RISING PHOENIX ACT SELECT

CHAPTER 11: POLYGRAPH

A few minutes later, Marco, Prairie, and Glenn brought a now despondent Octane to the ASTB AVR where Brianna was impatiently waiting.
“About time…” Brianna muttered to Marco as she opened the door. The room was pitch black save for a few rays of light escaping from the back windows. A single yellow-tinted lamp sitting on a table in front of the projector screen provided the main source of light of the entire room. One of the chairs had a single rope left on it by Prairie beforehand.

The group swiftly got everything set up - Marco and Prairie sat Octane on one of two chairs at the table while Glenn tied Octane’s hands to it tightly using Prairie’s rope. Prairie quickly took out her laptop and opened up a bunch of tabs. Meanwhile, Brianna shut and locked the door and pulled the chair opposite Octane for Marco to sit in.
“I hope you know what you’re doing…” Brianna told him.
“By the way,” Marco clarified to Brianna, “I’ll play bad cop…you be good cop.”
“Bakit ikaw yung bad cop…?”
“Because I’m bad at everything.”

Brianna, Glenn, and Prairie took a seat on the side as Marco sat down in front of Octane. He adjusted the lamp to better light Octane’s face and began the interrogation.
“State your name for the record,” Marco ordered Octane. Prairie was nearby, recording the whole interrogation on her phone. The room continued to remain silent, with the faint buzz of the lamp providing the only audible sound. After 10 seconds, Octane let out a light chuckle.
“Marco, walang kwenta ‘yan. Nalaman ko na kung sino siya.” she informed him.
“His name is Jorge Ramiel S. Dela Cruz. He's in Grade 10.” Octane was left with a shocked expression on his face as he heard the words come out of her mouth.
“Seems she’s right then,” Marco remarked as he noticed his expression. “So they’re making lower years do their work for them. Shameful…”

“As you can see…we already know a lot about you. So unless you want us to make your life a living hell,” Marco said menacingly as he stood up and put his hands on the table,
“...then you should talk.”
“First off,” Marco said as he sat back down, “Who is Ramone? Their full name. Say it.”
“...never,” Octane refused meekly.
“SAY IT!” Marco yelled as he slammed the table.
“Alright, alright! Their name is Ramone Villanueva…they’re Grade 11! They went on leave last school year, and we’ve been trying to find them ever since…” Octane answered. Prairie looked at her laptop once more as Glenn and Brianna watched intently.

“Totoo ang sinasabi niya…” Prairie confirmed.
“Estudyante si Ramone Alekhine T. Villanueva sa nakaraang taon…tapos nag-LOA siya.”
“Why did they LOA…?” Marco questioned further.
“I don’t know…they were probably just trying to get away from us…and it worked.”
“And they took the drive with them?”
“Yes…they went rogue. It was a shock to all of us. Just shows that you can’t trust anyone.”
“Why do they want to meet with you this week, of all weeks?”
“I don’t know…I swear!”

Marco took a deep sigh. He knew deep down that Octane really didn’t know the reason. He stood up and moved his body closer to Octane.
“...what’s in that drive? You mentioned a program. What is it?” he asked Octane.
“I’d rather die than tell you,” he fired back instantly. Marco immediately realized that this was a piece of information he wouldn’t be able to extract, so he moved on to other questions.
“How long has the Rising Phoenix existed…?”
“Longer than you think,” Octane answered jeeringly.

“How many people are involved in this…?”
“More than 1,” Octane told Marco, who was starting to get agitated.
“Is the Rising Phoenix in other campuses…?!”
“We’re everywhere,” Octane said very smugly. Marco had enough. He made his way over to Octane’s chair and turned it towards himself.
“GIVE ME A REAL ANSWER!” he shouted as he shook the chair, but it had no effect. The shaking partially loosened the rope on Octane’s hands.

“I am giving real answers,” Octane replied.
“Look at you. Chasing ghosts. Endlessly running around in a game of cat and mouse, trying so hard to prove that you’re not just a failure.” Marco angrily brought the chair closer as he heard this.
“But you can’t win. You know why? Because you don’t trust anyone. And you shouldn’t. Anyone you meet…your classmates, your teachers…and even your own friends…could be one of us.” As Octane said this, Marco looked over to a concerned Brianna, Glenn, and Prairie.
“The Rising Phoenix will be victorious…and there’s nothing you can do.” After Octane said this, Marco began to hyperventilate. At that point, Brianna quickly stood up and brisk walked over to the two to put an end to it.
“That’s ENOUGH!” she told Marco. After a few seconds, he let go of the chair and walked away from Octane with Brianna.

“You need to stop,” Brianna told Marco earnestly.
“Naaapektuhan ka na. Magpahinga ka na muna sa labas,” she suggested.
“I think she’s right,” Glenn added. Marco took a deep sigh before admitting it.
“Yeah…I think I need some time off…” he told the two.
“...I’m gonna go outside for a bit. Brianna, you interrogate him now,” he ordered.
“I’ll come with you,” Glenn told Marco, which he was fine with.
“Ok…not like you were doing anything anyway,” Marco replied snarkily. They both exited the room, leaving Prairie and Brianna in charge of the interrogation.

Glenn leaned on the wooden table that was left outside the door while Marco sat down on the floor. Marco soon took another deep breath and rested his head on his knees.
“I’m not cut out for this…” he told Glenn.
“Oo…para kang sumabog doon,” he replied.
“He’s right though. I am obsessing over this…and I dragged you all into this with me.”
“Naiintindihan ko naman ‘yan,”
“Oh…” Marco replied.
“I…wasn’t expecting you to say that.”
“Why not?” Glenn asked.
“...you still think I’m insufferable, don’t you?” he told Marco.

“Maybe a little…you know, why are you being so cooperative with me in the first place?” Marco asked Glenn.
“Even though I still think you’re hella annoying…” Glenn explained,
“...I can’t deny that you’re really smart. You’re better in Physics than I could ever be. Point is, talent recognizes talent. And I’m not closed-minded enough to let some olympiad incident get in the way of that.”
“Oh…” Marco let out, surprised that Glenn was showing such maturity.
“And this whole Rising Phoenix thing threatens everyone here…so I’d like to be remembered as the guy that helped put a stop to it.”
“Yeah…me too,” Marco replied.
They stayed there for a few minutes, waiting for Prairie and Brianna to be done with the interrogation. After a while, the door opened. It was Brianna.

“It’s no use…” she told the two.
“He won’t budge. I tried, he just won’t say anything - ”
BAM! While Brianna was still speaking, Octane shoved her out of the way as hard as he could and ran down the stairs nearest to the ASTB AVR. Her body quickly brought Glenn and Marco to the ground as Octane was getting away. Immediately, Marco moved her out of the way and began running after him as fast as he could.

He knew there was no way he could let him escape.