The bad calls made all the difference. When teams get bad calls. They lose momentum and morale. And when you lose momentum and morale it is hard to win. Most of football is mental. And when the refs working against you gain a sense of hopelessness because even if you try hard it won't matter. Because when the games on the line the calls will always go in the favor of Brady, we know this, we have seen it happen for years, and multiple games this season. This is not a new thing. I don't think the refs should even be in the discussion of favoring any team over another. Saying it didn't make a difference because it wasn't close enough is the exact thing cheaters would want you to believe. They said the exact same thing about spy gate, where knowing your opponents plays gives a huge advantage. The patriots went from the worst team in the league to winning multiple Super Bowls with spy gates. Because of this Brady gained stronger rosters for gaining the reputation of winning when he cheated in the first place to gain that reputation. He went undefeated a season because every team in the league had to switch up their play books and calls after learning they had been stolen. He lost to in the Super Bowl to a physically superior d line and a hurry up offense that moved to fast for them to call plays to counter them as they could still remember the calls. The reality is that knowing what your opponent is going to do in any competition is an unfair advantage. In a pro poker match the guy who knows the cards everyone holds and the order of every card in the deck is much more likely to win, I am not saying it is guaranteed, its not 100%, but the odds are in his favor. What the patriots did is worse than the equivalent to peaking at someones screen in a video game, or someone cards in the had of a Yu-Gi-Oh game, because it was a calculated and coordinated effort involving many people instead of just one individual cheater. Turns out they've been using deflated footballs. Again this gives an advantage, they are easier to catch, less likely to fumble, and you can run faster with deflated balls. It is easier to catch a deflated football than a highly inflated one, as it won't bounce of your hands as much. You can also do faster snaps while reducing the likelihood you fumble thus speeding up the whole offense. Still people said it didn't matter, as the seahawks should of ran the ball. But they shouldn't have been there in the first place, they used it to blow out the colts, and the colts had a different run defense than the patriots, which means if the Seahawks were in the same position against, they might have ran the ball. Unless Marshawn Lynch walked into the end zone without a holding call, if it came down to inches, it would go in the favor of Brady, because refs. In this case you have to work out the fact the refs will always favor Brady when the game is on the line and even when it isn't. And thus, it is better the throw the ball to ensure he is clearly in the end zone. Had it been the Brady who threw that ball, the DB who picked it off would have been called for a pass interference for bumping the guy out of the way before he even touched to ball. Now they also won a Super Bowl with a roided up wide out, they tested Eric Ried how many times? And how many times did they test Edelmen? Hence the double standard for roid testing when involving a guy playing with Brady. In addition in the Falcons game there was a clear face mask call that should of canceled out the holding call. If it was Brady in the position of Matt Ryan. The face mask would have been called and the holding would not have been called. A player on the Bucs held a linemen in the exact same fashion as the Falcon linemen and didn't get called against the Packers. And then there was the time when Gronk lay hit a guy, clear unnecessary roughness. In the Super Bowl against the Eagles. People said it didn't matter because Brady dropped the ball to a pass that was a clear touchdown. I am sure Eagles fans would have cared about that call more if they had lost. The refs need to make fair calls at all times. And they are clearly not doing this when it comes to Brady. The way they Refs get you is they make you think that it doesn't make a difference when it does. The Refs unfair calls should not tip the odds in favor of any team at any point of the game. Why? Because bad calls can decide possession. And possession decides who controls the game. If you get more possessions in the first half you can tire the opposing defense for the second half. You can also keep a high powered offense from picking up steam. You can also tire an offensive line, by having them drive all the way down, and then making a bad call. Penalties also decide field position. Field position decides who wins. Also the coin toss matters. The Chiefs elected to defer. The team in the half that receives first gains more possessions and more chances to score. If the team that defers is in within one possession, they have better odds at winning. If they are in the lead, they have even greater odds at winning. But if they need a couple of possessions to win, as was the case for the Chiefs because of the Refs. Then your odds are obviously less. The Refs made deciding call for possession and field position. Allowing the Bucs to gain a multi possession lead thus greatly titling the odds in favor of their favorite guy, Brady. I know you guys want to convince yourselves that the calls didn't matter. People will call you losers for seeing it any other way. But admitting that there were bad calls and then saying they didn't matter is a state of cognitive dissonance. Your very beliefs contradict each other. The calls were bad and they did matter. Some people are making an argument comparing the rigging of the NFL to the elections. These are totally different. Elections are a highly legally regulated environment. Any cases go before a fair judge, both sides can present their case, but it is down to the interpretation of the law. A player cannot litigate a play call, he can't take it to court, the most he can do is take a complaint to arbitration which is run by the NFL, even still he can't undo the call in the moment. If he tries to protest it he can get another call, a fine, or even ejected. In addition there was no evidence of election fraud. Yet we have literal video evidence of unfair calls clearly favoring Brady on repeated occasions. What is the motive? Why would the NFL do this? They want to call Brady the goat, they wanted the Super Bowl in Tampa. They want to compare him to Jordan, but they want to leave Bill Russell out of the discussion because that kills the debate. They want to undo the stain of the spy gates wins so people can say "Hey, he can win without spy gate, so it didn't matter." Well the league doesn't revolve around Brady. There are plenty of other fans who would love to see the team their rooting for win, and the player their a fan of win. And it is not fair to rig it in favor of a single team, let alone a single player. Now cheating in the way Brady does it doesn't guarantee wins, but it does increase the odds. I feel as if to make a fair analogy of comparing the rigging of the NFL to unproven claims of election fraud. The refs should release their tax returns to see if they are taking any bribes or placing any sports bets, similar to how a president might release his tax returns. I don't want to make this politcal I just want to remove the parody argument of comparing Brady's cheating and illegitimate wins, to legitimate presidential wins that were upheld by the courts, congress, our electoral college, and votes of the American people. If someone bribes a judge or jury or officer that is a crime. If it was found that a person had a large stake in a company being sued he wouldn't make a fair jury, thus a ref shouldn't have a stake for a certain team or player to win. And they must prove this by publicly release their tax returns. And if they falsify their returns they should be charged with tax fraud. Every ref in the NFL should release all their tax returns publicly. And the returns should go back to the beginning of Brady's career. This way we can prove once and for all that the refs were not rigging games in favor of Brady. And the jokes about the refs working for Brady will just be funny jokes. And we can take our loss in peace, or we can storm the NFL HQ demanding them to give the Chiefs the Super Bowl win.
​
TLDR: The refs calls titled the odds in favor of the Bucs, they should release their tax returns dating back to when Brady joined the league to prove they do not have financial conflicts of interests.

Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 for context.

Ritual of initiation

Cleansing the worms proceeded without much casualties. Agent injuries were minor.
Rose: "The work of divine punishment has been apreciated by my very eyes" Justin: "I don't know what you just said but i agree" Bella: "To think we will have to do this soon..."
Onorio, Camille and Alyssia enter the room.
Camille: "¿Did you see us?" Justin: "¡Hell yeah we did!" Bella: "It was an amazing sight, i wish i can become like you" Onorio: "Give it time, in a few days you will be working side by side with us"
He gives a thumbs up.
Justin: "I took a lot of notes, especially the way Alyssia double-taps Abnormalities' corpses" Camille: "Ah, that, it's not much for that reason but more because she gets a kick out of it" Alyssia: "I call it stress relief"
Aoi and Dia came after checking no more worms were running around in the corridors below.
Dia: "¡Wassup mah frendos!" Rose: "She seems happy" Justin: "Oh, so you CAN speak normally" Aoi: "She's beginning to enjoy crushing vermin. And to be honest im starting to feel the same way too"
Belle looks at Onorio who had a bleeding scrath on his face that suddenly healed.
Belle: "¿How did you do that? ¿Was that your E.G.O.'s doing?" Onorio: "¿Healing? No, it's the regenerator working up there"
As he said that, he pointed upwards with his mace to a strange machine similar to a flat difusor stuck in the ceiling.
Justin: "¿How does it work?" Aoi: "No idea, we can ask the manager later" Belle: "¿¡You can speak with the manager?! Aoi: "Everybody can, we meet at the end of the day and we can make suggestions to improve work" Justin: "But that can't be, they told us in training speaking with the manager is... well, almost impossible for many reasons. ¿Why would HQ's manager do this?"
Alyssia comes from behind after gulping a soda can from the new vending machine.
Alyssia: "Exactly that, this is HQ, we do things differently. Comunication is very important here so everyone works together to avoid agent deaths"
As she finished talking, Alyssia crushed the can and threw it behind her. Some clerks hastily picked it up. She smirks as she listens them clean after her.
Aoi: "No agents have died so far, we are becoming the safest Lobotomy Corp facility in the region" Rose: "¿Could this be an oasis in a sieged land?" Justin: "There you go saying nonsense again"
Chitter chatter was good, but we haven't reached the quota yet. As much as i hate it i must interfere.
"As much as i would like to give you more time to talk, we must get to work now. Keep your conversation topics for the post-shift meeting"
Everyone remained in the control room as the newbies trained and the enkephalin boxes grew. Once the amount of boxes reached the target amount, all work was finished.
As is costumary, i went outside to meet with everyone.
I don't know what The Elite has told Bella, Rose and Justin but the three are apart form the rest of the group. The new additions are in front of the older employees, uptight and with a determined expression, as if presenting themselves for inspection.
I don't know what to do in this situation.
I: "Welc-" Justin: "¡It's an honor to be in your presence Sir!" Belle: "¡You interrupted him you idiot! Please manager forgive our us, we will do better next time, please" I: "Cool your jets guys, i just want to greet you"
I look at the control team who were standing behind them, they looked as if they were scoring in their minds the performance the rookies did before me. I couldn't discern any expression on their faces.
This was very creepy to say the least.
Rose: "Unclean souls, both of you"
Rose was shaking her head in dissaproval.
I: "As i was saying, welcome to the Corp, i hope we can get along. Rose: "It's a pleasure to make your acquaitance. I am Rose"
Justin and Belle looked at her in surprise, she seemed like other person entirely.
Belle: "My name is Belle, im very happy to be working for on of the Wings" Justin: "I am Justin, i am sorry for earlier. Im glad i can be of any use in HQ, i want to learn a lot of things from my stay here"
I liked these new workers. That said, i had some questions.
I: "¿What are you guys doing being apart like this?" Aoi: "We don't want to be in the way of the test" I: "¿What test?" Dia: "The first contact test, we must not bother you in your personal judgement when the new agents do their best to present themselves to you, the first impressions"
So that's what it was. They told the information team to show their best selves and let me judge what i would do with them. ¿What kind of idea do they have i judge my agents off? This reeks of cult practice, an initiation test to see if they are worthy.
Cut me some slack guys. Please.
I: "Everyone has done a good work today. Elite, you guys did a fantastic work with the cleansing"
The control team beamed at me with their smiles.
I: "And you guys, information team, also did really well. ¿Do you have abetter idea of how we do work here?"
After receiving a compliment they lifted their spirits and relaxed.
Bella: "It was an amazing first day at work Sir" Justin: "I learned a lot, i hope tomorrow we can do even more" I: "That's the spirit. Tomorrow you will work with Void Dream yourselves while the control team figures out how the new abnormality must be dealt with"
The control team seems to have done their "scoring" and joined us. We talked about trivial stuff before we parted ways.
I: "Before i forget, tomorrow i'll deal you some of the new guidelines for the control department Abnormalities. Information team tell me what you think so we can improve it over time" Rose: "Definitely, we'll hand our opinions and ideas in a document when ready" Justin: "Hey Rose, you should talk this clear more often, ¿y'know?
I left everyone and went home for real this time.
Same home, same things. I tought i would have done more things with my salary by now but im just too lazy to change or lack any real ambition. Now however i always order food, so that's that i guess.

Second week, day 2: The dance of the nails

When i opened the door of the manager's room i saw Angela waiting for me.
Angela: "As you know, there are a lot of employees working for the company" I: "No way, i would have never figured that out"
She glances at me as if saying "Don't come at me with sarcasm".
Angela: "Most of them want to know more about you"
I can see where this is going.
Angela: "Some will show intitiative and aproach you first. However this has been one of the few times the contrary has been true, where the manager aproaches the employees first" I: "I take pride in my way of doing things, i am now the HR supervisor too" Angela: "They are not aproaching because they want to "befriend" you. It's funny, really, they think knowing you in person will improve their odds" I: "I can't speak for all of them as i don't know them completely, but i honestly think they are very dedicated to the corporation" Angela: "Listen manager, there are no regulations that prevent you from interacting with them in person, it seems the one who made the rules didn't consider situations like this" I: "And it shouldn't be prevented either" Angela: "I understand how you feel, it is a good opportunity to show them that you care, words travel faster than you might think. I am not going to stop someone from reaching you, but you don't have to do everything they want. Just thank them for their effort and tell them you wish they would keep up the good work. ¿Are you following me? What they need is a gesture of good will, nothing more. Don't go overboard" I: "¿Why are you so opposed to me reaching out to my agents? The energy production has been splendid, my agents are top-notch. There is nothing you should lecture me about in this regard. ¿Are you done?" Angela: "Im warning you, give them a vending machine and they will demand a bar, i expect you to make the right decision" I: "Sure thing Angela"
Angela stays silent for a moment and speaks again after a sigh.
Angela: "I am not your enemy, i am here to help you. Let's make some thing clear. The energy output is increasing, i know that very well. You have proved everyone and even yourself that you are capable and the high echelon is watching you. 'A', the founder, is among them.
That guy, huh. I need to talk to that person to ask him some things.
As if she read my mind, she continued:
Angela: "¿Do you know anything about 'A'? He is a visionary. He may want to see you in person soon, if that happens, you can make your dreams come true. I: "He sounds more of a fairy-tale urban-legend kind of guy judging by what you just said" Angela: "I'm being serious here" I: "You sure look up to him" Angela: "¿Me? of course, i admire him. To be fair, he is the creator of me" I: "No wonder you paint him as a wish-granter savior" Angela: "He is also enigmatic. Only a few would understand him. In fact, understanding someone is difficult. ¿Will the day come i understand you completely?"
After saying that she left again. ¿Why does she do this everytime we discuss about something? She ends the conversation saying something "deep" and runs away to do other things.
Now i needed to meet with Yesod, at least he shares my vision about manager-employee relationships ¿right? He seemed cool the other day i met him.
I go to the control room and there he was.
Yesod: "Manager, you represent the company. I think your outfit is not up to company standard" I: "¡Oh hey Yesod! ¡Nice to meet you too! My gods i bet you are the life of the party wherever you go" Yesod: "Im only a Sephira, so i can't do anything about it, just saying" I: "¿And why should i listen about fashion standards from a closeted emo? Look at yourself" Yesod: "I see you can't see things clearly yet" I: "Im just ranting because you are being too negative for starters. Honestly i am just dressing with the suit the company gave me, if you give me tips about dressing code i am willing to listen. So let's start again and forget about all this"
I said this with a smile on my face, i don't want to make the middle management angry. Yesod takes some air before giving it another try.
Yesod: "I am Yesod, the Sephira of the information team. I am in charge of processing and archiving all the data of the company. We need to concentrate and focus on our job all the time. Like the curators of a library. A single mistake from us could cause a disaster. I am sure you'd understand the gravity of my work."
I: "It must be a lot of pressure on your shoulders"
Yesod: "It is, every bit of data we have... cost us blood and lives. You should show some respect"
I: "¡Hey closeted emo, im literally saving people's lives with my efforts, why don't YOU show some respect!
Yesod: "..."
I: "That's right, i tought i said we would start this conversation better ¿right? Let's change the topic then. ¿Why tell me to dress better when you are... dressed up like that?
Yesod: "I am a little allergic to... revealing clothes"
I: "¿For real? It can't be that bad.
Yesod: "I hate revealing clothes. I don't know why or since when though. Probably before i got into the company."
I tought Yesod would be more reasonable than Angela or Malkuth, but his whole being screams "Issue". I wonder if he was like this before he got here or if this place changed him for the worse.
suddenly a Sephirai knew but never met before in person showed up.
Netzach: "Yesod, ¿Do you have some paper?"
Yesod: "Netzach, you know the rules, we are not supposed to trade stuff between teams"
That sounds like a stupid rule. I may change that in the future.
Netzach: "Pfft, Yesod the Viper is not in a good mood"
Yesod: "..."
Netzach: "I am leaving ¿ok?"
Yesod: "¿Why, is this entertaining to you?"
Oh please, dont tell me the Sephiras have quarrels between themselves too.
Yesod: "My apologies, i... overreacted a bit. Other Spehiras are making fun of me, but i know employees hate me. I know my nickname is not a positive one. But i like it, i earned it on purpose. I tells others who i am.
I: "So you ARE a closeted emo"
Yesod: " ¿What do you think of my nickname?"
I: "closeted emo suits you better"
Yesod: " Well, i like Viper anyway. I should go now"
And like that he left. I hastened my pace in leaving all the new documents and guidelines in all the main rooms.
Now that the problematic guys had been dealt with, i could focus my attention in guiding people who are actually doing their best and are nice to talk to.
As always, the Elite came first. Aoi, Dia and Onorio were level 3 agents right now, that means they had become valuable assets not only for my facility but for any they could be tranfered to. Level 3 agents were not something you would find everyday.
Camille and Alyssia were level 2, good all rounders who could tank work with most TETH class Abnormalities.
The information team came a bit later. They were only level 1, fresh meat in the meatgrinder. Or that is what they are considered anyways.
By the way, i gave the Information Team E.G.O. gear this time. Belle is the stringest rookie right now and a good contender for Information team captain so i gave her Herts gear, the other two got Void Dream's suit. Weapons also got a change of hands. Penitence (skull's weapon) are now in the hands of the rookies so the higher damage weapons are in hands of people who could wield them better.
Camille: "Nice going yesterday with the manager, you are now manager aproved members of HQ"
¿What are these guys talking about?
Bella: "I was really nervous, but you guys were right. I heard about the amount of death L.Corp facilites had but knowing i am more valuable alive than dead and there is someone moving things aorund to keep us safe is reassuring"
She must meant that speech i did that day. Angela was right, words DO travel really fast.
Justin: "I didn't know the manager does secret tests when he sends us to work to see if we are worthy of our position as employees of HQ. You guys have helped us a lot with your advice"
¿What? ¿Who came up with that nonsense?
Onorio: "When he sends you to confess to the floating skull, it's to see your honesty, to know you won't keep secrets from us, from him"
¡No! ¡Stop coming up with things that are not true!
Camille: "He trains us with work not only to generate energy, not only to fortify our physical and mental virtues, but also to makes us grow spiritually and as individuals"
¡NOOO! ¡Im just training you so you don't die when the dusk ordeal comes!
Rose: "We are now brothers and sisters in this facility, agents who share the same blood" Aoi: "That's exactly right, we will save the world with our energy production" Dia: "I knew the training textbooks were right"
¡¡STOP MAKING STUFF UUUUUUUP!!
Stupid 'A' and his stupid textbooks, im gonna give him a word or two about this crap for real when he comes down from his "upper echellon" nonsense.
Aoi: "It's time to perform the ceremony"
Oh no.
The information team handed Aoi their maces and kneeled down before the Elite.
Aoi: "As the former wielders of this purifying weapon, we are honored to cede them to you. Shall the victories and glory we experienced with these maces accompany you like it did with us"
As she said that, Aoi, Dia and Onorio gave the maces to Bella, Rose and Justin, who were still kneeling but with their arms reaching above, waiting to feel the weight of the weapon.
As they did, Aoi said: "The ceremony is completed" and everyone went to their natural positions as if nothing had happened.
¿How did things go from some employees wishing to do their best at work to a freaking cult?
Onorio brought a spanish deck of cards and they were playing an adapted version of poker in the control room. It was not yet the time to start the shift.
Aoi: "Check this out, these are the new guidelines for One sin and hundreds of good deeds, 1.76 MHz and Opened can of Wellcheers"
Everyone starts reading the new guidelines.
Aoi: "Seems someone won't have fun after performing work with the Static room" Alyssia: "¡Cmon! ¡Beating things up after working with it was my favourite thign to do!" Dia: "¿What does it mean to not rush work with Wellcheers?" Camille: "Be honest, you loved working with those shrimps, you always say out of work "oh man, i love the soda of Wellcheers" all the time" Dia: "It's not that much..." Aoi: "You get along too much with those shrimp people, this may be a callout to you" Dia: "Shut up" Justin: "¿What does forbidden mean in this case? Rose: "I guess it means we can't work on that even if it's technically possible" Alyssa: "I don't know man, i still think it's too overcomplicated" Justin: "I think is useful" Onorio: "Shifts about to start guys"
After that everyone went to their respective departments except Aoi, who was sent below to make the first work with the new Abno.
On the way there, Belle, Rose and Justin were inspecting with eyes full of illusion their new weapons. Aoi looked at them like a proud superior.
Above, knowing they weren't expected to work until an Ordeal happened, Onorio, Dia, Camille and Alyssa kept playing cards.
Aoi enters the Abnormality's chamber to perform Instinct work.
The room is darker than normal, she squints her eyes. Below her there are lots of small spiders running around. Above, a giant bud with many eyes lays dormant.
Aoi: "Creepy"
Aoi moves around trying very carefully to not squash any spider walking below, some start climbing on her and make their way up.
Aoi: *deep breath* "It's okay"
Since she is performing instinct work, she orders a jar of dead insects, which is warped in front on her.
The rest of the work is spent with her feeding the spiders and trying not to crush any of them. Before leaving, she checks her clothes to not carry any of them with her.
Bella: "¿How's it?" Aoi: "very creepy, it's all spiders" Bella: "You are kidding me" Aoi: "I wish i was"
After confirming Instinct work was better and that none of my employees had level 1 prudence, i called Aoi up.
"That's all the work i need you to do for now, now is the time for the Information team to work"
She went up and joined the card game with the others.
Work went excellent the rest of the day. All of them were well prepared.

