Chapter Five: THREE HOURS LATER

Rotti had just sent the subordinate from earlier away with an order of cancellation on the "Replace Your Face" ad. His son had just about succeeded in doing something right for the company for a change. So close.

"Carmela, dear," Rotti called. Amber entered his office with a girlishly angry frown.

"My name is Amber now, Daddy."

"Yes, of course it is. Carm… Amber, where are your brothers?"

"Grumpy and Dopey? Um, I think they went to the company tower, Daddy," Amber said. Any trace of annoyance at mistaking her name was already gone.

"Actually, Papa, the Pavi is right-a here." Rotti looked up and realized Pavi had crept into his office unnoticed.

"STD face! You're back!" Amber shrieked, sporting a teasing smile.

"Amber, your-a teeth are-a crooked and turning-a yellow. Go fuck-a your Z-dealer and get-a them fixed," Pavi snarled. Rotti was still stunned at his son's appearance. Amber burst into tears at his comment, but was totally unphased by her brother's latest transformation. She ran out of Rotti's office, leaving father and son alone.

"Paviche! What is that on your face?" Rotti growled.

"On-a my face? Why, it's another face on-a my face! What do you think, Papa?" Pavi asked, although his tone suggested he knew his father didn't like it. Not one bit. He was mocking Rotti.

Rotti remained silent for a bit as he analyzed Pavi's new change. There was no longer any swollen, sore-infested cheek hanging off anywhere, but it appeared that there might be scarring. Rotti couldn't tell, because another face, a woman's face, was covering it. It was held in place by numerous chunky metal clamps that stuck out of his son's face ungracefully.

"Pavi, take it off."

"But Papa, you wanted-a me to 'replace-a my face'! And-a now I have!"

"Paviche, take it off now!" Rotti's hand flashed out from over his desk in a slapping motion, but as it made contact with Pavi, it clenched, ripping the bizarre mask from his son's face. The woman's face made a plopping noise as it hit the wall before sliding down to the floor.

Rotti gasped and held his chest again as he saw the destruction that had occurred beneath that mask. Pavi was no longer a stunning Largo boy. His face, his real face, suggested to Rotti that he might instead have been spawned from Freddy Krueger.

While the cheek may not have been hanging loose anymore, the whole face was now veiny and raw. The first layer of flesh, which had been removed for his son's first face replacement, was never reattached. Pavi's grin suggested that he had outsmarted his father. Rotti turned his focus back to the undignified clamps hanging from red tendons.

"Am I the new face of-a GeneCo, or-a what?" Pavi roared (Not quite a roar, Rotti thought, but an effeminate growl) as he leaned in closer, now face to face with his father.

"Pavi, this can be fixed! We can try the face replacement operation in another month or so!"

"No, I'm-a fine with-a my face now, Papa, I've-a found a new way to replace-a my face. Every week. Every day, maybe! And you can-a live with it-a if I can, no, Papa?" Pavi said, picking up the dead surGen's face and unfurling it. He left the room, and Rotti exhaled.

Opening one of his drawers, Rotti pulled out a sheet of paper. Looking at the list of his three children's names, Rotti, with shaky hands, crossed Pavi's out.