Something's coming.

Rae's ditched, for now.  She said she had something of her own to take care of.  I guess I don't blame her.

No sign of Slenderman.  Rhodes.  Not even a single proxy.  It's almost been like real, normal life...

yeah, right.  All I know about the situation is that things out there have plans for me.  Whether they're tall and faceless, snakelike and abominable, or just cryptic and obnoxious, everyone seems to think they can move me like a piece.  Did you forget?  I'm a player now.  So bring on your game.  I'm pretty good at those.

I get the feeling...that the last stretch is coming.  Don't ask me why.  But this "game" is probably gonna be where me and Rhodes, or maybe me and Slenderman, settle this.  It's been hanging too long now...I've been waiting for them to make their move, but if they don't, I'm going after them.  And I WON'T lose.

I haven't forgotten Nessa, Rhodes.  I'll make you regret what you did to her, and what you did to every person you've ever harmed.  I imagine that's a lot of regret forthcoming.

And you, faceless shit.  You, I'll kill, no matter what it takes me.  You've destroyed so many lives, not just my own.  You just exist to torment others - to turn them into toys, rob them of their dignity, their consciousness.  If there ever was a purpose in life, destroying you is mine.

So make your little schemes, and vague overreaching plots.  Don't mean a thing to me.  We'll see if all the pain you've caused is worth what you get in the end.

So I hear there's an election going on or something?

But nobody's asking the question I want the answer to: What the fuck are YOU GUYS gonna do about these goddamn maniacs running around?  Probably nothing's my guess.  Which is exactly why I don't give a shit.  I will be concerned with the economy once I've secured my future as one where I am not eaten alive.

(I'd also love to know their positions on secret divisions of the FBI meant to research a cryptid.  wouldn't THAT make for an amusing debate)

Christ, man.

So, Rhodes is back. And he seems to know quite a bit about whoever it is that's been sending these messages.  Not three days after I say it's all quiet, suddenly we get a crowd again.  Perfect.  Is this because I came back..?  Or does he just want to be noticed right now?

Oi.  Rhodes.  I got a question for you.  Since you don't seem to like these guys any more than I do, you mind sharing a little of the fun info here?  What's "Nemesis Counter?"  Besides some sort of vengeful shopping clerk?  Who are these guys and what do they want with us?  Surely you can at least give me some info here.  I mean, don't you want me to raise some hell and make trouble for these guys, too?

Goddamn technology.  Sorry, I only just noticed that track in the last post was private.  Made it public now.

Checking in, some rambling thoughts

http://soundcloud.com/konaahirano/stlb11212/s-x8JKt

(goddamn mp3 sites and their 10 MB upload limit.  I have more to say than that, dammit!)

identified

you are the catalyst

I really need something to pop up and remind me that this blog exists

Whew, okay!  Sorry, another blank stretch.  It's been quiet all around though, hasn't it?  Almost enough to make you forget there's a war going on.  A war most people are completely unaware of.  A conflict that is out of sight.  An...

...sorry.

Well I'm a bad joke in, so you know things can't be TOO bad.  The worst of it is that I haven't found Rae.  Back to fucking square one with regards to that.  I swear, if those suits locked her up again...

That's a threat to be made another time.  For now, onto another mystery.

A couple weeks ago I received an email.  The address was...weird.  There WASN'T one.  It was just a blank email.  Subject line: "Pregame is ending"

And then the body was this:

"what measure is a man in the face of a million?  you must sacrifice to succeed

all that matters is winning

and if your enemy wins the future you fear will come about

decadence, despair, a broken man clad in red leading cloaked nobodies to bow before a faceless idol

a single tower of fragile hope in a sea of blood, fear, and slime"

Asshole.  I'd JUST eaten.

Believe me, even with the eerie lack of a return email I'd be condemning this one to the spam folder, but...Come on.  With what we know, it's honestly stupid to NOT think of most strange things as supernatural in some way.  So, I decided to humor Mr. Doom and Gloom and Apparently Chess and hit reply.

Error.  Fuck.

So I thought about what the email said.  Pregame.  As in...warmups.

...What I've gone through to get to this point was a warmup?  Wow, great confidence booster, there.  How many more times am I going to get horrifically maimed?  I can't count on spatial rifts to appear and devour my hospital bills every single time!

Okay.  So what measure IS a man in a million?  Well...enough.  I'm not saying I'm some sort of philosophical expert here (I don't even have my fake degree!) but every single person I've run into, for good or ill, has been just as much of a person as the other.  The only man I've ever met to escape that classification is Rhodes.  He's not a person, he's a monster.

But every runner and proxy aside from him all have very human reasons why they do what they do.  And every person I've met who's lucky enough to not be involved- well, people talk about mindless sheep, but they've all got families, friends, people who love them for who they are.

Life is unique, no matter where you find it.  This is why I've sworn to never take a life.  A vow I hope to uphold.

So, assuming the email's author meant for me to do what I'd do, and not take the pragmatic but DOUCHE approach, all that I have left to sacrifice is myself.  Eesh.  Not that I'm saying this random eerie email is prophetic or nothin, but it's still enough to make me uneasy.

All that matters is winning...Bullshit.

The next part...I have no friggin' clue.  The tower could literally be Hope, but that place is done.  This is talking about the future.  The only other thing I recognize amongst this is the guy in red.  You know who.  So, does he become some sort of cult leader in this...evil bad future?  I dunno.  Why is the Oracle delivering her prophecies in email format now?  Did Delphi decide to go modern or something?

I gave all of that a good thought for the next few days.  Then another one popped up tonight.  No subject, no address.  Just this.

"player or pawn

be grateful

not everyone has a choice

choose now."

Got a little forceful at the end there, with its first ever period.  Okay, bossy email prophet.  Here we go.

I pick player.

He fucking attacked me on the toilet.

Well, I was in the right location to shit myself, at least.

Steering this in a less gross direction, "he" is Slender Man here.

I got out okay.  Just barely.  There was a loose pipe on the sink and...I threw it at him.  It bounced right off his head.  ...I almost giggled at the sheer absurdity of it.

Anyways, I slid under his outstretched hand and was out the door.  The station outside was empty, whereas there had been a few people lounging about earlier...and when I blinked, they were back.  I looked around, and Slender Man was gone.

Maybe I should start going in the woods...wait, no, even worse idea.

And yeah, I checked the time, and that anon comment went up a few minutes before the attack.  "Found you..."  So, what, he didn't know where I was?  Does that mean he didn't cause my disappearance?  And did a post about me using the john really cause him to pick up the scent?

Wait.  no.  Ew.  POST OVER, PEOPLE, GO HOME.

I hate public restrooms.

That will be all.

OH CRAP I SLEPT THROUGH JUNE

Right, cause THAT reference isn't gonna be dated at all.

I understand that that things have been pretty quiet around here.  Well, okay, I won't lie, things have been more silent than an order of monks who've just heard the worst holocaust joke ever.  But it's not my fault.

...Okay, it is my fault.  Kind of.  The first month, anyways, was definitely just straight up, me not posting.  Nothing was happening.  The FBI dudes took me to a hospital and pulled all the broken bits of glass out of me (fucking ow, did I forget to mention?), then set us lose in the streets again.

Then...silence.  No proxies.  No Rhodes.  No Sinatra.  Nothing.  Oh dude those last four sentences all started with No.  ...erm, anyway.  The underworld of monsters, maniacs and the people who they target has been a quiet one these last few months.  Who knows why.  Slender himself is supposed to go dormant for long periods of time.  That could have something to do with it.  Regardless, I haven't seen the stick for a while, now.  Don't think for a second that we're in the clear, though.  He'd love that.

 Let's just pretend that this isn't a Chris Nolan movie and we can just fast forward to the bits where stuff actually happens.  Rae and I had managed to stay out of trouble, but...You know how it is.  Sometimes you get a chance to breathe, so be sure to enjoy it, cause it won't last.

A bridge.  A big city.  A river underneath.  I grew up going in and out of Boston, and it was weird to be back.  One thing's never going to change, though, and that's that it will always be too hot or too cold.  I don't get how ANYBODY lives there.

(Incidentally, if you're going to start that "Cambridge or Boston" bullshit, explain to me how a few yards of water makes one city two)

The Charles has always been a bit of an unimpressive sort of river.  Sure it's pretty and all but it's tiny and I certainly wouldn't want to swallow any of it, considering that MIT on it.  Those undergrads probably release mutagens for lab reports.  Still, it's something quite familiar from my childhood, and damn if it didn't feel good to see it.

It was a cloudy day.  Rumbling lightning.  And there we were, on my bike, headed across the bridge into THE OTHER PART OF BOSTON THAT IS NAMED CAMBRIDGE.  And who should be standing in our way but the psycho squad themselves.

Nonplussed, I accelerated.  I've always thought tire tracks would vastly improve Rhodes' suit.  I certainly hoped he didn't expect me to stop for him.  What's his problem, anyway?  He just shows up and tries to kill us.  Doesn't he have an evil scheme to be attending to?