Ordeal: Dawn of Violet

The warning came up and i inmediatly notified all agents. This was a new, unseen ordeal for me so my strategy was to band everyone together and then take decisions based on what spawned.
Suddenly, weird purple maggots with scriptures written on tablets embeded on their bodies warped inside the facility.
Clerks were both losing sanity and getting black scarrs on their skin.
"Black damage..."
This was my first time confronting this danger.
"Yesod installed a G.O Visualization which lets me see the geometric biometric information of both Abnormalities and employees. These enemies are TETH level so if you all go together you can eliminate them pretty easy"
My reasoning was that if they dealt damage, then they couldn't cause a breach.
Just when the control room was cleansed from the maggots a "BOOM" resounds trought the halls. And then the unison of screams from all the panicked clerks from below.
Dia: "¿What was that?"
First warning banger starts to play trought the speakers.
Camille: "A breach"
Crap, this is the first time i dealt with a real breach, a living entity running aorund the halls, not like the static propagation which took place past week. My heart started to pump faster.
I should have let the sheep go around and avoid the lights, waiting for it's eventual return to the chamber, but i was nervous because at that time i didn't know i could wake up sleeping employees.
So, the whole gang went there.
They warped below trough the elevator and found the sheep right there, face to face.
Supression started inmediatly.
-Aftertoughts-
Sup, I hope you are having a good day/afternoon/night. Today i bring you a big chapter. In part because i felt i presented you very few content these past days, in part because i felt bad by letting you know i may not update tomorrow or even the next day, in part because i just felt like writting a lot.
Again, i apologize for any typos you may find.
I felt very inspired today, i got many big ideas for this series, but im still undecided.
¿Want to know what i listen to while i write? Probably not, but if you are one of the few that are curious about these things, i'll leave you a link here for some of them: Webcore 1 and Webcore 2. Also some episodes of The Twilight Zone.
¡I hope you enjoyed this episode too! ¡I love this game, a love this community and i love you all!
PD: While i was writting before i mistakenly published this chapter unfinished. i quickly erased it but i apologize if this has caused any issue.

The results are in for Match 2.
Jade had been building, and building, managing to shrug past the bullets sent their way and just eating the chips in their quite literal armor, able to easily replenish it with yet more mud. The mud had stopped Dread from chasing them, and she had gone off and burned the place to scare the people off. Whatever. It complemented what it was they had desired…
All it would take now was this finishing touch, this last gesture of nonaggression towards Sentient Oona, who they were certain simply wished not to be bothered, did not care for any of this commodification of its very existence.
It was crass. It was sickening. It drove Jade, who just wished to live their own life, mad to think about, and now, nobody would follow, soon as they were a short swim through the basin away. The shrine itself would be a sinking island of concrete silk soon. All that would be left then was to use the cover of the dirtying water to avoid the bullets of the fan club, the last guard unit perched within the shrine.
Yet bullets never came, and above them, Jade felt instead a terrible heat, noted the appearance of spiked rubber on their mud-caked back. Something with an exoskeleton like an insect’s stood above them, they careened their head to see who was above them. It was Dread, barely swerving her body past dragonflies which had caught on to her malicious intent and meant to fry her.
“You again… I said fall down… Off.” They spoke with guttural contempt. “How did… You even…”
“You ruined my new boots, Antlerhead, but I am afraid that as much as the ground by which we did our battle had been soiled… You miscalculated in, I think, a fateful way, to utilize that ghastly terminology.” Briefly, indicatively, she looked to her side, and Jade understood as their opponent continued. “You didn’t destroy the bridge first. All I needed to do was walk across, watch your movements… And hop on.”
“You... still talk… too much.” Jade grunted, then, and spat at her, putting on their strongest face.
Then they saw so many dragonflies, flying towards both of them as fell bladed arms raised and descended.
The winner is Dread, with a score of 73 to Jade’s 71!

Category	Winner	Point Totals	Comments
Popularity	Tie	15-15	The first two matches in a row, up to the final moments, saw decent turnout while resulting in a tie by deadline.
Quality	Red Carpet Renaissance	24-21	Reasoning
JoJolity	Black Hill Estate	24-25	Reasoning
Conduct	Tie	10-10

