Endtown by Aaron Neathery for November 23, 2012

I think in her delirium Linda is flashing back to when she was first asked to go on patrol.

I think we have just seen Linda split from reality. Everything Linda does from now will not go well, and will be motivated by this moment. Some have guessed that Linda has not accepted what has happened to her. Here it is being shown that indeed she hasn’t.

“Now, let me explain the point system, and what the prize levels are. The really good gift certificates start showing up after you reach gold level.”

I am sincerely hoping that that last comment from the "fantasy will strike a pride or a conscious that is not what is expected by the vision.I am hoping also that the thought will come to her that Her brain would be the first taken after she has done her dirty work. Poor Linda has become a pawn. Blessed Be

Yes… that does go some way to explaining why Linda toyed with her victims, Wally and Holly. Making a game out of it meant that the horror of what she was doing became less real. She didn’t begin as an unusually cruel person at heart, but cruelty and hardness has been created in her, developed through use.

That reminds me… We haven’t seen what’s become of the PT brain in the cooler.

maybe there’s a reason why pete was trained to kill dittos, maybe it’s to keep the germs out, and the TS vehicles are the only place they can leave their suits

In panel three the topsider says mutants are carriers. Now wouldnt their brains carry the the virus as well or is it " brainwashed"? (Sorry, couldnt resist…:-))

GG, the doors open way too wide in a transporter to be an effective safe environment, plus they decontam when entering the domes, secondly if their domes are secure why are they in the biosuits 24/7?

And… I am your father… ;-)

Well, far as I remember, the only guy to call her “Kowalski”—-everybody else called her “Linda” or “Miss Kowalski”—-was the evil bastard Topsider who came on the video after Flask and Company discovered the rocket they attacked was a fake…#…by the way, this guy definitely seems to be a guy…Flask and Linda showed some serious unmutated curves when they were in their suits…

We do know this is a dream right?

While this may be a dream it doesn´t mean she won´t start doing it to them again in the hidden.

She had a conscience once…

She does have a conscience. She is talking to it now. Even though she has become a mutant the Topsider training is inside her taking over. As I said before 6 years or maybe more of Topsider training and indoctrination are not going to be erased by 3 months of Endtown indoctrination. The intense psychological indoctrination I was trying to think of yesterday was an old experimental attempt at mind control tried back in the 50 and 60s. It was called MK Ultra. Brainwashing an individual so intense so make them controllable by suggestions or broadcasts. COD Black Ops had it using numbers and the main character was brainwashed into understanding the numbers and carrying out the order. This was not fantasy. It was actually believed to be possible. NSA listened to broadcasts over the airwaves and picked up on series of numbers and patterns they believed were being broadcasted by agents in the US to other agents under deep cover. Programmed individuals just listening to the broadcasts to see if they were to carry out some plan. It was later deemed not to be real successful and probably improbable but not altogether out of the question. Her beating may have been the trigger to her indoctrination and deep seated instructions. Her Topsider side is there in the back still in control. My old military training is still back inside me. It comes out when I an engaged in a physical fight with a bad guy. I have to watch it as I am trained to use strikes and blows that can kill. I have to remember my job as a cop is to capture now not kill. My last fight I had to make a choice like that. The suspect was not activily trying to hurt me just run away. I had a hold on him that if I kept it up would have crushed his trachea in such a way he could not have been saved. I made the decision to release and he ran off. I did not chase as I was in a very dangerous area of town where one lone officer does not run off into the dark. We caught him later but you can see my military training took over almost resulting in a unnecessary death. The kid did not need to die so I had to pull my “monster” back. Linda is in the a similar boat. She is highly and intensely trained as a Topsider. Maybe even as an infiltrator but she only remembers receptionist. The beating brought out another deeper side. Gustine seen something like that in her Schism. She said when she looked into a mirror she could see inside her the human her wanting to get out and take her back. Her dream at the riverbank with other rhinos. What would Linda see right now if she looked into a mirror. A koala? or a Topsider inside a koala suit?Linda is far more dangerous to Endtown than Flask ever was. Flask was driven by searching for love lost. Linda is searching for her humanity.

