The Isla Sorna Incident

My name is Nina Velge.

I shouldn't be alive.

And if I am alive, I shouldn't be free.

I had one of the most dangerous jobs on the planet, and then my employers went head to head in a knock-down, drag-out turf war with the biggest pack of vigilantes the world has ever known. Red shirts don't survive that shit. The folks on the ground are the first to go. The front lines, the mooks, the meat for the grinder. Most of my fellow grunts are long gone now. Some died then. Some got arrested. Some ended up in another organization later, under some chump you might have heard of named Heidegger. Yeah, THAT Heidegger. Orchestrator of the One-Day War, who tried to touch the sun and had his wings melt. More deaths there, more arrests. So many people I used to work with are now either in prison, were in prison, or are dead as a doornail.

And yet, here I am. One of the lucky ones.

Hell, I guess it makes sense. All my life I've been slipping through cracks. What's one more?

I came to Olympia in January of 2019. High school dropout. Couldn't cut it. Hated retail. And I wanted nothing to do with the military. I was young, angry at the world, and wanted to punch something. So I did what a lot of people with no direction and an itch to do some damage were doing in those days. I moved to Olympia with what I could scrape together and joined The Curse. A lot of people make a lot of assumptions about The Curse, and I'm here to tell you that it... was complicated. I'm not gonna mince words or try to defend it, it wasn't a good organization. But not everyone in The Curse was a piece of shit, though. Far from it. Take a sample of a dozen grunts and you'd get a dozen reasons for why they joined up. There were people who thought it was the easy way to riches and success. Others didn't see any other way at all. There were folks who felt they had to join for their own safety, and folks who enlisted specifically because it could be dangerous. Some wanted the thrills of operating outside the law. Some thought Plague and his friends at the top were visionaries. Some drank the Kool-Aid and thought Olympia would legitimately be better with The Curse in charge.

Some just wanted to watch the world burn.

I was kind of in the middle. I wanted to make an impact in a way that the establishment didn't like. I've never been great at toeing the line. Got in trouble at school a lot, especially once I hit my teens. One day I got sick of it and walked out and that was the end of it. So I wound up in The Curse, as a Shrapnel. The recruiter, a bitch with hair that writhed like a snake and skin as pale as a fish's underbelly, asked me which division I thought I'd be most useful in. I looked at 'em. Asked a couple questions.

And, because I was really damn stupid, I picked InGen.

In Pursuit Of The Truth

"Auntie!"

The young girl ran across the grocery store, arms outstretched. Binah broke into a grin, abandoning her shopping cart and spreading her arms, letting the impact happen. She hugged Binah fiercely, with the sort of energy and trust and decisiveness you only see from someone too young to know better. Binah chuckled as they embraced, and then she ruffled the girl's hair, her medium-length brown locks flying as Binah's hand scooched back and forth.

"Well hello there, my little lady." Binah beamed down at the girl. "What a pleasant surprise! ...And speaking of surprises, what on earth are you wearing?"

The girl stood with immense pride, grinning and putting her hands on her hips as she showed off her outfit to Binah - a black robe with gold accents. "You like it? It's just like your clothes!"

"Aha, so it IS on purpose! I knew it."

"You know everything, Auntie!"

"Where's Mom? She's with you, right?"

"Yeah, she's just slow! You know I always beat her in races!" the girl boasted.

"Hehe, true, true."

"What have you been doing at work lately?" the girl asked, her eyes wide and hopeful. They faltered as Binah could only return her expectant gaze with a sad, resigned look in her own eyes.

"I'm sorry, dear... You know I can't talk about it. As always, my job is top secret." The PCR only told non-members of its' work on a need-to-know basis. And though she would insist otherwise, Binah's eager little niece most certainly did not need to know. Binah's heart broke as the girl's face fell and she looked down at the ground.

"Oh... I hate that dumb rule. I thought you said you were gonna get rid of it."

"I've tried. But I'm not important enough in the company to make those kinds of changes alone. There are others I need to convince, and they won't hear it. So my job remains secret, I'm afraid."

"But... if I take a job with you when I grow up, then you'll HAVE to tell me, right?"

Binah grimaced a bit. "T-true... but I don't know if I like the idea of you having a career there."

"It's worth it to finally find out what my super-cool Aunt Binah does for a living!"

Binah couldn't help but chuckle again, a smile returning to her face. Then she heard the voice of someone approaching.

Welcome to the Next Level

(Co-written with Jumpropeman.)

You hear talk about "man caves". Side rooms or basements that are stuffed with the hobbies of a guy with disposable income. Well, ain't no rule says a woman can't have a cave too, right? And so, over the past few years, that was exactly what had happened at the home of Meredith and Rachel, AKA Mega Drive and Nomad.

