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.

Eidolon: Night Machine Sealed by Gary.

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.

Gary's teacher for "F lessons".

A fox-faced resident of the Undercity who offered to guide Gary around.

The ruler? of the region of the Undercity the Overdrives discovered.

A mysterious figure from the Undercity who seems to know Gloria.

They describe themselves as an enemy to all hierarchy and authority.

An Undercity fence with the appearance of a simple sphere. He trades in lost sentimental items from the real world.

A friend of Gloria's father; works in construction

Proprietor of the local underground fight club.

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

Home base of the Blitzkrieg Boppers.

An odd place accessed through a hole Blinded by the Light burned in reality.

Its layout mirrors the real world, but the particulars are exaggerated and distorted.

A column of light, emerging from somewhere deep in downtown, can be seen from just about anywhere. It splits off into a dome that covers the sky, which grows duller as it gets farther out.

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.

Robin's gang, resides in an area not far from the Overdrives.

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."

Gary's day was ruined by Jack Blade catching him not only unaware, but coming out of his music lessons with the kindly Mrs. Daniels. The leader of the Night Rangers explained to him that he wasn't looking for trouble immediately, but that there would be trouble if he and the other Overdrives refused his challenge to a brawl. Gary attempted to display the better part of valor, but his retreat was cut short when Jack threatened Mrs. Daniels, and he reluctantly agreed to the challenge.

Luckily for him, the other Overdrives were game; after he and Freddy found Gloria and Brita at band practice, the four headed over to the abandoned factory which was to serve as their coliseum and searched for every advantage they could.

It was well they did, because when they showed up at the location the following night, Jack and his flunkies turned out to have some powers of their own. Jack hung back until the last moment, using his Eidolon Night Machine to empower his lackeys. In the end, they were no match for the Overdrives. Freddy's flaming tackles and Gloria's bat did for many of them, Brita fully manifested her own Eidolon after absorbing a portion of Jack's power, and when Jack fully summoned his Eidolon to grant himself vampiric strength, Gary brought part of the factory down on his head.

The party dragged a beaten and exhausted Jack away from the wreckage to question him. He revealed that Sheena of the Blitzkrieg Boppers had approached him, and though the interaction had started as an interrogation to find out what he knew about the Overdrives, she had eventually asked him if he would retrieve her "stolen property" from them. Jack admitted that, despite not caring about the Boppers' loss, he had accepted the deal because he was promised the power to finally get one over on the gang. The beating he actually received, though, had at least begun to convince him that his vendetta against the Overdrives might finally have gone too far.

Gary, still curious and not in as forgiving a mood, realized that with his newly acquired sixth sense, he could feel the tie connecting Jack to Sheena–and cut it, severing the conduit that powered his Eidolon and resealing Night Machine.

The day after next, around midday, Gary is leaving his upstairs neighbors’ apartment (Flute lessons?) when he finds Jack Blade waiting for him on the stairwell, a mean look on his face as he smokes a cigarette. Gary backs up as Jack advances, and Jack tells Gary that the bad blood between the Overdrives and Knight Rangers needs to be settled, and that they should meet at the abandoned factory tomorrow night after dark. Gary makes a smart remark about Jack being scared to face him right here, and Jack is ready to kick his ass right now. Gary throws his flute case and runs. Jack follows loudly, and Ms. Daniels opens her door to scold them for the noise and Jack punches her, breaking her door. It looks like Jack is gonna keep hurting her, so Gary quickly agrees that the Overdrives will meet Jack as he demands. Jack grins and leaves. Gary makes sure Ms. Daniels is OK and then goes downstairs to tell Freddy the bad news, and they go to get Brita and Gloria.

Brita and Gloria are at Kyle’s family’s garage with him, practicing one of their band’s songs. It’s going well, but Gary and Freddy bring the bad news. They decide to scope out the factory ahead of time.

The factory has been stripped of basically everything aside from bare metal catwalks and cement bases for assembly lines. Everything is covered in graffiti and there’s debris such as bottles to show that vagrants have stayed there before, although there’s none there now.

Gloria investigates the catwalks (trying to set it up for a trap) while Brita marks each exit. Freddy looks for places where forces could hide for an ambush: There are old frames of cars out to the side and an office area. Gary puts a tag inside the office and also writes “Gary was here.”

The next night, they go to the factory, and Brita suggests Gary sneak around and scope things out. Gary gets caught by Jack Blade and signals the others.

