M8-3: Death, Comes When Beckoned

M8-3 Death, Comes When Beckoned	Episode 08 Previous R8-4 (Story) Next R8-5 (Story)
In reality, just witnessing an atrocity is enough to make one become a part of it.

Characters
Amiya Rosmontis Phantom Crossbowman Rhodes Island Guard? Shieldguard Reunion Member Sarkaz Mercenary Qing Rosmontis Squadmember
Backgrounds
1 2 3

“

Conflict breaks out between Rhodes Island and the Sarkaz mercenaries, the sealing layer is activated, members of Rosmontis's squad enter the sealing layer to cut off its power source, and the Shieldguards seek to work with Rhodes Island.

”

<Background 1>
Central District
Reunion Member	H—help me...!
Reunion Member	We're Reunion too! Why are you doing this? You Sarkaz always bite whatever hand feeds you!
Rosmontis	...What's happening?
Rosmontis Squadmember	The Sarkaz barricading the street are massacring Reunion... Captain?
Rosmontis	Need to help the casualties.
Rosmontis Squadmember	You are, Captain?
Rosmontis	Mmhm. I'm going.
<Background fades out and in>
Reunion Member	Ngh... urgh... why, why! ! How did Reunion get like this... how did it get like this?! Weren't we gonna unite? Weren't we gonna be... be a family of our own, each other's kin?!
Sarkaz Mercenary	...... See you—
Rosmontis	Stop.
[Rosmontis narrowly deflected the Sarkaz merc's strike.]
Sarkaz Mercenary	! Heavy-weapons throwers, careful! ! Giant, floating weapons... Was that you, Feline? You did that? You're—a Caster?
Rosmontis	Put your weapons down. It's okay now. Go.
Reunion Member	Go... go where? We've already... my teammates, my old friends, they all... they all...
Rosmontis	Qing, help him.
Qing	Got it. Come here, brother. Those Sarkaz just don't see.
Rosmontis	I'll say it again, Sarkaz. Put your weapons down.
Sarkaz Mercenary	You think we'll stop resisting just because you're holding a weapon. We don't think that way.
Rosmontis	Then you want to be killed?
Sarkaz Mercenary	We don't have much of a choice.
Rosmontis	Attacking your own comrades, hurting your own kin—
Sarkaz Mercenary	When were the Infected ever our kin? Our kin only numbers Sarkaz.
Rosmontis	You couldn't have said that when you joined Reunion. Betraying, harming your family, playing other people's feelings... Disgusting.
[The Sarkaz merc strikes at Rosmontis...]
Sarkaz Mercenary	Watch out for those weapons! Move!
[...but Amiya held her back.]
Amiya	Rosmontis, stop...!
Rosmontis	Ah, Amiya.
Amiya	Raidian just sent it out—the last message Dr. Kal'tsit gave us was that we should take care around the special Infected... They're likely a variant of the special Infected from Lungmen, and we don't know if they'll infect others in progression! Sarkaz warriors, listen to me! There are some... Sarkaz with a deep infection, and they're catalyzing the other Infected! We need the other Infected to withdraw from their current areas... Your block still has Infected survivors apart from you, and they're all non-combatants! Even if we won't pass through here, I still hope we can all lend a hand to ensuring the safety of those Infected!
Rosmontis	That's impossible. They wouldn't do that. They have no conscience.
Sarkaz Mercenary	...... We... we've seen it. We went out on our own. We can't pull back. If they come this way... we'll have to get rid of them. We can't let even more Sarkaz get infected.
Rosmontis	You might get infected yourself.
Sarkaz Mercenary	Who gives a damn.
Rosmontis	You want to end up like them too? Those monsters controlled by Arts? You don't give a damn if you do?
Sarkaz Mercenary	Not the first time we've been made out to be monsters, is it?
Rosmontis	...Oh, um... ah.
Sarkaz Mercenary	This city's toast. Sooner or later, sure, we might end up like them. But if we can exterminate them, then everything gets a little easier. Some people can still live on.
Rosmontis	As long as Talulah isn't dead, this city will be annihilated.
Sarkaz Mercenary	If W can't kill her, there's no chance you can. If you don't stand with the winner, you can't win; in war, if you can't win, you die.
Rosmontis	But if you keep hurting any more Infected, then this might be where you die.