Rhodeskill was sadly not to be.  One moment we were charging forward, the next, we just...stopped.  I felt my bike crumple, just, fall apart, like it'd been held together with masking tape.  And something hit me in the face, hard.  Something invisible.  some sort of wall.

Dazed, I picked myself off the ground and looked up at his grinning face.  "Red light!  ...Get it?"

"...Hilarious."

I tried cutting his chest, but he slammed a foot on my arm.  I saw Rae and Jade clashing to my side, Obstruction and Shift apparently just watching.

"Does it feel nostalgic to be back here?  This was where you first met one of us.  Poor Ray.  Not a very bright lad, but he was loyal."

I'd forgotten about him, to be honest.  It didn't make me very happy to remember, and he saw that, laughing.  "The first person you couldn't help.  The list went on after that, didn't it?"

Jade fell back, with a cut arm.  Rhodes frowned and snapped his fingers.  Obstruction jumped to, slamming Rae against the railing before restraining her.  The snake stepped down harder, maybe trying to get a gasp of pain out of me.  I wasn't giving him it.

"You know, June, this is getting old.  All this dancing about, me showing up, you escaping because of some ridiculous coincidence..."

"Okay, cool, leave us alone, then."

He spread his arms wide like the ham he is.  "Don't you GET it?  You're not DOING anything!  You can wander around and try to help anybody you run into, but you're fighting the fires, not the pyromaniac.  Treating the symptoms, not the disease.  What you never understood, and what makes me the one who'll win our little game, is that you can't always sit back and wait for your chance.  The wise make their own luck, and CREATE the chance.  Just countering His influence won't do anything.  Ineffectual and pathetic.  He probably doesn't even notice."

Here he sighed, and looked at me with mock sympathy.  "Aah, but I understand.  The balance of power is not in your favor.  I have eyes and ears everywhere, cats paws whenever I need them, and you...have a catatonic maniac, an overhyped piece of metal, and a bike.  Oops.  HAD a bike."

I gritted my teeth.  Somehow, he had a way of finding what I was brooding on and rubbing it in my face.

"The fact is, there IS no way for you to stop Him.  Redlight is back and, in my personal opinion, better than ever.  That man won't be roused by your taunts, nor shocked just cause you did something so fucking stupid he never saw it coming.  He's relentless, and this is ALL he has.  So, you two have a bit in common.  But two equal powers cancel out.  You'll never get past him even if you ARE his equal, which I doubt."  He shifted a bit, looking up into the sky.  The grin was gone, and a musing look appeared on his face.  "And he's nothing to the Big Man.  Trust me on that.  No, you've been doing nothing because there's nothing for you to do.  I honestly think it's sad."

And back down at me.  "Don't you?"

I replied, "TASER RELATED PUN!" and jabbed him in the leg, sending however the fuck many volts through his body.  Idiot.  Did he forget I had a hand free or something?  Rhodes just loves his fucking hannibal lectures.

That made him stumble back, hissing in pain.  I got to my feet and flicked open a knife...But things never stay simple with me.  It's like Rhodes and I are double weirdness magnets, all the way across the sky, and when we clash there's bound to be something else freaky that comes along.

A pale mist fell over the area.  There was a flash.  The proxies were on the ground, grabbing their heads and screaming in pain- except Rhodes, who was on his knees, hat rolling away across the road, a vicious and desperate look in his eyes, and a grim snarl on his face.

Rae was motionless, reaching for a mask that wasn't there.

And I heard things.  A crackling fire.  My dad, telling me we'd do something about this, and failing to tell me just what.  A child's laugh, a gunshot, a collapsing building...

I turned around.  He was there.  Motionless, silent, stiff.  Just ten feet away.  The air stopped, the world almost seemed to vanish around him.  There were leaves on the ground- where did they come from? - black leaves.

And then a fell wind began to blow.  Smelled like trees...and bodies.  Rotting flesh.  And he took a step forward.  Just one.  Behind me, the screams became uncontrolled howls, somebody was hitting their head against the railing, and I just stood there.  My head was...empty.  I thought how weird it was that after all the effort, he just needed to show up once, decide he'd had enough, and that'd be it.

His arms spread.  Were they arms?  Too long.  More than two.  And they came forward.  For me.

I heard Mom.  And Dad.  and Vivian.

It was like waking up from a nightmare.  I snapped to.  Nothing was different - screams, smells, memories - but I didn't feel like a zombie anymore.  I was scared...terrified.  But I didn't care.

There's a world between being afraid and surrendering to your fear.  Did I ever mention I'm bad at giving up?

I started forward.  He stopped.  Just, stiff, still, like he usually is.  For a second, then the arms started lashing out.  I ducked one, sidestepped another, and ran right forward.  They wrapped around my arm, my leg, my stomach, and those parts started to go numb, dead- I still didn't care.  I hit one of the arms with the taser- and it felt like the air around me was static.  Something...WEIRD happened when the electricity connected with him.  A loud ringing noise almost deafened me, and he seemed almost as confused as I was.

And it gave me my chance.  One step, two, three, a leap forward, and I screamed with every bit of defiance and will to live I had in me, as I punched him right in his stupid blank face.

All I know next is that I went over the rail.  Down towards the water.  but the arms were still around me.  He was coming too.  I vaguely wondered if he couldn't swim.

Then I sat up on a mattress in a dimly lit room.  I was in my perfectly dry clothes.  My stuff was strewn about what seemed like a rundown ground floor flat.  More than a little lost, I opened my computer.

The clock said August 1st.

Lost time.  I've never lost that much time all at once.  I don't understand what happened- where I went, what I was doing.  All I know is that I've been gone for a month and a half.  Rae's missing, and no activity from Team Rhodes.  All there was was the previous post on this blog.

Another weird thing - who brought me to that flat?  I talked to the man at the front desk, and he seemed surprised to see me.  Said the room had been payed for, but that he was drawing a blank on who gave him the money.  He didn't think it was me, though.

Mysteries.  More fucking mysteries.  I've had it up to here with em.  For now?  Just gonna try to find Rae again.

I'm back, people.  Let's roll.

cant

findhim

Destination: Defenestration

It's one thing after another.  Son of a bitch.

Not a lot had happened since I ran into Redlight.  I didn't have a lot to say.  Actually, I could hardly move for a while.  Rae had to help me get going, check out, get to the next town over.  The irony of our role reversal was not lost on me, don't you worry.

That bastard hit me right where it hurt.  It was a simple mind game, but he got to me anyway.  I haven't shook this bad since the first few nights of all of this..

We checked into a hotel well enough, then I collapsed onto one of those ridiculously foofy beds for about eight hours.  When I got up, Rae was seated on a chair nearby, looking out the window like some sort of sentinel.

I decided to try and talk to her.  "Uhm, hey."

She turned her head towards me.

"Sorry.  About yesterday.  I...erm..."

She just shook her head and went back to watching the streets.  So much for that.  I sighed, got out of bed, brushed my teeth, showered, yadda yadda.  We sat around for a few hours.  Neither of us really had that much desire to go anywhere.  Not to mention the fact that it was marginally more dangerous out in the open than it was in there.

Or so we thought.

There was a sudden commotion on the first floor of the hotel.  We looked at each other for a moment, then dove for our weapons.  I still didn't know if I was in any state to use them, mind, but better safe than sorry.

We were a little slow on the uptake.  Suddenly, Shift came through the wall and put my arm into a lock, holding it down.  And then the door practically exploded off its hinges as Obstruction punched right through it, almost slamming into Rae.  Jade came next, springing at Rae and slashing at her with that cleaver.

And finally the general himself arrived on the field of battle.  Rhodes strode through casually, arms folded behind his back.  "Good morning, children.  How wonderful to see you today."

He snapped his fingers.  Jade fell back reluctantly, her eyes flashing.

The snake turned that fucking grin on me.  "June, June, June...What am I going to do with you?  What even is this pacifistic nonsense?  You didn't have any trouble pushing me off a roof, or shooting Obstruction here in the arm.  Your determination to never kill was impressive, certainly, but not even fighting back?  That's just fucking retarded and you know it."

His words hit right home.  Exactly what I'd been thinking.  I still had some defiance left in me, though.  "Every step I take away from YOU can only be a good thing." I spat back.

A soft laugh.  "This isn't about that at all, and you know it.  No...you're just scared, little man."

A snigger from Shift.  "You're just too fuckin' pussy to do what you gotta to survive.  Morality ain't got nothin to do with it."

Rhodes gave him a withering glare.  "If you don't mind, I was talking..?"

Shift shrunk back.  "U-uh, right.  Sorry, boss."

Shaking his head, Rhodes looked at us and shrugged his shoulders.  "So hard to find good help these days.  Where was I?  Oh, yes.  You, June.  This isn't about pacifism, or trying to be less like me...You just want people to like you."

Dead silence.

