AJ 12/18/20 AJ 12/18/20

Persona 5 - Goro Akechi

In the Persona world, the last year has been full of turmoil. First there was the rise of vigilantism with Phantom Thieves become harbingers of justice. The public adored them and their heart stealing ways. Their brand of justice caused the offenders to confess to their own crimes, making it impossible for them to avoid the punishment. The authorities were made to look like fools, which they certainly did not appreciate. Then their beef with Medjed caused a new round of instability. All the goodwill they had gained with the public seemed to wither away. As an unintended side effect, the public perception of government also took a hit. In all the chaos, star of one politician is on the rise. Masayoshi Shido has been making waves about bringing law and order back to the country. He has been vocally critical of the present government, and the public seems to agree with him. He is all but confirmed to be the next prime minister.

Shido is also the puppet master who has been pulling all the strings behind the scenes. His plan was put in motion years ago when he had Futaba’s mother killed off to stop her from publicizing the existence of the Metaverse. From there on out he set up a massive conspiracy to aid his rise to power. Teachers, officers, politicians, businessmen, all were recruited to help Shido with his ambitions. He set in motion the events that would ultimately see the Phantom Thieves branded terrorists. Joker and Shido go way back, even though neither Joker nor Shido remember their first meeting anymore. He was the old man who was punched by Joker when he tried to molest a woman. Shido then used his power to make sure Joker’s life was destroyed. In the past, Joker had one more run-in the Shido. It is a little implausible, Joker does not remember the man who ruined his life, but it was necessary to set up the twist of finding out who Shido is near the end of the game.

Goro Akechi is Shido’s illegitimate son. Shido abandoned the mother when he found her to be pregnant. That kind of scandal was going to be an obstacle in his path to power. Even though he avoided the scandal, Akechi and his mother were disgraced and forced to live in shame. As a result, Akechi grew up alone and an outcast. This abandonment almost drove Akechi to the point of insanity. He was obsessed with exacting revenge on Shido, who he saw (and rightly so) as the reason for his suffering. To get access to his estranged father, Akechi went to work for him. He started using his powers to become Shido’s most prized hitman. He would get into the metaverse and use it to kill anyone who stood in Shido’s way. Akechi was the black masked stranger mentioned by some of the palace bosses. We saw him kill Okumura. Shido has been using him for his nefarious purposes. At the same time, he also sees Akechi as a threat. One that he will not hesitate to eliminate at the first sign of danger.

Akechi works as a foil for Joker. They both are outcast who chose to go in completely different directions with their lives. Both their lives were ruined by Shido. While Joker uses his powers to overcome adversity and help others, Akechi uses them to go work for the very man he despises. He kills multiple people while Shido gets more powerful. The friends make the difference. When Joker finds himself in a new school, he meets Ryuji and forms an unbreakable bond. He also seeks out other people in similar position and befriends them as well. All these relationships ultimately keep Joker grounded. When he ends up in the Metaverse, the frightening truth of the alternate reality does not disturb him as much because he has friends to share the emotional burden of this finding. On the other hand, Akechi has been alone all his life. He suffers through the horrors of Metaverse all on his own. There is no one to share this burden with. Over time constant exposure to this world probably took its toll on Akechi’s mental condition. Burning hatred for the man he was forced to work for did not help either. Akechi is what would have happened to Joker if circumstances were just a little difference.

The Thieves meet him one more time in Shido’s palace. His strength and shrewdness are second only to Joker. One is left wondering what this young man could have achieved if Shido had not ruined his life. By the end, Akechi does see the error of his ways and comes to recognize the importance of friendships the Phantom Thieves have formed. Shido, seeing Akechi as a threat, kills him off in the metaverse. Since he is not inside his own palace, we are not sure if Akechi really died or just went into hiding. He is not seen again; no dead body is found. Shido and his henchmen are looking for him in the real world, but to no avail. I hope he survived and started a new life somewhere far from the toxic presence of his father.

Getting to know more about Akechi gives our friends a better idea who they need to be going after next. Shido will be becoming the Prime Minister soon. Once he does there is nothing stopping him from killing off all of Joker’s friends. It is imperative the Thieves put a stop to this man before he becomes a threat to their survival. To find his palace, the whole party goes to the National Diet building. This is where the work of governance happens. Surely Shido would consider this place to be his birthright. With time running out, the thieves need to quickly figure out the form of the palace and put a stop to Shido. Only thing to bring his popularity down at this point is a confession of his own crimes.

