Eidolon: City

Gloria & Brita's friend and drummer.

Proprietor of the Let It Ride diner.

Late leader of the 23rd St Idols.

Leader of the Night Rangers.

Boss of the Bachmann-Turner Overdrives.

Primary hitter of the Blitzkrieg Boppers.

Eidolon: ???

Little brother of D.D. Doyle, member of the Blitzkrieg Boppers.

Eidolon: ???

Member of the BT Overdrives; Freddy's age.

Twins, members of the BT Overdrives; Gary's age.

Boss of the Blitzkrieg Boppers.

Eidolon: ???

Gambler who owes money to Randy; bad habit of not paying his debts.

Eidolon: Do it Again

Member of the Cheap Tricks; burned DD's car with Gary and Gloria.

Local eatery at the corner of Bachmann and Turner; regular hangout of the Overdrives.

Home base of the Blitzkrieg Boppers.

A small-time gang on the City's south side.

The Overdrives' ineffectual rival gang.

The biggest, meanest gang on the City's south side.

The scene opens on the interior of a diner, late afternoon (or early evening). It’s raining outside. Gloria, Brita, and Kyle are sitting in a booth discussing band stuff, although Brita (who is sitting sideways on one side of the booth, legs stretched out) is a bit more focused on the huge pile of fries she’s eating.

Gary is sitting with a cup of (cold) coffee and unlit cigarette in a booth by himself, waiting to be invited over. Kyle is looking over every once in a while, but hasn’t said anything to anyone.

Freddy is chatting with the chef (Robbie).

Robbie tops off Gary’s coffee and quietly agrees to bring him a coke, because she’s the best.

Three guys from the neighboring gang (Knight Rangers, including one named Jack the Blade) come in and start dripping on the floor. Robbie scolds them and they tell her to shut up. Gloria and Gary stand up, while Freddy turns around with a menacing look.

Gary throws hot coffee at Jack the Blade’s pants, but his hands shake and he spills on himself painfully as well.

Henchguy 1 heads towards Freddy, but quickly backs down due to Freddy’s rep

Henchguy 2 is threatened by Gloria who stepped between him and Gary, and they throw down, Gloria completely kicking the guy’s ass.

The Night Rangers retreat, Jack threatening Gary.

Brita invites Gary back to their booth (Kyle saying hi, didn’t see you there even though he did) to have some fries because she thinks he has low blood sugar.

There’s a rustling by the back door– there’s a blond man with a bowling bag, clutching his side. He coughs up blood and falls forwards, dead.

Freddy carries the man in and lays him on the floor, Robbie fussing “Not again!” and closing the front curtains and locking the door. Gloria examines the bag, it has a lock and a sparkling embroidery that reads ‘Blinded by the Light.’ Brita comes over to examine the embroidery.

As Gary, Gloria, Freddy, and Brita all look at the bag, it opens and blinds them, sending a current of strange energy through them. Then the bag is shut and locked again; Robbie and Kyle didn’t notice the light.

A red convertible drives up and a man gets out, walks up to the door, and tries to open it. It’s locked, but there’s a shimmer and the lock shoots through the door and into the diner with a crash. He walks in, and Freddy recognizes him. DD Doyle is the muscle for the Blitzkrieg Boppers, the most powerful of the southend gangs.

Brita has moved in front of the body and bag, blocking them from view using her tall frame and baggy coat.

He demands the bag, and when Freddy doesn’t immediately capitulate, DD manifests a big, leather/armor covered figure with a bat that swings at Freddy. Freddy manifests Mr. Fahrenheit to block the blow and send an uppercut at DD.

Brita reveals her master plan, which is to hide the bag in her coat without DD noticing. She succeeds.

Gloria squares up, fires lighting up around her, and throws DD over the counter towards Gary.

Freddy attacks DD again, sending him crashing through the window to the street in front of the diner. Being connected to Mr. Fahrenheit who also attacked, Freddy is also pulled outside.

