DC-Backstory Piece (EoA Cowboys)

DC walked forward, holding his stare as she planted each foot heel to toe. Metal pressed into her forehead and she stopped, the muzzle of the revolver now filled her vision and the lingering stench of gunpowder muffled her senses. "I deserve this." She told him, "So I won't fight you. I know I deserve it. I've done horrible things, so many horrible things--some I remember through the eyes of another. It didn't feel like me, but it was. I cannot deny them, so I claim them." She forced each muscle to loosen, never lowering her eyes, "I became what they made me. A robot. A killer. The Heartless. Carnage. The Plague. Queen Death. I earned every name they gave me twice over or more. Not wholly by choice. I chose this life, not this path. I am what they made me. Exonerated of fear, mercy and free will. Just as I earned every ounce of self-loathing when I looked in the mirror. So did you. You are no different than I. They made you into a beast, just as they made me. So if you are going to shoot me, shoot me now. I deserve it. Just know that we are the same."

He watched her for a moment, then drew back his hand, "You can fight this demon, Deirdre, I cannot." He put the revolver to his temple and pulled the trigger. The world exploded. He exploded. Skin. Bone. Brain. Blood. He crumbled. She took a breath, swallowed. Recomposed. Then, steadier than before, DC reached up and wiped a mixture of blood, brain matter and bone from her face and turned away from the body on the floor.

As she turned she saw Raja in the corner, her daughter, still so small, looked back and forth between DC and the body again and again. Then, quietly, she asked, "Mommy, who was that?"

DC shrugged and kept walking past the girl, "Your father." She answered, and left the girl in the room with the body.

Avendeo (Tentative Welcome Speech P. 1)

A few words, if I may, about Avendeo. This is not your crack dealer's prison. Solitary confinement is not a punishment, it is a requirement. There is no such thing as protective custody or parole. We don't have 23hr lockdown because these shitbags never see the light of day. We house convicts. Don't let any of these guys fool you, they deserve to be here.
None of these guys are new to prison. They are old-timers, every last one of them and they sure as hell know they signed up for the long haul.
At Avendeo there are no suicide watches because we don't care if they live or die. The ACLU and ACA accreditation are meaningless here. If you worked at another prison before this get all of that out of your head. These guys don't have human rights, they don't officially exist. All that red tape and bull shit doesn't apply.
We believe in hand grenades over hand cuffs not hugs. Feelings, fears--all of that gets left outside the door. Your god gets left at the door. There is no room for religion in this place. Don't like it? Don't stay.
There has been a saying tossed around in our line of work for years now, "Abandon all hope, for your gods have abandoned you." We take that to heart here at Avendeo, and we add a little piece of our own: We are the gods now.
You are these convicts gods and you better control these shitbags lives because they will control you. Given the chance they will kill you, so kill them first.
Don't get all up in their emotions asking about their day and sneaking letters out to their mom. Their mom thinks that they are dead. It is better that way.
You are soldiers, not weak little civilians, it will do you well to remember that.