[Raiden crouches on pavement. It is currently raining.]

[Monsoon]
How pleased you are to chop away, Jack the Ripper.
(The camera zooms out, revealing Monsoon kneeling on the top of a skyscraper.)
My name is Monsoon...
Of the winds of destruction.

[Raiden]
Yeah... I guessed as much.

(Monsoon jumps off the side of the skyscraper, fragmenting into magnetic parts of himself. Jetstream Sam laughs, then shrugs.)

[Monsoon]
Feasting on the insides of your enemies.
How easily you ignore the loss of life when it suits your convenience.
So tell me:
Who saves the weak from the one who saves the weak?

[Raiden]
You're the ones exploiting them.
You take advantage of their weakness.
Of course they get hurt, when you set them up as your human shield!

[Monsoon]
Kill or be killed, Jack.
Phnom Penh taught me that.
(You enter a POV of what Raiden sees.)

Yes. You aren't the only one to grow up on the killing fields.
War is a cruel parent, but an effective teacher.
Its final lesson is carved deep in my psyche:
That this world and all its people are diseased.
Free Will is a myth; Religion is a joke.
We are all pawns, controlled by something greater:
Memes. The DNA of the soul.
They shape our will.
They are the culture -- they are everything we pass on.
Expose someone to anger long enough, they will learn to hate.
They become a carrier... Envy, Greed, Despair...
All memes. All passed along.

[Raiden]
How about "full of shit"?
Is that a meme?

[Monsoon]
You can't fight nature, Jack.
Wind blows, rain falls, and the strong prey upon the weak.
Sam tells me you see your weapon as a tool.
Something that saves lives -- a means of justice.
Now there's a pretty meme. Exquisite!
It spared you the burden of all the lives you've taken...
...Absolved you of guilt when you enjoyed it.

(You exit Raiden's POV.)


That is, until the illusion was broken.
Don't be ashamed.
It's only nature, running its course.
You have no choices to make.
Nothing to answer for.

(Monsoon takes out two Sais, named Dystopia, twirling them around.)

You can die with a clear conscience.

[Raiden]
You're right.
About me, I mean.

(Monsoon lowers his Sais.)

I knew something was... off.
After the Patriots.
I thought I could walk off the battlefield and into a normal life.
But here I am, surrounded by death, arguing philosophy with terrorists.
I told myself this was about Justice.
About protecting the weak.
But I was wrong.
(Monsoon snickers.)

[Monsoon]
Then you admit it?
I learned young that killing your enemies felt good. Really good.
In America... my friends... my family...
They helped me forget the Devil inside.
But who am I kidding?
I was BORN to kill!

(On 'BORN', Raiden punches his reflection in the puddle, cracking the pavement underneath.)

(Jetstream Sam crosses his arms.)

The bit about my sword -- that "means of Justice" stuff?
I guess I needed something to keep "the Ripper" in-check when I was knee-deep in bodies.

[Monsoon, in a disgruntled voice]
You...

[Raiden]
But you -- all this -- is a wake-up call to what I really believe.
To what I really am.

[Monsoon]
What are you saying?

[Raiden]
I'm saying Jack Is Back.

(Raiden's eye glows a bloody-red.)

[Monsoon, in such an angry/frightened, unrecognizeable voice I didn't even know it was him talking]
KILL HIM!

(An armed man runs up to Raiden)

[Raiden]
No...!

(That same armed man impales Raiden through the upper abdomen with a katana, leaving it in him. Raiden laughs uncontrollably, making both Monsoon and Jetstream Sam gasp out of shock, possibly fear.)

[Raiden]
Doktor.

(A hologram appears, Doktor Wilhelm Voigt in the screen.)

Turn off my pain inhibitors.

[Voigt]
What?
This... this is madness!
You--

(Wilhelm Voigt is cut off by Raiden.)

[Raiden]
DO IT!

[Voigt]
All right...

(With a few beeps, the screen glows whiter while Raiden is shown in extreme discomfort. He bends down and begins pulling the sword back out. His eye is glowing red, a signal that Ripper Mode is ready to activate.)

[Raiden]
Pain...
This is why I fight.

(Raiden tears the sword out of his abdomen, yelling in anger as Ripper Mode is engaged. Blood dripping from his stomach, Raiden giggles.)


This is my normal. My nature.

[Monsoon, in disbelief/fear]
You've lost your mind.

(Monsoon motions for the guard to get the sword. Raiden grabs a blade and stabs it through his hand. Raiden grabs the blade on the ground and impales a second guard with it. Knocking a third one back, he swings the blade around, lopping two guards in half. He rips the sword out of the guard's hand, slices his arm off and finally dices him through the center, almost exactly where Raiden was impaled. He knocks the guard's legs to the ground next to Monsoon. Raiden giggles, pointing his blade at Monsoon and Minuano.)

[Raiden]
Who's next?

[Minuano/Jetstream Sam)
I'll take this dance.

(Sam, whose sword is unlocked and slightly brandished, walks up towards Monsoon and Raiden, cut off by Monsoon raising his right arm.)

[Monsoon]
No, Sam.
Report back to the chief.
He's mine.

(Sam puts his sword back in its' lock.)

[Jetstream Sam]
You're the boss.

[Monsoon]
I misjudged you.
You ARE like us after all.

[Raiden]
Now you're just being Nasty!

(Raiden laughs.)

That nickname you love so much --

(Raiden runs his fingers along the bloodied edge of the sword Raiden was impaled with.

Wanna know how I got it?

Actually --

(Raiden twirls the katana around, then points it at Monsoon.)

why don't I give you a demonstration?

(Raiden assumes a defensive stance, with his head down.)

I think it's time for Jack...

(Raiden throws his head upwards, satanically glaring at the meme man.)

to let 'er rip!

(The two faceplates on Raiden's head slam shut, closing off his face. The camera cuts to Monsoon as JAMIE CHRISTOPHERSON - THE STAINS OF TIME starts playing. As Monsoon smiles, his large circular faceplate shuts, and a battle ensues...)