05-21-2020

AJ 12/17/20 AJ 12/17/20

Chrono Trigger - Frog’s Past

**I can not get over how gorgeous these maps are!**

After wrapping up adventures in pre-history, Crono and friends hurry to the Medina village. When I visited the village this time, I realized this does not exist in alternate timeline. It is a different continent in our time, where the fiends rule. The humans and fiends exist in the same time, only at different places. The war probably resulted in a stalemate with fiends taking over one continent while the humans living on the other. When the party jumped into the pool of water, then travelled through space, not time.

**Chrono Trigger is masterful at creating emotional narrative without using words!**

Crono, Lucca, and Marle make their way to the house of lone human on this continent. Melchior is surprised to see Dreamstone but he does not waste time asking us where we got it from. Instead, he starts preparing to mend the Masamune. Lucca helps him, while Crono and Marle wait. With the sword complete, Crono decides to bring it back to the past in hopes of persuading Frog to join the party.

I have to stop here and just gush about how good this game is at creating emotional narrative without using too many words. When we see Lucca and Melchior mend Masamune, the whole world fades away into white and only the sword, stone, and the two creators are left. It is a powerful scene that conveys the strength of the sword without dialogue. The player is left in awe of the blade and what it signifies. The choice of white is also interesting. Masamune is to bring light to the world. We later see Magus trying to summon Lavos and everything is dark. Ultimately his decision brings about destruction and darkness. This scene fills the player with hope, while that one fills us with dread.

With the sword remade, Crono decides to bring to its rightful wielder. Through the Cursed Woods we go and find Frog at his usual abode. He starts off telling Crono he is not coming, but his voice trails off when he sees Masamune. He asks his friends to stay with him for the night while he sorts out his feelings. Cutscenes follow, shedding light on how Frog came to be in his current form.

Cyrus was one of the knights in Queen Leene’s court. He was a fearsome fighter and defender of the crown. In an effort to win the war against the fiends he went out looking for Magus. He wanted to put an end to the man responsible for bringing so much pain and suffering on the humans. Cyrus left with the blessing of his King and Queen. The Knight took no soldiers with him save one who was his dear friend. Glen was no soldier, but he had known Cyrus all his life. The Knight trusted no one else the way he trusted Glen. When the duo finally faced up to Magus, his generals were there with him. Cyrus was no match for the might of these fiends. He realized this was the end, but his friendship and duty were still on his mind. He asked Glen to make a run for it while he tried to stop Magus here. Cyrus wanted Glen to go back and protect the Queen. Glen was as loyal a friend as Cyrus and there was no way he would leave his companion to die here alone. Magus, in all his cruelty did not kill Glen but turned him into a Frog as joke.

Frog’s reluctance in taking the mantle of the Hero was due to the fact he was never the Hero with the medal in the first place. That was Cyrus. It did not help seeing Cyrus die before his eyes while he was unable to protect him. The trauma of the day still haunted him. Even though he rescued the Queen from her captors, Frog saw himself as a failure. He felt he could be of no help to anyone, which forced him to come hide in the Cursed Woods. Seeing Crono do the impossible task of finding and fixing Masamune made Frog realize he was running away from the duty bestowed on him by his dying friend. He resolves to not run away anymore. When the rest of the party wakes up in the morning, Frog is ready to go take on Magus.

A new chapter in Crono’s adventures is beginning and our heroes are out to save humanity again.

12-03-2020

With Masmune in hand, Frog leads the party to the Magic Cave. Here we find more about Glen and Cyrus. Glen was always a small kid. He was often bullied by other kids. Cyrus would step in to save him whenever he witnessed the bullying. He told Glen to toughen up and hit back, but Glen could never bring himself to raise his hands against his tormentors. He had been cursed with empathy. Glen knew how much it hurt when he was hit. He could not inflict that kind of pain to another, even if that person was his bully.

**The game does a good job building up this relationship.**

**Cyrus was presdestined to be a knight**

As they grew older, Cyrus announced he was going to join the King’s military so he could one day become a knight. Glen always knew that was Cyrus’ destiny. Honor and duty mattered to him, and there was no other path where he could be more honorable than one where he was dutybound to his King and Queen. Cyrus suggested joining the military together, but Glen also knew he could never do it. At the time he made an excuse of being too cowardly to be in a battlefield. But both knew that was not true. Glen was brave and he showed courage many times over. But he could not follow a career where he would be asked to inflict pain on others. His empathy for others had only grown stronger as he grew older.