Brita runs to the diner’s phone and calls up Randy (the boss of the Overdrives) and tells him what’s going on. He says he’ll send backup and hangs up; Brita hides the bag in the trash can and motions for Kyle, Robbie, and Gary to run out the back. Kyle and Robbie do so.

Gary instead goes to peek out the window (and subconsciously hide his eidolon in the nearby alley), but ends up falling through the window and landing on his ass in the way of the fight outside.

Gloria lights up with a valkyrie of flame, which creates an opaque barrier of flame that protects and hides her/Freddy.

Gary is still outside the barrier, and DD is looking at him like he’s switching targets, when another man (who turns out to be his little brother, Marky) pulls DD away and they go back to the car and zoom away. Gary pickpockets DD’s wallet as he leaves.

Gloria pulls Freddy through the orb, which dissipates slowly in the rain. She starts tending Freddy and her wounds. Kyle sits back in their booth, shell-shocked.

Gary gives Robbie $20 from DD’s wallet for the broken door and then goes to pour everyone coffee, spilling a bunch since his hands are shaking.

Kyle gets exposed to The Light when Brita opens the bag a little bit, but he seems fine. The group concludes that the bag must be behind the supernatural powers, even if it didn't seem to affect Brita or Kyle.

Brita hides the bag again as they all contemplate the thought of gang warfare escalating further with more people getting powers.

Randy arrives along with a square-looking guy (Alfie), a guy and a gal who are redheaded twins (Marco & Marianne). The three of them are wearing their canvas bomber jackets with the Overdrives symbol etc on them. He’s in a bit of a tizzy about fucking DD Doyle being pissed at them.

Gary pulls out DD’s wallet and Randy is successfully made to believe that the wallet is why DD was pissed, possibly related to Billy Broad (Billy Broad is the dead guy, with the 23rd Street Idols).

Randy takes the wallet and intends to go to the Bopper’s and try and smooth things over. He tells the kids to try and stay out of trouble for a while, although the Night Rangers are still fair game.

(Note: Gary and Marco have kissed!)

Randy stood on the sidewalk, facing the other side of the street. Night had fallen, taking with it what little light had shone through the black clouds. He was lit only by the sodium-vapor light of the streetlamps, diffused by the same rain that had plastered his hair to his head and soaked his clothing. That light didn't quite manage to make it across the road. Rockaway Beach was, instead, lit up with a half-dozen oil drum fires, protected from the rain under the old park pavilions, and by the headlights of the cars and motorcycles parked haphazardly along the perimeter.

Youth wearing Blitzkrieg Boppers jackets were standing around those barrels, smoking, drinking, yelling and shoving each other. The makeshift illumination cast long, dancing shadows that crisscrossed the sand, and pooled in every corner. It made the stahlhelmed skulls on their backs flick their gaze back and forth, and Randy averted his eyes from the crowds to look at the park's entrance.

A pair of Boppers stood, one to either side of the wooden boardwalk, leaning on their motorcycles. One held his hand in front of the headlight, picking at his fingernails. The other might have been eyeing Randy from across the street, but it was hard to tell; her face was backlit by a car's headlights, turning her expression into a featureless void.

Randy took a breath, then started across the road.

By the time he made it to the opposite side, both guards were definitely staring at him. Between the darkness and the rain, it was hard to make out their features, but easy enough to see the hostility in their expressions.

"Hey," the young woman said, "you must be fuckin' lost. Need me to beat a sense of direction into you?"

Randy held up his hands, palms out. "No reason to get excited. I'm just returning some stolen property."

The guards glanced at each other. Randy's hand moved to wipe the water from his eyes, but froze when the movement caused both of them to glare at him.

"Fine," the young man said. "Leave it with me."

Randy grimaced. "I'd really prefer to hand it to your boss."

The man scoffed. "Tough shit." He took a step towards Randy, but the woman grabbed him by the elbow. His head whipped around, and she shrugged at him.

"Let me walk him over. Maybe the boss will let D.D. beat the shit out of him. Be fun to watch."

