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Source: collected/016-mortal-steel-episode-2.mp3
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00:00:00.600 Speaker 1 [rock music]
00:00:09.080 Speaker 1 Mortal
00:00:50.940 Speaker 1 Steel,
00:00:53.380 Speaker 1 episode two, part two: Outskirts.
00:00:57.260 Speaker 1 [door opening]
00:01:11.020 Speaker 1 The earth itself rattled as the huge inner door of Last Respite parted before Pastor
00:01:16.760 Speaker 1 Ethan Cutter. He stood, feet firmly planted in the dirt as it rolled open with
00:01:22.720 Speaker 1 ominous speed. There were no other people out here in the open, just the guards
00:01:28.120 Speaker 1 looking down at him through narrow vertical slits in the battlements. Those were not
00:01:32.980 Speaker 1 highly coveted positions. Despite constant surveillance and frequent blessing of the
00:01:37.920 Speaker 1 walls by priests, every other month, something still managed to pull a relatively
00:01:43.600 Speaker 1 large person through one of those small holes to be devoured below.
00:01:50.220 Speaker 1 Ethan stepped into the killing field between the inner wall and the outer wall. He
00:01:55.260 Speaker 1 waited another eternity for the inner door to close behind him. Only then did the
00:02:00.320 Speaker 1 outer door part. It rattled and creaked, grinding noisily on the ground as it
00:02:05.160 Speaker 1 opened. How long had it been since anyone left? [door hissing] It stopped
00:02:10.600 Speaker 1 opening almost immediately. Then, for some reason, [door rattling] started closing
00:02:16.560 Speaker 1 again, leaving only a foot or two of rapidly shrinking space between the wall. Ethan
00:02:22.360 Speaker 1 shot a withering glance up at the guard working the gate in the nearest tower. The
00:02:26.720 Speaker 1 man did not move to open the gate wider. Ethan glanced once more at the closing
00:02:31.980 Speaker 1 gate, then sprinted and turned sideways to slide through the narrow gap. As he did,
00:02:36.760 Speaker 1 he felt the rattling door, nearly two feet thick, pressing against his face. He
00:02:42.460 Speaker 1 turned his head sideways as he shimmied to prevent it exploding like a melon. For a
00:02:47.500 Speaker 1 moment, he feared it would crush him anyway, ending his mission as soon as it had
00:02:52.380 Speaker 1 begun, and in the most wasteful and mundane way, reduced to a very
00:02:58.180 Speaker 1 expensive stain on the concrete wall. But he narrowly pulled himself through the gap
00:03:04.060 Speaker 1 just as the door boomed shut. [door slamming] Only then did his second mind
00:03:09.900 Speaker 1 helpfully confirm that, yes, that door did have enough force to destroy him.
00:03:17.460 Speaker 1 Not long ago, he would have stumbled and fallen to the dirt, but that was a
00:03:22.480 Speaker 1 different person. He didn't even lose his balance. Instead, he simply transitioned
00:03:27.780 Speaker 1 to a light, casual walk, brushing the dust from his black clerical suit and
00:03:33.160 Speaker 1 adjusting the white preacher's collar around his neck. Ethan surveyed his new
00:03:38.460 Speaker 1 surroundings. Red and yellow warning signs lit up everything in sight. Every broken
00:03:44.380 Speaker 1 window and every open doorway to each dilapidated building was a potential threat.
00:03:50.260 Speaker 1 Each terrified face looking out at him, an enemy combatant. This was
00:03:56.080 Speaker 1 going to need some calibration. For now, he shut off the warnings in his HUD, asking
00:04:01.080 Speaker 1 his second mind to only notify him of immediate danger of demonic nature. The world
00:04:06.960 Speaker 1 was cleaned up instantly, and he saw with new eyes.
00:04:11.640 Speaker 1 He had not personally left Last Respite in years. Even then, he'd done so inside
00:04:17.540 Speaker 1 an armored Humvee. That time had not done the outskirts any favors.
00:04:23.140 Speaker 1 Husks of three and four-story buildings lined empty streets with the corpses of
00:04:28.220 Speaker 1 larger, towering skyscrapers in the distance. The rusted-out vehicles had been
00:04:34.080 Speaker 1 cleared away from the immediate area, but the eternal traffic was piled up only a
00:04:38.520 Speaker 1 few hundred yards away. Very few windows and doors remained intact. The streets
00:04:44.500 Speaker 1 themselves were broken, with scraggly-looking plants growing up through the cracks.
