(Drums!) AND THEY RUN WHEN THE SUN COMES UP!

(Screech) WITH THEIR LIVES ON THE LINE


Rock leaned his head against the Taxi's glass window and stared out, watching the foreign cityscape flow past him. Everything just seemed so peaceful, so normal. People were walking around, eating things, buying things, working, going on with their lives. Just this morning, Rock had been part of that world. The world of 'normal'. The world of the mundane. In that world - Iori Yagami being awful and cringy was the worst thing he had to deal with. Sure, Rock had imagined an entire novel worth of terrifying conspiracy theories, but the reality was - he was pretty much taking a cushy vacation on his boss's dime.

Dammit! Shit!

But now… Rock Howard had left that world behind. Not by his own will, of course. He had no choice! It was either kill, or be killed. It was nature's purest law - the Law of this world. The strong survived, and the weak perished. The strong consumed the weak - and that was it. Savage victory. Savage defeat. Today, Rock had stepped down from the mundane, and tasted the primal.

Why… why didn't I just listen to Dad…

Rock wanted to scrub that primal victory from his brain. He hated it, but what he hated even more was how euphoric he had been while running through that compound. Why was it that he felt so much despair when Whip's eyes were torn out, but none when he liquified the newspaper guard's brain? Weren't they all the same? Where's the sense in that? What the fuck is wrong with you, Rocky!?

Rock fixed his eyes outwards, and chewed on his tongue until he tasted iron. He wanted nothing more than to erase this morning's events from, not just his memory, but from this very existence. The experience wasn't simply traumatic. It wouldn't go away if he forgot about it. In fact, Rock was unsure if he was even allowed to forget about it.

He, at the tender age of 19, had changed lives.

Blasted them to bits.

By his hand, wives had become widows and children had become fatherless. Was he allowed to walk away from doing something so severe, and just forget about it? Continue to live life as if he hadn't just ruined who-knows-how-many others?

Rocky… dammit Rocky… what now?

He gritted his teeth and pushed his nose into the crook of his elbow. He slumped against the window and stared out from behind the bend on his arm. He kept his eyes wide open because he felt involuntary tears rising again. He hoped the air conditioning would dry them before they could leave more trails down his face. He didn't want to cry anymore, especially not with the Taxi driver watching him from his rearview mirror. Could the driver tell he was a murderer? Could he smell the stink of sin and death clinging to him?

Rock closed his eyes.

Everything had happened so fast.

Leona had come in and killed the Chinese Medic. Rock saw her as she did. Her face was stony, cold, emotionless. She didn't seem to realize or care that he was a person. She didn't care that he had a kind heart or that he was helping Whip out of his own goodwill. Hell! She didn't even flinch upon seeing Whip's grievous injuries, or the gaping holes where her eyes should have been.

Is she… even human?

But when she turned and saw him staring at her in horror, and undoubtedly crying all over himself, she didn't just glaze over him like she did everything else…No, she rolled her eyes. Scorned him as if his emotions were nothing but a meaningless liability. In that moment, Rock felt he knew what sort of creature Leona Heidern was. He felt he understood a bit about the kind world she inhabited.

A top predator…

He would never forget that glassy stare. He knew, just by looking at her, that if her mission called for it - two knives would have flown through that doorway. Sparing him was as easy as killing him. On her whim, He could very well be laying on the ground beside the medic with a knife's hilt lodged in his forehead.

Scary… IKARI is scary…

Rock gripped his forearms about himself and shivered as he recalled the incident. It was all but burned into his mind. The moment she walked in, Rock had scurried to the corner, he covered his mouth with both hands and stayed as silent as possible as she looked down at Whip's beaten body like a beast looking at a crushed flower. She took inventory, then with a couple of terse words indicated to her colleague they would be soon leaving via helicopter. Whip seemed strangely robbed of emotion as she responded, and was carefully picked up and carried out.

Whip too, but… she's not like that… Seirah came for me, to rescue me… ugh-

That was the last he saw of Leona Heidern. After handing him his cell phone, she didn't spare him a second glance as she walked out of that room with Whip balanced over her shoulders. Rock was left to his own devices. Left to fend for himself. He remained in that room - trembling and dry heaving, until he heard the howl of an ambulance arrive on scene. He squeezed his eyes shut and held on to his knees until he was grabbed and strapped to a gurney.

I wanna go home…

The hospital had been a blur. He had gotten a few stitches and some painkillers. The receptionist spoke broken English and got him a cab. Now he was headed back to the hotel. He didn't know what he was going to do once he arrived. He didn't know how he was going to deal with-… just with everything.

He just wanted to curl up and sleep.


ALIIIIIIIVEE! WOOO- oo- OOAAAHHH

NO CHOICE!

(DRUMS!)