TW: Mentioning of eugenics, gunshots.
Two masked guards entered the room. They wore an eerie tiger mask that hid not only their features but also their hair, making them inhuman and indecipherable in every way. They walked up to Frank's cell as they both pointed guns at him.
"It's better for you if you don't attack us." One of them said sternly. His voice was muffled by his mask.
"Come with us."
The kids watched the scene with frightened eyes. They did not know whether to be happy that the guards were taking that murderer with them, or to be afraid of what these masked people might do to them later. Moreover, in this desperate situation, Frank was the only adult they vaguely knew who was in their position, so to lose sight of him made them feel oddly uncomfortable.
They watched him slowly leave the cell and winced as a guard grabbed his shoulder and forced him to bend forward with his back. They immediately cuffed his hands and blindfolded him, then pushed him hard in front of them until he left the room. They kept him bent forward to confuse him.
A silence fell between them at the sound of the metal door suddenly closing.
The first night in the cell was no fun. The group could not even tell what time it was because the cells had no clocks or windows. They guessed it was night only from their tiredness and the fact that no guard seemed to want to come back anytime soon. Everyone was wondering what had happened to Frank, some with concern and some with veiled relief. They stood scattered about the room, some on the bed and others on the floor, pondering what had happened.
This went on until Yutani broke the silence between them with a choked sob. She was sitting on the bed with her back to the wall and her legs crossed in front of her face. She hid her mouth between her knees as her back shook slightly.
"Yutani? Are you okay?" Jake asked in a broken voice, moving slightly closer to her.
"No, I'm not okay, Jake." Yutani sniffed. "I'm not ok at all. How could I be? Someone tried to kill us and now we are prisoners in a strange place. We don't know if we'll survive, what they'll do to us or if we'll ever see our families again.
"Yutani..." Jake didn't know what to say. He felt responsible for the whole situation, after all they got trapped in the subway because of him.
"I think it's normal to feel that way." Tricky replied, staring at the floor in front of her. "We're in the worst situation I can imagine. Like, holy shit. This feels almost unreal, like fanfiction. But not a good one."
"I miss my dad. And my mum." Yutani muttered. "I don't know. I feel like all these years I never really told them how much I loved them and how grateful I was that they took me into their family. Sometimes I was pretty bitchy with them because they aren't my biological parents and now I regret it all. I just want to hug my mum and dad right now."
Fresh didn't say anything, he just stared at Yutani with a serious expression on his face. It was hard to tell if he was angry, sad or worried. Probably all three.
"I think we have to stay positive, no matter what." King whispered with a gentle smile. For some reason, he didn't seem as worried as his friends. Maybe he was just very good at hiding his feelings. "I mean... I wonder if my mum will miss me. I wonder if she will be nicer to me when we meet again. But either way, there is nothing we can do about our situation. We just have to stick together and hope for the best. They haven't killed us yet. Maybe we still have a chance!"
Tricky smiled at her friend and nodded. "You're right. The only thing we can do is stick together." She let out a soft sigh. "You know, I was wondering the same thing as you. I wonder if my mum will miss me or just be glad I'm finally gone." She paused for a moment. "But I feel bad for my father."
"Same here." King agreed. "I wonder if she'll be mad at me again or if she'll finally realise that I shouldn't be taken for granted, you know?"
"I'm the one who took my parents for granted." Yutani seemed to have calmed down a bit. Her face was still hidden behind her knees, but she wasn't shaking as much. "When I come back, I will never stop hugging them and telling them I love them. I will do it every day.
"I took my mother's love for granted too." Jake muttered, feeling a weight on his chest at the thought of how desperate his mother will be when his disappearance will be reported. "I wish I had been a better son. She did everything she could for me. I feel like I betrayed her. I need to stop being so stupid and impulsive."
"Yes, you should." Fresh remarked. "We told you many times to just come home with us. You didn't listen. Now look at us." he continued bitterly.
"I'm sorry." Jake looked away, too ashamed to look at his best friend directly.
"You always do this. You do the most impulsive shit ever, then you apologise. Then you do it again. And again. And again. After a while, your apologies start to sound kind of empty, bro. I'm not gonna lie." Fresh side-eyed Jake. He did his best to keep his irritation under control.