The others walk in to see Jack Blade holding Gary by the collar and 8 others. Apparently they were supposed to bring the rest of the gang, but the Knight Rangers are ready to kick ass regardless.

Freddie bowls through the advancing group, scattering them and knocking one unconscious. What looks like cartoon bats come out of his mouth and go place themselves on the other Knight Rangers. Jack heads up to the catwalk.

A group of the Knight Rangers decide that Brita and Gloria look like easier targets, one swinging a chain at Gloria. She catches it with her bat, pulling the attacker close enough to elbow them in the face. Their nose breaks and more bats fly away and into the other opponents.

The two guys holding Gary drop him to advance on the approaching Freddy. Gary sneaks a firework into one of their pants pockets, then Freddy knocks the other guy into the on-fire guy and them both into a brick wall, knocking them out. Bats fly towards the goons and Brita grabs one out of the air with her superior reach. It feels weird, like a power opposing something within her, but then she changes– nails and teeth getting stronger. The opponent who didn’t get a bat looks normal, while the other three look stronger.

Brita says they’re not trapped in there with the KR, the KR are trapped in there with them. Her Eidolon, Ready To Leave, appears and turns the nearest exit into a wall, panicking that normaler guy into running but not able to get through the wall that used to be the door.

One of the three remaining raises a club as Jack spurs them on, but Brita grabs the club and then picks the guy up by the throat, choking him out as his feet dangle in the air. She’s unable to absorb any further bats, feeling like the power opposes her own and she couldn’t hold any more of it.

Freddy checks on Gary, giving him a cig, before shoulder-rushing the last two goons and knocking them down. Cartoon bats from the downed Knight Riders fly to Jack as he exclaims, “Come to me, Bite Machine,” the cloud empowering him and changing his appearance. Jack grows fangs and claws, eyes yellow and skin paper-white; he now looks like the twisted love child between a car wreck and cartoon bat.

Gloria calls Jack a “Batmobile bitch” and lights her bat on fire before smacking the supernaturally fast Jack across the floor into the wall. He gets up and leaps supernaturally high into the office, disappearing into the shadows.

Gary reveals his master plan, which is using his cig to light the fireworks he’d hid by the main support for the office. It goes off in an explosion of light and noise, the structure crashing down. When the dust settles, Jack is laying stunned on top of rubble and Gary’s tag “Gary was here” is next to him.

Gloria goes up to Jack and asks, “Well Batman, are we settled?” and Jack agrees.

The Overdrives get the unconscious KRs out of the burning factory. Brita goes up to the guy who was cowering by the no-longer-door and turns the wall back into a door, telling him to scram. The guy falls back and then runs away as fast as he can.

The Overdrives then take Jack up to a roof to interrogate him. Gary burns his face with a cig for Mrs Daniels.

Jack doesn't want to talk, but Gloria convinces him otherwise, asking where this feud ends. Jack admits that the Boppers put him up to it. Gloria proposes that they continue having scraps more for fun/to stay sharp instead of doing the bigger gang’s dirty work. She says the Boppers don’t belong in their part of town, which Jack grants her grudging respect for.
Jack got his power by Sheena Doyle(?) laying a hand on him.

Gary puts a hand on Jack’s head and feels a thread going from Jack to Sheena over in Bopper territory. There are more threads coming from Sheena, but Gary snaps Jack’s and Jack doesn’t have access to his power anymore.

The day after the fight with Jack Blade and his lackeys, Brita and Freddy are at the Let It Ride Diner, Brita very focused on the large plate of food in front of her. They attempt conversation but that dies quickly, the two deciding to focus on their food.

Robin from the Cheap Tricks calls the diner for Gloria or Gary, but Brita takes the call, identifying herself as Gloria’s best friend. Robin relays that some out-of-jacket Boppers are heading our way through Cheap Tricks’ territory towards Overdrives’ territory. Robin asks if it’s cool if he tails the Boppers and crosses territory lines, and if they’d be OK with teaming up against the Boppers if needed. Brita agrees and wishes him luck, then relays the info to Freddy. (He stole her food and she stole some of his back, cussing at him.) Gloria shows up and upon hearing the news, is ready to rumble, impatient as Brita and Freddy hurriedly scarf down the rest of their food.

Meanwhile, Gary is freshening up some tags near their apartment. Ms. Daniels spots him and asks what he’s doing; he says he’s contributing to community art.
She says that Gary left the TV on and up too loud, but Gary didn’t leave it on, it sounded like a horror movie. Gary hands Ms. Daniels his paint cans etc and goes up the fire escape to investigate…..

