Mortal Steel: Episode 6

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Mortal Steel: Episode 6
Source: collected/011-mortal-steel-episode-6.mp3
SHA-256: 8261cb1dd24dfa47deae3ac2b666cfc718d504ffa3a5d60776795529f3f95356
Model: scribe_v2 | Transcribed: 2026-10-10T18:10:39.320196+00:00
Machine transcript — uncorrected. Speaker labels are local to this recording and do not identify people.

[00:00:00.000] Speaker 1: [rock music]

[00:00:08.860] Speaker 1: Mortal

[00:00:54.800] Speaker 1: Steel. [crows cawing] Please, please don't. [gasping] Ethan awoke six minutes, 11 seconds later to the sounds of dying. Not the sounds of fighting because from the look of it, the fighting was done. The bodies of Crucifer soldiers littered the street. Many of them were mortally wounded, but not yet dead. Nobody seemed especially eager to put them out of their misery either.

[00:01:29.560] Speaker 1: Small demons, like giant cockroaches with human heads glued to their backs, were pulling away the ones already dead. Ethan curled a lip in disgust. There were corpse nests living within Paradise? The monsters didn't seem to bother the few humans who idled about, though. For their part, the humans mostly ignored them as well, sometimes even pushing a body toward the creatures for disposal. Lord in heaven, why did the apocalypse have to be so revolting? Wouldn't a ray of

[00:02:04.140] Speaker 1: incinerating light have been more to the point? A man built like a beanbag chair wrapped around a barrel stepped into view. Ethan could barely lift his head to take him in.

[00:02:18.440] Speaker 2: Hey, holy man's awake.

[00:02:21.520] Speaker 1: Dumpit put one hand out to lift him up, but Ethan just shook his head.

[00:02:25.980] Speaker 2: Can't, can't stand yet.

[00:02:29.760] Speaker 1: His nausea sensors confirmed this for him. He allowed himself to feel the full experience and not just the data for only a moment before turning it all back off again. Actually, why was he here at all? He should have been blown to pieces. His second mind played him an audio message recorded while he was unconscious.

[00:02:54.880] Speaker 3: Ethan, it's Gabriel. We need to talk in person. Erica won't destroy you, not after what I told her. I'm signing off on your patch remotely. You may disable your radio. Just promise me you'll return. The stakes are higher than you know.

[00:03:13.620] Speaker 1: Ethan queried his second mind.

[00:03:16.320] Speaker 3: Did you already apply the patch?

[00:03:18.900] Speaker 1: It was difficult to understand the response, which was odd because normally it was so intuitive. This almost had an edge of emotion to it. Its reply could be summarized in a single word, "Obviously." Ethan squinted up at Dumpit.

[00:03:38.200] Speaker 2: How are we still alive?

[00:03:40.640] Speaker 1: Dumpit struck a heroic pose, then frowned at the bloody clothing stuck on his fireplace poker foot.

[00:03:47.200] Speaker 2: Don't you hate it when that happens? I guess you were sleeping. I don't think I've ever seen anyone fight like you did. Gets me shaking just thinking what you were like with arms. Good show there. Yep, once The King showed up, it was all over, though.

[00:04:03.200] Speaker 1: The sun itself got a little dimmer then as a man stepped into Ethan's view. [stone scraping] [earth rumbling] Where exactly had he come from?

[00:04:14.780] Speaker 3: Yes, but they got what they came for. They lost two dozen useless Acolytes and gained over 100 children. Fresh blood.

[00:04:24.880] Speaker 1: The man was not a man, but a demon. Or perhaps somewhere in between. He shook his head with genuine sadness. Half of his face was sad anyway. The other half was covered by a plate of bone that grew up from his collarbone and wrapped around his head. Ethan found that he could only manage a single word for The Stalker.

[00:04:51.140] Speaker 2: You.

[00:04:52.240] Speaker 1: The people around The Stalker, Dumpit included, gave him a respectful nod, but nothing more. They seemed quite comfortable with the disfigured abomination. Chummy even, which only made Ethan more squeamish. Were these people under his control? That was at least half the reason he'd been built. Possess could control regular humans as easy as breathing. Not forever, and not too many, but that made it very difficult to get an assassin anywhere near them. Dumpit slapped the creature on the back and laughed.

