Chapter 10: You Killed My Father

It was over. Finally.

Hank, Sanford, and Deimos had taken down Satan's Pride, including the gang leader. They stood in front of the door where they entered the final room, exhausted. Sanford took Deimos's cell phone and was the one to dial Chief Harley. Deimos pulled out a cigarette and lit it with his lighter. He inhaled the chemicals and exhaled smoke from his mouth.

Deimos turned to Hank who was leaning on the wall. "You want one?" he offered with a cigarette in his hand.

Hank turned back to him. "No thanks Deimos. You know that Sanford and I don't smoke. It's not good for you."

Deimos shrugged as he smoked his lit cigarette and put back the unused one. "If you say so Hank. You don't know what you're missing."

Hank shook his head. "Trust me. I'm not missing anything without those smoke-sticks of death."

It was true. Smoking a cigarette in Nevada back then when the Improbability Drives were working was like building your own coffin and ensuring you would die. It was a strange omen that had haunted Nevada for the past decade, and Deimos was a good example of a victim who had died because of his smoking habit. No, not by cancer or any other smoking-related death. But by getting shot by an Audit-A.T.P. (Advanced Training Program) engineer. Deimos didn't believe in the myth, and thought that after the Drives were eliminated, it would certainly not come back to haunt him. He was right for the time-being.

"I don't know how you could be so chilled out Hank." Deimos told him.

"What do you mean?" Hank asked.

"Well, don't you have a date this evening?" Deimos responded.

Hank stood there as he searched his memories for what Deimos was talking about. Then it struck him.

Hank face-palmed himself. He would've forgotten if Deimos hadn't reminded him.

Cathy...

Sanford finished the call and closed the cell phone. He gave it back to Deimos.

"Well?" Deimos asked Sanford.

"Meh. Nothing special. The Chief was waiting for our call actually. They'll be here in a few minutes." Sanford replied.

Deimos nodded. The three of them walked down the flights of stairs and back down to the entrance where they waited for the police to arrive. When they saw the multiple cars with flashing lights come to their location, they were met up with Harley.

"Good job boys. My men and I will handle it from here." the Chief told them as the policemen had stormed into the mansion.

They nodded and began walking back to their car. It was a long night that had lasted until early dawn.

"Oh, and Deimos?" Sanford called him out before they entered the vehicle.

Deimos turned to Sanford. "Yeah?" he asked.

Sanford kicked him in the same spot he himself had been kicked by the Chief.

Deimos fell to the ground, clutching himself. "Sanford you bastard...you could've at least given me a warning."

Sanford grinned. "But then it wouldn't be as painful as it was for me, wouldn't it?"

"Why don't you do that to Hank?" Deimos asked.

Hank looked at Sanford who had answered: "Because you and I both know that he could whip my ass in a second, idiot."

Hank nodded and smirked.

The trio walked through the front door of their home. Deimos took out an ice pack and placed it on his injured shoulder to numb out the pain, Sanford made sandwiches for all of them, and Hank sat down at the table next to Deimos.

Sanford asked Deimos if he wanted to take the shower first as soon as he had finished their meals. Deimos shook his head as he ate his sandwich.

"Nah. My shoulder is burning right now, and I don't want to wash it to make it feel worse. You go on ahead."

Sanford nodded and went down the hall to the bathroom. Hank went to check on Deimos.

"Does it really hurt that much?" he asked him.

"Yeah. It's getting better, but it reminds me of the time I got a clip emptied into my body by that damn A.T.P. agent."

Hank made a small grin. "Trust me; you have it lucky this time. I took bullets to the worst places you can imagine. You know that time I was fighting Tricky?"

"Yeah?"

"Well I got shot in the shoulder and I think somewhere near the hip too on the same mission."

"Wow. And you kept on going?" Deimos asked, fascinated that his idol was telling him a story of his career.

Hank nodded. "Actually, I was more like rushing. I was trying to get away from that motherfucking clown as fast as I could, but of course, I died at the end. He threw me through about two concrete walls, and I had to escape from this huge MAG agent firing a giant shotgun at me."

Deimos raised his eyebrows in amazement. "How the hell did you find the will to keep fighting after all that shit?"

Hank chuckled. "Deimos, I'll be honest with you; I really just wanted to die and escape all the pain. But those bastards; the Higher Powers and Tricky, kept bringing me back to fight. After a while, I started getting sick and tired of fighting and dying, and I stopped caring about whether or not I was going to burn in hell. I just wanted to get the fuck out of there."

