“I’m tired of the pain.”
“When I joined the force I thought it was my duty to be the wall between Arcadia and misery. You know, the badge is a shield and I figured I may as well be the fuckin’ punching bag for every dipshit lowlife to hit and kick while the innocents behind me were blissfully ignorant to the shit I went through for them.”
“But being a shield fuckin’ hurts.”
“You get dented, your insignia fades, and before long you’re an unrecognizable hunk of metal for the hand holding you to discard like a piece of scrap because you’re no longer useful to them.”
“It’s not a noble thing, taking the pain doesn’t make you any better than anyone else. It just proves that you’re willing to take the abuse.”
“Now I’m lying in a drunken heap and I don’t even feel the pain anymore. Can’t feel my face, can’t hear my heart, I’m just numb to it all.”
“Discarded by the hands of the men I fought so hard to protect.”
“Do you know how much of a moron you are, Grimskull? A preacher walking through the shithole slums telling anyone and everyone that the only way to see enlightenment is to endure the agonies, to be subservient to a higher power and lowering yourself over and over again?”
“You talk like the pain inflicted on you makes you some kind of martyr, like the skin scorched off of your skull made you holier than thou.”
“But it doesn’t.”
“No matter what you think, you’re not free because of your pain, you’re just a tool that hasn’t been broken yet.”
“So go ahead, place yourself into John’s hands and allow him to use you to carve his way to a goal you don’t even comprehend. Let him smash you into anyone who steps in his way and drink in the pain as he uses you to tank every single last person who wishes to do him harm.”
“Love it, believe in your delusional little lies while the blood drains from your wounds and every cell in your body screams in pain from the abuse.”
“At the end of the day, you’re disposable.”
“Just like I was, just like anyone is.”
“The difference between us, though? While you’re still convinced of your martyrdom, I’ve seen the truth.”
“And I’m tired of breaking my skin and scarring my mind for someone else.”
“The chief lied to me about Jasper. He withheld my brother from me until he was radicalized into a terroristic lapdog.”
“And I refuse to hurt anymore.”
“So when we meet in the ring? Just know that I won’t feel a fuckin’ thing you do to me. I’m numb to it all, I refuse to break my body and soul again.”
“But you look all too willing to take the punishment in my stead.”
“I’m going to break you, Grimskull.”
“John will discard you, a shattered tool at my feet.”
“No one is above the Law.”
“And as far as I see it? I am the Law.”