Tw: Mildly graphic scenes (light gore) blood, strangling, medical scene with needles, strong language.

As soon as they flew over the top of the skyscraper, Rain and Jake were greeted by a horrifying scenario.

Frank's computer lay on the ground as if someone had thrown it violently.

Its owner, meanwhile, was desperately trying to avoid being hit by a man twice his size. Normally, Frank would have been much more agile and quicker than his attacker, who was strong but had slow reflexes. However, Frank appeared to be injured: he was moving with unnatural movements and limping. Most likely, the man had caught him from behind and hit him hard. The closer they got, the more details they could make out. Frank was brandishing a knife, which he held in front of him to put some distance between himself and his attacker. Despite the situation, he seemed strangely calm, even while being clearly in pain. He had his gaze fixed on the man in front of him, trying to anticipate his every move.

On the contrary, his attacker was screaming at him like a madman, gesticulating and shouting the worst obscenities.

"You son of a bitch, I'm going to kill you! Do you understand? I'm going to kill you!"

"Wait... but that voice..." Jake's eyes went wide as the realization of what was happening hit him like a runaway train. "It can't be..."

"We have to help Frank!" Rain was visibly panicking. They held their hands up to their face and stared in fear at the scene unfolding below them. "That madman attacked him!"

"Ted?" Jake murmured in a low voice, not believing his eyes.

"Huh? What, this man is supposed to be your friend? GOD! Oh God, I can't look!" While they were talking, the old guard, after several attempts, had managed to hit Frank. He punched him in the face so hard that he knocked him to the ground a few paces away, causing him to lose his knife as well. The man lay helpless on the ground for a few seconds, dizzy and confused by the violent impact. Had he not been wearing the rabbit mask, he probably would have died.

But that did not stop Ted from turning on him. He began to kick him in the ribs, and only when they were close enough did Jake notice with horror that the military boots worn by the old guard had a sharp, blade-like tip. The toe of the boot sank into Frank's flesh like a knife into a stick of butter.

Frank gasped in pain and tried to get away from the murderous fury that was upon him and tried to reach for his knife again to defend himself. But he could not do it in time. He felt himself being crushed to the ground by a large body with a terrifying, animal force, like a hungry bear. The man felt a large hand wrap around his neck like a steel vise, while strong fingers tried to rip the mask from his face.

"Coward, let me see your face! I want to see the face of the man who destroyed my life before I end yours!"

Frank felt overwhelmed. He could not push the man away in any way, his legs were pinned down by the guard's knees, and trying to push him away with his arms was impossible. Even punching him in the face seemed to have no effect. He kept his gaze fixed on his attacker's face as a deep, instinctive panic clouded his mind. For a brief moment, he caught a glimpse of the guardian's eyes, filled with pure hatred and madness, through the thick facial hair. Black dots began to invade the sides of his field of vision, and the desperate need for air made every single cell in his body scream in agony. Frank seriously thought he was going to die soon.

"TED! TED, PLEASE STOP! YOU'RE KILLING HIM!" A youthful, vaguely muffled voice gave Frank a glimmer of hope. As soon as his attacker heard the voice, he loosened his grip slightly and turned to look at the sky.

"Jake?"

This was his chance. With his last remaining strength, Frank suddenly leaned sideways, grabbed the knife he had dropped earlier, and in one fluid motion slashed a gash across the guard's face.

A terrible scream spread like a roar around them. The guard covered his eyes with his hands as a trickle of blood began to run down his finger.

Frank pushed him away and tried to crawl away on the floor. Every move he made hurt, but the adrenaline coursing through his body gave him the strength to do it anyway and reach the other end of the roof where their spaceship had landed. He could not think clearly, he could only feel that his throat was burning and that he was panting and coughing heavily, doing his best not to pass out. It seemed to him that someone was still holding his throat in a vise, that the oxygen in the air was not enough to satisfy his hunger for air.

Then he felt gentle hands stroking his back and a cheerful but worried face smiling at him. "It's all right, Frank. It's all right. You're safe now. It's all right. It's okay." Rain repeated that phrase on a loop, perhaps more to convince themselves than to comfort Frank.

Rain pulled a saturation meter out of a small bag and put it on the man's finger. "Try to take slow, deep breaths to inflate the abdomen."

