Never Judge



He didn't know how long he had been standing there, but he was pulled from his thoughts when Angelo spoke behind him.

"Are you up for it?" He asked Al.

"I am. I've tortured people in the past." He said as he walked back to his desk to collect a few items he would use to extract information. 

"Not people whom you trusted." Angelo said as he waited for Al to enter the room that they had converted into a torture chamber and holding cell for their guest.

"I didn't trust her, I never trusted any of my exes. They were just distractions." Al added as he pushed the door open and entered the room.

Inside was a young woman, around nineteen years in age. 

She had bright red hair and her fair skin was full of cuts, bruises and scars. 

"So you've finally come to visit me." The woman said as she managed to laugh, mocking Al and Angelo. 

Angelo lifted his hand and slapped her on her cheek, drawing blood as his long nails broke skin. 

Instead of crying out in pain, she laughed. Making Al look at her in disgust. 

"He got her, didn't he." She said, mocking Al. "Who knew that you and my boss wanted the same pitiful woman who couldn't even protect herself?"

She laughed once more as she lifted her head to look Al in the eyes as she tried to hurt him with her words. 

But her expression dropped as soon as looked at Al.

When she noticed that Al and Angelo's expressions remained unchanged, the joy in her eyes were gone. She knew something was wrong.

"Tell me, Annabeth, what was the mission Colin set you to accomplish?" Al asked as he ran his fingers through the different torture devices on the the table.

Annabeth was silent, as her brown eyes went wide, surprised that Al knew her boss's name, no one knew his name.

A grin formed on Al's lips as he noticed her expression, it seemed that what he had said was not what she was expecting. 

"Colin Jao, his father is Peter Jao a former member of the Dean Family Mafia." Al went on as he recited from heart Colin's personal information.

"Peter Jao betrayed not just the Dean Family Mafia but the king of the underworld as well, making him the biggest fish to ever escape the underworld." Al explained.

Annabeth began to thrash as she realized that Al was not just some pretty rich boy who changed his face for the purpose of vanity. 

"You must be confused and worried because I know these things." Al picked up a thin blade and examined it.

The way he held it and prepared it told Annabeth that Al knew how to use the blade, that he wasn't just trying to scare her. 

This part might be a mental game, but she knew what would come next would only inflict pain and permanent physical damage to her. 

"You see, Annabeth, you were so close to your goal." Al chuckled as he walked up to Annabeth. 

He grabbed her by the dog collar fastened on her neck and placed the cold steel blade against her cheek, drawing blood.

"Colin sent you to find out if I or my father knew who the king of the underworld was and how much he knew about Colin and his associates." Al could see from Annabeth's eyes that he was right. 

Her mission had been to capture Al's heart and make her way into the Lawrence family to discover how they were connected to the underworld.

It was common knowledge that the Lawrence family were the least upright among the elite of the city. 

People believed that they had made a deal with the kings of the underworld to protect them in exchange for assistance. So it was only normal for Colin to target Al and his father.

"You see, people were right." Al said as he slashed Annabeth's cheek. 

He could see in her eyes as she resisted the urge to cry out in pain.

The blade he had wasn't just an ordinary sharp blade. It was dipped in a toxin that caused immense pain to open wounds and stopped such wounds from healing. 

"The Lawrence family is the least law abiding family among the five big families of Capital City." Al told Annabeth as he moved his blade to her other cheek. "But there was one part where they were gravely mistaken."

"Are you sure you should tell her this?" Angelo questioned as he cautiously watched Al.

Al laughed and shook his head.

"I'm not some villain in a show that will tell her all my plans and then allow her to escape." Al never took the blade away from Annabeth's other cheek, nor did he move his eyes away.

Annbeth used whatever strength she had to pull her face away, causing the blade to wound her, making Al laugh.

"Not so smart are we, Annabeth?" He asked as he looked down at the woman before him. 

Annabeth let out a small sob as she still fought the urge to cry out in pain.

Al laughed at the pain she experienced, this was only a fraction of what he had planned for Annabeth. 

After he was done with her she would wish that she never met Al, that she never worked for Colin.

"You see Annabeth, the Lawrence family isn't friends with the king of the underworld." He told her. "The king of the underworld belongs to the Lawrence family." 

Annabeth's eyes went wide with shock as she realized how close she was to finding out one of the best kept secrets in their country.

