25 MADRIGAL
Shinsou went back to the room where the rosters were, and saw that the operations centre was usually cleaned in the mornings. It was already late afternoon; he would have to find some other excuse to go in.
He was about to walk off, when another cult member came over to check the same roster.
"Well, if she's one of those who cleans it, she can at least tell me what it's like, there," he thought. He brainwashed her.
She had a mop and bucket with her. He was curious.
"Where are you going now?" he asked.
"The operations centre," she said, "It hasn't been cleaned today. The one who was supposed to do the cleaning this morning fell ill, and no one was sent to replace her. Inoue-san is very angry."
Shinsou could hardly believe his luck.
"Does Inoue-san get angry easily?" he asked the cult member, as they walked to the operations centre.
"She is normally demanding," said the cult member, "but she has been especially uptight lately. Some weeks back I heard her shouting at the section in charge of security to start looking into implementing biometric access for all the lower-level Hikari members, saying that Hikari premises elsewhere were being violated and that the leaders here are pressuring her to tighten things up. She also wanted them to increase the number of sentries. And then the people from the southern base arrived. She had to allocate places for them to sleep, and also assign them to different sections here, and they need training because the jobs are new to many of them. Some of them do different work over at the southern base. For a few hundred people all this is not easy to do, and Inoue-san is always very uncomfortable if things are not running perfectly."
The operations centre was a sprawling complex, housing departments for all the facilities in the base. The cult member had hardly started cleaning the floor when Madrigal appeared. Shinsou decided that she was the fiercest-looking nightingale he had ever seen. She was dressed in a medieval-looking gown, and she marched up to them with a savage light in her eyes.
"Make sure this doesn't happen again," she said sharply to the cult member, "The ops centre needs to be cleaned first thing in the morning!"
"Yes, Inoue-san," said the cult member.
"Who's this?" said Madrigal, turning her fierce eyes on Shinsou.
"He's a new recruit," said the cult member, "I'm training him."
"Well, he should be doing the cleaning, then, not you," said Madrigal. She glared at Shinsou's nametag. "Let me see your name."
She stalked off after that. Shinsou mopped for a few minutes, and then, deciding that Madrigal wasn't coming back, made his cult member resume the mopping,
He was wrong. She suddenly reappeared next to them.
"Tanaka!" she said sharply, glaring at him, "I checked, and I don't have your name in my database."
"There must be some mistake," said Shinsou.
"No, there isn't," she snapped, and then her face went blank.
"Let me come to your office and have a look," said Shinsou.
When he was alone with her in her office, he said to her, "First of all, tell me if there is a public address system here."
"Yes, there is," she said, "it covers every single facility in the base."
"Who has access to controlling it?"
"We have access here," she said, "and it can also be controlled from the dining hall. The Hikari member who sets up the microphone at every meal for the pledge knows how to work it."
"Would he know how to block off transmission to the Lodge?" asked Shinsou.
"Yes," she said.
"Good," thought Shinsou. He went on to his next question. "Tell me what the communications network within the base is like."
"We have our own dedicated system for communicating within the two bases," she said, "And we can communicate with the outside world via satellite phone, but this is kept to a minimum."
"Issue me five satellite phones," he said, "and ten for use within the bases. And also ten master access cards. Give them all to me in a bag."
She was halfway doing it when her phone rang.
"Ignore your phone," said Shinsou.
Madrigal had just handed the items to Shinsou when someone knocked on the door.
"Tell them you're busy now and that you'll attend to them later," said Shinsou.
He waited till Madrigal had done as he instructed, and then said, "Since this is the headquarters for Hikari, I assume you have access to data describing all the Hikari establishments."
"Yes," she said.
"I want a list of every single Hikari establishment in Japan," said Shinsou.
"I don't know how to access it," she said, "but the Head of the Computer Section, Matrix, does."
He made her send for Matrix. The latter turned out to be a rather worried-looking individual who wore horn-rimmed glasses. Shinsou promptly brainwashed him when he arrived.
"Print me a hardcopy of all the Hikari establishments in Japan and all their details," said Shinsou, "If anyone asks what you're doing, say Madrigal asked you to do it."
