Day 500: A Conversation With the Masked Man

"What about?" Hank asked.

"I thought you were weak originally. But you survived this far...killed many of that robot version of that Doctor's twisted creations, and you even outwitted him, and destroyed him. We both seek freedom, but very different forms of it. You want to get what he has taken from you and leave, but I...I want the opposite. I want my life to be taken away from me. As the flames that burn me, as the chains that bind me...they cannot be extinguished or broken. Victor...he won't let them." Cain said, shaking his head.

"But that day in the cellar, that woman...what did she do to you that made you burn her alive?" Hank asked

"She questioned why I did what I do. She judged me without knowing what I've been through." Cain said. "...So I had to show her. I took my mask off, and when I did that, she...screamed. Calling me a freak, a monster. Saying I was inhuman. I...cannot change what I am. Rage built up inside of me with every word she spoke. Eventually, I snapped. She had to experience it herself, what I experienced. Except she didn't feel have the feeling of being fully surrounded by flames, or trapped. No, she only was set on fire. I burned alive in that incinerator...these burns, they'll never go away. My anger will never go away. So those who would question, judge, and ridicule me...they all will die." Cain said, heartlessly.

"Not all of the people here are like that. I'm definitely not. Just as they have to see it from your angle, you have to see it from theirs. Victor makes you act like a monster, making people suffer, so they look at you like a monster. But not because of the burns, but because of Victor. I must admit, when I was here the first few days, and saw you, I never expected I would actually be talking with you. And as long as Victor uses you, you'll be a monster to them. Only you can break that." Hank said.

"...I know what you are doing. You are trying to turn me against my brother. I am not stupid. Trickery is common when people are in a very dangerous place, and have no way to get out. They'll try to bribe, lie, and trick to get their way out. But...on the other hand, you are right. But I cannot turn against him. He..."saved"...me from dying in those flames...from the doctors who would kill me right after I survived. I've always had my doubts about him though...there was more to it than, just saving me. I know there's more to it than that. Only an idiot wouldn't know that there isn't more to it. But...doubt, is not enough for me to turn against him. If you can find proof of some kind...of...anything, then I will possibly, but it must be something truly big. I am not an idiot." Cain said.

"Where would I even find it?" Hank asked. "As I don't think Victor or any other of his friends, would like me wandering and searching his house." Hank said.

"...The Vault below. It's a graveyard, but there might still be something in it's halls that proves his guilt. His guilt of...many possible things I have in my mind, but don't have proof of. Nobody goes down there anymore...not me, not Victor, not any of his companions. Not even her...though she would have no reason to." Cain said. "But...only Victor has the password of the door." Cain said.

"Speaking of her, why did you tell that man not to hurt her before she dragged him away?" Hank asked.

"She...she looks like...reminds me of...someone important. Someone, I made myself forget, someone I don't want to remember. I hurt her...I couldn't stop seeing her after it...kept seeing her walk through the halls, even though she wasn't...there. So I pressed the memories down, until I forgot them. But I know they're still there...if I remember, I'll...be overcome with the same rage I had when I did what I did. Nothing could calm me down...I would have killed everyone if I hadn't heard her voice again in my head. Said, "It's not your fault", but I knew better. I knew that it was entirely my fault. But it stopped whatever made me enraged...I then made myself forget. Forever." Cain ranted.

"Choosing to try to forget won't make it easier. No matter how far you push whatever it is, down, it'll still crawl up. The further down it is, the more painful it is when it'll eventually crawl back up again." Hank said. Cain began to shake his head, and his hands became fists.

"You do not know. Do not bring this up until you've experienced something so horrible, that you caused." Cain said, his hands shaking with rage, like the same rage he had towards the woman he burnt alive in the cellar. However, Hank could see that Cain was using restraint this time.

"Let's...change the topic. In the basement, what did you mean by what you said?" Hank asked.

"I was in the basement at the time, but I said nothing to you. That robot said you were pretty bad...maybe all the blood you lost made you see things? I remember seeing the one who got to the first floor before you, sneak off to the basement right before the robot dragged you up here. Then after the robot emerged and took you, he emerged and went back to his room. Willingly. But...he left these behind." Cain said, pulling out folded up pages from his pocket, handing him to Hank.

"...So it was Edward..." Hank said, looking at the pages...there was no doubt about it, these were from the journal as well. Hank tried to remember back to before he had passed out bloodied in the basement.

"You stand...even though..."

Hank looked up, he saw the image of Cain, slowly morph into the image of Edward. He was wearing the same outfit as Hank was.

"Even though you left them to die...do you not feel shame for abandoning them?" Edward asked

Hank was about to say something, but Edward talked again.

"Anybody would simply run. But a true person, would have at least tried to save them. You...are just as human as all who are in this place...even the beings that ran when I turned this one light on. I had hoped, when I first saw you...no...it does not matter now. Especially because of your act of selfishness, for your own survival. But like many things...it didn't work anyways. Now, you're barely alive." Edward said.

"I...had no other choice..." Hank said.

"That's what they always say. But think about it. The leader had been down here for twenty years, alive, those people have been surviving this whole time without you. They didn't even have to use their strongest weapon, the one you still hold in your hands, more than five times. But when they put their trust into an outside, and give them their strongest weapon? He doesn't even think twice about abandoning them. Even though they could have survived. They're dead, because of you. Now...fight." Edward said, his hands becoming fists.

"I...can't." Hank said, still in pain.

"FIGHT. Don't let yourself down. You already let every person who was counting on you down here down for yourself...you already let your home town down for yourself...you let her down." Edward said.

Hank's eyes widened, when Edward said it, another flame lit up inside of Hank. Hank charged at Edward, lifting the super sledge into the air yet again. He brought it down towards Edward when he had reached him. The sound of the super sledge hitting the floor echoed. He looked up, and Edward wasn't even there. But he knew what the bright light was now. It was the light of the stairwell. However, he was more worried about Edward who suddenly disappeared. His first instinct was to look behind him, but there was nothing. He only saw the bloody spot where he had been laying, and the trail of blood he had left by charging towards at Edward.

Edward shook his head at Hank, disappointed that he was able to trick him so easily with his stealth boy. He knew that Hank didn't have much time left being conscious, so he walked around the still confused Hank, and went into another hallway, and waited for the android to take Hank away, as Edward was right, and Hank passed out a few seconds after he had tricked him. When the android had dragged Hank up the stairs, he went up the stairs as well, and dropped the journal pages, knowing that Cain could, and was watching him.

"Did you read these?" Hank asked.

"I...cannot read. They only taught certain children in the Vault." Cain said.

"I could teach you." Hank said, trying to make Cain an ally.

"...Only those with no willpower, will fall to the temptress." Cain said.

"...?" Hank was confused as the statement came out of nowhere.

"Those who tempt HER, however, will have a great chance of success." Cain said. "...Just a tip for what is to come. However, kill her, and I kill you." Cain warned, standing up. Cain opened the metal door, and left Hank alone. The Desperate Father didn't come back until a few hours later, but Hank began to read his new journal pages in the meantime.

Day 500: A Conversation With the Masked Man

Oh that crazy Edward, what type of shenanigans has he been getting into since then? Who knows. Also, this mistress is a real bitch. And Cain's always an interesting character to write...anyhow,

Adios, to the next!

~TGG333