"Oh yes, I see what all this is about.  Poor June, growing up around a bunch of people too stupid to tie their own shoelaces.  Who needs friends, right?  It's all about number one.  But then...You found that once you fell into our world, you had people in the same boat as you.  You had friends now.  And having gotten a taste of that, you didn't want to lose it, no matter what."

He strode forward, poking me in the chest.

"This whole moralist bullshit is just a platform that you stand on to gain the popular vote.  You want to be acknowledge, HAILED.  Everyone, look at Konaa, he saves the day without taking a single life!  Ah, but it's no good, is it?  It's not like you've ever really accomplished anything lasting.  But hey, you got quite a few followers.  People sing your praises sometimes, even!  Not like you need anything else, right?"

I'd had just about enough of THAT.  "Okay, wow, you are not on your A-game today.  First thing - you're just wrong.  I don't give a shit about what other people perceive of me.  All I've ever wanted to do is what's right, from the very beginning.  And second...You think this weedy hacker guy can hold me?"

With that, I rammed my shoulder into Shift's chest, sending him into the wall with a crash.  My victory was short lived, though - Rhodes lunged forward, stabbing me in the shoulder and leaving the knife embedded there.  I stumbled back, gasping in pain.

Rae tried to get to me, but Jade blocked her path.  The sound of steel hitting steel rang out.

Rhodes looked down at me, a wide, predator's grin on his face.  "Let's see you do what's right, then!  Eh!?  Come on!  Stop me without hurting me!"

I stood there, trying to think of something.  No good.  Between my indecision and the pain I could barely function at all.  The snake snapped his fingers.  "Obby, give him a lesson about passive resistance.  You know.  How it's bullshit."

Obstruction lumbered forward, swung widely at my head.  I just barely managed to duck.  Over on the side, Rae was doing a good job holding Jade off, but we couldn't take all four of them, especially not in this tight a space.

And that's when Obstruction hit me right in the chest.  Bam, there went all the air in my lungs.  I went out the window...the closed window.  To be honest, I don't remember the fall too well.  Just kinda remember pain.  I won't bore you with the details, but..it hurt.  Bad.

I opened my eyes.  I was lying on a rooftop right near the hotel.  The fall was about fifteen to twenty feet.  Trying to move triggered a massive chain reaction of pain.  I just lay there, cursing softly and wishing I hadn't regained consciousness.  The sound of combat came from the street level - steel against steel, hurried steps, gasps.

And then a loud yell - Rae's voice.  I snapped out of it, tried to hoist myself up again.  Pain.  Could hardly think from it.  Dagger to the shoulder, the impact, it was too much.

But what brainpower I had left focused itself into one objective: Get up.  It was like a voice in my head, my own voice, urging me on.  Slowly, painfully, I sat up.  There were shards of glass in my arms and back, I could feel them, digging in.  Reaching up to the dagger, I pulled it out, wincing.

Keep going.  Get UP!

I put my feet on the ground.

This is nothing.

And stood up.  With the pain still shoved to the back of my mind, I looked over the edge of the building.  Rae was fighting down in the alley, she was bleeding from the arm and matched up against Rhodes' three stooges, while he stood at the mouth of it, watching.  I saw the door they exited from, looks like Rae ran down the emergency exit.

She couldn't take all three of them.  Still drowsy with pain, I made a decision.  No matter what the moral consequences of violence were...I won't play the pacifist while someone I care about is getting hurt.  I drew my grappling gun, pointed it at Jade, who was in front, hacking away, and fired.

The cable shot out and hit her on the arm holding the cleaver.  Lucky shot.  She stumbled, I hit the retract button and it ripped out, taking a small chunk with it.  Jade screamed and dropped her weapon, falling over.

I flung myself off the edge, landing right on Obstruction, which was enough to cause him to lose his balance and topple over.  Face to face with the huge lunk, I couldn't help but wonder what his deal was.  I'd never asked.

I managed to snarl some sentences out.  "Why are you working for this bastard?  What's he got on you?  You're killing people, asshole!"

No expression change.  He threw me off him without much effort, I managed to get back on my feet quickly this time.  A laugh from Rhodes.  "That won't do any good, he's never really been one for conversation.  Wait- are you really trying to convert my men?  Bahahaha!  Not gonna happen~!"

I backed up, closer to Rae.  I was still grasping Rhodes' dagger, but I wasn't in any condition to fight.  Was already swaying slightly, the pain catching up to me.  Jade got to her feet, eyes furious, picked up the cleaver in her other hand.  The four all stepped forward at the same time.  With a sudden crack of thunder, rain began to fall.  Shift ran forward, phased through us, became material on the other side, penning us in.  I grimaced, and got ready to shove him aside.  Footsteps rang out, and two masked men ran out of a side alley further down, standing in line with Shift.  Mooks.  Great.  They had us completely surrounded.

Click.  A simple noise, but a poignant one, causing us all to stop in our tracks.  Rhodes casually turned his head, to look down the barrel of a handgun, held by the same suit I ran into in Walker Alpha.

"Freeze."

"Oh, frozen, I assure you.  And you are...?"

"Agent Lones, Federal Bureau of Investigation.  Step away from the teenagers, Rhodes."

The snake laughed softly, looking Lones right in the eyes.  "I don't hope you truly believe a bullet can kill me, Agent.  But what is all this?  A bit of a divergence from your usual policy, isn't it?"

Lones didn't look fazed.  "I have my orders.  Last chance."  Rhodes grinned wider, hand going for his knife.

And that's when we heard it.  A tune gently floating on the breeze, seemingly coming from nowhere.  Everyone present froze.  Rhodes gazed about.  There was an expression of curiosity on his face- and uncertainty.  I gestured at Lones frantically, trying to get him to run.

Shift suddenly yelled out.  "What the fuck!?  Who-" I looked, but I could barely see anything, there was an intense fog.  Two figures, one Shift's scrawny body, the other taller, lean, menacing.  I recognized it instantly, not that the singing hadn't already tipped me off.  Rae in particular was shaking like wild, acting the same way she had when I tried to get her to go to the hospital.  Had she seen him before?

Suddenly there was a sizzling noise and a horrible screech of pain.  A mask fell out of the fog.

That was it- I'd already gotten enough of the shit beaten out of me already, I didn't need an impromptu tattoo on top of it.  I grabbed Rae's arm and we ran past the proxies, who seemed focused on the singing menace.  Lones was smart enough to pack up and follow us.  He directed us to a car, and we drove away.  I thought Rae might freak out at the sight of those guys again, but she seemed pretty eager to get away from Sinatra back there.  I couldn't blame her.

Followup later.  We're exhausted.

I don't even know what to think right now.  Whether to hate myself, hate him, hate the world...

The days after my last post went up were peaceful.  Rae still hasn't said a word to me that wasn't crazy-talk since I rescued her, but she's able to take care of herself.  She eats without my prompting, which is a relieving improvement.  Means I can actually leave her alone now and get some air.  We'd been in the same place for a couple weeks.  I was walking around the town, and...

I must've been preoccupied.  Thinking about what I posted last time.  But before I knew it, I'd wandered into a pretty dingy part of town.  And what's more: no one was around.  That was enough warning for me, I started to leave right away.  But before I could, I heard a sound.  Almost like static.  And then the sound of rubber soles hitting the pavement.

A kid about my age skirted the corner, running helter pelter like friggin' Rob Lucci was on his tail or something.  Didn't even give me a moment's notice but dove into an alleyway.  If you needed any more hints about what he was running from, because apparently you're really bad at seeing patterns, I caught the sight of a crossed out "X" on his arm.

I started forward, not really sure what I was going to do, but...He needed help, if he was running that desperately.  I got towards the mouth of the alley when I saw he had stopped short, staring into the darkness.  And I heard a voice.

I suppose most of you aware of the proxy hierarchy reviving an old position?  I didn't believe it when I first saw it, talk about your unreliable narrators.  But, more reliable sources were soon to verify it. Redlight is back.  For some degree of "back."  It's a new man, whatever they say, someone who's taken his title and signature love of camo pants.

The voice was all too familiar.  "Ah, a dead end, it seems...And who's your friend, Daniel? It would be awfully impolite of someone to... intrude on such a thing without introducing them first..."  Looming out of the darkness, I saw a face I never expected to see again.

That same man who fought to help us against his former master...Was back in the role of the puppet.  I was angry.  Maybe it rung too deep so soon after Elaine's death, but I was mad at him for having lost his mind again.  "Get out here, traitor," I snarled.

"Oh please, Reynolds."  He stepped out into the open, almost giving Danny-boy a heart attack.   "You've walked in on the middle of buisiness. I suppose if it pleases you, nobody can get hurt in this little confrontation..." He seemed to think for a minute, before straightening, snapping his fingers as if he'd come up with an idea. "You stay and listen, and I won't have this end with you standing in a river of Daniel's blood. What do you say?"

What DO you say to an offer like that?  I've survived bigger windbags prattling on than this douche, so if it saves a life, easy bargain.  "Okay, sure.  I always have time for a laugh.  I'll hear what you have to say."

Then he was gone for a second.  Bastard used the Path or something to get in between me and the other guy.

