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At first, all he saw was scarlet. Pure, unfiltered rage. He couldn’t decide who was the one who made him so angry. There was Red who had started the domino effect which had led him to this point, The damned council who had replaced him, his replacement or… himself. He had been exploited into becoming a ringmaster in the suffering of innocent people. They had made him a monster. Their very own little happy puppet, to shelter people from the true nature of Eden.
Then he felt lost. That he was responsible for all this suffering. Nobody behind the TV screens would ever believe he’s innocent. His moral values were unknowingly torn from him and he would be the one to continuously pay the price for the actions of others, twisted minds. Rayman wasn’t him anymore. He found himself feeling as a separate entity. He wasn’t Rayman. Rayman is the monster on the TV screens, the face that plagues Eden’s properties. The one who was about to happily execute a hybrid on live television. That was not him. It was never him.
The Council had tugged too carelessly on the strings and had ultimately unleashed a new threat to their perfect routine of harming the innocent. Ramon had thought how stupid the idea was in the beginning, then he figured that showing the Council any mercy beyond this point would be a pathetic move of obedience and conformity to those who hid behind him while they stirred destruction.
He pushed his hair back and stuffed his guns into a duffle bag that was lying on the floor of a shoddy diner bathroom floor. He reeled it up over his head and clutched at the handle. He refuses to let another hybrid be killed, especially with his face plastered all over it. It’s not the only reason Ramon brings himself to reshape his identity. Bullfrog, the same hybrid he sat at a desk and spewed lies about, had provided his enlightenment. He understood him. It meant a lot to him that someone had some insight into how he was feeling because that night, on television, being called ‘scum’ just for being from another dimension stung. They punished him for calling that stupid asshole out on his comment as well.
The next hour passed rapidly. Ramon had soon found himself walking towards the room where the Council would be convening, observing the execution. The thoughts didn’t feel sinister anymore, they deserved what was coming to them.
Almost on schedule, a guard strolled out of the Council’s room. Ramon heard a small ‘huh?’ spill from his mouth as they both saw each other. It felt very curious. A mysterious figure somehow managed to find their way to a restricted area, where so many high and mighty people will reside at one time.
“Hey! You!” The man yells, “It’s a restricted area. Hands where I can see them.” Oh. This was going to be fun. “Hands? Sure.” Ramon almost grins as he raises one of his hands. The man in front of him aiming a gun and repeating the word ‘slowly’ at him as if he were a broken record player. His hand graces the air while the other arm remains empty. “Aw, where did you go?” Ramon looks to the empty arm of his jacket as his unrestricted hand peers from behind the man’s head and smacks itself against it, incapacitating him.
His hand retracts back to him. “Aw. There you are” He utters in mock adoration, “That’s a very naughty hand.” He lectures his hand for disappearing, although it was the best way to initiate that ‘accident’.
Ramon hears the feed as he inches closer to their door. That voice was all too familiar to him. That voice boiled his temper because it belonged to Rayman. He was speaking about a Rayman Kid, Delphine, who was going to be the executioner. That poor girl. He reiterated the thought in his head as he entered a room full to the brim of pure evil. No mercy.
He lifts his two guns and puts a bullet right into one of their heads as they acknowledge his presence. “What? Rayman-” before watching them fall down, visible blood splashing the table. Clearly startled, their leader speaks up. “What’s the matter with you?” It is honestly messed up to start shooting people out of nowhere but in this situation Ramon found it rather justified.
“Nobody makes a fucking move.” He growls. They should fear him. They expected the people to destroy him eventually for their behaviour and lies. They didn’t expect he would be there now aiming two guns at them and telling them to stay still. He was going to make them suffer, hold them accountable for all those that are dead and suffering because of them. “Sit the fuck down.”
“Rayman?” The leader questions. “Sit the fuck down!” Ramon repeats with a yell. That name is no longer his. He’s found himself a name that has not been torn to shreds by those around him. “Okay, okay, we’re sitting down.” He replies as the remaining Council members lower themselves back to their seats.
He doesn’t want to give them the respect of their names anymore. Another member intervenes. “You know we understand what you-” They’re kidding. They’ve got to be fucking kidding. They will never understand. Ramon interrupts him there. “I got no time for your bullshit.” He had more important business to handle like saving Bullfrog from his imminent death.
“The execution..” He grits his teeth, “Call it off. Now.” They clearly object to it but try to keep things calm anyway. Even though a couple of powerful dirtbags being held at gunpoint isn’t something you would consider calm. The same guy who suggested they understood responds. “Rayman, you know that’s impossible.”
Ramon decides they want to take the hard way then. He aims both guns towards the ceiling and holds down at the trigger releasing a flurry of loud bangs and bullets. “I don’t think you understand the shit you’re in. This is your last chance.” His voice lowers. “Cut it off, now.”
He hears the countdown begin as the Council finally gives in.
Ten, nine…
Frantic typing begins.
Eight, seven, six…
“Director speaking. Call the execution off. Right now.”
“You don’t have much time.” Ramon warns.
Five, four…
“I don’t care! We will deal with that later!”
Ramon feels a pit grow in his stomach. “Cut it off, goddamn it!”
It stops at three.
The weight in his chest is relieved as Rayman on TV yells “Wait!” followed by a gasp of shock from the audience. They covered it up, as a technical issue with the electric chair. It may not have exploited them as much as it could have, but he had saved Bullfrog.
