“Gugugugu!”

Alex ignored the gargled screams of Jonson in the background.

Although he regarded this as entertainment, this was not the part that thrilled him.

He liked observing the target in between the ‘punishments’ and figuring out the exactly right steps to make him submit efficiently.

He remembered the lessons in his youth: whenever a target reached the desired state after a ‘punishment’ his instructor’s eyes would light up and often words of approval followed…

… And sometimes, they were followed by rewards.

Although never of a permanent nature, Alex greatly cherished all rewards back then.

“Now, there is only myself to reward myself.

But these days, the feeling of success was a reward itself.

 

From one of the many hidden pockets on his person, he had pulled out a thin rope mostly made of carbon nanotube fiber.

It took him a few minutes to tie everyone up; during this time, with only a few interruptions, the “Gugugu” sound could be heard steadily.

When Alex returned to the machine and finally paused the program, Jonson’s face was covered in spittle and his eyes looked a little vacant.

“Ha, this model is so old, there are no measures against choking,” Alex spoke with a calm, leisurely voice, “Except for filling your mouth with slime that is.”

Jonson’s formerly vacant eyes widened in panic when he heard the word ‘slime’.

“But I am not sure if this model’s slime is breathable, what do you think about trying it out?”

Jonson mumbled something, not yet having recovered the ability to speak clearly,

“Holelele…”

Inwardly, Alex laughed,

“It seems he is unaware of his tool’s specs.”

Since he did not wish to miss out on the feeling of success, Alex had searched the machine’s manual beforehand.

Although complete submersion exceeding three hours was advised against, the slime was breathable.

“Nono, p-lelese…”

Having observed Jonson for long enough to estimate his mental state, Alex finally stepped closer and undid the head strap.

Unfortunately, Jonson was unwilling to have all his cavities filled with slime and continued to hold his head up.

“Still holding your head up high, you truly have a noble temperament,” Alex joked.

“P-p-leleles…”

Alex did not bother using his hands to submerge him and instead returned his attention to the controls.

“Someone with your temperament needs to be more manly, shall we see if we can stimulate some growth down there?”

Alex had not actually taken a look; all his words were used to portray a certain personality and lead to a specific mental state in the target.

Without waiting for a coherent response, he tapped the necessary controls and activated his custom-made ‘nether-regions-growth’ program.

“Gugugu…”

The sound soon vanished as Jonson lost control over his neck muscles and the slimy gel claimed his head.

 

After a few more rounds in silence, Alex allowed Jonson to emerge.

The slimy gel was sucked out of him again, and he took a coughing breath.

Alex observed his behavior and noted,

“He needs at least half an hour before we can continue…”

Feeling that waiting would be quite boring, he considered,

“Should I wake up fellow data shades?

“It might be interesting; however, would half an hour be enough to make progress?”

He decided to give it a go and walked up to the tied-up muscleman:

“Oi!”

Pa pa pa!

After a few slaps, the man woke up.

Alex had relieved him of his Wristpie and shades beforehand; thus, now he could observe the process of the man’s unfocused pupils clearing up as he regained consciousness.

Alex gave the man on the floor a few moments to observe the current situation,

“He is clearly surprised, hehe. Did not think I would actually take out and tie-up all of you…

“Looks like he discovered his Young Master’s sorry figure…

“Now, he must be considering how to take me down…”

Although the hired muscle’s physical abilities were top-notch, his mental facilities looked quite slow to Alex.

“Well, it might be a side effect of just waking up…”

Disrupting the man’s thought process, Alex asked loudly,

“Name, country of citizenship, city of birth?”

He was already in possession of this information and merely asked for the sake of it.

“Who are you?”

The man responded with a question of his own.

Alex chuckled:

“Shouldn’t you know the identity of the person you abducted to torture and kill?”

Again, the man did not answer, instead he replied with a question again,

“Do you know who our Young Master is?”

Alex responded with a disturbingly bright smile.

When he spoke once more, his voice sounded exceedingly cheerful:

“Are you loyal directly to him or to his esteemed daddy?”

For the third time, the man ignored the question:

“If you spare his life, I can guarantee that…”

“You have refused to answer me thrice, so do not accuse me of not listening to you later,”

Alex did not lose his smile as he interrupted him.

For an instance, a frown slipped over his opponent’s face.

The hint of disconcert in his eyes let Alex know that his act was successful.

The man seemed now convinced that Alex was “special”.

“I will not betray… ga!”

The edge of Alex’ hand hit his throat.

It was followed by many kicks.

Unfortunately, he had been positioned against a wall and could not move backwards.

When Alex paused, the man spat out a mouthful of blood and chuckled,

“If you think this will convince me, kid, you are quite naïve.”

“No, this is for my own amusement.”

This was a half-truth: if he succeeded, he would feel a sense of accomplishment rush through his body; otherwise, it would have been a waste of his time.

“Haha, not a waste of time, a learning opportunity…” he joked in his mind.

All the ‘learning opportunities’ the Organization had provided him throughout his life came with significant consequences.

While he was thinking, his feet were already attacking the weak points of his opponent’s body.

He refrained from breaking bones for the moments to improve the effect of his later method.

When he felt he had sufficiently played this part of his role, he stopped and left the man to his coughing.

From one of the many tables filled with what looked like horror movie props, he grabbed an unimpressive set of long needles.

“Have you ever hit your funny bone*?”

The man stared at Alex blankly without answering as if asking,

‘Why did you suddenly start talking again?’

“This so-called bone is actually a nerve, the largest unprotected one in the human body,” Alex continued not minding his silence,

“It goes from your shoulder all the way down your hand to the tips of your fingers.”

The man looked at Alex bewildered.

Inwardly, Alex sighed: “He is slow. Long needles and this talk, what else could it mean…”

No longer waiting for his comprehension, Alex directly dragged him around to get access to his elbow…

… And inserted a needle right where the funny bone was located.

“Guu!” the man groaned.

 

*English expression: part of the ulnar nerve running down the elbow