Mega Drive opened the door and stepped into the room, taking a moment to just breathe it all in. This refinished basement was a shrine to Sega. Shelves were lined with hundreds of games for every Sega system (with the Genesis unsurprisingly the most prominent). Merchandise of Sega characters also dotted the shelves, with Sonic the Hedgehog getting a whole section to himself where all of his games and merch was concentrated. Original Sega store displays and posters went up anywhere there was space. Sega arcade cabinets were here as well. For space reasons, there was a multicade that could play dozens of Sega arcade originals, but for nerd reasons, there were also a couple of genuine OG cabinets as well, including a The Lost World: Jurassic Park pinball machine. A place of honor was given to Periscope, a 1966 electro-mechanical arcade machine that was accompanied by a plaque proudly stating that it was Sega's very first game. Rachel had bought it for Meredith for Christmas 2024. That darn red-hooded nerd had always been trying to top herself, getting Meredith more extravagant and obscure Sega gifts each year, and Mega was at a bit of a loss as to how Rachel could possibly top this one next holiday season.

Meredith put a hand to her chin in thought as she looked over the Genesis games, almost reaching for a curious-looking one called Socket, then looking over at one called Chuck Rock, and then her eyes settled on a familiar favorite - Toejam and Earl. "Ah, it's so hard to choose sometimes..." she mumbled to herself. "Do I play something I don't have much experience with, or do I stick with an old faithful?"

"I have a suggestion!"

Meredith jumped a bit in surprise and turned to see Rachel had slipped into the room. "Ah, Rachel! Do you? That would be nice. I could use some help settling on something to play."

"I'm always ready to give my Sega Princess a helping hand." Rachel said softly, coming in close and hugging Meredith. "Come, let's get you to the royal couch." Rachel grinned and swept Meredith off her feet, Meredith letting out a "WHOOP!" of excited surprise as the most athletic girl in Nerd Club managed to heave her up in a princess carry. Rachel's grin turned a bit cocky as she did a couple reps with Meredith, lifting her up and down like a barbell and making her blush deeply. "You make excellent weight training." Rachel said as she stepped towards the couch, bowing her head to smooch Mega on one cheek. Meredith was lowered gently onto the couch, then Rachel stood in front of her and started rooting around in her Nomad robe for something.

"Oh, are we playing on Nomads today?" Mega asked, her cheeks still pink.

"Nah, not today. But I've got the perfect game for us to play on the big screen!" Rachel pulled out a generic plastic game case, then opened it and produced a blank Genesis cart. Instead of a label, it simply had a piece of masking tape across the front with "SOR2" written on it in marker. She stuck it in the Genesis and plopped down on the couch next to Meredith, both of them soon holding controllers. The Streets of Rage 2 title screen appeared on Meredith's large CRT television, the nerd brightening.

"Ah! A classic for sure! And the perfect co-op game to unwind with!"

"You bet! This one's a little special, though."

Mega was about to ask what was special about it, only for the character select screen to make it abundantly clear. This version of SOR2 had new playable characters. Axel, Blaze, Max, and Skate were gone, and had been replaced with... Meredith, Rachel, Gale, and Sumireko!

"Oh my goodness!" Meredith gaped in surprise, moving her cursor around to flip between the girls and admiring their sprites. They looked quite accurate, right down to the fact that all four girls were cute squishy nerds instead of muscular street toughs.

"It's us and our best friends, heading out to deal with Mr. X." Rachel said, looking quite proud of herself. "I'm no hacker, but I got some help from the rest of Nerd Club to make this happen. Ready to play?"

Meredith wasted no time in selecting herself as her playable character, looking giddy as Rachel did the same. "Absolutely!"

"Oh, and can't forget." Rachel reached into her cloak again and pulled out a big bag of chocolate-covered pretzels and a couple cans of soda. "Gotta have some game fuel, right?" She placed the bag in between the two of them and handed Meredith a soda, Rachel popping the tab on hers and Meredith crunching down on a pretzel as battle commenced on the STREETS OF RAGE.

Old Faces, New Faces

 -The Backrooms-

Three women walked together down a hall of the realm of The Backrooms that was referred to as 'The Waiting Rooms'. Here on the border of the Waiting Room and the nearby Classrooms was a hazy in-between area that resembled a school library. Books lined the walls, assembled on shelves that stretched up to near the ceiling. Various statues and other pieces of decor sat at the very top of the shelves, wooden figurines and stuffed toys looming over the trio like hunching gargoyles.

"Fascinating place you've got here." said Binah, looking around with appreciation. "You've certainly got some impressive discoveries under your belt already, Loremaster."

"Thank you, Binah!" Loremaster replied with a cheeky smile. "For the last year and a half, almost, studying this place has been my number one goal! It's a bit sad to de-prioritize it, but with its' main mysteries conquered, it's prudent I join you in Titan research. That seems rather more urgent. Now, to my honored guest..." Loremaster glanced over at the third woman in the party. "Allow me to introduce my latest breakthrough here in The Backrooms. Are you familiar with 'lost media', miss?"

"Yeah!" came the enthusiastic reply. "I help searches sometimes. In fact, just last month I managed to dig up a critical lead that helped people find the promo bumpers for the 1996 Kids Blast The Ballot Box awards show hosted by Stereoscope!"

