Lapsum de sene(The fall of an Old man)

[The Doctor, RIP Juggernaut]

Part one, Chapter one: Return to Forty-Five.

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZfaSNoZ6L0" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZfaSNoZ6L0</a>

As the door to the apartment opened a man missing a leg, wearing an eye patch and carrying a bag walked in to the room.
"Well I guess this is it... Time to start my new life, time to live the last days of my life in peace...." he thought to him self.
As the man throws the bag on the ground by the sofa and walked in to the moon light, looking around the grimy apartment.
"I guess this is the poetic end to my 'poetic' story... I had lived my life... Done my part..." he continued to think.

"What bullshit."

The man turns around and leaves the apartment locking the door behind him then walking down the hall way to the stair case.

"The combine are gone, Humanity free, 'freedom' restored. And yet nothing has changed, I'm still the same bitter old man that I was before and nothing is going to change that." he thought to him self.

As the man walked down the stair case to the lobby he walked past the front desk where the lady spotted him and asked "Everything alright Mister Henderson?"
The man looked at her and then the mirror behind him, his bitter scarred expression unchanged.
"Its fine, just going out for a drink."
As he walked out the door he walked down the side walk taking in the sights of the newly rebuilt city.
"It didn't take long for them to rebuild the city and get the systems running again, Police, politics all that horse shit."
As he continues walking by he spots a bar and hurries his way in.

When he gets in he looks around the bar to spot a small number of people and the bar tender, slowly he made his way to one of the stools.
"It was clear that no one in this bar was happy, no one here to have a good time. The bastards have been gone for a year and yet the wounds still aren't healed... Its no wounder why joints like this pop up all across this hell hole."

The bar tender walked up to Matt and took his order, after a few hours of drinking Matt got up and left the bar, drunk enough to not care about anything, but sober enough to walk.

As he very slowly made his way up the stairs he walked in to the apartment and took his coat off, revealing a shoulder holster carrying his .357 magnum.
He pulled off the holster and his shirt and grabbed both of them and the bag and went in to one of the bed rooms. Throwing the bag and the shirt beside the bed he drew the revolver from his holster and looked at it for a moment.
"This was the last thing in the world of value I had left, my sword, my shield, my only friend." he thought to himself.

He put the revolver on the bed side table and then went in to the bath room and looked at himself in the mirror.
As he looked at every scar on his face and his scruffy beard, he started to have flash backs of his time in the pass.

Slowly he made his way back in to the bed room where he fell on the bed laying down on his side and passing out.

Out of Character for OOC:

This isn't an IC story, just one following Matt after events before during and after the war, this is writing for writing.

WARNING: this is going to be depressive as hell for the next few chapters.

[Checkers]

I like this a lot, the depressing feel of it is nice. Also using Max Payne 3 Theme for this is just amazing.

[The Doctor, RIP Juggernaut]

Part one: Chapter two: The Roommate and the City.

As the old man stirred around slow waking up, he opened his eyes to a small pool of vomit sitting in his mouth and on the uncovered bed.
"So I guess this will be my 'new life' from here on out, waking up with no memories of the night before.." He thought to him self.
As he started to get up he heard shuffling and foot steps out side his room; someone was in the apartment.
"God damn it didn't take long for this to happen..." he thought to him self.
He quickly got up and grabbed his revolver and headed for the door, pistol level and cocked, he threw the door open and rushed the person in the living room.
"Your a dead mother fucker!" he yelled walking up to the man both hands on the revolver aiming at his head.
"WHOA WHOA WAIT WAIT!" the man yelled.
"Why should I?" Matt asked still aiming at the mans head.
"I'm not a robber! I'm your new roommate!" the man replied.
"What are you talking about?" Matt continued to yell.
"Please just come with me to the lobby!" the man asked.
"I had no reason to shoot this poor bastard, looking him over, I could see hes nearly wet his pants and he hasn't touched anything of value, I guess I will play ball for now."
"Fine, but any funny business and your head is coming off." Matt replied.

Matt lowered the revolver and they started to go down to the lobby, Matt still in his under shirt and normal pants slowly made their way to the lobby.
When they got there the man started to ask "Ma'am can you please explain to him that I'm his new roommate?"
The lady at the front desk, the same one from the night before looked up and saw the revolver eyes widening.
"Sir, there's no reason for that! This is community housing, we run out of space and have to assign roommates!" she explained.
"The grim reality of this was I think she had already explained this to me and I forgot about it." He thought to him self.
Matt tucked the revolver in to his waste band and said:
"Sorry, should have remembered." and slowly made his way up stairs back to his room.
"Hey! Wait up!" The man said following him up the stairs.

Matt opened the door and went in to the kitchen grabbing a glass and filling it with tap water and washing the puke taste out of his mouth.
"So whats your name?" The man asked.
"Henderson" Matt replied.
"Truth was I didn't know what to think of all this shit, I couldn't afford a real apartment on a none workers budget, and I didn't know if I could deal with a roommate." Matt thought to him self.
"Don't have a first name? Mines Jacob." He replied.
"Jacob, what kind of bullshit name was that, here we are in the middle of the Ural mountains are everyone is a fucking American." Matt thought.
"Look Jacob, I'm not big on formalities... Or people for that matter, sorry for the revolver but...
"Ah no its fine... Look, I'm going to go down and see what they have in the way of couches and you know... Furnishings... Wanna come with."
"No... Just pick out whatever the hell you want." Matt said heading to his room.
"I had no reason to hate this guy, in fact I kinda liked him, it takes a special kind of man to forgive someone for introducing themselves with the barrel of a gun. But I guess I had become so bitter and cold that I didn't give a damn about people anymore."
Matt quickly grabbed his shirt putting it on and the shoulder holster over it and then the jacket.
As Matt left his room and saw Jacob sizing out the place seeing how many paintings and other bullshit he could fill the apartment with to make it more "Lively". Matt left the apartment with out saying a word to Jacob and quickly left the apartment building and heading down the street towards the bar.

As Matt came up to the bar, he saw that the closed sign was on but there were two people inside, the bar keeper and another man in a suit, the bar keeper looked scared of the man.
"As I took a closer look of the suited person, it was Victor Romanski, big time 'Russian' crime boss from New York that used the war like so many others to gain some sort of higher standing in life then the normal sheep that followed these kinds of bastards. I hated his guts."
"I knew there was a warrant on this guy: murder, money laundering, bribes, that short of thing, the entire police force was either getting paid off or was too scared to go get this guy, and I wasn't about to rush in 'white knighting it' like the old days, I'm not that kinda of many any more."
Matt walked away from the bar and down the street heading towards the plaza looking around.
"The atmosphere was a mixture of the old soviet buildings and the combine 'Improvements'. The entire city was the most depressing god forsaken place in this new world."

Slowly he made his way to the plaza eyeing what use to be the old Nexus.
"It didn't take long for them to find a new use for the old combine buildings, they had torn down the check points, but turned the nexus in to the town center, in it it was a police station, military base, school, and a small clinic ran by an old friend of mine."

Matt walked up to the old statue to find it replaced, looking closely he saw that the thing looked like an the normal "White knight" rebel that was common in the war..
He saw a brass plate on the base of it and for chuckles read it.
"This memorial stands for all those who lost their lives during the combine occupation of Republic City and the Ineu mountains."
Matt looked back up at the statue, for a moment, it looked like someone he use to know.



