Chapter 7: A Face of Hatred

February 17, 2101.

When he opened his eyes, he saw a white ceiling. The air smelled of disinfectant.

His senses gradually returned. He felt an IV line in his left arm, then became aware of a stinging pain on the left side of his face. A dull ache stretched from beneath his left eye socket to his chin.

Paper Hero was about to reach up and touch it when he heard the electronic door open. He lowered his gaze and saw two men in HL uniforms enter. One was in his fifties, gray at the temples, with deep scars etched into his face, plainly visible even from a distance. The other looked very young, with blue hair that might or might not have been dyed, but his uniform indicated a high rank.

“Officer Elot Nice,” Tea Immortal said first. “Or should I say… Paper Hero?”

Paper Hero ignored the question and asked one of his own. “Where am I? Where's Blood Owl?”

The man beside Tea Immortal was Jason Luca, the mentor Faru had spoken of and one of the finest fighters at HL's European headquarters, where he served as the instructor for ability users. He spoke with an officer's intimidating authority. “Officer Nice, let me remind you that the Venice incident is still under investigation. Your involvement has yet to be established. You are in no position to ask questions.”

Paper Hero couldn't even be bothered to acknowledge him. He simply got out of bed and pulled off all the equipment attached to his body. “I'll submit a report in a few days to… whoever. Your administrative procedures don't interest me.” He found his clothes in the wardrobe in the corner, already washed and pressed. His personal effects were in a basket on the table.

“You've been unconscious for nearly five days. The monitors only began showing signs that you were coming around twenty minutes ago. In your present condition, I don't think you're fit to go out hunting a fugitive rated danger level four,” Tea Immortal said calmly.

Paper Hero continued to ignore them. He dressed quickly, then turned around. “Where are my shoes?”

Luca was beginning to get angry. He said coldly, “Officer Nice, if you refuse a friendly conversation, I'll have no choice but to arrange a formal interrogation.”

“Try stopping me.” Paper Hero headed for the door barefoot.

Tea Immortal sighed. “Mr. Luca.”

“At your service, sir.”

“Try not to hurt him. Thank you.”

“Yes, sir.”

After this brief exchange, Luca appeared behind Paper Hero in an instant, like a shadow. Paper Hero hadn't caught the slightest trace of movement. To him, Luca seemed simply to have vanished from where he'd stood.

Before he could react, his hands were cuffed behind his back. He had no idea what the cuffs were made of. He strained against them several times, to no effect.

“I'd advise you not to try that move. It would be rather undignified if I had to shackle your feet as well.” Luca was now in front of Paper Hero again.

A second before Luca spoke, Paper Hero had been about to launch a spinning kick. Yet before he could even turn his hips, his opponent had already changed position and seen through his intention.

Paper Hero realized that, with so little paper around, he apparently had no way to match this man. He stopped struggling. “All you're interested in is the deaths of the nobles. All I can tell you is that Colonel Malone was behind everything. He hired…”

“Hired Silver Shadow assassins to imitate Blood Owl's methods, then tried to have you and Lieutenant Colonel Faru killed during your battle to silence you, all with the ultimate aim of securing the governorship of Venice,” Tea Immortal interrupted. “While you were unconscious, the truth came to light. Within HL, at least…” The implication was that the public and some of the nobles still had only a hazy picture of the incident.

Luca spoke as well. “The man you call Blood Owl is Chev Kirios, the prime suspect in San Marco's ‘Bloody Midnight’ ten years ago. That lunatic tore Jim Malone to pieces in an alley, then hunted down those Silver Shadow assassins all over the city. Not one of the dead had an intact corpse. Finally, he captured three of them alive and delivered them to the entrance of our Second Branch.” From the way Luca ground his teeth as he spoke, one would have thought Blood Owl had taken a shit right in HL's face.

“Heh heh… Hahahaha…” Paper Hero began to laugh. He had clearly caught the implication. Malone had been an HL branch chief, yet he'd conspired with the likes of Silver Shadow to kill nobles and seize power. Blood Owl, meanwhile, had done what law enforcement should have done, albeit in an extraordinarily horrific and brutal fashion…

Seeing Paper Hero laugh, Luca was about to lose his temper, but Tea Immortal raised a hand to stop him. “Officer Nice is merely laughing bitterly.”

Paper Hero's face darkened at once. “Those were things I should have done. I'm a police officer, yet I can't even measure up to a murderous maniac. Even surviving him was a matter of luck… The weak don't even have the right to choose how they die.”

Noticing the change in his expression, Tea Immortal said, “Officer Nice, I hope you won't let personal hatred…”

“Enough bullshit!” Paper Hero roared. “What happened to the left side of my face?!” he suddenly demanded.

The two men before him fell silent.

“Hmph… Heh heh heh… I can already see it in your eyes…” Paper Hero said. “That's why you deliberately kept mirrors and anything like them out of the room.”

Tea Immortal decided to change the subject. “Officer Nice, you're currently the only person we know of who has survived a fight with Blood Owl. You're the key to catching him. I hope you'll cooperate with us.”

Paper Hero tore away the artificial skin on the left side of his face. To the left of the bridge of his nose, from his eye socket down to his chin, roughly a third of his face had not a single patch of intact skin. The flesh beneath was mottled, and his lips were missing on that side, leaving his teeth and gums fully exposed. His ability to speak normally without severe pain was entirely thanks to the advanced medical technology of the age.

Paper Hero was familiar with this technology. Even plastic surgery departments in ordinary hospitals used such methods to treat severe burns. This part of his face would never heal, though the pain would gradually fade. A surface layer of artificial cells served in place of skin and would soon adapt to exposure to the air. The outer covering of artificial skin was purely cosmetic and could be dispensed with. Even with it torn off, the flesh and bone could remain exposed like this without any risk of infection.

Paper Hero's medical report floated up from beside the bed. Sheet after sheet covered that half of his face, looking at first glance like a mummy's bandages. The paper molded itself to his features, as though a large blank piece had been inserted into a jigsaw puzzle of a human face. Or as though a paper face had been wrapped in human skin, with a patch of paper showing through.

“What's your name?” Paper Hero asked, looking at Tea Immortal.

Luca said, “Officer, mind how you speak.”

Tea Immortal didn't mind. “Krause Wittstock.”

“Oh, the seventh prince who won't stay put in his palace and insists on hanging around HL.” Apparently Paper Hero had heard his name. “Tea Immortal, right?”

A slight smile touched Tea Immortal's lips. “Blood Owl is one of the targets I'm particularly interested in hunting. Officer Nice, no… Paper Hero, I need your strength for this hunt.”

Paper Hero said, “Nothing would please me more.”

“Then follow me, and with this new face, wipe away your humiliation.”