CR-6 Anti-Art Movement

Tecno, Papá, there are soldiers putting up barbed wire downstairs.

Soldiers? What are they doing here?

They showed us warrants. They say they're here to investigate fire hazards.

What?!

Uh... Is that something the military handles? Isn't this a job for those dumb civil servants?

Tecno, take the elderly and children away from here. Go to the Rhodes Island office and get Ernesto.

Everyone else, come with me, and bring weapons. Don't count on getting a good night's sleep.

I-I'm staying!

You have the best Arts of us all. You're the only one I can trust to get them out of here.

But...

Tecno, I'm giving you an important mission. Protect them, at all costs.

Okay... Papá.

May I ask your purpose here?

Diaz González, I remember you. You came to Dossoles and became a firefighter after you left the Singas army.

You fought fires for five years, putting yourself in danger countless times, and earning just as many commendations.

How did you fall so far as to end up in this stinking place?

I'm a firefighter. It doesn't matter where I am. I'm always fighting fires. A fire in a luxury hotel is still a fire, and so is a fire in a back alley.

If there's a fire, I can and will fight it.

Hah... The way I see it, you're one of us, Diaz. I'm sure you'll cooperate, right?

Enough. I know what it is you're scheming. You call this a fire safety inspection, but you're just trying to chase us away.

This is all in the interest of safety. You don't want a repeat of that disaster a couple years ago, do you?

Get out of here. I have things under control. You don't get to tell us what to do.

Oh, that simply won't do, Diaz. This puppet show has drawn the eyes of the entire city. What happens here is about more than just you now.

We'll make sure that your show doesn't have an adverse effect on the public at large.

I told you to get lost!

Oh, you don't get it, do you? We're here to conduct an inspection. We came prepared.

Alright boys, make sure you check every last one of them. Don't let any potential danger slip through your fingers.

Anyone who gets in the way of our inspection is endangering public safety. Show them no mercy.

Yes, sir!

Coño... These thugs.

Tecno, I'm scared... Where are we going?

Some bad guys forced their way into our neighborhood. It's not safe here. I'm taking you to Ernesto.

What about the others...? Are we just going to leave them here?

Papá told me to look after you... He said... he'd stay and take care of the rest.

They're coming this way. We need to hurry.

What's this about?!

Inspect all of the puppets' power lines. If you find anything risky, tear them all out.

Hey, it took me forever to put all this together. Leave those alone!

Out of the way, public nuisance.

Come on, man. Don't do this. Be reasonable. You're looking at half a year's worth of blood, sweat, and tears... Don't ruin it. Please, don't...

Like I give a shit how many months you put into this. I should lock you up right now for this flagrant violation of electrical safety.

Stop—!

...

No...

Conchetumare, enough with the wailing.

*whimper*... Don't!

What the hell is this place? Some kind of hideout? Didn't expect it to be this clean.

Sir, the puppets are right outside the window. Open them up and you'll see.

Take a look, see how much foam and wood they stuffed in them? What if they were to catch fire?

Tear them apart!

Thugs, all of you! You should rot in hell!

Ugh... What a bunch of beasts... So thoughtless...

Ugh...

Boss!

What are you people doing?! Didn't I tell you to round them up and bring them to the field? Get the lead out!

His people are putting up a struggle. It's been difficult to get them under control.

Then follow my lead and start cracking skulls, you idiot!

...

See? Look how calm he is now.

Bastards... You bastards...

Now get them out of here. Those puppets are huge, it's gonna be plenty of work taking them apart.

We're almost out. They probably wouldn't expect us to come this way...

Abuela, watch your step, the ground is slippery. Let me help you.

*sigh*...

Tecno, will we ever come back?

Of course. This is our home.

But those men tore everything down... If we come back, we'll have to spend so much time to get everything back to how it was.

They'll pay for that. I swear...

When we get back, I'll help you put everything right. I promise...

Quickly now. It's still a long walk to the office.

Abuelita, I'll help you.

Stay close, everyone.

Alright.

Tecno? Ellie? Come in, hurry! What are you guys doing here?

Where's Ernesto? I need his help.

He said he had something personal to take care of and went off on his own. He's still not back.

Ela and I are the only ones here now. What's going on?

Coalition forces have surrounded the neighborhood. They're tearing down our puppet show under the guise of a fire inspection... Papá told me to bring everyone here to lay low.

