“Let me tell you about an infection.”
“See, this infection started small and went unnoticed on the feel of his foot. The body it was on figured it won’t worth worryin’ about.”
“But then it began to spread.”
“It wasn’t just a little infection, it was a virus that once it got enough fuel began runnin’ wild through the rest of the leg.”
“Now, the man had a doctor look at it. The doc knew that if this virus was allowed to escape that limb it’d spread through the body and he’d never contain it.”
“So he got to cuttin’.”
“Blade slashin’ skin, sawin’ through bone. If just one little bit of blood contaminated above the thigh the man was done for.”
“Off came the leg.”
“And left behind?”
“One nasty, green, infected gangrenous stump.”
“The virus had spread.”
“It was in his veins.”
“And the funny thing about viruses?”
“Once they hit the lungs, they get into the air.”
“They spread from person to person.”
“And they infect everyone.”
“You’re one good doctor for the right price, ain’t ya?”
“I seen you walkin’ through Arcadia, all of those rich little piggies up on the top floors headin’ down to your little clinic for their headache meds while people from the floors below scrounge every credit for treatment for real injuries. But you ain’t care, right? You’re the best there is and you’re worth the money.”
“But there’s one patient you can’t sure, doc.”
“Arcadia.”
“See, the whole of Arcadia is like one big body, right? Everyone’s like a blood cell doin’ its job. And if there’s an infection then you go out of your way to treat those deadly plague spreadin’ folk as best you can.”
“But what happens when a level gets infected, Doc?”
“What happens when all the nastiest of the nasty and illest ills start to climb up those floors towards the top?”
“You might try and cut them off at the source, to treat them at the leg while you still can.”
“But the thing is, Death? I ain’t talkin’ about no two-bit vandals or cough-happy lepers.”
“I’m talkin’ about me, doc. I’m talkin’ about the Blood Runners who infest my compound.”
“We ain’t no bacteria you can give an anti-biotic to, we’re a god damn virus you can’t treat. We don’t wanna sit here in Arcadia’s foot, we wanna expand.”
“Hell, we’ve already begun to spread.”
“And now it’s too late for anyone to do anythin’ about it.”
“At Clash, I’m bringin’ my boys and I all the way to the top and I’m gonna spread like the plague I am.”
“You can try and stop me, try to cut me off before I enter that ring, but you already know it’s too late.”
“Because I’m in Arcadia’s veins, my boys are dug in deep. We’re gonna infect Arcadia, we’re gonna scatter to the rest of its limbs.”
“And we’re gonna spread to you, Death.”
“Now lay down, doc. Breathe your last raspy breath.”
“And listen as that dinner bell tolls.”