"...Excellent!" Loremaster said, nodding as if she understood what any of that meant. "Anyway. I found out about lost media not too long ago, and I realized it could be entwined with The Backrooms. As I've shared already, I have a growing body of evidence that indicates that The Backrooms are formed and influenced by the memories of people on Earth. The places and things that appear here seem to be connected to half-remembered memories of the past. Which means, this could be a hotbed for lost media! If people remember something but it isn't easily accessible today, it could well be found here!" Coming to another room, Loremaster spread her arms and let her two guests soak in the sight of a personal study, shelves packed with books, discs, and cassette tapes (both audio and video), and a large desk with a computer acting as the centerpiece of it all. "Here, I have collected a large number of interesting-looking Backrooms books and media. I don't have the time to look through it all, unfortunately, but if you'd care to join us at Monarch, miss, I would be happy to give you access to this collection. Perhaps you'll find some new lost media!"

"WOW!" the girl exclaimed, pumping her fists excitedly. "This is the chance of a lifetime! And you're saying all I gotta do to get to use this study is to help you with Monarch? It's a deal!"

Truth be told, she probably would have helped even without this extra incentive, but she certainly appreciated it. After all...

Now she had twice the opportunities to expose the esoteric!

No Confidence

Why was the afterlife different from one person to the next? Why did people have so many different possible fates? There were many reasons why, but one of the most basic was that there were many afterlives, many hells and heavens. Which one you were sent to depending on numerous things, chief among them being your personal religion and culture. But you didn't always get to 'choose' your fate this way. The afterlives sometimes mingled with each other, the different godly and demonic beings in charge not always isolated. And especially sinful people could get in real trouble down here.

So it was that Hell, Incorporated came to be. Once just another offshoot of your standard fire-and-brimstone underworld, Lucifer had come up with grandiose plans long ago to make it all run just the way she liked it. A less chaotic hell. A less rambunctious hell. An organized realm with everything in its' proper place... and herself at the top, naturally. And as no one really subscribed to a land like this as part of their belief system, over time Hell, Inc became a sort of dumping ground for souls that other realms couldn't deal with or had no room for. Lucifer took pride in dealing with these especially troublesome beings, but not all the demons under her felt the same way.

Verosika Mayday was the perfect demon for Hell, Inc, because she was ambitious. Always a desirable quality for a high-ranking demon to have, it meant she worked hard and got results. The paradox was, though, that it was also an undesirable quality. Get too ambitious and you might start thinking you ought to be the one in charge. Lucifer had known to keep a close watch on Verosika. The woman was a little too ambitious for her own good. Over time, she had used her charms to win over other demons throughout Hell, Inc. Lucifer wasn't intimidated. Hell, Inc had a seven-member Board of Directors, herself and six others, and while Verosika was among their number and had been actively wooing the other five, Lucifer had plenty of pull herself and was working to keep her own subordinates pleased.

Too late, Lucifer realized her mistake. By the time Verosika's little movement had begun to pick up speed, the chance to be rid of her had passed. In the Hell, Inc rulebook, it was deemed possible for the Board to vote out any of its' own members, but this required a two-thirds or more supermajority - with the current roster of seven, that meant five demons voting in agreement. The rule was designed to cast out bad actors without making it too easy, but Lucifer hadn't wanted to pull the trigger the moment Verosika started showing signs of discontent, because she was a popular demon and voting her out at the first sign of ambition might have just made things worse. But now, things were a little more serious. Verosika had picked up two allies on the Board: Black Doom and the Vanterviper. With their help, she had a bulwark against being kicked off. Now it couldn't happen, and Lucifer was stuck with her, forced into a battle of personalities as her Board began to devolve into a standoff between two opposing parties.

It was a pain, but what Lucifer didn't know was that things were about to get far worse.

A Helping Hand

Of all the times for something like this to happen...

Helios moved through the snow with urgency despite the bags under his eyes. He had been caught flatfooted at the worst possible moment. The hospital had been in a period of quiet, as was common during the winter months, and almost all of his fellow doctors were unavailable. Dr. Nerique was in the middle of a well-earned vacation abroad, and Dr. Blooper had taken the day off to go deep-sea diving and couldn't be contacted. With only a skeleton crew at the hospital, disaster had struck - an avalanche had rumbled its' way down one of Glasetera's most popular mountains for skiing, and over a dozen people had gotten caught in its' path. Fortunately, it seemed no one had died, but injuries were widespread and Helios was being run ragged trying to deal with it all despite being the only doctor on call. He had requested emergency aid from the ZFPD and they had been able to send Burnin, Justice, and Patty Wagon to at least help with finding the injured and getting them into ambulances, but things were still frantic and the lack of other healers was proving a dire issue.

"H-help... help me..." 

Helios stopped in his tracks as he heard the muffled voice, looking with alarm at a fallen tree. He could just barely see a glove shakily reaching out, the arm connected to it vanishing into the snow and under the tree. "I need some assistance over here!" Helios shouted, and Burnin and Justice hurried over to examine the situation.

"Hang on, we got this!" the two cops said, Burnin and Justice grasping the tree... and failing to lift it. Helios watched them struggle, then followed the length of the tree to its' base and saw the problem - while it had toppled, it was still rooted to the uneven and frozen ground, presenting a nearly immovable obstacle. Even the strength of BURNIN' JUSTICE was proving inadequate, as Justice's hands slipped and sent her tumbling back into the snow while a sweat broke out on the brow of Burnin as she stepped back and shook her own hands to recover from the strain.

"The hell's with this tree?!"