Gloria posts up on the street corner, guarding the boundary, Freddy trailing behind. Brita goes up a fire escape to get a bird’s eye view; she’s able to spot the “incognito” Boppers without too much trouble. Behind them, Robin is ambling much more convincingly casually, looking into store windows, etc. Brita warns Gloria the Boppers are about to get there, but doesn’t go down to street level quite yet. Robin winks at Gloria and she winks back.

Gloria steps into their path as they approach, calling out, “It smells like wharf, are you rats lost?”

The Bopper in front (a woman) tells Gloria she doesn’t know who she’s dealing with, and Gloria squares up, Freddy backing her up. The woman backs up, protesting their innocence.

Robin shows himself behind them, cracking his knuckles, causing the followers (who were the ones who beat up Robin earlier) to back into the leader who was backing into them.

The leader says they aren’t doing anything but if the Overdrives mess with them, 30-40 Boppers will come break every window in this area. Brita spots that they’re bluffing and calls down that it’s bullshit, scaring one of them.

The gal admits as such and tries to say they’re here for milkshakes, but Brita and Gloria call them out again. The gal admits that they’re looking for something their boss (Sheena) says the Overdrives stole, which Brita denies. She asks what they’re looking for and the gal says it’s a bowling bag.

The Gal and Gloria are squaring up, not sure if they’re gonna scrap or not, but the gal says “go ahead, lay one on me” and Gloria knocks her on her ass. The two other Boppers fold metaphorically, picking up the Gal and agreeing with the command to leave the territory and not come back. Robin kicks one of the guys in the ass as he passes by. Some bystanders who were watching cheer, because fuck the Boppers.

Meanwhile, Gary enters the apartment, noticing that the soundscape is off. It’s coming from the closet, so he opens it and finds The Bag. In the area around the bag, the floor has turned to concrete in a ragged boundary, and it’s in this area that the weird sounds are coming from. He piles all the blankets on top, which muffles the sound so it’s not audible outside the apartment.

Gary wants to know what’s going on; he recently watched Star Wars episode 5, so he tries doing a handstand to meditate. His wallet falls out of his pocket and bounces into The Zone, disappearing. He tips over, feeling embarrassed.

He tries poking his pinkie into the zone and there’s an angle where he can get his finger around a corner kind of, in there? But he doesn’t feel the wallet and doesn’t know what to do with it, so he withdraws his finger and leaves to go to Home Depot. He finds a roll of copper wire and pockets it….

Meanwhile, Robin walks up and says that was pretty great even if he wanted to kick their ass a bit. Gloria regrets that their spirit broke so quickly. She introduces Robin to Brita and Freddy. They float the idea of an alliance, the younger three liking the idea of many smaller gangs in the area teaming up against the Boppers. Robin gives Gloria the phone number for their hangout and then leaves.

Freddy tells the two they can’t be trying to put together an alliance without telling the boss. Gloria tries to bum the report off on Freddy, but he drags the two to the boss….

Gary takes a bread knife and is trying to saw around to remove the concrete. He realizes this won’t work, and ties sheets into a rope before stepping into the circle. Nothing happens at first, but he leans down and starts to squeeze around the 5th dimensional corner. He stumbles and falls— into Freddy’s apartment, but not quite. The floor is concrete, and the front door is made of iron bars. Gary’s bed is surrounded by his graffiti. On the walls are frames like from an art gallery, but caution tape hides the canvases.

Gary unties himself from the sheets and looks around. In the kitchen cabinet are dried foods like in a prison kitchen. He then pokes his head out the open door….

Freddy drags the girls to the Guess Who Bar & Grill. Cig smoke pours out in a cloud, a haze of nicotine covering the dingy bar. The clientele is largely older, the girls being the youngest and sticking out. The bartender spots Freddy and nods; Freddy leads the way to the back. In the back room, Randy is counting some cash.

Freddy pushes the girls forward, telling Randy they’ve brought something for him.

The girls try to explain the idea casually, but Randy’s jimmies are getting rustled at the idea of them going behind his back to upset the status quo. Freddy sticks up for them, saying they didn’t mean anything by it and are new and didn’t understand the significance etc. Randy calms down slightly, but is very firm that they don’t mess with anything else and that HE will take care of things. He decides that Freddy is responsible for the two of them, and any of their fuckups will come back to Freddy. The girls leave so Randy can give Freddy a job, but Randy implies that if Freddy can’t keep the girls in line, he might be out of a job. Freddy stops at the bar on his way out to do multiple shots.