Post Auto-Merged: February 19, 2013, 10:22:51 AM

Part one: Chapter three: Political Slime Balls

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u116HbMOF_Y" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u116HbMOF_Y</a>


"It's modeled after Thomas." A voice said behind Matt.
As Matt turned he saw a man in a suit walking up to him with a concerned look on his face.
"I didn't know who or what to put, so I decided to put the man who saved my life." He continued.
"This 'classy' man was Ivan Romanski, brother of the big time Russian Crime boss, some how he ended up on the other side of the law, but he was no different, he used the same dirty tactics to get on the city council, this was a family of slime balls..." Matt thought to him self.
"Thanks, I hoped he'd be remembered as the 'vengeful angle of death' that he turned out to be." Matt said.
Ivan looked at the ground and chuckled.
"You've changed." Ivan stated.
"That's what happens when the shit hits the fan and you end up getting covered in it." Matt replied.
"During the war I knew this guy was going to be trouble, he was the kind of trouble that you saw three miles away in a rifle scope."
"Look Henderson, I can offer you a job, the city is hiring any skilled labor, and I've seen you in action, you could be a doctor or even a cop, whatever you want I'll get you in to it." Ivan continued.
"Thanks but, no thanks, I'm done helping people." Matt replied.
"Whatever, but look, try to get a transport out to the pass that you guys holed up in, there's something there you need to see." Ivan stated heading towards the Council chambers.
Matt took one more look at the statue and started to walk back to his apartment.

"Hey man wait up!" Another voice from behind yelled.
Matt stopped and look back to see Jacob rushing up to him.
"I had to admit, this kid had persistence, most people would have given up on my by now... Most had..."
"What do you want?" Matt asked.
"To get to know my roommate better..." Jacob replied.
"Buy me a drink and then we'll talk." Matt said tilting his head towards the bar.
"Its only twelve in the afternoon?" Jacob replied.
"Oh good, that means they're serving food." Matt said making his way to the bar.
As Matt entered the bar he yelled at the bar keeper "Get me a beer and whatever the special is today!" and then sat down at the bar.
Jacob sat down next to Matt and looked at him with a concerned look on his face.
"Someone named Eli came by the apartment looking for you.." he said.
"Eli? thought he had moved on.." Matt replied.
"Truth was Eli was there for me the entire way through the war and I've been treating him like dirt ever since, he didn't deserve it and I wish he'd move on.."
The bartendered walked up to him with the beer and told him it'd be a few minutes for the food.
"So what the hell do you want to know kid?" Matt asked.
"What a war hero like you is doing sitting in a bar, at twelve in the afternoon getting drunk and living in the slum." he replied.
"Truth was that my life had gone down hill so fast I didn't even know what it looked like going down, and I wasn't about to dig my self out of it.
I had spent the last year and a half hunting down the rest of the combine forces in a genocidal killing spree, there was no glory in it but I wasn't about to 'repent' my sins and hope that whatever bullshit 'god' is out there would forgive me, I knew I was going to hell and I was perfectly content about it." Matt thought to himself.
"Look kid, some people strike it off like that Ivan bastard on the council, and others end up in the dump with only a fractured mind and drinking problems." Matt said.
"That's no excuse, you should be on that council, not that Ivan bastard! You're a hero! You saved lives in the war!" Jacob ranted.
Matt downed half the beer and looked at Jacob with his single eye.
"If I drowned in my own vomit tonight I'd be fucking happy! I lost every person I fucking cared about in that war!. Matt yelled.
Matt caught eyes of the bar tended as he was handing Matt his food and realized he needed to quiet down.
Jacob got up and with out saying a word left.
"The kid didn't deserve that, I knew that chances where good that he too had lost loved ones in the war, The truth of what I had become, a bitter, angry Old man was starting to seep in as I looked at my self in the mirror, I remember a time where I would have gone for that council job, where I would have been a 'productive member of society', but those days are long past. All I want to do now is die, but I guess I get to keep searching for the right man to put a bullet through my head."
Matt started to eat his sandwich and finish his beer.

"After a couple of hours past and me 'enjoying' a few beers I was getting ready to leave when a couple of people walked in to the bar.
From the sight of them I knew they would be trouble, the lead one, a kid that anyone in this city would recognize, this stupid bastard was the 'dons' adopted son and little underdog."
"Yo, wheres our money man!?" the idiot spouted. 
"The next payment isn't till next week and I have people here Paul!" The bar tender replied.
"Paul? What a joke for a Russian name." Matt thought to him self.
Paul drew a gun and started waving it around like a maniac "Alright everyone time to get out."
Then a woman got up from the bar and walked up to him yelling "No you stupid don's bitch! Get out of here before I hurt you!"
"Had I been younger I would have asked her out, I had a thing for women with backbones... But that didn't matter right now, the next few steps I never expected to happen in a million years."
Paul brought the handle of his pistol down on the woman's head causing her to bend over, then brought it to the side whacking her on the side of the head and causing her head to go in to the bar.
"Time truly is relative to the observer... Because these next steps almost seemed to happen in some sort of slow 'mo."
Suddenly Matt drew his revolver aiming at the center of the mans back and quickly checking his back stop, fires the revolver twice, both rounds connecting and passing through the mans back. As the Kid fell Matt spotted another one of them reaching for a gun Matt quickly got up and fired off three rounds in to the man, one of them connecting with the side of his head. The third bastard took off out the door Matt followed him but couldn't get a shot on him.
"As time quickly caught back up with me, I had realized my fatal mistake, what I had done. Soon the entire Mob would be after me..."
Matt turned around opening his cylinder and popping out the shells but saving the good one, he pulled out a stripper clip and loaded his revolver again, holstering it.
"What the hell have you done!? The bartender yelled getting the woman up.

Out of Character for OOC:

Been having some trouble finding music for this...

[The Doctor, RIP Juggernaut]

Part one: Chapter two: The stone cold truth.

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAJqAMBfJ74" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAJqAMBfJ74</a>

Matt stood there, looking down at the body of the kid.
"'The past is a gaping hole' whoever came up with that line was an idiot. As I stood here, trying to figure out the why of what I had done, I realized that the truth was, for the past year I had been looking for someone to put a bullet in my head. Maybe I thought this was the best way to do it, maybe this was just "Heroes instinct" either way I was dead the moment I pulled that trigger."
Matt turned and faced the two "Call the cops, stay low, tell them what really happened." he quickly said heading out the door reloading his revolver.
"I knew there was no way in this corrupt city I was going to get to the trial if I got arrested, I was going to have to fight my way out of this, or lay down and die, I think I'm going to go with the former though."
Matt ran to his nearby apartment holstering his revolver, as he reached his door he quickly threw it opened and locked it behind him.
As he entered the living room he saw Jacob holding a gun to him.
"Oh, its you." He said lowering it.
"What happened out there? I heard gun shots come from the bar!" Jacob quickly asked.
"This kid was about to be caught in the crossfire between me and the entire mob, as much as I pretended to not give a shit, I wasn't going to have anyone else die for me."

"Jacob, grab your shit and get out of here, the Don's son is dead and I was the trigger man." Matt said grabbing his extra ammo from his bag.
"Jesus Christ man, Why did you shoot him?" Jacob asked in a near panic.
"Momentary slip of judgement, now get out of here!" Matt replied.
"No, we're just gonna sit down and wait for the cops..."
"The cops? What a joke..." Matt thought to himself.
Right then a grenade broke through the window and started to roll towards them, Matt threw Jacob aside and kicked it back out, from the street he expected an explosion only to find out that it was a smoke grenade.
"They're here..." Matt thought to himself.
"Look we can just hide in another apartment, chances are they don't know what you look like!" Jacob said in a minor panic.
"I'm a one legged, sixty-five year old cyclops, that plan isn't going to work." Matt replied.
"As I looked down in to the street, I saw a rather small group of people enter the apartment complex, followed by screaming and a gun shot..."