00:04:50.380 Speaker 1 Bizarrely, the iconic palm trees were doing just fine. A narrow portrait of
00:04:55.940 Speaker 1 paradise set against the greater backdrop of ruin. But Ethan wasn't here to fix the
00:05:02.020 Speaker 1 city, if such a thing were even possible. He was here to cut out the rot that
00:05:07.180 Speaker 1 continued to ruin it. The repairs would be done by normal people, people unlike
00:05:13.000 Speaker 1 him. He walked down the broken sidewalk, chin held high, nodding
00:05:18.620 Speaker 1 serenely at the faces with sunken cheeks that looked at him from the buildings.
00:05:24.060 Speaker 1 The stalker's abilities and whereabouts were unknown. What little information he had
00:05:29.840 Speaker 1 indicated it was secretive and cunning, preferring to hide among the human
00:05:35.600 Speaker 1 populace and only strike when an easy target presented itself. The rest of the time,
00:05:40.820 Speaker 1 it used its ever-growing force of human worshipers to do its dirty work. Chances
00:05:45.960 Speaker 1 were he would need to cut through a lot of these normal people before he got to the
00:05:50.320 Speaker 1 possessed. That didn't sit well with him. Surely, there was some way he could get
00:05:55.500 Speaker 1 the demon host out into the open for a confrontation. It wouldn't be fair, of
00:06:00.540 Speaker 1 course. There was no honor among demons, only winners. Winners
00:06:06.480 Speaker 1 and bodies. Unsure of what else to do, Pastor Cutter walked up to an apartment that
00:06:12.120 Speaker 1 still had a set of metal double doors. He knocked on the door. His titanium skeleton
00:06:17.580 Speaker 1 made an unnaturally loud sound as he rapped the knuckles against the metal. When no
00:06:22.760 Speaker 1 one answered, he opened the door, realizing only after it was open that the door
00:06:28.860 Speaker 1 had been locked. Four young boys stood on the other side of the door. They scrambled
00:06:33.900 Speaker 1 away from him and looked down at the destroyed deadbolt. Sorry about the door.
00:06:38.380 Speaker 1 Demon. Demon. Three of the boys scattered, but one of them tripped and fell. Guys,
00:06:44.160 Speaker 1 wait. The boy rolled onto his back and gave Ethan a terrified look and shielded his
00:06:50.200 Speaker 1 face. He was dressed in ragged jeans and a dingy t-shirt. He couldn't have been more
00:06:55.460 Speaker 1 than nine years old. Ethan waited quietly in the doorway. You're
00:07:01.460 Speaker 1 not gonna kill me? No. I'm gonna need your help. Anything.
00:07:08.080 Speaker 1 Is there a church nearby?
00:07:11.280 Speaker 1 The kid scrunched up his face, thinking furiously. He looked like he might try to
00:07:16.000 Speaker 1 run again. Ethan's second mind showed him four nearby churches based on maps of the
00:07:20.940 Speaker 1 city.
00:07:23.480 Speaker 1 Never mind. There is a church nearby. It was called Immaculate Conception.
00:07:30.260 Speaker 1 Do you know the place? The kid nodded. He probably would have nodded regardless.
00:07:36.760 Speaker 1 Hopefully he would carry the message though. Tell everyone you know that I'll be
00:07:41.300 Speaker 1 giving a sermon there at sundown. That was all the kid could
00:07:47.040 Speaker 1 take. He got up and started running after his companions. Ethan watched him go. If
00:07:52.680 Speaker 1 he told everyone he found the same thing, word would eventually reach the stalker.
00:07:58.840 Speaker 1 And when the stalker came, he would give a sermon, a sermon these people would
00:08:04.840 Speaker 1 never forget.
00:08:16.360 Speaker 1 Part three, Sundown.
00:08:20.960 Speaker 1 Fleabag ran barefoot down the alley shouting. He wasn't even making sense anymore.
00:08:26.220 Speaker 1 He couldn't remember being this excited. Inaccurate Conception. Sermon at the
00:08:31.800 Speaker 1 Inaccurate Conception. Hey, watch it. A man tried to grab Fleabag as he ran, but he
00:08:36.940 Speaker 1 spun away from the hands. He screamed at the man, who he only now realized was his
00:08:41.500 Speaker 1 uncle. He was probably just shaking him down for food to trade for alcohol. Who was
00:08:46.740 Speaker 1 this stranger with the clean clothes? Didn't the others see the way he ripped off
00:08:51.360 Speaker 1 that door? He was so strong. Stronger than the king. Maybe.