The young man scowled, yanking his arm free. "Or maybe she'll let him beat the shit out of you, for bothering her. You just wanna get out the rain." As he spoke, though, he stepped back to the motorcycle and settled sideways in the seat.

She shrugged. "My problem." Then she motioned to Randy with a jerk of her head.

Randy looked back and forth between them, tensed his shoulders, and stepped onto the boardwalk. The young woman fell into step behind him. As they walked down the rotting footpath, some of the other gang members turned to watch; Randy couldn't hear their words, but he could hear the tone and tenor of the conversations changing as he passed each knot of Boppers.

The boardwalk ended at a moderately sized boathouse on the lake's shore. It housed a pair of launches, wooden ramps leading down into the dark water that separated the floor between three areas. Against each wall, the outer walks held a ratty collection of sofas, diner chairs, stools, and milk crates. The walls themselves had been covered in posters and graffiti, new layered on top of old. Wall hangings–a dartboard, shining hubcaps, bleached animal skulls–were nailed on at irregular intervals, adding further texture. The central area of the boathouse formed a small pier that extended out into the water. A pile of wooden pallets formed a dais, and at its top was a bench seat that had been ripped from someone's car.

Boppers were scattered around the interior. Every seat was taken, leaving an unlucky few to lean up against the walls and supports. Despite the fact that the boathouse was barely more enclosed than the pavilions he had seen on the way in, a haze of smoke hung in the air. Mostly it smelled of cigarettes, but there were sticky, bittersweet scents lurking in the background.

One of the unlucky Boppers–a youth with impressive scars–moved to stand in Randy's path as he approached. The one who had greeted him on the way in brushed past the scarred kid and stepped into the cover of the boathouse's roof.

"Boss," she said, "this guy says he's here to return some stolen property."

Randy's eyes followed hers to the figure seated in the middle of the room. Sheena Doyle, leader of the Blitzkrieg Boppers and the terror of the south side, reclined on her throne, and fixed her subordinate with a cool gaze before looking over at Randy. The cloud of frizzy black hair that shot out in every direction somehow made her face look too small for her head, and her head too large for her body. One hand rested on something that Randy couldn't quite make out–maybe a musical instrument, like a guitar, covered in shadow.

He swallowed. "That's, uh, right. I've got your brother's–" Randy reached for his jacket pocket. Before it got there, the scarred young man was at his side, gripping his elbow hard enough to make him wince.

Sheena's expression didn't change as she spoke, nor did she look away from Randy's eyes. "Let'im go. He doesn't have the balls to take a shot at me."

A whine escaped Randy's throat, but the guard released him without further protest. Slowly, Randy produced the wallet from his pocket, holding it between two fingers.

"Uh, like I was saying. One of my guys found your brother's wallet, and I thought I'd be a good neighbor about it, y'know?"

He took a step forward, but before he could cross the threshold, the guard put a hand on his chest. With the other hand, he flipped the wallet over and looked at the driver's license inside. "Huh," he grunted, "sure is your wallet, D.D."

The scarred kid turned and tossed the wallet over to the side, where a shovel-like hand reached out to catch it. The hand was attached to a large young man, whose eyes locked in on Randy as he rose to his feet. With a few long steps he moved from the couch he had been reclining on to Randy and grabbed the collar of his jacket in one hand. Randy wasn't particularly short, but D.D. was tall enough that just holding his grip at a comfortable height threatened to pull the older man off his feet, and Randy grabbed at his wrist for stability.

"Where'd you find it, old man?!" D.D.'s voice was a bellow, and Randy flinched back as spittle hit his face. D.D. began to shake him. "Answer me when I talk to you!"

Randy forced himself to look D.D. in the eyes, noticing for the first time the long, crusted over cut above one brow. It took a second, but he managed to get the words out. "I fo- I found it on the g-guy who stole it fr-rom you!" D.D. stopped shaking him, though he kept his grip on Randy's collar. Randy took a ragged breath and continued. "Some guy named Billy dropped dead in my neighborhood, and one of my guys found your wallet on him. Told me you were looking for it."

