Chapter Three: TWO DAYS LATER

Rotti was staring at the new series of billboard advertisements about to be put up around the city, sporting two photos of Pavi; before and after. A complete face-transplant would surely entice another horde of surgery-addicts. Pavi's finally doing something useful for a change, Rotti thought. Between the two shots was the slogan "Come to GeneCo today and Replace Your Face!"

He took a sip of his coffee and gave an approving nod to the subordinate responsible for getting Rotti's answer. As the subordinate was about to turn and leave with the ad, Pavi screamed and Amber cackled from somewhere in the house.

"Pavi's got acne! Warts! A tumor! Something!" Amber shrieked with a malevolent smile as she raced down the stairs. Luigi looked up at her, sheathing his knife temporarily while Rotti looked up from the dinner table. "Daddy! Daddy! Guess what?!" Amber screamed.

"Papa! Papa! What-a the hell is-a wrong with-a my new face?!" Pavi screamed from upstairs. Rotti, looking at Amber's disturbing grin, stood and slowly began jogging up the stairs. As he raced into Pavi's room, he found Pavi looking at himself in a shard of his mirror, which had been shattered. Pavi's back was to his father, and Rotti couldn't see the reflection. As Pavi turned, Rotti shuddered.

Pavi's left cheek, the one that had stuck a few days earlier, was now sagging off of his son's face. Red sores were weeping pus from the hanging flesh. The rest of Pavi's face seemed more-or-less intact, but the flabby cheek was hideous.

"Papa! Help me!" Pavi cried. Rotti shrank back and gripped his chest as if having a heart-attack as a tear rolled down Pavi's grotesque blob of a cheek. Gripping the doorframe with his other hand, Rotti choked down a moan as Luigi and Amber, grinning from ear-to-ear, raced up behind him and peered at their mutant brother.