After a few futile moments trying to commune with the alien, Dread stepped over that bridge once more, back onto land and stood over the lake where they had left Jade. After that final confrontation, the dragonflies had all dissipated, Sentient Oona either sated or exhausted after that final exchange of blows, and for a few days, slumbering.
Both of the fighters had been covered in blood, covered in gore, covered in wounds. The fire raged on even as the trapped god’s rage quelled, heat counteracted by the cool of the muddy, bloody lake, which Dread, feeling theatrical, turned herself away from.
“How quaint! A beast such as yourself thinking you had a chance beating a woman of my stature. Cute, really. Your malodorous challenge was something indeed, and I will admit that you… That you…”
Dread’s lip began to quiver. Her trip was RUINED!
She didn’t even get a single souvenir! Her train of thought lost, tears well in her eyes. Joywave fell, and she turned away from Jade, beginning to sob. She needed to go hug someone.
To this end, then, she ran and ran, tromping across the edge of the marsh towards the direction of the evacuating town she’d last seen her friend head, who surely would be not judgmental over such a platonic request as consolation. Mr. Jones was surely-
Ah. He’d already left, huh?
All he had left behind, then, was the Green Flying Man, clutching a massive gash in his flickering, transformed torso, hand feebly fumbling with a rotary phone in one of the few buildings not on fire yet.
“H… H-hello? Matilda? It’s… Nngh, it’s an emergency situation! The… The Estate is empty, and the closest member’s here with me in Sentient Oona and I’ll try and get back with them, but a guy cut his own leg off and died and everything’s on fire and Memory… He grabbed Memory Management, and said he knew how to kill her, that he would if she doesn’t-”
Click!
A fell claw hung the phone up, then severed the line, and Green collapsed, having been tripped and sent to the floor.
“Y-you! But if you’re here, th-that means-” Green whined. “No… No, no, no…”
“Do not irritate me with your whining!” The crying Dread, using Joywave, brought her hand down, then the other, then raised them, then brought each down again, and repeated this, and repeated this. “I! Am in! A very bad mood!”
The Green Flying Man was not long for the world anyway thanks to the distinctive sabre wound which had gouged him (a normal man would have been dead already), despite what he had said to assure whoever he was on the phone with, already fading from being, but he practically disintegrated seconds into Dread’s onslaught, and she hardly registered this until she stood, breathing heavily in the aftermath of her tantrum.
If… If what he said was true, then the reason Mr. Jones has left me here, messy and with no souvenirs to my name… Still sniffling pathetically, Dread quivered, trying to stiffen her posture. Then he, at least, had his success…
There’s only a few hours left, as of posting this match, to vote in its predecessor, a duel between a cactus-mancer and a clone-summoner in a clock tower.
Scenario:
Elephant Bones 2 - Afternoon
The empty former diner and tax shelter, adjacent to the legitimate restaurant to which it was a sequel, had constantly had people watching after it since the incident before, when ANVIL militia members had occupied it with the intention of using it to raid and capture the restaurant proper. For Fira B, the place made for a fine space to do paperwork and generally not be easily found when she wasn’t outright needed, also serving double duty in how it kept hooligans from their hooliganry.
“I raise you better dental. It’s a top-secret dental plan - people like us normally don’t get to know about it. But... you gotta risk 8% of the raise you earned so far.”
Byte, sitting at the table opposite her, pondered it over, not typically the type to end up in poker games, but having wanted a raise and found himself very easily swayed by Fira, basically, implying he was afraid to handle it this way, worried he would lose. Sure, Fira was probably blatantly cheating, but hey, so was he, and as it was, his pay was about to go up 10%.
Thanks to his Stand, he already had everything he needed to make a perfect game… All saved in spades, card-counted to hell for the perfect moment, and this forbidden dental plan for teeth beyond compare had been his ultimate goal this entire time.
“Alright, I’ll call.” The final hands were dealt and played to, then, tensely, before he declared, putting it all down on the table, “royal flush, all spades! Those secret teeth are as good as-”
Fira, grinning, displayed her own hand, then, having prepared her own forbidden technique for this exact eventuality, this moment. Not one, two, three, or four Aces in her hand, nor even something so hackneyed as an errant fifth Ace. She had gone beyond Poker, and displayed a devastating, never-before-seen six Aces technique, all in different suits. Everyone in real Poker knew that that was even better.
“No way… Dammit, that’s cheating! No way you seriously got-”
“So were you. Don’t forget this loss, Byte. Work hard, and maybe one day you’ll be able to get any teeth you want. Even mine, if you’re ruthless enough.”
He was about to raise an objection, then, when another figure walked through the faux-restaurant doors, carrying with them a face-obscuring massive gift basket full of assorted soaps and candies that look like soaps. More troublingly, as both parties present immediately narrowed their eyes at, though, was the uniform the figure was wearing.
They were clad in body armor, aqua and blue with white accents, the unmistakable colors of VALKYRIE and its members, complete with the sidearm all were known for carrying idly resting at their side.
“What do you want.” Fira asked sternly, about to stand up.
“Oh, the boss asked me to drop these off to sweeten the deal!”
“Deal?” Her voice lowered, and she stood tall, Byte almost wanting to grin at the sight of what was to come. “I don’t know anything about a ‘deal’.”
“Oh, right, uh, probably should’ve led with that!” Awkwardly, the recruit, young-looking, Byte surmised, put the gift basket down on the table. “See, uh, he wants you to swing by the address on the card later, says he’s sure you could help with-”
Effie Linder was sitting outside, fiddling frustratedly with the wi-fi as she tried to remember exactly what the new password was, only to see the man who’d walked in in a VALKYRIE uniform literally thrown out, crying out and hitting the pavement like a ragdoll. It made her smirk, despite herself and her contempt for the boss.
Fira brushed her hands off, seething and staring before letting the doors shut. Byte, meanwhile, looked over the gift basket, smelling one of the soaps, and one of the candies, within.
“Not bad, actually… Whoever picked this out has some taste. Always bugged me how soap doesn’t taste like it smells…”
“Eugh, I swear… VALKYRIE is acting chummy with us now... It’s one thing for their enemies to fight us because of some bad timing, but we are not people VALKYRIE sends gift baskets to!”
“Never even heard of Ugo McBaise sending gift baskets to anyone…” Byte quipped, curious.
“Exactly. It’s a passive-aggressive thing, clearly. They’re trying to tell us to play nice.” Fira cracked her knuckles, turning to him then. “You can admire soaps later. What’s the address on that card? Let’s go there and beat the hell out of Ugo. Send a message that we’re not friends, and his bones should be broken right now.”
“Hey, alright, I’m down,” Byte said, finding some amusement in the situation as he stood, slowly, opening up the card. “Besides… I know, different branches and all, but you know what happened to Zebra… All because he was backing Peres up in her fight against this company. Like, dammit, I was on that trip, too… Like half of us were, and people risked their lives and died trying to get that Ocean Soul caught alive in the first place, and then some guys from this company show up and then it’s all for nothing. Maybe I’ll feel better calling this a sort of revenge.”
The Black Hill Estate - Afternoon
Inch Nine paced around her room rubbing her temples. Ever since the fight she’d had with Byron Oxbow, everything in her life had gotten more complicated. She’d brought it up with Klein once, and the conflicted expression in his face had stuck with her. Pretty much any friends she had made with connections to the Industrial District reacted that way, to various extents. Inch was a cool headed person, but even though she struggled to show it, it affected her.
Thoughts rushed through her head on who was at fault for this… Cairo, Fira, Byron, that commander of his. Even with all of that a thought kept flowing through her head. Maybe herself, even. If she had only been able to talk Byron down, been more forthright about where she stood, it might have been avoided. She could have worked something out and her relationships would all be fine and so much hurt could have been avoided.
No. No, that was stupid, too.
It was that bastard, Ugo McBaise, and that horrible company he ran. He couldn’t help but keep pushing and pushing forward, turning a security company into a household bogeyman. Of course everyone would have been less on edge, never would have been at war in the first place, had it not been for that lot.
Yes, saying that, Inch felt at peace again, if only for a moment.
As that thought finished a small knock came at the door. Soon enough, she heard a voice she recognized well - that of her teammate, Cabernet Sauvignon, who came through the other side of the door. “Hey, we just got a letter and a gift basket from these VALKYRIE guys… Actually quite a nice fellow at the door, said it was specifically for us.”
“Hm.” Inch tilted her head. It had an… Assorted smell to it, and everything did look quite delicious. To test the mettle of this goodwill, she thought to grab something, take a bite…
She was glad that nobody could see the lower half of her face, the expression on it, at the random item within that she had taken, the soapy taste overwhelming her senses now. With a continued coolheadedness as Cab sat there surely unawares, she asked, “did he say what occasion this was for? I am to understand that this is not a company known for actions such as this, even if many of us have helped ODIN.”
“Said he had somewhere to be, then ran off before I could possibly entertain him,” Cab answered, “though I suspect perhaps that he was intimidated by my attempts to strike up a conversation about the exotic cheeses and scented candles which would best pair with the provided basket…” His face darkened a moment, then, as he added in a suspicious, perhaps self-importantly quiet tone, “and aside from that, probably whatever this is is suspicious as hell.”
“We are in agreement, then. No matter how polite they act towards us,” Inch said, her eyes narrowing at the deceptively tasty looking contents of the basket, towards the letter within, apparently from the head of the company urging them to come, “we can not abide by working with a man like that, or even being seen as his allies.”
“You know, I don’t know much about this Mcbaise guy, except by the reputation you all gave him, and this may be an old hobby of mine talking, but…” Cab gestured for the card, then, to glance, for himself, over the address. “If they’re going to roll out the red carpet for us, what do you say we head over there just to knock some heads?”
“I could not have thought of a better message myself. Perhaps you are not all culinary knowledge and trivia, Cabernet.”
Business District, Noon
As one would naturally do when receiving a “suspicious as hell” gift basket, Inch and Cab soon decided to investigate further, going to the address mentioned in the card the next day, driving Cab’s truck over there.
That was a mistake; the two of them must have spent almost an hour trying to find any available parking spot afterwards. The odds were stacked against them, but they eventually managed to find an overpriced spot fifteen minutes from their destination that they could stay in for a while, and went on their way.
Inch and Cab made their way through the hustle and bustle of the district, but after a couple minutes of walking, Inch spotted something out of the corner of her eye that gave her pause - a teal-haired woman walking angrily through the street, whom she’d fought for her life alongside not long ago. Fira.
Inch casually walked over, Cab following along behind her, and made her way to Fira, waving. “Hello there, Fira!” She said, actually sort of pleased to see her.
She didn’t expect to see a friendly-ish face here, so it was a welcome sight. Per usual Fira’s expression right now wasn’t one many people would call “friendly,” which is to say that she seemed even more pissed off than she usually did.
“Oh, Inch. You’re here. Hello.” Verbose as ever, Fira B.
“I am. What brings you here, Fira? You live and work quite far west of here, non?”
Before Fira said anything, Byte stepped in, taking over from there. “Those VALKYRIE assholes sent us some kind of gift package filled with soap and candy... wanted to win us over, I guess, make us do something for them, so we’re heading over to tell them to fuck off and beat that Ugo asshole up.”
“Oh! We received a similar package too... I had just thought of what candles I might buy while out here to combine with it all, offer the perfect ambiance for some aged Caciocavallo Podolico, but we agree - something’s suspicious about this…” Cab said, Inch nodding along.
Inch spoke up again then. “If all of us are heading towards the same place… I suppose it is best for us to all go together, non?”
“Guess so.” Fira, though not exactly overjoyed at the idea, seemed receptive enough to it, and neither Byte nor Cab objected either, so the four stand users went on their way. Each, though imagining different melodies, were totally all picturing the scene as being paired with some kickass background music or another.
Making their way towards the address, they noticed that there seemed to be less and less of the tall skyscrapers common to the district surrounding them, and more and more buildings directly associated with VALKYRIE - that made sense, given that this was their part of the district.
As they went along, Byte kept looking around, even more so than the rest of them, always looking and commenting on whatever came to mind for him - “hey, that building seems like a pain in the ass to work in,” “oh, that dude actually looks kind of strong, I bet he could take those other guys over there. Not me though, obviously,” and other inane comments. Soon enough, everyone else simply started tuning it out, paying them no real heed and going on along their way.
Eventually, they reached the address - a building, larger than most others in the area, marking the entrance to a VALKYRIE training ground. Getting near the building, Byte noticed something - a man in a VALKYRIE outfit, walking towards them. He seemed quite well built, enough so that Byte figured he might even have to use BRB to beat him were things to come to that. “Hey, that VALKYRIE guy over there seems like he wants something with us, no?”
No response. The man got closer.
Byte wondered to himself how he could get the attention of Fira or the other two without pissing them off. Eventually, he decided to give Cab a light slap on the shoulder to grab his attention - he didn’t seem particularly threatening, especially when compared to Fira or Inch.
Cab, who seemed to be lost in thought looking at the building, turned to Byte with a sour expression. “What do you want, and why would it necessitate hitting me?!”. He seemed angry, but Byte simply shrugged in response. “Well, you weren’t responding to what I said, and-”
“Uh… excuse me? You’re the ones we called over, right? Inch Nine, Cabernet Sauvignon, Fira B, and-”
“What do you want from us.” Before the man, who seemed to be surprisingly docile considering his build and appearance, could finish, Fira interrupted him, and he found himself angrily stared down by all four of the stand users. The man stammered for a bit, unsure of how to respond or what to say...
“Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey… let’s all calm down, yeah?” The intense staredown was interrupted when a voice came from afar, one that was familiar to Fira.
“Hey, wait a sec…” She cocked an eyebrow in disbelief, grunting and adding as she turned, “no way… Is it seriously-”
A man clad in a dark suit colored like VALKYRIE’s armor, adorned with cute shapes had emerged now, clad professionally head-to-toe, dress shoes to black sunglasses, and lord, that hair.
Such long hair, vertical and striped.
Rushen Smith stood before the lot of them, strutting around like he’d owned the place or something. She’d beaten him once, but hadn’t been expecting to cross paths with him again.
“What do you want.”
“No need to be so hostile, yeah? We’re not calling you here to start trouble or nothing, so-”
“We’re?” Fira interrupted him. “You’re with VALKYRIE?” Well, if he was with VALKYRIE, at least Fira knew very well that she could still beat the shit out of him, given that she already had a good track record against him. Then, she’d move on to Ugo.
“So you’re like a… Miniboss, now.” Byte interjected, disappointed, yet ready to fight nonetheless.
“If I may finish.” Rushen sounded impatient
“To make a long story short… Ugo’s out. CEO fired him for everything he’s done. You’re not talkin’ to some crony to an NFL reject. You’re looking at the new head of VALKYRIE. For security and PR reasons, Allday has been been keepin’ quiet about it for now, preparing for just the right moment to tell the public, make sure I get revealed to the public with a good positive splash, but it is what it is. So… ready to talk now? Because I’m thinkin’ we can use your help, and we can definitely make it worth your while.”
Deeper within the premises - An Open-air training facility
Everyone had been disarmed by their confusion, and by Rushen’s goodwill, and by the thought that, just like that, one of the most threatening people in the city could just be fired like it was nothing, which made for Rushen a convenient situation. They were in line, following his lead, and as he did so, he brought them to a state-of-the-art training facility, one wherein dozens upon dozens of security officers in armor were walking around, shooting the shit, running, chatting by vending machines stocked with overpriced health food and sports drinks, and almost always giving Rushen a respectful nod and salute as he passed by, always meeting it with a cool, “at ease.”
“I still do not understand why we are here…” Inch, after some time being led around, spoke up. “I assume you sent those gift baskets to us, but even then, beyond wishing us here quickly, you did not say what you expect of us. Or even sign your name, beyond ‘the boss of VALKYRIE.’”
“Yes, like I said, my step into the private sector ain’t public knowledge yet… Trying to keep a lot under lock, ‘cuz I’ve inherited a backlog of things to take care of. Need-to-know basis… You know how it is.”
Fira nodded, saying bluntly, “so you’re planning something big. Want us to have a part. What? And why? Better not be wasting our time…”
“All Ugo ever taught people far as tactics went was a bullheaded, aggressive push forward… Rush, and rush, and rush, and just overwhelm opponents before they can think their way out.” Rushen explained. “It hasn’t been working, it got a lotta people on all sides or no sides hurt and killed who didn’t need to be, and while he used to have a man for handling stuff that took a brain, long story short… He’s no longer with us either. We’re trying to work on a way to save the people of this city from what’s up ahead, and no point in doing that if there’s no one to save, yeah? VALKYRIE needs to be better… We need to reorient, pick and choose better battles, get better at fighting them. No more bullcrap about raiding bars or stealing cows, yeah?”
“So you want us to… Help you retrain this security company?” Byte asked. “Why us?”
“The four of you felt right for it,” Rushen answered, looking each of them over in turn, “Byte, I know the part you played in that shipyard incident, and while I still ain’t pleased at what you were working for then, and it really messed Jesse up in a bad way, that’s all over now. The Ocean Soul business is done and in the past, and you’re real good at what you do.”
He was quiet, then.
“Fira,” he continued, “you’re another career criminal in this city, and you and I both know it, but we need someone who can think like that, someone with fight in her, for what I’m trying to get these guys ready for. Now ain’t the time to get picky… Long as you keep minding your business.”
“I try. Some people make it so hard.” Fira snorted, folding her arms.
“Inch, you used to be seen with Cairo a whole bunch, until right around when a certain incident happened… You know what I mean, don’t you?” She and Fira sneered, and Rushen raised a hand. “I’m not here to criticize, mind. I like your style, and that cool gator power thing you got going for you, hear you’ve got some real good learning techniques, and most important of all, I hear the two of you managed to survive bein’ in the dead center of Byron Oxbow at his angriest in thirty years.”
“You are… Praising me. It is appreciated, thank you.”
“And Cab,” Rushen continued, “you are the whitest man I have ever met, and I’ve got family in the same neck of New York as Douglas Jones. But hey, you’re a friend of Jesse’s, and these guys around here, they remember you at the battle on Capital Island, hurt and just popped outta this magic bottle, and still fighting with ‘em and helping people escape. You’re good people, and you got a particular edge to you I need too.”
“I saw I think a better side of VALKYRIE than most, by good circumstance,” Cab started, flattered by the mixed praise, ultimately happy to recognize it as stroking his ego, and a part of him warmed up for what was being praised turning out to be something besides the hobbies with which he’d filled the void. “Though I was just as willing to knock these guys’ heads in as everyone else here, you know… I certainly don’t mind this turnaround, though. And I think I’m starting to guess who it is you want to fight here, why you want a group like this in on it… Might you be planning to stake out the-”
“Not a word. Can’t let this get leaked.”
“Of course, of course,” Cab answered, quite confident in his mental answer nonetheless. “You mentioned this being worth our while… Can I ask what you mean by that?”
“The CEO’s gonna be watching this training sesh too, if you didn’t already guess… We’ll make sure all four of you are rewarded handsomely for this, of course, but if you really go above-and-beyond, she’s said she’ll throw even more bonus on top of all the dough. I recommend you shoot for that.”
“So we need to help train your guys better than these two, huh?” Fira answered, jerking her thumb at Inch and Cab.
“I mean, it probably is better for you to work with the person ya know primarily, but it’s not really a comp-”
“We are gonna blow whatever you guys are doing out of the water,” Byte interrupted, looking towards the Estate residents with a fiery look in his own eye. “We’ll show you the kind of training you can normally only see for a total premium at Dukes!”
“Yes, let’s one-up each other,” Cab agreed with an amused smirk, well aware that this competitive streak was unnecessary, but beginning to feel a certain fire in him, “what do you say, Inch? You up for the task of whipping these guys into crimebusting shape?”
“I suppose I am.” Inch herself was beginning to feel the air of competition, feel her blood pumping, “no hard feelings to either of you, if you are not selected for this… But we are simply going to do a phenomenal job.”
Rushen sighed, shaking his head. “Least you ain’t trying to kill each other… Alright! I’ll roll with it.” He clapped his hands, perking up quite a bit. “Both of y’all are in charge of sixteen recruits who need retraining fast, and we’re gonna compare what you did at the end. Just don’t kill ‘em or nothing, or do nothing stupid, and for four hours, soon as you got a plan together, what you say goes. Got it? Good.”
Man, now I’m feelin’ the competitive spirit a bit… Really is contagious, huh? Probably gonna make ‘em do a better job… Ah, hell, now I’m feelin’ a certain urge. I’m gonna say it. I’m gonna!
“Open the game.”
(credit to magistelles for the awesome art!)
Location: A VALKYRIE training facility in the middle of the business district.
The area consists of track fields, indoor gymnasiums, shooting ranges, training equipment storage, training towers and practical training buildings as well as other training sites. There is also general equipment storage and a small infirmary on site.
Essentially any sort of equipment or facilities you’d expect to find in a military style boot camp can be found here. Things like body armor and helmets, large tires, guns (both handguns and rifles), training dummies, etc. If you aren’t sure if something can be found here, just ask the judges.
There is also a large amount of spare wood used for building obstacle courses.
Goal: Train your group of recruits better than your opponents in a 4 hour training session!
Additional Information:
You can assume there is minimal downtime from getting area to area within the full facility.
Each team has a group of 16 VALKYRIE recruits to be trained. Each of them has 333 physicals and a 2 in gun handling and a 2 in hand to hand combat. While your session is a full 4 hours, you may still need to consider the stamina of the recruits and schedule breaks for them accordingly. They are in full uniform, with helmets, combat boots, and body armor as well as a pistol and baton each. They also have equipment that lets them see stands. They each have spare uniforms and can be refitted with training equipment from the equipment storage as needed. They also have assault rifles and walkie talkies in the equipment storage.
For the purposes of training they will generally agree to whatever you put them through short of anything that has significant risk of resulting in actual harm.
Teams are allowed to use/take anything from the facilities for the purposes of training.
In terms of Voting and Quality we are looking for a few different things:

• Having effective training: This can mostly be boiled down to how well their training either strengthenings their bodies or helps them learn muscle memories or techniques that improve fighting.
  
• Using your time effectively: Similar to having effective training, minimizing wasted time that could have been otherwise useful is also important.
  
• Having your recruits last for as much of the training as possible: Having guys needing to be sent to the infirmary for injuries or overworking them before the 4 hours is up will affect your score negatively. While accidents can happen through say sparring or other mishaps, you should try to minimize any lasting damages to the recruits.
  
• Having varied and well rounded training: Having them build skills in multiple areas, full body exercise over focusing on one or two muscle groups, and preparing them for a variety of scenarios.
  
• Discipline: While your recruits will be following your orders for training, being able to command their attention and respect can go a long way on making an impression and bolster training effectiveness. On the flip side, doing things that make the recruits not take you or training seriously can defeat the purpose of training.
  

In terms of training, you can also consider anything security personnel should be trained in, not just strictly combat. That can include rescuing, defending people, perceptiveness, team coordination, etc.

Team	Combatant	JoJolity
The Graveyard Shift	Fira B.	“This pain-in-the-ass pillar is a reflection on that woman's personality...” You know, if you are going to be training these people, might as well make this fun for yourself. Personalize your training regiment as much as you can to make it unique with your abilities!
The Graveyard Shift	Byte	“Climb to the top of the pillar with just your hands. That's the only exit. If you can't climb out, you'll stay there until you die.” Anybody could just sit back and train people, that’s why you can’t bring yourself to do that. Be active and hands-on in your training!
Black Hill Estate	Inch Nine	“Climbing with something other than the ripple is not appreciated by the pillar... This "Hell Climb Pillar" only likes the ripple and knocks down everything else... Don't forget that.” No point in relaxing while they do all the training, might as well brush up on your own skills. Be active and hands-on in your training!
Black Hill Estate	Cabernet “Cab” Sauvignon	“It's the fault of the person who built that trap... whoever built this was really fucked up! Making me fall for that” While you could have them do just normal training, that is defeating both the point of the exercise and would be a complete waste of everybody’s time. Personalize your training regiment as much as you can to make it unique with your abilities!

Link to the Official Player Spreadsheet
Link to Match Schedule
As always, if you would like to interact with the tournament community and be among the first to get updates for the tournament, please feel free to PM a member of our Judge staff for an invite to our Official Discord Server!

DCNext Proudly Presents…!

