NGRI

  Cody woke up in a ditch. He crawled out of it and looked ahead of himself. A calendar was on his
foot. September 2016. He didn't adjust yet to the real world and took a second to catch his breath." Come
on." a voice spoke to him. He looked up and saw her still there. She twitched her fingers around and took
control of him again. "You need to keep moving or else they'll find you." Cherie said. Her form wasn't
the original bright and happy one and it wasn't her shadowy self either. She was stuck in the middle.
She was also much smaller, closer to his height. He got up to his own two feet and shut his eyes. He
suddenly opened them wide and he clenched his fists. Cherie felt a sting in her hand and she let him
go. Cody's body was anorexic but the sheer hatred towards Cherie fueled him. He delivered a strike to
her face before pushing her to the ground. He got on top of her and started to pummel her. Sprays of oil
and dry blood came out of her. His knuckles were ravaged by the organic metal, but all he cared about
is finally purging the horrid creature from his life.

  "Stop!" Cherie screamed as she pushed him off of her. Cody fell back but got right back up, ready
for round two. Cherie's face was falling apart, she was missing some teeth and could barely stand right.
"Stop it! I'm trying to save…" she began but Cody had enough. "Save me? Save me?! Save me from
what?! All you've done so far was fuck me over. You helped me build a wonderful life and then you
took it all away! You killed my friends, you killed my wife, you tortured me every single day while I
was in that wretched hive! Whoever is out there trying to ruin me has a lot of catching up to do to
even come close to all of the bad things you've done!" Cherie pointed at the ditch. "Do you...do
you know who your boss was? ". "They call him Jeffrey." he responded with distaste in his tone. "And
do you remember your childhood?" The question took Cody out of it for a second. "I do." he wasn't
sure of himself. "Who were the ones from school you've hated the most, besides Evan.". Cody stared
at the ground, trying to think everything over. "The teacher and the principal, who never helped me
when I needed it…". Cherie nodded. "And why do you think they never helped you?". Cody shook his
head. "You're taking the piss. There's no way!"

  Cherie cracked her spine and straightened up. "They were here from the beginning. They were the
evil in your life. Wanting to bring you down the path to the factory. I was sent here to save you from
that fate." Cody scoffed at her. "Great job." he said mockingly. "Evan was a breaking point for me. I got
too into it when we faced him. I got scared. I didn't want to fail. I didn't want to see you broken. When
you called me over during that football match, I... wasn't myself. I was corrupted by hate. I became the
opposite of what I was supposed to be. Afterwards, I had to leave the hallucinations to stalk you again as
they would keep you away from the factory. I didn't take into consideration your mental health and you
snapped. I'm sorry."

  Cody chuckled. "'You're sorry'? Well that is just peachy. Now everything is fine! I can go on with my
life and forget all of this ever happened! Celebration time!" he screamed. Cherie frowned. "It's not over
yet. They'll be looking for us. We need to…" Cherie was suddenly thrust into a bush. Cody looked
to his left to see Jeffrey and Faceless approach him. Faceless was carrying a trident while Jeffrey was
empty handed, though he seemed to have the power of telekinesis.

  "Cody Brinson. Employee 9789." Jeffrey said as he used his fingers to freeze Cody in place. "You've
caused enough trouble. You will be brought back to the factory and continue your meaningless life."
Cherie jumped from the bush and opened her maw wide. Insect legs and tentacles erupted from within.
Faceless used his trident to slash through them and send an electric shock to Cherie. She convulsed
violently before falling back. Cody grimaced at the thought of coming back to that place. He used all of
his strength to take back control of his body. Jeffrey was shocked, but Cody already ran up to him and
kicked him straight in the shins. Jeffrey managed a counterattack with a well placed fist to the jaw,
breaking off some of Cody's teeth.

  Cherie jumped back up and turned back to her original size. Her form was switching at random
from fairy to shadow. Faceless turned giant as well and they went at it. Cherie had telekinesis as well as
a lot of offensive attacks, yet Faceless's trident proved to be a massive challenge. It cut through all
of her attacks and sent hundreds of electric shocks at her. Cherie was determined however, and only got
hit every once in a while. "Give up or face the wrath of the skies!" Faceless ordered through the skin on
his mouth. Cherie responded with a tentacle to the face. It was quickly cut off by the trident, yet Cherie
stood her ground. "We've done this for too long! It's time for a change!". Faceless sent rows of electricity
at her, which she dodged by ducking under them. "You made me lose my job as a guardian! Now I'm
just an accountant for that wretched place!" Faceless roared as he lunged at Cherie with his weapon. "Not
my fault that kid was an idiot! You should have known better than to attack my boy!"

  Cody shoved Jeffrey back and listened a bit to the behemoths talking. "Evan?" he asked in dismay.
Jeffrey grinned. "Yes. Evan. Evan needed a guardian and Faceless took over him when he
needed it. That boy had so much hate to give. All of it was directed at you." Cody had questions but a
strike to the eye cut off his train of thought. "The day he rammed that truck into you was meant to be
the factory day for you. Cherie just had to intervene and prolong your suffering. Evan's soul was too
broken up to rescue and poor Faceless was marked as a failure. But in my opinion, your soul is much
better than Evan's. You are unique. You are what we need. You are... " Jeffrey was cut off by a punch to
the throat. He lost his breath for a second and stared at Cody.

