Chapter 7 - Back To The Past
July 30th, 1984
Room 9
National Security Agency Facility, United States
Adler woke up to find himself strapped onto a chair in an interrogation room. He looked around, studying the room. It was the same exact interrogation room that Mason was in 16 years earlier.
Hudson: Focus. Try to remember.
Adler: [grunting]
Hudson: You can stop all this now.
Mason: It's no use - We're running out of time.
Hudson: You've been off grid since Algeria. What were you doing in Verdansk?
Adler: Mei... Need to get back to... Toronto... [struggles]
Hudson: Not Toronto. Verdansk.
Adler: You don't understand! I was in Toronto!
Hudson: You were last seen in Verdansk 7 days ago. You never left the city.
Adler: I swear, I'm telling the truth!
August 2nd, 1984
Two days have passed, and Hudson hasn't gained any valuable information from Adler yet. All he was able to obtain was Adler's time-travel adventures in 2002 Toronto and the friends he have made there.
Hudson: Tough son of a gun won't talk. Let's start the real work.
Adler: [angrily] I did what you cowards wouldn't! Stitch's operation in Verdansk has to be destroyed! And he knows about Toronto! I need to help them! Get me out of this chair!
Mason opened the door to the interrogation room and entered. He fixed the light before starting.
Mason: First, we're gonna fix you. Trust me. This is going to hurt.
Mason then said the numbers to reverse Adler's programming from Stitch.
Adler: [grunts]
Mason: 16. 23. 9. 8. 14. 22. 5. 18. 18. 7. 11. 14. 2. 12. 3. 0.
Adler: [yells]
As Mason said the numbers, images of Vietnam started flashing back in Adler's mind. Then, it all stopped. The voice in his head. The loud ringing. The pain. The memories.
He was finally cured.
Verdansk, Soviet Union
Meanwhile, Stitch and a Perseus operator named Benito "Fuze" Ortega were in a German WWII bunker underneath Verdansk, trying to defuse Adler's explosive devices.
Fuze: You always find me the best toys.
Stitch: You can defuse it?
Perseus Soldier #1: [radio] Stadium Search Team - we've found more devices.
Fuze: [to Stitch] Kill it - signal could set this off. [studies the charge] Of course... seismic charge. Primary rigged to blow secondaries in the borehole. Sophisticated. Very nasty. This has CIA written all over it.
Stitch: I know who did this.
7 seconds left until detonation. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. Fuze cut the orange wire, stopping the timer. He sighed in relief. He had successfully stopped Adler's plan.
Or so he thought.
Explosions rocked across Verdansk. The stadium collapsed. Streets broke apart. Buildings collapsed. It was a massive scale of destruction never seen before.
Stitch: Adler - we have unfinished business.
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Hudson: Got reports of multiple explosions in Verdansk. Sounds like our boy did a number on the place. Get him up - We need to go.
Adler was in an unconscious state befote Mason untied him from the chair and snapping his fingers in front of his face, waking Adler up.
Adler: [gasps] Oh God. What have I done?
Mason: Shake it off. It wasn't you. We're going to finish what you started.
Mason helped Adler off the chair while Hudson handed him an .410 Ironhide shotgun. Woods was also with them.
Hudson: We've got a job to do.
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Adler and his team deployed at a heavily-destroyed Verdansk to confront Stitch for the final time.
August 17th, 1984
After 15 days, the team eventually found Stitch in a distant wooded field from Verdansk. The team's helicopter landed on the field, and Adler got off the helicopter as the others followed.
Mason: [pats Adler's shoulder] This one's all yours, brother.
Adler went ahead for several minutes to confront Stitch, who was standing near a tombstone. Adler readied his 1911 as he faced his archnemesis.
Stitch: Adler. You took your time.
Adler: It's over. Your sick experiment is done.
Stitch went silent for a second until speaking again.
Stitch: 12. 19. 14...
Adler: Don't waste your breath. [taps on head] I'm clean.
Stitch: I figured. Heh. It was worth a try. My work was finished before your little act of rebellion. This changes nothing.
Adler: Tell me where Perseus is.
Stitch: You never understood. Perseus was never one man. It's an ideal. Bigger than any of us.
Adler: Spare me your monologue. [angrily] Where the heck is Perseus?!
Stitch: [points at the tombstone] Right here. Cancer took him in '83.
Adler went over to the tombstone and saw its inscription. He slammed his fist on the tombstone, disappointed that he never got to meet and finish Perseus off.
Adler: No.
Stitch: A great man with great vision. He was not the first Perseus, just as I will not be the last.
Adler aimed his 1911 at Stitch again.
Adler: You're coming with me. There's blood on your hands.
Stitch: [chuckles] Big words from "The Scourge of Verdansk".
Adler: Screw you. I wasn't in my right mind. You saw to that.
Stitch: And what of Meilin Lee, hm? Was it your "right mind" to leave her?
Adler: How the heck do you know about her?
Stitch: [laughs] Did you really think that voice in your head was just from the numbers programming?
Adler was shocked. Hearing Stitch say that, it was implied that Stitch saw and heard everything when Adler was in 2002 Toronto.
Adler: You sick man... you've seen everything.
Stitch: A pity I had to see a future with the Soviet Union gone. After you returned to Verdansk, I had to see it myself.
The red door! He knew about the red door!
Adler: [angrily] What have you done to Mei and her friends?!
Stitch: Relax, Adler. All I have done was observe. Her, and her friends, and this "4-Town". It's a shame Mei cannot go to that concert with her friends, because of a certain someone.
Adler: I swear, if you've done something to them, you're finished.
Stitch: You Westerners. So squeamish. Look at where we are... This was the Eastern Front. The blood of millions of my people soaked deep into this soil. Men and women who paid the ultimate price for what had to be done.
Adler: You're a monster. I should kill you for what you did. For what you did to me and Mei.
Stitch turned around from Adler and stared into the distance.
Stitch: My life no longer matters. Do what you will. Finish what you started on Rebirth Island. My broadcast was complete. I have changed the world, Adler, in many ways you can't even imagine.
Stitch closed his eyes, accepting his fate.
A gunshot then echoed through the woods.
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Sometime between August 17th, 1984 and August 24th, 1984
Stitch was now gone. Adler was free from his programming. But he felt that he had to do something else...
After executing him, Adler went back to his team to clear out the remaining Perseus forces still in Verdansk. There, he asked Hudson for permission to return to 2002 Toronto to apologize and say one last official goodbye to Mei, her family, and her friends before staying in 1984 forever. Hudson, reluctant that Adler may do something dumb there, allowed him. Mason and Woods expressed interest in travelling to the future. Hudson reluctantly followed them.
Adler and the team made it to the building that had the red door, which had now been demolished due to Adler's explosive charges setting off. However, the red door was all that remained.
Adler: Let's do this.
Adler opened up the door and jumped in.
Woods: Fricking future, here we come.
Woods jumped in, followed by Mason. Hudson looked back, sighed, and followed them into the door. The red door closed once all four had went in.
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