Black Tusk Comms: Heroes and Villians

## Heroes and Villians

### Description

Two Black Tusk operatives discuss their pasts and their shared beliefs in the need to do what is right, even if others hate them for it

### Speaker(s)

Julia "Aardwolf" Cohen Caleb "Timekeeper" Franklin

**Aardwolf:** I heard about what happened.

**Timekeeper:** You'll have to be more specific.

**Aardwolf:** In Afghanistan. The *"friendly fire incident"* with the drone.

**Timekeeper:** Oh? Listen, if you're gonna judge me for it, I don't want to hear it. I already got more than enough of that shit. I made a choice. Those insurgents had a MLRS. If I hadn't taken that shot, 32 Marines would be dead instead of just two. There wasn't time to get those guys out! I saved the rest of the unit's lives because of what I did. And how did I get treated?

**Timekeeper:** Dishonorable discharge, had my goddamned house burned down by self-righteous activists, and I got my jaw, six ribs, and collarbone broken by those ungrateful fucks. Said I was a traitor, a murderer. They would've all been going home in closed caskets if I hadn't pulled that trigger! I was a goddamn hero!

**Aardwolf:** Hey. Chill, man. I was gonna say I admire you for doing that. You're right, you made a difficult choice, but it was the right one. I read the report, I saw the footage. There wasn't going to be time to save those two Marines before those rockets took them all out. It's wrong what they did to you. You deserved a medal, you deserved to be respected for acting when most others would've just froze.

**Timekeeper:** That's the first time I've heard anyone see it my way. People are so quick to judge. You know many times I heard *"I would've done things differently*" or *"If I was behind those controls, I would've done this or that"?* Well, guess what fuckface? You weren't there! If I could've saved those boys, I would've! But there wasn't time! *"Oh, just aim a little higher"* That's not how that goddamned works! None of these pundits, armchair Generals, or civvies had the context, most of them probably never even bothered to research the details. I was an easy target, a scapegoat for people to take their anger out on.

**Aardwolf:** I feel you, man. When I was a cop, I saw this rabid dog mauling this dude. There was this whole crowd, thirty something people. Couple big guys in there too, could've helped the man. And they're just standing there, cameras out. One of them was livestreaming it. A man getting his throat torn out, begging for help, and I heard some of those pieces of shit laughing.

**Aardwolf:** By the time I got over there, the dude was beyond saving. But it went for the wife, I knew what I had to do. One quick shot. Of course, wife thanks me. I did save her life after all. But the crowd lost their shit. You know how death threats I got? How many times my apartment got vandalized by animal rights groups. Called my an animal abuser. Animal abuser?! I didn't kick a crying puppy! It was a blood-soaked, feral, rabid dog that had already taken one life and was about to take another!

**Aardwolf:** Top it all off, chief takes my badge and my gun. *"Reckless public discharge"*. The fucking nerve! I saved a woman and I get treated like I'm the villian. The hell was I supposed to do? Tell it to stop or I'll shoot? Take out my taser and hope that unreliable piece of shit connects and hope further it actually does something? I know it's not quite the same, but...

**Timekeeper:** No, it is. You and I, we've both made choices other wouldn't have the strength to. We did what was right, and were treated like villians instead of heroes. But things are different now.

**Aardwolf:** That's why we're Black Tusk. Now we have the capability to do what's right, and a leadership who respects that. We can make the hard choices and do what's best to protect everybody.