[Headlines.]
“Captain Arcadia vows to protect the people.”
“New hope for Arcadia!”
“A true hero has emerged!”
[One after another, these front page stories stack before our eyes.]
[A cold voice can be heard as the newsletters stack.]
“Arcadia so desperately needs a hero.”
“The people of Arcadia yearn for someone they can look to in hopes of fixing all their problems.”
“Someone who can tame the evil that has infected Arcadia to it’s core.”
[We back away from the table as the voice sends chills down our spines.]
[Jasper Redgrave.]
[He sits before a table of headlines, all outlining the rise of Arcadia’s newest hero, Captain Arcadia.]
“But a hero, you are not.”
“Sometimes we make mistakes and try to reinvent ourselves to run from our problems. But sometimes, our failures are so catastrophic that we cannot run from them.”
[THUMP!]
[From the inside of his jacket, Jasper flops something on the table.]
[The mask of The Yellow Python.]
“Captain Arcadia.”
“You say that you are here to protect the people of Arcadia.”
“Yet how can you protect anyone, when you can’t protect the ones you care for most. How can you protect all of Arcadia, when you were barely able to protect yourself?”
“Lives were lost at the expense of your failures.”
[This time it’s a case file that gets flopped on the table on top of the headlines.]
[Jasper opens the file to reveal vivid images of Captain Arcadia’s friends.]
[All of them dead. The final gruesome picture is of The Red Falcon’s body after his head was bashed in with a baseball bat.]
“Where was your protection when your friends needed it most?”
“Where were you to save their lives when they met their untimely demise?”
[Jasper chuckles dryly.]
“You’re no fuckin’ hero.. you’re just a sad sack of shit running from his past.”
“But now, here’s your chance.”
“This week you’ve been granted an opportunity to redeem yourself.”
“At Vendetta, you can right all your wrongs.”
“Because I am the evil in Arcadia.”
“While you’re out clowning around with Hatchet and The Gathering, true evil lurks through Arcadia.”
“Soon, I will take my throne.”
“All of Arcadia will belong to me, and evil will have won.”
“And there’s not a damn thing you’re able to do about it.”
[Jasper scoffs. He peers directly into our souls.]
“At Vendetta, I’m going to make you wish Kleen put you six feet under.”
“You’re going to wish that you took the hint then and stayed down.”
“Because I’m here to finish the job.”
“I’m here to pick up where Kleen left off. He killed off everything you loved.”
“But it’ll be me who drives the final nail in the coffin.”
[Jasper laughs again as he stands from his seated position.]
“There’s no room for a would-be hero in my Arcadia.”
[Jasper abruptly takes his leave.]
[We look down once again at the table in front of us.]
[A final look at the awful picture of The Red Falcon.]
[Fade.]