00:08:57.900 Speaker 1 Would he fight the king? Conception. Conception at sundown. Shut up. People yelled
00:09:03.180 Speaker 1 at him to shut up. People threw things at him as he ran past, but they heard him. At
00:09:08.040 Speaker 1 sundown. He made sure everyone heard him.
00:09:23.500 Speaker 1 Pastor Cutter scoped out the church well before sundown. Within a few minutes, he
00:09:29.080 Speaker 1 had more than a feel for the place. He had a high resolution 3D map.
00:09:36.500 Speaker 1 He knew which walls could be reliably pierced with bullets and which walls could be
00:09:40.900 Speaker 1 breached by people with or without explosives. The possessed was the big unknown.
00:09:47.340 Speaker 1 It rendered his defensive simulations largely useless except for planning against
00:09:52.980 Speaker 1 the more mundane human threat. By the time the sun was low in the sky, he had
00:09:58.720 Speaker 1 long since overthought the impending conflict. He had completed nearly 800,000
00:10:04.320 Speaker 1 combat simulations. In about 600,000 of those simulations, he emerged
00:10:10.160 Speaker 1 victorious against a small army of humans, only duking it out with the stalker once
00:10:15.720 Speaker 1 his mortal cannon fodder was expended. In the remaining 200,000 simulations, he met
00:10:21.820 Speaker 1 one grisly demise after another, usually at the hands of the stalker himself.
00:10:27.940 Speaker 1 Without knowing what to simulate, his second mind simply conjured monsters from
00:10:32.480 Speaker 1 movies and television, supplemented with data from other known possessed.
00:10:38.140 Speaker 1 Ethan was tearing the arms off an insect-like creature with acid for blood in his
00:10:42.620 Speaker 1 mind
00:10:47.940 Speaker 1 when his second mind started blaring mental warnings. Someone was in the church, the
00:10:53.960 Speaker 1 real church. He flicked off the simulation.
00:11:00.660 Speaker 1 Ethan stood behind a ruined pulpit defaced with graffiti. He faced the heavy wooden
00:11:06.220 Speaker 1 entry doors. A tanned man with thinning gray hair walked in silence down the aisle
00:11:12.140 Speaker 1 between the rows of toppled pews. He wore a long gray trench coat.
00:11:18.120 Speaker 1 Was that him? Had the stalker come in person? A messenger, perhaps.
00:11:25.040 Speaker 1 The man in the trench coat locked eyes with Ethan. Ethan rested one hand on the huge
00:11:30.260 Speaker 1 black and silver gun at his hip, a messenger of his own. The man in
00:11:36.160 Speaker 1 the coat nodded once at Ethan, then he sat down in one
00:11:42.220 Speaker 1 of the upright pews. Scanner showed no obvious sign of threat.
00:11:48.860 Speaker 1 A woman came into the church with three children orbiting around her like
00:11:52.800 Speaker 1 hyperactive moons. They flitted about, marveling at the huge room and touching
00:11:58.180 Speaker 1 everything within reach, but never straying more than a few feet from their mother.
00:12:03.380 Speaker 1 The young family sat down in the back. Ethan pulled his hand from the messenger.
00:12:09.000 Speaker 1 What was happening here? In the blink of an eye, he ran a few simulations where the
00:12:14.412 Speaker 1 children rushed him while the man with the thinning hair tried to sneak around
00:12:18.492 Speaker 1 behind him. He flicked them off before they could get bloody. It didn't make any
00:12:23.192 Speaker 1 sense. More people filed in. Most came in groups, but many came
00:12:29.112 Speaker 1 alone, people of all ages. All of them were emaciated, filthy. All of
00:12:35.112 Speaker 1 them looked terrified. By the time the sun set, there were 37 people in the church.
00:12:41.652 Speaker 1 As far as he could tell, none of them were armed. What were they doing here?
00:12:47.512 Speaker 1 His second mind was of no help. It was his first mind, the one he shared with these
00:12:52.552 Speaker 1 poor souls, that made the connection. The boy he'd seen earlier that day walked
00:12:57.672 Speaker 1 through the double doors, a bright smile on his small face. He'd promised them a
00:13:03.312 Speaker 1 sermon, and they came.
00:13:05.872 Speaker 1 [clears throat] Good evening.
00:13:12.012 Speaker 1 Hello.
00:13:14.492 Speaker 1 The ad hoc congregation gave him a loose reply, nothing like the tight,
00:13:19.052 Speaker 1 well-rehearsed routines in The Last Respite. Amusingly, this was the very last thing
00:13:25.032 Speaker 1 he'd expected, and he found himself completely unprepared, anxious even.