Gary is exploring. Things look more worn down, even when he looks down at the street; a delivery truck is going by, and three sports cars come up on it, one of them jumping on top and tearing through metal into the truck. There don’t appear to be any drivers, and a streetlight pole steps out of the way.
There doesn’t seem to be any people around, even if there are some things that seem people-shaped. A flock of what Gary first thinks are pigeons turn out to be sneakers, twin tongues flapping as they take off into the sky. Pieces of litter scatter like rats.
Gary looks up further into the city and sees a pillar of light coming up from downtown. The pillar arcs into a dome, pearlescant but dulling the farther out it goes.
Gary waves hello at the litter and traffic light, and the traffic light looks at him before walking away. “Hey, I’m new in town, know any good spots?” Gary asks.

From behind Gary, a small creature with the face of a fox introduces themself as “Sweet” and offers her hand to shake, which Gary does. Sweet offers to help Gary find his wallet, but Gary is unnerved and hesitates before agreeing.

Gloria and Brita stop at the diner to get something to go for Gloria before heading to Freddy’s apartment. Freddy beats them back there, hearing noises like the TV is on but it’s not. He finds the mess that Gary left as well as the concrete patch that is a couple of feet in diameter, at least half of the closet door. He also sees the blanket rope going from the fire escape and into(?) the floor.

Fredy sticks his head through, following the path of the blanket rope, seeing a strange version of his own apartment. He recognizes his bed is the same as the cot as he had in prison. Since he knows Gary will be in there, he goes looking for him.

Gary is following Sweet to exit the apartment block, Sweet telling him about a prince. Freddy hears their voices and goes to see if Gary is in trouble.

On the street, Gary sees a guy who looks like a car driving a sportscar, and the guy looks alarmed at Gary until Sweet reassures them. Sweet asks Gary for a cig and takes like 4; Gary tries to pickpocket the extra ones back using his eidolon and succeeds, showing Sweet that he’s not an easy mark. Sweet says she’ll take Gary to where she sold his wallet.

Freddy is following when he hears a honk– the car-headed person pulls up and is suspicious, saying he’s gonna need to come meet The Prince. Other car-headed people are around and revving aggressively.

Meanwhile, Gloria and Brita reach the apartment and are confused at the mess, and why The Bag is on Gary’s bed instead of hidden in the closet. Gloria puts the bag over her shoulder.

They stick their hands along the path of the blanket rope, agreeing that it’s weird AF and feels like ooblek or something. After a moment of debate on whether the floor counts as a wall, Brita uses Ready To Leave to open a door in the floor. As she does, more and more of the alternate apartment becomes visible. As they walk through though, the voice that Gloria heard previously can be heard and the girls are pulled sideways, suddenly in a club with colored flashing lights, dancers dancing around them. (The music is good!)
Nervously, they head towards the bar to get out of the crush of people. At the bar is a figure smiling broadly at them. They’re as tall as Brita, with high cheekbones and bandages for a shirt under an overcoat, wavy platinum hair hanging down.

“Gloria, it’s so nice to finally meet you. My name is Diamond Jack, and I’ve been waiting for you.”

“It’s nice to meet you too!” Gloria replies, and a ‘To Be Continued’ sign flashes across our view…

Gloria and Brita sit down at the bar and Diamond Jack makes them both drinks, nodding to Brita as he talks to Gloria about how he finds humans interesting and is super into the concept of rebellion. He can sense what Gloria has (the bag) and finds the idea of it being used exciting. He says they should take a picture together and waves someone over with a polaroid camera.

He then starts explaining how the light is the city enforcing conformity, and Brita asks what the light is. He takes the girls to the rooftop and points out the dome of light, explaining how there’s only so much space in which rebellion against the city can occur, and that Gloria & Co seem to have caught that attention where they could really make a difference, particularly with the power in the bag.

Throughout the conversation, Diamond Jack seems slightly annoyed whenever Brita interjects, as if he’s only interested in talking to Gloria.

Freddy and Mr. Fahrenheit stand back to back, facing down the two car guys. He takes them both down, smashing one into the wall of the apartment building and the other into the ground.

Gary and Sweet keep walking down the street as the fight behind them (Freddy) happens. Gary reveals that he’s from the other world and that his eidolon is new; Sweet reveals that there’s not much crossover between the two worlds, but items with sentimental value are worth a lot in the undercity.