"Jacob, go to another apartment! If they catch you with me we're both going to end up killed!" Matt yelled at him.
"No! I'm staying with you!" he replied.
"I don't know why this kid seemed so dedicated to me, I didn't ask for his loyalty and I didn't want it.."
Matt heard foot steps outside his apartment door, they knew where they where.
"As I looked in to the kids eyes, I saw a mixture of fear, courage, and sadness... This kid reminded me of my self before all of this shit..."
"Follow me and stay close." Matt said heading towards the door.
Matt quietly walked up to the door, hearing them close to it trying to decide who goes in first, Matt kicked the door open slamming it in to two of the men, one directly in front of the door stumbled, one behind the door got knocked on his ass, and one started to aim at Matt.
As Matt walked out of the door he quickly aimed and fired at the person untouched by the door firing one round in to his neck, he swing the revolver forward and shot the man in front of the door three times in his chest. Then he stepped around the door not missing a beat and shot the man on the ground in the head.

Matt continued down the hall way when he heard five gun shots from behind, he turned expecting to be riddled with bullets to find Jacob had shot someone coming at them from down the hall.
Matt reloaded his revolver, and then holstered it picking up the pistol dropped by one of the men he just shot.
"As much as I loved the old girl, she did have her disadvantages... Three years ago I would have considered a more... Subtle and none lethal approach... Right now I just couldn't find it in my soul to give a damn.."
As they continued down the stair case Matt kept the pistol level, taking the corners very quickly, then he heard foot steps coming up from below, Matt rushed down the stairs and met the person on the floor below his apartment.
The man tried to put his pistol to Matt's head, Matt grabbed it with his free hand pushing it up and out of the way, the gun fired, missing Matt's face, grabbing the heated up slide and twisting the gun out of the mans hand he put his pistol to the mans gut and fired four times, passing through him and the man behind him.

They went down to the lobby to find the front door abandon, they quickly exited it and stopped in the street expecting trouble.
"How quickly this day went from bad to worst surprised me, it wasn't even five in the evening and I already had the hang over from hell."
"I have a friend who lives on the other slide of the plaza, we can stay there." Matt said dropping the extra pistol.
"If you can conceal that thing, do it." Matt told Jacob, who put his pistol in his waste band under his coat.

As they entered the plaza they spotted three police officers patrolling the area.
"Play it cool, they may not give us a problem..." Matt said as they continued walking.
"Today went from bad to worst, I was quickly racking up the charges by the hour, I didn't want to add assault of a police officer to it..."
The officers started to move towards them, holding Civil protection style Stun batons.
As the officers blocked their paths. Jacob asked: What seems to be the problems officers?"
Suddenly one of the officers charged them, trying to bring the stun baton down on Matt's head. Matt grabbed the baton with his right hand, bringing a quick punch to the officers gut with his left, he quickly disarmed the cop, spun around and jabbed him from behind with the stun baton, effectively tazing him. Matt flipped the stun baton around and deflected a blow from the second cop with it, countering with another quick jab to the gut with the stun baton, knocking him out of the fight as well.
Matt turns to see Jacob punch down the third cop, the two of them run out of the plaza before more officers can get out of the Nexus.

[The Doctor, RIP Juggernaut]

Part one: Chapter five: The Woman.


Matt and Jacob walked in to an apartment complex Matt leading the way, clearly he knows where to go.
"Since the war I had soon ran out of friends left, I lost contact with Eli stupidly quick, Dave was a no go and the others... Well I tried not to think about it any more." When they came up to the door Matt knocked on it making sure Jacob kept watch.
A female voice could be heard from the other side of the door, her words slightly slurred as if she was drowzy "Who's there?"
Matt replied in his old and crooked voice "A very old friend".

Slow but decise footsteps can be heard, approaching the door "Ah shit..." She opens the door, not taking out the door's lock to get a good look at Matthew "... Matt, what are you doing here?" Her breath having slight hint of alcohol still on it.

 Matt detects the smell of alcohol but still smiles at the sight of an old friend "I... we need some place to stay for the night.." tilting his head back at Jacob as he says this.
She takes a quick glance at him, and notices Jacob behind him, sighing and closing her eyes, she shuts the door, taking out the locks to properly open it once more and let them in. It was now clear that it was Joanna. "Come on... And wipe your feet before you come in, will you? This isn't the Pass anymore." She walks inside as she allows them in, she was dressed in a loose tank top and her old black cargo pants, The apartment was messy but not excessively so, some beer and whiskey bottles spread all over.

Matt moves his head to indicate to Jacob to come in, As he walks in he looks around the apartment surprised at what he sees.
"As I entered the apartment, this wasn't anything like I expected, I had hoped that she got on with her life unlike I did.
I guess when you fight for everything, but gain nothing in the end its impossible to escape old habits..."

"So... Been busy?" Matt quickly ask, hoping to break the awkward silence.
She opens her fridge, taking out a soda can as he asks that, opening it quickly "Yep... I got a license finally, put all that stuff Dallas taught me into a proper 'degree'." She takes a good look at Matt and Jacob after taking a quick sip of the soda, noticing their.. condition "Looks like you've been pretty busy too."
"I hadn't noticed, but we were covered in "Evidence"  Blood stains and powder burns... The sort of things that a murder like my self tends to over look."
As Jacob looks around the apartment he notices her burn marks, he stares for a second but breaks eye contact.
 "This is Jacob... My roommate..." Matt says.

As she nods to Jacob "Nice to meet you I suppose... Do me a favor and put that gun on the counter there will you?" She points to a small counter that's next to the door,  Joanna's old Glock sitting there, hanging from the gun holster. "And don't worry about the staring... I'm used to it, I don't mind."

The Old man lets out a hearty chuckle and both of the men walk up to the counter and disarm. Jacob pulling out his post war made M9 from a butt carry and Matt pulling out his S&W 19 from his shoulder holster. "The kind of shit that ends up in either a body bag or a shallow grave outside of the city... So the usual.." Then Matt walks up to her while Jacob still stands around awkwardly "I may have capped the mob bosses son in the head at a bar in a semi-drunken 'last hero' moment."
 "Well... That certainly explains why my usual bar was closed down..." she seems strangely calm with the matter, almost to the point of carelessness, she takes a sip from the soda can once more, relaxing onto the couch* "So... First Eli gets turned into some sort of Gman, Simon dissapears from the face of the bloody earth, and you somehow pissed off a mob boss?... Christ, men really can't let go of old habits, can they?" She looks towards the window for a moment, seemingly in thought "Allright... Stay for a while I suppose, just try not to get me shot too, will you?"
"Same old Joanna with her morbid sense of humor." Matt though to him self.
"Yeah, and best of all dipshit over here decided that I wasn't enough of a lost cause to run and hide over..." Matt says.
As Matt finishes looking around Matt looks for a seat and then continues "It was a momentary slip of judgement, Now I'm just hoping that he doesn't get killed because of me." "You know I'm right here?" Jacob finally speaks up. "What happened to Eli? Last I saw him we were coming back to the city after hunting the last of the bastards off the planet...." Matt says looking at the blood on his arm.

"Interpol". She seemed somewhat annoyed as she says that."They somehow set up once more and they figured they would botch up their ranks with Eli... Harley went with him too." She scoffed as she said her name, taking a quick sip of her soda. "Good riddance I suppose... Her, not him." As they look around the apartment there's some old pictures of the Pass as well as Scotland all over Jo's apartment... One in particular seems to be in a better portrait than the rest, one of her and Pyro, before her scars.


As Jacob walks around the apartment he spots one that he takes an interest in, while the other two are talking he walks up and picks it up, its a picture of the clinic and other people in the pass before the war. Matt looks at him looking at the picture and then back to Matt looking back and forth, Matt looks back to Joanna and ask "Can I use your washroom? I need to clean up.."
"Truth was I wanted to get out of that room, I couldn't deal with how strange it was, I had gone from sitting in a bar drunk, to dealing with murder charges, assault of police officers, and now sleeping in an old friends apartment... I just wanted out..."

"Yeah... Second door down that hallway there" She points with the hand she holds the soda with, using her index finger to do so.


