"No way. Absolutely no way." I protest at Hernandez's big reveal, "Its impossible for Matsui junior to be the witness identifying me."

Hernandez chortles at my response as he overtakes a car on the highway, mildly amused at my reaction, "Why can't it be possible? Don't keep me in the dark smart ass, this should be a good one."

"Because Ken Matsui is retarded." I state, "He can barely swallow solid food, much less be a police witness."

Hernandez blinks at this explanation, "Uh huh. Retarded. Didn't seem that way when Ken Matsui was at the station. He was very definitive in ID'ing you smart ass."

"Look, I'm serious here." I protest, hoping to shake Hernandez's preconceptions, "Matsui Junior was hospitalized for having a fit at the Academy. His brain suffocated or something like that."

"Therefore leaving him retarded?" Hernandez asks in an incredulous tone.

"That's right." I confirm, "Retarded."

Hernandez sighs as he plays with his extravagant mustachios, "Are you just saying that Ken is retarded because you are upset at him?"

"I saw the ambulance carting Ken's comatose ass away OK?" I insist to the disbelieving Hernandez, "Plenty of other people did as well. This is not me being difficult. This is about a retard fingering me when he can't even stop drooling into his slop."

"He didn't look retarded though." the Commander muses for a bit, "But, if you're telling the truth about the ambulance, I should be able to perform a check. The hospitals would keep a record of the ambulances they send out."

"Great. Then that would settle things, right?" I ask, "Tracking the ambulance would lead to the hospital that performed the medical evals on Ken."

Hernandez raises an eyebrow as he briefly glances at me, "If, and I must emphasize on the 'if', Ken Matsui had been evaluated as retarded, then that would put his entire testimony into doubt. Mental incompetence and all that. I would be able to provisionally remove you as a person of interest from the investigation."

"Even though Gustav is raising a stink?" I query.

The Commander shrugs, "Yep. The so-called Prince would be a lone voice shouting in the darkness. With no one to corroborate Gustav's accusations, it would be safe for me to ignore him."

I sink back into the car's seat with relief, "Great. That's great. Best news I have heard all day."

"Then brace yourself smart ass." Hernandez growls, "I have a metric fuck ton of questions that I want to ask you. And you better have the answers."

I nod, expecting this from the Commander. The man's entire world has been flipped upside down and he's no doubt feeling confused and stressed. Giving him some answers would probably net me some goodwill.

"The brainwash waves." Hernandez questions, "Tell me everything you know about them. And I mean everything."

I rub my chin meditatively, "Tensei has a classmate, a Celeste Alakahonie, AKA Celeste Chanellor, you know anything about her?"

"Not a clue." Hernandez grunts, "How's a teenage girl relevant to anything?" So, Celeste never actually went to personally meet Hernandez, meaning she probably never physically showed up at ORPO HQ. She brainwashed Gustav and sent him on his merry way then. Then what exactly is Celeste doing now? No clues so far, but my money is on nothing good, that's for sure.

"She's somehow connected to the brainwash waves. The place where your men went missing, that's her place of residence." I tell Hernandez, "I'm actually trying to track her down."

The Commander drums the steering wheel as he considers my words, "You are telling me that a teenage girl is responsible for a conspiracy that spans the entire City. Get real. Do you even have proof?"

"Yeah, sure do." I shoot back thinking fast, "Not here though. We've got monitoring equipment down in the sarcophagus. That's how we knew about the brainwash waves." Not the entire truth, but close enough for my purposes.

Hernandez grunts again but this time remains silent, slowly turning over what I had just said. I leave him to his thoughts and enjoy the car ride while it lasts.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

"You were hiding underground for the past few days?" Hernandez finally asks.

"Entire base of operations is there now." I say, "The armored shell keeps out the brainwash waves. The boss relocated to the sarcophagus as well. That's why you didn't hear anything from my contacts."

"Look," Hernandez begins in an urgent tone, "you owe me for helping you escape right?"

"What are you getting at man?" I ask back while narrowing my eyes.

"I am just saying that you owe me." Hernandez presses, "And the Sarcophagus has plenty of space. I and my family move down there and wait this whole disaster out while you do your secret agent thing. Sounds fair to me."

I frown at the Commander's sudden suggestion. Allowing Hernandez to hide out underground would take him off the board, costing me an ally. And that's not considering whether or not The Voice agrees to this course of action. I need to reassure the man of his safety before his cold feet get the better of him.