Deimos nodded. It was just like Sanford said the night they got drunk and Hank had to bring them both home; if you don't have anyone else with you to endure the pain and struggles you face, then the option of hope just rusts in your heart.

But now, Hank finally had the chance to be happy for once in his life with somebody else.

Deimos broke the silence. "Hank?"

"Hm?"

"Promise me that when you meet up with Cathy you'll do your best to be nice with her."

Hank rolled his eyes. "That shit again? Deimos, I told you and Sanford that I wasn't looking for a partner and I won't for the rest of my life."

"Oh come on Hank, who knows? You just might enjoy it."

"Why are you pushing me into this relationship so much?"

Deimos looked at him. "Hank, you deserve to be happy after suffering and saving the world over and over again. I mean, just living life doesn't fulfill any man's existence."

"And you think that by dating this girl, Cathy, I'll be happy?"

"Yeah. I honestly think so. There are just some things that you can't tell guys Hank, but you can to girls."

Hank sighed. "We'll see Deimos, we'll see."

Sanford got out of his shower and was wearing a towel around his waist.

"Deimos, it's your turn." he said as he pointed to the bathroom behind him.

Deimos groaned. "I bet this will burn off my shoulder." he said as he walked off.

Sanford walked into his room to get a fresh pair of clothes, leaving Hank to think his thoughts alone. Hank ate the rest of his sandwich while he thought about the world around him.

Meanwhile, Deimos was washing himself in the shower with cold water. Although it was freezing, Deimos did it for the sake of his shoulder.

"Ahh...that's better..."

But suddenly, he heard a flush and before he could shut off the water, it turned from cold and chilling to hot and blistering.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! FUCK!" Deimos screamed as his shoulder burned again.

"That's for my other nut sack Deimos, you bitch!" he heard Sanford yell.

"SANFORD YOU MOTHERFUCKER!" Deimos roared.

Hank watched from the kitchen as Sanford ran out of the bathroom to his room laughing loudly. Sanford quickly came back out, ran to the kitchen, picked up the sandwich he had made for himself, looked at Hank, nodded, and ran back into his room with his meal in his mouth.

Hank sighed. Although Sanford and Deimos were best friends, sometimes, they acted like children when it came to messing with each other. Then again, Hank realized he did help Deimos take Sanford's precious hook away from him and that was pretty childish.

Deimos came out of the bathroom. His skin was red and steaming from the hot water, making him look like a boiled lobster.

"WHERE. IS. THAT. ASSHOLE." Deimos glared at Hank.

Hank pointed to Sanford's room. Deimos was about to go in until Hank pointed something crucial out.

"Aren't you going to wear any clothes Deimos?"

Deimos looked down at himself and realized he was butt-naked in front of Hank. His face turned redder than it already was, and ran into his own room.

Hank chuckled and shook his head as he walked to the bathroom for his shower. Those two were idiots sometimes, but you had to admit, it was pretty funny.

And Hank was glad he had those two idiots instead of all the other idiots in the world.

While Hank was taking his shower, he heard Deimos yelling at Sanford.

"SANFORD!"

"Deimos? What the hell are you doing in my room? Get the fuck out!"

"NOT UNTIL I KICK YOUR ASS YOU BITCH!"

He then heard the walls banging and a lot of struggling in Sanford's room.

"Get the fuck off me Deimos!"

"I'M GOING TO RIP YOU APART!"

"Umadbro?"

"YES I'M FUCKING MAD 'BRO'! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH THAT FREAKING HURT?"

"It's not going to hurt as much as I'm about to hurt you if you don't piss off!"

More struggling. Hank finished his shower. He decided to sleep and let the two of them set things straight. Eventually, he was able to leave consciousness as he slept to the sound of Sanford and Deimos knocking the shit out of each other.

Hank woke up 8 hours later. He didn't need much sleep since he was trained by the Higher Powers to wake up early. However, that brought up the question of why he had slept almost 13 hours last night.

Hank shrugged it off and decided that there was no point wondering. After all, the human body does tend to do strange things from time to time.

It was around 12 in the afternoon when he woke up. Hank went to the kitchen and made himself a simple bowl of cereal. He turned on the TV. The news featured the three of them with Chief Harley explaining how they were able to take down their second gang.

He continued watching with interest until Sanford and Deimos both walked into the kitchen. Hank turned to face them and he was surprised at the sight he saw.

"Wow." Hank said.

Deimos's left side of his face was completely swollen and bruises covered his arms and legs. Sanford also suffered physically, only there were some cuts and smaller bruises on his face.

"Damn. You two look like you've been hit by a truck. Twice." Hank told them.

"You can thank Captain Dick-Face over here for this whole mess." Sanford said as he pointed to Deimos.