"Daniel, you want this to end nicely, correct?  You're wasting both my and Mr. Reynolds' time now. Whatever you've been promised, it's not worth it."

Daniel was shaking like crazy, eyes darting to the sides, before he gave up and stammered a "Fuck it!" out, and threw something at Spencer.  Then he was gone.  Good set of legs on him.  The man in red caught the object easily- it was a floppy drive.  Without looking at me, he murmured something.  "... it's good to see you again, kid."

Uh-huh.  A nice try, but my heartstrings have gotten rather hard to pluck as of late.  "...Don't try to bait me.  I'm sympathetic, not stupid.  What that thing there supposed to be?"

"You always were a clever one." He gave a grin and held it out so I could see it. "So much trouble for such a little thing seems foolish to go through, hm...?"

"Really, the things you'll do to get your porn."

Spencer chuckled.  "I don't pretend to understand the whims of those I work with, Mr. Reynolds. They also said you were a lost cause, but I disagreed, and so here I am.  Have any idea why?"

I folded my arms.  "Enlighten me."

He began to pace for a few seconds, before speaking in a slow, measured, almost comforting tone.  "You're not someone that I want working against the cause, Mr. Reynolds. And you're definitely not someone I want as my enemy."

I paused and thought.  The dots connected almost instantly.  The nerve of this guy.  "You want me to sign up."

A slight quirk of a smile from him. "Look at you, using your reasoning!  An incredible feat, really. Impressive."

If nothing else, that smug grin, on the face of a friend, trying to drag me down with him, set me off.  Shaking with anger, I could barely spit the words out.  "Even after everything you've done to me...After you took my parents, my friends, my LIFE..."  I stepped towards him, ready to tear that fucking smile off his face with my bare hands.

"You think I'd give that fucking despicable line of thought even a moment's consideration?"

"Of course you wouldn't."  The grin widened, ever so slightly.  "That's why I supposed that I would attempt to at least show you the other side of things.  You're a warrior, Mr. Reynolds.  You have a mind at your disposal.  And yet by this point it would seem most of my colleagues think that it's rotted due to disuse!"

Oh, coming from those guys, that was rich.  "Your 'colleagues' aren't exactly ones to brag when it comes to mental prowess.  You're all fucking nuts, in case you hadn't noticed."

"That's a rather big assumption to make."  He paused for a second, gathering his thoughts, or so it looked.  "Mr. Reynolds -Konaa, if you prefer- what is it exactly that you want?"

Easy question.  "Oh, not much.  Peace of mind, your boss to fuck off and leave us all alone, you all thrown in a cell, some fries would be nice.."

"'Us'... yes.  Do you like to save people?  Or does your desire for revenge continually overshadow your desire to keep people safe?  You didn't have to assist the young man from earlier, and yet you did.  He had no relation to you.  In fact, you couldn't even be sure he was of 'your side'.  And yet you jumped to his assistance..."

He had a good point there, which I was sort of grumpy about.  "...If you have a point, get to it.  I don't particularly care for your opinions on the subject."

Spencer gave a sigh.  "Konaa, you're fighting a useless battle from your current position. You can only save so many.  You can only fight so much.  Even now, you're relying on nobody sending the best of their men to wipe you out; never mind the incredible turn of luck that He hasn't turned up to just rip you apart yet."  He leaned back against the wall, hands sliding into the pockets of his jacket. "And though I wouldn't quite call your efforts pointless, they're certainly finite in nature."

Bastard probably thought he was giving me earth-shattering revelations there.  You really think I hadn't given all that consideration when I decided to really start fighting back?  This wasn't some temper tantrum rebellion I'm planning here.  I knew I was declaring war on a monster with powers beyond our comprehension from the get-go.  And I've always known that I might meet my end because of it.

"...Even if that's the case, so what?  Just because something might be impossible doesn't make trying it mean any less.  I'll fight until there's no breath left in my body.  There's no way there can't be a happy ending at least for some of us.  And if not..."  I smirked.  "I'll kick God's ass myself when I'm in the hereafter."

Redlight tilted his head to the side.  "There's always another way, you know.  How many more are you going to protect, only to have them fall days, weeks, at best months later? And even then, how many have you infected with His image as you moved through their communities?  I find it interesting that most seem to think that the two sides of this so called 'conflict' are all that different. We all want the same thing, correct?  Safety. Security.  And yet, you... that's not your main goal, is it?  Mr. Reynolds, it seems to me that most have you pegged all wrong. When most simply want to live, you want to fight."  Here he leaned forward, slightly, eyes gleaming amber.  "You want power, Konaa.  The power to save people.  The power to protect people.  And I'm someone that can give that to you."

Okay forget what I said earlier, HERE was some serious nerve.  He was honestly offering me a Deal with the Devil.  Granted, what he'd said about the proxies and runners being alike rung a bit more true than I'd've liked.  I've thought so myself, at times, that we do actually have a lot in common, goals and situation.  But...

I thought about it for a minute before replying.  "...I was never one for taking shortcuts.  That leads...to unfortunate circumstances.  I know just what happens to people like you.  You forget, I watched it happen time and time again.  I'm not an idiot.  But you guys are the biggest fucking morons I've ever seen."  I laughed.  Not a ha-ha laugh, really.  Was more bitter than I'd intended.  "You think you have security, but you're the most vulnerable ones of all!  You let him into your head.  He can take you out whenever he wants.  You're like sick toys to him...We all are.  But I do my best to lend my strength, to those who can't stand on their own."  I jabbed a finger towards him.  "You all erode your own people for release.  That's what I can't forgive."

Apparently unimpressed by my spiel, all he did was shake his head. "You're blind to that which is around you, not that I'm particularly surprised. I don't blame you, Mr. Reynolds.  After all, proxies don't have the best reputation for being sane, and yet I'm sure that there's a few that come to mind that have been commended by the service, yet have Him no more in their mind then you do.  It's a selfless choice -to be recruited if only to protect others- and yet it is one that is made time and time again." The light in his eyes seemed to glow even brighter. " That is because more people live that way.  More people can be saved.  Being on the other side, your side, is to leave your fate in the hands of others. To be on the other side is to take it into your hands once again. Resources, time, and above all else, a chance to utilize both of these things instead of being continually hunted; it's not a shortcut, but rather a logical step."

I was quiet then, for a little while.  Ran what he was saying through my head.  He'd nailed a lot of things about me- I hate the idea that all I can do is run.  I want to fight.  I want to save every single person, even though I know that's impossible.  I didn't want to hurt anyone again.  Not after I'd seen what I could become through that.  Was this a way to save people without fighting?  To give up a few to save many?  Utilitarianism, that's what it's called.  Learned that back in Middlesex CC, Ethics.  Never thought I'd be reminded of that class ever again...

I strained my head thinking.  Was there another way?  Before long, though, I had my answer.  Glancing up, I saw the grin on his face had widened to a disturbing length.

I growled, began to unsheathe the sword.

He actually looked SURPRISED, and let out a kind of shocked laughter.  "Really, Reynolds? Not only are you going to turn me down, but also dig yourself an even deeper hole than you were in before?"

I was done with jibes.  I glared right into his stupid eyes.  "If I did this...if I joined you, I would be betraying everyone I called a friend.  Even if you talk about relative losses, and resources, it's too much.  Even a single life sacrified is one life too many."  The last two words came out stronger than I expected.  Like I had more conviction than I thought.

Again, he wasn't impressed.  "Whatever side you're on, you're going to have to kill.  It's an inevitability.  You can build your own power, then protect those below you, instead of fighting a never-ending, losing battle.  You will DIE, Reynolds, and there will be not one person left to mourn you. Is that the sort of world you want?"

This time my response came back right away.  "Whatever kind of world comes my way, it's won't be the one you people inhabit.  We aren't mice.  Every last person in this world has the potential to be someone great.  I won't deal with you.  Not only do you kill, you torture, maim...Anything to get your way.  Sometimes, things ARE black and white.  You're the bad guys.  I'm the...decent guy."  A bit peeved at this awkward end, I flourished the sword.  "Enough talk.  Put ya guns on."

"I'm not going to fight you." He began to walk away, waving lazily over his shoulder. "I want you to remember that I chose to give you a chance, Mr. Reynolds. It's hardly my fault you threw it away."

Now that I was committed to getting at him, I wasn't just going to let him walk away.  I started after him, at which point he stopped and turned slightly.

"Now, I wonder... will you fight for your beliefs to be realized, or will you die by them?"

And at the head of the alleyway, lights shone through.  Three pairs of glowing, amber eyes.  They stepped forward, into the light.  One belonged to the guy we'd just saw.  One had an expressionless look, the others seemed to be terrified.  They stumbled forward as if their own bodies were alien to them.

"Do try to survive, Mr. Reynolds. At the very least, you'll make an interesting opponent."

Innocent people, he'd Hallowed them...destroyed who they were, for what?  To teach me a lesson?  I called out angrily at the retreating man in red.  "Is this what I have to look forward to being?  A coward who hides behind dead souls?  Pass."

