Mom, I'm Bulletproof

Chapter 17.5: Here Forever

"I don't..."

"These pyramids, such as they are, are in reality neural nodes. Synapses, really. They are firing billions upon billions of electrical impulses all over the globe every second, faster than the speed of thought. Behold the greatest information network that has been and ever will be created."

Corruption turned to face Right Man and said, "You want in, don't you?"

"Yes," he said.

"Interesting," Proscenium said.

Right Man looked to the side and saw Proscenium standing there, just off the edge of one of the pyramids.

"You're here again?" Right Man said. "When are you going to leave me alone?"

"You'll find me in all your memories," Proscenium said. "Even ones you thought were erased."

Right Man concentrated. Proscenium was everywhere. In childhood birthday parties, Proscenium stood in a corner at each one. At embarrassing scenes in high school, during stressful tests and awkward cafeteria interactions, Proscenium walked beside him every time. In job interviews, Proscenium sat next to him the whole time. Bringing women home to his apartment after a night at the bar, Proscenium was there each time, watching silently.

Right Man remembered Proscenium being at every childhood memory, every adolescent embarrassment, and every adult frustration.

"Get out of my mind!"

"Too late," Proscenium said. "I'm here forever."

* * * *

Right Man woke from his sleep and found himself still pinned to his chair in the Classicum Theater. Left Man and Center Man sat slumped next to him, both beaten down. Right Man wondered if he looked as defeated.

Proscenium stood on stage once again, with the only light in the theater shining down on him. Even though Proscenium didn't say it, Right Man knew it was time for the final monologue of this night's performance.

"The soldier, the maniac, and the hacker," Proscenium said. "The Temple lied to each of you. Your talents, or perhaps merely nothing more than your blind loyalty, was all the Temple needed to sway you. You were promised rewards in exchange for your loyalty. Where are those rewards?"

Silence in the theater.

"Someday," Center Man said, "if we have faith..."

"The Temple lied to you. You know they lied, and you still follow them. Pathetic."

Proscenium spread his arms apart, so that his curtain cloak fell behind him, revealing his full bronzed armor for the men to see. "I now grant you that which the Temple never would. I give you your freedom."

With that, Proscenium transformed into a thick purple cloud, floating up into the rafters backstage, and out of sight.

"Let's get out of here," Right Man stood and hurried down their row of seats and up the aisle, with the other two men following. He threw open the front doors of the theater, figuring Proscenium had left them unlocked for them. He ran into the cool night air, finding himself not far from the center of Theater City's dilapidated downtown in the middle of the night, where there were plenty of bright lights but only scattered small groups of people wandering about. Right Man immediately tried accessing the neural access point surgically inserted under his forehead, but his tech had been severed from the Temple.

"Freeze!" a cop shouted.

Red and blue lights appeared from around a corner. Police cars rounded the corners from all around them and drew their weapons. Right Man followed protocol and surrendered. He dropped to his knees and put his hands behind his head.

"I don't get it," Center Man whispered. "He said he was giving us our freedom."

"He betrayed us, and that's his way of showing how the Temple will betray us," Right Man said. "It's a metaphor."

* * * *

Standing on the roof of the Classicum Theater, Proscenium watched as the police rounded up the three Temple agents, including the cops' revulsion to unmasking the three men upon revealing their mangled faces. Proscenium assumed that the Temple likely had mechanisms in place to get them out of police custody while erasing all existence – including human memory. Nonetheless, the night's endeavors had been a success.

Proscenium had learned much about how the Temple operates, which he planned to impart to U.S. Amy and the others.

He heard sirens in the distance, from the other side of the city.Someone several blocks away was in distress. Proscenium transformed into acloud and flew in that direction.

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END OF CHAPTER 17 

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Next: Brawl.