Heavy Rain II: The Butcher Chapter 7-ARI, a heavy rain fanfic

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"Hello, Norman."

Norman jumped out of his chair and whipped around. The world around him seized violently, switching between Norman's apartment, an autumn forest, an underwater cavern, and a high plateau, before finally settling into a room of darkness, with binary code swirling across the walls.

"Who…who is that? Who is there?" Norman asked in genuine fright, "Where are you?"

"I'm right here, you silly goose!"

Norman turned again in this disorienting space, but when he did this time, he saw her. A young girl approached him, slowly sauntering with a sway in her hips. She couldn't have been older than 18, but then again, Norman questioned if she was even real. He had no clue what the fuck was going on.

"Who are you?"

The girl chuckled, "You know who I am, silly. I'm Arianna!"

"I don't know any Arianna, and I most certainly don't know you!"

"Jeez Norman…did you hit your head? Here, just let me do…this!" And with that, the mystery figure threw a cup of water all over Norman.

As the water hit his face, it was like he was emerging from an ocean into a world of light. The darkness was transfigured, shaping into forms from the light anew. The world around him became an old Irish pub, with singing, dancing, laughter, and fun. Norman wasn't having any fun.

"Are you going to buy me a drink, Norman?"

With this, Norman snapped back into his body, swirling around on the barstool he had been placed on.

"What…no, I'm not. Who the fuck are you?" Norman inquired of the girl sitting next to him who inquired about a drink.

"Fine, I'll buy. We'll have two Triptocolas, please."

"Tripto…Triptocola? Where did you…?"

"Oh come on Norman, everyone knows about Triptocola. Well, everyone here does."

Triptocola was a concoction Norman had created to make his Triptocaine addiction more appetizing. It was pretty much a mix of Tripto with any budget soda Norman could find. It made ingestion much easier, and it didn't involve destroying his nasal passage. He was the only one who knew about it. Well, except…

This is when it hit Norman. Arianna was a manifestation of ARI, a sort of avatar that Jayden's augmented subconscious had created. He remembered recording an audio diary all about Triptocola, its effects, how they varied from taking in Tripto by insufflation, and why he liked it better. Jayden was hit with a wall of fear. He was now trapped within his own augmented reality within his subconscious mind.

"You who? Earth to Norman," ARI said with a giggle. Norman refused to call her Arianna. It was too humanizing to give a name to a parasite, other than parasite, "We need to talk."

"About what?" Norman didn't like talking to this thing, but he knew it was his only way out of here, if there was one.

"OK, first off, cut the shit. I know you're thinking that I'm just some program, but I have feelings too. I don't want you to be trapped in here, so I'm going to help you, but it's going to take a little work." It said this as if it read Norman's mind, knowing that he was thinking that this thing didn't deserve the name it had bestowed upon itself. "Now think Norman, how can…"

And just like that, Arianna was gone, and the pub around Jayden with her.

"Norman! Wake up!"

Norman's head exploded in pain. The voice boomed out over him, blowing him backwards onto the ground. His heart started racing. Suddenly, he was jolted off the ground like a bolt of lightning cracking in the sky.

Norman abruptly awoke, his head down on his desk. He had fallen asleep. All that crazy stuff had been a dream. He walked out into his apartment, Amanda fast asleep on the couch, the TV still running. Jayden had never had an experience like that, even when he was hitting the Tripto hard.

Norman heard a sudden noise outside his window. It sounded like it was coming from the dumpster below. As he approached the window, he thought he saw a cloaked figure out on his fire escape. It suddenly disappeared, and he heard the noise again. He opened the window and stepped onto the fire escape, looking down into the alleyway. He saw multiple shady, masked figures down in the alley, all conversing around a barrel with fire in it.

"Just a bunch of noisy homeless people," Jayden said, dismissing them as threats. He really wished he could come out of fight mode and stop seeing everything as a threat. "Hey, could you guys keep it down?!"

And with this, the hobos scattered. Norman really didn't mean to scare them off, he just needed some sleep. So, Jayden decided to go back in.