 His voice had become brusque, condescending.  "There are no cowards in this game, Konaa; there is only the powerful and the weak, the helpless and the players. I gave you the opportunity to be on the side holding the right cards, but it seems that you'd rather die the death of a foolish martyr."  He sighed, and his lackies moved closer.  "Give me a good show. Perhaps you'll prove useful yet."

I lost my nerve.  I had resolved to fight, after the bastard had mocked everything we were standing for.  But...I couldn't fight these guys.  They were just pawns, they didn't do anything wrong.  The only thing they were guilty of was having awful luck.

I didn't trust myself to fight them without hurting them bad.   I felt my hands shaking, sweat on my brow.  I couldn't.  All that talk, and he just had to hide behind brainwashed teenagers for me to lose it.  I turned, ran.  They shambled after me.  Stupidly, without really knowing what I was doing, I rounded a corner and ran smack into a dead end.  They cornered me.  I was frozen in spot.  Part of me was screaming to cut my way out, but my arms felt like they'd turned to stone.  Slowly, hesitantly, I backed up against the wall.

And then there were a few swift, sharp noises.  Whirring.  Three knives, one embedded in each of the kids.  Dead before they hit the ground.  I slid down the wall to the ground, hugging my knees.  And Rise stepped out of the shadows, silently appraising me, before shaking her head slightly and removing the knives from the bodies.

I don't know what to say.  I need to think, but nothing's coming.

think I need to be alone for a while

Been thinking.

Rae's set up as comfortably as I could get her to be.  Wouldn't let me take her to the hospital, she started freaking out about rattraps or something.  So, we're in a hotel, and she's sort of just staring at the wall.  Isn't talking much, but she can stand now, and she follows me.  It's kind of like having a mute, knife happy, grumpy masked dog.

So.  We're safe.  As safe as one can be in this situation.  (think I've used that line a million times, remind me to change it up)  And everything's quiet, nothing trying to kill us for once.  It's a nice change.  Except...Well.  Let me explain.

You might've noticed that I, well, move around a lot.  Not just like, from place to place and such, but I mean that most of the time, I'm posting about something I was doing, a place I was breaking into, a person I was fighting.  That's cause I try to stay in motion for as long as I can.  It's where I feel more comfortable, out there, DOING stuff, y'know? 

Cause...when it's like this, slow, quiet...That's when you start thinking.  I mean, before you get the easy joke in, yes, I always THINK, even when I'm on...guess you could call em "missions."  Sure, why not, life's already enough like a video game, we're calling them missions from now!  (though given the usual reaction to my antics, the rating system for the missions must be the one from Sonic Adventure 2, where doing anything that falls short of curing cancer and bringing about the Second Coming nets you the lowest grade)

Usually it's just stuff like "okay what now, which way, oh shit it's a person, oh shit they're attacking me, punch punch kick okay if I go for his groin right now that should be it, now to the left, now to the right, gotta remember to check if Legend of Korra is out," stuff like that.  Here...this is the kind of thinking I hate.  That's right, you guessed it- we're getting philosophical.

maybe it's first the best.  cause this is the sort of thing I can't really run away from, and still call myself, well, a decent person.  And that's this: I fight proxies, monsters, anyone who tries hurting the innocent.  And it's hardly the most black and white situation ever, they're brainwashed, for the most part.  And against the guys who aren't brainwashed, who are just bastards, I curse em out for what they do and swear to kick their asses.

The thing is though...I hurt people.  I do it a lot.  Anyone who comes after me usually gets hurt pretty bad.  And that's another thing, one that really scares me.  I've gotten good at it.  About a year ago I ran my ass away when that idiot Ridley was chasing me.  And now, just last month I fought FBI agents and made it out in one piece.  All the moving about's kept me in shape, and experience has made me a much better fighter.  So, I'm good at hurting people.

I don't think I want to be.  I know that, like...enough people are already rolling their eyes at me for taking a stance against killing, so, this is going to give them heart attacks, but, can I call myself any different from them if I'm hurting them just as bad as they hurt others?  Even if it is to protect another...Isn't that resorting to their tactics, sinking to their level?

I hadn't thought about it.  But the truth is, I have a...good god, kill me now, this is going to sound melodramatic, but I can't think of any other way to phrase it.  I have a dark side.  You saw when I put up the Walker Alpha mission, when I saw what they'd done to Rae and...I hurt those guys pretty bad.  I...didn't mention it in the last post, out of shame, but...I cut one of those guys holding me with a knife for a few seconds.  I mean I was stabbing him and...Well, he didn't die, but on my way out, I saw them bandaging his wounds.  They were bad.  I know I must've stopped because of the urgency to get Rae out, but if that hadn't been the case...

Would I have killed him?  I don't think I can answer that either way.  And that really scares me.

We don't live in a world where our problems can be solved peacefully every last time.  I know that damn well by now.  Just...if we keep fighting HIM, if we treat this like it's a war, aren't we just mirroring him?  Suffering is suffering, and a life is a life no matter how that life is spent.

Dad would've found another way.  He did find another way.  He left.  Maybe it didn't work in the end, but...I could never be half the man he was.  The sort of man who probably never raised a hand against another person until that day in the junkyard.

now do you see why I like to move so much?  I'm not a very nice person.  Especially not to myself.

I fought the law and...there were mixed results.

So you might not have noticed, but I'm not very good at making friends.  It's always been a thing with me, but when this starts to get government intelligence agencies on my ass it's gone from inconvenient to frankly a little ridiculous.  I mean...We've gotten some hints over the course of a few blogs that Uncle Sam knows about our pale friend and is trying to keep a tight lid on all knowledge pertaining to him, but...Well, I understood why Rhodes found this so funny now.  Fucking snake.

It turns out decoding a professional encryption is kind of fucking hard.  To cut a long story short, it took two weeks, a less than on the up meeting with a specialist in this field, and a LOT of swearing and soda.  Mostly soda.  And I swear a lot.  Eventually, I had it.  A lot of stuff might not be of use, seeing as the dudes at the listening post would've reported back to their bosses.  This was why I didn't let slip that I'd seen the name "Walker Alpha."  If they transferred her again, getting her back would be that much harder.  A long shot, but it ended up working out- more on that later.

A LOT of information about Slenderman and a few proxies of note was on that drive.  Mostly Slender, what little they could confirm about Slender's anatomy and powers, and a fair chunk of speculation with regards to what they couldn't.  They seem to subscribe to the theory that he gets stronger the more people know about him- Tulpa, right?  In addition, there was a list of known Stalked, a few familiar names among that...Elaine, I think you made whoever was in charge of keeping track of you pull his hair out.  And that's not even remotely close to the frustration contained in the file on Nick.  They have no clue what the hell you are, buddy.  Though I guess that goes for all of us.

No name for this organization, and precious little intel on what, exactly, they do.  From what I can conclude from the data, it's strictly observation and recording.  But there was a small paragraph on procedures with "live specimens" that made me a little uncomfortable- it was in the section on proxies. (they call them "converted")  But after hours of sifting through all the unbearably cryptic government-talk, I finally found details on Walker Alpha.  From there, it was time for preparations.

Planning to attack a mansion containing a team of psychotic killers is dangerous.  Planning to assault a US-sanctioned intelligence base, with likely military ties, full of trained agents?  Well...let's just say I've had smarter ideas.  I'm just throwing it out there, I KNOW how stupid this looks.  It is stupid.  I'm a kid.  A kid who's survived a lot more than anyone should have to, but this is a little beyond some idiots with masks and a penchant for sharpened kitchen utensils.

But they had Rae.  I owe her my life a few times over, and there was no way I was going to leave her to some faceless bureaucrats treating her like she's a friggin' diseased animal.  I wasn't leaving Walker Alpha without her.

Fast forward two days.  The building was a bit less hidden than the listening post- it was, in fact, a state building.  The local people said it was mostly for processing surveys taken about the town and organizing construction and demolition.  "Why the hell do they need five stories for that?" I asked.  A variety of shrugs followed.

The gate at the front was locked.  It was late afternoon, the building was closed down.  Right.  I set my plan into motion at promptly 6:13 PM.  A car tipped over the top of the hill, heading down the road, slowly at first, but picking up speed as it went.  Noticeably, it was driving direct down the center of the road- no cars were driving around here, so the only people to remark on this were the people on the sidewalk, stopping to stare.  It ended up smashing right through the gate, setting off a ringing alarm.  Someone burst out of the front door to stare at the empty vehicle.

That was when I made my move.  Grappling over the wall to the rear of the building, I made my way across the lot to the back door.  Locked, but it was keeping up the charade of being your typical office building, so that took about thirty seconds to pick.  I was in.  But not before making a brief phone call.

There were a few people milling about the front, looked like ordinary types.  Sticking to the wall, I made my way upstairs.  This was one thing I found out from the data- the first two floors were all most people ever saw.  The fun stuff was floor three up.  I padded my way up the stairs and was met with another door.  Unlocked.  Lucky- nobody on the second floor.  Guess they don't man it after hours.  I was able to sprint up the next flight of stairs.