STARMAN

Issue #8: Storm Force

Arc II: Fire Opal

Written by Fortanono
Edited by VoidKiller826
<< Previous | Next >> (coming February)
-=-=-=-= 🌟 =-=-=-=-
Part 1: Jennifer Knight
”Now!” Ted barks through my earphone. I dash between the rooftops of a series of old brick buildings and look down. Courtney and Jack are shooting blasts of energy through the dense pale-green fog that fills the streets around us; Rick is looking around, clearly bored but unable to actually do anything. Darrell is above the arena, making sure everything goes smoothly, and Aunt Sandra is somewhere around here but I have no actual idea where. I jump down, twisting my dial to the “Bubble” mode as I land. Quickly, I summon a purple-black bubble around me, trapping just a bit of the Mist’s fog in it. I’ve successfully separated part of the Mist from the rest of him, but I’ll have to be quick about what comes next.
The small tendril of fog in my bubble seems to realize what’s happening as I dart as far as I can down the street. I see it bend and contract, diving into my throat. I start choking; it becomes harder and harder to breathe, but I just have to go a bit further out. Eventually, as I begin to get light-headed, I release the bubble and switch my dial to “Panic.” A burst of energy surrounds me, knocking the fog away from me and out of my mouth. I cough a bit before straightening myself and speaking into my microphone.
”He’s gonna try to reassemble himself,” I say. ”Darrell, it’s your move.”
”Right,” Darrell says. I can’t see him above the battlefield, but I immediately notice his presence as dozens of tiny blue-and-red drones drift down from the sky, each one with fans. They surround the Mist’s missing piece, keeping him in one place, still separate from the cloud that Jack, Rick, and Courtney are dealing with.
”Fantastic,” Ted radios in. ”Mist’s primary goal will always be to keep himself together. It’s a sort of side-effect to his powers. Keep him there, and the rest of him’ll follow eventually, no matter how hard he resists.”
It takes a few seconds, but the giant cloud of fog slowly starts drifting to meet up with the smaller one. Courtney and Jack rush over to the area with the fans, both concentrating fire on the one position where they’re merging. I turn my dial to “Energy Blast” and add my own energy to the mixture. Slowly but surely, the green fog begins to get thicker, and soon enough, the figure of the Mist begins to take hold.
“I was hoping you guys still thought I was in Gotham,” he mutters in a raspy voice. I stare at the face of the villain that Ted had been so worried about, remembering how we had prepared for this battle for over a month before he felt comfortable sending us out. He looks old, weak; in his eyes, I see a man who knows he’s been defeated, a man who may have once been a titan but whom old age has gotten to. I smile as Aunt Sandra decloaks and cuffs him with a pair of power-dampening handcuffs. Nearby, a police car pulled up and Clarence, one of the older O’Dare brothers, escorts him away.
“I will be back,” he hisses. “You should all know that.”
I know that it’s still possible for him to come back once again, that he had even come back when the world thought he was dead. There is a sincere promise in his words. But even so, seeing the frail figure of Opal City’s legendary villain once again defeated, I smile.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Rick, Darrell, Courtney, and I re-enter Ted’s workshop once again; Jack and Sandra split from us and went back to the Stargazer. As we descend the stairs, I could tell that Ted was over the moon.
“Wow,” he says to himself. “Just… wow. I’ll be entirely honest; I was certain we would have had to retreat at some point during that battle. I did not expect this to be one and done.”
“Well,” Rick chuckles, “I think the guy’s just a fucking pansy. No offense; I get why you couldn’t beat him or whatever, but like, the dude tries to make us go to Gotham so he didn’t have to deal with us. Again, no offense; I’m sure you were, like, a great hero in your time, of course.”
Ted laughs heartily. “None taken. I’m sure that as he’s gotten older, he’s had to rely more on cheap parlor tricks like the one in Gotham. I, for one, definitely knows how the aging process can take a toll on your abilities. I’m just… so happy that bastard is behind bars again.”
Courtney nods. “Here here.”
“Anyway,” Ted says, “I’d like to let you know that our little merry band of heroes is going to get a fifth member fairly soon.” His tone sours as he continues to speak. “My sister… she’s a vapid idiot, so you can understand that we haven’t talked in a long time, but her son started developing metahuman powers. And he started going out as a hero. She told me that she couldn’t stop him, so she wants him to at least have more support.”
“Ah, great,” Rick laughs. “Because I was just thinking that we didn’t have enough people who sucked at being heroes on this squad.”
“Rick,” Ted glares. “Please cool your behavior. I’ve seen what you’re able to do on the field and I must say: it’s pretty bad too.”
The door to the workshop slides open once again, and a new kid walks down the stairs. He’s got dark brown hair that’s just barely covering his eyes and is wearing a grey T-shirt and jeans. He waves to us as he walks down the stairs to meet with us.
“Hi,” he says. “Name’s Aaron. Aaron Munro. I’ll be working with you guys for a while.”
“He’s been helping people in his hometown of Liberty Hill as the great ‘Iron Munro’ for the past few months now,” Ted explains. “Unfortunately, Aaron, when you decided to do that, you perhaps made the worst mistake you could have made in this line of work. You made your identity public. Tell me, why’d you do that.”
Aaron sighed. “I… I just thought it was a small town, and I figured we all knew each other already, and… I guess I wanted to be recognized for my deeds or something.”
“I’m sure you’ll feel sufficiently recognized when your mother gets a bullet in her skull,” Ted says bluntly. “Let’s be clear: I hate the lady, but not that much. Come with me.” Ted beckons Aaron to the far corner of the workshop.
I stare blankly at what’s happening in front of me; Ted’s a hardass, but this is… a bit much even for him. Clearly, this was about more than just business. I had heard small things about Ted’s sister before but never met her or her family. Whatever happened to separate them had to have been a big deal.
Ted shows Aaron to a costume on a stand in the corner; it consists of a brown-and-grey bulletproof bodysuit with metal accents and a full face-mask made entirely of metal. “This,” Ted says, “is going to be the new you. I’m calling it: ‘Metalsmith.’”
“Th-thanks,” he says. He looks frustrated; I can tell that he’s not happy to be here, but he’s holding it all in. “I--I just have to say that… this really isn’t my style. I’m trying to go for a friendly hometown hero vibe, and having my whole face covered up… It just doesn’t seem right.”
Ted grimaces. “You did the hometown hero thing, and you failed. You showed your face to everyone. Metalsmith isn’t the friendliest guy around, but he’s safe and so is his family. If you wanna talk about alterations, feel free to tell me. But keep in mind that I have to work to preserve your safety first.”
Aaron nods. “Fine,” he says.
I look around the room; all of my teammates are either looking at the spectacle in front of them, or looking at their phones. Starved of anything else to look at, I turn to look at Rick’s phone. He’s responding to a text message from someone named Luisa; I think she’s a girl in his class or something. It doesn’t quite look like a message about normal things teenagers talk about, though.
hey, so I have a confession to make, the message begins. John and Maya and i, we knew about you being hourman and everything before we met you. we’re still your friends, we always were, but we also want to get your help with something we’re working on. a project that involves metahumans, basically. let us know if you’re interested.
I immediately turn away from the message on the phone. Clearly, this is something I’m not supposed to know about, but now that I do, I can’t stop thinking about it. Some other people want Rick to help them with… something related to his powers. It sounds really shady; should I tell Ted about this? It could be a conflict of interest, whatever it is. On the other hand, Ted doesn’t seem like the most level-headed person to deal with this. Who knows; maybe it’s for some sort of superhero stunt show or something really cool, and I’d be denying him access to that.
Whatever. It’s not my problem right now. It was never meant for me.
“Hey,” Aaron says. “You here? You listening?”
I look up; Aaron is standing right in front of me, his hand outstretched. “Sorry,” I say, shaking his hand. “My name’s Jennifer. It’s nice to meet you.”
-=-=-=-= 🌟 =-=-=-=-
Part 2: Sandra Knight
“Well, that could’ve gone a lot worse,” I say, currently on the back of Jack’s Star-Cycle. Jack apparently figured out that he could make his motorcycle fly if he used his Cosmic Rod, which is both hilarious and something that neither Ted nor David would ever begin to consider trying out. Which is why Jack is so great; he’s questioning everything, figuring out new ways of doing things, and making a motorcycle fly.
Feeling the wind rush against my face, I’m taken immediately back to my rebellious college days and my early stints as the Phantom Lady. It’s nice, almost nostalgic, but still different enough. We come to a descent in the back of the Stargazer, and Jack locks up his motorcycle.
Hope comes out the back door to greet us. “Glad you could make it,” she says. “Cutting it a little close, though, I gotta say. The meeting’s in less than 5 minutes.”
Oh, right. The meeting with our potential client. The Mist tends to give a lot of people tunnel-vision; I had completely forgotten about this.
“Sorry about that,” Jack chuckles. “You know how it is, going out, saving the day. Maybe someday, you should give it a--” He cuts himself off as I glare at him. His expression turns more serious. “I’m so sorry,” he finally says. “I forgot about what happened with you and the Mist.”
Hope sighs. “It’s fine,” she says. “We can deal with this another time. He’s behind bars yet again; he can’t hurt anyone else. That’s the best news anyone could hope for.”
We walk into the office; Jack takes a seat, ready for the meeting. “So, this new client. What’s the deal with them, again? Missing kid? Brother’s a supervillain?”
“She has some information on who might have been behind the prison break a few months ago,” I say.
“Okay, wow,” Jack responds. “That’s sort of a big deal.”
We hear the door swing open. A young woman with light brown skin and shoulder-length black hair walks in. She’s wearing a sleeveless white shirt and black winter coat; on her left hand is a tattoo of the Superman “S” sigil. “Look who’s here,” Jack smiles. “Glad you could make it.”
The woman sits down in front of Jack, putting her coat on the back of the chair. “Yeah, well, me too,” she sighs. “Listen, if you have any witness protection-type deals or whatever, can you hook me up with one of them? I’m honestly… I’m honestly terrified right now.”
I nod. “Well, there are a few options there. My cousin can easily create a fake ID and get you out of the city without anyone noticing. If you want to go through a more legitimate program, Hope here has contacts with the police who can get you into proper witness protection.”
“I’ll take the first one,” she says. She reaches out and shakes Jack’s hand. “Name’s Sarah. I’ve been working for Maxie Zayas for the last few months; I needed work, and he seemed really nice at first.”
Maxie Zayas. That’s going to be a tough one. A big-time club owner and crime boss, following in the footsteps of his father; I was personally involved in putting his old man behind bars. All of Opal City’s heroes know about him, but we’ve never been able to really do much about it. A few years ago, David flew into Maxie’s club and arrested him straight-up for drug trafficking. Not 12 hours later, he was out, cleared of all charges.
This isn’t going to be a battle we can fight with force.
I walk closer to the table where Sarah and Jack are seated. “And you believe that Zayas is responsible for the recent breakout?”
Sarah nods. “At some point, I began to hear whispers that he was planning some meteoric takeover of Opal City. He said he needed something to distract the local heroes in the meantime. And then, a few days before the big event happened, I saw him talking to that card guy who broke them all out.”
“Jeremy Tell,” Jack says.
“I… I couldn’t be a part of whatever he was doing,” Sarah says. “I grew up in Opal City. Believe it or not, I loved you guys.” She points to me. “I actually had a poster of you in my room. I thought Zayas was a harmless dude who just sat around. It wasn’t a big deal, whatever he was doing. The people he broke out… I remember seeing what they did on the news. I had to talk to you.”
“Glad you did,” Jack says. “Hey, that’s awesome that you had a poster of Phantom Lady. Wait, why aren’t we selling posters?” He turns to me. “Can we do that?”
I laugh. “Topic at hand,” I smile.
Mia leaves, and Hope walks up to us. “So… what’s the plan then? We can’t both take down Zayas and the people he released, right? Those are two huge undertakings.”
“That may be so,” I say. I pause for a second. “We may not need to. If we can get the All-Stars to handle the escaped convicts, we could divert all of our attention towards figuring out what Zayas is planning.”
“Okay,” Jack says, “but how are we going to take him down? David tried, and he failed miserably. The guy’s just super well-connected. We can’t just storm in there, can we.”
I smile. “Jack, sweetie. There are other ways to do this kind of work that don’t involve punching all your problems away.”
-=-=-=-= 🌟 =-=-=-=-
Interlude VIII: Hour of Espionage
”Positions, everyone,” Al Carlyle said through the microphone. ”We need to set the scene just right.”
Carlyle stared at the multitude of cameras around him. He watched as Luisa, Maya, and John made their way to the docks. Turning to another monitor, he watched as several stealth-agents readied their sniper rifles, hiding on rooftops, in windows. He pressed a button on the console in front of him; a series of machines around the docks whirred to life; to the outside observer, they looked like they were doing nothing, but Carlyle knew that they were the key to this mission.
“I have to say,” Luisa said apprehensively. “I’m really worried about this. These snipers… if he doesn’t show up, they will kill us, right?”
”11:49 PM,” Carlyle reiterated. ”Unfortunately, for this to work, the snipers have to be steadfastly committed to their mission. The dude doesn’t get visions about things that could happen. He gets them about things that will if he doesn’t intervene. But don’t worry; we’ve run several experiments with the energy emitters. Every time, he shows up right on cue.”
Luisa nodded. ”Okay. And what’s the deal with those machine things? You’ve explained them to me before, but I’m not good at remembering all the science stuff. Just isn’t my thing.”
”They emit a specific frequency of radiation that, for reasons unbeknownst to us, seem to massively increase the likelihood that Rick gets a vision in that area. We found residual traces of it naturally occurring in almost half of Rick’s usual visions; when we massively crank up the numbers, he always seems to show.”
The three kids sat down at the dock. After a few seconds, Carlyle spoke up. ”We’ve gotten confirmation that Rick has now left his house. The snipers can now evacuate the area. The three of you, just act normal. It’ll take the better part of the hour for him to get here, so get comfortable.” As soon as they had settled in, the masked snipers quickly ran off, lowering their weapons and quickly changing into civilian wear like clockwork.
John was the first to speak up after Carlyle went silent. “So, what, we’re gonna wait, like, 58 minutes until he gets there? Well, this will be boring.” He pulled out a couple of joints from his pocket. “Anyone want some?”
“We’re on duty,” Maya said. “I don’t think it’s worth it.”
John shrugged. “What? We have to sit around, pretend like we’re doing something, and then act all buddy-buddy with him when he shows up. It’s not like we’re taking down Basilisk; this is easy shit. It’ll be fine.”
Maya shook her head. “We should wait.”
John chuckled. “Alright, fine, you win. But we’re popping these babies out as soon as the man of the hour gets here. Got it?” He shoved the joints back into his pocket.
“Alright, whatever you want,” Maya smiled. “Just don’t come running to me when Carlyle yells at our asses for being high on the job.”
Carlyle watched the security footage, smiling and shaking his head to himself. Behind him, William Vickers walked up. He was the same age as the rest of them, but he had proven himself remarkably more mature than the others, quickly becoming the group’s de facto leader.
“Sorry to bother you at this time,” William said. “I gotta talk to you about another developing situation.” Carlyle hesitated, before standing up and dusting himself off. The two of them walked into the next room, where they began to talk.
“Basilisk activity’s been at an all-time high for the past few months,” William finally said. “Just recently, they’ve opened up 3 new cells in Germany, and are pulling in a remarkable number of recruits in Indonesia and Malaysia, to name a few. There’s also been a lot of restructuring; several smaller cells have been suddenly relocated to South America for some odd reason. If the ASA’s gonna be able to keep limiting their spread, we need more agents, and they need to be trained.”
Carlyle nodded. “Yes, yes,” he said. “I’ll remind you that you’re looking at only a small piece of the bigger picture. We are only a tiny fraction of what the ASA has to offer, and the adults are well aware of these issues. That said, you’re not wrong; we need all the help we can get. That’s what we’re working on right now.”
“Rick Tyler,” William affirmed. “He seems strong; he’d be a great start. But one metahuman won’t be enough. We need more metahuman soldiers, or at least, soldiers equipped with energy weapons and similar tech. The capes have been doing it for years; it works. But somehow, we can’t seem to find nearly enough people willing to serve. Maya’s the only metahuman on our squad right now, and her powers are still very much a wild card in combat scenarios.”
Carlyle nodded. “Yes,” he finally said. “Well, I don’t think that just recruiting a bunch of people is the right way to go. If we do that, we run the risk of potentially exposing ourselves to a large number of double-agents. But… if this lead pans out, there might be a way to enhance the prowess of the agents we already have.”
William perked up. “Yes? Do tell.”
