Chapter 13 - Huntly Mine (part 2)

The bar becomes a mess, with all the gunshots scattering around, damaging the furniture inside. The bar is built with bulletproof and soundproof materials, so the bartender freely goes rampaging inside. We run to hide behind some tables. Luckily they are also bulletproof.

The bartender slowly walks towards us, with the menacing barrel directed towards our table. I take out the photon shotgun SG-01 and quickly load. This shotgun is not as strong as a projectile shotgun, and that is the point. We need to keep that person alive.

Mirai throws a flash grenade towards the bartender. It detonates and makes his vision blank. With the built-in propeller in her legs, Mirai kicks the table straight into the bartender's face. The table flies at him and break in half. I embrace the opportunity and shoot at his right hand. The impact blows his rifle away. I leap at the bartender, holding him down and point the shotgun at him.

- Try to move a centimetre and this bad boy here will blow your pitiful face up. - I threaten him.

Mirai ties his arms and legs together, and puts him on a chair, in a corner of the bar. After fighting with enemies far stronger than human, dealing with him is a piece of cake. Mirai takes out a syringe, inside is a purple liquid.

- To prevent you from telling lies, let's give you a dose of this truth potion.

Mirai holds the man's arm, tries to find his vein and injects the liquid into his body. After a few minutes, his body vibrates vigorously, and he passes out.

- So, Yuusha, this one is a modified neurotoxin that targets specific parts of the brain responsible for memory storage and speech. The moment he tells a lie, he will go through a pain that even getting kicked at his crotch cannot be compared with it. No worries, because he will wake up for our interrogation in a minute.

I instinctively move my hands to cover those parts. What a vivid description.

The bartender, with his limbs tethered, now fainted from the side effects of the truth potion, suddenly wakes up from his temporary shock. Unable to do anything against us, he looks as docile as a dolphin. With a small blade just a few millimetres away from his thumb nail, Mirai starts the interrogation with a brief introduction.

- If you lie, the truth potion will hurt you. If you keep silent, I will take away a nail of yours. You know your job.

- Ha, do not even think that I would open my mouth to speak something, you little brats... Argh!

Mirai extracts his right thumb nail with a swift cut. The nail flies in the air and lands somewhere three metres away from our position. She moves the blade to his second finger, the right pointer finger.

- Every minute you waste our time, I would take another pitiful nail of yours. Let's see if you can bear it for twenty minutes.

- Just a piece of cake. I will not... Argh! Why?

Another swift cut sends the nail of his right pointer finger flying a good three metres in the air.

- Nonsense will also be penalised with one nail. - Mirai uses a sweet tone, while her blade slowly moves to the right middle finger.

I am sitting in a corner, yawning, as Mirai extracts each finger from the bartender's hands and legs. It is like a broken cassette, starting the play with the wind-cutting sound of the blade, followed with the lamentable shouting sound of the tied man, and ending with the sound of the nail impacting the ground a few seconds later. Ten minutes feel like forever, yet the guy does not move a lip. I start feeling impatient, and I walk towards Mirai.

- Mirai, you have done well. Let me handle the rest. Men can only open up with other men. - I pat her shoulders, while taking away the bloodied blade she has been using. I shove her away.

After calming Mirai down, I stand in front of the man, and start the interrogation with an anecdote.

- You see her right. She is just a robot that I received like half a year ago. We do not even fully understand each other yet.

- So, how does it link to the topic, brat?

- We spent half a year with each other, slowly learning about each other. Not long after that, I see her as a person, although every time I said that to her, she would say that she was a former human and started pouting.

- So?

- You also have a wife and two kids, right?

- No, why would an underground worker like me have a... Arghhhhhhhh!

As expected, the truth potion takes effect. He is screaming as if the nail extraction before is nothing but a mere appetiser for the main course.

- That is not good, my friend. Men do not lie to each other.

- Ok, I have a wife who is waiting for me back at home. But not two kids though?

- Then one?

- Not a single child.

The truth potion takes effect again. I can see his veins as he screams in an unparalleled pain.

- Man, I told you, no need to lie about this.

- I have one wife and a child. He is four years old this year.

- See, it is easier when it is between men, right?

- What are you trying to imply?

I bend down, leaning my right elbow on his shoulder.

- You have a wife and a kid back home. Would they be happy when they see you coming back, in a state that no wife and children would even dare imagine?

- No...

- Yes, you get my point. We are enemies, but families matter above everything. Now, please tell us everything you know, and we will let you go peacefully. Or else, that woman of mine over there will make your life never the same again...

A chair flies towards my head, but I dodge it. Mirai is the one throwing it.

- Who is your woman? Huh?

I turn to the man.

- You get my point, right?

- Ok, I get it.

I sigh in relief. I continue.

- Now, let's tell us who is...

- My wife cheated on me with a guy she said to have much more prospects, and left me with this child, just six months ago. Then, not long after that, in a massacre on a kindergarten, he, along with nearly four hundred kids and teachers, passed away. I cannot bear the burden. Just after that, a mysterious person lent me a helping hand when I was in the deepest depths of the everlasting dark abyss. He said that he would help me to revenge on humanity, which has been rotten to the core. He would provide me with everything needed, from this undercover job, to this rifle which I have used to hunt down that hideous, scumbag couple of the society. I have the power to wipe out humanity... - He starts grinning his teeth, progressively vigorously as he continues his anecdote. His body starts trembling, but not in fear.

- Chill, man. I understand them. Just tell us his name, and we will...

- And I have pledged absolute loyalty to him.

The bartender bites his tongue, effectively ending his life. I feel disappointed as we did not manage to obtain valuable information. As I am still leaning my elbow on his shoulder, I feel something heating up.

- Run, Yuusha! He is going to explode! - Mirai takes out a heavy axe with an accelerator and slams at the windows, shattering them into pieces.

As she grabs my hands and pulls me out of the bar, the corpse of the bartender becomes red hot, then explodes. A loud sound blasts through the air, almost destroying my eardrums, if Mirai did not place an Inhibitor Sphere and set up a protective area in time. I can feel the impact of the explosion sending air waves away at twice the sound of speed. After the explosion, we quickly flee away from the area, avoiding any unnecessary suspicion from anyone.

- I thought I almost have him in my palm, but I really do not things to take this unexpected turn. - I murmur to myself, as we continue our peaceful evening stroll.

- It's OK, Yuusha. We do not expect to meet the man anyway, so I cannot blame you. But true, we would need to try to work with what we have from the interrogation. I have recorded and stored them in the archive already. - Mirai tries to console me.

There is this night left before we go to the Huntly Mine tomorrow. Guess we would try to enjoy this quiet, peacefully quiet view, then we will start fresh for the official work.