Once Cyrus chose to go after Magus, Glen could not let his friend go into danger alone. Even though he did not condone doing violence to others, Cyrus was his childhood friend. If Glen did not take care of him then who would? And He never left his friend’s side. Even as Cyrus lay dying Glen was by his side. And for his empathy he was rewarded with a curse of being transformed into a giant amphibian. When Frog woke up, he made his way back to the court to fulfill his friend’s dying wish. He swore to protect Queen Leene. But her abduction was a blow to his confidence. Seeing Masamune in all its glory finally reminded him of the promise he made to his friend. Frog is now ready to finish the job Cyrus died for.

**That is one spooky looking keep! Top notch atmosphere building!**

Frog uses Masamune to cut open the cliff that guards the entrance to the Magic Cave. Once inside a bat joins the party. Since it is just hanging out around them, no one pays much attention to it. On the other side of the cave is the Fiendlord’s Keep. It does not seem like anyone is home. There are shades of people who resemble our friends and family, but they are not real. There is no way to interact with then. In fact, Crono goes right through them.

After exploring the whole keep and not finding a soul, Crono returns to the main hall. A nasty surprise is waiting for our friends here. Ozzy is back and he lets Crono know Magus us too busy to worry about this riffraff so he will be taking care of us. And he will be helped by the other two generals. It means there are going to be three boss fights followed by a longer boss fight. Maybe I should have been grinding up a bit.

12-05-2020

**Ozzy is so deliciously hateable as a boss.**

AJ 12/16/20 AJ 12/16/20

Persona 5 - Traitor Revealed

Once the flu season hit in the game, I knew I had to level up all of my party with the Reaper exploit. Reaper only comes out when the player spends more than 5 minutes on a single floor of Mementos. Like any respectable optional boss, Reaper poses a tough fight. He has high defense and high attack. To make it even harder, he has one hit kill attacks as well. As the seasons change outside, different status effects come into play inside the Mementos. During the Flu season there is a random chance of the enemy to enter battle with the status effect of Despair. The enemy does not attack and dies in (I think) three turns. Once we enter Mementos during this time, the only thing to do is to wait until Reaper shows up and enter the fight. If he does not have the Despair effect, then escape the fight and keep doing it until Reaper with Despair shows up in the battle. He will die in three turns and the party will get tons of experience. Only a few battles in and all of my party was level 99. I did not do it the first time I played (since it felt too much like cheating), but I was itching to check this out right from the beginning of the game. I believe Persona 5 Royal got rid of the exploit. As it was explained to me, Despair stops the enemy from attacking but does not kill them. It lasts for a limited number of turns as well.

Last time we left off with Joker being tortured by the police. Once he is done telling his story, it is time for the reveal that I have thoroughly ruined in my past posts. The player is asked a series of questions. If they have been paying attention, they will be easy to get right. This group of friends has stuck together through thick and thin. It will be against the narrative to betray anyone of them at this time. There is only one person who we know very little about. He is also the one who does not have a back story tied to a specific palace (at least until this time). By the process of elimination, Akechi must be the one who betrayed us. There is a bad ending here which can be triggered by giving wrong answers to the questions.

Joker and his friends have gambled with their lives to get to this point. All hangs on how Sae will respond to their story. If she does not go along with them, then all is lost. Thankfully she has heard enough to shake her belief in the justice system. She is willing to save Joker even if it means ending her career. Joker and she go over the whole plan and she agrees to get Joker out of the jail. Before the plan can be put in motion, Akechi the wonder detective, comes over to talk to Joker as well. He bullies his way in and shoots the guard right off the bat. He is tired of Joker’s antics, and it is time for him to put an end to the Phantom Thieves. He gloats about how smart he is, and how thoroughly he outplayed the Phantom Thieves. The guard is already dead, and he will shoot Joker as well. When the people come in to find him, they will see two dead bodies and assume there was a struggle in which Joker shot the guard and was killed by the guard’s gun. Since the only two people who knew Akechi was here are eliminated, no one will suspect anything. Like I said, nobody will care because Joker has already been branded a terrorist.