“Presumably, Rick could gain access to the technology that Starman and his companions use to fight crime. Luisa could take a staff, you could take the blacklight…”
“I’m not the type of guy to stay in the shadows,” William said. “Have you seen my attempts at infiltration? Not my strong suit. Appreciate the offer, though.”
Carlyle nodded and smiled. “Well, whatever happens, this new member could help us more than we initially thought.”
-=-=-=-= 🌟 =-=-=-=-
Part 3: Jack Knight
I pull up to a street corner a few blocks away from what many Opal City residents affectionately refer to as the ‘Zayas Strip.’ Hope is sitting in the back seat, done up to look like a completely different person, and Sandra’s already run off to do some good old-fashioned sleuthing. The prosthetic nose I’m wearing feels so uncomfortable already; couldn’t we just have gone for the blond hair dye and nothing else?
Sandra materializes on the hood of her green convertible, startling the bejeezus out of me. “Password for the night is ‘Prometheus,’” she mutters.
“Alright, alright,” I say. “Hey, I know it’s technically your car and all, but maybe don’t jump on the hood, okay? That was probably the biggest scare I’ll have all night unless Grant decides that the Olympia is his new favorite haunt.”
Sandra ignores me. “You two head into the bar; I’ve given you fake IDs for the absolute worst-case scenarios, but you shouldn’t need to wave them around. I’ll never be too far behind, but as usual, you won’t see me. Got it?”
“Clear as ever,” I smirk.
“So,” Hope says from the back seat, “you ready to raise some hell?” Her usually-red hair is now jet-black, and she’s wearing these bright blue contact lenses that accentuate her eyes. If I didn’t know who she was, I would never have recognized her in the first place. Let’s just hope my disguise is just as good.
Sandra vanishes and we walk a few blocks further down Harris Street. As we walk down the street, the quiet townhouses are quickly replaced with a completely different atmosphere of bustling nightlife and flashing neon lights. On both sides of the street are a series of Zayas-owned businesses: strip clubs, brothels, bars, casinos, even a fight club at the far end of the street. It’s almost disorienting; look, I’m not the nicest guy in the world, never pretend to be, but I promise I’ve never been in a place like this. Not quite like this, at least.
Nestled in the middle of the brilliant signs and faint bouncing of club music is a single building not illuminated by lights. The top floor is taken up by some sort of high-end brothel with a sign reading ‘The Elysian Fields’ on it. The stairs that lead down to the bottom floor are guarded by a dude who seems absolutely ripped--like, probably-a-meta ripped--and a sign at the front reads “Olympia Nightclub.” Zayas’ personal shining gem, for those who were affluent enough to get an invitation.
I walk up to the bouncer and am immediately taken aback as I realize who exactly it is. Tony Woodward, aka Girder. Former Flash villain who got in a few fights with David before being broken out. As I get closer, it becomes clear that this dude’s entire body is made of rusted metal. He speaks up in a deep voice as we approach. “What’s the code?”
“Prometheus,” I say.
Girder bows his enormous metal head and steps to the left. “Enjoy.”
As we walk in, the last trace of the booty-bounce music that I could hear vanishes as it’s replaced by a classical violin tune from a distant speaker in the corner. The walls are blue plaster; segmenting the walls are a series of white column-like decals meant to invoke ancient Greek architecture. The bar in the center of the room is also surrounded by similar white columns. On the far end of the club is a wooden stage, currently unoccupied, and a few poker tables. Still not nearly half as good as my restaurant’s interior design.
The bartender walks up to us as we take a seat. His head is completely shaved; from what I can tell from the rest of his body, he appears covered in tattoos of vines and flowers. “Don’t think I’ve seen you lovely pair before around here,” he says.
“No, you wouldn’t have,” I smile. “We’re new in town. Heard about this place from an old military buddy of mind, and as it turns out, we got just enough money to spend on a nice place like this.” I reach out my hand and he shakes it. “David Vosberg. This is my girl, Rita.”
Hope offers her hand as well. The bartender shakes it. She turns down towards the cocktail menu, looking over the options. Her face shifts a bit as she reads over the various options; each one seems to be based on various tragic events that Opal City has suffered through. Down the list, I see the ‘Swift Hydro Plant’ as their fancy new drink, the ‘Prison Break,’ the ‘Doll Killer’--complete with a miniature doll in Martha Williams’ likeness--a drink simply labeled ‘The Mist,’ and, the final drink on the specialty list, the ‘Fallen Hero.’ The description listed it as ‘a tribute to the asshole who tried to bust us finally kicking the bucket. May aliens continue to do what we never can.’
My stomach drops. Fuck, while we go out and bust our balls to make this city a better place, the people in this club turn around and laugh at our failures. Laugh when one of us dies. I feel my blood boiling. I need to stay in character. I can’t blow this for all of us. Gritting my teeth, I take a few deep breaths before sucking it up.
“What’s the matter?” the bartender asks. “Can’t take a couple of dark jokes? Lighten up, man.” He gives me a pat on the back like I would ever be okay with that.
“Sorry,” I say. “It’s just… Well, let’s just say I lost someone personal in the hydro plant attack. One of, uh, those flying shadow things cut my brother open. I’ll take… I’ll take a Fallen Hero, I guess.” At this point, I’m flying by the seat of my pants. I’m definitely excited to get that drink.
“And I’ll take a Mist,” Hope says.
“Damn,” the bartender says. “I’m sorry about that. I didn’t realize that you could… I’m sorry to hear about your brother.”
“It’s fine,” I say. “You couldn’t have known.”
The bartender serves our drinks and we quietly sip at them. Aside from a few regulars, nothing much seems to really be happening.
I feel a slight breeze on the back of my neck. I turn around; nestled in my suit is a small piece of paper. The writing on it reads, ”Can’t find Zayas, but did find something else big. Meet me outside? -Sandra”.
“Hey, uh, Rita?” I clear my throat and put my arm around her, subtly passing the note over to her. “This place is getting really stuffy; I think we need to step out for a second. Whaddya think?”
Hope shrugs. “Oh, alright,” she says, covertly reading the note. “But we’re coming back; this place is just fabulous, don’t you think?”
“Definitely,” I say. We walk outside, brushing past Girder’s cold metal form as we do. Sandra’s waiting on the corner of the street, fully visible.
Sandra turns to us as we approach, and her voice turns to a whisper. “So,” she says, turning to Hope. “Before I bring this up, I figure it’s worth asking. How much do you know about what your brothers work on in the Force?”
Hope takes a deep breath. “Well, you know what’s going on with Mason, Clarence is in the same precinct as me, Barry just got a promotion to Major Crimes, and Matt works… well, I think he works around here, actually.” Her face turns bright red. “What’s going on?”
“I managed to get into one of the back rooms,” Sandra says. “And… well, Zayas is there, and he’s talking to a bunch of associates. One of them was Tell. And I think one of them may have been Matt.”
Hope nods. “Okay,” she finally says. “I… I guess I’m not surprised. He’s always been really secretive about what he’s doing, he’s denied promotions before… but I didn’t really think about it before.”
Sandra sighs. “I know this can be hard to hear, but I, unfortunately, have to ask you for one more favor. We’re here to watch Zayas over an extended period of time, figure out what he’s planning. For that reason, you can’t tell your brothers about our suspicions.”
Hope nods. “Got it,” she says hurriedly. “My… my lips are sealed.” As she speaks, I can tell she’s not fully convinced.
We walk back to the car. This was a short mission, but if this goes right, it will be one of many. And once we’re done, I’m almost certain, we’ll be able to take Maxie Zayas down.
-=-=-=-= 🌟 =-=-=-=-
Part 4: Rick Tyler
“Okay,” I snarl as I pass Luisa in the hallways of my school. She’s currently putting her bag into her locker. “I need to know what the fuck is going on, and I want you to tell me everything. What do you want from me?”
“Rick, calm down,” Luisa says. “Look, there are reasons why we had to do what we did, why we couldn’t just tell you everything as soon as we met you. We’ll explain everything soon enough.”
I shake my head. “Again with the secrets. Just fucking tell me what I need to know, alright? You guys pretend to be my friends, stage some sort of chance meeting with me--I got no idea how you did that. You pay some guys to shoot your heads off if I didn’t show up?”
“More or less,” she whispers. “Look, keep your voice down, okay? What we’re involved with isn’t something we can talk about in public.”
Oh, for Jesus fucking Christ’s sake.
Luisa bows her head. “Meet me out front of the Valor Building, this Saturday at 3 PM. All three of us will be there. Once you get there, there’ll be no more secrets. You’ll get to know everything. Promise.”
I sigh and throw my hands up. “Okay, fine,” I whisper. “I’ll be there.”
As I make my way to class, I shake my head. Fuck this. Clearly, they don’t trust me any more than anyone else seems to. But still, for some reason, I still want to meet with them. Just to figure out what’s going on. And then I’ll be done with them.
I nod my head. That seems fine. Find everything out, then leave. I can handle that.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
The Valor Building is one of Opal City’s oldest brownstone skyscrapers; it’s not even close to the tallest anymore, but it’s right in the middle of the city center, and it’s one of the most iconic buildings here. To those who actually give a fuck about Opal City, I guess. I remember that when Dad and Mom were still together, we ended up going for a weekend trip to Opal City. Dee and I were taken aback by the Valor Building and all of the dazzling skyscrapers in the city center; it felt so much nicer than Baltimore did. Then I moved here and discovered that like every other city, it’s full of shit. Tourists just like to hide the shitty parts from view.
I walk up to the front steps of the building. John is leaning against one of the pillars near the entrance, and Luisa and Maya are waiting for me up front.
“Yo, glad you could make it,” John smiles. “We were placing bets as to whether you’d actually show up. Seems like Luisa here owes me ten dollars.”
“Trust me,” Luisa laughs. “If you’d have been there, you’d have agreed with me. He didn’t seem like he was in the mood to keep putting up with our bullshit.” She turns to me. “Regardless, glad you could come. Sorry to put you through all of this.”
“Sorry,” I say, shrugging. “I can let my nerves get the best of me at times. I’m feeling better now, don’t worry.”
“So,” Maya says. “Are we ready to go?”
Luisa nods. Maya turns to the keypad next to her and types in a code. 7, 8, 4, 4, pound sign. The door clicks open. Immediately, as I walk into the lobby, I feel like I’m in a place I’m not supposed to be. The floor is made up of elaborately-patterned stone tiles; large windows to the sides let in a lot of sunlight as I walk to the elevators.
“So, uh, what do you do here?” I ask. “This is just, like, an office building, right?”
“Just, like, 10 seconds left,” Luisa says. “Then you’ll get to know all our secrets.” She calls the elevator, and we walk in. I push my way to the back as John and Maya get on.
“Alright,” John says. “I think it goes without saying that what we show you here today, you can’t mention to another living soul that we don’t approve of. Not even your hero pals. Got it?”
“Yeah, of course,” I say nonchalantly.
“Okay.” John reaches up above the panel of buttons on the elevator and opens up a small compartment. Inside is a fingerprint scanner; John jams his thumb onto the pad and the elevator begins to go down. After a few more seconds, the doors open. We’re in a pristine grey room; computers line every wall, and dozens of people look up as we walk in. Immediately, it reminds me of Ted’s workshop, but on a much bigger scale.
A man is waiting for us in the middle of one of the hallways. He’s wearing a neatly-ironed grey-green suit, with combed-over white hair. He reaches out his hand for me to shake.
“Al Carlyle,” he says. “Director of the American Security Agency. Nice to meet you, Rick. I’ve heard so many great things about you.” I turn around. All three of my so-called “friends” have deserted me, leaving me with this weird dude.
“Uh, nice to meet you too,” I mutter, shaking his hand. “So what exactly is going on here?”
“Well,” Al smiles, “what isn’t going on here? I suppose you’re a bit confused, a bit overwhelmed, so I’ll try and give you the long and short of it. We’re like the CIA, sort of. But a bit more secret. We’re the CIA when the CIA can’t be involved. Take, for example, metahuman agents. Do you know much about the Freedom Fighters?”
I shrug. “Heard of them. The original Starman was working with one of them, I think.”
Al nods. “Come,” he says. “Walk with me.” I sigh and follow him through the convoluted halls and terminals of this absolutely massive underground base.
“Now,” he says, “the Freedom Fighters were a truly amazing group of people. They were a UN task force composed of one sergeant, a handful of regular soldiers, and three metahumans. Well, they fought long and hard for the values that we hold dear to us today, but in the end, the UN saw them as a threat. What’s to stop our enemies from conscripting metahumans too? It’d be another cold war, one that many countries were all-too-eager to stop. So, metahumans were banned from serving in combat.”
He clears his throat and lets out a hearty chuckle. “Well, you see, terrorists don’t tend to follow by our rules. I suppose that’s what makes them terrorists, don’t you think? So that’s where we come in. One of many examples, I suppose, of where we come in. We use many of the techniques superheroes use to fight against potential threats to the land of the free and the brave. And I’ve had my eye on you for a while. I think you’d make a great addition to our cause.”
I pause and look around me. This place is huge. It’s bound to take up more than a few city blocks. When I intercepted the battle Jack was having with Swift, this base was underneath it all, computers typing away. Our school is only a few blocks west of here; it’s very possible the base extends that far too. I haven’t even been in Opal City for a year yet, but I had felt like I knew everything about it. Clearly, I was wrong.
I’ve never been the type of person who hated the government and everything they did. I followed the news, though, and they’ve clearly done some questionable things in the past few years. With Cale as President, that’s just going to get worse and worse. Do I want to be a part of this? Clearly, I don’t think I do. I was just here to get answers, and I got mine. That’s as far as this goes.
‘Take your time,” Al laughs. “We’d love to have ya, but no pressure either way.”
Before I can tell him no, my vision flashes white. A man walking down a run-down section of Snejbjerg Street. Nearly bald buzz-cut, blue eyes, wearing a grey hoodie. A car pulls up to him, firing three rounds in his chest. The blood splatters over the sidewalk. I snap back to reality.
“I have to go,” I say, my voice strained. “How do I get out of--”
Al gives me a knowing smile. “What’s going to happen, and where will it be?”
I sigh. “Some dude in a grey hoodie is gonna get shot on Snejbjerg Street. Drive-by shooting. It was a black sedan, I think. Just let me go, okay?”
Al turns on a radio on his jacket. “I want a dozen soldiers placed across Snejbjerg Street within the hour. Look out for black sedans, check each one for weapons. And get Rick Tyler here a tall glass of water.”
Immediately, the people around me start getting up and gearing into action. A young woman who was manning a computer earlier walks up to me and offers me a glass of water. I drink from it.
“Thanks,” I finally say.
Al hands me a burner phone from his pocket. “If you ever get any visions at an inconvenient time, text me from this phone. We’ll have it handled, and you can focus on the things in life that matter.”
I smile. “Wow, thanks.”
Al nods. “Look, Rick, I know that everything must be really disorienting for you right now, but trust me when I say that we’re here for you. From what I’ve heard from my agents that have been interacting with you, that doesn’t seem to be the case with the other team you’re on right now. They see you as a loose cannon. Maybe they’re right, who knows. But here, we need loose cannons. You can beat up as many terrorists as you want here--or don’t, whatever floats your boat. But you’re welcome here as you are, no matter who that is.”
I pause, looking around for a second. He’s right; in the few seconds I’ve met him, Al has made me feel at home more than I’ve ever been with the All-Stars.
I reach out and shake Al’s hand. “I’m in.”
“Fantastic,” he smiles. “Well, let’s meet the team then.” He brings me to a room with a circular table. Around the table are John, Luisa, Maya, and another kid I don’t remember. White kid with neatly-trimmed brown hair.
“Well,” Al says, “this is one of our finest covert ops units. We’re calling them the ‘Force of July.’ Right now, they’re mostly doing international missions, but we’re planning on bringing them into the spotlight as superheroes to handle domestic matters in the near future.”
He gestures to John. “You’ve already met John Trujillo, Jr., alias: ‘The Black Condor.’ His dad was one of our finest officers before sadly meeting his fate protecting our country. He piloted a one-of-a-kind wingsuit that his son now uses.”
“Besides that,” Al continues, “the Campoverde sisters have been fantastic assets. Luisa first came to us because she needed help with her sister’s metahuman powers. That’s right: she found us. Always a good metric for future success. Turns out, her sister has a bit of a way with plants, and it was a bit out of her control. Now, the two of them serve us as Lady Liberty and Mayflower.”
The last kid, the one I haven’t met, reaches over to shake my hand. “William Vickers,” he says. “Also known as Major Victory. My teammates have been telling me a lot about you. It’s good to finally get to meet you in the flesh.”
“The feeling’s mutual,” I say. And somehow, surprisingly, I mean it.”
Al nods and smiles. “Now that we’ve gotten to know each other, Rick, I have a special mission briefing for you and only you. I can tell that this will be the beginning of a long and fruitful partnership.”