Easier said than done. As Frank tried to put the advice into practice, Rain opened the man's black jacket to look at the spot where Ted had just kicked him. Frank's snow-white shirt was soaked with deep red blood from a gash in the middle of his chest. A few fragments of fabric were attached to the skin, while the wound reflected light slightly, like a small pool of dark water.

By now, Ted had stopped screaming. He hid his face behind his hands as blood began to seep through his fingers and drip onto the floor. Jake stared not far from him, petrified with fear. He had never seen Ted behave like this, nor did he think he was capable of it. He had always seemed a quiet man, stern, but certainly not capable of killing a man with his bare hands.

Suddenly, Ted pulled his hands away from his face, spraying a few drops of blood around him. He pulled a gun from the side pocket of his uniform and pointed it at Frank and Rain. Fortunately, the cut on Frank's face was superficial, but his face still looked like a frightening mask of suffering and cruelty.

"STOP!" Jake did not think twice before standing in front of his companions, his arms open as if to protect them. "Ted, please stop!" The boy's voice was broken with emotion. "What happened to you? Do you want to shoot an injured person and those who are treating him? Why are you doing this, Ted? Why?! I don't recognize you anymore!"

In response, Ted laughed. "I can't believe it. You even ask me why?" His laugh was hollow, devoid of any emotion. It didn't even remotely sound like the laugh of a movie villain; it was a completely unnatural laugh. "I'm surprised you're trying to defend this creep now, considering he tried to kill you and your friends and blame it on me. He must have brainwashed you in some weird way, because I really can't explain this attitude of yours."

"He didn't brainwash me! He helped us escape from the prison where they were holding us, where they were going to kill us!"

"Ah, is that what you think? Jacob, you may be a child who believes this crap, but I'm not stupid. They would keep you in jail temporarily to see if you were dangerous, then they would help you."

"That's not true!" Jake's hands started to shake. "It's not true! They wanted to kill us!"

"Yeah? And who told you that? Why do you think they didn't kill me? Because I'm so handsome?"

Jake was speechless for a moment. He slowly turned to Frank, who was still trying to catch his breath. Rain looked at him in despair. A terrible doubt crept into his mind. After all, it was Frank who had told him that they were going to kill them.

"But the guards tried to shoot us!"

"Because you tried to escape! The guards are trained to shoot those who try to escape to protect public safety! Do not be fooled by this group of terrorists!"

Jake fell silent. He no longer knew what to think. The hypothesis that Frank had manipulated them did not seem absurd at all.

"Come here, Jake. Come with me, I'll take you where they can really help you. Here they have a device to go back in time. They told me they will only let us go back when we are all reunited. Join us and help us free your friends from the clutches of these criminals. They are only using you." He opened his arms as if to invite Jake into a hug. "Let's go home."

Jake didn't move. Something just didn't feel right. "But where is your dog?"

"They told me they were holding him. Then they will give him back to me when they have you in custody as well."

"Then you trust them blindly too." Jake commented. "You don't have any concrete evidence, you're just relying on their promises. But ... actually ... our group could also be considered terrorists ..."

"Better than trusting a psychopath with a hidden face who tried to kill you three times, don't you think?" Ted pointed his gun back at Frank and motioned with his head for Jake to move. "It's all his fault we're here now. He doesn't even deserve to live, the lousy bastard."

"Wait! Why do you want to kill Frank so badly? He still has information that the government is interested in. If you kill him, you will be in trouble!"

"I don't care. I want to see him dead."

"But they will kill you and your dog if you do that!"

"I DON'T CARE!" Ted suddenly shouted in a fit of rage. "I don't care about anything anymore! The only thing I want is to see that asshole suffer like a miserable person and die! I just want revenge for everything he has done! I not only want to kill him, I have to kill him!"

"There is a wisdom that is woe; but there is a woe that is madness." Frank suddenly muttered in a hoarse, broken voice.

"SHUT UP!" Ted loaded his gun, "You must not say a word!"

"First answer my question. Do you know where that quote came from?" Frank continued undaunted, as if the guard had just told him nothing.

"If you think you can enchant me with your words, know that it won't work. I know exactly what you mean. I've read Moby Dick, too."

"Good. Then you know very well what kind of character Captain Ahab is. And how his obsession with revenge and his hatred of the white whale lead him to be dragged under the sea to his death." Frank paused, wincing in pain as Rain lightly brushed the back of his neck to check it. "Will you end up like him? I understand what you feel. I have often felt similar hatred and fanaticism. But it never helped me."