Sarkaz Mercenary	And what if I die, then? What if I turn into one of Mephisto's Herd, huh...? Mephisto's a monster, too. We kill other Infected because we're all monsters. All we want is for the Sarkaz not to suffer any further, but when you think about it, what if we suffer? When you leave here and go whatever, will they look you in the eye? Do you not know your end, being an Infected? Of course you know. The moment you leave that tiny little squad of yours, you'll die. You'll be despised, wrung by the neck, lashed, whipped, and hung. Or you'll be driven out of the cities, run vagrant, and you'll starve, bitten to death by the beasts. You can't live on. And you have no dignity.
Rosmontis	...What do you know?
Amiya	Warrior... Tell me. That you're not fighting for Talulah.
Sarkaz Mercenary	She's... strong. With her, the chance that more people live on is better. We don't care if we kill a few more for it.
[Rosmontis narrowly strikes the Sarkaz merc as a warning.]
Rosmontis	Get lost. Next time, I'll cut you in half.
Sarkaz Mercenary	Feline. If you want to pass through here, then just kill us... We sure don't want to see our own end up that way. That's if you can kill us, though. Hahah.
Rosmontis	You really are the most unsalvageable people.
[Suddenly a strong rumble can be felt.]
Sarkaz Mercenary	What...? What?
Rosmontis	What was... that sound?
Amiya	Oh, no...! The block we're in is nearing the ones the command tower closes off its entrances with... Reunion is likely trying to raise the entire sealing layer to cover any way in! We're almost out of time!
Rosmontis	...... Sarkaz. I'll give you one last chance. If you don't want to get mangled, pull out.
Sarkaz Mercenary	...Heh. Hahah.
Rosmontis	Amiya.
Amiya	...... I'll settle this.
Sarkaz Mercenary	Cautus. Hah. What do you think you can do? Black lines...? That's—
<Background fades out and in>
Amiya	*Pant*... *pant*. Ugh... What's the... state of things?
Rosmontis Squadmember	We've suppressed all consciousless Sarkaz mercenaries.
Amiya	O—okay, that's good, ngh... Are there other Infected.. here?
Rosmontis Squadmember	We have news, but I can't say whether it's good or bad. Recon operators looked around a little. There are, all over this block. And most of them... are in terrible shape. They must've been passive Infected, imprisoned in concentration.
Amiya	Any passage through the... sealing... layer?
Rosmontis Squadmember	Yeah, this part leads to an engineering passage. Should be able to directly enter the structural control area, hack their remote panels. They can't do a thing about that. Otherwise, for the open passages, recon ops have sighted at least four battlegrounds, all of them guerrillas against other Reunion...
Amiya	The combat situation seems intense...
Rosmontis Squadmember	The guerrillas are strong, but the Talulah-aligned Reunion have the terrain advantage, and Sarkaz mercenaries backing them. They won't be able to push through for a while. It's okay, Amiya. Captain, us engineers will sneak our way in. We'll cut the energy supply to the whole sealing layer.
Rosmontis	Can you do it?
Rosmontis Squadmember	Definitely.
Amiya	That's too risky.
Rosmontis Squadmember	Entering the core city was risky in the first place.
Rosmontis	No objections, then?
Rosmontis Squadmember	We're going.
Rosmontis	The, um... the, um! Take care. Mm-hm... take care.
Rosmontis Squadmember	We're not elite operator Rosmontis's squad for nothing. Don't you worry about a thing!
Amiya	...Put your own safety first.
Rosmontis Squadmember	If you wanted us to listen, you wouldn't have used those Arts just now!
Amiya	Ah...
Rosmontis Squadmember	Engineering group, move out! Hustle your bustles!
Rosmontis	...They're gone. Oh. Amiya. You shouldn't use up your strength here. Let me handle all that.
Amiya	...This way, you'll be able to do less harm.
Rosmontis	Does Rhodes Island not want me to do things this way?
Amiya	That's not it. It's just... if we could, we obviously don't want things done this way. And the only thing I've used up is strength. What you use up is... your awareness.
Rosmontis	I don't really care.
Amiya	But... we should care.
Qing	Amiya! This fellow wants a few words with you.
Amiya	Ah... ...You're from Reunion, Infected friend. Can I call you that?
Reunion Member	Whatever. Just... whatever. We're all... done for. I wanted to ask where you're gonna go. And if... we can go with you, maybe. We've got nowhere to really go. The Sarkaz'll kill us, and we don't want to fight our own people anymore. The guerrillas'll kill us for sure, too.
Amiya	Why do you feel that way?
