Behind The Mask

Chapter 23: Decommission

...

He... he... he's not serious... is he? He's not serious. This... this is just some... this is just some giant joke of his... right?

But one look at those beady eyes of his tells me... he's being deadly serious.

"I'm sorry... I must not have heard you correctly, because I swear you just said you wanted to blow up the tower?"

"Oh no, chimera. Your ears never seemed to work well in our lessons, but they're working perfectly fine now."

I... I... I look behind me, and everyone's taken aback. I can't see their faces, but I know that beneath those masks is nothing but abject horror.

"What possible reason is there... to blow this entire tower, all for the sake of killing four people?! You wouldn't even get the Egg that way — it'd be completely destroyed!"

But as quick as my tone changed, so does Fassad's. "I don't like the way you're speaking to me, chimera! I'm in charge around here! This tower, I control it! I make the decisions! And if I want to blow it up, then you do it!"

"But... why? It doesn't make any sense!"

"Of course it doesn't make sense to you. Fine. Let me explain what it's like to be humiliated. You're on top of the world, nothing can touch you. You've made all the right decisions, and victory is right there. The enemy is cornered. Are you imagining it all yet?"

"I am." I'm not at all. I'm not indulging his sick demands now.

"Now. Imagine all that. And imagine that victory being snatched away from you, in the most embarrassing of ways. Because of some upstart kid on a Drago, who comes and destroys you, sends you flying into the beyond, and all your hard work goes down the drain."

He briefly pauses, throwing his banana away before continuing. " Now imagine, that same kid comes back, and he's cornered again. And better yet, he's with two other people who humiliated you for smaller slights. Imagine... revenge is right there, the chance to deal the ultimate humiliation for a person! Wouldn't you take that same chance?"

... no. Because... because that's just... that's just...

"I can't say I would."

"Bah! What do you know? It doesn't matter. When this tower blows up... everyone in it will be gone."

Everyone will be...

Miss Marsh. Miss Marsh. Miss Marsh.

"I wasn't exactly built to be the most durable, as I am not primarily a combat robot, and my systems are therefore somewhat delicate..."

Delicate... delicate... delicate.

"And you would go this far, and risk the lives of everyone in that tower... all for a petty slight that happened to you three years ago?" I say, gripping onto my sword tightly.

"Of course." he grins.

...

"... you're insane." I whisper.

"I'm sorry, chimera? My ears must have not working well — for a moment there, I thought I heard you call me insane?"

"Your ears never seemed to work well in our lessons either, Fassad, but they're working perfectly fine now. I said, you're insane."

"I'm a reasonable person, chimera. And this is your first mission. So I'm gonna give you five seconds to say something to please me after what you just said."