Democracy vs Corporatocracy

Chapter Thirty Five: Dreamers, Scardies and Egotistics.

Marcus was looking right at the last two people he ever wanted to see, his mother and step-father. He was visibly shocked but calmly asked "Why are you two here?" Albert furiously said "We WERE here to buy a ButlerBot, but now we're here to demand answers you UNGRATEFUL BRAT!" That was when one of the women in the crowd recognised them and said "Hey, your that Corporate executive whose step-son was kidnapped ten years ago". A man next to her realised the same thing and was confused for as to why Krieger called his step-son an ungrateful brat and asked "Yeah, why are you so angry? Aren't you glad to see him?" Krieger's face turned white as he tried to explain. He had told the lie of Marcus being kidnapped over and over again, but now people were beginning to think differently. That was when two Army of Freedom soldiers bought a strange device to the stage and Marcus said aloud "This is the memory analyser, we stole it from a MegaCorp convoy last month and ten days ago, we used it to scan my memories". Albert worriedly said "There's no need, because all of these people know that it's just happy times". Sergeant Lau looked at Krieger and said "You just lashed out at him! You really expect us to believe that!?" Lieutenant Cannon walked over to the display station with a flash drive and said "Show this on the billboard". The man she said it to frantically obliged and plugged the flash drive in. The footage of Marcus's memories then played. What the people saw shocked them. Marcus was sitting at a table, reading a book about economics when he started to fall asleep. That was when he heard a loud bang on the table and looked up to see Krieger's angry face. Krieger furiously said "GET BACK TO STUDYING!!!!!" Another memories played, where Marcus was reading a book about banking and was desperate to go to the toilet. That was when he begged to Albert, who was watching him from another chair "Can I please go to the toilet?" Albert walked over to him and slapped him in the face! The crowd gasped in shock and Krieger had a bad feeling about the next memory. Marcus was sitting at the table studying banking and economics at eight thirty pm, He begged Krieger "Can I please have something to eat?" Krieger took his belt off his jeans, marched over to a fear filled Marcus and hit him with it!" The crowd was horrified at this memory and looked at Krieger with anger in their eyes. The memories stopped a woman with her two children angrily said "How could you do all of that!? He was just a KID!" The people started booing him and a few women even threw their shoes at him.

Two A.F soldiers grabbed Albert and Karen and dragged them onto the stage. They were right next to Brothering, as Marcus said into the microphone "I wasn't kidnapped, I ran away because of them". He pointed at his 'mother' and step-'father' and the people started angrily booing them. They were understandably furious and were in full support of Marcus. Marcus then said truthfully "My father, Joseph Libertad, was a nice and honourable man. He loved me with all his heart and taught me everything I know. My 'mother' meanwhile was never around because she was always on business trips and I barely got to know her". Quite a few women looked at Karen with disgust in their eyes as Marcus said "Since she was never around, my dad was practically a single father. It was he who taught me how to walk and how to ride a bike, not my mother!" Marcus then turned to Karen and asked "Tell me, why were you never, literally speaking, never around?" Karen finally admitted "When I married that building manager, I was a foolish young woman. But after I finished college and got the job at MegaCorp I understood ONE thing". Marcus looked at her with a hateful gaze and asked "What is that?" Karen laughed and said "It's that he was a poor old building manager who barely earned 20,000 dollars! I was busy making sure I had a decent husband". Marcus then put two and two together. He gritted his teeth and said "So you were cheating on Dad that whole time!" Karen laughed and said "Why would I spend my time with a stupid Brownie!?" She then froze upon realising what she had just said in public when she heard the crowd start slandering her. The term "Brownie" was a racist one, meant to insult people of Latino and Hispanic descent. Marcus walked over to Karen and slapped her in the face. The people cheered at this as Marcus said "You are NOT my mother and you NEVER WILL BE!!!!!" Applause was heard from the crowd. As the pain subsided on Karen's face, she and Albert looked at the people who now hated them with a passion. Albert gazed at Marcus and angrily said "Marcus Krieger! Look at what you've done! You have ruined our family's reputation!" Marcus paused for a moment, but calmly said "That's not my name". Albert scoffed and said "Yes it is". Marcus responded with "My name....is Marcus Gabriel Libertad, just as my fathers was Joseph Manolo Libertad". The people cheered at Marcus's statement to his former parents and started chanting at Karen and Albert "YOU are NOT his PARENTS!!!!" They chanted this five times before Marcus said "You are also not Julia's parents". Sergeant Lau looked at Marcus and asked "Whose Julia?" Marcus looked at the crowd and said "My sister". The A.F soldiers looked at Marcus with shock as Jane said "I didn't know you had a sister". Marcus explained with regret "When I ran away, I wanted to take her with me. But if I did take her with me, then we both would have starved to death. For ten years I have regretted not taking her with me, but she will be much happier with the League".