Fractured Persona – killer7 #5
With Cloudman behind us, we’re pushing on through to another double-length chapter! This chapter, entitled Encounter, is split into two very distinct parts so, much like Sunset, I’ll be writing a separate article for each half. How fun! How many answers will this chapter hold? And how many new questions will come from the explanations? The only way to find out is to read along!
I hope to make these articles interesting for both newcomers to the game and those who have played through multiple times. But, I have one quick warning: in order to make this as detailed and informative as possible, there will be a large amount of spoilers. So, if you aren’t worried about learning the fates of the characters or having the ending ruined for you, keep reading. If you still plan to play this game for yourself and want to experience the plot twists firsthand, stop!
Target #03 – Encounter (Part 1)
“The guy in the main event is unlike any other!”
The first things we see as this chapter begins are rows of bullets. A few are carefully selected from the group and loaded into a handgun’s magazine. Classical music swells as the camera pans out a bit, exposing the interior of a classy limousine. The man loading the handgun slowly aims and opens fire on a scantily clad woman sitting across from him. We see the door of the limousine fly open and the man begins to make his way up the steps of a very large office building. His progress is shown through a first-person perspective. He eventually makes his way to spacious lobby, taking a good look around before opening fire on all those present. The last is a young woman who stares up at the man in horror. The screen cuts to red quickly before showing the man leave the building. He appears to be a bit older than middle age, with white hair on his head and face. As he approaches the camera, a small grin can be seen on his face. A freeze frame captures his left eye for just a moment before fading out.
The scene shifts to Garcian in his trailerhouse. Like every other morning, he listens to a telemarketing message left by the Republic Party asking for his vote in an upcoming election. Like every other morning, Garcian ignores it and makes his way to Harman’s room. The man behind the locked door is still screaming his head off, but Garcian still doesn’t seem to care. When Garcian enters Harman’s room, he sees Samantha abusing Harman again. This time she is forcing him to eat and eventually gets so fed up that she slams the contents of the bowl onto his face. This is a far cry from the awakened Harman we are used to seeing. Garcian wakes him up using the televsion. They speak of a man named Curtis Blackburn, who Harman refers to as a “surge.” Garcian recognizes the name and mentions that he killed Dan Smith years ago. Harman says his arrival on the world scene is an act of fate and that he’ll soon make his move. Garcian offers to take care of Curtis personally, but Harman says Dan is more than Curtis can handle.
Garcian leaves the trailerhouse and meets up with Christopher on the overpass. Christopher says Curtis has been keeping his head down for fifteen years by working for the government. There’s a rumor going around that he’s involved with organ trafficking, which is then used in production of the Heaven Smile. Christopher hands Garcian a flyer for a nearby amusement park. It seems Curtis is going after children’s organs at the fairgrounds. Christopher urges Garcian to hurry and take Curtis out. “The blood of innocent children,” Garcian says, “is unnecessary.”
The Killer 7 head to the amusement park called Ishizaka Land, or ISZK-Land for short. The security camera at the front gate changes Garcian into Con Smith, the youngest member of the Killer 7. Iwazaru is also waiting for the group at the gate. He reiterates Christopher’s words, urging them to hurry and kill Curtis before he can harm more children. While Iwazaru is as cryptic as ever, Travis eventually appears to shed some more light on the park. He says it’s been abandoned recently and has become a great place to hide out if you’re in trouble. But it’s always been a pretty bad place that’s linked to an orphan trading syndicate.
Just like Travis said, Ishizaka Land is abandoned…except for the Heaven Smile, of course. The Killer 7 make their way to the String Quartet area of the park and search the four large auditoriums for clues on Curtis’ whereabouts. Cinema 4 contains a treasure chest. Inside is a new outfit for Mask de Smith that makes him the Main Event, powering his weapons up and making difficult barriers easier to bypass. Travis is waiting for the group in Cinema 3 and sheds a bit more light on Dan and Curtis’ relationship. There’s a lot of history between the two, and Dan supposedly goes crazy at the mere mention of Curtis’ name. Travis says his bloodlust is so powerful that not even Harman or Garcian would be able to hold Dan back. Garcian recovered Dan’s body after he was killed, but Travis can’t recall where that was. He questions how much the others in the group know about the situation.
As the Killer 7 approach Cinema 3′s stage, the ghosts of Kurahashi and Akiba appear before them. If you don’t remember, these two were the Japanese politicians killed by Matsuken at the beginning of Sunset. Their bodies refused to die, but they were soon killed again by the Killer 7. They don’t seem to notice the Killer 7 standing before them, and appear to be having a conversation. Akiba asks Kurahashi if he likes war. Kurahashi replies by saying Akiba should already know his answer, because he doesn’t consider it war. Akiba mentions that the missiles from the beginning of the story hit their target in Japan, killing over 80 million people in an instant. The whole country was destroyed and the whole world stood by in silence. Kurahashi laments Akiba’s idealism, saying that this is the age of power. Akiba disagrees and says the rest of the world watched on and did nothing because they were afraid of what could happen to them. “The maggots,” he says, “live on.” Future events should be interesting to watch, they say, because their will continues to live on even after their deaths.