Unfortunately for her, Al held all the cards at all times.

Colin choosing him as a target for her simply gave Al another change to capture the man. 

"And that girl you keep saying we both wanted, that was Colin's younger sister. Cara Jao." Al finally revealed to Annabeth. "You see all you girls were, were a cover up so that the public wouldn't look towards Cara. You were there to protect her."

"What does she have to do with you?" Annabeth finally asked.

"I see you still have a voice." Al chuckled. "You'll need that voice." 

Annabeth took advantage of the situation and spat at Al, making him flinch in disgust. 

"I can't believe you dated that?" Angelo asked in a mocking tone.

"It's good I dated that, she moved up our plans." Al said with a flat expression on his face. It was clear to Annabeth now that he never felt anything for her.

Al pinched her by the chin, making her look him in the eyes.

"Cara Jao and her father, Peter Jao have been under the protection of the Lawrence family for the past three years." Al said as he smiled at Annabeth. 

He could see as the cogs in her head began to turn, it wasn't that hard to connect the dots, but in her situation he could understand why it was such a struggle.

"The king of the underworld has always had Colin's father on his side, and everytime Colin contacted his father, it was the king pulling the strings." Al informed Annabeth.

Annabeth smiled and chuckled. 

"That still means despite all your resources, you still couldn't find Colin." She said proudly.

Al shook his head, her words were not true.

"We've found Colin multiple times, but the thing is he always escaped." Al told Annabeth. 

"The fire downtown." Annabeth gasped as she realized what the real cause of the fire was.

"It's it quite miraculous that the only casualties were members of Colin's group?" Angelo asked her as he watched from the sidelines. 

Unlike Al, torture wasn't exactly something he did well.

Annabeth frowned, her eyes clearly in pain from the memory.

She probably had some friend that died from the incident, after that time Colin's crew was cut in half.

Many of his well trained people actually died there, some by Al and Angelo's hands. 

Raymond Lawrence didn't permit it, but Al joined the mission, it was the same day he met Angelo as they tore through Colin's men. 

After that time, Colin became more desperate as he tried to convince his father to draw attention to himself.

He knew that if a person had evaded the king as long as his father, the king was bound to deal with the matter himself.

Unfortunately for Colin, Peter Jao continuously refused, and without Cara or his Aunt Pandora as leverage, there was nothing Colin could do to force his father's hand.

That's why he had been so desperately looking for Cara and Pandora the past year, because he needed to use them.

He didn't want to find them because they were family, he needed them so that his father would do what he wanted.

"Now Annabeth, don't cry." Al told the woman before him as he saw a stray tear fall from her cheek. "Tears won't bring back the dead."

"Do you expect me to tell you what I know about Colin Jao after you just revealed to me that you caused the deaths of my brothers and my boyfriend?!" Annabeth shouted, it was clear that the pain she felt from their deaths was still there.

Over the years the people from Colin's side thought that Colin had killed his own people.

Many left and many blamed him.

People like Annabeth couldn't leave because of what Colin had on them. 

"Oh, I never expected you to speak after learning that." Al said as he nodded towards Angelo. 

The other man quickly unfastened Annabeth's chains, only to make her stand and to hang her by her arms. 

"You see, Annabeth, you will never leave this room alive. You will simply be a corpse thrown away when you leave this place." Al said, sending chills up Annabeth's spine.

The woman began to sob even harder as she heard that he had no intention of letting her live.

"But I will allow you one last mercy." Al said as he looked at the woman he once dated. "You get to choose how long you will live."

"H- h- how long I will live?" Annabeth asked, shaking in fear and in pain. 

"Yes, Annabeth." Al told her as he walked around her. "Did you really think that after betraying me and using me, I would let you simply walk away?"

Annabeth shook her head.

She was worried that if she said anything else Al would take away the chance 

"The longer you live, the more pain we will inflict through torture." Al explained to Annabeth. "But if you tell us everything we will give you a swift death."

Annabeth gasped in shock as she heard Al's ultimatum.

"We will give you a day to decide." Al said as he placed the knife back on the table with the other torture devices. 

Angelo walked to the door and was about to open it when Al stopped him.

Al turned and looked at Annabeth and smiled. 

"Don't even think of lying to me, because you might be gone, but others that you care about that are also involved will end up paying the price for you." 

With that Al and Angelo left the room.