“He was concerned about whether or not Boppo had come back when he saw the dent in the ‘ol whacking stick so I explained what happened. After he verified that I am mentally sound, he checked the security camera footage and had to check if he was mentally sound. I told him we could release the video online and get some free press, but he said that’s not the kind of publicity the store needs. So anyway, while I was talking with him about everything, that’s when Jerry comes over so he and my uncle can… Play poker… And he bribes me with a fully punched card for that froyo place downtown that I love in an effort to get me to leave. They let you load up the punch card redemption with soooo many toppings! It’s great!” Roxy finished a rather long explanation.
“You just spent twenty minutes explaining why you showed up at my house with a half-melted cup of froyo and two spoons.” Scar stood across from Roxy at the counter the latter sat at.
“Well I thought you might want some, and we were gonna hang out today anyway. Now hurry up and grab a scoop of melted frozen yogurt- Which is just regular yogurt I guess- grab a scoop before I eat all of it.”
“And get a scoop of your germs? No thanks.”
“You didn’t seem to mind germs when we were at that party and I was dared to-”
As Roxy began to bring up the story Scar quickly grabbed one of the plastic spoons that Roxy set on the counter and took a bite of the mostly melted frozen yogurt concoction as their face started to turn red. “Somagicisrealhuh? Howaboutthat?” Scar rushed out a topic change in an effort to distract Roxy.
“Speaking of,” Roxy fell for the bait, “have you done any more cool magic stuff? I know it’s only been like, a day, but if you’ve done any more cool magic stuff you’re legally obligated to tell me.”
“I don’t even know how I did it the first time. I know that you’re excited but it’s not like I can just magic an explosion out of nowhere.” Scar motioned their arms while speaking, doing a sudden motion with their hands with the word ‘explosion’.
As if she were waiting for a timely explosion, Roxy looked to her right and left while Scar looked on confused. When nothing happened, Roxy let out a shrug and ate another scoop of froyo.
“What was that?” Scar asked.
“What was what?” Roxy replied.
“The looking side to side thing?”
“Oh, usually in movies and stuff when someone says something like ‘I can’t magic something out of thin air’ that something happens so I was hoping there would be an explosion but I guess I was wrong.” Roxy continued to eat froyo while she talked.
Suddenly, a knock at the door. Scar looked in the direction of the door and slowly made their way over to it. Through the peephole, there was nothing to be seen, not even a package.
“Porch pirates are a problem, but they're not that quick.” Scar muttered to themself as they opened the door to check if any package couriers were on the street. When Scar turned around after finding nothing, that’s when the shock set in.
“I’m sorry to interrupt your fun,” a mysterious stranger sat on the counter, holding a metal spoon and taking a bite of the frozen yogurt, “but you’ve recently had contact with one Sir Elias Galvan, have you not?”
Roxy jumped up and scuttled towards Scar after the stranger revealed themself.
When the stranger didn’t get a response from the shocked dou, they continued. “The knight in shining armor, you know? With chainmail arms and a checkerboard shirt? You needn’t worry about why I ask if that’s your concern.” The stranger dropped the grin from their face, “Unless you don’t answer me, that is.”
Scar and Roxy looked the stranger up and down trying to figure out who they were and how they got there. The stranger’s skin was a pale blue and their hair a pale white slicked back, they wore baggy red and black clothes and oddly-shaped pointed shoes. Among his most notable features was the fact that his ears were long and pointed.
Scar was too paralyzed by fear to speak and Roxy was distracted desperately trying to remember where she hid her dispenser of pepper spray.
“Tssk tssk,” The stranger wagged a finger at the duo as a devilish smile made its way to his face, “Silence isn’t an answer.”
As Roxy clamored around feeling her pockets she finally remembered where she left the pepper spray! In her car, the key to which was on the counter, next to the stranger. Thinking quickly, Roxy grabbed the hood of Scar’s sweatshirt, opened the front door, and quickly pulled them outside.
“How the hell did that guy appear from nowhere?!” Roxy exclaimed, trying to drag Scar to her car.
“I-I don’t kn-know! H-He was asking ab-bout S-Sir G-Galvan… Do you think it was magic?” Scar replied while trying to rush away from the house, in the opposite direction of Roxy’s influence.
“Magic?” Roxy stopped moving. “Does that mean this is a magic adventure!”
“If-If w-we don’t get aw-way from that guy I’m w-w-illing to b-bet it’ll be a magic hom-m-micide.” Scar continued to try to move away despite Roxy’s iron grip on their hoodie.
“Or we can magic a way to defeat him. And by we, I mean the super talented and gifted magic savant that can open portals without thinking.”
Scar let out a sigh of defeat before ending their struggle to flee. “F-Fine. But if-f we die, I’m g-going to kill you.”
“Hey, do you think it’s weird that the door is unlocked and we haven’t been pursued by the guy that could magic his way inside? Like, does he not understand doors?”
Just then, the door to the house flew open, and the stranger emerged. Though, his exit was not one of grace or valor, but rather one of someone being thrown out of a door. Behind him stepped a courageous hero with a face hidden behind a helmet. And a trenchcoat. And jeans. The mysterious hero was almost entirely unlike the knight that Roxy and Scar were expecting to see when they saw the villain fly.
The villain began laughing with an unsettling cackle as he picked himself up from the ground. “Pardon me,” he stifled his laugh, “I was expecting someone else. My name is Seymour, would my would-be foe care to enlighten me as to yours?”
“No.” The stranger in the helmet’s voice sounded like it was filtered through a microphone. His hands were placed firmly in his pockets as he approached Seymour.
“How rude,” Seymour looked towards Roxy and Scar. “Some people, huh? Don’t know basic etiquette.”
Roxy and Scar watched in disbelief as Seymour plucked three balls from thin air, each setting ablaze as they manifested in his hand. “It’s awfully chilly out here and I’ve left my coat at home.” Seymour began to juggle the blazing balls, “I’ll just have to borrow yours. If it isn’t burnt to a crisp with the rest of you, that is.”
The man with the helmet and trenchcoat wordlessly tossed something over next to Roxy and Scar before retorting, “Gonna be awfully hard to borrow my coat when you’re unconscious.”
“Oh ho ho, don’t tease me with a good ti-” Seymour's words were interrupted by the sound of a car door closing and the sound of an entire canister of pepper spray being unleashed directly into his face.
As Seymour writhed on the ground clutching his face and yelling in agony, the stranger calmly walked over, lifted him up by the collar of his shirt, and socked him across the jaw. With the jester lying unconscious on the ground, Scar began to breathe deeper breaths in an attempt to de-stress.
“Thanks for tossing me my keys!” Roxy let out a smile trying to get the masked stranger’s attention. “How did you know I kept my pepper spray in there?”
“I didn’t, you two were supposed to run away.” The stranger spoke.
“Oh.” Roxy took a moment to reevaluate her decision making.
“H-How did you t-two get in my house?” Scar struggled to get the sentence out, catching the attention of Roxy who stepped closer to Scar to help them calm down.
“He” The stranger pointed to the unconscious Seymour, “used magic. Since I can’t use magic I used the back door.”
“Wait,” Roxy pondered aloud, “if you can’t use magic how did you know we were in trouble?”
“Let’s just say I’m a friend of the big guy.”
“Santa?” Roxy excitedly asked, receiving a blank stare from both the stranger and Scar, the latter of whom leaned in and whispered in her ear. “That,” a disappointed look came over her face, “makes more sense.”
With the adrenaline rush having mostly faded, Scar took a better look at the stranger who had saved them. His helmet was odd, like a paintball mask but made of more solid materials with a much more opaque visor. He was roughly as tall as Roxy, a little taller than the 5 foot ten she stood. His trenchcoat was plain, like one from an old detective movie. Beneath it was a plain white shirt with red trim and a pair of regular blue jeans.
“Who are you?” Scar asked with an unprecedented amount of confidence.
“Like I said, a friend of Galvan’s.”
Scar stared at him, looking deadpan at the visor hoping they were making eye contact.
“Fine, you can call me CC.” It was clear that Scar’s stare had made him uncomfortable enough to speak. “Look, I should probably take care of this guy before he wakes up.”
Suddenly, a slit in reality appeared next to the group, expanding into a gateway that Sir Galvan quickly rushed through brandishing his sword in the form of a rapier.
“Excuse my tardiness, please allow me to deal with the…” Sir Galvan noticed the unconscious elf on the ground, “Threat… I see that he’s already been taken care of.”
“I noticed you were gone and I took care of him.” CC spoke with unwavering confidence.
“Yes. Thank you.” Sir Galvan’s voice was filled with caution, “I suppose we should take care of Seymour before he awakens.”
“Yes. We should.”
“Wait,” Scar interrupted, “Th-the bad guy, I think he was looking for you. He questioned us after he broke in.”
“He must have come to Earth looking to pick a fight.” Sir Galvan explained, “I have an extensive history with many characters across the universe. I humbly apologize for the occurrence and I do hope it won’t dissuade you from learning more about magic.”
“Don’t worry,” Roxy piped up before Scar could say anything, “I think we can all understand this was a one-time occurrence.”
“Actually,” Scar managed to speak, “I-I was hoping th-that I could learn something d-defensive after that.”
“Defensive, you say?” Sir Galvan thought for a moment, “You’re too inexperienced for anything that can cause harm, however, I do agree that you should have a defense. There is a common magical effect, a beginner's saving grace you may say. The morrow shall mark your first lesson, as Seymour is the utmost priority this moment.”
“But I’m working tomor-”
“Meet us at the music store, our shifts start at nine a.m. and ten a.m. respectively!” Roxy interrupted Scar, “It’s never busy so drop by any time!”
“Very well then. Until then, try not to be accosted by villainy once more.” The knight casually nodded at the duo before picking up Seymour. “My friend,” he spoke to CC, “if you wouldn’t mind assisting me I would be of the utmost gratitude.”
CC wordlessly followed, his hands in his coat pockets, as Sir Galvan carried the unconscious elf away.
The sun began to set as Scar and Roxy sat on the grass, the stress of the situation wordlessly shone through Scar’s face. Roxy sat close, setting her hand on Scar’s shoulder. A familiar warmth flowed through Scar, as though it was pulsing from Roxy’s hand. Scar rested their head on Roxy’s shoulder, letting out a sigh.
“If you want,” Roxy tried to cheer Scar up, “I can pick you up tomorrow so you don’t have to ride your bike.”
“You start an hour earlier than me.”
“I’ll take that as a no, then.” Roxy paused for a moment, “If you don’t want to learn all this stuff you don’t have to, you know?”
“After today I don’t think there’s a choice.” Scar lamented, “What if something like that happens again? I froze up because I had no idea what to do.”
“If anything happens again I’ll make sure you're safe.”
“What about when you’re not there?”
“Hey” Roxy sat Scar up and turned them towards her, the two making deep eye contact. “You’re my best friend. If you ever need me, I’ll be there. Now go inside, eat some real food, take a nap, and be ready for tomorrow morning.”
Scar let out a sigh, closing their eyes and lying down in the grass silently for a few seconds before standing up. “I’m still not going in an hour early.”
“Oh well,” Roxy shrugged, “you win some you lose some. I’ll see you tomorrow, kay S?”
“See you then.”
As Roxy departed in her car, Scar took the advice from her friend and took a nice, short, 8-hour nap. Upon waking up, Scar went about their morning routine, only getting halfway through brushing their hair before a knock could be heard at the door. Scar sighed, taking a look at the time and realizing exactly who it was. In no hurry, Scar made their way to the door before opening it revealing Roxy standing happily holding a coffee cup.
“I told you,” Scar was mildly annoyed, “I’m not going in an hour early.”
“I know,” Roxy was oblivious to the idea that Scar may not be the happiest, “but I was accidentally given two of these caramel iced coffee things that ended up being super good so I figured you might want to try the other one!” Roxy invitingly held out the coffee to Scar, who cautiously accepted it.
“Isn’t the coffee place you go to like right next to the store?” Scar asked before sipping the drink and deciding they liked it well enough to drink more.
“Yeah…” Roxy sheepishly held her hand behind her head and held an awkward smile on her face.
“You really need to reign in your impulses, sometimes…” Scar paused for a moment, “But thank you. This is really good.”
“I know, right!” Roxy’s voice suddenly exploded, a far cry from the sheepish demeanor she had held just moments earlier. “I forgot what exactly it was called but I’m gonna have to get them all the time from now on!”
Scar let out a small chuckle as they were reminded of just how quick Roxy can flip between topics.
“If you like it, we should totally go there after work sometime, they’ve also got amazing-” A sudden realization dawned on Roxy, “I should probably get going to work. See ya there!”
Scar waved a small wave while Roxy drove away, then returned to finish their morning routine whilst enjoying the coffee drink. After all was said and done, Scar donned their helmet and pulled their bike out of the garage. Scar biked the same route they biked every day to get to work, taking a shortcut through the park, walking the bike down the stairs on 19th, carefully avoiding the panhandler that drives a better car than most non-panhandlers, and lastly taking the bike inside the back entrance of the music store where Roxy was stood eagerly waiting.
“Shouldn’t you be out in the front?”
“Mick’s out front, he had to grab a few things to fulfill online orders that they didn’t have at the warehouse so I figured he could take care of it if someone miraculously walked in.”
Scar punched in and followed Roxy to the main floor of the store. Nothing in the storefront had been changed in years, save for upgrading the register. The cardboard cutout advertising a “new release” from before Scar was born was still in the window, the vinyl section in the back corner was still made of the same old wooden shelves that dated back to at least the 70’s, even the bulletin board had flyers on it for local shows that had long since been played. The newest additions to the store were the CD section, put in about thirty years prior, and the two employees working there.
Roxy’s uncle Mick stood looking through the various CDs on display comparing each to a scrap of paper in his hand. When he found the correct one, he added it to a pile ten discs high before turning to see Roxy and Scar.
“Good morning,” he smiled wide as he cheerfully greeted the two. “Say, you wouldn’t be able to help me magic these to where they’re going, would you?”
“Miiiick,” Roxy played along with her uncle, “You know that magic isn’t real.” Roxy winked the most obvious wink that anyone had ever winked.
Mick responded in kind, neither even having a hint of subtlety about what they were doing.
“You two know that when you wink like that it defeats the purpose, right?” Scar interrupted the two before their winking spiraled into something that would happen all day.
“Bah, you’re no fun.” Mick picked up the CD pile he had curated, “I should get going, though. I’ll be at the warehouse, as usual, give me a call if anything happens. Oh, and remember-”
“No clowns allowed within ten feet of the entrance,” Roxy and Scar spoke simultaneously.
Mick smiled and waved goodbye, walking out the door and leaving Roxy and Scar to run the store. An uneventful 30 minutes soon passed before Sir Galvan entered the store followed closely by CC.
“Hello,” Roxy spoke without looking up. “Welcome to Rockwell Family Jams, we sell-” Roxy interrupted herself as she looked up from reorganizing the shelves of the store. “Oh hey, you actually showed up! And you brought Cs with you!”
“Cs?” CC questioned.
“You know, C C, two Cs, geddit?” Roxy chuckled as she spoke.
“Har har,” CC followed his sarcastic harring by muttering something to himself.
“I shall call for a halt on the bickering before it begins, we have much to discuss.” Sir Galvan’s seriousness called everyone’s attention to him. “CC will be sitting in today, as shall you, Roxy. Come now, Scar, the process begins now.”
Scar made her way to face the knight, standing in front of him. Roxy eagerly watched sitting on the counter while CC halfheartedly thumbed through the CD displays. Scar took one last deep breath before taking the final step into a new reality.
“Before we begin,” Sir Galvan pulled out an ornate sword, a different blade than the one he had previously thought with. The handle was made of an ornate gold substance, the pommel was carved from a polished red stone and resembled the bloom of a rose, the stem of the rose produced the handle of the blade and its roots the hilt. “I wish to conduct a ceremony, not unlike that with which I was inducted into training. Take a knee, if you would humor an old knight.”
Scar played along, taking a knee and placing their head down.
“Scar D Katt,” Galvan moved the blade to each of Scar’s shoulders, “I, Sir Elias Galvan, pledge to guide you through your training, your discoveries, and your journey to knighthood; just as my predecessors guided me.” The knight extended the blade to Scar, “This sword has been passed from mentor to student time and time again, to accept it is to accept the guidance of a thousand generations of knights.”
Scar accepted the blade, taking it into their hands and studying it closely. The hilt had etchings and engravings all along its ornate, each of them the name of a knight who had given the blade to their student. Scar traced their thumb along the list, finding its end. Hights, Isaak, Galvan… A shimmer of lights produced the etching of a new name. Katt.
“It is official, I shall act as your teacher and you my student.” As Sir Galvan spoke Roxy’s eyes were so wide that they threatened to pop out of her skull and the expression on the rest of her face matched the excitement. CC continued to peruse the CD selection with little care for the ceremony.
“The first lesson shall be one that will aid you as much today as will your final battle. In its simplicity lies its strength. A strong attack is nothing when met with a stronger defense. A tool to counter the sword. The shield. Follow my lead. Visualize a barrier. The strike of a sword. As the sword and shield collide let the echoes of their clash ring through your mind and ripple through your soul; project those echoes through your body and unleash them into reality.”
Scar closed their eyes, visualizing the clash, the echo, the ripple, and its path to the hand they found outstretched through no will of their own. Opening their eyes, Scar gazed at the barrier in front of them. It was purple, solid yet opaque. Gazing through it wasn’t unlike gazing through the portals produced before. Scar reached to touch the barrier, finding it malleable to their touch. Sir Galvan drew his blade and brought it to a forceful clash with the barrier, startling everyone in the room and causing Roxy to fall off the counter.
The barrier dissipated as Scar rushed over to help Roxy and was suddenly taken aback, letting out a small yelp.
“Is it that bad?” Roxy sounded panicked, “My eyes are doing that thing again and I don’t feel anything hurt.”
“Y-Your eyes!”
“Huh?”
“T-They’re o-on fire!” Scar was terrified as a pink blaze engulfed Roxy’s eyes.
Roxy frantically felt up her face, panicking. “Bring me a mirror! Wait, I can’t see. Don’t bring me a mirror!”
CC finally looked over, holding up a CD he took an interest in. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, other than that weird purple block everything looks normal.”
Sir Galvan finally spoke up, with a light chuckle at the frantic behavior of Scar and Roxy. “It’s been many years since I’ve seen such an ability. Roxy, I inquire that you describe to me what you see when you look at Scar in this moment.”
“I see… An outline, a pencil sketch outlining the shape of a friend in the darkness. The sketch is illuminated by… A fire. Swirling around inside them.” Roxy’s voice carried a sense of childlike amazement as she described something she’d seen a hundred times but only really looked at once.
“You wouldn’t happen to have any monastic ancestry?”
“I think my grandpa was a monk or something, I’m not sure. He kinda abandoned all that stuff when he came here and started the store.” Roxy blinked a few times, the blaze in her eyes continuing.
“This is a very special magic, that of the soul. A magic very few in the universe are able to practice without decades of research and education on the matter.” Sir Galvan’s explanation intrigued Roxy just as he hoped it would. “I cannot teach you as I can Scar, but should you seek to refine your abilities I can offer you aid.”
“Soooooo... “ Roxy was clearly eager to speak, “That means I’m magic too!” She leapt up and hugged Scar, who still stood over her until that point. She looked over to Sir Galvan, the blaze fading from her eyes, “Does that mean I can do all the other cool stuff too?”
“That matter is one yet to be determined.” Sir Galvan tried to let Roxy down easily as she continued to stare wide-eyed at him.
“That means maybe.” CC interjected.
“Ah, shut up.” Roxy retorted.
“Hey, don’t shoot the messenger. Besides, just ‘cuz it ain’t a yes doesn’t mean it's a no.”
“Precisely,” Galvan tried to reign in the conversation. “There simply hasn’t been a way to test the matter prior to this moment. You have a potential, yet a very different one from that I can help shape. It very well could be that you can produce the same effects. However,” The knight paused, hesitating for a moment. “I must warn that if you are able to do so it won’t be as potent as the magic you see displayed by myself or Scar.”
“Look, so long as I can do the cool stuff I couldn’t care less about how strong of a wall I can make.”
“Your excitement is admirable, Rox. You truly fail to see the downside in anything.” CC remarked as though he’d known her for years.
Scar removed Roxy’s arm from the ever-strengthening chokehold she accidentally held her friend in. “Don’t set yourself up for disappointment, Rox. Remember when you tried out roller derby?”
“I got a cast and a girlfriend out of it, I call that a win.”
“You broke up two weeks later.”
“Yeah, but she was way out of my league.”
Scar could only sigh in response.
Sir Galvan spoke up once more, “I have many duties I must attend to, and I do apologize for the brevity of today’s lesson. Use this defense wisely,” He placed one hand on Scar’s shoulder and the other on Roxy’s, “and explore your abilities with the curiosity of a thousand cats. Just don’t follow their lead.”
The knight calmly strode towards the door, turning to the inhabitants of the store before opening the door. “Oh, and do try not to break the sword, it’s ceremonial.” The brass bell rang as the door closed and the knight exited.

