Breakdown: Wherein all else fails.
Chapter 1
[Desolation]
Professor had only lost a little more than a day of memory. This meant the failsafe systems were working as expected and designed.
Not that he'd truly ever expected them to be used.
He gained precious little insight from the surveillance videos or sweeping through his house for evidence. Certainly, it seemed a small avalanche of events had happened, but the fact they had happened was almost immaterial.
What mattered was that he did not know where his girls were.
Or his car.
Or his corpse.
He flexed his hand within the sleek, white, metallic glove. Actuators and servos whirred underneath, inaudible save for the sound amplification features of his helmet.
This super suit was more recent than what he'd used in his exploits as "Powerprof." A bit more advanced but, more importantly, specialized.
In his backyard, a trapdoor beneath the grass lifted and slid aside. A fiery "fwoosh" accompanied his launch into the sky before the trapdoor closed, leaving no trace of itself.
There was one place to check first. The abandoned train station a few blocks from his house. Somehow a favorite destination of hers. Of the girl that should never have existed.
Professor swooped down through the skylight. A once beautiful work of curved iron and glass, now largely shattered and rusty. Lights on either side of his helmet lit up as he walked into the dark, hillside tunnel. Gravel crunched in protest as he walked upon it.
And there he found the body, lying still in the sealed-off tunnel. Blood, dried in most places, stained its white labcoat.
Bullet wounds. Roughly a dozen. The super suit's analysis indicated a small caliber handgun. His common sense suggested the empty handgun lying nearby was involved.
He recognized it at his own. The handgun and body alike.
Most of those shots had gone into his head.
That body marked the third time he had come here, but the first he had died. He could imagine growing complacent. Overconfident. The first two times, he'd managed to stop her. She'd demonstrated that she might return here time and again. It seemed any escape attempt she made would quickly and easily end here.
Perhaps he'd been lured into a trap all along. With her, he could never be certain.
Professor knelt down and rifled through his former self's pockets. More to embrace and accept the physical reality of his own death, than for lack of trust in his suit's scanning systems. His search found nothing of value.
Professor lifted his right arm, panels opening to reveal a small tube underneath. He blasted the body with white-hot fire.
Almost a minute later, he stopped. The tunnel was still brightly lit, on account of the walls, gravel, and rail glowing hot. A blackened, ashy skeleton remained.
With those head wounds, there would be no recovering memories from that body anyway.
Professor raised his left hand now. A burst of white light flashed, scattering gravel and bone with a low "thwump" sound. The bone mostly disintegrated at this point. After the discharge, the shrill whine of a super-capacitor's recharging filled the silence.
He paused for just a moment to mourn. He'd miss that body. After all, it had been the original.
But if replacements were good enough for his girls, they were good enough for him.
Author's Forward:
The Utonium family is split. Professor on one side, Blossom and Bubbles on another, and their sister caught up in schemes drawn out years ago. Is it possible to forgive the most terrible of wrongs? Once love has turned to hate, fear, and disdain, can it ever turn back? Will anyone survive long enough to find out?
Breakdown is the sixth entry of a study in horror—the Ladder series. While some entries are intended to stand alone, Breakdown is not. The story should be understandable to newcomers, but some elements will seem strange or out-of-place without seeing how they came to be. New readers are encouraged to read Project Rebreather at the least. They are, of course, welcome to start at the beginning with Ladder as well.
Each story in the series examines a different form of horror. Horror does not always inspire fright, nor does it always try. Breakdown is, at its heart, an exploration of escape and isolation. A desperate bid to flee an omnipresent, dangerous force.
Other stories in the series examine horror from other perspectives. Each has a different focus and a different "feel." However, they all continue the same story line, and they were all written with the assistance of mood-setting music.
These stories list a musical accompaniment that is entirely optional, but which the reader is encouraged to follow. Although not a crossover with Silent Hill, its music and music inspired by it includes some of the most beautiful, haunting melodies this author has heard. Readers who have taken the time to find these albums and songs (many freely and legally available online) have expressed their happiness in doing so.
I personally dislike reading (and try to avoid writing) certain things. Well-established characters acting out-of-character without good reason or explanation. Grittiness and death as an alternative to telling a story. It's up to you, dear reader, to judge my success or failure in these regards.
Suggested listening, presented in the order they are used:
01 — Desolation (Broken Notes Unedited)
02 — No Promise (Essentia)
03 — Between Heaven and Hell (Broken Notes Unreleased)
04 — Innocent Times (Ashes of Bitterness)
05 — Tears of Angels (Broken Notes Sanatorium 2)
06 — Drowned Memories (Essentia)
07 — Sundown (Endless Delusions)
08 — Tight Chains – No Way Out (Ashes of Bitterness)
09 — Moments Of Inner Peace (Essentia)
10 — Black Pages (Soiled Shores)
11 — Haunted – Roof (Ashes of Bitterness)
12 — Servants of Fear (Endless Delusions)
13 — Screaming Flux (Broken Notes Unedited)
14 — Crimson Paintings (Ashes of Bitterness)
15 — Anywhere But Here (Soiled Shores)
16 — Shattered Waltz (Broken Notes Sanatorium 2)
17 — Atone (Broken Notes Extremitas 1)
18 — Blood Curse (Broken Notes Extremitas 2)
19 — Torn Angelus (Soiled Shores)
20 — Ex Umbra (Soiled Shores)
21 — The Diary (Essentia)
22 — Room of Angel Remix (Broken Notes Extremitas 2)
23 — Room of Angel (Silent Hill 4)