As Matt gets up and walks to the door he slams it behind him and hears them faintly talking.
"I don't believe it..." He hears Jacob say.
"Guess you people in the Pass had it rough... I was in the city the entire time just keeping my head down and on my shoulders..." Jacob said attempting to start small talk.. "But Matt looks fairly happy in this picture... What happened to him?
"What happened to me is that in a New York minute my life had been destroyed faster then I ever thought possible.
"I could hear her put the soda down and continue to explain, I didn't want to hear it again so I got to work." Matt started to take his jacket, holster and shirt off, unveiling his scarred, burned, brutalized body.
"A life time of pain and suffering... From my abusive father to the death of the woman I loved..."
"As much I tried to block it out, I continued to hear her explain what had happened... How it happened..."
 "See the little girl in the picture? The one with auburn hair I think..."
"Little? She had been twenty when that picture was taken... I knew the one she was talking about...
He heard Jacob say "The one that he has his hand on her shoulder?
"Yeah... Ali. She went in with everyone during the raids to the cities, despite the fact we all thought she wasn't ready." She continued.
"She had an even more horrid life than I did, I tried everything I could in that pass to make what little of a childhood she had left a good one... I failed... Just like I always fail the ones I love..."

"... She didn't make it."
"The words I regretted, the ones that always seemed to follow me where ever I went, to me those words meant failure... I had failed to protect her, I let her fight in the war..."
"Matt took care of her almost like she was his own really... He tried saving her that day... Nothing anyone could have done though."
"I could have tried harder..."

Matt looked up and saw Ali's face in the mirror, slowly she was joined by a bunch of shadowy figures that joined them and as their faces materialized Matt knew each and every one of their faces.
His wife, his mothers, his sisters, Ali's All those that he had failed to save... staring at him, the only expression on their face 'why' Slowly they each began to speak in Matt's head. "Every time they asked the same question, every time I closed my eyes, all my nightmares, I stopped having dreams long ago, this wasn't my life... This was me regretting every time I failed, sometimes I'd run other times I'd drink it off... But they never went away, every time the words were the same and there was no answer."
"Why did you let us die?"
 
Tears started to fall down Matt's face, time slowed down, slowly the faces merged in to one, Matt's father, and he began to speak.
"You're a failure, you good for nothing hippy, Go cry some where else. You couldn't protect the ones you love, you are no Man, you're a coward."

At that moment, Matt broke, He let out a scream of anger and hate slamming his fist in to the mirror, breaking his fathers face.
Matt threw the door open ran in to Joanna's kitchen, and grabbed the nearest alcoholic drink and downed it in one breath, falling to the ground Matt got up rested his back on the counters and cried till he passed out, Joanna and Jacob still trying to figure out what had just happened.

Out of Character for OOC:

Sorry no music, couldn't find anything that fits.

[The Doctor, RIP Juggernaut]

Part One: Chapter six: Ghost of of the past.

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzdKil3j5jw" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzdKil3j5jw</a>

"Every time the nightmare remains the same...."
Matt gets up off of the ground and looks around to see him self in a poorly lit, foggy area.
He looks down at him self to find him in his old Tactical vest.
Matt starts walking forward, not knowing where to go, as he does so the fog and darkness shift around him.
He saw a light and started heading towards it.
"It had to be a way out, where it'd take me I didn't care, Afterlife or real life I didn't care, I just want out..."
As he came up to the light he saw a woman lying in a bed connected to a heart monitor.
"I knew what was next... There was no way out of this nightmare... It had been following me for fifty years... The pain..."
As he came up to the bed he saw that the woman in it was his mother, Matt looked at the heart monitor and saw the heart rate dropping, he looked back at her mother, her dying eyes staring at him, and she opened her mouth and words like ice came out "Why... Why didn't you visit me... Why weren't you here... Why didn't you save... me..." Matt's lips trembled as tears started to roll down his face, The lights left his mothers eyes and Matt just started to back away from the bed slowly.

"I... I had ran from my past so many times... My mother took the blame for me gunning down my father... She spent years in an abusive mental institution... I could have gotten her out... But I was too afraid..." Matt turned and ran away from the bed. "I had ran for so long, never looking back because I dare not out of pain..." Suddenly Matt was welcomed with the sight of his old living room. His wife standing pacing around revolver in hand, Matt could hear the fighting going on, the war had come... Matt couldn't move.. He couldn't warn her he had to watch... "My... Second greatest failure... I should have been there.." Suddenly some kind of shadowy creature burst through the window Matt's wife turns rising the revolver at it and empty's the weapon in to it Suddenly you could hear a charge up and then a blast, the roof caves in on the house and on her. Suddenly Matt breaks and runs towards her trapped under the wreckage, his wife looks at him and ask "Why... Why weren't you here? Why didn't you save... Me..." as the lights fade from her eyes.
"I should have died with her that day..."

The Old man stood there watching the scene slowly fade away tears rolling down his face.
"There was no justification for this... I couldn't live like this anymore... My past should be my past but I can't let it be... Had I been there... I don't know... I just... Don't know..."

Matt turns and as another scene appears out of the shadows, he sees the city during the uprising... He knew what was going to happen next... He tried the best he could... Matt turned and around the corner he saw him self running towards a fight, Matt followed him the best he could, when they arrived Matt say Ali and Thomas trying to fight off a group of OTA, They were winning. Matt joined the fight trying to get them out of there. He knew something they didn't.
Two hunters burst in to the street and Matt unloads his revolver in to one of them, it fell and hit the ground, Thomas started shooting at another only to be gunned down by a soldier. As Matt watched his grandson hit the ground he quickly reloaded his revolver trying to get Ali out of there... As they were running the last hunter opened fire on Ali right as more rebels joined the fight. Matt watched as the rounds hit her in the back their eyes locked for a moment right as they burst, and Ali turned blue and vanished in to vapor.

Matt hit the ground crying whimpering "I'm sorry.. I'm so sorry..." over and over again.
"My... My greatest defeat... I lost what was left of my family so quickly... I..."
"I had spent the next few days in a catatonic state... When I got out of it I charged right in to the Nexus and killed every last mother fucker in there.. The pain and rage of it all made me more dangerous than I ever was before..."
"Was I really going to spend the rest of my life feeling sorry for my self? Was I really just going to let this city, that I fought for so long to liberate eat me up and throw me aside? This place was suppose to be hope.. Instead it had turned in to a cesspit of corruption and crime..."

Matt woke up still on the kitchen floor, the lack of vomit surprised him, He got up and quickly grabbed a glass filled it with water and downed it. As he looked to the side he saw a half empty whiskey bottle he slowly reached out to grab it.
"No. I wasn't going to... I needed my head clear... The drink had been a reason for not getting my life together... For letting it all slip by... No more today I was going to finish today sober and with a clear name." Matt moved his hand away from the bottle and looked at Jacob staring at him with a smile on his face.

[Dallas]

I really like this story. Great pacing and I love the way we learn more and more about Mathew as the story goes on. The whole thing is very reminiscent of the monologue sequences from Max Payne 3- especially the opening chapter.

[The Doctor, RIP Juggernaut]

I really like this story. Great pacing and I love the way we learn more and more about Mathew as the story goes on. The whole thing is very reminiscent of the monologue sequences from Max Payne 3- especially the opening chapter.

I kinda based it on the Max Payne series, I've been meaning to do something like this.
Quite a bit of this does reflect Matthew Icly on Outlands too. Mainly the why of why he fights(To redeem himself in his eyes.)

[The Doctor, RIP Juggernaut]

Part one: Chapter seven: Faith.


Matt looked from Jacob down to his bandaged hand, he quickly tore off the bandage and went to the bathroom.
"I didn't know my next step, as always my options were limited and I knew the path I was probably going to take... The same one that I always did.."
Matt looked at his reflection in the broken mirror for a second.
"I'm sure there's some kinda of analogy that I could come up about my life from this mirror... I didn't have it and I wasn't going to bother any time soon."
Matt bent down grabbing his jacket and his revolver putting them both on and left the bathroom looking at his injured hand.
"So whats our next step sir?" Jacob asked.
"Don't call me sir, I've never liked titles and I'm not going to start." Matt replied coldly
"There's no more you from here on out, this is something I need to do, alone." Matt stated.
"No, we're in this together Old man!" Jacob started to yell.
"Look kid, you have your entire life ahead of you, if I die they won't come after you... I won't have anyone else die because I failed."