"Hey, Fresh, please don't start a whole argument now." Tricky stepped into the conversation again, like a patient older sister would do every time they had a fight. "Jake fucked up, that's for sure. But there's no point in pointing it out now. This 'I told you so' shit is annoying and counterproductive. Maybe the killer would have killed us under different circumstances. We don't know. It's also his fault that we're here, not just Jake's."
Fresh just shrugged and fell silent again. Tricky rolled her eyes, but decided to leave him alone. She knew him far too well to know that in situations like this it was better to just ignore him and let him cool off. "Come on boys. Let's try and get some sleep. Time will pass faster."
They all nodded and lay down, but none could really sleep.
They were awakened from a kind of anxious slumber by a dull noise coming from the opposite cell. The two guards were throwing Frank back inside the cell. The man fell dead weight to the floor. Without a word, the guards closed the cell and left.
The group crowded around the cell door to watch him. Frank was laying with his face turned to the opposite side.
"Guys, do you think he died?" whispered Yutani. A shiver ran down her spine.
"Maybe? No, wait. Look, he is breathing. He is breathing quite fast. He looks in pain." Tricky replied.
"What have they done to him?" asked Jake, but he wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer.
"Hey Mr Killer, are you all right?" King asked in a slightly raised tone.
No answer from the man. His breathing just slowed down a little.
"Mr Killer?"
"Just call me Frank." Replied the man, in a exhausted tone of voice.
"Bitch, we don't call you by your name. You tried to murder us." Fresh shouted.
"I think I'll call him Frank. Mr Killer sounds kinda cringe." Tricky commented before turning her attention back to the man on the floor. "What happened to you?"
Frank ignored the question, he really didn't feel like talking about it.
"Hello?"
"You just need to know that I overheard them saying what their boss decided for you." Frank finally replied. "They think it would be too expensive to introduce you to our society. They don't want to waste money and resources educating, feeding and finding homes for undeveloped children. They will kill you as soon as they are finished with me and harvest your organs. They always do that to useless prisoners."
"W-what? You liar!" Fresh didn't lower his voice. "You're just trying to scare us!" He wasn't sure if he didn't believe the man or didn't want to. Everything sounded far too scary.
"I don't understand." Jake's voice trembled a little. He was still intimidated by this man. "What kind of place is this? What does undeveloped mean? Care to explain?"
"We are currently in what you would call the 'future'." Frank continued. His tone was calm and unemotional. He turned his head to look at them. "That is all. We have travelled through time."
"That's impossible!" Yutani exclaimed. "How is that even scientifically possible?"
"You wouldn't understand. The scientific knowledge of your time is too primitive."
"Are they really going to harvest our organs?" Tricky frowned. "What kind of society is this? I thought we were evolving, not degenerating. You call us undeveloped, but you are the son of a society that treats murder as a common thing. Your actions speak for themselves."
"It really depends on your point of view. Every scientific and social revolution is characterised by a paradigm shift. To put it simply, over time humanity has realised that prioritising ethics and recognising human rights as an absolute value, as a goal to be achieved, has only led to the collapse of society. Over time, the idea developed that only what was useful to society had a right to exist, that waste should be minimised and that the survival of the community took precedence over the life of the individual. It doesn't matter if you're a child, an old person, a disabled person or a person who doesn't hurt anyone else. If you do not conform to the canons of 'usefulness' and 'normality' imposed by the majority, you are out." Frank shrugged. "That doesn't mean I agree with it. I want society to collapse for personal reasons."
"How was killing us going to bring this fucked-up society down?" Jake folded his arms across his chest.
"In no way. I wanted to kill you simply because you were getting in the way of my work, because you annoyed me and because I wanted to erase all traces of my passage from your world."
"How did I get in the way of your work?" Jake exclaimed. "I didn't even know you existed, man!"