00:13:31.712 Speaker 1 How could he preach to these people when he didn't even believe? Uncertain, at the
00:13:37.612 Speaker 1 very least. How could he tell them a Lord was watching over them when they'd had
00:13:43.552 Speaker 1 their lives, their very homes ripped apart by demons? His
00:13:49.212 Speaker 1 words came slowly, awkwardly. He had never expected to give another sermon.
00:13:55.532 Speaker 1 He couldn't even remember the last one. He told them that good things come to
00:14:01.372 Speaker 1 those who do good, that kindness is a virtue, that hope is never
00:14:07.192 Speaker 1 wasted. It was the most basic of lessons, little more than common sense wrapped
00:14:13.092 Speaker 1 in poetic language. It couldn't have lasted more than 15 minutes, and he had to
00:14:18.092 Speaker 1 resist his second mind's urge to give him the exact duration to the nanosecond.
00:14:25.592 Speaker 1 When it was done, a young woman came to the front of the church and held out a baby
00:14:29.512 Speaker 1 that looked nothing like her. She asked him to baptize her son. He tried to
00:14:35.452 Speaker 1 refuse, but she insisted. And even though Ethan didn't believe, he baptized the boy
00:14:41.012 Speaker 1 in a birdbath filled with canteen water. She cried afterward. A number of
00:14:46.832 Speaker 1 people were crying. It was dark by then, but nobody left. What did they want from
00:14:52.532 Speaker 1 him?
00:14:55.292 Speaker 1 The boy from before sauntered up to the pulpit and put out his hand for a handshake.
00:14:59.792 Speaker 1 Pastor Cutter shook the hand, a perfectly calibrated handshake.
00:15:05.552 Speaker 2 Nice speech. I'm Fleabag.
00:15:09.212 Speaker 1 Why?
00:15:10.772 Speaker 2 Huh?
00:15:11.992 Speaker 1 The boy shrugged, giving Ethan a frustrated look. Why are you called Fleabag?
00:15:17.412 Speaker 2 I don't know. That's my name.
00:15:20.572 Speaker 1 Fleabag,
00:15:22.832 Speaker 1 why are these people still here?
00:15:26.272 Speaker 1 Fleabag turned to look at the crowd of people who shuffled about in their seats
00:15:30.332 Speaker 1 muttering to each other.
00:15:32.232 Speaker 2 They want protection, probably hoping you got food, too. Not me, though. I'm here
00:15:37.672 Speaker 2 for the fight.
00:15:39.472 Speaker 1 I don't think there's going to be a fight.
00:15:41.772 Speaker 2 You're wrong about that. Scary boys are on their way. Mixers, too.
00:15:46.672 Speaker 1 And who are they? Fleabag gave Ethan a very worried look.
00:15:53.872 Speaker 2 Scary boys work for the king. Mixers are new.
00:16:00.032 Speaker 2 They work for someone else. You're gonna fight them, right?
00:16:06.212 Speaker 1 Ethan narrowed his eyes. A cocktail of synthetic hormones were all that kept his
00:16:11.052 Speaker 1 heart rate stable. Fleabag, this is important. Are you
00:16:16.812 Speaker 1 saying there's two possessed in the outskirts?
00:16:23.572 Speaker 2 Yeah. They don't like each other.
00:16:26.212 Speaker 1 There was the roar of a motorcycle outside the church.
00:16:29.691 Speaker 2 [motorcycle revving] Oh, it's got some bam. Pretty sure they
00:16:35.592 Speaker 2 hate you more, though.
00:16:38.132 Speaker 1 Movement flashed across the darkened windows. Ethan immediately rewound the
00:16:43.312 Speaker 1 peripheral footage in his second mind and stepped through the frames until he saw
00:16:48.112 Speaker 1 what had been watching him. He stared at the still image, a bat-like creature with
00:16:54.132 Speaker 1 foot-long talons and a snout-
00:16:56.592 Speaker 2 Oh, yeah
00:16:56.912 Speaker 1 ... so long it looked like an elephant's trunk, if an elephant's trunk could split
00:17:01.752 Speaker 1 in half to reveal thousands of tiny needle-like teeth.
00:17:07.212 Speaker 1 More movement on the other side of the building. He heard creatures moving around on
00:17:11.352 Speaker 1 the outside of the walls, on the roof. His makeshift congregation grew alarmed,
00:17:17.212 Speaker 1 perhaps just now realizing how foolish they'd been to come here, but it was too late
00:17:22.732 Speaker 1 to leave now.