[00:05:27.660] Speaker 2: What happened to the protector anyway? You get tired of outsourcing the fun part?

[00:05:31.800] Speaker 1: The Stalker narrowed his one eye. His dark, messy bangs made him look handsome, but brooding.

[00:05:39.600] Speaker 3: I expect our friend here killed it.

[00:05:43.320] Speaker 2: Now, what did you do that for? We've been feeding that thing a steady diet of Crucifer.

[00:05:48.000] Speaker 3: I don't play well with demons.

[00:05:51.260] Speaker 1: The Stalker glanced back at the bodies pinned to the wall with a rebar spear.

[00:05:56.920] Speaker 3: Or anyone, apparently.

[00:06:02.084] Speaker 4: You don't remember me? What?

[00:06:07.404] Speaker 1: He smiled, closing the one eye, shaking his head.

[00:06:12.544] Speaker 4: Guess I shouldn't be surprised.

[00:06:15.324] Speaker 1: The stalker reached forward with his human arm and tapped Ethan's forehead. Warning alarms blared and threat simulations played automatically.

[00:06:24.484] Speaker 4: Who knows how much Ethan Cutter is left in there.

[00:06:28.184] Speaker 1: He, he knew his name? Ethan shook his head and killed the simulations, ignoring their results. It didn't matter. This creature needed to die. But more importantly...

[00:06:47.944] Speaker 4: I need your help.

[00:06:50.144] Speaker 1: The stalker lifted his head to the sky and laughed. It started very humorous, very human. Then it slowly stretched into something nasty. Ethan felt a very large hand close around him.

[00:07:08.704] Speaker 4: We call it a pact, Holy Man.

[00:07:11.944] Speaker 1: Then he grinned a wild, unholy smile. And Pastor Ethan Cutter knew this was how good people started down the path to evil, one necessary step at a time. He fought the almost irresistible urge to kill this monster. He would have to. His orders were not subject to this much interpretation, but they could be delayed. The stalker's execution could wait

[00:07:47.544] Speaker 1: because there was someone small and weak that needed his help. Mission be damned. [gentle music] The bigger boy tried again to take Fleabag's shirt.

[00:08:18.104] Speaker 5: I'm not weak.

[00:08:20.164] Speaker 1: Seriously, did he think he would just let him have it? It wouldn't fit him anyway.

[00:08:25.464] Speaker 5: Give it here.

[00:08:27.344] Speaker 1: The bigger boy jerked Fleabag forward by his shirt, [fabric ripping] tearing it. So Fleabag pulled the weapon from his waistband, the piece of broken metal from Holy Man's arm blade that had been stuck in the protector. Fleabag slashed the bigger boy's arm with a quick swipe. It wasn't deep enough to be dangerous, but it was deep enough to let them know that Fleabag was dangerous. The other boy stumbled backward, staring in horror at the bright red blood on his arm. One of the sand

[00:09:02.304] Speaker 1: hags pounded on their wooden cage with her cane.

[00:09:06.224] Speaker 3: No fighting. You will have time enough for that.

[00:09:12.324] Speaker 1: Then she turned back to the team of makeshift vehicles, mutated animals, and people that pulled their train of child prisoners. There had to be 100 other kids in these cages. Fleabag's cage had eight other kids. Most of them were crying. Why? It's not like that actually solved anything. A girl with thick glasses scooted up beside Fleabag, but not quite willing to touch him. She had been one of the crying ones until just now.

[00:09:47.564] Speaker 1: She looked young and small, like Drip. Drip had been even smaller than this girl. Fleabag gave her a confident grin, ignoring the larger boy who was now amongst the other crying children.

[00:10:03.224] Speaker 5: What is that? Part of a magic weapon. It's just a part, though.

[00:10:08.384] Speaker 1: Her eyes lit up, and she seemed to forget that she was upset.

[00:10:13.084] Speaker 5: Really? Yeah. It's part of Holy Man's arm sword. Who is Holy Man?