Reunion Member	They'd kill anyone if they wanted, wouldn't they? I've heard there's times they say they'll kill the Infected, just because someone did something or other wrong!
Amiya	...I'm not sure. They might do that, but they might not. My belief is, you have to see how they truly are to reach the facts. You can't just go on hearsay. But we won't force you off to where they are. You're afraid of them, and the things they're doing don't sit well with you.
Reunion Member	And that's why I wanted to... to ask where you're all going.
Amiya	—We're heading for the core command tower.
Reunion Member	...Are you insane?
Amiya	Mm. We want to put a stop to this turmoil, so we have to head for the command tower. Can I ask you for a favor, Infected friend?
Reunion Member	If it's killing—then—then no.
Amiya	It's not. I'm hoping you can all... safeguard the bystander Infected on this block. Be careful. They might not like you... they might not like your uniforms.
Reunion Member	Then what do we do?
Amiya	I think you have two options. One is, take off that uniform, and be Reunion no longer... And the other is, wear your uniforms, but do what you should do. One option is easy, and one's very hard, but I believe... this is something you should choose for yourselves.
<Background 2>
Command tower entrance
Shieldguard	Curs! The cowards! They're blocking off the tower entrances with the sealing layers! Have we still not breached them?
Phantom Crossbowman	The Sarkaz mercenaries are entrenching every sealing sector's in-roads! Other Infected have constantly been harassing us! We can't concentrate our attention!
Shieldguard	You, repeat. You're asking us and Rhodes Island to cooperate?
Rhodes Island Guard?	I am! If Rhodes Island is unworthy of your trust, then you don't need to think about any of this city's people for a second more. Even if the rules are going out of style, they'll still play by them.
Shieldguard	Even if they still owe the Captain their lives?
Rhodes Island Guard?	If we all die here, who'll carry on Patriot's spirit? We have strength, and Rhodes Island has knowledge. At the last, Kal'tsit's incredible on both counts. I personally think she's on par with the Captain. And you saw, even the Captain gave her his recognition! The sealing layer's still rising! You'd better decide, because we don't have much time left!
<Background 3>
Rhodes Island Guard?	That's more or less the shape of things. I've already told them about things, so, Amiya... I'm not asking you to agree to this. I'm just thinking it might be good for us, right? It'll lead to a little less wounded all around... ...I'm not really on top of things. I just...
Amiya	It's alright, Guard. Your proposal is reasonable. It's just that we... we won't do things the same way the Shieldguards do. We don't have any right to exercise over the Infected, and we won't adopt their... disciplinary methods. Are they almost here?
Rhodes Island Guard?	Should be. ...Amiya, I'm making less and less sense of anything.
<Background 2>
Rosmontis	......
Shieldguard	—Feline. I'm looking for your leader.
Rosmontis	If you want revenge, is now a good time?
Shieldguard	Don't think you can try pissing me off just because you know a bit of Arts, white cat!
Rosmontis	I don't like you.
Shieldguard	Am I making you realize? The way you do things, you're no merchant's underling, eh? You're more like some Infected warrior hero, aren't you?
Rosmontis	What are you talking about?
Amiya	...Guerrilla fighter. You can't threaten our employees. You don't have the authority.
Shieldguard	...The Lord. Can you command those Sarkaz?
Amiya	...I can't, and I couldn't. Please don't call me that. All I am is a member of Rhodes Island. Nothing to do with race, nor any arbitrary form of power.
Shieldguard	Then that makes things simple, if you and them have absolutely no blood affinity. You're going to team up with us here? Wreck the command tower together?
Amiya	......
Shieldguard	What're you so on guard for? We're obviously the ones yielding here. The other guerrillas still don't know what I'm up to, but I have faith you feel the same way as them. This city's people are enslaved by Talulah and her wicked plans, and you too want to liberate them. We want to revive hope for the Infected, so let's light one more flame for this city! if you truly fight for the Infected, then you're sure to agree. Now answer, Rhodes Island!