Twenty minutes and two annoying round abouts ter, we are at the "pza". It's not what I was expecting.

  Rather than some grand city square Moluo Pza is a small greenspace between blocks of buildings. It's not a run down area. The five-story red brick buildings give off a lower middle css vibe. It's unexepectedly nice.

  As I slowly drive down the road, I quickly identify the fel I am looking for. He is eyeing my SUV dubiously. It's not a good fit for the neighborhood.

  I drive right up to him and lower the driverside window.

  "Get in."

  "Who are you? D-did he send you?"

  "I changed bodies."

  "W-what?"

  He seems confused. I point to the empty seat next to me.

  "I need a local guide."

  "..?"

  He stares at me dumbly.

  "Can't exactly find anymore local lowlives by pretending to be a Main tourist now that I look like this."

  I muse out loud.

  "Y-you are..."

  "Unless you believe this area needs another ornamental tree, you should get in the car now," I kindly advise him.

  Fortunately, he takes my advice. He walks around the car and gets in on the passenger's side.

  "Who is he?" Candy-corn asks from the backseat.

  She has been awfully quiet during our ride. I hope she is preparing a surprise for me. I love surprises.

  "My local guide."

  "Then why ask me for directions?"

  Is this girl stupid?

  "Convenience. You can go back to sleep now."

  "Why isn't my father waking up?"

  Where are all of those questions coming from all of a sudden?

  "It's not the right time."

  My local guide, on the other hand, is keeping his mouth firmly shut and his eyes glued to the floor.

  Should I put the girl back to sleep or would that be a waste of thought?

  Let's see if she behaves herself.

  Turning to my local guide, I ask,

  "Where can I find a secluded space with the right fir for an interrogation? Preferably one with some tools avaible on site.

  "I can always improvise but..." I shrug.

  The fel had been keeping it remarkably well together until just now, but something about my question must have unsettled him. He started trembling right in the middle of it and hasn't stopped yet.

  "W-w-why..."

  I interrupt the useless question.

  "Improvisation can yield remarkable results. Can being the keyword in that sentence. No matter, start listing locations."

  "I-I..."

  Does he not know any good pces? That would be a bummer.

  "Ah! There is a pce!"

  "..."

  I wait for him to provide some more information. He does not.

  "Where is what pce?" I prompt considerately.

  "R-right. I only went there one time... Angelo's cousin-in-w's..."

  "My bad for being imprecise: Where is the pce and what is the atmosphere like? Are there bloody floors? How is the lighting?"

  If I want to make this scene memorable, I need some backdrop.

  "I-I... The lighting?"

  Is he not taking me seriously because I changed my body?

  A thousand ifs race through my mind as I ponder a small show of strength. Should I turn one of his appendages to stone? Boring.

  "The p-pce is k-kind of dark..? B-blood, there was a lot of blood."

  Before I decide on anything, my guide starts babbling frantically.

  "H-he c-collects replicas... r-replicas of medieval t-torture devices..."

  It sounds alright.

  "Tell me how to get there."

  ...

  After a good ninety minute drive, we roll up to a fenced in industrial area in the city's outskirts. The red brick buildings here look like they could be haunted.

  Looking at the fence baring our way, I briefly ponder how to deal with it. Should I disappear the whole thing? Or just the lock? But then I would need to get out of the car and...

  Jumpy, that's what I decided to call my local guide, gets out of the car and walks up to a decently sized stone next to the construction fence gate.

  It doesn't look like he is trying to run, so I just observe.

  He rolls the stone to the side and retrieves a key from underneath it. That certainly is an ancient access management system.

  When he removes the lock and pushes the fence open, I drive through. In the mirror I observe him putting the key back and locking the gate behind us. Then, he returns to the car.

  We continue driving for a few more minutes through the abandoned industrial area before we arrive at yet another gate. This one is made of steel and pced in a sturdy brick wall.

  "This is it," Jumpy informs me.

  "No key?"

  "Their boss has the only one."

  Whose boss? Not that it matters. With a little concentration, the steel liquifies and starts flowing towards the car before a little nudge of the is pushes it off the road.

