sergej's hell zone

Hyperlaser is extremely unhappy with where he is in life. He does not want to work for Blackrock, he especially doesn’t wanna work for SUBSPACE, and although he’s…. Surviving. He’s not really living the life he wants.

And when asked why? “This is the way I’m meant to be.”

Now, don’t get me wrong, this is ABSOLUTELY Blackrock’s doing to an extent. I think everyone living there has been manipulated to be a certain way, to think that they have no other choices, that they HAVE to remain. It certainly isn’t fun or easy to defect, if Medkit has taught us anything.

But like. He really has just accepted his fate. He’s specifically called out as one of the only non-robotic soldiers left in the faction. If he left they would probably just replace him with a robot, he COULD get out, but he’s just kind of…. Not trying.

Katana is the EXACT opposite of this. He escaped True Eye and is now on a lifelong mission to clear the world of its corruption. He’s not just doing things for himself, he has like. Almost a savior complex, I’d say. He genuinely wants to save the world.

I’ll use a metaphor okay. Imagine it’s raining. The NORMAL response would be to pull out an umbrella, maybe take shelter, or if you can’t do that, just try to get where you need to be as quick as you can, right?

Hyperlaser is not pulling out his umbrella, he’s not even getting to shelter, he’s not even continuing his journey to where he wants to be. He is just standing in it. He’s just letting himself get all soggy and wet and sad and cold. Maybe it would be difficult to get away from it, but he could TRY, and he’s choosing not to.

Katana has not only taken shelter and dried off, but he has made the decision that he will MAKE SURE it NEVER rains again. Even though that goal is INSANE for one person to try and accomplish, even though he is already safe and dry and could just continue living, he has dedicated his life to this goal that he truly may never complete.

but as for hyperlaser i doubt he would be willing enough to follow katana into the light. “if where i am is fine, why would i need to move?” a toxic mindset molded by what he’s grown in. basically: why get a new one if it works??? and he’s just conformed to it because he can’t care any less than he does already. he has no more power to use in aid of his course and i think that is precisely the reason why katana would be so willing to guide hyperlaser out of where he is. because if he (katana) cares enough about wanting to rid corruption he would care enough to try and help wipe anything left from it

yeah well there’s gonna be smudges even if you try to erase pen ink but it also hurts because. they’re practically the same. both scarred from what they’ve been through and want to make a difference, one just can’t and doesn’t have the willpower to whilst the other refuses to let anyone else follow in his footsteps. both of them have smudges left from trying to erase everything and move on.

so basically in the metaphor. The Rain Metaphor. they’re still gonna get wet no matter what they do and eventually if they dry off that rains never gonna stop. and that’s okay. because for once in their life they can feel a sense of warmth that the cold air from the rain droplets can’t give. that is the feeling katana feels: so he wants to make sure everyone else can be free of the strong breeze and be able to leave it behind. and hyperlaser refuses to do that because he, out of everything he could do, feels alright where he is. he can try, but the rain he stands in is far too familiar to leave and enter a space that’s a far cry from his normal routine.

First of all:

Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh YES I agree with you SO HARD

EVERYONE LISTEN TO THIS PERSON HOLY HECKKKKK

Thank you for the additions <3

Second of all:

I do heavily agree that Hyperlaser, even when presented with the opportunity to leave Blackrock and join Katana in his goals, would be extremely hesitant to take that offer. He's been manipulated so heavily, since the moment he was born, to believe Blackrock is where he belongs. Even if it is bad, why leave now?

However.

I think for this whole thing to work, they've got to meet in the middle.

This might be a bit of a hot take, but I think Katana's goal of stopping the corruption is not only unhealthy, but it's going to set him BACK in life.

I am so so sorry for this, I'm going to do like a full analysis of Katana here, you don't have to read the rest of this, I just want you to know I AGREE WITH YOUR ADDITION AND I'M VERY HAPPY.

I've been thinking about Katana for a long long time. I see myself in him a lot, and I really enjoy him as a character, but his mindset here is just not. Healthy. At all.

Katana has been hurt and manipulated for many years of his life. We don't know about his early life, but he was not only affected by the Scorch, he was then manipulated into serving a cult leader for YEARS, only to be disgraced and shunned from his only family and forced to run to a different faction, which we know is HIGHLY taboo in the inpherno. All that to say, Katana is traumatized.

After undergoing this trauma, it's understandable that Katana wants to make sure nobody ever has to endure a thing like that again, especially because his own brother, who we can presume he was close with, is STILL loyal to the Church.

However, while this is a noble and understandable goal for someone like him to have, it falls apart under more scrutiny.

First of all, corruption is a purely subjective concept. Attempting to "rid the world of corruption" is the type of goal that leads to genocides (not saying Katana would do that, just saying this wording has been used to justify INSANE things before.)

I'm sure Katana has good intentions, but seriously, what is he gonna do here? Kill Father Overseer? And would it stop there? I don't think so, considering how he talks about Blackrock.

Everyone has the capacity to do harm. You cannot 'kill all bad people' because EVERYONE has good in them and EVERYONE can do bad things. This goal is not possible and will hurt more people than it saves in the long run.

Maybe he doesn't plan on killing anyone and just wants to "talk it out" but it's been specifically stated that he wants REVENGE on the Church. I also don't think 'talking it out' would work as a solution anyways.

Second of all, even if he does clear all the corruption from the world, it will absolutely come back. Corruption is not a physical thing (unless it is, but that's a separate theory). New corrupt people will be spawned, and Katana can't live forever to clear them away

But the real reason this is unhealthy is because Katana is stuck so hard in the past.

He wants justice for what's been done to him, and it's UNDERSTANDABLE, but is this all worth it?

Dedicating his life to this gargantuan goal, this task he may never truly complete, denying himself of entertainment or connections, training every day of his life, all so he can best this thing which truly only exists in his head?

Father Overseer hurt him and will hurt more people, but. Truly, at the end of the day, there comes a time when you've got to just move on.

He's so focused on this goal that he's not even living, he's not letting himself be happy, because he HAS to defeat the corruption.

You can't stop it from raining. You can't stop bad people from existing. You just... Have to let go. Even if it's hard. You've got to live on.

All these years after escaping, Katana's life is STILL dedicated to the Church, because he continues to give them his focus instead of MOVING ON DANG IT

This is why I believe Hyperlaser will be what helps him, we're coming full circle back to him now.

Hyperlaser is the exact opposite, he won't even get himself out of the rain, and in the process of guiding him, Katana will realize the truth of the situation.

You can't stop the rain. You can only help people take shelter from it.

The best revenge Katana can get is to move on and live for himself instead of purely focusing on fixing the entire world.

take hyperlaser, for example; he represents a citizen, any citizen—not even a soldier or fighter—who's too worn down by the system to care. from childhood we're taught through molding that this is how it is and how itll always be. we live to work and work to earn, and the "earn" is never enough to feel the dopamine, but enough to act as a numbing agent. to keep us quiet, complacent. we dont know that theres another option because they never showed it to us.

katana is the one who's broken free but in a way that wont matter. we all want vengeance against a system thats wronged us—but his means is to destroy it entirely, wipe it from a purely subjective point of view. all this will do is brand him as a traitor, and in our world perhaps as a madman or a tortured antihero villain with a twisted perspective. in the end, he will be remembered by the people he killed, not the people he tried to save. the corruption will find a way to stain the name of his once-noble cause.

Essays can be written about these two

Picard having trouble at

the replicator.