"Don't try to flatter me with your bullshit, dammit! Jake! GET OUT OF MY WAY!" He shouted at the top of his lungs, brandishing the weapon with such determination that it made Jake blanch in fear.

"NO! I will not let you do this!"

"Then perish." Ted replied, with an unnatural cruelty in his voice. He sounded completely like another person, as if he had been possessed by an evil entity. Jake closed his eyes, waiting for the worst.

A shot echoed through the night.

Despite the deafening gunshot, Jake felt no pain. Hesitantly, he opened his eyes again, and the scene before him stunned him. Miss Maia was holding Ted down, flailing uselessly under the woman's steely grip.

Ninja stood a few paces away from them, gun in hand, shaking his head. "Ah. The guns. What vulgar weapons. Much better are katanas. Even a monkey is able to put a finger on a trigger, but to master the art of the katana..."

Miss Maia motioned for Rain to go to the ship. "Rain, help the idiot nerd get on the ship before he leaves half the amount of blood transfusions a hospital does in a month here on this floor. Frank, does it seem acceptable to you to be attacked from behind by this caveman?"

"I was distracted by the computer." Frank muttered as he struggled to his feet with the help of his companion.

"Then I'd say it's time to wake up a little, wouldn't you? I don't want this to happen again. We can't risk losing our hacker every time you leave the house. Every time you get into some kind of trouble and we have to come save your ass. Be less of a nerd and get your shit together."

"Miss Maia, excuse me, but this doesn't seem like the best time for a lecture." Rain interrupted and made Frank lie on his back on the ship. "You can kick his ass later when I finish my work."

Miss Maia shrugged before looking at Jake. "Well? What are you doing? Are you a princess? Are you sleeping here? Get on the ship, come on. This guy is tiring to keep on the ground."

Jake stood dumbfounded staring at the scene, not knowing what to say. "But...do we leave him here?"

"What are you going to do, take him along as your personal strangler? Come on now, less dumb questions and more facts." She gave him a thumbs-up. "By the way, I like your critical spirit. Good on you for questioning us. I don't like half-assed people who blindly follow someone. Always reason with your head, know that you will always be free to leave our team except you get your memory erased a little bit."

"But-but what about his dog?"

"Don't worry, we've solved it."

"What did you do?!" Ted shouted, flailing even more under Maia's grip. "What have you done to my dog!"

"Uuh. Do you see that Mr. Vengeance still has a heart? So you kind of care about your dear little beastie, right?" Miss Maia leaned toward him and whispered cruelly. "I lied. I have no idea where your dog is. But if he is slaughtered, it will be all your fault and your stupid pride."

Ted suddenly froze at hearing those words.

"That's right. I understand you've been brainwashed, but if you think you're going to change your mind, come one night to the Bayonet Bar. Between Third and Fifth streets in the northern quarter and ask the bartender about Malika. If you play pranks and take your cop friends with you, you will all end up very bad."

She glared at him, and as soon as she saw that both Ninja and Jake had boarded, she kicked Ted in the head and with a few leaps jumped onto the ship as well. She immediately started the engines, flying away.

Ted did not try to follow them. He stood up slowly and stared at the ship as it flew away. A small head was watching him, and Ted felt Jake's eyes pierce his soul just before they disappeared into the clouds.

On board, Rain mustered all his patience to help Frank. "Frank, I know you want to keep your identity a secret. But you just took a hard blow to the face... Look! You're even bleeding under your mask!" She ran a finger under his chin, then showed Frank the red stain. "See, there's blood dripping from your face. I really need to check on you. Please take off the mask. Don't make a fuss, please. I am here to treat you, trust at least a medic."

"I apologise, but I cannot accommodate your request at this time."

"Come on, Frank! I can't believe you're this stupid! You're an educated and intelligent man, why do you have to be so stubborn about something like this?"

"Sometimes, we must acknowledge our limitations, and this is one of those times for me."

"You are unbelievable. Miss Maia, can you say something to him?" Rain turned with an exasperated gesture to his boss, who shrugged.

"And who am I, his mother? If he doesn't want to, he doesn't want to. Fuck it." Miss Maia shrugged while Rain huffed and rolled his eyes.

"All right. Then let's try to close this wound." They said, referring to the wound on Frank's chest. They took more material from their bag, put on their gloves, and created a sterile field around the wound before trying to pull a few strips of tissue away from Frank's skin.

