act28side

Have you so much as touched a brush these past years?

No... Not since I had to get four fingers reattached.

The target is turning left. She's walking pretty slow. Nearby members, prepare to take her in.

These coordinates... They're just up ahead. Hurry, Liskarm.

Phew... W-Wait.

The two turn into an alley and stop in their tracks. The girl's lonely back suddenly appears before them.

Jessica...

Hearing her name, the girl turns around.

When she notices who they are, a hint of joy appears on her face, only to be quickly replaced by a sense of helplessness and panic.

C-Captain... You two came?

Yeah, we got your coordinates, so we rushed over here.

I'm sorry, Captain... I'm not sure there's any cleaning up this mess I made.

I approved your application to withdraw from the team, so strictly speaking, I'm not your captain anymore.

Right... I guess that's true. You two must be here to capture me, then.

No... We're here as your friends.

I got a transmission on our way here. Supposedly, during the explosion, Leone... Well, I'm not sure if you knew, but regardless, I thought you'd probably want someone at your side.

Yeah... I knew. I was on a call with him right until the moment it blew up... Thanks. Thanks for coming. It's just...

Are you okay, Jessica?

I...

I'm not okay. I'm awful.

Do you want us to come over and give you a hug?

No... don't. If you have anything to say, you can say it from there... I can hear you clearly from this distance.

Jessica...

Stay there and don't move, Franka.

Flustered, Jessica pulls her gun from her waist to stop Franka from advancing.

Are... Are you going to point your gun at me?

S-Sorry... I... I just... Franka, don't... Just leave me alone.

Jessica...

Let me talk to her.

Is there anywhere you want to go, Jessica? After this is all over?

Where <i>could</i> I go...? Those drones have been following me this whole time. You two shouldn't have come... Once you get back, you'll have to explain all these things you won't be able to answer. I'm scared. I'm terrified.

Don't worry about that. If I can't explain it, then so be it. As long as we're all together, there's nothing to worry about. Don't be afraid.

But I am... I'm so, so afraid.

What are you afraid of?

That the pristine pool of water could be too warm, too wonderful.

Uh... I'm not sure I'm following you there...

Suddenly, the headlights of a transport point straight at Jessica, and she is enveloped and imprisoned by a number of giant halos.

The girl's eyes are unable to bear such intense light. All she can do is hold her gun with one arm, and shield her eyes with the other.

After a short while, she seems to have adjusted to the brightness. She puts her arm down, and stares into the distance at the convoy of cars driving toward her.

How's life treated you all these years?

In my decades on the frontier, I kept my distance from crowds and wandered around alone a herd of burdenbeasts.

Why didn't you go back to the Holy City?

Didn't want to. What about you? Why didn't <i>you</i> go back?

I'm a mercenary. Laterano has no place for me. So why didn't you want to go?

Hah...

Ain't nothing so unpleasant it can't be forgotten in Laterano.

But most of the POWs died in that camp. Hardly anyone still remembers. But someone's gotta.

Yet here you are, living the kind of peaceful life you say you reject. Day after day, year after year.

But I ain't never forgot. I still remember them, to this day.

I've always known there would come a day when you came settle the score.

I just never thought it would take so long.

We've surrounded the target. Repeat, we've surrounded the target.

Drop your weapon, Miss Brynley... weapons. This is the end of the road.

Look around you. There's nowhere to run. This charade is over. The snowstorm is only going to get stronger... Dammit, I was supposed to get off work early today, and catch up on my beauty sleep.

...I do want to apologize to everybody again, but after everything I've said today... it would probably come across as disingenuous.

Don't worry, you'll be fine. The company's making a huge ruckus out of this, but everyone here knows that nothing's going to happen to you.

I heard about you not long after I joined the company, Miss Brynley. Everyone warned me not to get on your bad side, because your family has more lawyers than we've got mercs here today.

...Probably even more than you're thinking.

See? You even realize it yourself. Worst case, you'll get maybe a year or two of jail time. Then you'll be released, and get to live the kinda life you want to again.

Could you put down the amplifier? It's unnecessary at this distance.

What, after I brought it all this way?

I'm begging you. Shut up.

Sure, if you've got a better idea for how to persuade her.

It's fine, Liskarm. You don't need to defend me. I know how everyone sees me.

Right. It seems like ever since I was a kid, I've never thought about the consequences before I did anything. Because no matter what, my family would take care of the mess. That's probably why I come off as selfish.

But that's not how it's supposed to go. There's always a price. And when you make a hasty, rash decision, you have to bear the consequences.

Jessica... You said you'd thought this all through when you asked to leave the team.

No. I'm not talking about tonight. I'm talking about when I arrived at Fort Barron seven years ago. When I first walked through those huge doors.

At first, I only wanted to be a tester at the Equipment and Applied Technology Department. I never imagined that one day I'd be standing on a real battlefield, pointing my weapon at a real person.

Right, that's where the root of the problem lies. We often pick up our weapons without considering the price that needs to be paid.

Take this little handgun for example. I can hold it up with just two hands. I can pull the trigger with just one finger. I learned how to use it in less than a month.

What's even more scary is that... I'd need only a second to take somebody's life with it.

But it would take me a lifetime to forget that one second.

See? That's how foolish I was. Before I picked it up, I never even considered who I would point it at in the future.

...But I'd already fired my first shot. Not fully thinking this through would be unforgivable.

Have you thought it through, then?

Because you've been holding your gun up this whole time. Hell, you haven't lowered it for even a second.

How arrogant. When did I ever say I came to settle a score with you?

You think I brought this bullet here for <i>revenge</i>?

Are you telling me you're not stuck in the past?

No. You're the one who's stuck.

You lived to your nineties as a merc. Can you really adjust to any kinda life outside the battlefield?

Woody. The reason I'm still unwilling to leave the battlefield is because war never ends.

Columbia's war ended a long time ago.

It did, but then Bolívar's war began right on its heels. Victoria's war may have calmed down for the moment, but there's no stopping the fallout it's started.

War is always here. It merely takes a break every now and then, before erupting somewhere else.

Then why stay on the battlefield? To be continually baptized by the flames of war?

Because if I can never end war, I have to settle for the next best thing. To hold its on-off switch in my hands.

That's why I started Blacksteel.

But can you really control it?

I've tried plenty of times, and I paid a dear price. But I did it in the end.

Was it worth it?

Even if all I can manage is to put it on pause for a few seconds, that's more than enough time for countless people like you to pick up their brushes again.

Then why can't you put what you're doing here on pause too?

I'm sure a few seconds to breathe would be plenty for folks like me, gasping for air. Sure beats getting pathetically run off to the frontier.

Because Davistown is no battlefield.

I can't put it down, because... this is the only thing I have left that still has power.

All these years, I've thought of myself as something like a blank white symbol...

The wealth, family, and influence it represents... mean nothing. They have no use in the face of the problems I want to solve.

But with this in my hand... at least I accomplished something.