Ambre stared at the woman, confused at first. She expected something different. Anger, disappointment, anything that wasn't that cold expression of confidence as if she had already won. It made her blood boil, re-energising the hatred that wasn't fully there just minutes after being woken up. "Written off as POW?" she asked, unaware what that even meant for her in Liberty.
The pilot took a glance at the picture. Her heart sank. Just when she thought it was finally the end of the chapter, it all came crumbling down. The smug attitude now made complete sense to Ambre.
The final passing comment's effect could have been described as a mirror cracking into shards. Grasping the picture tightly, it seems as if she had lost her composure completely. "Where did you find this?!" Her appearance was laughably degraded, at best.
The picture was a family photograph with all of her close relatives - mother, father, brother, and herself. It was taken years ago, a long time before she joined the Royal Navy. How could they have recovered it? It was in the cockpit, that she can recall, but given the burns she had, it would've quickly been incinerated. Or so she thought.
She cared about her family deeply, and they were partly the reason of why she actually did join the Navy - to ensure that they'd never have to face the fear of dealing with these Sirians through their barbaric, murderous ways. Nevers was dangerous enough without them. In a cruel stroke of fate, now they are the ones facing the fear of losing a family member to them. She didn't think about this much before, rather, repressed the thought and let it gnaw her inside silently. However, in her exhausted state, this was the key that put things into perspective and opened Pandora's box. She felt as if she had seen a ghost, though her tired, just-awoken appearance made it look quite sad instead.
Zoe Valentine leaned back on the wall adjacent to the keypad. It was the opposite of convenience that the High Command had failed to give her the code to the apartment. She had just been hastily reassigned to POW duty, and was due to swap with Elizabeth. The reasons weren't clear, but being made the babysitter for the Gallic captive was enough to make Zoe bitter. And being kept waiting wasn't making things any better.
*Bzt*. *Bzt*. Zoe's finger pressed on the buzzer once more. She was getting impatient. In her boredom, she began to use the sound of the buzzer to play out the Liberty national anthem. Just before she was about to press the buzzer one more time, Elizabeth suddenly showed up to the door. Zoe awkwardly smiled, but Elizabeth was certainly annoyed by her antics. Elizabeth motioned for Zoe to enter the room, before leaving and exiting the building.
As Zoe walked in, she saw Ambre hunched over and motionless, lost in thought with a sad expression on her face, and tightly gripping a picture. In her Navy career, Zoe was all too familiar with the Gauls, most notably their ferocity and lack of empathy. She had killed many herself in combat, as well as lost comrades to the Gallic onslaught. But to see one in front of her, Ambre, so vulnerable and stripped of that distinct Gallic pride was surreal.
"I'm Lieutenant Commander Zoe Valentine," she said as she cautiously began to approach Ambre. "Elizabeth has been transferred to somewhere else so I'll be handling your interrogation". She paused briefly. "Elizabeth gave you that picture, yeah?"
She stared at the woman, visibly unhappy with the situation. This one seemed more arrogant and less professional than Elizabeth, for better or for worse, only time would tell. It's not like she had a choice regardless. She looked at the picture again before putting it in her pocket, then switched her gaze to the new arrival.
"You seem to be switching interrogators as fast as one would switch socks, am I doing that well?" she asked sarcastically while ignoring the question, the Gallic accent likely making it much worse.
Ambre looked worse for wear, but tried to keep up a strong appearance. In reality, her inside world was shattered and death started to become something preferable than participating in this circus and dragging it on. There was, realistically, no way she would be able to escape - but if she managed to grab a gun, she could at least do something before the inevitable. If word ever reached it, maybe her name would be even mentioned in the Kingdom.
Regardless, making compromises now wasn't the time.
And with that snarky comment, Zoe's temporary sympathy went out the window.
"Weeeeell, looks like we've got ourselves a comedian!" Zoe said sarcastically, mimicking Ambre's tone. "You know, I've got a reputation for making fun out of others, and just looking at that picture in your hands, I can think of lots of material already..." Zoe trailed off, giving a pause to allow what she said to sink into Ambre.
"But surely that's not what you want, right? How about we start over. We can be the best of friends". Zoe stared dead into Ambre's eye. "All you have to do is starting talking, and tell us what we want to know. So why not start by answering the damn question?" Zoe said angrily, referencing her question about the picture.