Family-Right or Wrong: Pt.2
While laying in a room, Acosta talks with Vex, now owner of Infinity Defense, through a call as she is currently at the military colony of UBW. Shifting the focus of the conversation from that of strictly business to a more casual one, Vex remarks,
"You know, you haven't called your grandmother in a while, right?"
"I know, I should have..."
"Well, she worries about you. She called me last week to see if I knew of you. I told her you were fine and all, but she still would like for you to pay her a visit once in a while."
"As soon as the contract is over, I will. If not, just remind me, will you?"
"I'll sure will. She's a charm, I'll say."
"She sure is... I wouldn't mind some some of her scrambled eggs."
"By the way, what does she put in them that makes it so good?"
"Huh. If I remember it's a bit of pepper, a bit of salt, scratched cheese for the gooeyness, bacon, lots of it, and a half-cup of beer."
"Beer?"
"Yup. She puts beer in everything she cooks."
"Really? Well, why don't you come to here and I'll make you some eggs with beer, huh?"
"I wish I could, Vex. But you know how much this means to me."
"What, the money or killing Walker?" After a straight look from Javier, she rolls her eyes and retracts, "Nevermind. Well, I have to go, I will have a meeting in 30 minutes. Maybe we can talk tomorrow."
"Sure."
"Take care of them, will you?. You know how they tend to argue amongst themselves."
"Isn't that Marco's job?"
"Yes, and he's the one to first throw punches. Well, at least take care of yourself."
"I will."
Closing the call, he then leaves the room. In the background, a tv news anchor announces news already known to him:
Prime Minister Tom Walker has announced to have reached a deal with the London rioters. He has offered himself as hostage in exchange for all the captives, including his daughter, Miranda Walker, to which the leaders of the insurgents, ex-cardinal Michael Smith, and anarchist group, 'The Vendettas , have agreed upon said terms. Many see this as a selfless act while others see this as suicidal. We will post the results of the poll in the next short minutes.
While walking through the hallway into the run-away "cafeteria", Sam intercedes with him, making him begrudgingly stop.
"Hey D'Acosta. I'm sorry to interrupt you but it seems my dear sister and Marco are fighting over a pair of prisoners."
"So? I don't give a damn argument between them two. He probably drank too much again."
"Yes, but that's not the issue; it's that it appears one of them is his son. He yelling all around about how he won't let anyone touch him."
"What?" Without even giving turn for Sam to continue talking, Javier steps on towards them and break the argument.
"Take pictures!" Sam yells through the hallway.
Rushing to the scene, he finds Marco aiming with a shotgun at Dimitri and the others, whom are aiming at him in retrospect as a scared Adam stands taken aback by the cluster of frustrations.
"Don't!", advices Dimitri to Javier as she sees past his intentions. As soon as he notices however, Marco turns to aim at Acosta instead.
"Marco, put the gun down." Acosta explains trying to calm the frenzied father.
"I know what you want to do!" Marco continues with his behavior, as his heartbeat begins to accelerate, oozing with Adrenaline-coated blood. His grip on the shotgun begins to slightly break the cast as the aim becomes compromised by a few margins.
"Just put the gun down. "
"Why? Why should I trust you. These bastards wanted to kill Adam. I won't let anyone touch my son."
"Marco. I'm just here to calm things down."
"Really, prove it. Prove to me, prove that you won't kill him. Drop your sword, and your knives."
"No. You know I can't do that."
"Then you lie! You just want to kill my son as did these bastards wanted to! I can't let you do that." He tightens his finger around the trigger of the shotgun, to which Javier responds by grabbing with one his sword, ready to unsheathe at moment's notice.
"Don't say crazy things, Marco."
"Put the gun down, dad. You'll get us both killed by the Angel.
"Crazy, huh? You call this crazy? You know what I think is crazy? I think this war is crazy. All of this destruction and death is unnecessary, it's tearing this goddamned world apart and us with it. Literally, when people say the end of the world, I think of this. I mean, c'mon, I think this is the first war where I've seen a brother kill his own brother. It 's turning everyone into simple savages who care for nothing but death.
"Who cares what the fuck happens to this world, we have a contract to fulfill."
"No, you have a contract to fulfill. You really think that this is a contract, it's bloodshed. Pure, uncultured bloodshed. Your own personal vendetta, and you're dragging us to hell with you, and well, unlike you and your kind, whom have nothing to live up for anymore, the rest of us have families and people to live up for. Now I know that, now that I know my son is still alive.