Matt opened the door and went to the front desk. He saw a pair of sun glasses and quickly grabbed them. He dropped his rolled up pants leg down to cover his fake leg. And then he pulled off his eye patch and put the sun glasses on.
"Maybe it was a little cliched but it was the best I could do."
Matt left the apartment building and saw a small patrol of officers. He easily slipped past them and went down a street away from the plaza.
"I decided that my next step was a little while away, I didn't know where I was going, just that I had to be there."
While Matt walked down the street he pasted a few buildings, taking in the city that he once fought for.
He walked past a church that at first he didn't recognize and when he saw the sign he knew why.
" 'Church of Ralph' this cult had appeared quickly after the war and spread quicker than a wild fire, from City eight to eleven these retards worshiped a can or some shit, I was a long time away from faith, but there was someone who was, someone I owed everything too... Someone I buried long ago so very far away..."




As Matt walked down the street he came up to another church, this one recognizable.
Matt opened the front doors and slowly walked in taking in the sights.
"She was born and raised catholic, she was never really religious but had high hopes for some sort of after life..
There was a promise I had to keep."

Matt slowly walked down the isle and he heard a sound from behind, naturally he grabbed his revolver ready to be ambushed.
"Relax, you shall not be judged by me, nor any man."
Matt turned relaxing the grip on the revolver, the priest was calmly walking up to him.
"Do not worry, I know who you are, and the police do not know you are here." the father continued.
"May I ask, why are you here?"
"To keep a very old promise, that I made a very, very long time ago." Matt replied.
"I need a confession."

Slowly they moved in to the confession box.
"She had made me promise this before she had died, both of them, my wife and my mother. Both of them knew the kinds of things that haunted me, they thought religion was my salvation, I had a funny feeling it wasn't so."
"Forgive me father... For I have sinned."
"Tell me your sins my child..."
"Child? I was nearly twice as old as the bastard... But who the hell am I to judge this religious mumbojumbo..."

As Matt listed off the things he's done, his sins, his guilt, the father sat there and listened, Matt went in to a little detail to explain why he had committed what he did, Murder, sloth, envy, wrath, pride... The kinds of things that made good little christian boys pee their pants from the thought of committing them, or the punishment for doing it.

"You are forgiven my child, now wash these sins from your life and go forward in peace..." the father said.
"This... Those were the words, but not the voice, I was not convinced I had been forgiven of anything, only telling my dirty little secrets to some thirty year old virgin."
Matt quickly got out of the booth and left the church, heading towards a nearby grave yard.
"It was a bad idea, chances are this was going to be the place I died... But I had too..
The father said to go in peace, but there was no peace in my life, and there may never be, only guilt, killing, and drinking...
The road ahead was the darkest I'd ever seen in my life."
Matt walked through the grave yard, knowing what section to go to, he had never been but he knew it was there...
As he walked up to a large memorial he inspected it closely, looking at the engraved golden plate.

"This memorial is dedicated to all the lives who vanished reclaiming republic city."

"Ut tenetis linea in caelo"
(May you hold the line in heaven)

Matt walked down the large memorial looking at all the engraved name plates when he came across the one he was looking for.
"Thomas Adrian Henderson"
Slowly he reached out and touched it, as if he was trying to reach out to him.
"I didn't know he ever identified himself with my last name or no one knew about his mother... Either way it was getting time to go."
Matt was getting ready to leave when another plate caught his eye.
"Ali Erza"
A tear ran down Matt's face at the sight of the plate, he reached out but couldn't bring himself to touch it before moving on.
"If I kept living in the past I may never see the bullet go through my he-"
Before he could finish the thought a bullet whizzed past his head. Matt dived behind a grave stone to give him what little help it provided.

He unholstered his revolver and took a peak when he was met by an interesting sight.
Ivan was walking down the stairs hold a gun along side his brother Victor and a few members of their gang.
"Its hopeless Matt... Just give up."
"From then it made sense, the corrupt cops, the 'fair justice system', Victors inability to get arrested..."
"Come on out you bastard, you killed my son, I'm going kill you!

Matt looked around and he could see movement by the exits, there was only one way out of this mess...
A grin came across Matt's face as he tightened the grip on his revolver.
"My redemption."


Post Auto-Merged: March 03, 2013, 12:10:20 AM

Part Two "White knight rises"
Chapter One: Death of an Old man.

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_qzMtN8TMU" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_qzMtN8TMU</a>


Matt turned his head and launched him self from behind cover moving the pistol to get a shot off.
Slowly he tightened his grip on the revolver and squeezed the trigger.
"As I watched the hammer fall in some sort of horrifying slow motion bullet time, I felt my heart drop, as is something changing inside me."
"I had been forgiven."
The shot rings out through the graveyard, the bullet flies in to Ivan's shoulder, ripping through his suit and flesh with ease.
Matt hit the ground and rolled, he saw Victor was trying to help his brother, Matt looked and saw two of the hit men draw their weapons and start moving towards him.
He brought the revolver off taking careful but quick aim and firing off two rounds in to one of the men.
As the second gun man turned to flee Matt fired off another round ripping half of the mans head off.
He then proceeded to cover as he saw Victor bring his shotgun level and fire off a round at him before racking it again.
"YOU KILLED MY SON! YOU SHOT MY BROTHER! I'LL KILL YOU YOU MOTHER FUCKER!" he yelled.
Matt moved to the next tomb stone and saw three gunmen coming to cut him off, then a blast came over his head. "Victor was getting impatient...." he quickly brought the revolver up as two men came from beside a tomb firing off one shot, he hit both the men in their chests and they dropped Matt turned and fired a shot at Victor missing him. Victor returned the favor by missing him with yet another round of buckshot from his stock less shotgun.
"As I was here gunning down these poor bastards I realized that no matter what I did or could have done, that I truly was human, not some cold calculating machine that always got the right answer, but a human, with feelings I felt sorry for these men I was shooting, they made a bad decision and they ended up dead, I could have done the same, but after all I was human."
"I was not a combine."

Matt got behind cover again and quickly reloaded the revolver, then running up to the bodies of the dead men he grabbed one of their USP's and holstered his. Suddenly he started taking fire from the third gunmen with an automatic rifle. Matt ran out after he quickly ran out of ammo and put three rounds in his chest, just leaving him with Victor.
"I would have expected the Mob boss to have put me down already, but I guess you don't have to be the best shot to be the leader."
Matt walked down the pathway gun up trying to locate the Don when the slide of the pistol was grabbed and forced down and out of his hand, The Don got him with a side swipe and nearly knocked Matt off his feet, He saw him try to switch the pistol to his right hand, as Victor brought the pistol across trying to pistol whip Matt it was blocked by a quick slap and then Matt slammed his cupped hand in to the side of his face over his ear, Victor turned his back to Matt in pain and he was dealt a quick blow to the back of the knee sending him to his knees, Matt grabbed Victors shoulder and mouth and quickly said "Requiescat in pace vos bastardus" and snapped his neck.