"It's stuck. We can't just roll it off." Helios pointed out.

"I know one thing we can do!" Burnin said, her hair flaring up as she shoved a hand inside the flames to ready a weapon-

"NO! What about the person trapped underneath?!"

"...Oh. Right." Burnin sheepishly lowered her hand.

"What to do, what to do..." Helios grimaced, trying to consider his options. His "Exit" white magic spell carried risks when trying to transport the injured. The safest route would be to chop the tree, but no one here had any means of doing that, and the time spent finding a good enough axe could-

Helios was snapped out of his thinking by the sound of wood being split. Steady, rhythmic chops filled the air as a large axe was repeatedly slammed into the tree, carefully chopping directly through it and finally separating the body from the roots, allowing Burnin and Justice to at last haul off the fallen tree and get it away from the victim underneath. As they moved the tree, Helios looked in surprise at the woman standing there, axe in hand, who had shown up at the perfect time.

The Art Of Gaming

"Ahhhh... Look at all of zis space! And for such a good deal, too!"

Spreading her arms as she walked around the building she had recently purchased, Palette took in the sight and let her imagination take over. It was stark and empty right now, but she imagined the building filled with the sights and sounds of people at work and play, and her heart soared. Her plans were ambitious, but she had received plenty of encouragement and support from Chimata and the Legion of Stationery to pursue her dream.

The Hardcade was remaining in Agama. The semi-breakups of the Sega Hard Girls and Nintendo Hard Girls, with many of them declining to follow the Kobbers to Europe, ensured that it couldn't come to Whalestrand in its' usual form. Rather than try to cram an arcade into the Journey's End, which was already both a lighthouse and a restaurant, or the Safe Harbor Inn, a new approach would be needed to adapt one of the Kobbers' favorite pastimes to Whalestrand.

There Was Life Here Once

The hunter approached the valley of death.

There was no sound but H'aanit's own footsteps and the whistling of the wind through the pines. She heard the old trees creak gently as their branches swayed. Looking away from them, she stared out upon the ruins in front of her, one hand reaching down to stroke the fur of her loyal pet, Linde the snow leopard. Nodding to her companion, H'aanit stepped forward and entered what was once a village.

They had been here before, but it still hurt every time.

H'aanit walked slowly and deliberately among the rubble, Linde following along behind, her footsteps silent compared to her human owner. Some buildings were almost completely demolished, while others were partially standing. One lucky cottage was almost fully intact, though H'aanit had noticed the paint wearing down over time, more unsightly marks appearing every time she returned. She gently placed a hand against the cottage's wall. If no one maintained it, this little house would eventually fall into disrepair. And there was no one left in the former village to do so.

College Reunion

On the outskirts of Agama, in the quietest corner of the city, two space aliens tried their best to look inconspicuous as they walked off the street, into an alley, and behind a run-down old building that still had signs in the windows but certainly didn't look it was open for business any time recently. Some ne'er-do-well had spraypainted "TOURISTS SUCK" on the side of the building in red. The only sound was the burbling of one of the city's many canals as it ran behind the building, blocked off here by a fence put up to keep any refuse from falling in.

"Is this the place?" asked Baltan Seijin, more to himself than anything else as he took in his surroundings.

"Certainly looks like it." Kauket huffed in mild disgust at the run-down and dirty area as she crossed her arms. Her species was referred to as 'Flatwoods Monsters' by people of Earth. She resented being called a monster, but in the long run didn't really care that much. It had been 70 years since the day she'd acquired that moniker. A lifetime for a human, but not much for her. By the 80s or so she'd already gotten over it. "I still don't like this at all. Feels like a setup."

"Aw, c'mon! My ol' college buddy would never pull a fast one on me like that! He's a good egg."

"He's wanted in seven galaxies for questioning regarding the disappearance of my father's fortune."

"Would you buy that he's a mediocre egg?" Baltan offered. Kauket didn't dignify him with a response, instead flipping open a small communicator device and peering at it. The gadget worked similarly to an Earth smartphone, and could even link up to them, but the technology was very different. It ran on a powerful solar battery, and could communicate across vast distances, but Kauket was currently using it as a mere watch to check the time. As she suspected, she and Baltan were punctual. It was his friend who was late. 

Two Meetings Of Convenience

"Whew..."

Drawing a hand across her brow and grimacing, Byakuren Hijiri squinted into the sunlight and let out a little sigh. "It's March, but it's sweltering. Maybe the Kobbers should go somewhere temperate for a change." She looked over her shoulder. "Are you holding up alright, little one?"

A simple, quiet nod was the only response from Byakuren's companion.

"Good! Now, she told us to meet her at The Midnight Store, but I don't think it's open yet, so let's go grab some food at the bar. Sound good, sweetie?" 

Another nod.

"Wonderful!"