[00:10:21.844] Speaker 1: Fleabag smiled again. The other kids in his cage noticed their conversation and either scooted closer to listen or at least stopped sobbing. Fleabag crossed his arms and held the shattered blade out in front of them for them all to see.

[00:10:38.164] Speaker 5: I'll tell you the story of how I got this. I'll tell you about Holy Man and how he's going to save us.

[00:10:46.964] Speaker 1: That got their attention. Even the bully with the bleeding arm was wrapped up in it now. Fleabag pointed directly at him.

[00:10:56.444] Speaker 5: You're shirtless.

[00:10:57.964] Speaker 1: The kid looked at him skeptically, then shrugged. Then Fleabag went around the cage, pointing at each child, giving them their new names.

[00:11:11.364] Speaker 5: Bottles, Screech, Armpit, Geezer, Rainbow Flakes, Umpire, Medium Willy, and I'm Cyber Blade. [clapping]

[00:11:25.784] Speaker 1: They nodded, eager for him to tell his story. And just like that, he had a new name. [gentle music] Part eight, Pact. The stalker's throne room was a security guard's office at the bottom of an underground parking garage. At first blush, this was an esoteric decision, but tactically, it was very

[00:12:00.364] Speaker 1: defensible. The corkscrew path leading down to the office at the bottom was filled with his scary boys. The mixes of admiration and loathing on their faces had been an odd combination. The stalker himself sat sideways on an ornate dining room chair, apparently brought in to serve as his throne. He had not bothered to remove the Baywatch poster which still hung on the painted concrete wall above his throne.

[00:12:35.532] Speaker 4: So what? You're just gonna walk in there with one arm and a bad attitude?

[00:12:41.632] Speaker 1: One arm.

[00:12:42.832] Speaker 4: It's your lucky day. Forgemaster says he can reattach one of them.

[00:12:47.512] Speaker 1: That was a pretty lofty title for a man who called himself Dumpit. This coming from the man whose throne room still smelled like a truck stop bathroom even 30 years after the apocalypse. And no, I'm not a fool. There was no love between Crucifer and Last Respite at the best of times. Their communication at this point was limited to messages like, "Cross this line and we start shooting." Even then, those lines were an ever-changing thing. Ethan wouldn't make it past the front

[00:13:22.172] Speaker 1: gate. In his current condition, they'd have no trouble putting him on a spike as a warning. Not that anyone came within 10 miles of the place by choice, which was why he had a plan. I'm going to New Hope first. The stalker sat up straight in his chair.

[00:13:43.912] Speaker 4: You're making a tour of my enemies then. Sounds like something I would back.

[00:13:49.332] Speaker 1: There's a team of specialists there who can repair me. The stalker did not look impressed, but what did Ethan care? He was gonna kill the man. He'd just been bumped down the task list temporarily.

[00:14:04.792] Speaker 4: New Hope isn't like Last Respite. Just like Crucifer, they've survived because they've matched the brutality of a demon invasion. Don't let their polished comm presentation fool you, Pastor. New Hope makes my spine eater look like a puppy.

[00:14:21.812] Speaker 1: Ethan wasn't sure he bought that story. They were reclusive and aloof, sure, but they didn't eat spines. There was a difference between allowing evil to happen and holding the bloody ax. The stalker leaned forward in his dining chair. His enormous disfigured arm began crawling up the wall behind him, almost as if he couldn't control it, or perhaps he couldn't control it all the time.

[00:14:55.692] Speaker 4: What will you do if they let you in, only to shake you down for parts and drop your brain in the dumpster?

[00:15:02.512] Speaker 1: I'm open to suggestions.

[00:15:05.412] Speaker 4: Humility is a good look on you, Father.

[00:15:09.712] Speaker 1: Ethan surrendered motor control of his body to his second mind. Didn't trust himself to not bury a headbutt into this creature's face. Eh, he would regenerate, so it's not like it was that big of a deal.

[00:15:25.072] Speaker 4: If you wanna take down New Hope and Crucifer, I'm in. We've been fighting a war on three fronts for years now. Now that Last Respite has finally entered the fray, well, that changes everything.

[00:15:38.672] Speaker 1: Every sentence this creature uttered was information the archbishops would have killed for. Three fronts. The stalker put his fingers in his mouth and whistled. Two scary boys who'd been standing outside came in like good little pets.

