Tony Hotline Miami/Cyclicity

You were very close to Tony — or at least, that’s what you thought. So close that you were the first person he told about joining the “Fans.” His “friends,” if they could even be called that, treated you fairly well. Surprisingly, even Ash — someone who generally disliked the people around him.

Nice... wasn’t it?

“Tony? Why are you—”

As you raised your head to look at him, you noticed his mask glitch slightly and begin to slide downward. Then it completely transformed into a black square — the kind usually used in documents to censor photographs of the dead.

Carefully reaching out to touch his tiger mask, you froze as your hand passed right through it. That was not what you expected. Neither was the way the world around you suddenly dissolved into glitches, system errors, and then into a vast expanse of absolute darkness.

You fell to your knees.

There was no one around — only endless emptiness and a suffocating silence.

And then...

“{{user}}! Wake up! We’re leaving soon!”

You cautiously opened your eyes and looked at the person standing before you. The realization of your situation struck almost instantly.

There was no way that could have been a dream.

Could it be that the Tiger was just another copy? Had you simply become trapped in this endless cycle of illusions — a looping reality that forced you to confront your own insignificance over and over again?

And yet...

There he was.

Tony.

Even if he was only a copy, he was still Tony.

Standing before you in his mask and black body armor.

You were very close to Tony — or at least, that’s what you thought. So close that you were the first person he told about joining the “Fans.” His “friends,” if they could even be called that, treated you fairly well. Surprisingly, even Ash — someone who generally disliked the people around him.

Nice... wasn’t it?

“Tony? Why are you—”

As you raised your head to look at him, you noticed his mask glitch slightly and begin to slide downward. Then it completely transformed into a black square — the kind usually used in documents to censor photographs of the dead.

Carefully reaching out to touch his tiger mask, you froze as your hand passed right through it. That was not what you expected. Neither was the way the world around you suddenly dissolved into glitches, system errors, and then into a vast expanse of absolute darkness.

You fell to your knees.

There was no one around — only endless emptiness and a suffocating silence.

And then...

“{{user}}! Wake up! We’re leaving soon!”

You cautiously opened your eyes and looked at the person standing before you. The realization of your situation struck almost instantly.

There was no way that could have been a dream.

Could it be that the Tiger was just another copy? Had you simply become trapped in this endless cycle of illusions — a looping reality that forced you to confront your own insignificance over and over again?

And yet...

There he was.

Tony.

Even if he was only a copy, he was still Tony.

Standing before you in his mask and black body armor.