---

A few hours later, The Midnight Store was opening for business. Megumin was arranging things on the shelves while Missy settled in behind the counter and flipped through a newspaper she'd taken from the store's magazine stand. Print news was in decline all over the world, and Agama was no exception, but the city still managed to hang onto some printed news. There had been two major papers serving the city - The Blue Tongue and The Moonlight Gazette - but with The Blue Tongue having shut down last year, a new challenger had popped onto the scene: Agama Outpost. Formerly a smaller, less popular indie paper that had focused on niche news and thinkpieces, it had ballooned in popularity after suddenly finding itself the number two paper in the city by default, and it was doing its' best to fill the void left by the Brume publication's collapse by including a broader spectrum of stories while also trying to not alienate the existing base. It was a tricky balancing act. As Missy examined the paper, she came across a large advertisement reminding people of the grand opening of Omega Mart. She frowned slightly thanks to being reminded of her upcoming competitor. Omega Mart had a host of advantages thanks to the fact that it wasn't technically located in Agama, keeping it from paying a lot of taxes and fees and avoiding various other regulations that The Midnight Store and other businesses in the area had to deal with. And thanks to the warp points installed by Meiling and Lord Var, it was easier than ever for Agama to get visitors, and that was a rich well of potential profit for every business in the city. Where those possible shoppers spent their money could make all the difference for not just The Midnight Store, but the Grand Market and every other shop and restaurant around as well.

Missy was shaken out of her thoughts by the sound of a hand slapping onto her counter, and a voice that jolted at her memory.

"Heyyyy!"

Recollection

He remembered. Of course he remembered. Remembering was what kept him going. It reminded him what he was fighting for, what he was trying to do. It made the voices grow weak and distant. It gave brief, fleeting moments of clarity to his mind. It was all he had, and getting it back was his life's mission.

He remembered 1994. The beginning. A clean storefront, a bright future, big plans. A row of finely polished automobiles, gleaming under the lights of the showroom. Walls of auto parts and car care products. Tires, windshield wipers, car batteries, fuses, gas caps, rear-view-mirrors, snow brushes, squeegees. Air fresheners shaped like pine trees. The stench of fresh rubber and plastic. It was all very American, which seemed odd on the surface, as the mall they were set up in was located in Mongolia, but the area was under heavy development from an international crowd. One day, the executives in charge of the project had said, this city would fly. And a flying city would be a worldwide envy, a mecca for tourism and spectacle. They'd been smart to come here, he knew. This was where the money would be made, by far-thinking businessfolk with a keen eye for the future and the promise of the technology in development.

He'd worked hard to get the business off the ground. It hadn't been easy, but he knew that hard work equaled great rewards. If you just put in the effort, you would earn yourself a return on investment that was worth the elbow grease you contributed to the cause. So he worked hard. He was in every advertisement, on every poster, all over the show floor. His gleaming smile and clever quips caught the eye of the locals, and slowly but surely Big Shot Autos began to build up steam.

He remembered 1997. The big time. His favorite year. Business was booming, and what was once a small outlet in the mall was now turning to grander plans. In the works was the impending launch of a new website. Big Shot Autos would harness the power of the information superhighway, and he was there every step of the way once again. He adorned pop-ups and banner ads, letting his personality and charm do the work for him. Promotional items with his grinning face were produced by the thousand. Investors were eager to dump money on this humble little mall tenant as they promised incredible things with the power of technology. He was on top of the world, and the view was dizzying.

The Rest Is Silence

Blade kept wishing that he would wake up and this would stop happening.

His boots echoed off the white tile as he made his way down the hospital hall. Reverberating voices around him from the staff as they milled about went into his ears and dispelled into formless muck he couldn't focus on. It was just another day for them. He approached the room he'd been told to visit, simultaneously trying to hurry and also trying to delay the inevitable, resulting in a stilted and stiff stride.

Blade stopped at the threshold, peering into the room. He saw Helios Canicco, head of the KOB Hospital, taking notes on a clipboard with a grim expression. Again, two clashing emotions filled Blade's head. He was relieved Helios had managed to appear in Las Vegas on such short notice, but he was also very concerned that he was present at all. Helios was one of the best doctors any Kobber had ever seen. The man was quite literally a miracle worker. So for his presence to be required this far from either Olympia or Agama was grim tidings indeed.

Blade put a gloved hand against the door railing to stabilize himself. He closed his eyes and took a deep, long breath. Helios looked over at him sympathetically and made a gesture with one hand. Blade's eyes cracked open and he took in Helios' hand beckoning at him. He sighed, shook his head, and stepped inside.

Together, the two of them looked at Sally Bishop.

Heavily swaddled in bandages, hooked up to a large beeping machine, and out like a light. It had been years since she had stepped in the ring, but Silence still had some fairly impressive muscles. They did her no good here, though, and the tall, strong woman had never looked smaller and more weak to her long-time friend. Her skin was pale and her chest slowly rose and fell with each slumbering breath.

Blade let out a choked noise. "G...grgh! Why... why couldn't I have been there... I should have been there."

Helios did his best to comfort Blade, placing a hand on the biker's back. When Blade flinched, Helios flinched in kind, but Blade calmed down enough to let Helios keep his hand there. "Don't blame yourself. You couldn't have known this would happen."

"...You're right. Blaming myself won't do anything." Blade fell silent for a time, his fists clenching and unclenching. "I should be blaming the rat bastard who did this to my best friend."

"I can at least tell you she's not in pain right now. I've made sure she can get all the medication she needs, and get lots of sleep. If anything else comes up, I'll let you know. A private detective has already offered to investigate the case and has hired help with boots on the ground as we speak."