Deimos gave Sanford the middle finger as a response.

Hank turned back to the television. "Well, we're apparently on the news again, so I won't be shocked if this turns up on the paper."

Sanford and Deimos turned to where Hank was looking. They didn't mind the attention anymore anyways. It was already known to Nevada of what the trio was doing, and the media was doing an excellent job broadcasting all the crap they did.

They sat down and made bowls for themselves. Hank finished as soon as they started eating, and walked to the front door.

"Where are you going Hank?" Deimos asked him as he was exiting.

Hank opened the door. "Oh, just for some fresh air." and walked out.

Hank had his hands in his pocket. As soon as he had left his house, someone had spotted him and the news crews were all over him.

"Mr. Wimbleton, how do you feel from last night's raid?"

"Why have you begun targeting gangs around Nevada?"

"Have you, Deimos, and Sanford been injured during the attack?"

"Who do you plan going for next?"

"Are the three of you going to continue your ring of attacks?"

"What is your take on the gangs that threaten Nevada?"

Hank began answering questions from each reporter, but as soon as he did, 3 more questions popped out of nowhere. Hank was starting to grow dizzy from the flash photography.

"Yes, we have suffered injuries before...no, we will not say anything about who we're targeting next...no, I mean yes! Wait what? I think so...stop the flash photography ple-...no...wait...stop...hold on...STOP!" he yelled loudly.

The reporters all shut their mouths and stopped taking photos.

"Look, I'll answer all your questions, just please don't throw them all at me with them at the same time, alright? You don't need to worry about not getting your answers."

So, the horde of reporters took turns asking questions and the photo-taking was lowered.

After the last reporter cleared out and thanked him, Hank nearly collapsed from exhaustion. He had spent the last 45 minutes answering obvious and ridiculous questions. All Hank wanted to do was get some fresh air, and instead he's attacked by a huge crowd of people asking him stuff that he didn't want to talk about. At least they wouldn't bother him anymore for the rest of the day, and he can spend the next few hours doing what he wanted.

Hank didn't want to go to the park. He was going there anyways in the evening and he didn't want to make a public appearance. Instead, he walked to the local gym where he had made a membership to exercise.

"Yo, Jeff." he said as he walked in.

The man at the counter saw him while he was reading his book. He grinned. "Hank, what's up? How's it going?"

"Ah, nothing much. I just got attacked by a swarm of news reporters though."

"Yeah, I heard. You and your other buddies are all over the news again." Jeff explained. Jeff was one of the very few people who had respected Hank for what he did. Hank trusted him, but not up to the point where he saw him as a friend. After all, Hank doesn't technically "hang out" with people. Cathy was going to be his first exception.

"Well, anyways, I just felt like working out right now." he told Jeff. Jeff nodded. He entered Hank's membership code into the computer and allowed him to go inside. Hank walked in. He started eyeing the treadmill.

Hank came out sweating. He said goodbye to Jeff as he walked out of the gym. Then, he walked to a nearby store and bought a bottle of water. After drinking the whole bottle down, he realized he had been in the gym for four hours. Hank quickly went home and took a shower. He had to be in the park by an hour. He opened the bathroom door and found a bottle of cologne. There was a note on it.

"Hank. Sanford and I bought you this. We've decided to get some fresh air too while you were gone. Good luck, and remember, the first date is the important one!" ~D&S

Hank shook his head. Those two were way too desperate. He sprayed on the cologne and left it on the bathroom shelf. Hank looked at the clock. 4:45. Great, he had to be there by 5. If he can run, maybe he can scratch off 15 minutes from the 30 minute walk.

He made it. Hank looked at his watch. It was 5:04. Not bad.

Hank looked around. Sure enough, Cathy was sitting on a nearby bench and was swinging her legs back and forth looking down at the ground.

"Hey." Hank said as he walked towards her.

She turned around and smiled. "Hey. I didn't think you were coming."

"Well, Hank J. Wimbleton does keep his promises." he told her.

She smiled again. He sat down next to her. Just like Deimos said, he was trying to be nice to her, just to see what would happen in the end.

"So what do you want to talk about?" Hank asked her.

Cathy looked at him. "Oh. You remembered?"

"Why would I forget? That's what I came here for in the first place."

"I thought it might not matter to you anyways. I mean, after all, you didn't need to listen to me."

Hank chuckled. "Are you so glum just about that? Don't worry, I'm here, so let's talk."

"Well, I just want to tell you thanks for saving me from those guys."

Hank rolled his eyes. "Again with the thanking? It's fine, really. You don't need to keep telling me that."

