Chapter Nine: Homecoming

When I awoke, my mind was still a blur and my body ached. I rose up from the puddle on the floor that was the rest of my body. I shaped myself into my usual form as best I could in my condition, and tried to get a bearing on my surroundings. But the problem was, there wasn’t any. Nothing but pure white in every direction, it was like I was stuck inside a blank page. I mustered my strength and ran straight forward and head on into a wall. I shook it off and finally it became clear. It wasn’t nothing-ness; it was a pure white box with no doors windows or even lights. But what I didn’t understand is that if there was no way out, then there was also no way in, so how had I gotten here? And where, for that matter, was here?

That was when I heard it, a voice seemingly from above. “Ah good, you’re awake. I was starting to worry that Pain had held on a little too long. Quite the handshake that boy has, eh?” it was as if the voice was being brought in through a loudspeaker, but there was no visible speaker. The voice was different than any I’d heard so far, but it might’ve been distorted, it seemed almost too deep to be human. I didn’t know who the voice belonged to, but I certainly wasn’t going to wait around to find out. I had to escape, so I immediately started scanning the room for a door or some place I could get through to get out, but I couldn’t find a single crack. “Like your new room? You’ll notice there are no doors, windows, or cracks. Completely seamless, so there’s no place for you to squirm out. I built this room with you in mind, so I do hope you enjoy it. I'm so glad you’ve finally come home to us, Experiment 113”

There it was again, that name. That was the same thing Pain had called me right before I passed out. Do these people really know who I am? Are they experiments too? Too many questions started to swirl in my mind until I focused on one thing; “Where am I and what do you want with me!?” The voice returned, just as deep but sounding almost disappointed; “You really did forget everything, didn’t you? How sad. I had hoped that you would’ve retained at least something, but it seems our information was correct. Full amnesia. Too bad, that’s going to make this a lot more difficult than it has to be. Oh, and as for where you are, that’s easy. You’re in the place all monsters come from: The Facility.”

The Facility…that was the place Smith had told me about. The same place the metal my mask was forged from was made. And perhaps, the same place that made me this way. “That doesn’t explain what you need me for. You said my memory loss would make things harder. What things are you referring to exactly?” there was a long pause after my question. As if the voice was deliberating the best way to tell me exactly what was going on. Finally, after a few minutes, it spoke again; “Look, there are a lot of things you obviously don’t remember, for reasons that are unclear even to me. Before I can really explain why I need you, you have to remember who you are, who we were. At least the basics anyway. You see, we are tools built of men, by men, for the purpose of killing other men. We are weapons, sold to this government funded company as children to be turned into monsters so that the rulers of our wonderful little country could play army. This place is no more than a monster factory. Or at least, it was before we took it down. You were once the right hand man in our little revolution, before you disappeared.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, me his right hand man? A revolution of monsters made by the government? That couldn’t have been me, I always try to avoid conflict. I don’t destroy government buildings or start revolutions. Do I? It was a horrifying glimpse into what seemed like such a dark past. But how much of it was really true? I had no way of knowing, so I just sat down and listened. It wasn’t like I could go anywhere anyway. He spoke of how I had helped him, and two others to break out and attack the soldiers who guarded us. He explained how we had set explosives around the factory, but just as they began to go off, something went wrong and I got stuck behind. “And from that day on, we searched for you. We knew you couldn’t really be dead from some little explosion. You were built to be invincible. To be immortal. Apparently though, someone forgot to compensate for explosions, and the resulting shock somehow caused you to forget it all. But none of that matters now, because we’ve got you back.” He sounded almost happy, but there was something frightening about how he said it. Something told me he wasn’t just happy to see an old friend, there was something more he wanted and it was clear he was avoiding telling me what it was. “You still haven’t told me what it is you want from me. And unless you can figure out what it is you need, I really should get going.” Instead of the deep voice a different one responded, this voice was shrill and loud, and had a mad laugh that I will never forget. “GYAHAHAHAHA!!! GOING?! WHERE?! BACK TO YOUR LITTLE HUMAN?! GYAHAHAHAHA!! WHY!? WORRIED SHE’LL GET LONELY WITHOUT YOU?! Face it squishy, no human will ever really want a monster like you. You BELONG here. JUST.  LIKE.  US.  GYAHAHAHAHA!!!”

He sounded absolutely insane, but his words cut like a knife. In a strange way, he was right. No matter how things may have seemed, I was a monster and the affection Lee-Ann showed me could end at any moment. She was kind to me because I saved her, because she was frightened. Not because she had somehow fallen in love with me. I’m sure as soon as she came to her senses, she would’ve been rid of me. Like any other human who met me.

 My melancholy thoughts were interrupted by the squealing of a microphone, as if ripped out of someone’s hands. Apparently, they hadn’t realized the mic was still on, and I heard every word that followed. “What the hell are you doing? Look you psycho little fruit bat, I don’t have time for your little games right now. You want to emotionally traumatize the poor slush pile, do it on your own time. I have bigger plans for him. He is the only subject from the Infinity project that actually survived. I need his DNA, it’s the only reason we’re here. Not so you can play cat and mouse. Now get the hell out of here before I let Pain escort you out. Barehanded.” The shrill voice then chimed in, sounding eerily cheerful; “Hehehe, no need to get so huffy about it. I’m allowed to play with my food, aren’t I? Just because you want to play first, doesn’t mean the rest of us should have to wait in line. Sharing is caring you know! GYAHAHAHAHA!!!”  I could hear the laughing grow distant, as I assumed he was dragged out of the room. Whether Pain was holding him I didn’t know, but I had a feeling that even if he was that madman would’ve kept laughing.

After he was dragged from the room, I heard Pain speak up quietly and shakily, as if frightened. After how calm and collected he sounded when we met, I was surprised to hear him in such a state. “Uh..I..I hate to mention this but…I think the mic was on the whole time…113 might have heard you..” The microphone squealed again, and then there was silence. I waited for what felt like hours for someone to speak again, but no one did. I began pacing and pounding on the walls. I had to get out, I had to see Lee-Ann. I had to know if she was ok. I didn’t care if she thought I was a monster, I couldn’t handle the thought of here being alone and someone breaking in again. I pounded and flailed and slammed against every flat surface I could find until every inch of me was numb. It was no use; I was trapped with no way out. It was pathetic and hopeless, just like me. I finally gave up, and slunk down into a puddle on the floor where I eventually fell asleep. I had no idea what lie in store for me in this nightmare from my past. But I knew it couldn’t be good.