"You're the Commander of ORPO." I point out, "Out of all the people living in The City, you have the least reason to be afraid. Also, are you really going to abandon your men to whatever is out there?"

"You crazy?" Hernandez huffs, "My men are completely lost to the brainwash waves. I saw one of them go rabid when you provoked him. Going back to HQ would be throwing myself into a live animal enclosure."

"You're being over dramatic." I snort.

"No I am not." Hernandez insists, "That 'Tyrant' talk back at HQ, all of it was referring to whomever you work for, right? The moment my men figure out that I helped you escape, they would tear me apart. There would be no reasoning with them, you saw it for yourself."

"You were so confident that we were in the clear just a few minutes ago." I shoot back.

"Yeah, but a thought suddenly hit me." the Commander continues, "I might not be able to keep the secret, no matter how much I want to."

"Are you threatening me?" I snap angrily, taken by surprise by the turn in the conversation.

"Yes and no." Hernandez replies, completely unrepentant, "I don't want to let the secret out, but I won't have the choice thanks to the brainwash waves. Its only a matter of time before I spill everything."

"What in blazes are you talking about?" I roll my eyes at this complaint, "My trousers are protecting you right? The last I checked, your head is still functioning perfectly normally."

"I can't keep wearing your magic pants forever!" Hernandez cries out before stifling his voice in embarrassment, "What if I need to piss, or take a dump? What if I need to go to the shower? Your pants are not a solution to my problem!"

"Invest in adult diapers?" I snigger at the hilarity of Hernandez's dilemma.

Hernandez punches my shoulder with his hand and scowls, "Laugh it up smart ass, but its a real issue. The pants are going to come off at the end of the day, and what are we going to do then?"

"Alright." I concede, "I get it. We have a real problem. Your willpower will only hold out until the next time you go to the washroom."

Jokes aside, Hernandez has raised a legit point. I need to provide a long term solution to Hernandez's problem before I can count on him as an ally. The answer of course, would be to give Hernandez the same implants The Voice provided to Alley. Unfortunately, I have no way of coordinating with The Voice right now. I will just have to roll the dice and hope that The Voice gets the hints that I drop.

"You need to talk to the boss about this." I tell the Commander, "All this is way above my pay grade."

"Your boss, this Tyrant." Hernandez mutters thoughtfully to himself, "OK, I can do that. I can handle a meeting with your mysterious employer. You going to make a call or anything?"

"Nah." I shake my head, "If the boss wants to meet you, he will meet you. I'll tell you where you need to go though."

.....

As instructed, Hernandez drives us both back to the Dreaming Spires District where his men apprehended me a few hours ago. Once we enter the district proper, I guide Hernandez towards the Inclinator and tell him to stop the car right in front of the shutters.

"Now what?" the Commander asks, fidgeting nervously.

"Stay inside." I say and step out of the car. I then wave to the security camera mounted above the shutters, hoping The Voice is feeling in a cooperative mood. There's a groan of a motor starting up and the shutters begin to rise, revealing a yawning darkness that beckons the cop car to enter.

"Great. The boss says yes." I cheer before speaking to Hernandez, "Drive straight in. The Inclinator will take you down to where the boss is waiting."

"What, you're not coming with me?" Hernandez blurts out, "Don't you need to make introductions and all that kind of thing?"

"Relax. The boss knows who you are." I reassure the Commander, "In fact he knows everything there is to know about you."

"Threatening my family way back then was your boss's idea, wasn't it?" Hernandez unhappily concludes, "The "Tyrant' name is starting to make sense."

"You backing out?" I challenge.

Hernandez shakes his head and steels himself, "No. No, I'm in way too deep for that now. Alright, talk to you later smart ass."

With that Hernandez without another word drives the cop car into the Inclinator and the shutters slam shut, swallowing the vehicle whole. Great, that's one, no make that two problems solved. With The Voice busy with entertaining Hernandez, its attention should hopefully be too divided to pay attention to what I am doing topside. I make my way back to the parked SUV and get myself comfortable inside.

I fire the SUV's engine up and the dashboard comes to life. Accessing the on board map function, I begin trying to recall where Hobo Beard's lab was. The Voice drove me there the last time so I have no idea about the exact location, but with the help of the electronic map, I begin narrowing down an approximate location. Hopefully my memory isn't too far off, it would be a bitch to get myself lost after everything that has already happened today.

Satisfying myself that my preparations are complete, I disengage the SUV's brakes and enter the flow of traffic, drifting towards an unknown prospect.

And an even more uncertain future.