They enter a shop owned by a floating sphere named Roy, followed by Freddy. Gary offers his socks in exchange for his wallet, claiming that they were given to him by his father. Freddy backs him up, but the orb is skeptical and has Gary put the socks under some light to examine.

While he does, Freddy looks around and notices a variety of sentimental items such as used wedding rings, instruments, polaroid pictures, etc. Sweet sidles up to a display on the other side of the store, possibly to do some stealing.

Roy announces that the socks don’t have much sentimental energy, and Gary offers his drawing of Gloria throwing the bottle. Roy is extremely pleased with this offering.

Gary spots a signed polaroid of Jim Morrison from The Doors playing at a club in their neighborhood and has Color Me Impressed pickpocket it. Sweet made their theft as well, and nods in solidarity with Gary. They then ask what’s up with Freddy

Brita and Gloria leave the bar and rush towards the fight, but it’s over by the time they get there. They’re still admiring the wreckage when Freddy, Gary, and Sweet walk up. Introductions are made, Sweet steals Brita’s cigarettes.

The four humans leave the Undercity. Freddy tells the others that he’s been made personally responsible for their actions, and they start having a disagreement on what they should do with the bag and how bold they should be about their next actions, Gloria in favor of building their own forces and Freddy just wanting to keep these kids alive but coming across to Gloria (and to a lesser extent, Brita) as controlling. Gloria storms out, Brita following.

"You're sure?" Sheena sat on the side of her throne, bracing herself on her knees and knitting her brows.

Marky Doyle nodded, black curls bouncing. "I tried to get his attention with my Eidolon. Thought he was ignoring me, so I smacked him on the head." He shrugged. "He starts looking every which way, like he doesn't see it. Then I realize, he doesn't have that, uh…" He waved a hand, frowning. "You know how it is, when you run into someone with an Eidolon. Yeah, I'm sure."

Sheena nodded slowly, biting her lip. The sounds of the gathering gang members drifted in from outside, but the boathouse was empty except for her and her younger brother. They sat in shadow, sheltered from the soft glow of sunset and the gaze of the other Boppers.

"So what did our little friend say about it?"

Marky frowned. "Not much. You saw how he is. But the guy we put on him said a bunch of Overdrives carried him out of that factory after their fight."

Sheena gripped her knees tightly. "You think they did it?"

Her brother nodded. "No clue how, but yeah, I do."

She let out a long breath, but didn't say anything. Marky watched the gathering crowd outside; the noise was growing louder, but none of them would approach the throne room without Sheena's permission.

"This is getting messy," he said, his voice flat. That got a bark of laughter from his sister. A few of the gang members closest to the building turned their heads to the sound, then quickly looked away.

"Messy or not," she said, "at this point we got no choice but to see it through. The only question is what we should do next. We're going to have to tell him something."

The clamor from outside suddenly rose. Someone was yelling. Not the cheerful or challenging whoops that could usually be heard from a crowd of gathered youth, but something intentional and hostile. Sheena and Marky exchanged a glance. She gave him a slight nod, and he rose to head off into the crowd.

It took him only a couple of minutes to return. Trailing him were a quartet of Boppers, surrounding a figure who was walking with them.

Marky broke into a lazy jog to get to the building ahead of them, and knelt in front of Sheena's seat. "It's the Overdrives' boss," he whispered. Sheena took in a sharp breath, then checked herself and let it out slowly. "He says he wants to 'work things out'."

"Does he, now." Sheena rose in her seat as the group entered. Behind them, the other gang members had started to cluster around the open front of the boathouse. At a glance from Sheena, Marky walked out and began to disperse them, allowing her to return her attention to the unexpected guest.

Randy, for his part, continued to look straight ahead. His hands twitched towards his pockets, but he kept them by his sides, in plain view of everyone. His "honor guard" had stepped aside to give Sheena a clear view of him, but none of them stood more than a couple of paces away, and all of them were facing him.

The older man cleared his throat, only to break out in a coughing fit. By the time he regained control of his diaphragm, the crowd outside had been pushed back. Their volume had dropped from a dull roar to a low burble of whispers, leaving the interior of the boathouse nearly silent. Randy finally lifted his gaze to the throne.

"I, uh…" Randy's voice trailed off. He licked his lips, wiped his hands on his pants, and started again. "I found out that some of my people might have, uh, gotten into a little fracas with… that is to say, there was a bit of an incident that…" He took a shaky breath, clenched his fists. "Where my guys got into a scrap with yours. And I wanted to see if I could… if we could work something out, to stop that kind of… well, in the future."