Tecno... What's the situation over there now?

I... I don't know. On the way here, all I could hear was the sounds of them breaking everything... A lot of people were crying, and I don't know if they were hurt or not...

Those thugs...!

I... I need to go back. I'm worried about Papá. He was acting brave, telling me to leave and let him deal with the soldiers...

But... he's not nearly as strong as he used to be... He's old now, even if his tongue is as sharp as ever.

I have to go, Ela.

Don't cry, Tecno. We'll go with you.

We will help you.

Doc here will stay and take care of the elderly and the children. Don't worry about them.

Ela, Tecno's people here are all fine. They don't need me.

It's the ones in that neighborhood who need my help. I'll go with you.

These vents are way too long.

I'm covered in dust. *cough*.

How is it, Doc? Can you get down?

I have pretty broad hips... I think I'm stuck.

Give me your hand. I'll pull you out.

Oof—!

The vents may be great for you guys to crawl around, but I have a hard time just squeezing myself into them.

They have the place completely surrounded, and they're covering the way we came out, too. The vents are our only path.

Fuze, give me a sitrep.

It's more complicated than we thought. They have a large number of troops standing guard outside the neighborhood. I had to break off, but the explosives are in place.

Ready to detonate.

(Deep breath)

How is it looking outside the window?

There are way more men than I anticipated... They took everyone outside.

Is anyone hurt?

Yes...

Then, is anyone...?

No. Don't worry. They're alive.

Phew... That's good to hear.

Ela, there are snipers on the roof. We need to take care of them first.

Doc, you and Tecno stay here. Wait for our signal before you act.

What are you looking for, Tecno?

The storage device. All our design documents are stored on it. They destroyed our puppets, but as long as we still have that, we can rebuild them someday.

I'll help you look for it.

Well, I thought I was just up here for a smoke. I didn't expect to run into a few sneaky musbeasts.

I'll deal with him. Go get the storage device. It's in the top shelf of that cabinet.

Alright.

Señorita, maybe you should let your friend take me on instead. A little girl like you can't land a finger on me!

Oh yeah?

*sigh*... You shouldn't have taunted her...

Didn't your mother ever teach you not to look down on people?! Time to teach you a lesson!

Agh! My leg!

Little girl? I'm a little girl because I'm short?

My nose!

Little girl? Vete a la chingada!

Ugh—

Dealt with him. Did you find the storage device?

Bad news. There's nothing on the top of the cabinet. Someone took the device.

Who... Who could've taken it?

You can stop glaring at me, Señor Diaz. I asked you to cooperate with us. You only have yourselves to blame for all these wounded.

Pfft. You can drop the act. Who are you trying to fool?

Hold him down!

Oof... fearsome fellow. If I didn't have my men here, you might've actually cut me down.

Hmph...

I'm afraid I have some bad news. Our inspection turned up a lot of serious hazards. Especially those puppets.

Once activated, they could have a serious adverse effect on the whole neighborhood's energy supply, maybe even the surrounding neighborhoods.

That's why I gathered all of you here, to give you a warning.

Who... sent you?

There are plenty who think fondly of this place... and just as many who want to get rid of us...

But all they ever do is come at us... They don't spare a thought to what we do.

Once you're there, your top priority is to destroy those puppets. And do it in full view of everyone.

Cut off water and electricity, drive them out of the place... That comes later. For now, we provoke them, anger them, and then...

Draw the fires of their fury where they must burn.

I'll be waiting there for good news.

Except him...

Except that man...

Do you really have to ask, if you've already figured it out?

Is this all of them?

...

Do it.

Oh, right, I found this... storage device on one of your shelves. I had a man check it for me. Your design documents are all in here, along with a bunch of other things.

You've destroyed enough already. Won't you spare us this?

We have to eradicate all threats, Señor Diaz.

Give that to me, you thug!

Who's there?!

Out of the way!

Coño. She snatched it.

What are you idiots doing? Who let this punk in here? Seize her!

You...

Stop resisting, and hand that over!

Let go of me!

Trying to use Arts?

Ugh...

Hand it over!

Pft, in your dreams.

You dare kick me?!

Still won't let go, huh?

I... I won't... Take it from me... If you can...

Try stomping her again.

If you want to know what it feels like to have three bullets enter your body at the same time, go ahead.

What... took you so long?

I'd die if I leapt from the fourth floor of a building.

