Ron curled his finger as he glanced at Mr. Germain. A smile grew across Mr. Germain’s face, fake and disarming. “Thank you for what you volunteered to do, Ron. Though, you didn’t quite get the outcome you wanted.”

“No, no. I mean, he was brought here, to President Arnold’s office. Of course he would be immediately suspicious. I hadn’t thought of that,” Ron said.

“Yeah. Pity. I’m sure in any other office space, you could have gotten him to talk. You were quite convincing as his ally,” Mr. Germain said.

Ron tried not to show anything on his face. This day had been long, and he had spent most of it discovering horrible things about the people he worked with. Pretending he wasn’t feeling deeply betrayed took a lot out of him. Ron tried to smile, but he was sure it looked just as fake as Mr. Germain’s.

“The kid is clearly a scientist,” Ron said. “He must be stopped.”

Mr. Germain nodded, not believing Ron for a second. “Of course.”

“I’d like to return to my office now,” Ron said, staring at Mr. Germain’s hand that was still covering the button.

“Isn’t it a pity that the boy resisted arrest?” Mr. Germain was giving off a nonchalant air that seemed almost cold. “When will these scientists ever learn?”

“Yeah,” Ron said, staring Mr. Germain down. “With two completely different stories about what happened, one of the stories definitely has to be wrong.”

Mr. Germain didn’t so much as flinch. Ron struggled to keep his emotions in check. It would not bode well to punch Mr. Germain in the face.

“You’re right, one of the stories is a lie. And I would hope, being a member of the S.E.A., you wouldn’t take the side of a scientist,” Mr. Germain said.

Ron gave a small shrug. “You’re right. I’d rather take the side of a bright, creative, wonderful kid who just so happens to enjoy studying physics.”

Mr. Germain snorted. “Physics better be just a hobby of this kid, because we have no reason for physics in Musical Land.”

Ron’s fingers twitched, but he refused to give into anger. “Certainly. Though, if you think about it, isn’t it strange that all the physicists seem to disappear before they can show their value to the city?”

Mr. Germain’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t like this tone you’re using against us. Are you for the peace President Arnold brings, or not?”

Their little hypothetical game was done. “Yes, peace. But this isn’t peace.”

President Arnold stood up, standing next to Mr. Germain. President Arnold didn’t bother masking the paranoia and distrust. “He resisted arrest. That’s on him.”

“You should see the agents he fought,” Mr. Germain said, checking his phone. “Teens can get violent.”

“So can adults.” Mr. Germain didn’t respond, the look he was giving Ron was almost cold. “You have said every chance you get that ours is the better side because we’re more humane.”

“We are,” Mr. Germain said.

“And so you left him in that state?” Ron saw the smallest, almost imperceptible wince in Mr. Germain’s face. “You could have had him looked over by medical professionals before you stuck him in the basement.” The small weakness he saw disappeared in Mr. Germain’s face as his eyes hardened and his face turned unreadable. “How can you honestly tell yourself you are humane when you allowed this man to mentally destroy your daughter?”

Mr. Germain stared Ron right in the eye. “What happened to Sophie was tragic and sad, but it is the scientists who are to blame for her situation.”

“You keep saying that like a robot repeating what you’ve been programmed to speak.” Mr. Germain’s face was still unreadable. Anger trickled into Ron’s voice. “I used to admire you. I used to want your career, but if the price of your career is to stand aside while my daughter’s memories are wiped, I would choose her, every single time. Why didn’t you?”

Mr. Germain did not react. He had such control over his emotions that he simply looked at Ron like he was listening to someone recount some boring part of their day.

President Arnold, on the other hand, gave him a smile and reached out to place his hand on Ron’s shoulder, which Ron quickly backed away from. Albert’s warning about his safety never left his mind. President Arnold looked confused at Ron’s reaction. “I’m not going to hurt you, Ron.”

“I can’t believe anything you say anymore,” Ron said.

“Think, Ron, think! This boy is part of the underground, trained by the best to turn you against me.”