For a moment, some of the anger drained from D.D.'s expression. He blinked a couple of times, lips pursed, staring at Randy. Then the moment was past, and the anger returned. "You lying son of a–"

"That's enough." Sheena didn't bother raising her voice. "It's your business if you want to beat the old guy's ass for returning your wallet, but bring him somewhere else to do it."

D.D. whipped around to face her, his tone hot. "Sis! He's talking about Billy Broad! This guy is with that bunch I was just telling you about!"

Sheena's eyebrows went up. "You mean–" She stopped suddenly and looked at Randy again, frowning. "Well then. Can he…?" She trailed off. D.D. gave her that blinking, pursed-lip expression again.

From another couch, a curly-haired teenager called, "No, he can't."

D.D. looked back and forth between him and her, confusing making its slow transition into frustration.

Sheena ignored him, staring off into the distance for a few moments. Then something changed in her expression, and she spoke. "Let him go. He returned your wallet, didn't he?"

D.D. face darkened and he opened his mouth, but a gesture from his sister cut him off. Slowly, without looking at Randy, the big man released his collar.

Randy didn't wait for either of them to say anything else, or trust himself to respond. He took a pair of steps backwards, not turning around until he was out of D.D.'s reach.

As soon as he did, Sheena's voice rang out again. "What's that jacket?"

Randy froze, then turned his head. D.D.'s eyes were narrowed, his fists clenched. His sister, over his shoulder, regarded Randy with her chin resting in one hand.

"Jacket?" he repeated.

"Your gang jacket?" she asked.

Randy looked from her to D.D., then quickly back again. He jerked his head up and down.

Sheena returned his nod. "Leave it."

Randy's jaw worked a couple times. His fists balled, fingernails digging into his palms. Sheena's expression didn't change; she just held his gaze until he ripped the jacket off and let the old, cracked leather drop to the ground, then fled back down the boardwalk.

At a gesture from Sheena, one of the guards picked it up and walked over to her, holding out the back for her to see. The stitching was old and faded, but the red letters emblazoned across the upper back were still visible: BACHMANN TURNER OVERDRIVES. The calm in her expression melted away, leaving her with a flat expression and a voice of iron.

"I need someone," she said, "to find out who the fuck the Overdrives are."

Alfie says he’ll take care of the body and the twins leave, so Gary, Freddy, Brita, Kyle, and Gloria start talking about what to do with the bag, but it’s not a great place for that, so they decide to go to Freddy’s place.
Kyle decides to go home for the night, worried about the heat that might come on him from being associated with the Overdrives despite not being a member.

When the four arrive at Freddy’s apartment, Gloria’s opinion of Freddy goes down because she thinks it’s a loser apartment.

Brita realizes that Gary lives with Freddy and is surprised. Gary goes to the bathroom to fix his pompadour.

The discussion continues here but they don’t reach a conclusion; Freddy decides to try and open it again (with a knife) but isn’t successful. He tries using Mr. Fahrenheit and manages to put a small tear in the bag, but an electric feeling zaps him, then the feeling is sucked back into the bag and it seems like Freddy’s eidolon was being sucked into the bag. He steps back and the knife tip has broken off and the bag has “healed.”

The group wonders if the creator of the bag might know more, but decide to at least make a decoy bag. Brita is pretty sure she can imitate the embroidery, and gives Gary a list of supplies to steal from the midtown tailor’s supply shop. Gloria goes with him while Freddy accompanies Brita to the bowling alley where she works to get a bowling bag to decorate.

Gary takes Gloria to his favorite donut shop and tells her about Wandering Hands Marty, who is a pickpocket, not a pervert.

We then have a montage of Brita contorted into uncomfortable-looking postures as she embroiders the bag through the night while the others hang out and sleep. By morning, an impressively accurate replica is ready, and Brita is ready for a nap. She stretches out on the floor and passes out.