“Okay, are you happy now? You have what you wanted.” Wow. What a question to ask someone whose life you basically ruined and turned into your protective shield for your immoral crimes. He can’t help but laugh at them, these idiots. “Am I happy? Oh, no.” He takes his aim. “No, I’m not.”
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Bullfrog was honestly a little confused. He had come to accept his death and suddenly with a scarce three seconds before he had forty thousand volts through him, the universe spares him. His survival mindset was practically gone at this point anyway, they could fix up the chair and then there’s their free entertainment back to its usual schedule. The executions of ‘terrorists’. He hoped that beyond all of this that he would get to see them again. He had labelled his regrets much to the disapproval of the audience. Those words were only meant to be understood by those who could understand that he, nor Dolph Laserhawk, nor the rest of the Ghosts were ever terrorists.
He finds himself escorted to another cell from the supposedly broken electric chair. It feels far too quiet for comfort and the air is uneasy.
His silence is interrupted by the sounds of fast paced feet. Bullfrog wonders if it’s a guard coming to make sure nobody enters his room. He assumes that’s the case until he spots a shadowy figure in the door frame. For one moment, Bullfrog thinks he’s actually having hallucinations of things because the silhouette looks like Rayman who he had talked to previously. The Rayman he met and began to understand was different to the one he knew as the figurehead for Eden.
They had punished him for having a moment of pure honesty. He thought Rayman was rightfully upset, that it was good to see that he had some soul in him and not this laidback caricature that the Eden corporation had presented him to be.
Suddenly, this silhouette drew closer to him. There’s no way it could possibly be..? That’s impossible. Rayman clearly was affected by the nature of the Council and how it was hidden from him despite him being in plain sight of it, but there was no way that the face of Eden was going to go risking himself to prevent his death. He was assisting with the execution anyway. He was next to him when he was sitting there waiting to die.
The last time they talked one on one, he had to admit he was worried about him. He was lying on the floor, juice leaking out his mouth before having to bolt out of there. He was glad to have provided enough of a distraction for him to escape, but he couldn’t help but still panic about what had happened next. Once he was out of the way, Eden would likely turn to Rayman next.
He thinks there is more to him than the TV makes him out to be. It was almost obvious. As he said, Rayman had one real moment where he broke and exposed that there was lots of emotion in him, that he was being played for a fool by Eden’s propaganda, that he was a genuinely kind face who wants to look out for people. Bullfrog thought what a shame it was that such a smile had been so wasted on something so hateful.
Then, there’s several gunshots and the glass collapses. “Hey, want to get out of here while we still can?” The figure asks. It was impossible unless… “They replaced you?” Bullfrog asked. “Yeah. A little while before we even got to speak with each other.” He replies solemnly, “I don’t know who that guy is but he can keep my name. He’s not me.”
He finds himself jumping over the glass, and without thinking, he intertwines his hand with the other’s. He was surprised that they didn’t separate then and there. “It’s Ramon now. My name.” Ramon almost squeezes his hands even tighter. “It suits you, mon ami.” Bullfrog gives him a little smile before turning his attention towards the room’s entrance.
“We haven’t got a lot of time.” Ramon looks on, “And fuck, if I wasn’t the terrorist before, I certainly am now.” He nearly laughs. “What did you do?” Bullfrog glances at the coat, washed with blood. “I may have blackmailed the same Council that replaced me to stop your execution and then I put a bullet in each of their sad, weak, little brains.” He scowls, still quite pleased with his actions.
“That guy who has replaced you. I thought there was something that wasn’t you about him.” He states. Ramon feels a strong wave of intrigue overcome him. “Was he a hologram or genuine?” He queries. Bullfrog shakes his head in response. “I couldn’t tell, which made him even stranger than before. Another thing, he definitely didn’t look as exhausted as you are.”
He hears large thuds from down the hall. They have to leave, now. “Please listen, mon ami. I can’t do this on my own now. I don’t believe I have anyone left besides you and if we’re going out there now, I need to know if we’re sticking together.” Bullfrog releases his hand from Ramon’s before he finds it scooped up again. “Like two peas in a pod.” He chuckles. “You understand more than anyone what’s going on in my head at the moment. I really want to have someone like that involved with my life.”
Suddenly, they were both on top of an abandoned building. The news was flooded that night with the ‘terrorist attack’ which had resulted in the deaths of the Council and the escape of the ruthless terrorist Bullfrog. They said that they couldn’t identify who was responsible but despite the lack of knowledge, whoever was responsible is a terrorist themselves.
“What did I speak to you about earlier?” Bullfrog, illuminated in the light of the screen, peers at Ramon next to him with a smug grin. “If I remember correctly, when will they start calling me a terrorist? Guess we found that out tonight.” He reciprocates the smile before leaning towards him.
Was that supposed to make his stomach do a flip? The handholding had felt natural but having Ramon bury himself into his side felt… different. Almost as if they were ‘two peas in a pod’ as Ramon had described the both of them. He melted towards him.
“I honestly don’t think I could tell you about my identity yet. I don’t understand myself anymore, but you give me hope that there is a better world we can build. If there’s a chance of a future without Eden, I want to forge that path with you.” Ramon’s breaths against his shoulder suddenly became very shaky. Bullfrog felt extremely flustered. “And maybe one day, we will understand each other more than any other person in this city.”
“Mon ami?” He flicks his hair. “Yes?” Ramon pushes himself up again as he lets Bullfrog’s fingers navigate his hair. “Your hair is down.” He acknowledged. “Yes?”
“C’est joli, tu es beau.”