Matt took his revolver out and looked around and saw a blood trail leading out of the grave yard. Ivan had left during the fighting.
"Looking at all these poor guys laying around I realized the night was not over yet. This city was corrupted to the very core by the man elected to keep these people safe. I was the only one in any position to do anything." Matt walked up to another body and grabbed their pistol and got out of there.
"I knew where Victor had run, same place that all the evil bastards did, to their dark impenetrable fortresses overlooking the village."
"He had ran to the nexus."
Matt continued down the road looking for back ally's and hiding spots.
"He was smart enough to know that I would never harm any of the police officers, those guys were the next wave of assholes ready to take a shot at me."
As Matt walked in to a dark ally he knew would come out near the nexus he continued to think to him self.
"I was the one to lead the charge in to it, Ivan was in my squad that broke in to the nexus, the way I had done it was sure to be blocked, who was there in the nexus waiting for me? There was only one way to know." Matt saw a man hole and proceeded in to the sewers.
"Unlike Ivan, I hadn't rushed to the top and gunned down the SeC to try to seem like a bad ass, I knew the combine tactics, instead I had gone below and secured the nexus core like a good little boy scout, in the end no one knew they were trying to blow the fucking thing up."
As Matt got closer to the nexus he crossed an old combine check point, he looked and saw skeletons wearing combine uniforms and armor.
"The last defenders of city forty-five."

[The Doctor, RIP Juggernaut]

Part two: Chapter two: Civil war.

As Matt slide the massive chunk of metal out of the door way, he gained access to the Nexus.
Matt drew his revolver and continued inside the basement keeping low and out of sight.
"Chances were good they would have patrols all over this hell hole. Stealth was never my forte but I didn't have time to call 'The Worlds Greatest Detective'."
Matt continued up the ramp heading for the elevator shaft by the old shooting range. As Matt approached the corner he head voices talking nearby.
"Why are we down here anyway? There's nothing down here." One of the voices asked.
"Because the boss is paranoid, apparently Victor didn't make it out of the graveyard and the guy who killed him is no where to be found." Another voice replied.
"I heard it was an old man that caused all of this!" The first voice exclaimed.
"Yeah, right, you and your stories, lets get out of here, its giving me the creeps."
As Matt heard them moving away he peaked around and saw them.
"They were better set up and in uniform, but these were the same guys who attacked my apartment and the graveyard."
Matt slowly came around the corner and quietly closed the distance between him and the two men that were walking abreast.
As he came close up behind him Matt saw both of their knifes quickly grabbing them and spinning them in his hand and jabbing them in to the base of their skulls before they could react.

Matt continued to close in on the elevator when he turned the corner to find a metric fuck ton of people standing there.
"THERE HE IS!" one of them yelled.
Matt dove back behind the corner and then heard a series of gun shots and fist fighting. When it was all over he heard a voice call it "ITS ALRIGHT, ITS SAFE."
"For some reason, I started to think that my bad luck had run out finally."
Matt came around the corner revolver drawn to be welcomed by a team of armed police officers.
"Don't worry, we're not here to kill you." One of the officers said slowly walking up to him.
"Oh?" Matt replied still holding the revolver.
"I'm chief of police James Anderson." The officer said. "We're sick of Ivan's corrupt bullshit, all of us." He continued.
"So you want to join me to help take him out? How many are you is there?" Matt asked.
"Most of the police force, and that's the idea yeah. We have weapons and armor, his henchmen need to be dealt with." James replied.
Matt looks over each of the officers and he sees the same look in their faces as the people he led in to the city during the war, they were ready to fight, and die for freedom.
"A few years ago I would have made one hell of a speech, but now wasn't the time, thought I felt it coming like the burning rush through your throat right as you vomit." Matt thought to himself.
"The plan is, we're going to open the front gate and let in the rest of the officers, while we do this Ivan's men will come and try to stop us, we'll hold them off while you get up there and finish this." James said.
"Are you sure?" Matt asked cautiously.
"Once Ivan's out of the way we can arrest half of the crime world in a single go, we already have the proof we need." James explained.
"On your orders." Matt said.

"Wait, aren't you the Old Man?" One of the officers ask.
Matt turned and looked him in the eyes trying to recognize him.
"In the war I had apparently effected so many lives while not giving a shit I didn't get down their faces."
"I use to be called that. My name. Is Matthew Henderson." Matt replied.
As Matt said that he could hear whispers among the men.
James looked around them and then back to him.
"All of us fought in the war, and quite a number of us you let in to take this place."
"It'd be an honor to fight at your side again."
Matt nodded and said "Likewise. Now, let's finish this fight!"
The men cheered and they all climbed on the elevator, as they reached the ground floor the officers opened fire on a patrol of men and then jolted for the front door while Matt ran and hid.
"Reinforcements would be soon by, once they got off the elevator it was time to take my revenge."

Out of Character for OOC:

Kinda quickie so no music.

[The Doctor, RIP Juggernaut]

Part two: White knight rises: Chapter three: Endgame.

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SRpwqGh4Go" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SRpwqGh4Go</a>



Matt hid under the staircase, quickly he heard the entrance a series of gun shots and then the massive metal doors opening. Quickly the henchmen ran down from the stairs and out the door and engaged the Police force. Matt continued to sit their waiting to hear the sound of the elevator with the main force reach the floor above him.
"I hated to wait knowing that out there people were dying, counting on me. Out of everyone that they could have used they picked me, the man who failed and failed over and over when he was needed the most... This time felt different, I felt different, something had changed, its impossible to describe...
I will not fail."
He heard the metal clack of the elevator reaching the bottom of the shaft and boots rushing down to fight the ever growing battle outside.
As the men rushed past him Matt made his move, quickly getting up the stairs and on to the elevator he hit the bottom and it took him up to the top of the nexus. "With in two days I managed to start a war, I think that was a record... I don't know what I expected to find when I reached the top, some cliche final battle with some strong henchman and then shooting down his escape helicopter or a firing squad waiting for me as an anti-climatic end to this stupid monologue."
Slowly Matt could hear voices up the shaft as he neared the top.
"God dammit, where are those reinforcements? And has anyone spotted the bastard yet?"
"No sir, but that should be the reinforcements up on the elevator, I'll check."
Matt got ready for this next fight.

As the elevator reached the top of the shaft Matt was faced to face with one of the henchmen.
The guy threw a blind right hook, Matt blocked it and countered with a punch to the gut. The man was wearing Kevlar but still bent over from the hit, Matt grabbed the back of his head and slammed it in to his rising knee.
"I didn't know if it hurt me more than it hurt him, but there may have been a smarter way to do that."
Matt saw behind the man someone rising a gun, Matt jumped towards the henchmen drawing and grabbed him around the back of the neck and used him for cover while he drew his revolver. Three shots range out and Matt could flee them penetrate the Kevlar and hit the other side of the vest, the bullets jabbed in to his gut leaving bruises but didn't penetrate. Matt brought the revolver up resting it on the dying mans shoulder and fired off three rounds when he thought he had a shot, Matt then turned now supporting the full weight of the man and shot another henchman trying to shoulder his rifle. As that man fell Matt saw Ivan sporting a revolver, Matt dropped the dead man and dove for cover as Ivan began to fire again.
"You just had to do it didn't you! You had to fuck everything up!" Ivan ranted still holding his wounded shoulder.
Matt flipped the revolver open and reloaded it, dropping the good shells on the ground and closes the cylinder remembering to index it.
Matt got up from cover when he heard Ivan try to reload, as he brought the pistol sight up he saw that he was deadly wrong, Ivan fired the revolver hitting Matt in the gut.

"The same familiar burning sensation ripped through me, I this had to be number ten on the list of how many times I've been shot. I had been too old for this shit for a very, very long time now." Matt spun and hit the ground firing off a quick shot to get Ivan behind cover. It had worked and Matt got up holding his revolver in one hand and his bullet wound in the other. "We could have worked together Old man! It didn't have to come to this!" Ivan shouted. Matt took a deep breath before screaming out: "MY NAME, IS MATTHEW ROOSEVELT HENDERSON!" Ivan jumped from behind cover, for a brief moment their eyes locked, both of them staring down the barrels of their foes.
"And here we are at last, the drunk one legged cyclops who had been off the booze for less than a day, verses a rich political slime ball who had corrupted an entire city for a profit. Neither of us were 'good people', but both of us knew what we stood for and were willing to die for it. That brief moment we both knew what was going to happen, the moment stretched on and on for what seemed like a million years and I'd never guess the outcome." A shot rang out in the massive metal room echoing through the very fabric of space and time its self. It was followed by a heavy thud of a body hitting the ground, the empty shell of someone who once was, someone whose luck had run out.