Sheena held his gaze for another beat, then looked over to the front corner of the boathouse. Marky had made his way back in, and he gave her a shrug. She looked back to Randy, and tilted her head at him ever so slightly.

Randy swallowed. "Uhhh… you see, the thing is that, they ran into some of your guys over by our territory the other day, and this asshole from the Cheap Tricks helped them out in that rumble. And now–I mean, I've got a handle on it, but one of the new kids is making noise about making an alliance with some of the other gangs." It was hard to say what changed about Sheena's expression, but Randy noticed it. "A-and like I said, I have a handle on it, but it would really make things easier for both of us, I think, if you could keep the pressure off for a little while." His eyes flicked from side to side at the scowling Boppers surrounding him. "Not forever! But, you know, as one leader to another, it would really be a help, and I know you don't want things to get nasty any more than I do." Those last words came out so quickly they tripped over each other on the way out, and Randy clenched his jaw.

Sheena's glare could have burned a hole in his face. Still, she didn't speak. Instead, she gestured over to Marky, who walked around to stand at the foot of her throne, hands tucked behind his back.

"She's heard what you had to say, and she'll take it into consideration." His voice was calm and collected; Sheena's gargoyle gaze over his shoulder lent the words more than enough menace. "Guys, show him back out."

Once Randy–pale, shaking–had left the building, Sheena whipped around to her brother.

"He walked in here and threatened us. And you let him leave?"

Marky shrugged. "You could have said otherwise and you didn't. Besides, you really think he's the threat? Like you said last time, he doesn't have the balls to take a shot at you. Probably not even really the leader of his little crew. Beating his ass would be cathartic and it would get us nothing."

Sheena made a low noise, her expression loosening by degrees. "Still. The threat is real." She drummed her fingers on her knee for a few seconds, then clenched the hand into a fist.

"Leave the Overdrives alone for now. I need to think about how we're going to deal with them, especially with what happened to Jack. But I want you to pour water on this 'alliance' bullshit. Make sure the little fish understand that it doesn't matter how many of them swim together–a shark will still eat them whole."

After leaving Freddy’s apartment, Gloria and Brita take the train. Brita offers to buy them both bus tickets out of town, to get away from the whole conflict, but Gloria explains her passion for helping their city, wanting to stop the superpowered violence from falling on innocent people. Inspired by her conviction, Brita agrees to keep fighting too. In the meantime, though, they need a safe place to hide The Bag.

Gloria calls in a favor from her dad’s best friend Roger (who’s in construction) for a place to “bury a time capsule of their band’s merch” and he is happy to help. There’s a church that they’re demolishing and they’re just about to seal off the mostly-intact basement, so Roger lets the girls in to “bury” the bag. The girls plan to make it their new hideout once the construction crew leaves, since Brita can get them back in. Brita theorizes (based on a recent dream) that she may be able to create a key linked to her power so that Gloria could get in even when Brita isn’t there.

A few days later, Brita is on her way from work to band practice when she sees Gary in an alley, jumping up trying to grab a fire escape. Although they haven’t talked since their disagreement, she comes over and pulls it down for him, saying that she’s not going to ignore him needing a hand just because they fought. Touched, Gary invites her up to the roof to meet Ygritte. They share a cigarette and Brita says that in spite of their disagreement, they’re cool and she feels like they can have each other’s back regardless. Gary admits that Brita has made him feel inadequate (and short) and he had wished she wouldn’t get a power; Brita takes it in stride and tells him about the downsides of her height and how she doesn’t know what she’s doing or what she wants a lot of the time. They come to agree that they’re glad they met and are friends, Gary especially appreciating it since his two closest friends (Axel and Rose) left the city not that long ago. He gives her the signed polaroid photo of Jim Morrissy he stole during their jaunt into the Undercity (saying he got it from a friend), which she’s super excited about. They part on good terms.

Not terribly long after, Freddy goes to go blow off some steam at an underground fight club. The proprietor, Blue Swede, places a big bet on him. Freddy has a few drinks at the bar and then steps into the ring and is surprised (and displeased) to see that his opponent is Gloria.

They talk some shit and neither back down; Gloria throws the first punch and hurts her fist more than she hurts Freddy. Freddy goes on the attack, the air growing hotter with spectral flames from their Eidolons as the fight grows more emotionally charged, Gloria admonishing Freddy for being too subservient to Randy. Freddy insists she doesn’t understand and pins her to the chain link fence. Spectators back off from the physical heat emanating from them; Gloria yells at him that he’s not her dad and to treat her like an adult, hitting him in the gut to get free.

