Quoted By:
"So, there was no City back when you were around. Huh. When did the companies first pop up, then?"
<span class="mu-s">"Indeed. The first companies rose up sometime around 1995. Small groups of people trying to understand the world left behind after the Smog Wars. The companies YOU know of? Somewhere in the 2130s. I left sometime around 2195. After I realized that the last major war was finally finished, I had no interest in staying in that land."</span>
[SCHOLAR OF THE CITY] The Antiseptic War happened around 2193. That's the only war he could be talking about.
[SCHOLAR OF THE CITY] You have no idea what the Smog Wars are If it was BEFORE 1995, it must've been an ancient set of wars.
"Wait." One of the sailors interrupts the conversation you're having. "No, no, most of the history books we have about world history end at 2130."
<span class="mu-s">"I wonder why."</span>
"Speaking about war-" You feel hesitant to ask this but, hey, why not? "I know an old lady who used to fight in the Antiseptic War. Got anything interesting you can tell me about that time?"
<span class="mu-s">"That is when people still knew how to fight."</span> The Admiral picks up one of his white Pawns. <span class="mu-s">"The Companies removed their masks of humanity. It had to. To stop the war from removing all 3.1 billion people that lived back then. Everything humanity loves for, all the hope and tenderness they pretend to have. It had to. For one second."</span>
"W-wait, 3.1 billion?" Ashley mutters out the number like she can't believe what she's hearing. "There's...2.4 billion living in the City now, right?"
"2.6, 2.5, somewhere like that." Adam grips tightly onto the railing behind him. "That's a difference of a half a billion."
<span class="mu-s">"To do the deed. That's when they saw it. As the corporations strangles and mercilessly beat your friends to death, the sweetest and most hope inspiring members of society, you can see the fear and POWER in the companies. What REAL power meant."</span>
<span class="mu-s">"There were 3.1 billion before the war. There was 2.2 billion after the war was done. Nine hundred million people. Wiped out over six and a half years. They had to spray the whole City in a blanket of aerosolized antiseptic to disinfect the corpse filled streets."</span> The Admiral coos out this information in a sing-song tone. As if he brings back fond memories to him.
<span class="mu-s">"I saw it with my own eyes. Those Z-Company planes flying over the emptied Nests, Backstreets, and battlefields. Spraying that icy cold liquid over us. It was almost like watching a set of icy birds giving relief and peace to both friend and foe. There was nothing left but bones after. THAT, you see, is what I respect about the companies. If only they would just remove that mask more often."</span>
No one dares to speak after that information is presented. Lex and Benedict are leaning overboard, purging their stomachs of everything inside. Adam and Ashley are standing in stunned silence.
>-1 RESTRAINT to all allies but ASHLEY!
The only ones smiling is the Admiral and the Captain.