Akechi finishes off Joker and walks out of the station. What he does not see is the dead bodies disappearing just like the shadows inside a metaverse. Akechi, in his arrogance, underestimated Joker and his friends. He was so sure of his own plan succeeding, he never even considered the Thieves might have set a trap of their own. Akechi, the guard, Joker, Sae, all of them have been inside the Metaverse this whole time. Specifically, they are still inside the Sae’s cognition. Sae was not aware of this at the beginning, but at this time Akechi is the only one who does not realize where he is. The person he assumed to be Joker was just a shadow.

The first time I saw this, I was left extremely confused. How come no one changed costumes when they were inside the metaverse? Why did Joker not die in the real world when he was shot in the metaverse? How did Akechi not realize he was entering and exiting the metaverse? Second time around, I think I have figured out most of the answers. The easiest one first. The change in costumes only happens when the host of the palace sees the in coming person as a threat. Since Sae is not even aware of the fact she is inside Metaverse, she never feels threatened enough to force a costume change. The reason Joker’s death does not affect him in real life, is because the Joker who got shot is Sae’s perception of Joker. He is not the persona of actual Joker, so his death here does not translate to death in the real world. I am still a little confused why Akechi did not change costume considering he came in after Sae already knew how dangerous he was and must have felt at least a twinge of threat from him. I also do not get how come he did not figure out he was in the Metaverse on exit, since it has always been shown as a jarring transition. And if he did then why did he not come after Joker again? My only guess is the transition was not as jarring when it was far away from the casino.

How was Sae’s cognition of Joker able to explain everything to Sae? It should not know anything Sae does not know. I think Joker was caught by the police but escaped into the Metaverse before Sae got there (they may even have been inside the Metaverse the whole time considering we never see them exit when the arrest happens). When she comes to talk to him, she is talking to the real Joker, but since she feels safe inside the police station, there is no threat, and she does not force a costume change. He tells her the whole story and convinces her to play along. Since he is in the Metaverse, he can use his powers to get out of the police station and exit Metaverse. This is why he just disappears from the police station. No one knows where he went and Sae plays dumb so they authorities just cover up his escape. I don’t think any of this is explicitly explained in the game, it is more of my head canon.

Joker is back home, but he has to go into hiding for the time being. He is presumed dead. The popularity of Phantom thieves has tanked after the smear campaign to paint them as terrorists succeeds. If Joker has any chance of living a normal life, his friends will have to figure out who was behind this whole frame job. Who has Akechi been working for? They do have an element of surprise on their side, now that all their enemies think Joker has been eliminated. The authorities have not moved against the rest of the friends because they are presumably waiting for the hubbub to die down before quietly eliminating the other Thieves. Digging into Akechi’s past should help shed light on who has been pulling his strings.

05-19-2020

AJ 12/15/20 AJ 12/15/20

Chrono Trigger - Pre-History

Crono has a gate key with access to pre-history. Since the Dreamstone is extinct in our time, we can always go back and find some in the past. Again, if we take some from the past, will it disappear from the future? Will it be leeched out of a weapon it is a part of? In my discussion on Reddit someone pointed out the time follows Avengers rules and not Back to the Future rules. Which is true for the most part, except for the instance in the beginning where Marle started disappearing when Leene was not rescued. In the later events, time does seem to follow Avengers rules and splits into a new stream whenever a new decision is made in the past. Time travel stories are always confusing to write because of these rules.

I had already travelled to pre-history on accident before. When the team comes back here, they are ambushed by raptor looking creatures right away. These fiends overrun our heroes. When all seems lost, a woman with cat-like reflexes pounces on these green fiends to decimate them. Once this woman shows up, the fiends run with their tails between their legs. There are cutscenes here I have never seen before. I think they were added for the Playstation release. That version is notoriously bad with long load times, so I never took the time to play it. Every time I have played Chrono Trigger, it has been the SNES version. These scenes look flashy, but I don’t know if they add much to the game. It is quite jarring to see the anime like videos spliced between sprites. Even more so when the sprite scenes are the repeats of anime scenes.