This door was locked.  At first glance it was mechanical...But I had my cheatsheet.  Groping around at the paneling on the wall, I pulled the closest one to the door loose.  Underneath was a keypad.  Now, the code changes weekly, according to the data, but it contained the codes for the next two months.  And when I punched it in, the door unlocked, no sweat.  Guess they didn't expect to be compromised by a teenager.  Not that I can really blame them.

The third floor had a few rooms with glass windows.  There were people in them, seated at computers, looking over papers.  I closed the door as quietly as I could and started sneaking.  By ducking underneath the windows I managed to stay out of anyone within's sight range, and checked every room on the floor.  Mostly computers, one room had people seated at a table speaking.  Couldn't listen in, and information wasn't what I was here for, anyway.

Onto floor four...and suddenly an alarm was ringing inside, too.  Must've been spotted by a camera or something.  Let me tell you, stealth is kind of hard, especially when you can't just reload your last save whenever you get caught.  I started running.  In between me and the stairs was one of the rooms of analysts, this door flew open and one came out, looking at me, bewildered.

"Move it, move it, MOVE IT!" I yelled, as more people started to emerge.  Funnily enough, they obeyed- guess even a rag-covered teen like me is a bit threatening when he's heavily armed and barreling towards you.  Ran smack into a security guard on the stairs up- ducked under his rather large feet and kneed his crotch while I went.  He'd left the door open- I made it.  The fourth floor was one big room, no windows.  There were three security types headed for me, batons out.

I drew a couple of knives, ducked under the first swing, parried the second.  The third guy tackled me from the side.  I tried wriggling out, but he had me good and firm- my free arm got pinned by one of the others almost instantly.  I was cocky- I'd gotten lucky against these guys before, mostly thanks to getting the drop on them.  But make no mistake, they're trained to subdue people.

The guy free was pulling a taser from his belt.  It looked like my next conversation with them was gonna be from a cell- but then I saw something.  We'd slid forward as we struggled, enough so that I had vision around the corner.  And I saw her.  Rae was strapped to an operating table, from the looks of it.  A few men in white coats were staring at us, taking a few steps back.  She was slumped, her hair ragged, bruises on her face.  Like she was a fucking lab rat.

I lost it.  I bit the first part of the guy holding me I could find- his ear.  He yelled out and slackened, letting me slide out from under him and kick at the guy about to tase me.  Bad timing- he'd already activated it, and as he slipped it fell onto him.  Meanwhile I'd grabbed one of my knives and stabbed the last guy in the arm holding me, which got him to let go quick.  Stopping to scoop up the taser, I ran at the scientists and punched the closest one in the face, as hard I as could.  He stumbled backwards into some machinery and fell.

"What the hell do you sick fucks think you're doing?!  Get away from her or I'll...rgh."  I cut the straps holding her.

Removing my gun, I pointed it at the two security guards that were conscious, glaring.  "Drop everything."  They complied, hands up, silent.  One of the scientists apparently was more indignant than frightened, and he spoke up.  "What do you think you're doing?  You just freed a dangerously unstable-"

I took a step towards him and pointed my pistol right at his leg.  "Shut the fuck up!  Badmouth her one more time and you'll be limping for months, if you're lucky!"

...yeah.  I...more on how I feel about my behavior later.

Hoisting Rae up, I could hear pounding footsteps coming up the stairs.  Great.  There was only one thing left to do, so I ran up the last flight.  The door was unlocked, surprisingly, and I stepped through, into a scene from a spy movie.

There was a large monitor at the far end of the wide room, displaying a map of the United States.  The states were colored green, some brighter than others.  More computers and technicians...and a man in a suit, talking furiously into a cell phone.  They all turned at the sound of my footsteps, and we were left to regard each other.

He seemed bemused.  "So.  Millions of dollars go into this project, and we're compromised by someone who can't even purchase alcohol legally.  Drop the proxy, and put your hands on your head."

Maybe I just have an irrational hatred of suits these days, but I wasn't ready to give up just like that.  "Better idea, you let us out after I'm done rearranging your face."  I put Rae down gently and started for him.

That was when eight people in body armor burst into the room from behind, carrying rifles.  I hardly had time to turn around before they were pointed straight at me.  Slowly, I put my hands up.  The man in the suit stepped forward.

"You're pretty resourceful for someone on the run, but you could never hope to match us in a matter of sheer firepower.  What did you think coming here was going to accomplish?"

You know me.  Never quiet, even at the threat of instant death.  "I was under the impression I would breeze in here, rescue the femme fetale, while defeating your dastardly minions in hand to hand combat, before leaping out the window, barely outrunning a poor green-screen explosion."

Not a chuckle.  Goddammit.  "You don't look witty, you know.  Just kind of foolish.  I don't know what connection you have to that subject, but-"

"Rachel."

"What?"

"Her NAME is Rachel.  Say, or I'll-" One of the troops stepped forward.  I fell silent, glaring daggers at the agent.

"...You really aren't one of them, are you?  A friend of hers, then?  You do know she's lost her mind.  Anything we can learn from her would benefit us all." He adopted a calmer tone, probably trying to reason with me.  "You probably know that USP-01- your 'Slender Man'- hones in on those with knowledge of him.  This girl's existence is now a federal secret.  It would be foolish to waste time trying to rehabilitate her, when her body, which has been exposed to USP-01 for years, could potentially contain crucial data on it."

"Is that all she is?  Data?  She's a human being, you fuck."

He just narrowed his eyes.  "If you aren't going to cooperate, we will take you into custody.  You really have no choice but to do as we say, if you want to leave here alive.  There was never any chance of you breaking in and escaping all on your own."

I was quiet.  The guards started for me.  And five seconds later, my ace in the whole triggered.  Sirens.  Lots of them.  I grinned.  "Looks like I'm not on my own after all."

"...What did you do."

"Tip off to the police- I'm being held hostage in this very building.  They'll demand to search the entire place, Suit.  We'll be found.  You can't wipe the data clean that quick, either, so your little organization is gonna get dragged out into the light, too."

He scowled, pausing to think.  One of the soldiers headed over the window and pulled the curtains aside.  "He's right.  Police, at least three cars."  That moment of distraction was enough.  My gun was out and at the agent's head.  He froze, staring at me.

"Last chance.  Let us go."

There was a pause.  Two minutes, maybe three.  Then a ringing noise.  The agent's phone.  He whipped it out.  "Hello?  ...Yes, he's-..."  The expression on his face softened into something I couldn't really pick out.  He tossed the phone at me.  "It's for you."

I almost missed the catch, I was so surprised.  Holding it up, I spoke.  "Uh, hi."

"Mr. Reynolds?"  The voice was calm, direct.

"Speaking.  Who the hell are you?"

"You don't need to know who I am.  I apologize on behalf of my subordinates- there was no reason violence had to occur, and ideally this situation can be resolved without it."

"No REASON?  What the hell is your pro-"

"We have little time, thanks to you, Mr. Reynolds.  Rachel Ahlgren is a valuable test subject, but I am willing to allow you to remove her from our custody- in exchange for your assistance in keeping this facility a secret."

I frowned.  "That's a good deal.  Little too good, if you ask me."

"I have a vested interested in maintaining good relations with people in your position.  You have proven yourselves resourceful enough to be a severe hindrance to us if you want to be.  Now, do we have a deal?'

I wasn't done yet.  "Hey, bastard, you think I can just pretend you didn't strap her to a goddamn cutting board?  You hurt her, treated her like property, and-"

"You have a right to be angry.  But that anger is wasted at me.  I'm just damage control, Mr. Reynolds."

"...We're not done, but for now, yeah, I'll help keep your dumb secret."

"Thank you.  Please return the phone to my colleague."  I put my gun away, walked up to the suit, and handed it back, warily.  After a minute of talking in hushed tones, he hung up and signaled the soldiers to lower their weapons.

"You're off the hook, kid.  This time."

I glared.  "Don't think I'll forget this.  I'm still gonna beat your face in for what you did to her."

He looked at me, and...chuckled.  "You've definitely got guts.  Whether you're crazy or just plain stupid, at the very least, you're no coward."  He gestured at the doorway.  "Well, shall we?  We have some lying to law enforcement to do."

"One last question.  Who ARE you people?"

"Kid?  If you knew, specifically, the answer to that, the deal would have to be off.  Count your lucky stars."

I hoisted Rae up, and was escorted out.  That wasn't all to it...but that's for another post.  My encounter with the government ended there.

March was fun, Part one.

Isn't this what you love?  Coming back to the internet after a long bout of sleuthing and misadventures that resulted in injury and dead ends, as if you were an upright businessman returning home after a long trip to a meeting where you were outbid, and you found your wife shacking the mailman.  Only in this case, the wife is the other stalked, and it's not shacking so much as it is completely going to shit.

...Fuck off, my metaphors are the best.

