A faint but steady engine noise made the interior of what appeared to be an aeroplane vibrate slightly. Jake opened his eyes slightly and looked around. He felt no emotion; his head seemed to be full of clouds. He did not fully understand the situation, but he was not worried. He felt his arms and legs completely relaxed and heavy, but it was a pleasant feeling. He turned his head to the side and saw his friends sleeping peacefully on the steel floor to his left. A few steps further on he could see the Inspector's massive body slumped on the floor and his dog, who for the first time looked calm. Jake smiled. It was nice to not seeing him angry for once.

Next to the dog, the man in the rabbit mask laid unconscious, looking harmless and relaxed. His chest rose and fell slowly, giving him a sense of calm and humanity. In this vulnerability, he no longer looked like a monster, but like a human being like them, Jake thought. He didn't fully remember the atrocities that Frank tried to commit.

He slowly turned his head to the right, his eyes caressing a beautiful and fascinating landscape. They were flying over a large city full of skyscrapers hidden in the darkness of the night. Only a few LED lights from billboards and lettering of all kinds revealed their presence, making them look like majestic giants in a spirit world. For Jake, watching the lights of the night made him feel safe; it reminded him of when his mother would drive late at night and he would enjoy looking out the car window, silently listening to music that spoke directly to his heart.

Not thinking about the situation he was in, the boy closed his eyes again and went back to sleep, sighing softly with a smile on his face.

~

The noise of people talking and the deafening music in that bar were quite annoying. Why had he gone there? He should have stayed home.

"Hey. Are you here all alone?"

A rather cute blond boy had just touched his shoulder. He was smiling like an idiot. What did he think he was doing? Frank felt himself looking back at him with annoyed expression. What did that stranger want?

"Yes. Do you need something?"

The boy smiled slyly and put an arm around Frank's neck, pointing with one finger to an empty chair in front of them.

"My friend over there thinks you are very cute."

He immediately moved to sit in that very chair and waved to Frank, laughing. Oh, if he remembered that laugh. It always messed with his brain.

"That was the worst pick up line I have ever heard." Commented Frank and shook his head. He could feel himself... smiling.

"And yet, it worked." Brody replied in a proud tone, swinging his feet cheerfully from the chair. They were no longer in a bar, but they were in a cozy house. From the decor, it was reminiscent of an English cottage in the middle of nature.

Frank had just returned from work. He set his suitcase down on a mahogany coffee table in the lobby and untied his tie with a sigh. He gently petted Donnie, who was munching his favourite carrot in the living room.

"Long day at work?" Brody had just finished cooking. There was a delicious smell in the house.

"Kind of." Frank dropped onto the sofa with a sigh. A fat orange-haired cat jumped onto his lap and began rubbing against him, purring.

"Can you tell me what you did today?" Brody joined him in the living room. Frank felt his lips on his mouth as Brody gave him a quick kiss before sitting down next to him. He had the softest lips, like rose petals.

"I can't, I am sorry. I found some secret information that will help me to destroy the government." Oddly enough, he was not surprised at how true the words he was saying were. Normally, he would not have been so direct.

"Ooh, that's interesting. Sounds fun. I like it." Brody laughed softly and looked him in the eye. Somehow, Frank could see the front of his face, even though Brody was sitting off to the side. The lack of the correct perspective of the situation did not bother him. "Please tell me what you found, I want to help you."

"I can't, Brody. I already told you." He shook his head and crossed his legs. The cat seemed to have vanished into thin air. "Please do not insist. Even if you knew what I know, you couldn't use these information correctly. I am the only one who can make that software work and you know that."

"You always do this! You say you care about me, but you don't give a shit! You never show me enough love! You make me suffer!" Brody's tone was suddenly desperate. He was standing and had just thrown a glass on the floor. For a moment, they were back in their old apartment in the city. "I'm at the point where I'm jealous of a fucking computer! I could be jealous of a woman or a man flirting with you, but no! Because I know you would only cheat on me with a computer! Your work is the only thing you really care about!"

"Brody! This is not true!"

"No? You always kind of behave... weirdly, you know?! Almost as if your emotions are not sincere. Almost as if you are playing a role. What's wrong with you?!"

"I already explained everything to you! You can't expect me to always react in the way you want!"

"Frank, let me tell you this. Sometimes you really freak me out. I feel like I don't really know you."

"How can you say such a thing?!"

"If you love me, then give me that information!"

"I can't! I really can't!"

"WHY?"

"Because..." Yeah, why couldn't he just tell him? "Because... you are dead." That revelation broke something inside of him. "I am trying to get revenge for what they did to you."

"Maybe you simply like to do this. Are you sure that you want to revenge me? Isn't all this just an excuse for your sick actions?"

Brody was dead. Of course he was.

"You are disgusting, Frank. People like you should be thrown into a pit and left to die".

Then how was he able to talk to him?

"Tell me the code, Frank. Tell me and I will forgive you. I will finally understand you. Isn't this what you always wanted?" Brody was literally screaming at that point.