The phone rings and Freddy picks up; it’s Randy, who has a job for Freddy to collect a gambling debt from a man named Dan who’s from another part of town. Randy tells Freddy to take one of the kids with him, preferably Gary.

The phone rings again: it’s Kyle, and he’s asking for Brita and Gloria. Gloria’s woken up (with raccoon eyes from smeared make-up) and so takes the phone. Kyle sounds worried, and asks her and Brita to meet him at Montreau’s Park as soon as possible because things are weird. Gloria manages to wake up the exhausted Brita

The park is, if not in Overdrive Territory, then nearly so. It’s not much of a park, there’s a public restroom, a payphone, a basketball court, and a small playset.

Kyle explains that his parents were acting strange and paying way more attention to him than usual. When he left, he felt like everyone was staring at him too. Gloria doesn’t notice anything odd about Kyle, but it does seem like people are staring at him a weird amount. He’d like to hole up somewhere that isn’t home and isn’t in public, and Gloria volunteers Freddy’s apartment.

Meanwhile, Freddy and Gary have arrived at the motel where their target is staying. Freddy gets the key from the receptionist (Timmy) who had already guessed that Dan is a bad gambler, and requests Freddy not get blood in the upholstery.

Freddy listens at the door and it sounds like the guy is just eating breakfast, not a care in the world. He unlocks the door and Dan indeed looks relaxed. He says that he’ll get the money soon, but Freddy doesn’t accept that and goes to push his head out the window.

Dan skates out of Freddy’s gasp somehow, revealing that he too has a mysterious power. Freddy spots it and calls him out, and Dan is shocked to find that anyone on this side of town has an “Eidolon.” Freddy demands information, and Dan suggests they play for it– he’ll answer 3 questions honestly vs the money owed for his debt, which is like $1000. Freddy and Gary agree.

Meanwhile, Brita and Gloria are escorting Kyle the [number] blocks to Freddy’s apartment, and people keep staring at him. At one point, a shopkeeper just chews him out for being “up to no good” in the alley, not even really noticing Gloria despite Gloria’s efforts. Some cars even rear-end each other, so distracted by Kyle.

Despite their efforts to keep Kyle hidden, the three run into the twins, who show Kyle way more attention than they ever have, but this time positive. They even follow behind after the three excuse themselves. Stressed, Gloria summons a globe of fire to hide them. Kyle panics until reassured, and they use the fireball as cover until they reach the apartment building. Then Kyle and Brita run up to the apartment to hide while Gloria runs off to draw attention away. She opens a fire hydrant and then lets the fire dissipate. A street preacher warning of the end of the world sees her emerging from the flame and his eyes widen, which Gloria spots and responds to with a wink.

Within the apartment, Brita sits Kyle down and encourages him to close his eyes and take deep breaths, imagining himself inhaling the weirdness and exhaling normalcy. Brita also closes her eyes (somehow not instantly falling asleep) and imagines Kyle having an open door in his soul. As he reels in the weirdness, she imagines the door shutting and then turning into a wall. Kyle feels like something has happened and is tired, so Brita suggests (also to Gloria, who has arrived) that they nap until Freddy and Gary get back and see if they react weird to Kyle.

Meanwhile, Dan explains his Eidolon, “Do It Again” which turns any physical confrontation into a card game/game of chance and skill. It enforces the stakes and bets.

They play and Gary uses his Eidolon to steal a good card from Dan; when it comes time to reveal their cards, Dan is confident and proclaims his good hand, only to look down and see it’s not as good as he thought (giving away that he stacked the deck). Gary shows his hand and calls him out, but is asked how he knows Dan was cheating, which Gary can’t really answer without tipping his own hand (lol).

There are still unbet chips however, so the game must go on…. NEXT TIME

Dan, less confident than he was at the beginning of his little poker game, reached for the deck, but Freddy insisted on dealing. As he passed out the cards, Dan tried to needle him, hoping to distract the Overdrives from his attempts to cheat. When the time came to put the cards on the table, however, Dan was the one who found himself outplayed. Gary had snuck Color Me Impressed onto the back of his original draw, and it revealed itself by setting Dan's sleeve on fire where he had exchanged the card for a hidden one.

