The MP behind the wheel raised an eyebrow at Tanya's angry huffing as she disembarked.
"Second Lieutenant, where are you going?"
"The back seat."
It was unlike Tanya to care this much about seating arrangements. She was perfectly content with sitting in the back on her way to the Elinium Factory. The only difference now was the identity of the second passenger about to join them, Schugel.
The door slammed as if to confirm the MP's reason to panic. Tanya followed the pecking order and, by doing so, threw the driver under the bus that was her boss.
"But…that means…Schugel will be sitting next to me!"
She got comfy in the rear, making it obvious that her decision was final. "Sucks, doesn't it?"
Had Schugel found her sitting in the front, he would have literally shown Tanya her place and the show would have lasted for the duration of the trip. If the MP had any grievances about the current arrangement, he was welcome to express them on the battlefield in the North. Pissing off Schugel was the most straightforward method of getting a transfer order there, a thought Tanya kept in her mind.
"Don't worry about it. It's not like you would've gotten any views in the first place. Catch!"
"Eh?"
Just as Tanya was about to close her eyes and relax, a piece of black cloth was thrown in her face.
She glared daggers at the driver through the rear view mirror. The intensity of the magic in her glare was sufficient to make cracks appear on the mirror's surface. Surprisingly, Tanya's warning didn't wipe the smug grin off of his face, exemplifying a major drawback of developing informal relationships in the military. Had she maintained a professional attitude, this would not have occurred and the driver would have already been taken into intensive care as a result of Tanya's aggressive self-defence. Assaulting a minor was a serious infraction and assaulting Tanya was a death wish.
Wishes had a knack for coming true at the least opportune moment.
"He didn't tell you? You are to be blindfolded until we arrive at our destination."
"Is that even legal? I'm not a criminal."
"The Military Police have the authority to make this request. Schugel insisted on doing it himself, but that would have been problematic."
Schugel's idiosyncrasy has outdone itself even in his absence. The driver's explanation also hinted at Schugel's relentlessness in testing the legal limits of his power. Tanya was positive that this was a case of Schugel trying to exert authority rather than him being ignorant of legal matters. It was his masterful exploitation of legal grey areas that put Tanya in her current predicament.
Tanya regretted not disposing of the MP earlier. He wouldn't have become Schugel's enabler if he were dead.
Orders were orders, though, and it was better to pick up on this one before Schugel got to join them. Tanya temporarily removed her headgear to put the blindfold on, lest the MP would have to come over to help. Having her sight taken away and the unreliable Type 95 operation orb limiting her extrasensory perception left Tanya on edge about anyone encroaching on her personal space.
"This is an outrage. I've read my itinerary, so there can't be a state secret worth keeping from me. Schugel wouldn't have included it in writing if that were the case."
Her statement was mostly a lie: albeit she had gotten acquainted with a part of her itinerary, Schugel hadn't included anything of the sort. A reference to being blindfolded would have been caught by her internal danger filter.
Likewise, she was hoping the MP would take her words at face value rather than as an attempt to probe for information. As the driver, he should have been briefed about the route in advance because the assignment had to be cleared with the higher-ups. It was unlikely that they'd have given Schugel carte blanche to use MP escorts as he saw fit.
"I'm guessing the element of surprise plays a role. Besides, aren't the items on your itinerary limited to generic descriptions like 'equipment specification test'?"
Tanya's expression soured at his response. He wasn't going to divulge the information that interested her.
"What is Schugel up to?" Tanya asked, discontent, and started tinkering with her operation orb.
Sensory deprivation had its uses in scenarios other than torture and, given Schugel's pedantic subtlety during tests, the blindfold could serve as a preamble to something worse, like forcing her to rely on the operation orb for basic environmental awareness.
At least Schugel didn't have her tied up and thrown in the boot like a hostage. Ironically, it would have been a more accurate representation of her status as testing personnel, a hostage taken by a madman impossible to negotiate with.
The MP shifted in his seat, having noticed her tinkering. "For all of our sakes, Second Lieutenant, keep your operation orb deactivated. I've been told you can use it to scan your surroundings, which is a mighty convenient bypass."
Too convenient, Tanya agreed. The MP wasn't chiding her for it, only hinting at the risk of falling into a potential trap by activating the operation orb. There were no low-hanging fruit in Schugel's world.
The sound of the door opening sagged the mood inside the vehicle. Schugel has arrived.
"I see the Second Lieutenant is ready. Proceed."
"Where are we going?" Tanya asked, her head poking between the front seats. The hastily fastened blindfold covered her bangs and obscured half of her face.
Schugel was unmoved by the image. "It is to avoid questions like this one that I demanded sedatives instead of this ludicrous blindfold. I'd appreciate it if you took a nap, Second Lieutenant."
"The caffeine kicked in, so I'm not tired anymore."
"That means you can activate your operation orb and sedate yourself."
Tanya found the suggestion peculiar. On the one hand, he permitted her to take an extrasensory peek at the outside world. However, she would need to successfully cast a sleep spell on herself soon afterwards. Since the car ride has barely begun, Schugel was definitely aiming for secrecy.
