No narration. Just speech.
"And now, for a closer look at the front lines, we turn to Sarah Clyde, who is on location in Philadelphia. Sarah?"
"Thank you, Bonnie. I'm here with Jason Chatham, one of the brave people fighting for freedom from the Microzon Regime. Mr. Chatham, thank you for taking the time to talk to me."
"Sure."
"Mr. Chatham, what can you tell us about the front lines?"
"Please, Ms. Clyde, call me Jason. There's a lot of people dying out here. Dying for freedom, and dying for oppression. Everyone thinks they're right."
"And how would you describe the mood here?"
"The mood? People are scared. This is life on the line. We do what we must because we need to."
"I see, but would you say people are optimistic? Do they feel like they're making progress? Are things getting better?"
"How am I supposed to know how anyone else feels? I know what I see, and I know what we do, and it's not pretty. It's war. It's dirty. There is no inspiration here."
"Well, we've been tracking your progress on the front lines for quite some time now, you seem to be an inspiration to the other soldiers fighting for the cause. Does it seem to you that you're having that kind of effect on people?"
"Look, what are you here for, Ms. Clyde? Are you trying to get me to say that things are going well, and everything's going to be okay soon? Because it's not, and it won't. This is messy business, and there's still a long way to go before we're done here."
"I'm hoping you can give us the... inside scoop on the war, as one of the faces of it."
"I'm the face of the war?"
"You're one of them, yes."
"I'm the face of the war. I'm the one people are looking up to?"
"Well, you are basically the hero we have here."
"Oh, you think I'm a hero. And what exactly are you basing that on?"
"The other men look up to you, you're a great fighter."
"No, Ms. Clyde, I'm not a great fighter. I'm a great killer. The distinction between those two is immense. These hands are responsible for thousands of graves. I kill people indiscriminately, without remorse or hesitation, based on the colour of their clothing. I torture people for information, until they beg for a merciful death, and when I finally kill them it takes hours for them to die. Make no mistake, Ms. Clyde, I am a villain. I am legitimately a monster. I just happen to be standing on the right side of history."
"I..."
"Oh, I'm sorry, was that not the sound bite you were looking for?"
"Mr. Chatham — I mean, Jason—"
"This is war. It's a terrible place where terrible people do terrible things. There's no glory, there's no pageantry, and there's no honor. We're here to do a job, and that job is killing as many people as possible, in the way that we see fit. You asked me what the mood on the front line is? Look to the smoke on the horizon that used to be five hundred fathers. That's the mood."
"Um... a— as you can see, things are ...pretty tense out here, but rest assured, these men are fighting for the freedom of everyone in America. They keep ...doing us proud, so we can keep doing everything else that we do. Back to—"
"...Sarah? Are you there, Sarah? Well, Steve, it appears we've lost our connection to Sarah, who just gave us what I'd call an eye-opening insight into the front lines of the war."
"Yes, Bonnie, I agree. And I think it's also a great example of how war can change someone's perspective on what they're doing."
"Absolutely. Jason Chatham, of course, the hero of Pittsburgh, having nearly single-handedly fought back against Microzon forces who had been occupying that city for months. He led his troops in and basically saved tens of thousands of people."
"Clearly a hero by any measure, but the psychological effects of combat obviously taking a toll on him. A hero to all, but he views his actions as making him a bad person. I think he called himself a villain, Bonnie."
"He did, but we all know that deep down, he's the hero we need, and the hero we have."
"We'll be back with more after these messages."
2020-06-22 · Boss Music Intensifies
2020-06-15 · Accept the Unexpected
2020-06-08 · Failing The Test
2020-06-01 · Best Laid Plans
2020-05-25 · The End?
2020-05-18 · The Only Explanation
2020-05-11 · Personal Victory
2020-05-04 · Six Questions
2020-04-27 · It's A Team Effort
2020-04-20 · The More Things Change
2020-04-13 · It's All About Perspective
2020-04-06 · Fake It 'Til You Make It
2020-03-30 · Keeping It Clean
2020-03-23 · How To Save The World
2020-03-16 · Time For A Change
2020-03-09 · Music To My Ears
2020-03-02 · Unfamiliar Territory
2020-02-24 · Something From Nothing
2020-02-17 · The Times Are Changing
2020-02-10 · The Missing Piece
2020-02-03 · Wrong Place, Wrong Time
2020-01-27 · Overexposure
2020-01-20 · As Seen On TV
2020-01-13 · Written By A.I.
2020-01-06 · Promises Kept
2019-12-30 · Ringing It In
2019-12-23 · Happy Unspecified Seasonal Holiday!
2019-12-16 · The Lair
2019-12-09 · Time To Get Cracking
2019-12-02 · Not A Suicide
2019-11-25 · The One That Knows What Number It Is
2019-11-18 · Venting Frustrations
2019-11-11 · The Test Takers
2019-11-04 · Make Your Play
2019-10-28 · Horror With Smart People
2019-10-21 · The Interview
2019-10-14 · It Must Have Happened At Some Point
2019-10-07 · Work The Problem
2019-09-30 · Cogs in the Machine
2019-09-23 · First of One
2019-09-16 · Curse Your Inevitable Betrayal!
2019-09-09 · Be Brief
2019-09-02 · Changing Channels
2019-08-26 · It's A Process
2019-08-19 · Armed And Dangerous
2019-08-12 · Good Intentions
2019-08-05 · A Simple Procedure
2019-07-29 · Finale Feelings
2019-07-22 · Fun And Profit
2019-07-15 · It Builds Character
2019-07-08 · Aviator Safety
2019-06-24 · Something's Been Bugging Me
2019-06-17 · It's All About You
2019-05-27 · Rough Encounters
2019-05-20 · Wishes Three
2019-05-13 · A Gentle Nudge
2019-05-06 · A Simple Misunderstanding?
2019-04-29 · Don't Spoil It
2019-04-22 · Under Scrutiny
2019-04-15 · Prepare To Resist
2019-04-08 · Making Small Talk
2019-04-01 · The Crisis
2019-03-25 · Just Kidding
2019-03-18 · How About That Local Sports Team?
2019-03-11 · Public Engagement
2019-03-04 · The Hero We Need
2019-02-25 · The Negotiation
2019-02-18 · Executive Orders
2019-02-11 · The Talk
2019-02-04 · The Big Game
2019-01-28 · If It's A Girl...
2019-01-21 · The Nature Of Picasso
2019-01-14 · I'm Sorry, Ms. Jackson
2019-01-07 · Never Saw It Coming
2018-12-31 · Duelling ...Holidays?
2018-12-24 · Too Much Cheer
2018-12-17 · Taking Out The Trash
2018-12-10 · Let's Go To The Movies
2018-12-03 · Not For Donuts
2018-11-26 · Horizons Made Broad
2018-11-19 · It's The Journey That Matters
2018-11-12 · Anthing You Can Do...
2018-11-05 · Let's Call It "Laundry"
2018-10-29 · Unfriended
2018-10-22 · A Conversation About "Tacos"
2018-10-15 · Changes
2018-10-08 · An Adult-Sized Secret
2018-10-01 · Street War
2018-09-24 · Whither Whether Why
2018-09-17 · The Pitch
2018-09-10 · The One That's Meta
2018-09-03 · A Night At The Movies
2018-08-27 · We're Vampires
2018-08-20 · The Final Showdown
2018-08-13 · The End Of The World
2018-08-06 · A More Rational Kind Of Love
2018-07-30 · Death Troubles
2018-07-23 · True Love
2018-07-18 · At Least It's Not Des Moines