"No. That won't do." Rain commented, shaking his head. He took off his gloves. "Frank, I understand that it hurts. But you can't move every time I touch the wound. I risk of making serious mistakes, I also have to disinfect, stitch and cauterize the wound."

"I'm sorry. I am not doing it on purpose." He said sincerely. Every time Rain touched his wound, his body instinctively reacted by trying to escape the contact.

"I see. Then I have to do this. I can't let you bleed like this without doing something, you risk dying." They put on a new pair of gloves and picked up a small glass vial, inserting a syringe into the cap to draw in a clear liquid. "Will you give me your arm, please?"

Frank did not move. "What are you going to do?" He asked her in a calm but vaguely suspicious tone.

"Come on, can you trust me just for a moment? I don't want to poison you. Please, I want to give it to you nicely. Don't make me force you. I want to give you a mild sedative to keep you from moving around while I try to medicate you. It's nothing dangerous, it'll just make you sleep a little. Later, I will have to intubate you because if you go into hemorrhagic shock or if you stop breathing while you are sleeping, you will die. Since you won't give me access to your mouth, I will have to make a small incision in your throat and insert a tube into your trachea. I will also need to monitor your vital signs to figure out exactly what medication to give you." Rain patiently explained what she was going to do as simply as possible, hoping to gain Frank's trust. "Do you know what the 'lethal triad' is?" Deep acidosis, hypothermia, coagulopathy. If you keep bleeding, you will exhaust your physiological reserves and die. Obviously I have to do a lot of other things, but since I don't have all the necessary tools here, I do what I can."

Frank stared at Rain for a few seconds before nodding. "All right. Do what you have to do." He replied, rolling up his sleeve to expose his arm.

"Take it easy. I'll take it from here." Rain smiled as she administered the drug. "Stop being a control freak and relax. You are in very good hands. In a few seconds you'll start to feel the effects as I've administered it into your vein. It should also make your pain go away, you will like it."

In fact, Frank's body visibly relaxed, as if he was melting to the ground. "I don't...I doubt it..." Frank whispered before taking a deep breath and letting his head rest on the floor. The red glow in the synthetic eyes of the mask faded.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Jake, who had been watching the whole scene with great interest, asked shyly. The idea of witnessing an intubation disgusted and intrigued him terribly.

"Yes. Put this blanket on him, please." Rain said cheerfully, pointing to a shiny blanket on a small shelf in the ship.

Jake obeyed and then stood next to Rain. "We could take his mask off now, I don't think he'd notice if we put it back on before he wakes up." Jake suggested distractedly.

"Eh, it would be nice. It would be so much easier. Unfortunately, it is connected to his eyes, remember? I would be doing him more harm than good. Only he can take it off." Rain shook his head as he wrapped the armrest of the pressure gauge around Frank's other arm.

"Oh yeah, sorry. I forgot." Jake's eyes widened in surprise as Rain handed him a plastic bottle with a long tube attached. "Can you hold that up as high as you can? Thank you." He placed the IV in Frank's hand and used a dial to adjust the number of drops that would go down in a given time.

"Sure."

Rain then began to work in silence under Jake's morbid gaze.

Meanwhile, Miss Maia and Ninja were discussing fiercely.

"How did the guard know where Frank was?"

"I doubt he found him by chance. Either Andy managed to intercept us or there is a spy among us."

"Who could that be?"

"Anyone and no one. No spy worth his salt looks like a spy." Miss Maia commented bitterly as she watched the city pass beneath them.

"So what do we do?"

"Let's go back to the base and think about it calmly. We'll talk about it at the next meeting."

"Why didn't you kill that damn guard anyway?"

"Because he didn't seem to really believe what he was saying. My guess is that he bought into the propaganda crap the police gave him and convinced himself that he was doing the right thing; he's still salvageable and since he was in the police, he could give us valuable information."

"I see. Then the best thing for now is to wait."

"That's right. Doing things hastily and badly only brings problems." Maia patted the ninja's shoulder. "You did well to disarm the inspector so quickly. Keep it up."

"Thanks, boss. Can I ask you something? Why didn't you intervene earlier to block that guard?"

"First of all, he had a gun, so he was very dangerous before you disarmed him. And then I also enjoyed watching the tragic spectacle."

"I see."