"With your graffiti. Your scribbles interfered with the opening of the portal that would have brought me back to my present, to a specific place. Without them, I would have delivered some information to some people. I was working undercover as a government agent, they thought I was in the past to do jobs for them. I didn't have much time, because as soon as I touched another turbine to open the portal, a security mechanism was activated. I knew I would be caught and had to get back quickly. That delay in catching the time train costed me the mission". He watched the children crowded against the opposite glass door with the usual indecipherable expression of his rabbit mask . "Let's just say I've taken a liking to making you pay for it."
"Holy shit bro, my bad. Lol. But hey, that means your shady bosses were after us too, since we touched the turbine too. We were in the same boat since the beginning." Jake's eyes widened, speechless. So much for the butterfly effect! "But they're not just scribbles, they're art." He added, quite annoyed.
"Whatever. It doesn't matter anymore. I no longer have any reason or desire to eliminate you. I have more serious problems at the moment." Frank didn't seem angry, just uninterested. So Jake felt encouraged to ask a few more questions.
"Are you some kind of dark hero who wants to save the world from becoming so ugly and sad? Have you tried to travel back in time to change the course of history?"
"No. To be honest, I don't think the fate of the human race is my business. The world is the way it is because people wanted it to be. Like I said, I do it for personal reasons."
His calm bothered Fresh even more.
"Well, it matters to us! Because I will never forgive you for what you tried to do! Oh, and why don't you take off that mask?" Fresh tried to provoke him. "Are you too ugly to show your face?"
"Fresh!" Tricky shouted, giving him a little slap on the back of the head.
"What?" Fresh didn't seem at all sorry.
"Your forgiveness means nothing to me, kid. About the mask, I don't think it's any of your business. But let's say if I took this mask off now, I would lose my eyes, because it's connected to my cornea. I need these special lenses inside the mask see better in the dark and at long distances."
"So, like a pair of glasses?" Yutani seemed perplexed. "But why the bunny shape? Is it a design choice?"
"This is so metal." commented King. "I like it."
"No, in my opinion it is more gothic. Or punk. But not metal," Tricky added. "Or maybe even dreamcore. Like those characters with a television instead of a head."
"Can we please focus on the important things here?" Fresh looked back at his friends in annoyance before looking back at Frank. "You said they would kill us as soon as they were done with you. Have you given them the information they need?"
"No."
"Good. Then we have more time. We need to find a way to get out of here." Fresh looked back at his friends.
"Good luck with that. This is the highest security prison in the country. You will never get out of here without outside help," Frank commented.
"I'm not giving up!"
All of a sudden, muffled screams and the sound of gunfire could be heard outside the cell door. Everyone fell silent and stared at the door, which was suddenly kicked open from outside. The boys screamed, but Frank remained calm. He slowly stood up despite his wobbly legs and nodded to the hooded figure entering the room.
"Took you long enough to find me, Maia."
"Look who's talking about being late! We were expecting you at the old station almost a month ago!" A feminine voice called out in a strong, authoritative tone. She removed her hood and a charming girl with an air-filtering mask over her mouth took a card to unlock Frank's cell. "Your stupid tracking software doesn't work when you're in the past, you idiot!"
"But it found me as soon as I returned to the present. I consider it a success."
"Ugh. Let's go now. The guards are already after me."
The woman replied in an annoyed tone before widening her eyes at the sight of the five children locked in the cell in front of them. "And who are these brats?"
"Long story." Replied Frank.
"Then I'd rather not know. Your long stories always have a disturbing twist." Maia opened the door to their cell with a quick gesture and motioned for them to hurry. The boys could hardly believe their eyes.
"Thank you, thank you, Miss...?" asked King, shyly.
"Miss Maia. From now on I am your boss. Hurry up if you want to get out of here."
"Wait! There is another prisoner!" Jake exclaimed suddenly. "Have you seen an old inspector with a dog? He was with us when we were taken, and now he's nowhere to be seen. We have to find him and help him!"
"Rule number one: I am the one who gives orders here, got it? If I say we move, we move. We will think about your friend when the time comes." Maia put an arm under Frank's shoulder to support him on his legs.
"But..."
"Jake, we have to listen to her! We have no choice, we have to trust her!" Fresh exclaimed.
"Okay." He nodded. "Let's go." Jake took a deep breath before he and his friends ran after Frank and Maia.