Antoine pushed past the Batter and stuck his head outside to see if anyone might be coming. It was a silly gesture since the Zone was almost entirely abandoned. But as he saw that the coast was clear, he grabbed the man by the arm and yanked him inside. "Get in here."
Antoine removed one of the heavy leather gloves from his arm to show off the faintly glowing prosthetic arm beneath. With metal fingers, he lifted a little panel on the wall, revealing a black scanning pad. He pressed his hand against it, letting it scan over his hand giving off a little cheerful chime and a robotic greeting of "A C C E P T E D" before the doors behind the Batter slammed shut. One layer, then some bars, the another door, and more bars, and another -- it would turn out to be a solid ten layers thick, and the windows all became sealed off as well.
"Yer not going ta be turnin' me in, are ya?" Antoine asked, his eyes narrowed as he turned to look at the Batter through the orange glass of his welding mask. "Because if I find word ya've sent the Queen here ta get ta me after I bring ya, I will hunt ya down on this mission of yours and I'll yank yer fuckin' head off and eat yer corpse, understand?" It was hard to tell if this was an empty threat, but if the Batter knew what was good for him, Antoine may have been serious about the eating part.
He didn't wait for an answer. He figured if the Batter was going to turn on him, he could always slaughter him when they got down to the market, and sell his flesh as a new product. Zacharie'd have nothing on him.
Antoine began to walk, leading the man through a few winding corridors of machines and crates before he pushed a stack of wooden boxes aside to reveal an old door. He rapped his knuckles against the wooden door, which turned via a wheel in the center much like a submarine's hatch, instead of a real door. A voice crackled from beneath, this one not robotic but covered in static like a radio signal. "Password?"
Antoine rolled his eyes and very briefly lifted the mask, as if revealing that he wasn't anyone suspicious to an unseen camera. "Understood." came the crackling voice as the door opened, sighing from its weight. Antoine wasn't risking giving the Batter his password.
He led the man down stairs which seemed to go on for a solid hour at least, but Antoine was bringing him to the depths where the merchants and criminals all lived. Sure, Zone 9 might have been industrial, but it offered itself up as a safe haven from those avoiding the law. But he'd never tell the Batter that. He wanted to live, didn't he?
He opened a final door, swinging it open to reveal what must have been a thriving community beneath the Zone. It was an actual town, although nowhere near as charming as it ought to be. The buildings were made out of scrap metal walls and tin roofs, nothing matching as all the colors were patches of metals that were welded together. Streets and shops lined the underground town, as people -- Elsens, People, and others alike --went about their daily routine. It was a refuge for people who'd been driven out of other Zones, probably by the very man Antoine was leading down here.
"The shops ya see here are fer the locals," Antoine said as he began leading the Batter past a few homes and workplaces. "The place ya want is on the other side of town."