This Topsider talking to her does sound remarkably like the one at the rocket site. Same cocky, arrogant, confident attitute. One can see the attitude of the Topsiders in his final remark about enjoying it and making it into a game. This premise would relieve the guilt problem if they had any. I imagine after 6 years or even more this is probably no longer an issue. Just the older ones may have developed some misgivings like Flask but the new ones coming along are just fine. I thought it was creepy how much he emphasized getting the brains. I would think as much as they have killed why would they need more? Problems with brain integration into machinery and devices? Deterioration over time? How long does a brain last outside the head? What preservation techniques do they use? Ewwww.

Oh now here is a thought.Linda is in a Topsider training facility. She is being trained to infiltrate Endtown by going out and being found by a scavenging team and taken to Endtown.The satellite is waiting for targeting. Was the satellite a surveillance or an orbital Zero weapon? We do know the blast can reach underground. As demonstrated by Flask killing the child monster.I just love conjecturing things.Aaron weaves a very good story.

Now the story begins.

I know. I guess my training was unique. I was taught even while fighting to be thinking, analyzing the situation in its entirety not just the moment. Most modern soldiers are just trained to fight not to think. The Spec Ops, Warfighters, Tier Ones are the ones uniquely trained in dealing with a situation, doing as much as necessary, and completing the mission. Officers panic most of the time. They as I have instructed ill prepared for what they are doing. I personally expect every contact to be a fight to the death. Sounds strange to hear that? You do not see me transmitting it as it is how I am inside mentally prepared. Outwardly I am calm collected making my contact with demeanor and professionalism. We use the color bar of mental conditioning. Black Red Yellow Green. Green is home with family secure and safe. Yellow is outside in the world. Watching for situations being prepared. Red is getting into a situation needing your full attention. This is the traffic stop. Black is panic. You are now life and death and lost control somewhere. Most officers due to the daily grind fall into the Yellow. When it goes bad they bypass Red going into Black and make a bad decision. I found it easier to be in the Red at the start and back it down once I know the situation is good. Downhill is easier than uphill. I have always tried to train my guys to be ready for war so that you have peace. Being ready exudes confidence. That can be seen and felt in the situation. Bad guys never attack someone who is ready. My instructions were to be ready all the time. You cant tell a bad guy by looking at them. Behavior makes bad guys not looks.

@rickD You may be right about Linda becoming unhinged.

BUT this also might be the beginning of her accepting what has happened to her as well. Only time, and Neatherly will tell.

I had forgotten that they used their brains to power their PT’s s and stuff. That seems more grotesque the more I think about it. If this guy is real, (I don’t think he is) them this could be the start of something Really Awful! But, how would he get his PT into her room un-noticed?

Linda wakes up with a pair of bloody hedge trimmers in her hands…

It reminds me of the scene toward the end of Richard III, when King Richard is troubled by dreams of the people he has killed.

The question is whether this is just a dream of Linda remembering her first trip topside or (as Veteran has suggested) the remnants of some sort of brainwashing program turning her into some sort “Manchurian Candidate”. At the moment I’m going with the former. Yesterday the Topsider didn’t even seem to acknowledge that Linda had turned into a mutant and today’s conversation sounds more like Linda getting ready to go on her first mission (probably the one where she got a kick in the face from Holly). Mind you I can’t claim that much success at predicting Aaron’s plot twists.

Indoctrination is in the eye of the beholder.You would consider Soviet indoctrination training of their soldiers as bad. They see it as good. Indoctrination is a word. Look up the meaning. It is neither bad or good.What did she learn for three months. How to groom her fur? They would attempt to remove any old Topsider habits and mannerisms to introduce new ones more favorable to Endtown. For one old habits could be and were bad for her. She got her ass kicked. How would you feel if you knew your new best friend was a ex jihadist who was once bent on kilingl all Americans suddenly without much fanfare moving in next door becoming your friend? When you ask them about it oh they say we read a paphlet about how this was wrong and changed their minds. When you knew how they grew up and for twenty years were trained to kill Americans as they saw us as Satan on Earth.Her “rehabitilation” at Endtown would be indoctrination in the true sense of the word. They attempted to remove the Topside dogma and conditioning. It seems to me like they (Endtown) failed to remove it. You are right however in this is a twist in the story and will be interesting to see out.