Travis is waiting for the Killer 7 in Cinema 2 as well. His recent conversations with the Killer 7 seem to be only directed at Garcian, no matter who is in control at the time. He mentions that Garcian doesn’t show much interest in the rest of the group, questioning if they even exist at all outside of being small parts of multiple personalities. He segues directly from the cryptic questioning into more information on Dan and Curtis’ history together. Curtis was Dan’s mentor in the Seattle Self-Defense Force and taught him all he knows about killing. Dan was suspected of betraying the Force and then killed in a back alley. Garcian recovered his body soon after. Pedro, another man who had connections to the Self-Defense Force, was behind the whole thing.
Cinema 1 houses another treasure chest, but this one opens to reveal Susie’s head lying inside. She jokingly says she loves the amusement park, only to relay a traumatic event that happened to her there. She hates crowds, especially the rude dads, fat moms, and crazy kids who scuff up her shoes. All these factors caused her to throw up in the park, and she was soon crowded by onlookers who wouldn’t give her space to leave. Susie reveals that she wouldn’t hesitate to kill them all. The park, she says, is the birthplace of murder after all.
Iwazaru and Travis show up once again outside of the Freaky Fun House. Iwazaru says the park is a thing of the past, hence the fact it’s abandoned. Travis says the fun house has been turned into some sort of odd masquerade, and the only way to get in is by wearing a mask. Luckily, Mask is always wearing his luchador mask, so the Killer 7 get inside easily. The Freaky Fun House is just that…incredibly freaky. As they near the exit, the Killer 7 come in contact with a Fallen Angel. The Angel doesn’t say anything, but gives Dan the all-powerful Demon Gun.
The next part of the park the Killer 7 have to journey through is called the Killer Mansion. As the Killer 7 explores the inside of the mansion, Travis shows up with more information on Curtis. Rumors are going around that Curtis has a few odd hobbies to keep him busy. He trades organs on the black market but, hilariously enough, that’s his public face. In private, he lives with a group of orphans. Girl orphans, in fact. And it all happens to be sanctioned by the government in order to keep him happy. Pedro, from the Seattle Self-Defense Force, acts as the middleman and controls the organ trade routes. The ties formed in the Self-Defense Force remain strong, it seems. Even Travis is surprised by the nerve of the whole situation and the people involved.
A quick appearance by Kess Bloodysunday leaves the Killer 7 with a few odd, cryptic thoughts. There are monsters behind every beautiful facade. The truth, he says, is a monster. Travis appears again to bring things back to reality. It seems Pedro was siphoning money to a foreign syndicate and skimmed a bit off the top to put in his own pocket. The Seattle Self-Defense Force signed a pact of brotherhood in blood, so traitors were and still are punished by death. Pedro framed Dan with the embezzlement by hiring him to launder the dirty money. Curtis took this opportunity to take Dan out. Kess appears again with some more odd ideas for the Killer 7: they need to expose those that hide in the dark. Expose them and pick them off…one by one.
The Killer 7 finally make it out of the amusement park and into the parking lot. Curtis is nowhere to be found. Instead, a young woman by the name of Ayame Blackburn challenges the Killer 7 to battle. She dresses in a cliched school uniform and a large mask that makes her look like a very exaggerated anime character. Even her opening speech is reminiscent of old Japanese superhero shows and cartoons. She introduces herself as the Chairman of the Education Guidance Council, who seeks to destroy all the “vermin” who inhabit the country.
After losing to the Killer 7, Ayame saunters off like it’s no big deal. A large bus pulls into the parking lot to pick her up, and the noise of children can be heard from within as the doors open up. The bus is emblazoned with the Ishizaka Land logo, and seemingly carries the children off to the slaughter.
Encounter (Part 1) – Complete
Encounter is an incredibly interesting chapter, to say the least. While the first part may not have much in the way of side stories or connect much to the overall arc, it pieces together parts of the Killer 7′s shady past…especially in the case of Dan Smith. The second part connects the chapter to the main storyline in a more direct way.
A few more of our conflicts pop up in this chapter. Good vs. Evil, or rather Heaven vs. Hell, is touched upon slightly by the appearance of our Fallen Angel. While much of the Killer 7′s symbolism has to do with demonic or Hellish forces, Kun Lan and the apparent antagonists of the game all have very Heavenly sounding names. In Biblical terms a fallen angel, as most of you know, is an angel that left Heaven with Lucifer after their failed war against the creator: God. In killer7, the Fallen Angel provides the Killer 7 with some much needed firepower in the form of a Demon Gun. Dan Smith is also referred to as the Hellion many times in this chapter. A Hellion in this case is an out of control, rowdy individual who shares characteristics with lesser demons.
The second of our conflicts expanded upon slightly in this chapter is East vs. West. The two dead Japanese politicians, Kurahashi and Akiba, continue to push plans forward for Japan’s expansion. Japan, as you’ll remember, was recently flattened by nuclear weapons after the United States refused to help defend them. Were these missiles launched by the United States? If not the US, then who?
Another part of the East vs. West conflict is shown by the appearance of Ayame Blackburn. While her relative Curtis is in no way Japanese, she seems to idolize Japanese traditions and cliches. Her whole character and appearance is a play on oldschool Japanese television programs, as well as recent anime series. She stands in the way of the Killer 7′s progress, but is hastily defeated. Why is she trying to emulate the Japanese in such a hackneyed way?
So, will Dan and Curtis finally have their monumental showdown? Will Dan achieve his revenge, or become just another tick in the list of Curtis’ kills? How was Garcian able to revive Dan in the first place, and how much do the personalities know about each other? These questions probably won’t be answered any time soon, but feel free to tune in next week for the exciting conclusion of Encounter!