His cheating exposed, Dan lost the protection of his Eidolon, and Freddy wrung both the money he owed and the answers to the Overdrives' questions out in short order. Dan spilled everything he knew about Eidolons: that someone went around granting them to the leaders of powerful gangs; that the gang leaders themselves could grant Eidolons to their lieutenants; that the process of doing so felt, from the receiving end, like an electric shock; and that the Doyles had all acquired Eidolons years before. The Overdrives convinced him to stick around for a week or so in case they had more questions, and he reluctantly agreed.

After stopping for hot dogs, Gary and Freddy met back up with the rest of the crew and compared notes. Despite the new clues, they found themselves with as many questions as they started with. Who was going around granting Eidolons to gangs? What was their motive? And what was the bag's role in all of this?

After some rest, Brita set out looking for answers by trying to run down Billy Broad's trail, with Freddy along for intimidation. They managed to trace his steps back to a bar a ways out of the neighborhood, where they found two of the other 23rd St Idols. The blabbermouth of the pair let slip that Billy had been looking to retrieve a package for "the Boss", and that returning it would set them for life; before he could give any more details, his taciturn friend shut him up.

Gary and Gloria decided to help out in their own way. With spray paint and high-proof liquor in tow, they boarded the train towards Rockaway Beach, intending to torch DD Doyle's convertible and blame it on a north-side gang. They had the car to themselves until a pair of Boppers, roaming wide of their territory, threw a local tough into the train as the cherry on top of a beating. The young man introduced himself as Robin of the Cheap Tricks, and it didn't take much talking for Gloria to convince him to join their pyromanic quest. Despite some slip-ups along the way, the three managed to send DD's car up in a ball of fire, leaving the dripping sigils of a distant gang along the other cars parked nearby.

Gary and Freddy are still playing Texas Hold’em with Dan. Freddy insists on being the one to shuffle the deck and deal the cards (to try and prevent Dan from cheating more). They play some more and then Gary catches Dan cheating by putting a mark on one of Dan’s cards and then noticing that card went up Dan’s sleeve. Gary loudly accuses Dan of cheating and makes a light show in Dan’s sleeve, and Dan’s eidolon fully materializes behind him and starts blaring like a hockey buzzer. The chips on the table disappear and Dan edges towards the open window, color drained from his face.

Freddy grabs Dan and while Dan tries to argue that they didn’t finish the game and so he doesn’t have to adhere to his loss condition, Freddy shakes him up and Dan reveals that he has the money in the lining of his suitcase. Gary grabs the cash (leaving $10 for Dan) and a powder blue suit. They then ask Dan questions and find out that someone has been giving a bunch of high-profile gangs eidolons, although we don’t know how. The Boppers’ 3 siblings all have them and have for about 5-6 years.

Dan was given his Eidolon by his boss laying a hand on his shoulder. Gary gets Dan to agree to stay in town for a week in case they have further questions, then go drop off the cash with Randy.

They bring back hotdogs to Freddy’s apartment for Gloria and Brita; Brita and Kyle are still asleep. Freddy and Gary explain what they learned from Dan and the four theorize what it might mean. They know that the Boppers weren’t the first ones to get their powers, and infer that they want the bag to un-level the playing field.

Brita and Freddy go out and ask around about where Billy Broad might have been to try and figure out where he got the bag.

At a bar outside of our usual range, they meet up with a guy who’s talking to his friend about how “when Billy gets back with his pickup and turns it into the boss, and we’ll be set for life.” They’re wearing stuff signifying they’re part of the Idols, which Billy was the boss of as far as they knew. Brita insinuates that she saw Billy in bad shape in the same area with an angry DD Doyle (giving her name as Brittany) which worries the guys but they don’t give too much up. Mostly, Freddy and Brita find out that Billy didn’t start with the bag, he obtained it and was on his way to ‘the boss’ when we met him.