Madrigal's phone had been ringing constantly, and there were now other people knocking on the office door, so Shinsou said to her, "Carry on with your work as usual." He left her office, holding the bag full of phones and access cards.
It took him a while to find his cult member. She was already halfway across the complex, busily mopping. Shinsou took up his station behind her, and told her to mop more slowly. There was still something else he wanted to get, and he was wondering how long they could stay in the complex before Madrigal noticed how slowly the cleaning was progressing.
He found himself eavesdropping on two cult members who were working nearby.
"It's going to take a long time for one person to key all this in," said one, "I won't be able to finish it by today."
"Well, Inoue-san wants it done quickly, and I've requested for someone else to come and help you," said the other, "He should be arriving in about fifteen minutes."
"I don't understand why we need to key in all the names of those from the southern base," said the first member, "There should be an existing soft copy."
"Their system there went down after this was printed out," said the second member, "So all we have is this list, at the moment."
"Why not just wait till the system is back up again, then," said the first, "and besides, why even key it in. After all, the southern base people will only be here for a while, until the tunnel is fixed."
"Inoue-san is like that," said the other cult member, "Everything's absolutely got to be catalogued properly, and she can't wait. She's got to have everything in order. She wants things done right away. It's almost like some sort of obsessive-compulsive disorder, with her."
The other member grimaced.
"Well, anyway, data entry is easier than working in the kitchen, isn't it?" said the second cult member.
"It's dull work," said the first, "Which of the kitchen staff is coming to help me, anyway?"
"Someone called Katsuki Ozawa," said the second, "Do you know him?"
"No," said the first, "There are just too many people working in the kitchens, it's not possible to know everyone there."
Shinsou had heard enough. He left his brainwashed cult member to her mopping, and rapidly made his way to the entrance of the operations complex. On the way, he met Matrix, who held out a pile of papers to him.
"Thank you," said Shinsou, stuffing the papers into his bag, "I need a secure place to keep my things. Do you know of one?"
"I have two lockers assigned to me near the entrance of the ops centre that I never use," said Matrix.
Shinsou took the locker key from him.
"Do one more thing for me," he said, "Are you able to check the names of every single member in Hikari? Not only those here in Mt Aino, but elsewhere?"
"Yes," said Matrix.
"Find a Michelle Honda for me," said Shinsou, "Once you've found her, give her whereabouts to me or to Katsuki Ozawa who's coming to help do data entry."
He managed to find Matrix's lockers and placed the phones and his other things inside one. He then hung around the front of the operations complex, mindful of the surveillance camera nearby, discreetly glancing at the name tag of every person who entered. When Katsuki Ozawa came along, he promptly brainwashed him, led him out of range of the surveillance camera, and took his nametag.
"Eat this," he said, giving Ozawa a sachet filled with a white powder, "and then go over to the sickbay. I don't think you'll be well enough for the rest of the day to fulfil your data entry duties."
He then went to the nearest restroom, swapped his wig for a different one, changed contact lenses, and removed his nerdy glasses.
He made his way back to the data entry section. On the way, he met Matrix again.
"Michelle Honda is at the southern base, in laboratory 3A," said Matrix, handing him a piece of paper.
"Southern base?" said Shinsou, "But, that means she'll be here now, won't she? Can you check which section of the main base she's been assigned to?"
"No, I can't," said Matrix, "Not until the data entry has been completed. The names haven't been entered into the system yet."
"But they've already been assigned to various positions, haven't they? Who would have been in charge of assigning them?"
"Madrigal," said Matrix.
"Is this the only Michelle Honda in the list?" asked Shinsou.
"Yes."
"All right," said Shinsou, "Continue with your work as usual."
Matrix had hardly left when Shinsou suddenly heard Madrigal's trenchant tones. Something must have woken her from her brainwashed state.
"Tanaka!" she was shouting explosively, "Where is he? I haven't finished with him yet!"
Shinsou decided to accost Madrigal about Michelle Honda another time. He hurried over to the data entry section, and introduced himself to the two cult members there. He could hear Madrigal shouting at the cult member who was mopping the floor at the other end of the room.