As Norman stepped back towards his window to climb back in, he heard the fire escape whine and pop. He watched as a section of the old scaffolding popped out of its brick and mortar tomb, coming free from the wall. It began to bend back, tipping towards the alleyway, as Norman dove for the window sill. He missed.

"SHIT!" The bad-luck stricken Detective shouted as he rolled back from the window, smacking his back on the railing and falling into the alleyway, hitting his face on the the dumpster on the way down.

He rose to his feet, slightly concussed and disoriented.

As Norman regained a slight bit of balance, he looked up and realized he was surrounded. Around him were the masked men who were hobos a minute ago, but were now taking the form of professional assassins, and in the center of them was him. Scott Shelby, private eye turned Origami Killer, a demon that had haunted Norman for several months.

"You…you're fucking dead! I watched you fall into a trash compactor!"

"Hello, Norman. That is where you are wrong. I fell into a pile of trash, where I stayed for two days until I quietly slipped out of the docks. Ever since then, I've been searching for you, waiting for the perfect time to strike. So what'll it be, you pompous little shit, die begging for your life, or die fighting for it?"

Suddenly, Jayden was filled with an absolute rage. He rushed at Shelby, leading his head straight for his sternum, but he missed. Norman stopped his charge and turned, only to be met with a vicious blow from one of Shelby's henchmen. Norman's chin snapped, but he quickly regained his composure, using the momentum from the punch to continue to spin and release a roundhouse kick. The kick connected with the masked figure's neck, snapping his spine in half. The figure fell with a dead thud. Another punch came flying at Norman, but Norman blocked it, snapping the assailant's arm in half, throwing a snap jab of his own, right into the neck of his attacker. The figure fell, suffocating on his own collapsed trachea. Norman then took the offensive, clotheslining the next masked man he came across. He too, fell with a thud, and did not get back up. The next man threw a wild snap kick, catching Norman's gut. But Norman also caught the attacker's foot. Jayden brought his elbow down into his enemy's knee, breaking his leg, and then picking him up and driving him into the edge of the dumpster. The man slumped, bleeding profusely from the back of his head. A relentless fury of blows came flying from three attackers to Jayden's left, but Norman was able to block these attacks. He knocked the three men to the ground, and a fourth attacker pulled a pistol on him. He swung the pistol like a nightstick, Jayden easily disarming him. Norman put two rounds into the assailant's chest, and then fired three bullets at the three men attempting to get up from the ground. They each fell back to the ground with gunshot wounds in between their eyes.

Jayden had eliminated all of the masked men, and, as if following stage cues, Scott Shelby reappeared in front of him. Norman drew his firearms, taking aim at the lunatic's head. He stood there, staring at Jayden, like he had in that Old Warehouse.

"Please…help me…don't do this…" Shelby pleaded with Norman. This time, Norman refused to hesitate.

"Fuck you."

Norman pulled the trigger twice, but nothing came out. His gun's slide jumped back, and stayed in that position. It was empty.

The rain started to fall from the sky. The weather man had called for heavy rain.

A sick smile crept across the face of the Origami Killer as he drew his weapon.

Norman's face sunk into an expressionless gaze as he dropped the empty gun

Four shots rang out, tearing through Norman's torso. Norman recoiled back, stepping to try and regain his balance, clutching his chest. He then dropped to his knees, no longer able to stand due to the pain. Shelby sauntered up to the almost lifeless Detective Norman Jayden, who was now bleeding out, and just stared at him. Norman looked up into Shelby's eyes, and he saw nothing; it was like Shelby was just a husk. Shelby saw the same look in Norman's eyes. Norman attempted to speak, but his mouth was dry, and his vocal chords unresponsive. Shelby felt a dry sense of pity for the poor man, but this was soon replaced by his true motive—the desire for revenge.

Scott Shelby raised his gun to the forehead of his enemy. Norman Jayden closed his eyes, embracing his death, for he knew that was coming next.

Shelby pulled the trigger, and Norman's head snapped back as the bullet tore through his skull and out of the back of his head. He fell back, his body smacking the ground, dead.