DEAD ZERØES: Redemption Arc PART 7
James holds a private meeting for everyone in the town, Konehojum adjusts her mask next to someone else while Trombone stands next to James and Pollux keeps his Shotgun loaded just in case anyone gets any ideas.
"thank you all for being here." James said to the visitors in the room. "As you've all known, crusader is no longer one of us. For it's been revealed that he's now was a friend of a groomer by the name of Leigh, also known by a recognizable name "Raltanos". He points towards Thirdly, who holds the files based around Leigh and Crusader.
Trombone pounds his fist against the table, he said out of aggression. "With crusader out of our group, he will no longer be welcome to our said group let alone be our friend. He is considered to be shot on sight and is therefore an enemy to us. We therefore advise to be on a lookout for crusader's whereabouts and have him removed...by any means necessary."
"especially if he's going through a redemption arc?" Elliot said to Trombone while resting his feet on the table. "because I've heard that he's going to be good by never repeating the same mistake again."
"really?" James begins to doubt, walks up Elliot and asks him a question. "What makes you so sure that he won't repeat the same shit again?" "He won't." Elliot replied. "He made that promise. he's also aware that I ain't afraid to call him out again if he pulls a stunt like that again. Besides, he's good now."
"excuse me but I will NEVER in my life believe that Crusader is now "good" and that he will no longer do some shit." Mikuchan interjects. "and why is that?" Elliot asks Mikuchan. "Because I know for a fact that there's a 90% chance that he'll later be some kind of drama king again. So no, I'd say let him rot like Mango said."
"I'm with mikuchan on this one." Mr. Toothpick said. "My boys will be on a lookout for that prick, if he shows up he's a dead man. He ain't welcome to my club..."
"he's no longer welcome to my cafe & theatre, he's banned from there." Konehojum said with utter disappointment.
"and I'll make sure to put up posters of him being a clown and mark him as shot on sight." Mikuchan said angrily.
Fateless shook his head and sighs, then left. "Then it's settled. Crusader will not, won't and never will be allowed let alone be welcome in any of the places that we own." as the meeting ends, they all leave to warn the others of crusader's bad deed. Before trombone can leave, he asks James a question. "Is it really possible that crusader is redeeming himself for all the shit he did?" "I doubt it..." James said calmly. "I'm pretty sure that he's just trying to find ways to paint a target on his back, as usual... so let's just face it trombone. he USED us. He USED Mango-ruby. he even USED both YOU and ME. are you willing to believe in that crap or are we gonna tell everyone about crusader being friends with that groomer?!" Trombone thinks for a moment and sternly said to James... "Let's." As both Trombone and James leave, Mango silently leaves the room to head to a church made of sticks, stones and broken bones.
as crusader wakes up, tied in a chair in a abandoned house, he spots Sode standing next to Jasper and Lomane, wielding a baseball bat covered in barbed wire and nails then notices Sevo and Mikuchan with their followers being armed to the teeth.
"You never should've come back here black." Soder said. "You've been told by the people here that you're unwelcome here."
"I'm NØT friends with Leigh anymore." Crusader said calmly. "I'm døing my best to make things right..."
"...and you think that fixes all the damage you've caused?" Jasper replied, gripping onto a pistol. "You've done nothing but do stuff even I couldn't describe and you want me and my friends to forgive you after EVERYTHING you've done?" He shook his head. "No. Here's what's really going to happen..."
Sevo walks in, loads a SPAS-12 and pumps the receiver then cocks his neck. "We're gonna shoot you in your legs so that you won't escape, beat you like a punching bag and we'll walk away...while I pump you full of lead." Sevo said coldly towards crusader then suddenly gets his arms slashed off by Stanlee with a Machete and screams in agony and pain.
Mikuchan looks dead at stan, mango, echidna and Elliot then asks them Aggressively. "What the fuck are you DOING?! HE'S A FUCKING CLOWN! HE DESERVES TO SUFFER FOR WHAT HE DID TO US!!"
"this "clown" deserves a second chance." Elliot said calmly. "What you're NOT gonna do is continue to hold a grudge against him let alone kill him over what he did."
"Just stop and give it up already you idiots!" Stanlee said angrily, mikuchan looks at her followers with pure malice. "Don't just stand there for fucks sake, KILL THEM! KILL THEM!! KILL THEM!!!" as she said to their followers, they begin to fight against Crusader and his Group.
Crusader begins to counter one of her followers attack and slashes their throat then gets backed into a wall by soder with a Power Fist.
"NNNGH FUCK!" Crusader said as he struggles to break free. "Should've left when you've had a chance brother, now I gotta do what they should've done." she readies her punch with her power fist. "Beat you like a rented mule, make you pay for-" before she could finish, she gets headbutted by crusader and pushed away then gets her leg caught into a rebar.
Crusader uses his right arm's retractable chainsaw to cut through a number of their followers then uses his left arm's grapple function to grab a follower wearing a blindfold by the leg and throws him down a chasm in the middle of the living room.
Mikuchan angrily clenches her fists, picks up a mega machete and charges towards crusader. "YOU'RE JUST A FUCKING CLOWN!!!" swings the mega machete but misses and cuts off one of her followers head off instead. Elliot lunges towards a follower wearing a skull mask and rips off her head then tears out the heart of one of the followers.
