Chapter 46
The Bad Guy Monologues
The corridor gleamed with metal and pulsing lights, wires snaking along the walls like exposed veins. Each step echoed with hollow finality, the sound swallowed by the strange acoustics of the passage.
Levi winced as he walked, his muscles still tender and the marks Asher left on his body throbbed with each heartbeat, a constant reminder of their hours in Faine’s private quarters.
He knew he would be sore, but it was the bite marks and bruises that truly ached, badges of possession scattered across his skin like a violent constellation.
Asher walked half a step behind him, his hand taking up its usual place at the small of Levi’s back, fingers occasionally tightening on his shirt when they passed a junction or shadow that might conceal a threat. He hadn’t moved more than arm’s length away since they left the bed.
“Stop,” Levi said, putting out a hand to halt their progress.
The corridor terminated in a massive circular door, far larger and more elaborate than anything they’d encountered in the sanitarium so far.
It resembled a bank vault more than a hospital entrance, with interlocking metal plates and hydraulic pistons built into the frame.
A single button existed on its surface: the encircled triangle.
“This is it.”
Asher surveyed the door with his eyes narrowed. “What do you think is waiting for us?”
“Faine,” Levi replied, the name tasting bitter on his tongue. “The real Faine, not just records or notes. This is where he’s been all along.”
“And after we find him?” Asher asked.
Levi met his gaze. “We end this and we get out of here together.”
A half-smile curved Asher’s lips. “Together.”
Levi raised his hand to the door, hesitating for a moment. What if they died again during this? Would neither of them come back? Would they always wake up in Faine’s quarters?
Would he wake up in the real world, alone again?
I don’t want to be alone again. Even if it hurts to be with Asher, I need him to come with me. Maybe he’ll be different outside of this place.
Levi took a deep breath and pressed the button.
“Stand back,” Asher warned, pulling Levi a few steps away as the massive door began to move.
It didn’t swing open as a normal door would, but rather separated into interlocking segments that retracted into the surrounding wall. Cool air rushed past them, carrying the scent of old air and something metallic and organic, like blood mingled with machine oil.
Beyond the threshold lay darkness punctuated by the ghostly blue lights and status indicators.
As their eyes adjusted, the chamber beyond revealed itself: a massive circular room, easily the size of a cathedral nave, with multiple tiered platforms ascending toward the center like an inverted amphitheater.
Levi took a tentative step forward with Asher moving in perfect synchronization beside him. The moment they crossed the threshold, the door behind them reversed its process, segments sliding back into place with the finality of a coffin lid closing.
The chamber was unlike anything they’d seen in the sanitarium so far.
The walls were lined with equipment that blurred the line between medical and mechanical—heart monitors connected to hydraulic pumps, IV stands modified with industrial tubing, surgical tables with restraints that looked more appropriate for an automotive factory than a hospital.
Massive cylindrical tanks lined the perimeter, their glass surfaces clouded with age but not enough to obscure the preserved specimens floating in yellowish fluid, some recognizably human, others grotesquely modified with components.
But it was the center of the room that drew their attention. On the highest platform sat what could only be described as a throne—a monstrous amalgamation of life support equipment, components, and a withered human form connected to it all by a web of tubes and wires.
“Dr. Faine, I presume,” Levi said, his voice carrying farther than expected in the cavernous space.
As if in response, a low thrumming began, not a sound so much as a vibration that traveled through the floor and up into their bones. The lights flickered, then stabilized at a higher intensity. Status indicators around the room shifted from amber to green.
The throne at the center began to move. Hydraulic components hissed as the entire structure rotated to face them. The withered form—what remained of Dr. Faine—jerked as if electrified, his limbs twitching.
Eyes snapped open, revealing not irises and pupils but glowing optical implants, one blue, one red. The mouth, still disturbingly human against the modifications of the face, stretched into what might have been a smile.
“Visitors,” the creature that had once been Faine said, his voice a discordant mixture of human vocalization and electronic amplification. “How... unexpected.”
The words were followed by a grinding as the throne began to descend from its platform, moving down toward them. Asher shifted his stance, placing himself half a step in front of Levi.
“After all this time,” Faine continued, his head tilting at an angle no human neck should permit, “someone has finally reached my inner sanctum. I was beginning to think my little puzzles were too challenging.”
Levi’s mind raced, analyzing the situation with the strategic focus he’d developed across multiple deaths and resets. This felt familiar somehow—not the specifics, but the structure of the encounter.
I know what this is, he realized. The final boss of the sanitarium.
“You’ve come a long way,” Faine observed, the throne reaching the lowest platform, now only about twenty feet above them. “Fought through my guardians. Solved my puzzles. Found my keys.” His eyes focused on Asher. “And you brought a most interesting companion.”
Asher’s body tensed, coiled energy barely contained beneath his skin. Levi could practically feel the predator rising to the surface, responding to the implicit challenge in Faine’s words.
“What do you want?” Levi asked, hoping to keep Faine talking while he continued scanning the room for weaknesses, escape routes, anything they could use.