Sufficed to say, I've been busy.  And while I do my best to keep people appraised of my movements, there wasn't a lot of time to update this blog while I was fighting for my life.  Again.  This makes, what, twelve times?  At this rate monotony is going to kill me before any proxy does.

Here's how it started.  I received an email.  Offering the location of Rise for "a favor."  Right.  So, I replied with my usual charm and social grace but left the implication that I wasn't completely closed off to the idea.  The response gave me an address, and a time, midnight (again, very subtle) and away I went.

So I showed up at the place and started looking around for the guy who was trying to take me by surprise.  Train station.   Heavy fog.  The atmosphere was such that I was half expected Slender to have learned to type.

Fog wasn't so big that I could miss a certain massive figure, though.  Obstruction wasn't trying to hide, to be fair.  He lumbered forward, watching me.  I raised my eyebrows.

"You gonna try to kill me, or...?"

He shook his head.  I sighed.  "Okay, so it's charades.  Go for it.  First word?"

He pointed behind me.  I looked.  "Oh.  You're good at this game."

Rhodes was leaning against the booth, eyes glittering green in the dark.  His suit was finely pressed as ever.  Somebody has an obsession.  You know, other than with torturing me.  I went for my sword.  He laughed.

"Just a minute.  I knew where you were staying, I could've come there if I wanted a fight.  I just want to talk."

"Yeah, but you didn't really take what I want into account, did you?" I snarled.  "And I'd like to gut you pretty bad.  The fact that you'll probably get up after it isn't really helping the urge."

 That damned slasher grin of his.  "Ohhh~?  Yeah, you wanna waste me because of what I did to little miss sketches crazy.  I raped her, killed her, probably kneed her in the sides, too.  ...Or did I?"

I wasn't in the mood for games.  "You got something to say about her?"

"Oh but it's so much more FUN when it's left ambiguous, don't you agree?  Half the blogs seem to go that way, and THOSE are the ones the readers drink in deeply.  You're left to draw your own conclusion, because let's face it, after all the buildup, what possible conclusion couldn't fail to meet your expectations?  I mean, just look at LOST.  So...No, I won't tell you what happened to Nessa.  But between you and me?  Whether I tortured her before burning the body, or whether I never laid a finger on her...You won't be seeing her again.  It doesn't really make much of a difference."

I crossed my arms.  "Okay.  So you draw me here, and then decide you AREN'T going to tell me something I'd like to know.  Great start.  I feel like cooperating already."

He held out his hands, a gesture of peace that was as ironic coming from him as it would be from someone with a bomb strapped to their chest.  "I didn't lie.  I have information for you.  I don't know where Rachel is, but I can point you in her general direction."

"And what do you gain from this?"

Rhodes looked straight at me.  "I'll be blunt, June.  If you go here, you'll mess up the plans of someone I really don't like.  For me it's simply a matter of setting one enemy against another.  Our personal history aside, you're not really the type to let a lead to a friend go dry just to spite me.  So you will find a way to save her, and I will have inconvenienced a serious annoyance.  More importantly, I will be very amused."

I had to let out a laugh at all of this.  "I take it proxydom isn't one big happy family?  Although, honestly, I could have probably deduced that on my own.  You just pissed they didn't let you in on the job?"

A shrug.  "As far as you know!  Think of it as a mystery.  The quest giver usually has ulterior motives in today's RPGs, doesn't he?"

"...Give me the address."

He rubbed his hands together.  "Now this is the crazy part.  The people you want a word with are closer than you think.  They're in this very city, as a matter of fact."

I snorted.  "Come on.  That's bull."

"It's the truth!  It may seem like a crazy coincidence.."

"...but it's no coincidence.  They're following me, aren't they?"

He frowned.  "To be honest, I'm not sure if they're following you OR me.  Either way, them being here at the same time makes perfect sense.  At any rate, you're just getting the address out of me.  If you're too prepared, that's half the fun gone.

"Alright.  The address.  Now."

And believe it or not, he just gave it to me.  No ambush, no tricks.  He just handed me a slip of paper and that was that.  He must've really hated this guy, I thought.  The two of them walked off into the night.  And I was on my own, with a piece of paper as my only guide.

Honestly, better odds than I've had in the past.

The address was for an abandoned store in a less than reputable part of town.  Specifically, a toy store.  The place certainly looked like no living being had stepped in it for years, the paint was flaking, the wooden sign was practically chipped away to nothing...the glass on the door was broken, even.

It was almost a little TOO picturesque.  Like it'd be prettied up to look abandoned, or prettied down in this case.  It didn't matter either way, I suppose.  I knew somebody was in there.

Walking into a proxy den is never advisable.  But they weren't exactly going to come out and talk if I asked.  I didn't have a choice.  I had some tricks up my sleeve, anyway.  I've learned my lesson about just charging in- don't do it unless you're using a bulldozer.

I walked around the back.  There was a rear entrance, noticeably in better shape than the front.  Locked, but it was pretty easy to pick.  The door swung open before I could stop it...almost silently.  Oiled hinges.  That was a pretty slick thing (ha ha) to catch for a proxy.  They weren't amateurs, so I had to step lightly.

Closing the door behind me, I gave a quick look around.  Fairly normal backroom stuff.  Boxes, shelves...stairs down.  With a quick look at the front (empty), I started down them.  It was dark, pitch black in fact, so I waited for my eyes to adjust before proceeding.  Helped just enough for me to not fall.

There was only one flight.  And it led into a cellar.  Now that's an odd thing for a toy store to have.  Guess this building had quite the history.  And this was no ordinary cellar.  It was HUGE.  Easily more room down here than the entire floor above.

And footsteps.  I wasn't alone.

They weren't urgent.  In fact, they were slow.  Relaxed.  I actually heard someone humming lightly.  I sat back and listened.  When they were receding from the stairway, I peered around.  There was a door ahead of me and passages on either side.  I followed the sound of the footsteps, to the right.

There was a figure, strolling in the dim light a few ceiling lamps were providing.  He was going slowly, comfortably.  I couldn't really make him out very well, and at any rate, he could've turned around at any moment.  Instead, I went back to the left.  Clear.  Stepping lightly, I could hear the occasionally footsteps from a few directions.  There were a few people here, couldn't really get a good estimate.  I leaned around a corner and froze - somebody standing guard.  He was hunched over on a bench, facing the turn.  I didn't pull back fast enough, he gave a grunt of surprise.  I heard him get up and start towards me.  There wasn't much time, had to do this quick.

I pulled something out of my pouch and quickly shot around the corner, holding it up to his face.  A hanky, specifically, soaked in cooking spray.  Just about the cheapest anesthetic one can get.  Hey, when I say prepared, I mean I tried my best not to half ass it.

He struggled, but thankfully he was pretty muffled by the cloth.  Soon enough, he slumped down.  Good thing he wasn't much bigger than me.  I risked a pencil light to give him a once over.  Wearing pretty nondescript clothing, not a lot to him...except the gun at his belt.  That could've been trouble.  I took it, to be safe, and the ammo I could find on him.

There wasn't any time, or place for that matter, to hide the body.  All I could do was press forward.  And soon I reached the end.  Another door.  No other passages.  I'd have to risk it.  I stepped forward and opened the door, entering into what was clearly the main room of the cellar.  Which had been converted into...

A listening post.

There was a huge server set up, and wires everywhere, with a pretty big-ass monitor and a computer right in the middle of it all.  To the side there were cots set up- six of them.  At the computer was another man, and to his side a woman.  In the couple of seconds before they turned around, I had the gun out.

"Not in the mood to fuck around.  Hands up."

They complied.  I walked forward.  "Now, for starters-" That was as far as I got.  The woman was right next to me faster than I could follow and had knocked the gun out of my hand.  Then her fist was in my gut, and her other hand reached around, grabbed at the back of my neck.

She was trained.  These weren't any mooks.

I'd just about had it with people getting in my way these past few months, so I sort of lost my temper with the lady.  She got a headbutt to her forehead and a boot to her leg.  Shoving her forward, I pounced with the chloroform, holding it to her mouth.  The guy at the computer wasn't doing anything, I like to think he was kind of confused watching a scruffy teenager beat up his pal.

Once she was out, I turned to him.  "Okay, answers."

Silence.  I held my gun up.  He looked me straight in the eyes, defiant.  There was a pause.

"You aren't gonna shoot me, are you."

...I holstered it.  "No.  But you are going to tell me where my friend is.  You know that's what I'm here about."

Confusion.  "Friend?  Your boss doesn't have friends.  He's got lackeys, disillusioned teenagers.  Who are you?"

"I think you just implied I work for Rhodes.  First mistake.  Second will be not telling me what the fuck is going on here."

"You broke in here, pal.  You owe me an explanation, I think."

He was a lot chattier than the others.  Maybe that's why they kept him cooped up at the computer.  "If you aren't talking, then get out of the way."  I admit, I really wasn't sure what to do here.  So I checked him for weapons (unarmed) and opened what he was doing on the computer.

