And then it happened again—the overwhelming feeling of… well, whatever it was. It was a crazed, intoxicated, adrenaline-soaked feeling of impulse welling up in her chest like a fountain of inspiration; the dope-soaked culmination of the moment in its entirety, and all the energy that the crowd produced funneling into her, to be transfigured into a catharsis of painted words. She alone knew what must be said; she alone knew how to say it. Thus, with reckless abandon and forethought to the wind, she opened up and channeled.
“Germany!” she howled, and they howled back.
“I said Germany!!!” she howled louder.
“You had one job.” Matt said, as the crowd roared, “You had one fucking job, and you couldn’t even do that.”
“I delivered her, Matt.” Patrick said, motioning towards the stage, “There she is!”
The crowd was packed into the large auditorium like a bunch of moshing sardines. Yet a few feet of space was graciously imparted to the few non-participants that stood at the rear walls, holding drinks, making out or trying to have fruitless discussions. Patrick and Matt used this as an opportunity to not only keep an eye on their mutual charge, but have their clandestine meeting.
“No, no, no, no.” Matt shook his head with contempt. “You didn’t deliver her… she showed up. Tell me, if she hadn’t decided to come here, but had instead run West, then what?”
“Well, she wouldn’t have…”
“Then what?”
“I mean, it wasn’t…”
“Then what, you idiot?” Matt repeated. “The question isn’t going to go away because you want it to. You fucked up and you got lucky that she didn’t bolt! Be some semblance of a man, drink your grog, and own up to it.”
Patrick paused for a second. He knew that Matt was once again dominating him, and he was once again allowing it. Oh, how he hated this man. “I don’t know,” he snapped. “Why is she so important to you, anyways?”
“I’m just about done explaining things to you.” Matt said, viciously. “So far, it’s been a pretty clear narrative of you not following instructions, and then subsequently messing things up. Now, because you’ve messed things up yet again, here we stand with me having to fix everything, as usual. Tell me this… why should we keep our word and bring you over?”
“Oh, like you were going to anyway,” Patrick said acidly.
“Excuse me?” Matt said, surprised.
“You can’t expect me to believe you were going to make good on your word. Not now… not after how complicated things have gotten.”
“Then why are you here, Patrick?”
“I’m here because…”
“Patrick. Why are you here?”
“Because…” Patrick attempted to restart, before being cut off again.
“I’ll tell you why you are here, you idiot.” Matt said with a tone that was becoming angrier by the moment. “Lena is here on good faith… a gesture on the part of your case officer, while he holds Vivika as collateral for the deal that is currently transpiring.”
“What deal is…” Patrick began to ask, before being run over by Matt who was now openly yelling.
“You, unlike her, are here solely to make amends. You are here because you did something that is beyond forgiveness… and there are certain ways that reparations are to be made.”
“What in the blazing fuck are you talking about?!” Patrick said, before he heard the voice of Lena screaming through the speakers, as the crowd silenced to hear her.
““Germany!” she began, and the crowd roared so loud that Patrick’s heart skipped.
“I said Germany!!!” she yelled again, and again the crowd roared with such ferocity, Patrick nearly pissed himself.
“Here we stand… brother with brother, sister with sister… hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder… and yet, do we really stand together? I say no!”
Silence swept over the crowd then, as confusion over the turn of events caught them abruptly. ‘What is she saying?’ they all seemed to ask, ‘what is she getting at?’ Ignoring their confusion, she continued her onslaught.
“I say ‘no’ to this preposterous claim that we, as one whole, stand together. For if we truly did, we would not merely be gathered as a group of common interests, as if to congratulate ourselves on holding equally dear a set of nuances and trivialities. We would not be exclusionary, as if to keep any challenging opinions at a comfortable arm’s length, while judging the acceptability of our neighbor by his performance of the secret handshake! No!
“If we truly stood together, we would rally under the banner of a meaningful cause! A cause that is just; a cause that is universal in its declaration; a cause that sings into the hearts of all men; a cause that transcends color, creed, religion, culture, lifestyle, and even language! It would be a cause to echo throughout the ages! A cause that would make the great, the powerful, and the evil alike tremble in fear at the very mention of our name!
“Such a cause would require no secret handshake! It would need no explanation, nor slogan, nor logo, nor creed. It would be such that even the very mention of it would manifest arms everywhere a word of it was uttered! It would be righteous through and through, so as to cause the farmer to lay down his hoe, and the miner to lay down his pick. The wife, the husband, the old and the young—all would forsake their individual identities to take up arms against the known enemy! Our justice would be swift; our judgment merciless! Our swords would be sharp, and our cuts true, to set the heads of our enemies upon the highest spikes of the burning battlements!”
The crowd roared in defiance, resonating with her words. It was as if a grand general was standing between them and an opposing army, giving strength to their limbs for an ensuing slaughter. Victory was upon them, and everyone longed for the taste of blood. Yet Lena was not about to let them taste it, as she continued to cuckold the masses.
“And yet here we stand—this motley few—clothing our skin in common colors, the way we wrap our hearts in common opinions. What good does it do us?! We dance a fool’s dance, singing songs that others have written! We give lip service to a theme we dare not expand upon, lest we suffer the indignities of rebuke! Oh this, I tell you: if our cause were truly just, so that all our ilk stood together as one, no one would dare stand against us!”
The crowd responded to the verbal haranguing with the mass hanging of heads, and silent murmuring. It wasn’t common for a speech to be uttered at such shows, and it was even rarer for the speech to be directed at wounding the crowd so deeply. This was the Mad Bunny, however; if she was bent on chastising them, well, they must have deserved it. Yet their heads began to raise as she began building them back up.
“I ask this of you, then, Germany! Would you know a cause if you saw it?!”
The crowd responded with a roar.
“If I were to give you a cause… a purpose… a common interest to give strength to your blows and an edge to your blades… would you be prepared to swing at the enemy?”
The crowd roared ever louder.
“Germany, are you prepared to follow me, if even into the depths of Hell itself?!”
The people roared with such conviction that Patrick shook nervously. Chests filled to bursting with ever-expanding hearts, and shoulders squared with the newfound posture of worthiness. Jaws set, fists balled, and millions of mouths opened, to erupt with agreement as one.