2022-12-20: All The Monsters Are Here
- Cutscene: All The Monsters Are Here
- Cast: Tony Crusader, Victim O'Rand
- Where: Nouvelle Tokyo
- Date: December 1st, 0096
- Summary: There is a great wrong that must see Justice. Today is the beginning of a Crusade for righteous hearts.
Excellent, Inc.
In a world of giants, Excellent is a titan. Its competitors can be counted on one hand - Murakumo Millennium; Chrome; entities which could, with effort, raise a city from the very earth by their own hand.
Or create life.
The two men on this shadowed street have done it before; There are few people on Earth who know the work better than they do.
"This isn't happening, Tony!" There is authority in the voice of this tall, green haired man. His tone suggests he expects to be respected. As a colleague? Even a senior? "It was bad enough, dealing with that creep, Shinjo -- but at least he was just making machines. Junk like that, with no heart, nobody's going to think twice about. But what you're looking to do, it goes beyond what we've achieved. We'd have to -- "
"Start over, yes." His compatriot is younger. A soft, cheerful voice. A smile that calmly deflects his colleague's increasing agitation. Big, green eyes peer up at the taller man. "Develop from first principles. Truly understand the human heart -- all its wonder, and misery..."
It's almost breathless, the way he whispers the next few words.
"...just as she did..."
The older man flinches back, staring down with newfound anxiety at a former friend. "She's a damn war criminal, Tony! I don't care who we sell the things to, but you're not opening up a torture farm under my lab! Now, if you want to keep your job -- since we've been such good friends, you can take this proposal of yours and shred it, and both of us will forget it. Keep the money coming in. Like old times."
Tony just laughs.
And steps forward, wrapping an arm easily around his old friend's shoulders.
"Oh, Victim. You've misunderstood all this time, haven't you?"
That smile grows, and grows, even as those glimmering green eyes narrow down to a knife's edge.
"For one thing, it's not your lab."
Victim twists against his grasp. It doesn't make a difference. His grip is firm -- his arm as rigid as steel. The barrel emerges slowly, and Tony brings it to his lips, grinning.
"But far more importantly... you misunderstand the nature of choice, my old friend. You think... That this is your chance. You look into the distance and ask, should I turn left or right? And you think that you decide where you will go."
Smoke. Heat. Victim's heavy frame slumps against him, and he bears it gladly, glee in his eyes as he maintains that steel-firm hug, as red blooms across the cloak draped around his shoulders.
"But we built the roads."
His smile fades, for a moment, as the last light leaves those warm orange eyes. Victim O'Rand was no saint. He will not be greeted warmly in the next life. But he was a friend -- he had a heart.
Tony Crusader steps beyond him. The body wavers, begins to fall... and the hands that press against its shoulders, bear it up from the ground... The footfalls that follow in the wake of Neubau Fahrzeug... are Victim's own.