BATTER 67

Leaving the retreating Baron behind, the Governor led Bijou toward the center of the gallery. Bijou’s mouth worked soundlessly, unable to follow either of them.

“Jude, what did he mean by saying he almost died?”

“I’m not entirely sure. It seems there has been a misunderstanding.”

“If it’s a misunderstanding, what kind are you talking about? Tell me properly, Jude!”

When the simultaneously dim-witted and sharp Bijou persisted, the Governor—”Jude”—murmured calmly, sounding almost sorrowful.

“You don’t trust me, do you?”

Since he was designed to react to human sadness, Bijou stopped in his tracks and looked at him. Jude didn’t miss that moment to add more.

“Even though I’m the one who fixed you…”

Those were the last words Baron could hear from the gallery. As he was forced down the hallway, Baron chewed over the meaning of that statement. He recalled the fact that the man had once been a blue-collar worker at an android manufacturing plant.

What had happened to turn an ordinary laborer into a political giant? What had happened to make a broken, worthless android act like a back-alley Messiah? There were still too many blanks in this crossword puzzle.

The guards led Baron to the edge of the web-like passages and transferred to an elevator he hadn’t noticed when he first arrived. Thus, they moved to a place far from the center and even further from the surface. The area they descended to felt like the lower decks of a luxury liner. This sub-level, designed without the VIPs’ eyes in mind, gave off a completely different vibe from the corridors he had just passed.

The windowless walls were painted in a dull, stark monochrome, and the floor tiles seemed to prioritize hygiene and function above all else. White-painted pipes ran in a tangled mess beneath the high ceilings. Baron spoke to the guards who were silently escorting him.

“So, where are you taking me, hm? The lawyer’s visiting room?”

“Shut it, you little rat.”

“No need to be so cold, mate.”

Deciding he might as well get under their skin since he was caught anyway, Baron let out a chuckle. Naturally, no one else laughed. It wasn’t until they shoved Baron into a room at the end of the hall that one of them showed a fleeting, sneering expression.

The interior of the room was just as stark and desolate as the hallway. A single chair, the kind you’d find at a dentist’s office, was the only furniture. With restraints installed where the hands and ankles would rest, it gave off a much more sinister aura than a real dentist’s chair. Trixie’s shipping container looks like a palace compared to this, he thought.

While he was lost in trivial thoughts, something chilling pierced his nape. A dull pain, like a long needle puncturing the skin, lingered at the back of his neck for a long time. Starting from there, a tingling sensation like an electric shock washed over him, and his sense of touch and muscles began to grow numb.

The substance, which infiltrated his muscles faster than an anesthetic, made it impossible to move his limbs no matter how much strength he applied. Even his sense of pain and touch had become almost non-existent.

The guards sat Baron in the chair and fastened the restraints over his limp arms. Since he could still move his mouth even if his limbs were useless, Baron decided to keep yapping.

“Peripheral nerve control device? That’s a pretty nice toy to waste on a rat.”

Was he being treated as a dangerous element that couldn’t be trusted even with restraints? If that was the reason, he felt he could take a bit of pride in it.

“So, what’s the plan now? I didn’t exactly expect you to host me ‘respectfully,’ so just speak freely.”

“Crazy bastard. We’re going easy on you and you still haven’t grasped the situation…”

“Hey, look at this. This guy’s already in our database.”

A guard flipping through a tablet screen a few steps back cut him off. A familiar voice was playing from the tablet in the man’s hand. It sounded like footage captured by the camera of the aerial vehicle he had raided a few days ago. Baron smirked.

“Just figured it out? Good to see you, brother.”

“The person who’ll be glad to see you is someone else entirely.”

The man turned off the tablet screen and gave Baron’s cheek a light tap. Staring down with a boringly humorless face, the man continued.

“Just wait a bit, rat. He’s on his way down right now.”

“That’s exciting. I wonder who’s coming? Care to give me a hint?”

“Why don’t you save that energy?”

“Why, you gonna pull my teeth out in a bit? You’ve already got the dentist’s chair ready and everything.”

Only then did the man’s mouth twitch as he let out a laugh. It was a blatant sneer.

“You’ll find out soon enough. Let’s see how long you last.”

Baron considered shrugging his shoulders, but his body wouldn’t move well, so he gave up and just tilted his head. Was he planning to pull his tongue out like a mob boss? For guys hiding a secret base under the sea, they were seriously lacking in flair.

Just as the man said, his curiosity didn’t have to last long. A moment later, the door swung open and a very familiar face appeared. His breathing was slightly labored, as if he had run there.

“It’s him? You’re saying he’s the one who came?”

“Yo.”

Baron greeted the man, whose voice he had heard before. Though he was slumped over and unable to wave, his greeting was annoyingly lively.

“I see you’ve patched up the hole I poked in you.”

“Still as loud and flighty as ever.”

The middle-aged man who had come to Edge Street to take Bijou. Seeing that he looked more haggard and bloodless than when they last met, it seemed Baron had succeeded in inflicting a major wound just short of being fatal. Baron pulled his lips into a wide grin and kept talking.

“Since you say I talk too much, I’ll get straight to the point. What’s next? You gonna put on The Sound of Music for me?”

The man ignored Baron’s nonsense and approached. As he operated a touch pad attached to the chair, a ring he’d thought was a light descended to his head. Strands resembling insect legs dangled from the side of the ring, twitching. Seeing the faint light emitting from the tips of the strands, Baron realized this device was the headgear the Doctor had mentioned.

“Wow, are you really going to play The Sound of Music? Just kill me instead.”

Knowing it would be futile, Baron still twisted his neck back and forth. However, simply tilting his jaw wasn’t enough to avoid the gear being fitted onto his head. The gear, which adjusted its own size to fit the wearer, settled onto Baron’s head. The strands clung tightly, pressing against the back of his skull. The man spoke as he slowly operated the touch pad.

“Fistfights and knifing are just too barbaric now. They leave evidence, too.”

“Yes, sir, I hear you loud and clear, you barbarian.”

“Your marksmanship was excellent, but I guess you never learned that you shouldn’t provoke your opponent when you’re confined?”

“I think your side is the one that failed to learn. You lose your hostage, your security gets breached—what exactly have you guys learned?”

“If this is an attempt to find a weakness through provocation, it’s a pointless exercise,” the man added as he stepped back, having finished the setup. Immediately after, the light on the gear surrounding his head intensified ever so slightly. Baron rolled his eyes and stared at the man mockingly.

“I thought you’d at least ask me something before starting.”

Even after hearing the derisive remark, the man did nothing more than twitch an eyebrow. He looked down quietly at Baron, who was tied to the chair.

“I’m not particularly curious about who you are or where you came from. Things like who belongs to what organization… they’ll all be meaningless soon enough.”

Did he mean he was going to kill him because dead men tell no tales anyway? Baron countered by looking him straight in the eye without flinching. The light from the ceiling lamp reflected off his eyes, flashing a pale, white light. The man watching him continued.

“However, before that, it would be troublesome if you kept yapping about useless things.”

“That certainly sounds like a villain. So, should I just get ready to die now?”

“Didn’t I tell you? Violence is too barbaric now.”

“You mean it’s too much trouble. Quit acting ethical while you’ve got a man tied up, would you?”