They separate and kinda yell at each other for a few minutes before Gloria decides that the fight is stupid and she’s going home. Freddy initially insists that the rules of the fight prevent this and intends to throw the fight, but eventually lets her go, much to the consternation of both the crowd and Blue Swede. Freddy stays in the ring and asks for another fight, which Blue Swede is also quite displeased by, but Freddy gets his wish and the scene fades to black, the audience assured of Freddy’s swift victory.

A few hours later, Brita gets off a shift at work at 4am and goes to the diner to eat, not even noticing that Freddy is already there. Robbie comments that they both look like shit, and Freddy invites Brita over to his table. She goes over and they talk shit out, Freddy explaining that he doesn’t trust Randy but knows that if he goes against him, he may not survive it due to A. Randy having other enforcers and B. Randy not being at the top of the food chain. The Overdrives apparently don’t keep their own little territory by virtue of their own strength, there being a larger structure they’re perhaps either part of or paying off somehow.

Brita concedes that taking down Randy before he inevitably sells them out may not be feasible yet, but insists that Freddy’s desire to not see more kids killed (or jailed like he was) should apply to Freddy too, and that he too deserves better than all this shit.

Freddy doesn’t believe her, but says she’s a good kid and pays for her breakfast burger before taking his leave, promising that he’ll watch his back.

A few days later (so around a week since The Disagreement), Gary is tagging stuff all over, including outside Overdrives territory, and Gloria spots him and they go around together, Gloria admiring the art. While complimenting him, she admits (much to Gary’s dismay and embarrassment) that she looked through his sketchbook when they stayed over at Freddy’s apartment while making The Fake Bag.

While the two are on the subway, some gang members give Gary the stink eye, and he fears they’re about to get jumped. To try and avoid the fight, Gary suggests jumping off the train (saying he’d done so before) which Gloria takes as a joke, thinking it’s a ridiculous idea, even for her reckless nature. Gary then decides to do a preemptive strike and sprays paint inside the mouth of one of the gang members and throws the can at the head of another. The three run off, but They Will Remember This.

Later, Freddy finds Gary on a roof and they have a heart to heart, Freddy trying to express his pride in how well Gary’s grown up and Gary calling Freddy old.

Under the glow of the midday sun, Rockaway Beach was a mess. Debris was strewn across the sand; most of it was beer bottles and cigarette butts gathered around rusted barrels of charred black wood, but plenty of trash had been scattered by wind or the whims of drunk revelers. Interspersed with the garbage were those who had passed out the night before and had not yet risen. The sleepers pooled under the awnings shading picnic tables and simple iron barbecue grills, though a couple lay out in the sun baking in their black leathers. Seagulls had descended upon the sand; some sifted through the garbage in search of food, while others flocked together in small knots, cawing to each other and getting into quick scuffles over a scavenged french fry or piece of bread.

The only human activity on the beach was in the boathouse. Sheena sat on the step below her throne, hands folded in front of her face, body hunched forward. In front of her, D.D. Doyle wore a line in the floor pacing back and forth across the building's front entrance. He snorted, sounding like nothing so much as a bull following someone walking on the other side of its fence, but said nothing. Marky had dragged one of the worn barstools over to the front of the boathouse. He sat leaning back into the corner, eyes closed, head resting against the wall but his mouth held in a thin line.

"The good news," he said, "is that at least some of the other gangs have been willing to listen to me about the Overdrives. The 'affiliated' ones didn't take much talking-to, of course, but more of the smaller guys were willing to hear me out than I expected." His mouth turned up into a smile. "Apparently one of the Overdrives was going around earlier this week, throwing tags all over the city." Marky shook his head. "Even picked a fight with some guys a few miles north of their territory. I don't know what that was all about, but it was easy to spin it the way we wanted."

Sheena grunted, but she didn't otherwise respond.

D.D. stopped pacing, and kicked the wall of the building hard enough to split the wood. "God DAMMIT!" The sound was like a gunshot; one of the still sleeping Boppers started, rolled, and fell off the bench he had used as a bed with an "oof". D.D. whirled around on his sister, hands half-raised.

"Why are we using kid gloves with these assholes? We know who they are, we know where to find them, we should just go over there, kick their asses up around their ears, and take what's ours!"

"If you could retain any information except what cigarettes you like," Sheena said, her voice level, "you'd remember that, for so many reasons, we need to keep a low profile."