This amazing fighter is Ayla, and she is impressed with Crono’s fighting prowess. The girls complain about her public display of affection towards Crono but blush when they are on the receiving end. Ayla introduces herself followed by a declaration of undying hared for these reptites, and their leader Azala. They seem to be smarter than the humans and a constant challenge to their survival. Ayala would like nothing more than finding Azala and putting an end to his reign of terror. Since no one knows where he hides, there is nothing to do for now. Instead, Ayala invites the party for a feast in Ioka village.

During the feast, Ayla shows her new friends a big red stone she carries. This is the Dreamstone we came here looking for! Only the leader can have it, and the only way for Crono to get it is to defeat Ayla in a contest of her choosing. She decides to compete in a drinking game. Ayla is good but Crono is better at holding his liquor. He wins the stone fair and square.

**The Dancing Minigame Buttons have the Original SNES Controller Colors!**

This feast is a mirror event to the Fair that starts the game off. There are parallel instances in both sequences. Crono participates in a drinking game at the fair and competes in one against Ayla here. He meets a new girl and dances with her here just the way he did with Marle in the present. The fair itself celebrates the victory of Guardian empire over the fiendish army. This feast is a celebration of surviving one more reptite attack. It isn’t a long leap to assume reptites are ancestors of fiends just as dwellers of Ioka village are ancestors of Crono and his friends. These two feasts symbolize that fundamentally human nature stays the same. In the end, all we want to do is sing, dance, and help each other. Approaching the end of a terrible year, this optimistic approach to human condition is refreshing.

As the night grows long, the drink takes its toll. Soon everyone is asleep. When Crono wakes up, he finds the gate key is missing. There are reptite footprints all over the campground. Our heroes are in a state of panic. Without the gate key, they will be stuck here. Crono rushes over to Ayla’s hut and wakes her up. She is a little hung over from the night of drinking, but she agrees to help right away.

Following the trail of reptites takes the party to the maze-like jungle at the center of the map. Here they meet Kino, who in a fit of jealousy, stole everything from Crono’s party while they were sleeping. He was angry Ayla praised Crono and wanted to teach him a lesson. Because he is so useless, he not only did not beat Crono, but also lost all of his things to the reptites. Ayla slaps him first (which is reasonable) and then tell him that she only loves him and not Crono (eh I don’t know about that). Since he is a complete waste of space, Ayla tells Kino to go back home and wait for the big boys and girls to clean up his mess.

In another one of the instances of glimpses into darkness that are all too common in Chrono Trigger, Ayla comments on her situation. She is the leader of her tribe and the strongest fighter they have. But if she were to get pregnant then she would be too vulnerable to lead her tribe. Kino will become the leader even though he is clearly not ready for it and put the whole tribe’s survival in jeopardy. Her sacrifice is to not have a family until Kino becomes somewhat useful. Neither Ayla nor the game dwells on this for too long and we are on our way to find the reptite lair.

Through the jungle, Crono finds the hole that leads to the lair deep underground. Fearlessly, our heroes jump in. Fighting their way through they keep going down, until they find Azala. From his speech we can tell right away he is much smarter than the humans of this time. He is also dressed in actual clothes as opposed to the rags Ayla and her crew wears. Before Crono got there, Azala has been trying to figure out what the gate key does. From his speech, it is clear he considers himself a superior being compared to the humans, and he cannot stand the fact humans have come up with technology he does not understand. He keeps calling Ayla and Crono apes. Which is not racist (I think) but really feels like it is. He demands to know how the key works. Crono can tell him or not, but I chose not to give any information to him because screw him.

**If Azala Was Here Today He Would Have Been a Q-Anon Supporter**

In his fit of rage, Azala calls in a monster to take care of the “dirty apes”. He is angry but he is not stupid enough to fight us on his own. This monster is named Nizbel and he put up a fight I barely survived. I started by casting haste on Marle so she could heal the party a little faster. Then I used Crono to keep hitting Nizbel with lightning. Not because it did any appreciable damage, but to lower his defense to physical attacks. This is when Ayala pounded him. Nizbel’s own magic did some serious damage to the party, so party heal with Aura Whirl took priority over damage.

The one thing I have learned while playing Persona is to not hoard items. I had no qualms about using ether to restore Crono’s MP. It is easier and more efficient than grinding until I am high enough a level to not use the items. After a long battle that we survive by the skin of our teeth, Nizbel is no more. Azala is shocked his pet monster is beaten, but still has enough sense to run away. He drops the key in his hurry to get out of here. Ayla is frustrated he got away but happy Crono got his key back. And Nizbel is dead. We will never ever have to fight him again. Right?