Faine’s laugh was a horrible sound, part human, part the grinding of gears.
“Want? I have transcended want, my boy. I have transcended need. I have transcended humanity itself.” He gestured around the chamber with an arm that was more mechanical than flesh.
“What you see before you is the future of our species. The perfect union of man and machine.”
Standard villain monologue, Levi thought, recognizing another game trope. Always have to explain their genius plan before trying to kill you.
“You’re insane,” he said louder, partly to keep Faine talking, partly because it was true.
“Insanity is a diagnosis for those limited by conventional thinking,” Faine replied, unperturbed. “I prefer to think of myself as... evolutionarily advanced.”
As he spoke, the walls of the chamber began to shift and reconfigure. Panels slid open to reveal additional components. Status monitors flickered to life around the perimeter, displaying vital signs, system diagnostics, and—most disturbingly—security camera feeds from throughout the sanitarium.
“I see everything,” Faine continued, gesturing toward the monitors. “Every corner of my domain. Every visitor. Every experiment.” His eyes focused on Levi. “Every... interaction.”
The main monitor directly across from them flickered, then displayed footage that made Levi’s blood run cold—him and Asher in Faine’s private quarters, on the bed, engaged in the most intimate act of Levi’s life.
Heat rushed to Levi’s face, embarrassment and violation warring for dominance. He couldn’t look away, transfixed by the sight of himself clawing at Asher’s back, his legs wrapped around him, his head thrown back in ecstasy. He wanted to melt into the floor.
“You’ve become quite... attached to each other.”
Beside him, Asher made a sound that might have been a laugh. Levi glanced over in shock to find him watching the footage with unmistakable appreciation, not a hint of embarrassment on his face.
“We look good together.” Asher grinned, nudging Levi playfully. “The lighting is surprisingly flattering.”
Faine’s eyes blinked. This was clearly not the reaction he’d expected.
“Though I wonder,” Faine continued, the monitor changing to a different scene, “if this attachment is entirely mutual.”
The new footage showed the boiler room incident—Asher pinning Levi against the wall, Levi’s face streaked with tears. It shifted again to the conference room, Levi saying “No” as Asher shoved him onto the table. Another clip: Levi gagging as Asher held his head in place..
“So many times you’ve said no,” Faine observed, his voice oily with false concern. “So many times, he’s ignored your wishes. Is this truly the companion you choose, or merely the one you’re trapped with?”
Levi’s jaw tightened, anger replacing embarrassment. “You don’t know anything about us.”
“Don’t I?” Faine countered, the monitors cycling through more images of their violent encounters.
“I’ve watched your every interaction in my house.
I’ve seen him hurt you, again and again and again.
I’ve seen you cry and bleed and bruise because of him.
” The eyes shifted to Asher. “I’ve seen what you truly are—a predator wearing the thinnest veneer of humanity. ”
Something shifted in Asher’s posture—a subtle change that Levi had learned to recognize. The restraint was giving way to something primal and dangerous. His eyes had taken on that distant, hunting focus that had terrified Levi in the forest.
“Interesting assessment,” Asher replied, his voice calm. “Coming from someone who’s more machine than man.”
Faine’s laugh echoed through the chamber.
“We’re not so different, you and I. Both of us have transcended conventional limitations.
Both of us have evolved beyond what we once were.
” He leaned forward in his throne, tubes and wires stretching with the movement.
“Join me. Become part of my next evolutionary step. With your strength and my technology, we could create something truly extraordinary.”
Levi tensed, a sudden, irrational fear gripping him. Would Asher be tempted by such an offer? The chance to become something more, something stronger?
But Asher didn’t even hesitate. “I stay with him,” he said, nodding toward Levi. “That’s not negotiable.”
Levi’s heart skipped a beat. Asher had chosen him so immediately, so unquestioningly, over whatever power Faine was offering.
He really does care about me.
We’ll make this work.
Faine’s eyes narrowed, focusing on their proximity, the way Asher’s body was angled protectively toward Levi.
“Ah, I see. The predator has formed an attachment to his prey. How... biologically predictable.” His voice shifted, becoming almost conciliatory.
“Then perhaps you could both join me. Together. I can offer you immortality, freedom from pain, from fear, from death itself. You would never be separated. That’s what you want, right?
To crawl into his skin and live there. I can make you one, forever. ”
“Tempting,” Asher replied, his tone making it clear it was anything but. “But I prefer him the way he is. Warm. Human.” His eyes flicked to the monstrosity Faine had become. “Unmodified.”
Faine’s face twisted into a scowl. “You reject evolution?”
“We reject you,” Levi stated firmly, finding his voice. “Whatever you’ve done to yourself, whatever you’ve done to this place—it ends now.”
For a moment, Faine was perfectly still, only the soft whirring of internal components indicating he was still active. Then his face split into a smile that stretched too wide, revealing teeth that had been replaced with small serrated blades.
“If you will not join willingly,” he said, his voice deepening as additional speakers activated around the chamber, “then you will join as components.”