 

[The Doctor, RIP Juggernaut]

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0kGAz6HYM8" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0kGAz6HYM8</a>

A figure walks up to the body lying on the floor, the expression on the body's face blank.
The figure bends down over the body and closes the eyelids shut saying "Requiescant in pace".
"It was over, the job finished, as I stood there victorious over my fallen enemy I felt nothing but sorrow for the lost of life."

Part Two: Chapter four: Forgiven.

Matt lifted his hand from over his bullet wound and saw that the blood on his hand was black. "The worst part of being a doctor turned soldier is I always know exactly how bad shit like this is, the bullet had hit my liver, the poor sod had taken so much booze and shit I'd be surprised if it hasn't already failed on me. There wasn't enough blood for a direct hit, I had time." Matt bent down and took a close look at Ivan's revolver noticing the engraving. "Union standard issue elitist penis extension, Ivan must have taken it off of the SeC after he killed him." Matt heard the elevator start moving, he flipped open his revolver and pushed the extractor half way and removed the empty shell and put it in his pocket and then grabbed Ivan's revolver and got behind cover.
"I never really liked the duel welding cliche, but that elevator was most likely filled with assholes ready to take a shot at me."
Matt pulled both of the hammers back and brought them in front of him trying to aim them anyway he could when the elevator reached the top.

"Easy there cowboy." James said holding his hands up.
The elevator was full of police officers who were now scowering the room looking for survivors. "Leave any for us?" James asked.
Matt fell to his knees in pain holding his bullet wound tight. "Just my luck, the bullet didn't pass through me and was stuck on a god damn fucking nerve." James reached down and got Matt up supporting him just now noticing the gun shot. "Shit! Get the medics!"
"Slowly like the ending of a cartoon the room started to fade away, was this death? I had been shot so many times I didn't know what the feeling was like anymore..."
"The nightmare was always the same."

Matt found himself standing in a large dark and foggy room. Slowly all around him shapes moved in the shadows.
"Something felt different... Its not something one describes in a shitty noir monologue.
Was this death? Was this the grand afterlife that everyone feared?"
The shapes in the shadows started to take the form of people approaching him. Matt looked down to see that the gunshot wound had followed him in to this place.
Slowly the figures started to be come clear. "I didn't feel fear any more, I was years past that, I had gone from a doctor in the suburbs of Houston to a soldier, a leader, I had done so many things during the occupation, so many terrible things.
I was never a praying man, but a passage came to mind that I think was about to match what was going to happen."
The figures came up to them, they stopped three feet from him a group of them surrounding him, Matt spun around still holding his wound.
One of the figures step out of the circle and slowly started to be come recognizable.
"I'm so proud of you.." A familiar voice said. The figure took the form of Caroline, Matt's wife.
Matt looked down in shame. Then he felt her warm hand on his cheek for the first time in many many years.
"There is nothing to be a shamed of." she said softly. Matt looked up at her and saw the two figures to her sides take the form of Thomas and Ali. Matt looked around and saw the figures of all those he had lost: His mother, His friends, all of them with a sort of sad smile on their face.
"I failed you, I failed all of you..." Matt said tearing up.
"You failed no one." she said smiling on her face. She brought her self in and hugged Matt and then took a step back. "I could have saved all of you... I..."
"You did save us." Thomas said.
"You made me sane again, you have me a reason to live." He continued.
"You gave me the best years of my life." Matt's wife said.
Matt's mother came up to him and put her hand on his shoulder. "I left you in that place.. Abandoned you..." Matt sobbed.
"You were busy living your life. No matter what happened to me that is what I wanted most of all, not you to be burdened by my mistakes..." She said. Matt looked back at his wife. "I should have been there with you..." Matt said to her.
"You were with me in spirit." she replied.
"Had you been there you would have died too, you did so many great things after my death."
Matt looked to Thomas.
"I died a good death, I died with no regrets and a free man."
"Its time to move on my love, we will always be with you, stop trying to make up for things that aren't your fault.
Live your life." Matt's wife finished.
Slowly, the world around Matt started to fade, everyone around Matt smiled as they faded away.

Matt woke up in a hospital bed in a gown. Matt looked to his side and saw Jacob there smiling.
"Welcome back to the world." He said.
Matt smiled and tried to get up only to have James put his hand on his chest. "Doctors say you need some rest Matt." He said.
Matt laid back down and caught sight of Eli entering the room from the hallway.
Eli seems to be wearing a pretty clean suit but other than that he doesn't seem to have changed much since the pass.* "Ah... I see 'sleeping beauty' just woke up."  Matt chuckles and then grabs his side, clearly that hurt like a mother fucker. "Bastard.. Don't make me laugh..."  "Fuck I hate getting shot..." he continued.
"Eli had been there for me during the pass and the war, a friend to the end."
"I don't think anyone likes it mate... Sorry I wasn't here when you woke up. Jo's been yelling at the doctors like a banshee. She's pretty worried." Eli says. "Why? Its not like I died or anything..." Matt chuckles again grabbing his side in pain. Jacob pipes up saying "Uh... You kinda did die..." The kid was a bit of a mood killer..."
Eli shook his head "For a few minutes, yep... I guess I'm not the only 'zombie' in the room now" He smiles at Matthew, gesturing at him "I heard what you did on the nexus... Again. You could have asked for my help you know." "You were off doing your shit, I needed to do it myself." Matt replied.  "Matt, I was checking up on you once a month. Bloody hell... You know I'm not about to let a friend alone at a time like that." He seemed somewhat serious as he said that "... Still, I'm glad to see you got out alive."

The smiles fades from Matt's face and he looks over to James. "So what now?" he ask "I was about to ask you the same thing, The council is gone, they were either arrested or shot, and right now I'm the highest level government official... I have no idea whats the next step.." He replied. "Why don't you do it?" Jacob pipes up.  "Do what?" Matt asked. "I think he's a bit too old for it" Eli quickly quips.
"Run for council I mean... Come on, who else would be better for it?" he continues.  "... Kid's got a point, Matt." Eli replied.  "Because I'm a wanted felon aren't I?" Matt said looking at James.  he bows his head and curses under his breath "Hes right, there are outstanding warrants on him for murder, assault of  police officers, and illegally concealing a firearm."
"Maybe I can help with that." Eli pulled out his Interpol identification from under his coat, showed it to James "I'm sure we can work something out, given Matt's assistance in the 7 hour war and the fact these men were... Well, more than corrupt, right?"
Matt looked at his injury and then back at Eli. "No. I am going to stand trial... If I am exonerated then I can run for office."
James looked at Matt with a surprised look on his face. "I could hold the election off till your trial, there's still uncorrupt Judges on the Justice council that we didn't arrest, they'd be seeing your hearing."
"Fair enough... Don't think a jury would convict you either way." He puts his ID back "I'll still have to stay and watch over the trial though... Officially I'm here to make sure whatever happened in the nexus is resolved and handled properly" Eli replied. James looked at Eli and nodded then looks back to Matt. "I'm placing you under house arrest pending your hearing. Now I have go talk to the judges about delaying this trial till you are recovered." "Wait, if I remember correctly, isn't community housing no longer available to him?" Jacob pipes up again.
"We'll stick him in a hotel room. It's better than nothing" Eli suggest.
James looked at Matt again, "I may be able to set him up with something, after you were in this city for what? Four days?"