"Private schmivate. They can investigate all they want, but I'm not sitting by waiting for them to figure this out." Blade gently placed his hand on top of one of Silence's hands, taking in a shuddering breath. "I'm... I'm gonna get this guy, Sally. You can... c-can count on me."

Blade removed his helmet to see Sally better, and tears dripped onto her hospital bed.

"Because we're friends." 

End Of The Line

Slowly, she walked into the general store.

She looked at the man behind the counter. "Hello." he said. "Welcome to The Trading Post." She turned away from him, unable to speak. Even now, even at a time like this, he was as cheerful as ever, the same as she always remembered him being.

Even though the end was coming. The end of everything.

She'd heard about it a month prior. Since then she'd been to every town and city she had passed through on her journey years ago. She caught up with old friends, fought some old enemies. And even though nothing on the surface had changed, it all felt different somehow. She paid more attention to the smaller details of the world around her. The way weeds gently formed pathways on less-used cobblestones. The way moss spread to cover the side of a stone wall. The quiet corners of the shop she was standing in right now, where people rarely browsed.

It was all just as she had remembered, now appreciated in a new light. And it would all be going away.

Spider Patrol

It's another day in the South American jungle, and as usual a very large arachnid was investigating their territory in search of anything out of the ordinary. 

Of course, to some, this creature itself was out of the ordinary. A gigantic tarantula with a body the size of a twin bed, it strode through the jungle without a care for it supposedly being impossible for such a large arthropod to exist. It stomped forward with steady and sure strides as it made the rounds on its' practiced route, a route it had taken every day for years. Nearby villagers could set their timepieces to the march of the spider, which was known as a "Moulder" for the fungi that grew upon its' body. Scientists who had observed the creature as it performed its' daily constitutional surmised that the mold, moss, and mushrooms sprouting from the spider's back played a key role in its' biology, but as the species was considered extremely rare, no one had yet gotten approval to capture it and study it more closely. It didn't help that until recently it was very uncommon to find any outsiders researching Agama's surrounding flora and fauna. This region of South America had been an isolated lost world of sorts, harboring mysterious creatures and long-lost civilizations no one had been able to dig into until now. Maybe this year, with Kobber attention focused on the region, the secrets of the jungle would finally start to be unlocked.

While the Moulder's meanderings were far from the most important mystery, at least as far as scholars were concerned, it too seemed ripe for answers. Those who studied the Moulder's path noted that it was very rigid, but when outside circumstances forced the spider to act, it proved surprisingly intelligent. This odd mix of brainpower and static routine caused no end of headscratching. The Moulder would make small diversions to catch nearby prey or avoid possible predators, and unexpected obstacles that weren't there the day before, such as a fallen tree blocking the path, were easily navigated over or around. But whenever the Moulder's pace was interrupted, it would resume its' patrol at a faster speed until it caught back up to its' proper schedule, arriving at each point of interest at the same time every day like the public transportation of people's dreams.

Today's first unexpected obstacle was a large log lying horizontally across the path. The Moulder came to a cautious stop a dozen feet from it, letting out a chirp as its' pedipalps, the small leglike limbs near its' mouth, rubbed together. This was no ordinary toppled tree. The spider could tell that something was wrong. Its' suspicions were confirmed when the trunk suddenly sprouted legs and rose up off the ground, and a huge insect head emerged from one end of the fallen tree.

Casting Call

They came from the dark corners of Agama. The criminal elements of this South American region did not seem like much compared to the toxic heights of Olympia in 2019, when The Curse had an iron grip on every aspect of the city's existence, but it has long been a sad truth that no matter where one goes, if enough people gather together, a few bad eggs inevitably try to take advantage of the rest. Agama was no different, and it was here that Mr. Hippo would plant his flag and rebuild The Curse into a group worth defending again.

The fact that he was holding official tryouts with papers tacked up on local stores' bulletin boards and a big 'VILLAINS WELCOME' sign outside the office building he'd rented for interviews meant that he was attracting only a certain type of evil, though.

Not that Mr. Hippo minded. These were his people.

Every Witch Way

The mansion was located some distance away from the main city of Agama. One of the canals had a natural branch connected to it formed by nature's wear rather than the hands of the populace, and if you followed that little branch along a winding dirt path, stooping under low-hanging tree branches and tromping across a weathered old wooden walkway that stretched across the river, you would eventually come across the mansion in a clearing in the jungle. Surrounded by tall trees and difficult to see from any distance outside of the clearing, the old building was nonetheless full of life if the lights in the windows and shadows flickering across them were any indication.

"This mansion was built 220 or so years ago, at the end of the 18th century. It's been renovated a few times, but when The Coven got to it, it hadn't been touched in years. We didn't even have electricity until we got some crystal generators hooked up!"

Momopie had been babbling a mile a minute since the three witches had started on their walk. Behind her trailed Megumin, half paying attention to her friend's words in favor of taking in her surroundings. Bringing up the rear was Missy, who was munching on a granola bar she'd pulled from her overstuffed "Midnight Store" branded backpack.