You know, I used to think like you before, but then I began to have doubt. I mean, kill a child nonetheless even if the target is neutralized or not? We used to have morals, a code to follow There are laws of war for a reason. So we don't end up destroying ourselves, but now that does not matter shit. All that matters is who kills whom first. That is what god-damned war has turned all of you into, fucking senseless monsters that kill anyone without remorse, just for fun."
"Now what kind of shit have you been drinking lately, Marco?" Dimitri adds as everyone begins to see through Marco's bloodied eyes.
"Shit? No, it's just now that I see how all of this is going to end. I intend however on not going down with the rest of the dog-pile, and live on with family, not damn in hell, and he's bringing us hell, and you're all following him blindly because why, money? At least I have a bit of consciousness, even if it took my son for me to realize it."
"Is that what you want? Leave then. Go through the fucking door and don't come back. You and your son, both are open to leave, but know that if you leave, never come back."
"Fine, I don't want to see your goddamned face ever again!"
After taking a brief time to take a breath in his quarries, Javier is visited by Garret, who had just seen his newborns for the first time.
"Is it a good time?" Garret asks as Javier opens his eyes from a break to attend him.
"Saw your kids?" He asks in retrospect, trying not to sound apathetic. Reading behind the lines, he continues with the new theme.
"Ah, yes. They're beautiful, both of them. The girl has her mother's eyes, you know."
"And the boy?"
"Well... he looks more like his old man. Has too dark eyes."
"But you just said both of them are beautiful."
"Well, in their own way. I'm just saying she's going to have a easier time finding someone. You don't know how much it took me to get Carla."
With his face turning a bit red, Javier says, "Well, it took me 22 years for me and Iris to get married." After saying the little trivia fact, he then drops his smile as he reminisces about her.
"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't mean to..."
"Don't be, Garret. I've got over it by now."
"I know. It's tough losing someone so close. It happens to everyone, although I know you've had a tough life. I mean, losing so much family. I don't how you continue on to be honest. If I were to lose my children, even though I've only met them via a camera and only for like five minutes, I don't know how'd I live with myself. "
"It's not easy. I still remember their faces, everyday, every moment. Sometimes I lose myself in memories of back then, when we three were all together. Like you said, she did have her mother's eyes and face. Just pretty. I thought of them as the two most beautiful women in I could have in my life. Proof that even the most irredeemable of men can have a little light in their lives. The sweet brightness of their smiles. I miss those moments every second, but I have to move on. I have a job to do.
At least I take solace in the fact the son-of-a-bitch who killed Iris is ash, killed him with my own hands. Can't say the same about my little girl. You know, doctors say the propensity for cancer might come from my paternal family. Both my grandfather and a cousin died of lung cancer, my father of liver, and Maria of leukemia. I mean, what if they're right? If it is indeed true, the math says I'm the genetical cause for her cancer, it runs in my family."
"Well, I don't know about you, although you seem very healthy, but you can't feel guilty about such things. It's nature. We can't do anything about it."
Besides, you still have friends and family that care about you, am I right? Plus, you have Vex for those moments. She's a pretty woman, so I think you're very lucky anyway."
"I guess you're right, but, I wish it wasn't. It's odd sometimes to think there's something I cannot fight with a sword."
Standing up to take a glass of wine, he responds, "I guess you're right." After serving both of them a little bit of drink, they continue to talk about Garret's new children for when a alarm sounds through the intercom, after which it's preceded by a a loud, booming, mechanical wave booms through the building, shaking its pillars and everyone within it as mass hysteria begins to occur within the outposts.
Reaching the epicenter of the chaos, Javier and Garret find themselves amongst a field of bodies, most mutilated beyond recognition, some missing limbs, and rolling heads laying in the ground. As they continue to walk among the biomass, they find a standing armored figure holding a limping female soldier by the helmet like a ragdoll.
Found you.
As both Garret and Javier stand in shock, unsheathing their weapons, the demon that slew Cairo-Tokyo squad turns around to meet them face to face, its bright red eyes crossing with theirs. He then cracks Dimitri's helmet, crushing her skull and ending her life bloodily, only to throw the body away like trash.
Javier: "Jaeger?!?"
"In the flesh."