“Albert. His name is Albert. Why are you so afraid to humanize the scient-”

“They try to paint an awful picture of me because they want control,” President Arnold said.

“They don’t want control, they just want to live their lives. They want to live in a world where their passions don’t bring fear to the general public.”

“My heart aches for them, Ron, it really does, but that kind of life can never happen for them. They are too prone to corruption. I’ve seen it. They use their knowledge to build inventions that destroy nations, and you think we should let them freely study it?”

“Albert is a teenager, and you’ve already deemed him dangerous. He’s done nothing of the sort. He wouldn’t create those kinds of things.”

“But he might,” President Arnold said.

“All I see is us pushing him and others like him into situations where he feels like he needs to do things like that for his protection. So you tell me who’s at fault for that,” Ron said.

“They don’t understand how dangerous their ideals are to the rest of society, and I pity them for their backwards thinking. I truly do. They are ignorant, and it’s worse because they refuse to acknowledge the deeper truth that is right in front of them. People must give up their humanity in order to practice science and math, and they are wrong to do so. Science and math are evil subjects that only bring heartache. As much as we tried, we cannot peacefully coexist with ignorant people who refuse to acknowledge they are wrong,” President Arnold said.

Ron rubbed his forehead, feeling sick to his stomach. Did President Arnold actually believe this? Ron tried not to let the anger get to him. If he got angry, he would lose his focus. This was a mental battle between him and Mr. Germain and President Arnold, and he was losing.

President Arnold again walked toward Ron with open arms and again Ron backed away, shaking his head and doing everything in his power not to show how scared he was. President Arnold continued to advance and placed his arm on Ron’s shoulder while touching the back of his head. Ron wanted to jerk away, but he didn’t want to show President Arnold how afraid he was. At this close range, Ron could see how slimy President Arnold’s smile was. Ron could hear a small buzzing in his ear. “I did what I had to do to keep my city safe. I need you to understand that. I pity the scientists in this city. They need to be protected from themselves, and I am willing to be the person to do that.”

Ron couldn’t keep up pretenses anymore. He jerked his head out of President Arnold’s grip, looking at his leader with disgust and fear. “I worked for you. I followed you.” Ron kept himself from gagging. “I believed you.”

“And the city is safer for it,” President Arnold said.

Ron glared at President Arnold. “Safer for who?”

President Arnold looked confused for just a moment before his eyes darkened. “For those who actually deserve it.”

“By keeping all this hidden from the public?” Ron asked, gesturing at his office.

“It’s better this way,” President Arnold said.

Ron stood up as straight as he possibly could, staring President Arnold down. “If you have nothing to fear, you have nothing to hide. Seems like that should be as equally true with the government as it is with its people.”

President Arnold’s slimy smile returned. “Go take an early lunch, Ron. Get some fresh air. We all need some fresh air. Come back at twelve. We’ll discuss your employment with us when you get back.”

“Fine,” Ron said before turning around and entering the elevator. He was going to get fired. It was inevitable. He made a mental note to bring John with him. He assumed they were going to talk about his firing, but he would feel better if his friend was there with him in case anything worse happened. President Arnold wouldn’t deny him that.

Ron hit the lobby button. For the first time since he worked here, he noticed a button just below the lobby button. He shot a glare back at Mr. Germain and President Arnold, who were watching him as the door closed. He rode the elevator all the way down to the lobby. He pulled out his phone, his fingers shaking as he sent a quick text to John. Meet me at Tap street. We need to talk.

Ron’s body began to react to the pent up anger he forced himself to go through. He gripped the rails around the elevator as his body trembled with rage. He let go of the rational thought and let the natural instincts of anger and betrayal run its course. His thoughts returned to how broken Albert looked in the chair, both physically and mentally. No one deserved that. No one. Even if President Arnold fired him, he’d stay true to his word and fight for an appeal. He didn’t have to be a Junior Official to do damage to President Arnold’s career. He had some wrongs to right, and he was going to fix them. Now that he knew the full implications of what was going on, he was going to fight with everything he had.