Why was Brody so obsessed with the code? He had never understood computer science topics, nor was he interested in them. And why was he so aggressive? Even when they argued, he always had a sweet and understanding tone. She had never seen him yell like this.

"You know you are different from other people. You are broken. You are incomplete. Your soul is defective. A cursed existence. But there is hope, Frank. Just help me with the code. Do the right thing."

Frank did not answer him. Something was wrong. He found himself back in the hut. He began to run in the opposite direction, under the impression that he was not really running. He found himself in front of a mirror, and in the reflection he saw his head. Instead of his features, he saw only a large black spot. No matter how he moved his head or put his hand on the spot, it would not go away. It was as if his face did not exist.

He opened a book, inside he found only meaningless sentences. He looked at a clock, the numbers were undefined.

Now that he thought about it, the cottage had never existed. He had seen it while travelling in the past, when there were still single-family houses, sunshine, fields, nature, and the planet had not been completely swallowed up by concrete and those nauseating neon lights that replaced the sun in perpetual darkness. He had fantasized about living there with Brody. Of having animals. Brody's cat. Donnie with his favorite carrot. Donnie was also dead. Dead.

A controlled lucid dream.

Someone was inside his mind and was trying to get the information he needed directly from his subconscious. This was bad. It meant that he was in a situation beyond his control. He could not let them do that. He had to wake up.

Wake up.

Don't focus on Brody. Wake up. Donnie is dead. He missed both of them so much. He wanted to stay in that dream. But he couldn't. He had to. Wake.

UP.

Frank suddenly took a deep breath, as if he had just come out of the water. He stared up at the ceiling and the indistinct faces leaning over him. He could not quite concentrate on what he was seeing, but he could hear their voices. There was a strong smell of disinfectant in the air. He tried to move his arms or legs, but they were tied to a metal table. He turned his head slightly; he could feel wires close to his neck. They had probably just been trying to establish a neural link between their computer and his medial prefrontal cortex.

"Failed attempt." Commented someone in the room.

"Must report to the chief. It's best to stop for now. It wouldn't do any good. We will find other methods. Take him back to the cell."

"Reduce the dose of Mirtazapin."

He tried to react, to do something, but his mouth felt slurred and he could not coordinate his movements well. The rabbit mask didn't seem to connect correctly to his eyes.

Soon after, he lost consciousness again but this time had no dreams waiting for him.

~

A buzz of voices snatched him back from oblivion. When he opened his eyes, he was lying on an old bunk. He was finally able to move and take in his surroundings. He was still wearing his mask. He slowly sat up and the background voices stopped.

He was in a small cell with a toilet, a sink and a big wall of bulletproof glass separating him from the outside. No windows. On the opposite side was another cell with the children he had tried to eliminate a few hours earlier. Now they were all watching him with understandably frightened eyes, and no one dared say anything.

Frank looked at them in turn, but he no longer felt that desire to hurt them. He felt only indifference, as usual.

It was clear that they had all been taken into government custody, and it was now going to be quite difficult to get out of this situation. However, he was not seeing the inspector. Who knows if he had been judged "Useless" and eliminated. He fervently hoped that at least they had spared the life of the poor dog that man always carried around with him.

"Hm... Mr. Killer? Mr. Killer?" The youngest boy in the group tried to get his attention. A blond girl signaled him to be quiet, but evidently the child was a talker. "Can you please explain to us what's going on? My friends here keep making meaningless assumptions about the situation without knowing anything about it. I am fed up. Since you are the cause of all this, could you please tell us clearly what is going on?"

Frank sighed. The kid had a point, but he didn't feel like talking. If he decided to reply, it would have been a long conversation.

"Where is the inspector, you fucker?!" Jake suddenly yelled at the man in the other cell. Now that King had spoken to him, he seemed much less scary. Like watching a large poisonous spider locked in a jar.

"I don't know."

Frank replied and the boys flinched slightly at the sound of his voice. It was deep, calm, and despite the man's brutality and coldness, it also sounded charming even with some robotic overtones in his voice. Fresh couldn't help but remember some criminal psychology documentaries his uncle had shown him, about how some serial killers turned out to be pleasant individuals who could easily manipulate others with their highly engaging, charming behaviour. The thought only made him more frightened.

"I am as much a prisoner as you are, as you can see," Frank continued. "All I can tell you is that these gentlemen want some important information from me, but I will not give it to them. I have no idea what they want with you. They are a bit unpredictable. Their moral standards are not the same as yours; they think only in terms of how useful you can be to them. If you are not useful, you will be killed. That's all."

"That's ALL? Dude, you literally tried to murder us! What's wrong with you?! Why are you so calm? Why did you do that?" Yutani yelled at him and got closer to the glass of her prison cell.

Frank didn't answer.

"Hey! I am talking to you!" Yutani was usually a patient person, but when she decided to get to the bottom of something, she did not give up easily. She started banging on the glass. "Answer me! Why did you go after Jake? Why did you..."

She was suddenly interrupted by a loud noise coming from down the hall. A heavy metal door suddenly swung open.