Panel 2 reminds me of Linda’s response in “Ask Linda” when someone asked about the topsider attitude towards mutants. They believed that life as a mutant was so horrible that killing one or erasing its memory was an act of mercy. Everyone who followed that particular topic (self included) piled on Linda for that, and I think that’s one of the reason “Linda” stopped responding.

@VeteranI don’t think it would even take that much. Just a signal from within endtown to a topsider base. Just something to triangulate on and that would be the end for endtown.

Wow. That speech is hitting a lot of psychological levers. Everything from “You’re just doing your job” to “Everybody else is doing it” to “It’s for their own good”, all nicely wrapped up and presented almost reasonably. What’s more worrying is that it sorta mirrors the speech from the guys at the bar…

Of course it’s a dream / hallucination—-how else could a Topsider transport get into Linda’s room in the boarding house inside Endtown?

Here is a real kicker. For one the PT in the room. The whole thing has been on a holographic stage. Many of the mutants holographic projections. The taller ones Topsiders wearing holographic type suits to a appear mutant. I wonder are her wounds fake or were they inflicted for real as part of the programming. You really remember things when you get them beaten into you. Our military will not admit to using those techniques but I remember some painful lessons in not winning the fight. Spesnaz in Russia use brutal training to get the point across. You remember the pain of losing so winning is at all costs

Here is one more.The whole thing was a set up to get someone inside Endtown. The promise is when the mission is successful they can be returned to the original state.“I dont want to do this” statement suggests this is part of a plan she has to carry out but now has second thoughts. The Topsider basically says no choice but to continue and if it gets difficult think of it as a game.Could there be a chance if she succeeds they can return her to a Topsider. This is getting really creepy.

Veteran, i hav to disagree. I was a soldier and a cop as well. First thing soldiers were taught was to survive the battlefield then employ the mission. As a cop youre taught minimal force. Linda maybe suffering from conflict of her topsider indoctrination as its now opposed to her new reality. Endtown orientation maybe a deprogramming of sorts. If so, it needs refinement. But this is all speculation. Only Aaron knows for sure

Remember, Linda is a mutant now. Topsiders will hav no love for her. They made that clear when they refused to let her talk to her kid.

I wonder if it isn’t Marx, again. Remember he did try to get her out of her cell, only to have to put her back. He would look frumpy in a topsider suit, and he can bend reality by using other dimensions.

Hey, did you know Crazytown is just a few blocks away from Endtown? Me neither, because it seems everyone’s favorite koala has accidently sleepwalked over there.

People please! Yes this is Endtown and odd twists do occur and speculation is fun, but sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. This is a dream sequence similar to the one Wally had on the ship when he juxtaposed Flask as his squad leader.Things we know:1) Linda is in Endtown. Marx brought them all here together and she has not left since, and2) Topsiders and PT’s do not just materialize in Endtown apartments,ergo what we see is not real, but is all in Linda’s head. She’s reliving the choice that set her on the road to her current condition. Remember, harvesting duty is voluntary. They may have fed her a potent sales pitch, but the decision was hers. Could be that’s a foundation point for her self hatred at the moment….;-)

Boy I wish it were Monday already…

Both Mr Neathery and I wear glasses. If the Topsiders were in control in our own world, we would be exterminated by them for being geneticaly imperfect. That would be a pity, because then there would be no more Endtown or Doc Rat. The Topsider worlds must be peopled with characters who are genetically perfect but unimaginative. I bet their webcomics suck.

I think Linda is being “invited” to have her brain separated from her body, and that she will “learn to like it.” That’s what I thought when I first read it. Nearsightedness (I am, too, but have implants) would be a no brainer for the Topsiders. Remember Albert’s partner was killed for a mole on his neck.

I can’t seem to edit my comment, but I am with the majority that she is dreaming and/or becoming overwhelmed by guilt.

I’d give odds that she is talking to herself in the dream sequence – and that when she awakens she will be just fine! You are who you want to be in dreams. They are combinations of past, present and what you aspire to be.