[00:15:59.652] Speaker 4: Gear up. We're taking six elites for a walk. Anyone who survives gets some juice. And tell the Forgemaster he gets 48 hours to work on the cyborg.

[00:16:09.172] Speaker 1: The scary boys practically licked their lips. Whatever they'd been promised, they craved it. When they left, the stalker and Pastor Ethan Cutter were alone. The possessed man's entire demeanor changed. He sat patiently and correctly in his chair. Though the massive arm still crawled around, feeling for something unknowable.

[00:16:37.832] Speaker 4: You really don't remember me?

[00:16:41.592] Speaker 1: No.

[00:16:42.692] Speaker 4: Bah. It's not like we were friends or anything. Last Respite is a big place. You did me a solid once.

[00:16:50.632] Speaker 1: Ethan sensed an opportunity here. Insight from his human mind, for a change. Why? The stalker snorted. They both knew what he was asking. The possessed man leaned his head back against the chair and looked up at the ceiling.

[00:17:14.552] Speaker 4: I was a Sunday school teacher. Not even. I played songs for the kids. Worked the walls the rest of the time. Guard duty. I just got tired of singing songs to smiling kids in the morning and then looking down at starving ones in the afternoon. I could just barely see their dirty little faces looking up at me.

[00:17:36.952] Speaker 1: So you became a monster. The disfigured hand found a cheap particle board desk. The stalker's face lit with sudden anger and the desk was crushed to dust between the bulging purple fingers.

[00:17:52.612] Speaker 4: I became a king. Why do you think your silly little fortress is still standing? Why do you think anyone is still alive outside your walls? Me.

[00:18:04.552] Speaker 1: He stood and slammed the demonic hand against the floor in a bizarre pantomime of his human hand.

[00:18:12.432] Speaker 4: I'm why.

[00:18:14.212] Speaker 1: He collapsed back into the chair Clearly borne down by more than a physical weight. Well, sharing a body with a demon would do that. Was Ethan really supposed to believe he'd joined the enemy to save people? There was very little logic in that, so he changed the topic. You mentioned a deal.

[00:18:41.508] Speaker 4: A pact.

[00:18:42.968] Speaker 1: Fine, a pact. What are your terms?

[00:18:47.388] Speaker 4: You help me destroy New Hope, Crucifer, and the Mixers.

[00:18:52.328] Speaker 1: Ethan's eyebrows went up. Kill two human settlements and take on a rival demon army? That was a pretty big opening ask. What could possibly be worth all that trouble? Ethan could just save Fleabag himself. Maybe.

[00:19:10.348] Speaker 4: And in return, I'll turn all of my forces and all of my allies against the Southern Horde.

[00:19:17.448] Speaker 1: Ethan stared blankly at the possessed. Why would I trust you?

[00:19:23.408] Speaker 4: Because it's not a deal, it's a pact. If I break it, you get my power.

[00:19:29.968] Speaker 1: Oh, yeah, that's what he needed. A demonic roommate for his computer. And if I break it?

[00:19:38.708] Speaker 4: Father Cutter, are you considering double-crossing me?

[00:19:43.328] Speaker 1: Well, you can't cross the devil. You're already sin incarnate.

[00:19:48.608] Speaker 4: I'm not the devil. If you betray me, though, you would get to meet him.

[00:19:54.888] Speaker 1: Threats aside, everything up until this moment had just been shuffling deck chairs around on the Titanic. Ethan might save Fleabag. He might even carve out some relative safety for a few dozen followers in the outskirts. But they would all die when the Southern Horde returned. If he could find a way to stand against that tide, even a cyborg was still just one person. He needed something else. If there was

[00:20:29.788] Speaker 1: even the slightest chance this creature could help, it was worth everything he had. And with that, he took one more necessary step down that foreboding path. Fine. I accept your pact, demon. And he became a little less human.

[00:21:06.488] Speaker 1: Archbishop Gabriel sat in his simple robes, in his simple room, and waited for death. It was a fickle thing, though, apparently unwilling to greet you when you called it. The woman seated in the chair across from him looked tired, beyond tired, visibly fraying at the

[00:21:41.108] Speaker 1: edges. Bishop Erica Long rubbed at her temples.