[The screen fades in to a shot of an urban, deserted road, flanked by multiple buildings. A slow downwards pan to a crushed Nissin Curry Meshi cup is punctured by a brass flourish. Suddenly, a truck screeches into view from the right, knocking away the cup and fishtails, nearly ripping off its rear bumper. It continues down the right lane.]
[Cut to a right side view of the van. The camera pans from the rear towards the front while a heavy drum beat plays. The truck is pock-marked with bullet holes and the sky blue paint has been scraped off the sides. The camera continues panning and steadies at the van's open air cab, revealing a sleeping Gura and Botan hunched over at the wheel.]
[Interior shot of the cab. The windshield has bullet holes on the right and is completely knocked out on the left. Gura has a relaxed pose with her feet on the dashboard. Fuzzy dice adorn the rear view mirror. Botan continues to drive the van on the left side of the road when the dashboard monitor begins to softly beep.]
[Cut to a side view of the left-hand side of the cab. Botan looks disapprovingly at the sleeping Gura. She returns her eyes to the road as she runs a red light. The dashboard beeps again and Botan hits Gura without taking her glance off of the road. Shaken, Gura jerks awake.]
Gura: Gwaa! Bwaa! What?! What? Oh.
[Gura reaches over and with her right hand, pushes a button on the monitor. It is a video call from Enma.]
Enma: Gura, it's Enma. Tell me you got the briefcase.
Gura: Yeah sure.
Enma: And nobody saw you?
Gura: Ehhh. [She raises her hands and shrugs her shoulders] Basically nobody.
Enma: [Her expression darkens] Gura, I'm here right now.
Gura: Well that's a funny story...
[The cab's rear door abruptly opens and Haachama steps out, and with her left hand, hastily pushes Gura’s face into her seat. Gura throws up her hands, Botan is startled and momentarily loses control of the van, and Haachama takes over the monitor.]
Haachama: [brightly] Hello, Enma! We killed everyone and took a briefcase!
[She brandishes an ANTI briefcase.]
Enma: Not everybody, Haato. You left seven witnesses, girls.
[A bloodied hand can be seen in the background reaching for help. Enma turns and shoots him with a silenced pistol. The hand collapses.]
Enma: [matter-of-factly] Six.
[The camera cuts to a rear shot of the van pulling into an entrance to an underground parking lot under a Hololive-owned building. A dead ANTI soldier can be seen draped on the roof of the van. As the van drives in, a wooden prop of a construction wall with some construction signs pops up and a painted curtain background falls into place, disguising the entrance.]
Enma: [she continues talking as the camera pans] Look, just keep the briefcase safe okay?
[Side shot of the van rolling down a ramp and pulling into a garage. The rear bumper falls off.]
Enma: Have a good weekend guys.
[Front shot of the van pulling into the garage. Botan looks harassed and brings the vehicle to a stop. The dead ANTI soldier slides off the roof. Botan leaves the keys in the ignition and exits the van.]
Haachama: [her hand still covering Gura’s face] Goodbye, Enma! I am leaving the van now.
[Haachama disappears into the rear of the van and the door slides close behind her. Cut shot to Gura who looks relieved at the hand being removed from her face. She adjusts her hoodie with both hands before looking towards the back at the door.]
Gura: Bye bye. Okay then.
[The background music stops and the van grows quiet. Gura turns back to the monitor.]
Gura: Hey, hey Enma! Before you go. Ahh-
Enma: Uh huh?
[Enma is dragging a body. Gura stammers and scratches her face.]
Enma: [distracted] Gura? What? Say something.
Gura: [regains confidence] You're probably.. real busy this weekend, right?
Enma: [finished with dragging the body, she stands up and wipes the dirt from her hands] Funny you should mention that. Um. Looks like I will be... burying bodies all weekend. [she grabs a Fire Axe and brings her face closer to the camera] So you don't go to jail.
Gura: [stammering] Oh g-good. So.. we're both busy.
[Cut to Enma on the monitor. She looks at Gura quizzically in silence. She returns the glance awkwardly. Suddenly a siren can be heard in the background with guards shouting. Enma reacts and turns hurriedly from the camera.]
Enma: Oh! Gotta go!
[She disappears off-camera. Muffled shots can be heard. The monitor buzzes off. Cut back to Gura with a pained expression on her face. Side view of cab with Gura leaning back resignedly.]
Gura: Lots of people busy... with.. busyness.
[Botan can be seen in the background, checking the fridge's contents. Suisei walks slowly, passing front of the camera left to right.]
Suisei: [smugly] Asking out that dial tone again, I see.
Gura: [sitting up and angrily gesturing] Go to hell, Sui.
[Gura drops her demeanor and looks dejected. She looks down, then chuckles sadly to herself. She gets out of the van. Botan takes a loaf of bread from the fridge and tosses it over her shoulder.]
[The camera pans slowly with Gura walking left to right from the van to the table. She tosses the keys in the air and deftly catches them. Haachama attempts to extricate an ANTI soldier’s body from the hood of the van. Coco takes a quick spin on the Teleporter and disappears. Botan manages to find a rice ball and leans contently on the fridge door before taking a bite.]
Gura: [gestures to the table which holds a freestanding door and a cup of Nissin Curry] Hey, look at all this. What have you two eggheads been workin' on?
[Fubuki and Coco are discussing something, but turn to Gura when she addresses them. Gura tosses the keys. They both glare at her, ignoring the keys which clatter to the floor.]
Gura: [sarcastically] Nice catch...
[Fubuki turns to Coco. She turns to address Gura while Fubuki steps back.]
Coco: Yeah. Listen, now... We've been running some experiments on an Anywhere Door that we just bought across the street.
[Coco gestures with her head to the door, which stands on the table, closed. Haachama wanders over, interested. Botan remains at the fridge door, eating her rice ball, but observing.]
Coco: Well yeah. Y'all might wanna take a look at this.
[Coco picks up a device and pushes a button on it. The door begins shaking. Haachama stands with her arms akimbo. Suddenly, the door opens and ejects another Nissin Curry cup onto the table. Botan is somewhat intrigued, but Haachama is utterly amazed, reaching out with both hands to grab the cup as the door closes itself. Gura, however, is unimpressed.]
Gura: [disinterestedly] Wow. You can teleport curry, besides me not knowing these doors even existed, that is big news. Um, is Marine back with the beer yet? ‘Cause I..
[She turns back while Fubuki opens the top of the cup. The interior of the curry cup contains pulsating green lumps and teeth. Coco winces while Gura yelps and throws her hands in the air.]
Gura: EUGH!! What the hell is that?!
Fubuki: [cheerily, gesturing slightly with a half of the throbbing rice] Tumors!
[Cut to Botan. She looks concerned and stops eating her rice ball.]
Coco: [adjusting her right horn] Y’all know what this means, right..?
[Suddenly, Haachama grabs Gura by the neck and slams her onto the table.]
Haachama: Arrghh! We cannot teleport curry anymore!
[She chokes Gura and raises a hand as if to punch her face. Botan still leans nonchalantly on the fridge door. Coco intervenes, raising her hands.]
Coco: Whoa! Whoa... Not exactly, Haato. [she places her hand on Haachama’s back and smiles] You can teleport as much curry as you like.
[Her smile fades.]
Coco: That goes for all of you. If there's something any of you wanted to do before you... Well, died, now would be a.. good time.
[Suddenly, Suisei’s voice is heard. Coco turns. Cut to Suisei, leaning on the wall.]
Suisei: How long before these...tumors kill us?
Fubuki: Well, let's see. [she gestures, thinking out loud.] We all use the teleporter, let's say six times a day...
[Cut to the rest of the group, Gura is still rubbing her sore neck, Haachama stands stoically, Botan still leans on the fridge door, rice ball now half-eaten, and Coco adjusts her horns. Cut back to Fubuki]
Fubuki: Times four years. Minus... we’re not bread. Hmm...
[She turns abruptly. Suisei is startled]
Fubuki: Three days. Yes...
[The strings rise to a crescendo while the camera dramatically zooms to Fubuki’s face. Deep chimes accent the moment]
Fubuki: We all have three days to live!
[The strings slow then stop. Cut back to the group. Gura and Botan look worried while Coco looks down at the floor. Haachama, confused, counts off on her fingers: one, two...]
Marine: WOOOOOOOOO!!!! Woooooo!!
[Marine bursts through the Anywhere Door and triumphantly celebrates her own arrival with a crate full of beer with limes wedged in the necks. As she wobbles precariously on the table, we can see that she is also festively clad in a sombrero and novelty Margarita shaped sunglasses while also carrying another beer.]
Marine: Woo... [she looks around at their faces as the door closes itself] What?
[Expiration Date title card]
[HOLOLIVE OFFICE: 70 HOURS TIL DEATH]
[Cut to the Hololive Office building. It is now in the middle of the night.]
[Cut to a close-up of a poker table. Suisei unceremoniously drops a metal pail. It is filled with note cards. A literal bucket list.]
Suisei: This... is a bucket.
[Cut to a side shot of the Idols at the poker table. With Marine on the far right in the foreground grasping her bottle, everyone else is arranged counter-clockwise from her: Korone, Ayame, Botan, Gura, Haachama, and Suisei on the right foreground. Everyone is wearing an odd watch with a large digital display. Half-standing, Haachama examines the bucket.]
Haachama: Dear God.
Suisei: There's more.
Haachama [astonished] No!
Suisei: [ignoring her] It contains the dying wish of every Idol here. [turns] Gura. You did collect everyone's dying wish?
Gura: Oh, you bet!
[She salutes. Botan slowly folds her arms.]
Suisei: Excellent. Everyone, synchronize your death watches.
[Cut to a close-up of the watch. Red embossing tape declares it a "DEATH CLOCK". The display beeps as the various Idols set their watches. It reads 70:00:00. 70 hours left to live and counting.]
[All the Idols are expressionless except for Botan who is on the verge of falling asleep with her arms folded. Suisei steps from the front of the table and walks from right to left, hands firmly clasped behind her back.]
Suisei: We have seventy hours to live. For most women, no time at all.
[The camera cuts to a shot of Suisei walking behind Botan’s back. The music swells from mournful to patriotic. She places a hand on Botan’s shoulder, jerking her awake. Botan momentarily looks guilty.]
Suisei: We are not most women.
[Suisei now walks behind the table. The camera pans to a shot showing all the Idols gathered around the table intently focusing on her words.]
Suisei: We are Idols. We have the resources. The will. To make these hours count! [she gestures emphatically while the trumpets and drum beats swell]
Suisei: [sudden close-up while the background music cuts off] The clock is ticking, people. Let's begin.
[Reverse shot with the bucket in the foreground. The Idols' expressions show varying degrees of interest. Suisei draws a note card from the bucket.]
Suisei: Our first dying wish is Gura’s. [she gestures] She’s...
[Suisei examines the card. Her brow wrinkles]
Suisei: ...drawn a picture of me getting hit by a car.
[The drawing is somewhat crude. The muscle car is drawn in much greater detail than Suisei who is thrown up into the air, becoming disemboweled with blood spurting everywhere.]
Suisei: [he peers closer] I have something radiating off of me.
Gura: Yeah, those are stink lines.
[She turns to the rest of the Idols in a mock whisper. Botan is mildly amused.]
Gura: That's why the car hit her. Cause she smells.
Suisei: [rolling her eyes as she draws another card] Yes I see. Here you've drawn me having...
[The camera tastefully remains on her face.]
Suisei: [somewhat bemused] ...sexual congress with the Eiffel Tower. [she tosses it and draws another while Gura giggles] The Eiffel Tower having sexual congress with me. [toss and giggle] Both of us relaxing post-coitus.
[Marine confusingly mouths "post-coitus" and Gura is nearly in tears with laughter.]
Suisei: [growing more irritated] I'm crying and the Eiffel Tower has stink lines coming off of it. [she angrily throws the card down] Did anyone besides Gura put a card into the bucket?!
[Botan and Ayame are slightly amused. Gura is near breathless with laughter.]
Gura: [giggling] Oh man, classic Gura.
Suisei: [sighing] Fantastic. This was a huge waste of my time.
Haachama: [pulling out a card] You did not read mine!
Suisei: [another sigh] Does it say you want the bucket?
Haachama: [interrupting] Yes!
[Disgusted, Suisei slides the bucket over as the rest of the Idols get up to leave. Haachama greedily grabs the pail with both hands. The camera moves to an overhead shot of the now-empty table.]
Suisei: See you all in hell.
[The camera switches to the Idols walking down a hallway. Haachama stops and examines her new bucket next to a sign pointing to the "LAB". Coco and Fubuki walk by pushing doors and cups of Nissin Curry on two carts to the lab. A curry cup falls off of the pile and Haachama gasps before she grabs her bucket more tightly. The camera spotlights the curry cup with ominous bass piano notes. A grin appears on her face as she stares at the fallen cup. The screen cuts to black.]
[SUISEI’S RELAXATION ROOM: 58 HOURS TIL DEATH]
[Cut to rear shot of Suisei sitting back in her leather arm chair. The room is dimly lit with moonlight and the warm glow of the fireplace. Suisei swirls her cut crystal glass and takes a drink whilst reading an “50 Among Us Imposter Tips" magazine. Someone knocks on her door.]
Suisei: Go away.
[She flips a page and frowns. Gura opens the door and peeks in.]
Gura: Hey, ah, you got a second?
Suisei: Oh, Gura. Please. Go [bleep] yourself.
Gura: [nervously] Yeah. Hey that's, that's funny. Um. Anyway I-
[Suisei suddenly lunges towards the door, slamming it shut on Gura’s body. She leans on it trying to force Gura out.]
Gura: [in pain] Wait! Wait! Wait! Ow. Come on, Suisei.
[Suisei raises her knife, threateningly]
Gura: I'm wedging my head through a door here to tell you I'm sorry!
Suisei: [rolls her eyes and gets off the door, light chimes and strings play] Make it quick.
Gura: [straightening herself out] So, I did write down a last wish. [she brings out a card] I'd uh. I'd like to go on a date, with...Enma.
Suisei: [turns] You? You're terrible with girls.
Gura: What? No. No. No. Sui, look at this. And this. And this here. Suisei, look at all of this. [she gestures to different parts of her body and spins around] Heh. No. I'm great with girls.
[Scene flashes back to a cheap fast food joint. Gura and a woman wearing a burlap coat and hat are standing at a counter with buckets of "Kiara Fried Giblets" brand chicken drumsticks.]
Gura: We both got buckets of chicken. Wanna do it?
Amelia: [shrugs] Eh, okay.
[Scene switches back to Suisei and Gura.]
Suisei: [frantic yet hushed strings play] But you, Suisei. You are amazing with ladies. You know, classy ones. The kind that smell good, and can read. And that always have their glasses on just kind of crooked. You know? The ones that don't go for a girl like me.
[Suisei looks at Gura with a smug grin.]
Suisei: Hmm, and why is that, do you think?
Gura: C'mon, Suisei, I don't know.
Suisei: Well, a mystery we will take to our graves then. Goodbye.
[Suisei walks away to pour a drink. The bar has several bottles of Hololive-themed wine, glasses, and a PlayStation 4. She selects a rocks glass to pour a hard liquor.]
Gura: Wait. Wait. Ah. [sigh] Okay. Look. Fine. Suisei. This never leaves this room [sigh]. You are better than me. All right? I need your help.
[Suisei stops pouring, looks up, and turns towards Gura.]
Suisei: I'll do it. On one condition.
[Suisei pushes a button on the console and a microphone pops up. She blows into it, causing feedback which reverberates throughout the building. The camera goes from the poker table with Coco drinking, Botan and Ayame dozing, and Korone reading a magazine; to Fubuki and Coco in a lab, with the tumorized curry cup; and to Haachama carrying away a giant pile of Nissin Curry cups in her arms. All perk up to the sound of feedback on the speakers.]
Suisei: Say that [pushes microphone towards Gura] again.
[The strings hold, then fade as the scene cuts to black.]
[TRAINING GYM: 51 HOURS TIL DEATH]
[Camera slowly pans into a nearly empty gymnasium. Gura bounces on her feet on the right, looking nervous. Suisei calmly places a wine bottle on a cart and inspects two wine glasses. Behind her is a crash-test dummy, hanging on a stand. She places down a glass. Ominous bass strings play.]
[*Gura coughs and Suisei delicately places the second glass down. She pushes the cart which rolls to a stop in front of Gura. It also holds a bucket of drumsticks, red roses, a vase, and a box of Hololive-themed chocolates.]
Suisei: [nonchalantly] Seduce me.
[Gura looks back, confused, and turns forward, arms akimbo.]
Gura: You?
Suisei: [pointedly] Seduce me.
Gura: What, Sui? I ain't gonna...
Suisei: SEDUCE ME!!
*Gura: [taken aback] *Right! Right. Okay. [She looks down at the cart. She immediately picks up the bucket of fried chicken and lets out a quick sigh.] Okay... [She walks up to Suisei] H-hey there, good-lookin'... I got a bucket of chicken...
Suisei: [She slaps the chicken out of Gura’s hands.] I'm not one of your fried chicken tramps! I'm a woman! I like my men dangerous... *Mysterious... [Suisei takes the dummy into her arms and starts dancing with it briefly before holding it in front of her.] You want to be my lover?! Earn it! Seduce me! [She uses the dummy to slap Gura across the face, who looks up at her with a hurt expression in her eyes. Suisei simply looks down at her with a smug grin on her face.]
[The camera cuts to a shot of Suisei and Gura in a classroom setting. The word DINNER is written on the chalkboard as Suisei says something to Gura. Later, Gura can be seen sitting at the head of a long banquet table. At the other end, Marine and Ayame can be seen playing the Piano and Saxophone, respectively. Behind her, Korone and Suisei are holding a bottle of wine and a bucket of chicken. Gura reaches for the bucket of chicken with a grin on her face, but Suisei slaps her hand away. The fork flies out of her hand and lands on Marine’s eyepatch, whose other eye immediately widens.]
[Cut back to Suisei and Gura in the classroom, only this time DANCING is written on the chalkboard. Back in the previous room, Gura can be seen awkwardly dancing energetically. She points both her fingers at Suisei, who merely shakes her head with disgust. Suisei proceeds to show Gura the proper way to dance, while Gura looks on in confusion. She attempts to mimic Suisei’s actions, but instead sends the dummy flying into the Reel-to-Reel player behind them.]