Stanlee gets onto the shoulders of a tank follower and snaps their neck before grabbing 2 Type-52 Maulers and firing them at each follower while Echidna and Mango fight back to back with CQC. Mango picks up a Retro Lancer MK. 1 and empties the entire mag on one of the heavies after echidna knocks them down with a Sledgesaw. "He was mine, mango..." Echidna said, mango shrugs.
During the fight, Jasper attempts to leave but gets pinned down by Elliot as he growls at Deimos with aggression. Echidna grabs a M6 Magnum and fires a collateral shot at 3 followers with one bullet while Mango tackles soder and stops her dead by fully incapacitating her by stepping on the rebar lodged into her leg. "Where do you think you're going?" She said to soder.
After each follower was killed and each leader either escaped or got incapacitated, crusader digistructs and aims his Felwinters Lie shotgun at Mikuchan, who lies next to a chasm in the middle of the living room.
Mikuchan scoffs. "Go ahead. Just remember this: you'll always be a clown crusader. A loser. A friggin' try hard. A big joke to every punchline..." She grunts in pain. "You... Nnnghh... You will always be the lesser of the two. a real pain in the ass..., if you had... If you had done something normally instead of just being a literal creep...n-none of this wouldn't have happened. Just look at yourself...a 24 year old fuckhead who doesn't deserve to be lucky, forgiven even...and yeah I get it... You ain't a clown... you're just a dumb assed, employed, childish freak who'll never be a real man. Let alone be accepted as someone who's going through a so-called redemption arc, someone who's better off dead...along with that fucking groomer mutt, his piece of shit friends and you..." Miku drags herself up against a pillar. "it's a damn shame that most people in this world could NEVER forgive you. Even me, we could've been friends..."
"true. You're forgetting øne thing however..." Crusader said calmly to Mikuchan.
"oh yeah? and what might that be, you retarded clown? Mikuchan said to crusader.
Crusader points his retractable chainsaw towards mikuchan after dropping his shotgun to the ground and morphs his face into a mask during NIGHTMARE MODE.
"Yøu're not my friend..." as crusader points his chainsaw at Mikuchan, he was shown a premonition of him ending her along with Sevo, Soder and Jasper but in reality...he didn't kill them, he spared them by stabbing the retractable chainsaw blade into a wall next to Mikuchan's face to show that he's more than just a Crusader-Unit prototype, he's a human with a soul. Crusader sheaths his chainsaw then says to Mikuchan... "...yøu're not worth it. sure I can be called a clown for doing dumb shit but never for doing the right thing." Crusader takes out his hand, as a way to show graditude. Mikuchan swipes away his hand.
"...this isn't over, crusader." Mikuchan gets up and leaves with Sevo, Deimos and Soder.
Echidna places her hand on crusader's right shoulder. "You've done the right thing to spare her and her group."
"i knøw, they should've understood why I had to go through a redemption arc." Crusader said, stanlee hugs crusader and said..."hey. You aren't an idiot for letting people know that you're changing to be good, for they're just not even accepting it."
"yeah, we all make mistakes but in the end...we all gotta learn to forgive ourselves and each other." Mango said to crusader. "Which is why we leave things back in the past."
"...thanks guys." After the talk, they leave the abandoned house and walk through a forest of demonic markings, flesh and possessed dolls.
As they walk through the forest, they come across an abandoned subway tunnel and enter a huge room that lies within a rat hole.
"That's enough walking for today zerøes, we'll rest up here for the night." Crusader said.
as the night begins to fall, the group gathers together after savaging for food, drinks and snacks alongside videogames, paper and movies at an abandoned mall. Echidna tries on some old goth clothes from hot topic, Elliot hangs out by the batteries while listening to "Living Dead Girl - Rob Zombie" on a walkman, Mango hangs around her cat waffle syrup on some pillows and Stanlee plays Roblox on a laptop. As everyone settles down, crusader walks out of the kitchen and passes out some air fried hot pockets to everyone along with their favorite drinks.
Elliot grabs a monster after Crusader tosses him a can. "Eyyy thanks bro." Elliot said to crusader.
As they begin to enjoy their meal, Echidna turns on a movie for all of them to watch. It was DREDD.
as everyone is a sleep, mango gets an alert from Pollux on her walkie talkie which wakes up crusader and that prompts him to follow her.
As mango fuels up and starts up a Gauntlet Hellcat, crusader asks... "What are yøu døing?" Mango sighs. "I have to go."
"gø where? what's wrøng?" Crusader said curiously. "I received a word from Pollux that both James and Trombone are going to kill themselves, I have to stop them before it's too late..." She replied.
Crusader nods. "Come back safely mangø." Mango then drives back to her cards while crusader watches her drive away, unaware that he's being watched by konehojum herself.
Konehojum says to her guards..."soon as he heads into that mall again, bring me his head in a box...his story ends here." she carries a custom-made chainsword that represents everything related to jagjade, the ace of diamonds. "If you see either Elliot or any of his accomplices, kill them." she puts on her handmade replica of jagjade's mask and waits for crusader's arrival.
"...if no one can try to end you crusader then I will. after all...if you are as you say you are..." She cocks her neck. "Let's prove it, shall we crusader?"