Hrmph.

Take your men with you, sir, all of them. Or you'll have more than bullets waving hello.

...

Fine, we completed our objectives... No reason to waste any more time with you.

Notify all units. We're pulling out.

Miss Ela? What brings you here?

Where is Reynell?

He's playing golf on the balcony...

Wait, Miss Ela!

My apologies... Did the shot just now hit you? Why are you so angry?

Something happened in Diaz's community yesterday.

Something happened? What do you mean?

Haven't you heard? Their arts festival performance has been ruined.

Why does this sound like an accusation?

Miłosz asked me to persuade the community to push back their performance so that it doesn't conflict with your opening ceremony.

Right, I asked Miłosz to talk to you about it. So you think that... because you weren't amenable to the proposal, I asked someone else to do this.

I saw Miłosz talking to that captain several times when I was your bodyguard. His drug warehouse is under your name.

Looking at it now, your relationship isn't nearly as tense as it seemed. He's even on your ceremony's guest list.

I've had my suspicions that I didn't investigate, but now that this happened, I have to work out what's going on.

Tell me, Miss Ela, did you come to me with a prejudiced answer?

No prejudices here. I want to hear your explanation.

No... My communication with that man is not about cooperation. It's more... It's to watch him play the fool.

So many have come up short when working against that community, and I was thinking perhaps he too would get a taste of his own medicine at their hands.

What?

That's the truth. It doesn't matter if you believe me or not, but I didn't order him to do this.

Maybe you didn't intend for this to happen... but did you think of the consequences beforehand?

You sent a leader of an armed force to deal with a bunch of unarmed civilians.

I never expected this to...

Or maybe you never cared!

You built this extravagant museum for the sake of your ego. Is that not enough? Why do you keep harassing people that have nothing to do with you? Over and over again?

Why? Do you really need any of this to prove yourself?

Enough, Miss Ela. It's time for you to leave.

Mr. Miłosz, I've been meaning to ask. How can you stand spending so much time around this monster?

Get out.

Enough, Miss Ela. If you insist on making someone the mastermind of this tragedy, then let's just say you have the man.

But it's time for you to go.

I noticed it a while ago. Doesn't matter how strange your trajectory is, your shots always land in the hole.

Mr. Miłosz, as the man closest to Reynell, can you tell me why?

...

Have you ever tried a single drive on your own merit, Reynell? Ever tried to draw a real curve in the sky?

Many times.

How did they go?

It's exhausting. There are no holes in the grass. It's a futile exercise.

Well, that's too bad.

How did it go? Is it done?

Good. Even the timing of the evacuation was perfect. This is the first time you've executed something so beautifully since I came to Dossoles.

Those four?

Don't worry about them. Didn't you put that punk out of commission?

The whole community must be furious now. They can't stop them.

Now hurry up and get back here. We still have bigger fins to fry. Once this is dealt with, it'll be smooth sailing for both you and me.

What do you mean half the force? We'll use all the forces at our disposal. This will make or break everything. Get it together.

Right, send everyone back to the Galería. Have them stand by for orders.

The more the better. The cost is no object when compared to the potential profit.

Oh, and one last thing.

Remember to send a couple smart, glib-tongued fast runners to get those in the community riled up. We wouldn't want them to flame out disappointingly.

Phew...

Huh? This is so boring. I thought there'd be something warming up the party if I got here earlier!

Still a few hours to go. Nobody's here yet! We didn't have to rush over!

Hah.

What are you laughing about?

There might just be a surprise for getting here early.

That was heavy-handed of them. This is all I can do right now. It may be difficult for you to... perform more precise tasks with your right hand in the future.

Precise tasks?

Like writing or painting... Sorry.

It's not your fault.

Remember to come get your wound redressed tomorrow.

If only I had gotten down there just a minute sooner...

Don't blame yourself. The people here are much faster and physically capable than us. It's not easy to give chase.

I know that, but the officer did it right in front of me—

...

Ela, you're back. What did Reynell say?

He didn't order this, but that doesn't mean he's totally unrelated.

What do you mean? Are you defending him?

Reynell contacted the captain and told him that as long as he could take care of the 'troublesome elements' in the community, he would get the development rights to the neighborhood.

How is that not him giving the order?

But he also told me that his goal was to see the captain make a fool of himself for offending him. He knows the people of the community are capable.