[00:21:46.988] Speaker 6: Couldn't you have blackmailed me in some other way?

[00:21:51.988] Speaker 1: You would have tortured me for the information. Besides, it's not my life I was trying to preserve.

[00:21:58.008] Speaker 6: I would not have tortured you.

[00:22:01.188] Speaker 1: She looked offended at that, more bothered by the insinuation than the torture. Gabriel waved casually at the door, bolted shut from the outside. Lucius would then. Erica shrugged in acceptance. Gabriel himself would have tortured someone for the information he'd stored on the cyborg's hard drive. In a single stroke of elegant strategy, he'd managed to turn the cyborg into his own collateral. Last respite would not

[00:22:36.028] Speaker 1: touch him.

[00:22:39.047] Speaker 6: It's still kind of hard to believe, but demons were real after all.

[00:22:46.808] Speaker 1: Gabriel put a hand out to stall her. He'd gone down this line of thinking himself long ago. You shouldn't get your hopes up. Don't expect them to be like the stories. There's no indication that they can or will do anything to help us.

[00:23:03.448] Speaker 6: But they're angels, Gabriel. It's in their nature.

[00:23:08.168] Speaker 1: Archbishop Gabriel Klein turned away from her, trying to bury his shame deep, deep down. He could not voice his terror to her, couldn't give words to the crimes she was ignorant of. What would she say if she knew what New Hope had done to the beings they called angels? If the angels granted them anything, it would not be aid,

[00:23:43.888] Speaker 1: but vengeance. Which was why he prayed that their existence would remain undiscovered. And if Cyborg No. 4 perished, the clues leading to them would die with him. For now, he straddled the dangerous line between keeping their existence buried and keeping Pastor Cutter alive. If he did actually come back here, though, these people would dismantle him. And there would be

[00:24:17.928] Speaker 1: absolutely nothing Gabriel could do to stop it.

[00:24:26.878] Speaker 1: [rock music]

[00:25:14.118] Speaker 1: [footsteps] A woman in a simple brown dress led John down the hall. She held his hand gently, and if the possessed appendage bothered her, she didn't let it show.

[00:25:25.178] Speaker 5: Right this way. They're all very excited.

[00:25:29.578] Speaker 1: She pushed open the door and John stepped inside. [door closing] His heart was pounding. [door opening] Could he really do this? Fourteen kids, ages six to three, sat in a semicircle on the floor. They looked up at him, then down at his enormous possessed hand. No smiles. John glanced over at their teacher for support. She gave him a reassuring nod. So he pulled the acoustic guitar off his back.

[00:26:03.678] Speaker 4: Hey, kids. I know you're probably sad about all the other kids, you know, that went missing.

[00:26:10.318] Speaker 1: One of the kids started bawling. The teacher shook her head back and forth violently, silently mouthing the word no.

[00:26:17.698] Speaker 4: Aw, crap.

[00:26:19.078] Speaker 1: Then the voice inside his head rumbled to life.

[00:26:24.478] Speaker 3: You should crush them and feed me.

[00:26:33.318] Speaker 1: He ignored it, as always.

[00:26:37.498] Speaker 4: Which is why I wrote this song for you, to cheer you up.

[00:26:43.778] Speaker 3: It would be so easy to kill them all.

[00:26:48.078] Speaker 1: John set the guitar gently over his left knee.

[00:26:51.458] Speaker 3: How come? Small death.

[00:26:56.178] Speaker 1: Then he set his fingers on the frets, getting ready to play something simple, just a couple chords. He swung his massive possessed hand over the strings and the bloated purple fingers shattered the body of the guitar on the very first stroke, reducing the entire guitar to splinters of wood in his lap. [guitar breaking] John stared down at the pieces in disbelief.

[00:27:27.958] Speaker 3: Feed me.

[00:27:32.478] Speaker 1: Then the kid who had been crying just moments before started laughing, and then another, and another, until the whole class was laughing. John just shook his head and grinned back at them.

[00:27:49.538] Speaker 4: [laughs] Oops