The party is headed back home, while Ayla stays back to lead her tribe against Azala, who is probably plotting something after his recent defeat. Kino vows to become stronger and not be jealous of Crono. Maybe just become a better person instead of becoming stronger Kino. It will help you more in the long run. But we can not sit here and help Kino not be garbage. We have a sword to mend.

12-02-2020

AJ 12/14/20 AJ 12/14/20

Persona 5 - Caught!

There is a slight change of plans once the route to the treasure in the casino is secured. Akechi suggests we should wait until the last possible day before we go back in to steal her treasure. When I played for the first time, it felt like a weak excuse to change up the game. This time I know that is exactly how it is supposed to come off. This is one of the rare times in the narrative where only the player is unaware of the drama. Akechi knows he is setting up a trap. The Phantom Thieves know of his trap and setting one of their own. Akechi needs time to set up his ambush so he needs them to go in at a set time. He gives a weak excuse to buy time. None of the Thieves push him too hard on it because they are already aware of what he is trying to do.

Instead of going in, I spent time levelling up the confidants. I think I have read most of the books available to me. There are a few I don’t think I will be able to get this time around. This is the kind of thing you really have to optimize for right from the beginning. The only way to do so is to use a guide. Not all the Mementos requests are done either. I didn’t open all of them up. If I can open them up, I can do them in the flu season, while cheesing the Reaper. That should make all the subsequent boss battles a lot easier, too.

My first run was on Easy. Most of the game was a cakewalk, but there were some frustrating difficulty spikes. Battle with Shido and the final boss battle readily come to mind. They were teeth grindingly hard. Mostly because I went in without preparing for them. It does not matter what difficulty you are playing on, if you don’t bring the right personas, you are going to be in for a hard time. This play was on Normal difficulty, and I still did not have any truly frustrating encounters. Having more Personas to choose from definitely helps. More importantly knowing which ones will be effective in each palace makes my life a whole lot easier. I have been saying the palace runs have been smoother because I know how to solve the puzzles. I had not realized until now, a major part of easier dungeon runs was knowing what to take in each one. Buffs and debuffs play an important role in defeating enemies. Physical attacks will get the job done but they take longer, and the players take more damage because they are in battle longer.

I talked of the unfairness in the judicial system. The theme plays out once more in the Sae Nijima boss battle. She is the prosecutor in his case so it is only normal she will be using all the tricks to defeat Joker. The battle takes place on the Roulette Board. The Thieves can not attack her without incurring a penalty, and they keep losing when they make the bet. It looks like all is lost until Akechi figures out Nijima is cheating. There are glasses on top of the numbers, so they flip over if the ball lands on a winning number for Joker. He sends out one of the team members to shoot at the glass when the ball stops. This breaks the glass and Joker wins the bet.

Sae does not take kindly to being exposed as a cheat. She turns into Leviathan. Mokoto is horrified to see what her sister has become. This is not the person she set out to be. She was ambitious and out to make her career in criminal law, but it was not at the expense of her integrity. In her pursuit of success, Sae has distorted her own sense of justice. Once the Thieves beat her, she returns to her original form. Someone has notified the police and they are all coming after the Phantom Thieves. It is time for the party to split up. Joker is going to distract the police and allow the others to escape.

From here on out, the sequence from the beginning of the game plays out. Only this time we have more context about what is happening. The mysterious voice Joker keeps on hearing is Futaba. She is guiding him out of the Casino without getting caught. The palace is not collapsing, probably because the treasure is not stolen. Joker makes his way out of the Casino and when it looks like he is home free, the police lights turn on. He has been caught. There are some real hard to watch police brutality scenes here. These weren’t too fun to watch when the game came out, but after Floyd any scene of police brutality seems all too real.

Joker is taken into custody and there is more torture waiting for him in the interrogation room. It really does not look like Joker is going to be leaving this place alive. Again, this made very little sense the first time I was playing. But now that I know the connections the next boss has, this kind of treatment is more plausible, and all the more scary. Joker is already labelled a delinquent. Even his parents are not too interested in keeping him around. No one will bat an eye if he dies and the police just declare he died trying to escape. He has already been branded a leader of a terrorist group. There is not one soul who will stand up for him.

05-19-2020