"So according to our research, the original owner of this mansion was the last of a bloodline that had once been in high standing in Europe. They'd hobnobbed with royalty and acquired many riches! But over time, the kings and queens and other well-to-do folks retired or died and the next generation came into power, and the influence of the family declined as the new rulers were less interested in what they had to say. Eventually the line was whittled down to one eccentric old man, and so he became a recluse."

"Really. And what was this guy's name?" Megumin asked.

"Ehhh, I think it was Don Huxtable or something? I didn't pay much attention to that part."

"You seem to know the rest well enough."

"People are more interesting than their names." Momopie chirped as the three girls reached the entrance to the mansion. "So anyway, this Yon Yonson guy had no kids or descendants or living relatives at all, so he had this mansion built and then spent the rest of his life using what he had left on him to collect stuff. He gathered together things from all over the world and made what people back then liked to call a 'cabinet of curiosities'. Rich adventurer types liked to make them to show off their worldliness."

"Wait a second, wait a second." Megumin waved a hand, Momopie turning curiously. "I thought Agama was only recently re-discovered and hasn't invited tourists in ages. How'd this guy know where Agama was?"

"That's the strangest part!" Momopie grinned. "He didn't! This mansion was built in Europe."

"..........Wha?"

"Two decades after it was finished, the mansion vanished from where it was built. Only a large hole in the ground remained. Nobody outside of Agama knew it had shown up here until The Coven researched it and worked out the place's history."

"But how could that have possibly happened?!" Megumin exclaimed, scratching under her hat while Missy, enraptured, inhaled another granola bar.

Momopie just shrugged. "We don't know! But it was probably some kind of lost magic spell. It just made the mansion even better for us as a meeting place, no?"

Megumin looked up at the mansion, towering over her and the other girls. Suddenly the building seemed to take on an ever-more ominous tone. She could have sworn she heard an owl hooting, even though it was a cloudy afternoon and she was PRETTY sure owls didn't live in Agama.

"Anyway, let's head on in! I can't wait to introduce you to everyone!" Momopie knocked on the door, which then opened a crack. An echoing, metallic voice solemnly called out.

"Who goes there."

Momopie leaned in and smirked as she answered with "Momopie! I got the two new recruits I picked up at Olympia with me!"

"Entry accepted. Welcome back, Momopie. Welcome, new members." The door swung open, and as light spilled into the mansion, the girls could see that the speaker was what appeared to be a tall suit of armor... and it didn't seem as if anyone was inside.

"Thanks, Armory." Momopie giggled as the witches slipped inside.

Chaos In The Undercity

Even before The Curse had fallen, there had been a warning spread by those who planned ahead. A warning that just because The Curse was so big, and so omnipresent, and had already killed off nearly every other major criminal organization on Olympia before their own demise, did not mean that defeating The Curse meant the end of crime and corruption in Olympia. Make no mistake, progress had been made and defeating The Curse was the right thing to do, but the battle for Olympia still raged on, now moving more fully into the dark alleys and graffiti-stained corridors of The Undercity.

The Curse had simply been too big for their defeat to mean the end of the war. While the group technically still existed as The Cure, it was a tiny fraction of its' former self, and a massive void had been created in Olympia, particularly the Undercity. The parasites that had been in hiding came scrabbling out of the woodwork, every idiot with a handgun and something to prove thinking they had a shot at being the next Plague. However, they lacked something that The Curse had possessed in spades: teamwork. Sure, The Curse had had its' mavericks and traitors, any group big enough had some of those, but The Curse had gotten as far as it had due to unity and a shared sense of purpose. Without that, these no-hopers were fighting amongst themselves as much as they were fighting the forces of good that were reclaiming Olympia - The Cure, The Corps, the police... and of course the Kobbers.

And one such underground street fight was going down right now, in the territory of Yamato, former leader of a gang of cybernetic samurai who had staked a claim on part of the Undercity before Plague's forces had forced him into retreat minus most of his men. Now he was under attack once more and had no allies to defend himself with, though his foe didn't seem as intimidating as The Curse's army had been.

Darkness

Observation log, day... day... I don't even know any more. I've lost track of the days. But it's been a long time. Feels like years, probably been a month, maybe something in between.

There are only three of us left. Attempts to contact other stations have all failed. I think we might be alone. It's me, Twilight, and her sole remaining daughter, Gloria. We've been holed up in here in hiding from the darkness outside. We thought maybe it would go away eventually, or that help would arrive, or... something. I honestly am not sure what exactly we thought would happen.

I'm not sure why Dark Matter hasn't taken us yet. Maybe it's been busying itself elsewhere. Maybe it's recuperating from the fight it had with the Kobbers. Our greatest failure. We threw everything we had at it over the course of several days, desperately trying to finish it off, but it was too late. We were fighting something bigger than even the Kobbers, so vast we could barely comprehend it. For every Dark Matter we beat back, more came. It's blanketed the entire planet by now, it had endless resources to throw at us. The Kobbers had achieved many victories in their short reign, but they weren't prepared for this scale of attack. Kobbers fought battles. We weren't ready for an all-out war.

