Around the world each nation's greatest monuments explode one by one (those seen in the photos from Santa's Bag but real), then a flicker across the screens.
Capricorn - In his ram's mask, "For the citizen, of our world. And it is, our world. You've always felt it, known it to be true. And now it is time to accept it."
~ As more monuments explode ...
"We leave no history, but the one we make."
~ Capitol buildings collapse amid their burning flags.
Capricorn
- "And the Praetorians ? Any city which harbors them, any nation who
gives them refuge, will be 'reconstructed'." In
Guadalajara Capricorns soldier's roam the streets in total control. "We
are already there."
Warden - In pain, "That ... makes no sense."
Jackal - "Fuck you. You need to live. Without you ... "
Warden - "What."
Jackal stares as Warden bleeds out ... knowing his medicine isn't going to help him today.
Warden - Grabs him by the back of the neck and pulls his eyes to his, "Stay crazy. Stay free." Bullets sounding off closer every second, he grabs the grenade off Jackal's strap, pulls the pin with his teeth and spits. "Now go. I got your back ... one more time. But the fact is ... I always just held you back."
Jackal - "No you d ... "
Warden - "Shut the fuck up these are my last words ... not yours. Now go show the world what crazy really means." He looks to the approaching fire, "While I teach some to these fucks right here." He looks at Jackal with a tear, "Now go." His grip on the grenade shaking, "I can't hold on to this much longer."
Jackal grabs his hand and hold it tight over the handle ... pulls away shaking his head, while Warden nods back grinning.
The explosion as Jackal runs with his rage and tears.
________
Jackal sits in an office with Libra, the sound of waves and the motion of a boat.
Jackal - "I can't sleep. All I see is him. But he's standing with all the people I've killed, staring at me. Now he's there. And then I wake up. And then I see it again. Alarm goes off and we train." ... he stares off broken, "We train and we train and we train and we lose more and more."
Libra - "Have you ever heard of Hecate Hill ?"
Ghost - Now in the office instead, "The British serial killer's pseudonym ? She was never ... caught."
Libra - Smiles ... "Well, it happened in England anyway. And France. Germany. And maybe a little bit in Australia no one seems to have found out about yet. I see them all too."
Able - Now in the office instead, "I knew it ! I fucking knew it ! All those people had one thing in common."
Ghost - "And all those other cases had the same MO. Same fucking MO, I knew it. You're a dark web hero you know. I know what those people did. Everyone does. Good on you."
Jackal - "So what do you do ?"
Libra - "I kill them again. Again and again and again, until I dream of an empty room. I did what I had to do. Sometimes because it was the right thing to do, and sometimes just to survive, but none of it was as pretty as the picture. But you see him there because you feel responsible for his death."
...
Jackal - "I feel like I had one chance to take care of him ... one. And I let him down. You know he was like my anchor. Now ... "
Libra - "When he talked to me, he always said it was you carrying him. And he was always grateful. Your problem isn't that you're insane. It's that sanity hurts."
Emilio - Now in the room instead but not seated, smiling. "You ready to go ?"
Libra - A sigh and a smile, she puts down the pen. "Definitely."
The
AC-130 flies with Money piloting, a minimal crew and the mobile team in
the back, Able as the copilot, plane refueling mid air via
Statotanker.
Money - "Any news on the chief ?"
Stratotanker Comm - "Nothing. And ... we're sorry you can't land." With intended respect, "Sir. How long has it been since you landed ?"
Money - "Six days and running ragged. Any news ?"
Comm - "Regrouping the naval
fleet. We're gonna have to land you at sea. The Pentagon pass on a
message directly, made sure I would make it very clear. 'We have not
forgotten you'. Stay strong Soldier. You're fueled up and good another
twelve. See you then."
Money - "Heard that, Airman."
He switches off, the planes disconnect.
Money - Looks at Able, "Able, you're old Navy, how long do you think that'll take."
Able - "When we beat you at football again ?"
Money - A laugh, "Fucking hell." The plane soars on.
____________
While
in the mirror Capricorn tries to adjust a sagging eye gone lazy with
his fingers in an act of madness, his body sends a jolt though shaking
his hand.
He stares at his shaking hand, willing it motionless like a command with his one good eye, a knock on the door.
Capricorn - "Open."
Commander - "They've cleared out of Guadalajara, the Frenchman is gone, Cartels in deep hiding but we're missing a few men."
Capricorn - "We'll war with them later. And the Crow ?"
Commander - Smiles, "We can take that house right now."
Capricorn - "I don't think I should be smiling if I were you. Leave me."
He
does, Capricorn returns to tending his eye before the hand convulses
again, then cramping painfully. He clutches it in his other arm to his
chest, wincing away the need to scream.
____________
Doc - On the deck of his yacht with the model, "We cannot port without a transponder, and as soon as we turn one on ... they know this boat. I fear this arrangement grows less and less profitable for me. I will need another !"
Model - "Thinking about ducking ?"
Doc - "Oh ... no ... " A sigh, "This old boat ... truth be told I was going to get another anyway, it will be fun to scuttle this one so marked ... I do not know where he is, but I do believe he's alive.
"I do not believe your 'Joe' would forgive me if I ran."
____________
While
in another place unknown, Joe fights with the sword, moving between the
bullets until all are fallen, he tears the sword from the last with
death's roar to the storming skies.
And with lightning the strike on Crow Castle begins ~
Capricorn's
soldiers blow the gate under his watch from the turret, Crow's own
militia forming at the front. Their tanks flank from behind the house
while in the back a large VTOL the size of another house prepares,
turning its guns.
One of Capricorn's soldiers splits off, pulling
her gas-mask to show Monroe in bandages, she drops the rest running,
bounding the bush and launching a hook for the VTOL as it rises over the
manor, opening fire on the line.
Capricorn - With a shaking hand he pull the binoculars and watches Monroe climb, "You've got to be kidding me." He lowers the binoculars, "Two-fer Tuesday." He orders loud, "Bring it down."
The tanks raise their guns while the rest work the ground forces and open fire.
Monroe
pulls herself to the top deck, pulling a pistol and curved blade,
another at her back, she begins executing the crew. Few and spread
thing, most were left to fight Capricorn. Monroe moves inhumanly
without her disguise, as though she did not exist at all, a creature
without structure.
Arms flail spider-like while working the
blade's curvature as a mantis here, then nearly thrusting the bullet
itself into a deck-man's chest while slicing down with the other arm on
another.
Adjusting to a low stance beast, legs parted as the
craft shakes from the ground strikes. With no disguise she appears
anything but human.
But the ground's division between targets weakens them, the Crow's forces pressing that minor advantage directly, popping one tank after the next.
The VTOL's last volley being enough to take them all, hers and his, it turns away before gone.
Capricorn - Looking over the destruction, survivor's gathering again, "Well then. Enjoy that ... " Booming the order, a new shaking in his voice from the pain and madness, "Finish the last and welcome home, the castle is ours."