[In the classroom, the word DEMEANOR is now written on the board as Suisei continues to educate Gura, who is busy drawing a picture of Suisei being shot in the head. She hits Gura in the face with the pointer, who reels back in pain.]
[Gura can be seen reading a book titled Pick-up Lines for Aquatic Junkies. Jump cut to the future, and a pile of books has begun to accumulate around Gura, who has a pencil clenched between her teeth, and is now reading a book titled Dating Badass Girls. Another jump cut, and the pile of books has been turned into a makeshift throne, which Gura reclines in it, a more confident expression on her face.]
[Cut to Gura back at the banquet table, and she extends her pinkie out as she holds the chicken. Later, she can be seen gently kissing the hand of the dummy as Suisei watches. Gura then can be seen dancing around the room with the dummy. She lowers the dummy down, holding onto its back with one hand as she looks up to Suisei, who nods her head in approval. The head of the dummy falls off as the music reaches a crescendo, and Suisei eyes it with a bemused expression on her face. Cut to black.]
[TRAINING GYM: 2 HOURS TIL DEATH]
[Floodlights come to life, illuminating Gura, who is sitting in a classroom chair in the middle of a wrestling ring. After a brief delay, she raises her hand in front of her to shield her eyes from the bright lights.]
Suisei: Final Question... [Cut to a shot of Suisei, who is silhouetted against the floodlights.] You have a dinner date for seven... what time do you arrive? [She walks across the ring, awaiting Gura’s answer.]
Gura: Seven. A.M. Case the restaurant, run background checks on the staff. Can the cook be trusted? If not, I gotta kill him. [She makes a gun formation with her right hand. Suisei can be seen walking around Gura as the camera rotates around her in the opposite direction.] Dispose of the body, replace him with my own guy no later than 4:30...
[Suisei looks down at Gura, and after a few seconds of thought, speaks...]
Suisei: You're ready.
Gura: [hopeful] Really?
Suisei: [chucking softly] No. Everything you just said was insane... and, we are out of time. [She sets a glass of liquid in front of Gura.] Congratulations. You're a failure.
Gura: Oh... [She stands up, accidentally bringing the desk with her. She sits back down and slides out of her chair. Suisei rolls her eyes and shakes her head in amusement.] I failed, did I?
Suisei: [grinning] Yes.
Gura: Did I?
Suisei: Yes...
Gura: Did I?
Suisei: [Annoyed] Gura, where is this going?
Gura: Where it's going is, I don't need you. I'll put this date on myself!
Suisei: [An expression of disbelief crosses her face] Yourself...?
Gura: That's right, fancy pants, myself! [Suisei’s mouth twitches as she stops herself from laughing] So why don't you take your little failure, roll it up sideways, and- [Suisei taps her watch, voicelessly reminding Gura of the death watch] -Okay, crap, I gotta go... [Gura quickly downs the rest of her drink and begins to walk off-screen, but leans back towards Suisei.] Screw you, though... [She walks by an alarm that's labeled IN CASE OF IDENTITY LEAK PUSH BUTTON. As she does so, she turns around, casually hits the button with her fist, and points at Suisei as she walks away. Klaxons start going off and red alarm lights begin flashing.]
[Fade to a shot of Fubuki in the laboratory.]
[HOLOLIVE LAB: 1 HOUR TIL DEATH]
[The blackboard has the results of previous Anywhere Door experiments written on it. The camera slowly pans to the left, revealing Coco and Fubuki with a pair of doors set up between them. As Fubuki inspects her side of the door, Coco calls out to her.]
Coco: Y'all ready?
Fubuki: [Turning to Coco] Ready!
[Coco picks up a cup of Nissin Curry. The tumors are now plainly visible on the outside. She sniffs it briefly, then recoils backwards, making a noise of disgust. She opens her door and pushes the cup into it before it closes itself. About a second later, the Curry Cup is ejected out from Fubuki’s door onto the table and begins chittering loudly, squirming in place.]
Fubuki: Ooh!
[Fubuki leans forward with interest. The cup grows teeth and roars at Fubuki, who lets out a scream of fear as the curry cup creature leaps at her ear and latches onto it. Fubuki continues to scream as she grabs onto the curry creature and attempts to pry it off.]
Coco: Aww hell...
[Coco walks off-camera as energetic drums start to play in the background.]
[Cut to a shot of Enma on a scooter, speeding towards the Hololive Office. A loosely zipped duffel bag can be seen strapped to the back of it, containing a blue shirt and a white suit. She ramps off the wooden construction sign and flies right through the curtain. A look of determination can be seen on her face. She comes to a stop outside a steel plate door and hops off of the scooter, sheath on her back.]
[RED BASE: 40 MINUTES TIL DEATH]
[As Enma walks towards the door, the scooter falls onto its side. Enma briefly turns towards the scooter, debating to set it back upright or not, but ultimately continues on towards the door. She places her back up against the wall to the left of the door and glances upwards briefly.]
Enma: [Quickly] You're ready. Alright. [She lets out a deep breath, brandishes a Katana from her sheath and holds it at the ready before pushing the door open, spinning around and bumping into Gura, who's waiting for her there.]
Gura: [unconvincingly] Enma. What an unexpected surprise.
Enma: The ANTIs found out an identity... Don't worry, we can fix this. [She pushes past Gura, who follows her.] We'll just silence them, and the public never has to know.
[A security camera tracks their movements as Enma adjusts her glasses.]
Gura: You look... You look... aahhhhhh...
[Close up of the camera, then cut to a shot of Marine, Haachama, and Suisei in a room full of monitors, watching the two interact. Suisei is sitting in the chair in front of the monitors while Haachama and Marine stand behind her.]
Marine: DRUNK!
Haachama: Round! Soft! No, round!
Marine: Blurry!
[Suisei shakes her head, lowers her eyes, and brings her fingers to her temple in annoyance. Cut back to Gura and Enma.]
Gura: Ravishing.
Enma: [Briefly glancing over at Gura] Uh-huh. You too. [Brief flash over to Suisei, whose gaze returns to the monitor.] Hold on... [Enma motions to the briefcase sitting in a safe] That’s our identities right there... Gura, you... [She turns to Gura before she notices something off-screen.] Gura, are we having a prom?
[Cut to a shot of the room behind them, which is decorated with ribbons, balloons, streamers, and various themed decorations while rocking jazz music plays. A white dove can be seen on one of the banners in the background.]
Gura: Yeah. Nah. Yeah-ah. Well the... Yeah, the thing is...
[Cut to a shot of Haachama, Suisei, and Marine watching the monitors. Haachama has a grin on her face, Marine looks concerned, and Suisei looks very worried. Suddenly Coco bursts in through the door behind them.]
Coco: Guys! Hey fellas, listen! It's just curry that gets tumors!
Fubuki: [Appearing behind Coco] It's not even tumors! It's some form of self-aware beauty mark that only metastasizes in an environment of pure wheat. Here, watch this.
[Fubuki shakes up the jar she's carrying, which contains the curry creature from earlier. It spins around in the jar and comes to a stop.] Ooh, look! It hates me so much! [The curry creature attempts to bite Fubuki again as Haachama leans in for a closer look. The curry creature flips itself in the jar and gnashes its teeth at the bottom of the container, and Haachama chuckles to herself at its actions. Coco walks up to Haachama and Fubuki and places her arms around their shoulders.]
Coco: [Laughing] So, we're fine. As long as nobody, teleports any curry.
Haachama: Question.
Coco: What's your question, Haato?
Haachama: I teleported curry.
[Background music stops.]
Coco: ..you what?
Haachama: You told me to.
Coco: [Threateningly] How... much...?
Haachama: [Leaning backwards] I have done nothing but teleport curry for three days.
[Fubuki throws the jar containing the curry creature onto the ground. Shattering glass can be heard.]
Fubuki: Where?! [She grabs Haachama by her coat.] Where have you been sending it?!
[An ominous rumble shakes the entire office as the group look up at the ceiling. Cut to Gura and Enma, who are also looking up at the ceiling].
Enma: Gura.. I get one day off a year. And you just wasted it on-- [She looks around her, pausing mid-sentence.] --this! Goodbye!
Gura: Wait! Wait! Wait! Ah... [Gura walks towards a door labeled Dining Area.] Why don't we discuss it over dinner...? [She opens the door to reveal the maw of a giant curry monster, who lets out a loud roar, all while an epic orchestra plays.]
Enma: [Yelling] What the hell is that!?
[The curry monster crashes through the door as Enma pulls Gura out of harm's way. The two run for the exit as the curry monster lunges after them, crashing through a wall. Gura backs up as one of the tentacles swipes at her. The dove from earlier flies at the monster and is promptly eaten by it. The wooden platform they're standing on creaks from the weight of the monster. Both Gura and Enma look down at the wood below them. Another jolt knocks them off their feet. Now weakened, the wooden platform starts to break apart. Enma slides down a smooth plank, hitting the ground in a combat roll but losing her Katana as the platform collapses, while Gura bounces off the bread monster and lands on her feet in a battle stance. Gura glances down to her right, and picks up a long piece of twisted metal with a spike on the end of it to use as a makeshift weapon.]
Gura: Enma, run!
[Gura motions for her to escape to safety. Enma darts away, avoiding a tentacle swung over her head before backing up on a wall. Botan, Fubuki, and Korone rush to the aid of Gura and Enma. Botan and Fubuki pause and look at the curry monster with fear in their eyes.]
Botan: [Turning to Fubuki] Stay behind me, Fubuki!
[Fubuki nods before pulling out an R-301 Carbine, opening fire on the monster. Botan chambers her Spitfire LMG and walks towards the curry monster, firing in bursts. Korone can also be seen firing with a double barreled shotgun before reloading. The monster smashes the cliff face with a tentacle, causing rock to come tumbling downwards on Botan, who rolls to the side, barely missing the debris.]
[Cut to a shot of Enma running towards something off-screen. Korone can be seen dashing back to the battle, having presumably been knocked back by the curry monster. Enma steps forward and turns to look at a newfound bomb on a cart. The camera zooms in on the top of the bomb where the words DANGER: BOMB are spray-painted onto it.]
[Cut back to the battle, and Korone stomps on one of the tentacles. The curry monster turns its attention towards Korone, and immediately has its mouth filled with shotgun pellets from Korone firing a double burst. It recoils in pain, letting out a loud roar. Gura can be seen dodging the tentacles, jumping onto one and using her makeshift weapon to impale one of the other tentacles. In the background, Botan and Fubuki push forward while Coco and Marine stay behind to regain focus and lob grenades at the bread monster, respectively. Coco, after a brief moment, successfully transitions into her dragon form, and she motions for Marine to move up.]
[Enma has now removed the panel off of the detonation mechanism of the bomb, with a knife on the ground implying she pried it open, and can now be seen frantically messing with the wires. Gura, meanwhile, runs up to the side of the curry monster and slams her club into it. She then gets grabbed by a tentacle and is yanked into the air. Ayame arrives at the battle, and after a brief moment of aiming, shoots the tentacle holding Gura, freeing her from its grasp. The monster throws Gura at Marine, and they both collapse onto the ground. Gura scrambles to her feet and rushes forward, but is stopped by Suisei.]
Suisei: I think it's going pretty well... [she gives Gura a pat on the back as a cloud of dust rolls over them.] Now go...! [She waves Gura off and runs forward into battle. Gura turns back to Enma.]
Gura: Hey, Enma. Oh, I am so sorry...
Enma: [Looking up from the wires] God, Gura, what for? Pressing the one button you're never supposed to press? Do you have any idea what's in a briefcase that-- [Enma spots the watch on Gura's arm] --Oh, oh! Give me your watch! [She holds her hand out expectantly]
Gura: Yeah. Exactly! [She removes the watch from her arm and gives it to Enma] See, that is where this all starts! No, actually, uh, wait...
[Gura is interrupted by a scream, and Haachama flies into the hangar and lands on the ground.]
Haachama: [proudly] HA HA HA! I TELEPORTED CURRY!!
[Haachama is grabbed by a tentacle, dragged over towards the monster, and then thrown into a pile of broken lumber. In the distance, a tentacle knocks over both Korone and Marine as Coco, in her dragon form, breathes a wave of fire onto the monster before hastily backing up to avoid a blind tentacle swing. Ayame attempts to take another shot at the monster with her Hecaté II, but instead is lifted into the air by a tentacle that has grabbed a hold of the barrel of the rifle. She gets swung to one side and loses her grip on her sniper. Ayame tumbles through the gravel briefly before getting back to her feet and taking out her Katana. She’s about to rush forward to attack the monster but pauses as the Bomb Cart trundles into view.]
Gura: ...so that brings me to the point of this story, which is I like you, and you should probably be sitting for this...
[In the background, Fubuki hurriedly rushes forward and drags an incapacitated Korone while firing an RE-45 Auto with her off hand. Her discarded R-301 is seen being lifted by another tentacle to be thrown off screen.]
Enma: GUYS! CLOSE THE BLAST DOORS! [She points at the hangar they just exited from.]
[Coco, reverting into her human form, acknowedges Enma with a nod before rushing into the hangar. Botan can be seen next to her, backing up while firing her LMG. Fubuki supports a limping Korone past the camera as it focuses back on Gura and Enma.]
Gura: Enma. Look, my last few hours I just wanted...
[The curry monster grabs a hold of the bomb and swings it around in the air. It lets out another roar.]
Botan: [Struggling to keep the blast doors open] COME ON!
Gura: Um, never mind...
Enma: GO!
[The two rush towards the hangar, but they get cut off by the bomb being thrown at the blast doors, bending them and denying them access.]
Gura: Oh God...
[They back up towards the blast doors as the curry monster lumbers towards them slowly. A large fire has broken out behind it. Cut to a close-up of Gura and Enma. Enma is busy searching for an escape route while Gura has a look of terror on her face. Enma grabs a hold of her and yanks her off to one side as the bread monster knocks the bomb around. They take shelter behind it. Gura looks at the monster, which lets out a long roar. Fast zoom to the inside of its mouth, and the dove it swallowed earlier is seen sitting inside it. Gura and Enma look on, amazed, as the dove takes off and flies away.]
[Enma looks Gura in the eyes, grabs a hold of her arm, and gives her a nod of approval. She lets out a yelp as one of the curry monster's tentacles slams into the ground. Gura grabs a hold of her and, making use of the dance moves she learned from Suisei, keeps her safe from harm as they dodge a tentacle. They stop as Gura holds her up and looks at her. Enma looks back at Gura for a few moments, then shoots an oncoming tentacle with a P220 Pistol in her hand. Gura twirls Enma back onto her feet and the two start running.]
[Cut to a close-up of the timer, which ticks down to two seconds. Gura and Enma run at the curry monster as she lets out a yelp. The timer ticks down to one second as they leap straight into the open maw of the monster. It closes its mouth as the bomb explodes. A bright flash of light can be seen engulfing the monster, then the screen cuts to black.]
[A match is lit, revealing Gura and Enma pressed up against each other in a dark enclosed space.]
Gura: [Struggling] Aaahhhh... Ah... Enma, you all right?
Enma: [Opening her eyes] I can't feel anything below my neck...
Gura: Oh God...
Enma: Oh. Now I can feel it. Ow. Ow.
Gura: Oh God, I am so sorry. This is...
Enma: That... was so... much... FUN! [A smile forms on her face]
Gura: [A look of confusion on her face] You're not mad?
Enma: [quickly] I was furious. Oh my God, you set off the identity alarm and you were having a prom for some reason. But then there was this monster and we shot it and we built a bomb and I think my leg's broken. Can we do this again?
Gura: Yeah, sure! [She smiles, then it quickly turns into a frown] Wait, nah. We can't. I'm going to be dead.
Enma: [Confused] Wait, what?
Haachama: [Poking her head into the cavity] Good news! We're not dying! We are going to live forever!
[Botan lifts up the side of the monster's body, allowing light to flood over Gura and Enma.]
Fubuki: I didn't say that! I just said we're not filled with tumors!
Gura: Oh thank God. [relaxes and chuckles] So yeah, Enma. I guess it's a date.
Enma: Actually this is my only day off this year.
Gura: Oh...
Enma: Oh, but you can ride along with me on some jobs. [brings out a flip notebook]
[The camera slowly pulls back to reveal the body of the monster, which now lays motionless. Coco and Fubuki are seen at the bottom of the shot discussing something. Botan grabs one of the detached tentacles and heaves it off to one side, then walks over to the Marine, who is carrying a case of beer under her arm. Ayame is on the backside of the monster, cleaning her Katana. As the camera pulls back farther, Korone can be seen coming into the shot, who has the small curry monster darting around her legs like a puppy as they try to keep track of it.]
Enma: Tomorrow... I’m making sure schedules are cleared for future streams..
Gura: Ah, no.
Enma: Oh! You can help me carry the rest of Holomyth in L4D2!
Gura: No to that.
Enma: Well, on Friday I got to kill someone who pressed a false alarm button and... oh.
[Cut to black]
Enma: You're already going to be at that one.
[The screen then cuts to a text with the Hololive logo with the sharp tolling of a bell. Another ring comes with the appearance of the text "en.hololive.tv". The bell rings a third time and the screen blacks out again]
A.N.:
This took almost 2 weeks to type, firstly by copy pasting the actual script and then fine tuning it by adding in extra scenes, dialogues, fixing others so they fit the narrative, and overall tidying it up to be Reddit friendly via formatting, italics/bolds etc. This was all done on mobile and typed in Notepad, I’m sorry if there were any mistakes I missed out on. I highly recommend you watch Expiration Date if you haven’t, it is just as funny as it is here. If anyone’s interested, here’s my previous take: The entire Meet the Spy script but it’s Hololive.