The more senior cult member of the two gave him a list of names to key into the system. The list contained the names of the southern base cult members. He scanned it; there was no Michelle Honda there.
"Can I have a quick look at your list?" he asked the other cult member.
There was no Michelle Honda there, either.
"There must be some mistake," Shinsou thought. He scanned it twice, then three times, and then handed it back to the cult member, who was beginning to look impatient.
"Are these all the names there are?" he asked the cult members.
"Yes," said the senior one, "Three hundred of them. Surely you don't want more, do you?"
Shinsou decided it was time to leave. He brainwashed the two members, told them to key in the names in his list for him, and left. Before exiting the ops centre, he managed to get Matrix alone and asked him to create a fictional cult member with the name Tanaka and enter it into the database, in case Madrigal insisted on pursuing the matter.
He went over to the warehouse building where the goods were stored, following along behind a group of cult members. The storage rooms there were huge, lined with rows and rows of shelves and piles of sacks, a good place to hide. He took note of where the surveillance cameras were located, and found a secluded corner on the first floor where he brought out one of the mobile phones Madrigal had given him to make a call to Aizawa. He then settled down to wait for night.
The brainwashed cult member from the warehouse had told him that he and his workmates normally retired early. Dinner was at seven, and by nine they were expected to be in their dormitories. Shinsou waited till ten. He then changed into the sentry uniform he had obtained earlier, and ventured back out.
Lights had been switched off in some parts of the building. He went to the nearest place that was out of sight of the surveillance cameras, and waited in plain sight for some sentries to come along.
Two came, after about fifteen minutes. They caught sight of Shinsou, and hurried over.
"Who are you? What are you doing here?" barked one.
"I was told to wait here," said Shinsou.
"By who? – " and then he became glassy-eyed.
"Look, what's the matter with him?" Shinsou said to the other man.
The other sentry looked at his partner. "Nishida, what's wrong?" Then he looked irritably at Shinsou. "Anyway, who are you? – " His face became blank.
Shinsou brought a sachet of powder out.
"Give me your walkie-talkie, access card and other accessories, and then eat this," he said to the first sentry, "And after that, walk down to the sickbay and ask for someone to let you in. Tell them you've lost your access card. I expect you won't be well enough to be on duty for the remainder of the night."
The man went off. Shinsou made the other sentry accompany him to the third floor of the operations building where the surveillance room was.
They came across two other sentries there.
"There's been a change," Shinsou said, when they approached, "We're supposed to patrol the third floor here. The two of you are supposed to go to the warehouse basement, first floor."
They both answered him at the same time.
"Who gave that order – "
"Who are you? – "
Shinsou gave them the first sentry's access card so that they would be able to enter the warehouse building. He waited till they had gone off, and then said to his sentry partner, "Follow me to the surveillance room."
They made their way to the surveillance room, and then stood outside, in full view of the cameras.
After a while, someone from the surveillance room came out.
"Why are the two of you standing there so long?" he said, annoyed.
"Don't you remember me?" said Shinsou.
The man frowned. "Who? – "
"Wait here for me," Shinsou said to his sentry partner.
"Answer my questions," he said to the surveillance guard, "How many men are there in the surveillance room with you now?"
"Three," said the man.
"Tell me what time your next shift will be coming in."
"0600 hours," said the man. "We just started this shift."
"That should give me quite a lot of time," Shinsou thought.
"Step back into the surveillance room with me," he said to the man, "Tell your colleagues it's all right, that I'm Tanaka, your best friend in high school, that I've just arrived and you are excited and want to introduce me to them."
After he had brainwashed them, he tried interrogating them about Akahara's movements. He managed to confirm that the cult leader and his advisors usually took breakfast in the garden dining area on the sixth floor, while the remaining meals were in the fourth floor dining room. The guards had not observed which bedroom was Akahara's. They had been instructed to monitor the premises for strangers or peculiar behaviour, not cult members.
Shinsou considered his options. He basically needed to get Akahara alone or accompanied by not too many people so that he could brainwash them. He didn't know if Akahara slept alone or with a guard. He could wait till the following night and brainwash the surveillance guards again, and use their cameras to see which villains went into which bedroom.