She kicked back in her seat, pondering a way out of the predicament. Schugel remained eerily silent for what felt like half an hour, neither scolding her for any perceived failures nor exalting his handiwork. The lingering air of seriousness gave her the creeps about what awaited her when it was time to remove the blindfold.
The car drove into a valley, causing a distinctive sensation in Tanya's belly. They must have reached the town of Elin.
As if to confirm her thoughts, the driver said, "The local hospital says you blew up a mountain today. Good job."
He had seen the explosion himself, so using the hospital as a witness was meaningless in itself. The point was to let Tanya know that people were injured in the explosion.
Schugel came to intercept before Tanya could say anything, "The mountain had been cordoned off. Hospital staff can forward anyone injured in the explosion to law enforcement." The defensive tone was likely to address the hidden accusation of causing the civilian population more pain. Tanya marked Schugel's reaction down for future use.
"Apparently, it was one of your colleagues. The ambulance leaving the Elinium Factory found an upturned convertible on the side of the road."
"A convertible in these troubled times? They should fine him for reckless driving."
Kukuku, Tanya laughed to herself when she connected the dots in their conversation.
The Sales Director of the Elinium Factory was the one who got caught in the blast. Tanya had seen him drive off in a convertible before the fateful test and got what was coming to him for taunting Tanya. The fact Schugel was in tacit agreement with her on the matter spoke volumes.
Unfortunately, this conclusion presented a problem, as the Sales Department would be wary of pushing an invention that harmed their department head, regardless of the event's circumstances. Tanya cursed under her breath for deflating her own mood. Why was it so difficult to properly punish a jerk for being a jerk?
Tanya sensed commotion outside. The car slowed down.
"Halt! This area is off limits."
"That's okay, officer. We have a permit," said the driver. Judging by said officer's reaction, Tanya imagined that all the driver had to do was point at Schugel sitting next to him
"Engineering Director von Schugel! We were not expecting you this early."
"Your low expectations are my problem, it appears."
The rest of the ride was considerably slower and bumpier. Tanya surmised that the car remained in the vicinity of Elin when it finally stopped. She tried to recollect a location that would be both off limits to civilians and of interest to Schugel. Other than an unknown unknown, her brain was down to one alternative, the place that the MPs had warned her about, where Schugel sent Mages to die.
Oh, how Tanya wished she would have been able to leave the MPs' words about hauntings and hallucination that supposedly happened there as hearsay. Verifying urban legends had zero appeal to her.
Somebody opened her car door. Tanya heard Schugel's voice: "Take my hand, Second Lieutenant. I'll tell you when you can remove the blindfold." With her sense of hearing highlighted by the loss of sight, she noticed that his voice was coming out lower than normal, as if he altered his stature to make it easier to hold her hand.
He had a strong grip. Not painful, but enough to guide her by applying pressure when her feet went off the track. In Tanya's defence, blindly following someone on rocky terrain was no easy task.
The mood changed after a hundred steps or so. The air became more humid and a mechanical cacophony assaulted her ears. Combined with the uneven footing, Tanya was now confident of her whereabouts.
The Elin Mine.
A metal gate crashed open in front of her, prompting the guide to pull her forward onto a hard surface that seemed suspended in the air. The sound of locks engaging and buttons clicking, followed by the chime of a warning buzzer dispersed the remaining doubts: it was a lift supposed to bring her to the heart of the mine.
There was no turning back when the descent began. Not that there had been a feasible way to abort the assignment, but now even the unfeasible ones were out of the picture. Tanya would have to face the urban legends surrounding the mine.
"Feel free to inform me if you experience any discomfort. The purpose of this venture is to calibrate your body's response function to the Elinium Type 95 Operation Orb."
Two words caught her attention, the first being "venture." While Schugel's equipment tests were risky by default, this time he personally acknowledged the danger of Tanya's undertaking, albeit in the subtlest manner possible. One word was all it took to show that the conditions given to her were a world apart from the standard fare.
Since this wasn't an equipment test, Tanya seized the opportunity to clarify the second keyword. "Calibrate? Doesn't that imply changing it?"
A wave of goose bumps flowed down her back as she considered the implications. There was no way she had misheard him; it was going to be a repeat of her first test, only far less pleasant because the calibration implied a permanent change to the way her body functioned. Since it involved going deep underground with Schugel likely acting as the sole overseer, the so-called venture had all the trappings of a bona fide disaster.
"Indeed. You are wise beyond your years, Second Lieutenant. May this trait serve you well, should it withstand the procedure."
Praise!
Schugel praised her! He praised her in advance. This was wrong. Where were the criticism, verbal abuse or humiliation? Given Schugel's disposition, his behaviour was entirely unnatural, which made her feel weak in the knees.
The forceful grip on her hand reminded her that the encouragement came at a price and the customer was a tough negotiator. Fearing her will power receding, Tanya's mind sought solace in a procedural rubber stamp. If all else failed, she still had that. Didn't she?
"What is my safeword?"
The lift halted its descent and her hand was quietly pulled forward. A pang of disappointment in her chest, Tanya found herself locked dozens of levels below the surface ahead of a merciless trial.
Her executioner-cum-supervisor stopped in the middle of a cavernous space, his voice echoing: "Calibration is safe, Second Lieutenant. You are in good hands."
"Yours?"
The hand released her.
"No. You may take off the blindfold."