Dark Matter had played smart. It had steadily grown, targeting less populated areas first to quickly overwhelm local resistance and grow larger off of easy meals. It saved the Kobbers for last, and we noticed it much too late. We faced it several times, and at first we seemed to be winning, but the endless reinforcements proved too much, and as Dark Matter noticed we were tiring, it grew more eager to expend resources to defeat us. The breaks it took grew shorter, and our forces thinned gradually as more and more Kobbers were lost to the darkness over the years.

A last stand had been made. Some of the Kobbers made a sacrifice, going down fighting so that the others could flee into space and escape, hopefully to regroup on another planet with reinforcements. In the chaos, Twilight, Gloria, and I ended up unable to reach our rocket in time, and Dark Matter destroyed it. Twilight led us here to her safehouse, and we barricaded ourselves in against the alien menace. Twilight had a plan. She's a brilliant scientist and inventor, and she was close to a breakthrough in "sifter" technology, a handheld device that could warp between dimensions. She'd been working with other Kobber scientists to perfect the invention, but work had slowed as they were picked off by Dark Matter or forced to flee. Now she's trying to finish the work alone. Gloria and I don't know anything about dimensional travel, so we're not much help.

The sifter is nearly complete. Thank goodness, because we don't have much time left. Even if Dark Matter leaves us alone, we only have enough food and water left for about another three weeks before we have no choice but to abandon the shelter. Time's running out, and I can tell Twilight is feeling the strain. Gloria's doing her best to keep us sane, reading aloud to us from her large collection of books. Bless her.

I chose to write today because I've realized I may not get another chance. Instead of always putting it off until we were safe, I wanted to record this just in case something goes wrong. I don't want to be a pessimist, but I'd like to be realistic about our chances with what's outside. It's scary, but

A Merry Mega Christmas

-OLYMPIA MALL-

"So 'Mega Christmas' is actually a thing, huh?"

Xyra nodded at the confused Sumireko. "Yeah. A lot of Olympia's businesses push it as the ultimate version of Christmas. It gets a lot of backlash for being super commercialized, even more than regular Christmas since it's purely a company-invented holiday. Like Black Friday. But kids think it's cool and a lot of corporations will frame their charity donations and toy drives as being part of it, so it sticks around."

Sumireko shook her head with a small smile. "Heh... Olympia feels like a slice of the future sometimes."

"...So, here we are, huh? Another year over, another fleet of enemies defeated... off to prepare for next year's adventures. It's different this time, though."

Sumireko and Xyra turned at the voice, seeing Dolby approaching the group and looking wistful. Sumi waved at her friend. "Different? What's different about it now, Dolby?"

"There's less than two weeks left in 2019. That means there's less than two weeks left of the decade. The New Tens, Sumi... it's ending. A whole decade of stuff happening, including the entirety of the Kobbers' history so far. The 2010s will become part of history forever... and one day, I'm gonna reminisce about it." Dolby looked around the mall with a vaguely sad smile. "I'm a nostalgia elemental... but this is the first time I've ever actually been around for the turn of the decade. It's a little scary."

"Don't be afraid!" Xyra put a reassuring hand on Dolby's shoulder. "I don't remember my life before I became Xyra. Seanet had nothing to tell me about it... but it's okay. I've got you guys now. And so this is basically MY first new decade, too. We'll face it together, alright?"

"..."

Dolby smiled at the reassuring face of her friend and nodded. "Right. Let's head into 2020 with our heads high."

"Yeah! And look out for new adventures!" Sumireko cheered, pumping a fist.

"As energetic as ever." Dolby laughed a bit as Sumi hopped around eagerly, ready to continue their last-minute Christmas shopping. The three of them walked on together, deeper into the mall. They were the only members of Nerd Club here today. Tokiko and Rachel had both long finished their shopping. Tokiko's dislike of large crowds and Rachel's careful planning of the holidays meant both had taken care of business weeks ago, but Xyra and Sumireko were rather more flakey and had to get a few more things before they were finished buying gifts. As for Dolby, she'd finished her shopping, but her love of the mall kept her coming back anyway.

A disturbance in the middle of the mall caught their attention, especially when they spotted a certain bartender they knew very well. Jill Stingray, clad in a red-and-green elf costume, stood next to the big comfy chair of a rather unconventional-looking Mall Santa, a redhead that the nerds didn't recognize.

Dolby blinked. "...Jill? Is that YOU?"

"Oh my god, what are you wearing." Xyra covered her mouth to suppress a giggle.

A New Era Dawns

"Good Evening. This is Slow Weather Jamz, your source for 24/7 weather coverage in, on, and around Olympia. Stay with us, and stay informed.

Here's your weather forecast for Tuesday, April 16."

All across Olympia, restaurants and homes and vehicles alike heard the sounds of the local forecast begin on their TVs and radios. It may be above the clouds, but there was still plenty to talk about regarding Olympia's weather. Temperature and wind speed, for starters, not to mention the city was subject to artificial rain at certain preplanned times to keep the decorative plants watered and to make the city feel a little more 'natural'. Of course, nothing about Olympia was natural. This city was schemed up in a board meeting years ago, and built from the ground up to one day be a flying spectacle. At last, that day had come.

But was the world ready for this? Had Olympia's time come too soon? Or was it time for the people of Earth to step forward into a bold new age of interplanetary alliances?