  Behind the gate lies a sturdy one-story brick building without windows. Perfect!

  "Is there a basement?"

  "Y-yes..."

  "Great! Take Candy-corn and follow me."

  I get out of the car and grab the duke, flinging him over my shoulder before I start walking toward the low building.

  Unfortunately, Jumpy is as slow as ever. I hear him squabbling with the girl behind me.

  "Let me go, lowlife!"

  "Miss... P-please..."

  Why is he begging her? Unlike her father, she is not very strong.

  I sigh and turn around.

  "If your legs are dysfunctional, let me know so that I may repce them with something better. Wheels, perhaps."

  I've done that before. Repcing legs with functional wheels is, surprisingly, not a trivial change. The anatomy of it is very interesting.

  "N-no!"

  Jumpy tries to lift Candy-corn up to carry her, but she kicks him in the shin and bites his hand whereupon he lets go.

  "I can walk by myself!" she insists.

  "As long as you are at those doors in five seconds, I do not care how you get there."

  I turn back and walk toward the building's sturdy looking steel doors while counting,

  "5, 4, 3, ..."

  Jumpy races right past me and practically throws himself at the doors.

  "2, 1, ..."

  Candy-corn barely manages to reach the doors in time. I smile and walk up to them.

  "The next time I tell you to follow me, I expect that exact same sense of urgency."

  Jumpy nods repeatedly while Candy-corn seems constipated. Honestly, I've been expecting her to make a run for it. Why does she care about this man who purports to be her father?

  This time, instead of liquifying the doors, I simply remove the pins keeping the lock shut. After that, the doors swing open with ease.

  The room behind them is well-illumined. There are two fels lounging about next to a set of stairs, both of them carrying weapons. I bid Candy-corn and Jumpy enter, and they freeze when they see the fels. The fels likewise freeze.

  I use the mutual moment of surprise to make a slight shift. The unlocked steel doors become one solid piece. No one will be getting out without my help... or a blow torch.

  Although they do not seem to have noticed my little shift, the armed fels finally come to their senses. They shout something, and my mastery of the local nguage is insufficient to decipher its meaning.

  I turn to Jumpy and ask in Main,

  "What are they saying?"

  Armed fel #1 does not appreciate my movements and tries firing his hand gun at me. He tries. The moment I noticed those guns, they became useless.

  He utters a string of expletives followed by,

  "Fire!"

  It's too te for that. Armed fel #2 is already burning. I altered his physical composition to provide the fuel and the gun in his hands provided the spark.

  "Aaaaagh!"

  He throws himself to the ground in a futile attempt to extinguish the fmes while armed fel #1 watches on in horror.

  I wait for armed fel #2's screams to die down before I address him.

  "If you give me any keys we might need, I will make yours quick, too," I offer generously.

  It's a once in a lifetime opportunity.

  Behind me, I hear retching.

  Thunk!

  Armed fel #1 drops his gun and falls to his knees.

  "Please..."

  "Keys."

  He slowly reaches inside his jacket and takes a set of three keys from an inside pocket.

  "The door code is 59247."

  Unlike Jumpy, his voice is clear and steady. He's starting to grow on me.

  I briefly ponder switching local guides. Will I even need one after today? Hmm, I still need to find my way to the airport.

  "Toss a coin," I tell Jumpy.

  "T-tails," he informs me.

  Lucky fel.

  Turning back to the fel kneeling next to the stairs I repeat my command.

  "Heads."

  Too bad. But I am feeling generous.

  "Any preferences?"

  "If there is a painless option, I'll take that."

  A boring choice but I will respect it.

  I walk up to him and press my index finger to his head.

  Sptter.

  It explodes. Although it is the result of a shift rather than my touch, the theatrics are satisfying. Too bad the duke wasn't awake to see it. When interrogating someone, intimidation is the name of the game.

  Smiling, I turn back to see Jumpy peeing his pants while Candy-corn interrupts her retching to stare at me in horror. Oh well.

  "Down we go!"