She grinned. "You know, I used to hate your guts until you helped me out."

Hank twisted the corner of his mouth. He definitely expected that. "Let me guess? Did one of us kill someone you knew?"

She nodded. "My father."

"Oh. I see."

They sat in silence.

"So, what happened?" Hank finally asked.

Cathy sighed and began, "My father was a great man. He helped support us every single day and took the time to make us happy. One day though, some A.A.H.W. members barged into our home, and just took him away. My brother was just as shocked as I was. His name was Dan."

"My mother struggled to keep us satisfied after he was gone. She and my brother worked until they dropped. But things in Nevada just kept growing more and more expensive as the war between the A.A.H.W. and you guys escalated. It seemed like the Auditor was taking control of Nevada now."

Hank got upset after hearing that name. Of course the Auditor just had to fuck things up.

"I saw the life around me fall apart. Everything had turned from an oasis to a nightmare as we fought against poverty. The only thing keeping our house was the pay the Auditor gave us from our father working on his side. Even with that, it was not enough to live a decent life. But then, as if things couldn't get any worse, something awful happened."

"2 years later, a letter came back to our house. Attached to our small paycheck was a note." Cathy's eyes were welled up with tears.

Hank knew what was coming next.

"My mother was the first one to read the note. She gasped and collapsed on the floor, crying. Then my brother came to her and asked what was wrong. She pointed to the note. My brother picked it up."

"As soon as he finished reading, my brother said nothing, threw the note, and left the house. I looked at the note as my mother ran to her room crying. It said something I would never forget." Tears were beginning to fall.

Hank looked down at the ground, listening.

" 'Dear Richards' household, we are sorry to inform you that a fellow family member, Barren Richards, has been deceased by Hank J. Wimbleton. We will give you your final paycheck and we wish you a nice day.' "

Cathy was crying now.

"Dan came back home the next morning. He told my mother that he was joining the A.A.H.W."

"I stood there, shocked that he had said such a thing after what had happened to my father. My mother was begging him not to go. Not for him to end up the way my father did. But he said he had no choice. He said he would come back home with...with your head Hank."

Hank still didn't say anything.

"He told us that he had to have revenge. No matter what. Otherwise, he would go insane and kill everyone in Nevada." Cathy continued. "Dan had left the house, but my mother didn't want him to go so badly. She grabbed his right leg with both her hands and kept crying. Dan had slapped her to let go. He had changed so much from that caring person I knew as my brother to a heartless stranger."

"Dan had left the door and drove off before my mother could catch him. We never saw him again ever since. The only reason why my mother didn't drop dead yet was because she knew she had to take care of the only person left in the world to her: me. But she was breaking apart, and still is today. I struggle to give her the will to keep living, but she's losing hope. So much had been taking away from her...the damage was huge. "

"Eventually, the Anti-A.A.H.W. did win in the end, but I didn't care anymore either. My father and brother were gone and my mother was destroyed. So why did it matter?"

"I hated you for so long, but I learned to forgive as I realized it wasn't your fault in the first place. The Auditor had killed my father, not you. Unfortunately, my brother never learned that."

Then, Cathy burst into more tears as she thought back up the note stating her father's death. "The...the way they said it...the way they said about how my father died...it was like...like they didn't give a damn about him! Like he didn't mean anything to them! Why Hank? Why didn't they care? They took my father away and used him as a tool. And then they threw him away as if he wasn't worth anything to the world...but he meant so much to me!" she cried harder. Some people began noticing Hank with the blonde.

Hank couldn't do anything but hug her as she sobbed into his shirt again. "I know Cathy.
I wish that things weren't this way, but I can't change the past. I'm so sorry that I killed your father."

Cathy kept crying and crying into Hank's chest.

This was the murderer's scar in life: A scar that will never disappear until the end of time.

A/N: Okay. 3,600 words. That was a pretty big chapter. Second largest in the whole fanfic so far (the largest was chapter 5 by 100 words). But what can I say? This chapter was meant to be long for the epic-ness. Or, at least if it was epic. Maybe the date part was too short? I don't know. So many thanks for those of you who have been reading this fanfic. Within 5 days, I have gained one review from InvaderASH (who has inspired me to keep writing. Thanks bro!) and an incredible view count. Or is it normal to have lots of views on this kind of fanfic? Ah well, I don't honestly care as long as you guys are enjoying it. R&R whenever and wherever you want. And to those of you who think this is epic, you have no idea. If you think this is dramatic, your heads will explode by the end of this story. Well, I guess this is goodbye for now, and Chapter 11 should be up and running soon.