"Fuck 'keeping a low pro-'"

"And," her volume increasing, "you would remember that these people are fucking dangerous. Maybe the way they kicked your ass didn't leave an impression on anything except your thick skull, but I hope you're at least smart enough to understand that we still don't know how they got rid of that Night Ranger idiot's Eidolon!"

D.D.'s mouth was open to say something else, but nothing came out. Instead he snapped it shut and stormed out of the building. A few moments later, the sounds of wood hitting wood could be heard at a distance.

Sheena rubbed her face, then turned to Marky. He, in turn, was watching her, his eyebrows knit.

"He… may have a point," the younger brother said. "The longer this takes, the higher the chance that the whole thing falls apart on us." Sheena glared at him, but Marky only shrugged. "This plan was always a gamble, sis, and we busted on the first hand. Forget about making it big for a second. Right now, we need to figure out how to get our money back before the rent comes due."

Sheena opened her mouth to reply, but before she could speak the midday sun cut out as if someone had thrown a switch. The throne room was thrown into darkness; some light reached it from the distant streetlights, but all it did was create lighter patches of shadow that highlighted the blackness pooling in the room's corners.

For a second, Sheena flailed around, wide-eyed, but it didn't take much longer than that for her to get herself under control. Instead she clenched her fists and inhaled deeply; as she let out a steadying breath, a voice came from behind the throne.

"Hello, Miss Doyle."

Sheena's head whipped back in the direction the words had come from, but no speaker could be seen in the blackness. With her fingernails cutting into the flesh of her palms, she rose, slowly and deliberately, and turned to face the voice. The white glint of a toothy smile flashed from one of the boathouse's back corners, but Sheena kept her eyes straight ahead at the empty seat.

The silence hung there for a moment. Then she said, "What do you want?"

A giggle, from the back corner of the boathouse.

"I'm making the rounds," the voice began, in the tone of a school principal who has just pulled a student out of class for a quick chat. "A package I was expecting has gone missing en route, and I'm having trouble figuring out where it went."

Gooseflesh began to rise on Sheena's arms, but her expression did not move.

"The last I knew about it," the voice continued, "it was passing through your area. I should already have the thing, but both the package and the man I sent to retrieve it have… disappeared." A pause. "You don't happen to know anything about what happened to Billy Broad, do you?"

"No clue where he is," Sheena's answer came immediately, her voice flat. "Haven't seen him in weeks."

"Hm," came the reply. "Neither has anyone else."

As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, Sheena could see a pair of glittering eyes looking at her from behind the throne.

"Well, I would appreciate it if you would keep an eye out. I very much want that package back, and I would prefer not to resort to overt measures to acquire it. If this were handled before things get too loud, there wouldn't need to be many questions asked about how that package came to be lost in the first place, and I think that would be best for everyone."

So far, Sheena had held the gaze of those eyes in the darkness, but now her eyes flicked away, focusing on the shadows in the corner of her throne.

In those shadows, another pair of eyes–luminous and yellow–opened and met hers.

"And if you find out what happened to Billy, please let me know."

Sheena looked away to the other side of the dais, but as the voice continued speaking, more eyes opened in the shadows, like a string of lights laid across the throne, until they reached the point where her gaze rested.

"The Idols are asking, you see. Billy's lieutenants are very interested in what–or who–might have happened to him."

"…yes, sir." The reply came out as a croak. Another giggle came from the room's corner.

Then it was day again. Sheena threw up a hand to shield her face, wincing away from the sudden light.

Marky's voice came from behind her, startled. "Sheen?"

Sheena shook herself, then turned to look out the front of the building at the few members of her gang present. All still asleep, or half-roused at best.

"…sis?" Marky hadn't risen from his seat, but he was leaning forward.

Sheena licked her lips, then turned to her brother.

"Time's up, Mark. We've gotta do something." The blood seemed to drain from Marky's face. Sheena didn't spare him any look of sympathy, but she did walk over to him, leaning against the frame of the boathouse as she looked out at the refuse-covered beach. She rubbed her mouth, watching the gulls clustered around a nearby trash can.

As she watched, two of them began pecking at each other and beating at the air with their wings. They soon became tangled together, and before they could extricate themselves, another gull swooped down and snatched the piece of hamburger bun they had apparently been fighting over.

"…I want you to reach out to the Idols."

Marky started. "The Idols? What for?" His eyebrows scrunched up. "I mean, what should I tell them?"

Sheena turned, walking back up the dais to her throne. "Tell them I know who killed their boss."