He could also wait till day and then hide nearby while Akahara was having his meals, and see which of the cult members brought the food, and then try to drug the food for the following meal.
He asked the brainwashed surveillance guards to be seated, so that they would look more natural should anyone come in. That was when he noticed the extra chair.
"How many men are there in your shift?" he asked.
"Five," they answered.
"Well, where's the fifth?" he asked.
"In the restroom," they said.
Bother these surveillance guards, thought Shinsou, why do they always give me so much trouble. I'll have to wait for this fellow to come back and then brainwash him.
He waited for ten minutes, and then asked them, "Does he normally take a long time?"
"Yes," they answered.
"Well, I can't wait forever," he thought. He noticed a flask of water and a cup on the table.
"What's your colleague's name?"
"Hirata."
Shinsou located the nearest restroom. "Hirata?"
"Yes!"
Shinsou climbed up and, looking over the cubicle door, handed the blank-faced man a cup of water with a sedative mixed in. "Drink this."
"That should knock him out for a couple of hours," he thought, as he left the restroom. "As for those others in the surveillance room, I'll have to take the gamble that no one will come along and find them."
Now that the surveillance guards had been taken care of, he could roam the base without worrying about the surveillance cameras. Obsidian's floor plan showed emergency exits at various places around the facility, and Shinsou thought it would be useful to check some out before eventually finding a hiding place in the Lodge dining area. He didn't need his sentry partner any more, and sent him off to the sickbay with a packet of powder as well.
He decided to check out the exits in the dining hall. He made his way there, evading a few sentries along the way, and located one exit. It was locked, obviously because the cult did not want any of its members to escape. He guessed that only Akahara and his henchmen had the keys.
It took him a while to pick the lock, but he eventually managed it. He opened it, and brought a small flashlight out. He saw a flight of stairs leading upwards into darkness. Next to it was an elevator. He didn't fancy walking up two thousand feet of stairs, so he took the elevator up.
Its doors opened to reveal a tunnel which curved to the right. Shinsou made his way down the tunnel, and eventually came to a pair of blast doors. These were massive; he estimated that they probably weighed up to twenty tons. When closed, they were designed to protect the base from a nuclear explosion.
They stood open now, though, and Shinsou walked through them, encountering a second set of blast doors further down. He finally came to a second locked door. He picked the lock, and then cautiously slid the door open. Cold night air wafted in.
He looked out. The door was camouflaged to look like part of the rock face it opened out to. It lay behind a thick clump of trees, at the base of Mt Aino. Above the door was a small surveillance camera, well hidden. It was cold, and he was still wearing only the sentry uniform. He walked out some way to look around, and could see the mountain, tall and dark, stretching upward above him.
He stood there for a few minutes, enjoying the feeling of being above ground again, and then went back in and locked the camouflaged door. He made his way back, through the blast doors, down the elevator and back to the dining hall.
He was approaching the exit door to the dining hall, when someone pushed it open.
Shinsou froze. He then swiftly moved to a corner, and switched his flashlight off. How careless he had been, he thought, not to have locked the door.
The figure that came in was silhouetted for a moment against the dim light from the dining hall, and looked small and thin. It was wearing the cult uniform.
The cult member closed the door, so that all was in darkness. Shinsou saw sparks coming from the cult member's hand, providing a faint light.
"A cult member independent-minded enough to be sneaking around at night is worth interrogating," he thought, "and I know of one such cult member who has an electrification Quirk."
Silently, he brought his whip out. In a flash, he flicked it around the cult member's upper body. Sparks flew, and he felt what seemed to be a slight electrical shock.
He pulled at the whip so that his victim would be slightly off balance, then swiftly swept his foot out, knocking the cult member off his feet. He pulled the whip tight so that his victim would have difficulty breathing.
"Stop struggling and stop those sparks," he said, "or I'll pull the whip so tight that you won't be able to breathe in an atom of air."
The cult member stopped struggling, and the sparks ceased. Shinsou brought his flashlight out, and pointed it at the man's face.
The eyes that looked up at him were terrified, and the face was not that of a man's, but a girl's. The right side of her face and right arm were badly scarred, but he recognised her.
It was Mai Yamada.