heard a, what he would’ve thought was a sickening, but now was satisfying, crunch. He searched the dead soldier’s pockets until he found the key that unlocked the cuffs around his wrists. After freeing his wrists, Gideon quickly glanced at Ilona, who had just finished taking down her guard. Happy that she was okay, he stood up and opened the locks that were holding up Mitchell’s arms as well as limp body. He caught the bloody soldier and lowered him to the ground. He proceeded to gently shake the unconscious soldier’s shoulder.
“Mitchell? Can you hear me, mate? We’ve got to get out of here, but we can’t do that if you’re in LaLa Land. Wake up!”
After a couple more shakes, he was rewarded by two blue eyes slowly opening and fixing themselves onto his own. Mitchell found his gaze and weakly smirked.
“Assholes.”