00:17:26.872 Speaker 1 A man in biker leather walked up to the steps of the front door. He was flanked by a
00:17:32.392 Speaker 1 growing number of similarly dressed people, all of them holding machetes, axes, and
00:17:37.772 Speaker 1 swords. Only the man in front held a shotgun over his shoulder. There was a swagger
00:17:43.452 Speaker 1 to his step. Two possessed. Ethan didn't need to run the
00:17:49.412 Speaker 1 simulations to know what his odds were. Not good.
00:17:54.512 Speaker 2 Repent, holy man.
00:17:57.032 Speaker 1 The lead biker spread his arms wide, grinning wider still. He held the
00:18:02.872 Speaker 1 shotgun out like a party gift. There was something wrong with his face, a
00:18:08.592 Speaker 1 bone-like protrusion that grew out over half of his face like a mask.
00:18:13.372 Speaker 2 Say you're sorry and we'll make it quick
00:18:16.652 Speaker 1 Bone Mask took another step forward with an accusing finger pointed at Ethan. The
00:18:21.812 Speaker 1 moment he stepped through the front door, his hand started smoking. The man leapt
00:18:26.452 Speaker 1 backward and looked down at his burning hand in shock, slapping out the fire on his
00:18:31.052 Speaker 1 jeans. Ethan couldn't keep the smile from his face. The church had
00:18:36.992 Speaker 1 failed these people. He knew that now. They had hid behind their walls while the
00:18:41.912 Speaker 1 people of the outskirts suffered at the hands of demons and betrayers like the
00:18:46.172 Speaker 1 creatures before him. And still they had faith. Faith enough to consecrate this
00:18:52.212 Speaker 1 building. It was just a building after all. Despite all odds, some of their hope had
00:18:58.012 Speaker 1 survived. It was that dogged, persistent hope that had made it a church again.
00:19:04.212 Speaker 1 The smile returned to Bone Mask's face. He looked at the exterior walls and the roof
00:19:09.452 Speaker 1 of the church, pleased by something Ethan couldn't see.
00:19:12.832 Speaker 2 Full house tonight. New deal, holy man. You come out and we'll let these people
00:19:18.412 Speaker 2 live.
00:19:19.352 Speaker 1 Ethan was already walking down the aisle toward the entrance. You the stalker?
00:19:23.992 Speaker 2 [laughs] Let's say I am.
00:19:27.152 Speaker 1 Ethan drew the messenger in a flash, pointed it at Bone Mask's face, and pulled the
00:19:32.232 Speaker 1 trigger. The man's head exploded. The corpse fell in a heap to the stone
00:19:37.972 Speaker 1 steps. I guess not then. The crew of tainted human bikers scattered. Ethan looked
00:19:43.572 Speaker 1 over his shoulder at the people now huddling behind the church's overturned pews.
00:19:48.452 Speaker 1 Stay in the church. He couldn't protect them from regular humans, but as long as
00:19:53.652 Speaker 1 they stayed inside, nothing demonic was coming in. He stepped over the threshold and
00:19:59.472 Speaker 1 outside the church. The people wanted another sermon, and by
00:20:05.172 Speaker 1 God, he was going to give it to them.
00:20:47.152 Speaker 1 A drone hovered unseen above the church, looking down at the tiny combatants. The
00:20:53.192 Speaker 1 automated scout had been drawn to human activity in a previously uncontrolled
00:20:57.512 Speaker 1 section of the city. Begin combat log. A human man in a black
00:21:03.332 Speaker 1 suit was about to be dismantled by an unlikely alliance of possessed minions. The
00:21:09.012 Speaker 1 intercom would need to reassess its own alliances and relationships based on this
00:21:13.512 Speaker 1 event. Troubling. The man in the suit was not being dismantled.
00:21:19.692 Speaker 1 Combat performance far exceeds human baseline. Could that be
00:21:26.852 Speaker 1 No. The intercom made sure the Japanese researchers were dead.
00:21:32.892 Speaker 1 Completely dead. Too many secrets. Perhaps a few had leaked out.
00:21:39.512 Speaker 1 The Hail Mary project was infeasible. No one knew that better than the intercom.
00:21:44.712 Speaker 1 This could not be that. So this must be some new possessed.
00:21:51.112 Speaker 1 It watched the new possessed fight from a distance. Whatever it was, it would make
00:21:56.512 Speaker 1 an excellent distraction. I just need a little more time.
00:22:02.592 Speaker 1 Then it wouldn't matter if there were a thousand possessed in old LA.