As they kept talking about where to house Matt in the meantime, some rather loud footsteps can be heard outside, a woman's voice in the distance as well "I'm going to bloody check on him before YOU people get him brain dead!-" Finally Joanna walked in through the door, she seems to be wearing a cleaner outfit than when Matthew found her in her apartment. Joanna looked at him, seemingly frozen for a second but then she turned around, looking out to the hallway as she yelled "You idiots! He woke up while you wanked around!-" Her voice has a rather worrisome tone to it, though she's not directly showing it. "Oh.. Boy.. She was pissed..."
"Nice to see you too Jo'" Matt pipes up. She turned around, looking at him sternly before quickly stepping towards Matthew, pushing everyone off and giving him a tight hug, making sure she kept the good side of her face towards him. "... Don't fucking scare me like that again, you hear me Old man?" Matt painfully reached over and gave her a one armed hug. "Yeah, next time someones shooting at me I'll remember to blast his head off first. So how much of my liver did they have to remove?"
she pulled away from the hug slowly, brushing some hair off her face "Not sure, they haven't precisely given me much info at a- wait... How'd you know it was your liver?" She asked. "Jo' I was a Doctor before you were even born, I was bleeding black, that's dirty blood and only comes out when its been punctured." Matt replied.
She nodded, sighing for a moment, she looked at the rest realized Matt might be feeling a bit crowded. "Alright people... Maybe we should give him some time to rest. He was out for 3 weeks." Matt started coughing choking on his own breath "Three weeks!?!" He yelled.
"Beat my previous record by a week..."

Eli nodded. "Yep... you've been asleep for quite a while to say the least"
"I think its safe to say that he deserved it.." Jacob said quietly.
Joanna looked to Jacob. "I'm pretty sure no one wants to catch a nap because of a bullet"
"Jo' had totally missed what the kid meant, but I didn't I haven't had some R&R since I had two legs..."
"Either way, I know a guy who owes both me and Matt a favor, I'm sure I can hook him up some place nice while we wait for the trial." James quickly inputted.
Joanna raised an eyebrow as James mentioned a trial. "... What trial?" Jacob put his face in his hands and then gently tapped her on the shoulder, "Let's just let him rest..." As they left Joanna kept asking James and Eli "What Trial!?!?"
"It wasn't over yet, I still had a long way to go, but for now, I had some peace and quiet, and a very painful recovery till my trial."
Matt rested his head back and closed his eyes and got some sleep.

[The Doctor, RIP Juggernaut]

Part two: Chapter five: The New Beginning.

Eli walked in to the room in a casual set of cloths saying "So... Ready yet?"
James yelled at the bathroom door saying"Hurry up! I have to be somewhere!
"You try getting pants over a fucking stump!" Matt yelled from the bathroom.
"Truth was I already had them on, I just wanted Eli here, the extra firepower gave me peace of mind."
James looked at Eli saying "Hes all packed, just needs to get out of the gown..." Matt yelled from the bathroom "Whoever brought those fucking things back needs a bullet in the head!" Eli chuckled lightly as he heard Matthew complain "Oh come on, look at it this way, at least you weren't 6 feet under" "With the way Jo' was acting? Sometimes I might as well have been!" Matt yelled from the bath room. A crash could be heard followed by a lot of swearing. "I broke the stupid cup I was drinking from, no big deal."
"Oh boy..." he walked towards the bathroom door, asking. "You need some help in there, Matt?" He looked to James for a second, shrugging and telling him in a low tone so Matt doesn't hear. "He's never been used to that bloody thing."
Matt opened the door giving Eli an evil eye. "You do realize I'm not deaf right?" "Hey, if that glare didn't work on me during the pass, it ain't going to work here" He patted Matt's shoulder and gives him a quirky smirk. "Come on, let's not waste any more time." Matt went and grabbed his pack and then looks at James and Eli "Come on you slow pokes, How far is this fucking place from here?" "Not very far, its a block or two away from the old Nexus" James replied.


As the group arrived at the building complex anyone who was in the city during the occupation would have been the Embassy, it looks rebuild and converted in to a more "Human" design. "This better be the cheapest fucking apartment here James..." Matt said quietly while they entered.  "I'm sure you can make it grimy enough for you in case it looks too fancy." Eli walked along with them, keeping his hands in his pant's pockets as they walked. "I hate ruining shit, mainly shit people give me, my last apartment was already shit before I got there..." Matt ranted while they head up a stair case. "The man who runs this place is like a brother to me, he wanted to help you." James said while they arrive at the door.  "Looks nice enough from outside at least." Eli said that as he looked through the hallway, still somewhat 'clean'. "I didn't like people going through trouble to help me, I felt like I had relied on other people far to much in my life... I wanted to change that."
James uses a keycard to open the door they enter in a very nice and 'Modern' apartment, fully furnished with leather seats and an upstairs. "You've been fighting for what? Five or six years now? You needed something nice." James said walking in to the living room. Matt bowed his head in defeat looking around the apartment. "It is nice... And I guess it wouldn't hurt." Matt grabbed his gut feeling the pain meds wear off. "It was the same dull pain that had plagued me for a while now, every step I took hurt on that side." "Pain's kicking back, I take it" Eli looked to Matt as he walked around the apartment, gesturing towards one of the couches in the living room "Go lay down, mate... You're gonna have a rough pair of weeks ahead of you" Matt walks to the couch and sits down. "I think I need a Cain.." "Where is your walker?" James ask. "I had blazed through psychical therapy like a cheetah after a African buffalo I didn't need any walker"
"I threw it away, I'm not walking in to any court room with a walker..." Matt replied. "As I continued to look around I realized how nice this apartment is." James looked at his watch and then back to Matt saying "Bath room and bed room are directly up the stairs." He then tilted his head back "There's a kitchen over there and a bath room in between them" he finished. "I have to go deal with something, you're defense lawyer will be here tomorrow." He tossed the keycard to him and then walks out saying "If you need a new one go to the front desks, your home arrest is the entire building, not just here."

Eli gave James a small wave as he left, then looked back at Matt "Well... All things considered, this is a pretty nice place. Certainly more comfortable than that hospital room." "Yeah... Hows Harley? Matt ask. "She's doing well... Handles my cases in Interpol actually. One of us had to stay back home after all." He replies as it sits down on one of the seats in front of Matt "She's pregnant, you know." Matt looked at Eli with a bit of a shocked look on his face. "No I didn't, Jo' seemed annoyed with you two... Congrats though."  Matt leaned back scratching his beard. "Am I allowed a razor or is that classified as a "Deadly weapon?" Eli chuckled lightly "Considering how crap you were with knives before, I think i can trust you with one, but we'll have to get that later" he sighed "... Jo's just worried, as per usual, because I haven't precisely stopped putting myself in danger."  "Either of us have..." Matt looked around the apartment. "I don't know if I'm ready..."
"What, the trial?" Eli ask. "You'll do fine... Considering the kind of scumbag he was." Eli relaxes back onto the chair for a moment "You should be more worried about what you'll do afterwards"  He said trying to reassure Matt "No... Everything going back to normal... Its just... We fought for so hard and so long... I figured it'd feel... different.." Matt replied. "Eli had started his life, and I was sitting here like a child after he was grounded, I needed to move on..." "Different how? Like it would all be good and perfect permanently?" Eli replied sarcastically.  "No I mean... I've been sitting on my ass drinking so long that the world changed around me and I didn't even notice, I fought so hard to free this city and then I just turned my back on it..." Matt continued.  "I guess its time for me to get back in to the world..." He finished. 
Eli nodded lightly "Yeah, I guess we're the kind of people who can't just stop 'working', can we?" "It's a bit difficult to stay in touch either way... I've been trying to keep tabs on everyone from Ineu." Eli continued. "Yeah.. There's quite a bit I need to do after the trial before the election.. I'm going to run for head councilman position. Matt said. "Spend my twilight years doing some good..." Matt finished. "Hey, a cushy position is better than nothing right?" he gestured towards his eye "Besides, I don't think you can do much with that patch now."
"His sense of humor didn't escape him..."  "Heh, know anyone who can get me back to America?" Matt ask.