Why doesn't he come take a look at what happened to the place himself, then? How could he say that?!

Calm down, Kateb.

Even if I could calm down, what about the people in the community?

Go take a look outside. How are they supposed to calm down once they hear Reynell's excuse?

Ela, Ela!

Tecno?

Is it Reynell? Is it that bastard who sent the Coalition assholes to lay waste to our hard work? Just for the sake of his opening ceremony?

Tecno... There are a few things we need to confirm first, but I don't think...

You don't think what?! You used to be his bodyguard. Of course you're making excuses for him!

An eye for an eye, I say!

We should take to his Galería...

Have everyone bring what's left of the festival. Once we're there, we'll smash that bastard Reynell's Galería with—

You don't think that makes us look too weak?

Weak? What else do you want us to do?

We should be charging the Galería to make Reynell and his secretary pay for this with their blood.

(Quietly) There's someone in the crowd fanning the flames. Looks like somebody wants this escalated.

Everyone, please calm down...

But... We probably can't take them on... I've had a bad back for years. I can't do violence.

Me too. I have a herniated disk...

The only thing I can hurt anyone with is my sincerity. My body doesn't stand a chance.

Well... I've trained for a few years, but I've got hemophobia...

(Quietly) Maybe things haven't gotten quite that intense just yet...

We can't be this spineless, can we? Are we just gonna sit and do nothing after all they did to us?

It doesn't sit right with me... Why is his opening ceremony allowed to go on after they destroyed our arts festival?

Papá... What do you think?

Come. Get your things. We're going to that glass building.

We aren't actually going there to fight, are we?

Mr. Diaz, wait...

No, I'm telling you to bring your sound equipment and instruments... We lost our venue, so we'll use Reynell's Galería.

They don't want to see us dancing? We will make them watch us dance.

(Quietly) What do we do now...?

Let's... start by keeping an eye on them...

(Quietly) Uh... Did we get the job done?

(Quietly) No idea, but either way, they are going to the Galería.

(Quietly) Report, the musbeasts have emerged from the hole.

Señor, where do I put this vase?

Oh, that goes to Exhibition Hall No. 3.

Gracias.

You're going the wrong way. Hall No. 3 is that way.

Perdón. I'm new here.

(I've searched almost the entire museum. They've got heavy security detail everywhere except this area. I've racked my brains for so long, but none of my ideas got me inside.)

(Dammit. Even though all the leads pointed me here...)

(Someone's coming...)

The opening ceremony is about to start. Señor Miłosz requested everyone to leave the Galería and attend the opening ceremony in the plaza.

What? Even us?

He was clear that not a single one of us is to stay in here.

Alright... Let's go, hermanos.

Strange... Reynell is making everyone go to his conference...? What is he trying to do?

This place doesn't seem all that special either compared to the other places.

Maybe...

The floor is slightly slanted...

(Knocks on wall)

Just as I thought. Here's a secret door.

Let me guess... Maybe this unremarkable painting?

The conference will start in two hours, and some early arrivals are already seated. Have you decided what you're talking about during the ceremony?

Doesn't matter. It's all to buy us time, anyway. Let's just pick something from the proposals we got. That CVAP thing looks good to me.

What will we use for the background picture of the presentation? A painting from the Galería?

Use a picture of Mateo.

If you humiliate him like that, knowing him, he'll likely have an outburst.

Why are you worried? I invited him exactly because I wanted to humiliate him. Besides, do you think I still care about his tantrums, after all this time?

His rage is nothing compared to the despair that those below will feel when the Galería explodes.

The wealth that was invested into this place and the money-grubbing ambitions of the arts market... It's all going up in one big explosion.

All that worthless trash sold at astronomical prices... Grotesque creations with their expressions and messages warped...

True art left untouched in storage, only ever seeing the light of day when resold...

Look at what those greedy men have done to them. Now, these pieces will at last find a proper home in the flames.

The art market will be in chaos the next few years...

That's what I want... Every time those investors think back on this day, they will shudder and quake...

They'll see the true value of the arts, never again to be mere merchandise for trading.

And the artists who suffer for it will finally be free of this market madness.

...

It's a shame my mother and the old bones aren't here...

Reynell...

Come sit with me a little, Miłosz.

Let's wait for tomorrow together.

So dark... There's not even a bit of light here...

Good thing I brought a flashlight.

(Gulps)

Wh-What's this...?