  Cody's eyes gaining a shining effect due to the explosions caused by Faceless. "All of my pain... all
of it...was caused by you motherfuckers playing some cosmic game?!" Jeffrey couldn't move in time
as Cody slapped his face and made him turn around. The two continued to strike each other in the jaws.
Cody didn't feel much from his hits. The years of being beaten, nearly killed and killed added up to his
resistance. On the other hand, Jeffrey wasn't used to not being in control or having a victim that fought
back. Cody was relentless and Jeffrey felt a sharp pain in his nose. The bastard broke it. "How does
that feel ya prick?!" Cody yelled in animalistic fury as he let out a laugh. A roar made him look up.

  Cherie had her leg impaled by Faceless and tossed across the city. Faceless raised his trident and
a storm brew rather quickly. "Perish!" he muttered as he launched a blast. Cherie teleported behind him
and punched a hole through his chest. It smashed her arm as well, but it was worth it. Faceless's mouth
was torn apart as he let out a shriek of agony. As a final move, he raised the trident again and a thunder
struck them both. Cherie shrunk back to her human size self and smashed against the concrete below.
Faceless turned back to normal height and stumbled around before collapsing in the ditch. Cody noticed
Jeffrey getting up and started to kick him in the ribs. He had flashbacks to Evan beating him up, which
only added fuel to the fire.

  By the time he stopped, Cody was stomping on pieces of bone and intestines. Jeffrey was still alive,
on account of being some weird humanoid monster. Cody looked behind him and saw Cherie crawl over
to him. Her face was mauled and the insides of her head were visible now. Cody still had disgust for
her, but he started to gain a different perspective on the situation. He ran over to and kneeled next to her.

  Her body was burned and he could confirm once and for all that she was indeed organic. "Will you be
alright?" Cody asked. Cherie coughed. "I think I've reached a moment of peace. I slaughtered my mortal
enemy, you understood the whole debacle and you found yourself. All of my tasks are now complete.
You're free to go.". Cody blocked the bad memories for a second and brought forward the good times. "I
don't know if I'll be able to get through this without you. I kinda forgot how life worked." Cody let out a
dry chuckle. Cherie coughed again. "I'm sure you'll do just fine. You beat the boss of the factory 1 on 1
without anyone's help. You have massive potential." Cherie's words were meant to provide
Cody with some optimism, but he still had a lot of remorse.

  "I will attempt to atone for my sins first before I try anything big." Cherie put her hands on his face.
The warm feeling from decades ago came back and for a brief moment he felt at peace. "I learned that
being yourself is enough for you to succeed. You don't need me to control you." A tear ran down
Cody's face. Cherie's body started to crack and break off into clouds of smoke. "I'll miss you." Cherie said
as she put her hand on his hand. Cody squeezed her hand and responded. "I'll miss you too." Cherie's
body burst into a cloud of smoke and evaporated almost instantly.

  Cody remained there to mourn, yet Jeffrey came from behind him with Faceless's trident. Cody didn't
have to move out of the way. Jeff's head was blown off by the force of a gunshot. He tripped to the side
and collapsed, dying for good. Behind him, Adam stood with a shotgun in hand. His face had slight
burn marks and his clothes were covered in blood and dust. "How are you?" He was finally able to
speak in clear English again. Cody got up and went to hug him. The brothers hugged for a few seconds
before they went back on track.

  "What are you going to do now?" Cody asked. Adam pumped up the shotgun. "I have a person I
want to reunite with. I'm just telling you right now, we might never get to see each other.". Cody stared
in silence for a second. "So this is goodbye then?" he asked. "It is. I'm not planning on doing anything
afterwards. I'll give my life to end the bitch that started the fire." Cody reached into his pockets and
got the final piece of gum out. He popped it in his mouth and started to chew. The 2 stood next to each
other, watching the sun rise. "Well then tell mom I loved her."

  "So that's what happened?" the officer asked. "Yes." Cody affirmed. The police officer nodded
and looked behind him at the rest of his colleagues. "Ok, um, thank you for your cooperation.". The cop
left the room and went to talk to the others. "Did the others come back?". Another office got a report out
and read it. "They said there was no ditch, no sign of a fight, no giant monsters. His brother, apparently a
fireman that died in a house fire, doesn't exist in any of our records. The football team he talked about
actually went missing and there was no trance of any fire. But neither of the Kaseys from the city he
supposedly lived in had any idea who he was." "Some things he said were oddly specific as well."
The officers were looking over some papers until the one who spoke to Cody came up with a decision.
"Call the doctor over. We might be dealing with a mental disorder. It's a bit too early to be sure, but he
strikes me as 'not guilty by reason of insanity'."