Mardock Scramble

He really was trusting everything to Balot. If Balot so wanted, she would have been able to snarc Oeufcoque away in an instant. Any abuse she wanted—she’d meet no further resistance. And yet it was this very lack of resistance that would prove to be the final restraint. It was the very fact that Oeufcoque was surrendering himself completely that would stop her.

Balot nodded. The sound of the water overflowing in the bathroom echoed all around.

Balot sniffed. She turned around where she sat so that she now faced in the direction of the bathroom.

As she did so, Oeufcoque turned back into a gun without saying anything.

She hadn’t promised him anything. Even so, Oeufcoque had slipped back into her palm, ready.

Balot took a deep breath so that she could feel her entire bodysuit the better—the suit Made by Oeufcoque. Her chest swelled and she exhaled calmly. She stood up silently, went to the bathroom, and turned off the hot water.

She turned her back to the floating corpse of the woman and headed for the underground parking lot.

She climbed into the car, snarced the monitor next to the steering wheel, and the car took off.

Outside the sun had just gone down, and a cold night was closing in.

Balot wiped the last of her tears away and focused on the road ahead. There was still a lot she had to learn. There really was.

≡

“Don’t tell the police yet! Do you want OctoberCorp to get wind of what’s happened?” Oeufcoque was speaking into the cell phone in Balot’s grip. “That’s right. Look up Shell’s file. Right away.”

There was a moment’s silence, then the Doctor’s voice, clearly surprised.

–Shell has a number of large outstanding debts that will be paid off by the woman’s life insurance policy. As ever, he’s made money out of the woman. Her death certificate reads two hours ago exactly. What sort of doctor would issue a certificate just like that?

The convertible was heading straight toward the Doctor at the Broilerhouse, but they were ready to change their course at a second’s notice should new information arise. New information being Shell’s whereabouts.

Balot stared ahead in a daze, thinking about the dead woman’s face.

“Cleanwill must have been expecting Shell to kill that woman. That’s what he meant by Shell losing his rights as a Concerned Party in the case. If the murder is made public, there’s nothing to stop Boiled from officially being hired as Trustee for OctoberCorp and apprehending Shell.”

–That’s incredible… Whatever else has happened, imagine sacrificing your own daughter…

“This is no time to start dissecting our opponent’s motives. It’s only a matter of time now before OctoberCorp brings their case against Shell. We have to track him down by whatever means necessary. Quickly and discreetly.”

–We have no idea of Boiled’s whereabouts either. What if he’s already with Shell?

“Use whatever pretext you can to track them down. The police are of no use at this stage. The one thing we have going for us is the fact that there are still negotiations that need to take place before OctoberCorp brings its case against Shell.”

–Are you planning on having Balot secure Shell’s person?

Balot’s eyes narrowed. Secure Shell—the words reminded Balot of something. What was it the Doctor had said this morning, just before the trial had started?

“Once we have him in our care, use the police or special forces or whatever necessary to cordon off the area.”

–If Shell had his memories back, Shell would stop killing people.

–Roger that. Wait, what was that? Shell’s memories? Balot, is that you speaking?

–You said so yourself before the trial started, Doctor. Shell can’t restrain his own urges because he has no memories.

–Ah…yes, that’s right. Shell’s amnesia means that his urges grow and grow and have nowhere to go, no escape, that’s what we were—

–Will you let me borrow something? I’ll be sure to return it safely.

–What’s that? Borrow? Are you talking about…

The Doctor gulped.