“Everyone wishes they could cut their strings.”
“Many of Arcadia’s people find themselves strung up, a rope around their neck tugged taught as they stand ready to move and speak only as much as the puppet master allows. For majority of Arcadia, their string puller is Zeus. Harold and I? We were dangling from those nooses longer than anyone else. We felt the grasp of the master as it left rope burns on our souls.”
“You have no freedom, no future unless he wills it so. As terrifying as it is to be freed from the bindings of your puppeteer, once you place the knife in your hand you can leave them powerless, worthless, with just a slice of the blade.”
“But for the former dog on the leash? Well, it takes getting used to. You hit the ground and you hit it hard. The air is forced out of your lungs, and the weight of your own choices are heavier than you could ever know.”
“The shock is insurmountable, and no one goes from bound to free in an instant.”
“But you don’t think you’re strung up on Foley’s gallows, do you Doom? As far as you’re concerned, he’s the man you’ve been parading around, commanding him and pushing for him to do whatever you wish because he’s such a good friend that he’d do anything for you.”
“Too foolish in your own hubris to notice the hand up your back and the ropes hanging off your limbs. Everything you’ve done has been to further his own goals, you’ve become dependent on him whether you realize it or not. Just like Harold to Zeus and myself to Gordon… You need him, don’t you?”
“Even when you said you were through with him, when you tossed him aside, the entire time you were thinking of him, weren’t you? Waiting for him to knock on your door, preparing your precious drones behind the scenes. And the first time you used them? Not to further your own villainous goals, not to secure precious research materials.”
“No.”
“Like a puppet from the rafters you descended onto the ring for him. For Foley. Fighting, brawling, and hurting so that you could save your precious puppet master from the beatings of Burning Justice. Even when you thought you had cut all attachment you came crawling back without a second thought.”
“Face it, Doom, he’s the one in control and you’re nothing more than his most loyal toy.”
“But don’t worry, I see this. Harold sees this.”
“And we’re going to snip those strings.”
“With a sharp blade held at the end of the long arm of the Law we’re going to cut your attachment in two.”
“Foley will be without his precious puppet.”
“And you’ll be truly free again for the first time in months.”
“He made you, and we will destroy you. Once the strings are cut, you’ll hit the floor.”
“And Foley will kneel.”
“Because neither of you are above the Law.”
“And we are the Law.”