That same night, Gloria picks up Gary to cause some Trouble™ . She proposes they go fuck up DD’s car, throw down some tags of another high-profile gang, throw a molotov and book it. They pick up some high-proof alcohol and take some sips on the train on the way.

At one of the stops, some Boppers throw a guy from the Cheap Tricks gang (territory near the Overdrives; they’re a bigger deal than the Overdrives but smaller than the Boppers), obviously having beaten this guy to hell. Gloria offers the guy a drink and Gary offers him a cig, and they introduce themselves. The guy’s name is Robin and he complains about the Boppers to his agreeable audience. They end up inviting him to their mischief mission.

Gary puts down some tags real sneakily, but someone comes to go piss and spots him. Gary hides in the car but when the guy spots the tags and is going to go sound the alarm, Gary hits him in the face with the car door, slips in the piss, and takes off as Gloria expertly throws the molotov like she’s done it a million times. The three mischief-makers scatter triumphantly.

Jack Blade spat on the ground of the boathouse. The blood in his spit looked black in the orange firelight. So did the dark bruise covering the side of his face. His right eye was swollen closed, forcing his left side to carry the glare on its own. He wrenched his shoulders, but he was spent and the Boppers to either side held him fast, with his toes just barely in contact with the ground.

From her throne, Sheena's eyes traced the arc of his spittle, then flicked over to a third Bopper. "Who's this?"

A young woman stepped forward, pulling a cigarette out from behind one ear. "Says his name's Jack. We ran into him at a bar while we were out looking for info. Like you said." The lighter hissed softly. Judy cupped one hand around her mouth, inhaled, and blew out a plume of smoke. It engulfed Jack's head, and he started coughing. "He was going back and forth with his buddy about the Overdrives. We tried to be nice about it, but he and his friend got so ornery we decided to just take him to-go." She shrugged.

Sheena pursed her lips at Jack. "Is that right?"

Jack continued to glare at Sheena. Judy gave him a side-eyed look. "If you're not feeling helpful yet, we can spend some more time persuading you," she purred.

Jack worked his swollen jaw and winced. "Fuck the Overdrives."

One side of Sheena's mouth curled ever so slightly. "That's a good start."

---

Jack's captors had moved to one of the building's old couches and were sharing a joint. Jack himself sprawled more than sat on the broken plastic lawn chair that had been retrieved for him, holding a cold beer against his face. Every so often, he pulled it away to take a sip, then pressed it against a different region of the bruise. Only Judy still stood, leaning on a wooden beam just a few feet behind Jack.

"Really, that's everything I know," Jack said. He glanced over his shoulder at Judy, then turned back to Sheena. The scowl, absent for a while, returned. "Why the fuck do you care, anyway?"

Judy opened her mouth, but Sheena interrupted before she could speak.

"I think they have something that belongs to me. I'd like it back."

Jack's eyebrows went up. "The Overdrives stole from you? No way, that's way above their heads."

Sheena rose to a mostly upright position, but she didn't respond. She just kept her flat gaze on Jack; he began to fidget, and after a few seconds, straightened in his own seat.

"Ah… what did they steal?"

"A bag," Sheena told him. She dragged out the words, enunciating each one. "With some very important merchandise inside. You hear anything about that?"

"No shit." Jack let out a low whistle, and then the room was quiet. He stared down at his own hands for a moment, then back to Sheena.

"Can't say I know anything about that, no. But I'm always down to beat on the Overdrives. Maybe I could, uh, 'investigate' for you?"

Judy laughed–a real, deep belly laugh. "This shrimp has guts! Boss, he just got his ass kicked by the three of us. No way can he handle those guys."

Jack jumped to his feet and spun around to face Judy, his fists already up, mouth open in a snarl. She didn't hesitate to square up against him, and even the two goons who had manhandled Jack began to rise from their perch.

"Wait." The command wasn't loud, but it was obeyed, even by Jack. Every eye turned to the throne.

"Let's give him a chance."