A lot of it was in code.  Eagles leaving nests, walruses shining their tusks, all manner of things that implied coming out of the closet or were just plain ole double entrendes.  Or however the fuck that's spelled.  Anyways, I got a bit out of it.  Stuff about Rise, and a lot about a Snake. (no prizes for guessing)  Finally..."Subject transferred to Walker Alpha." Timestamped three days previously.  I got out a thumbdrive and starting copying everything on Rise and Rhodes onto it.

The desk jockey was backing off.  I got up and grabbed him by the scruff of his neck.  He wasn't that much older than me.  "Who are you people?  Talk.  This can be a Batman interrogation, or a Jack Bauer one.  Pick."

He stared.  "You really are a fuckin kid, aren't you?"

"Shut up, I have to take cues from something."

"This is ridiculous.  You really have no clue what you're doing, do you?  You're downloading encrypted files.  Those files mean more than your life.  You have the option of backing off right now and living, or getting into even deeper shit.  Get out while you're still ignorant, and not a liability."

That pretty much settled it.  "You're government, aren't you.  Goddammit."  Silence.  "Well, as a taxpayer of the United States (theoretically), allow me to provide you with some valuable feedback."  I dropped him, removed the thumbdrive from the computer, picked up, and threw it at the server.  There was a lot of wrecked technology in record time...and a shrill alarm ringing out.  Whoops.  Time to go.  I bolted out of the room.

On my way out, I heard a thump coming from the other corridor- the other guard tripping over the wire I'd planted in his path.  I was up the stairs and out the door before anyone could catch me.

...So.  I probably could've handled that better.  But I had to do spur of the moment thinking.  At least I had information.  Decrypting it was going to take some doing.  But I had a few ideas planned.

And for the sake of length, I'm ending the first half of my recap here.

CSI: Wherever the fuck I am

Okay, alright, well.  Take a deep breath, chillax...

I'm in a safe place, with soda.  Lots and lots of soda.  I have a drinking problem when it comes to Mountain Dew.  Elaine, TMV, take notes on how to be cool.

Simple matter is, soda usually calms my nerves.  And my nerves are currently doing the reverse double tripe backwards polo jump.     ...as the existence of that sentence proves.  Alright, let me try to explain what happened.  not just to you guys, but to myself.

I was in...well, I guess I can tell you.  Lowell, MA.  It's a pretty neat city.  Lotsa bricks, factories, stuff from the Industrial Revolution.  It has some damn old buildings, and some somewhat old ones.  The old Wang R&D building, which is now Middlesex Community College's Lowell Campus.  Place is pretty massive, and there're almost no windows- mainly cause they didn't want their researchers to ever see the light of day.

Why is this important?  I went there from age 16 to 18.  It was pretty much highschool for me.  Lot of memories there.  I was back there to look for Rise, in short.  I remember way back when she first started making herself known to me, she kept searching through places that I'd spent a lot of time in, looking for me.  I figured...it might be a good place to check, at the very least.

I didn't really want anyone to recognize me, so I wore a hoodie and didn't make eye contact.  And I checked the whole building.  Nothing.  Wasted afternoon.  nothing but a bunch of memories that aren't even relevant any more.  What did any of that matter if I was just going to lose everything?  School didn't help me survive this long, the only things that did that were luck.

But I'm getting away from the point.  I went outside, crossed a bridge, started walking through the residential area on the way back to my bike.

It got dark fast.  Really fast.  That was the first warning sign.  Nobody was around- warning sign number 2.  I drew a knife.

Then I heard...someone singing.

Just a light, pleasant tune that floated on the wind.  I couldn't even make out the lyrics, or where it was coming from, but it was a man's voice.  It was...enjoyable to listen to.  I almost relaxed for a moment, before I remembered what the hell was going on.  Then I smelled something burning.

The singing stopped.  The silence, by comparison, was cold and unnerving.  And it was silent.  Dead silent.  I took a step, heard it echo.  Trying to make as little noise as possible, I kept going, determined to ditch as soon as possible.  The smell got stronger.

I saw it by the light of a street lamp.  A lump in an alleyway.  The smell was coming from it.  I'm not sure why, but...I went towards it.  It was a body.  A man, pretty normal looking from the way he was dressed.  I turned him over.

His face was gone.  Burned clean off.

I almost yelled out in shock.  What did come out was a sort of strangled gasp.  I stepped back, but...I couldn't look away from it, no matter how horrible it was.  I felt sick.  no, sick isn't strong enough.  I felt like I was gonna collapse and vomit right there on the spot.

Just then it started raining.  The cold water snapped me out of it.  I took a few more steps back.

And the singing started again.  Closer this time.  It wasn't in English.  I could hear the man's tone...it was friendly enough, but now there was...something else to it.  Something...eager.  I was suddenly wishing for the silence again.  Then there were footsteps.  Softly ringing footsteps.  I couldn't tell where they were coming from either.  Just that they were getting louder.

Can I just say, fuck that shit.  I ran.  I didn't stop running until I got to my bike and started the engine.  I looked back.

Someone was there.  Someone wearing a heavy coat.  Not too tall, not too short.  He was walking in a circle, not even looking at me.  Singing.

I clamped the rev so hard I hurt my hand.  I was on the road and out of there.  The singing followed me for about a block, then I couldn't hear it through the rain.

Fuck, hands are shaking.  too much dew, I hope.  need to lie down.

jesus fucking christ who the fuck would do something like this.

Uhm.  I found a body.  It's this dude...fuck, no, I'm getting out of here.

if whoever's ripping off Hush is still around I'd rather not stop to chat

No sign of her so far...

I tried following a proxy, but he was one of those braindead types.  Didn't really get anything out of him (although it was nice to meet a proxy that didn't ham it up like drunk Christian Bale).

I might have a source of information, but it'll take time to pay off, and I really can't say who.

One of the first places I checked was what I think was the last place she'd held up, but it was trashed and abandoned.  No clues, either.  Which...is odd.  I was expecting some sort of mocking tirade from Rhodes in paper form, but the entire room was picked clean.  It was like an actual kidnapper had been in there, not a suited, narcissistic monkey.

Not so much as a peep out of Team Rhodes, either.  Jade keeps sending me creepy emails and that's about it.  (long since marked her address as spam)

And...I haven't seen the Big Man around in forever.  Got this weird feeling, though..I've been uneasy for a few weeks now.  Sort of like a less intense version of the sickness I get when he's right there in front of me.  The silence is sort of starting to get to me...is this his new strategy?  Passive-aggressively ignoring me?  Dear god, he IS like a clingy ex.

If anything changes, you guys'll be the first to know.  Well.  After me.  And whoever tried to kill me this time.  Or...yeah you should just go.

I want fire to appear whenever I get passionate.

If only any of us had half the stones this guy does, this would be over a lot faster.

I just need to learn how to make kanji appear in the sky whenever I yell.  how hard can it be?

Just goes to show how little other stuff matters now.

It only just occurred to me that I turned 19 four days ago.

The one year anniversary of being stalked.  I remember pretty clearly, I saw him for the first time ever February 10th, 2011.  At the time, he just appeared and was gone when I blinked.  I didn't think much of it, just thought I was being paranoid as usual.  He'd prove me wrong over the course of the next couple of months, which would ultimately lead into this blog, and...well, no shortage of trouble.

I made it a year.  Hell, I'll take whatever victory I can get.  I can confidently say that if he'd had his way I wouldn't be here right now.  So...drink that down with a tall glass of SUCK IT, you faceless fuck.

Taking a step back, looking at where I've gone, who I've become...This is who I am now.  This is my life.  I have no doubts about that anymore, believe me.

I won't stop until I've removed him from this world, until he's left every last human he's connected to alone.

So, here's my ultimatum to you, "Slenderman", if that IS your real name, which it isn't, but...shut up.  Leave.  Go back home to your cave or your forest or your weird psycho dimension or your home planet or whatever the fuck you came from.  I'll forgive all you've done if you just pack up and never bother humankind again.

You probably don't give a shit about that, even if you can understand me.  But just remember that I gave you a way out.  And if you don't take it, I won't stop until one of us is dead.


Count on it.

So you're a Fighter. So what?

We do a fair amount of both fleeing and fighting in this business. (though nobody's ever given ME a card, business my ass)  There are people who just try to outrun this nightmare, and there are the people like me, stupid enough to draw a line in the sand and dare them to cross it.  But even us Fighters have to know when to retreat.  It's all about the long game for me, the big goal.

I guess what I'm trying to get to here is some advice for people who might be a little lost.  cause I mean, we're all lost, to an extent.  The fact is, though, at this point I've survived a lot of stuff.  Part of that was due to luck, sure, but I'd like to think that I have at least a bit of insight into how to survive by now.

So...Let's assume you're like me and you don't want to just leave all this behind, cut some sort of deal that gets you off, Run and never look back.  You want to KNOW that you'll be free.  Maybe you don't want to ditch other people who are in the same bind.  I guess it doesn't really matter for now.  Whether it's cause of revenge, or some sense of justice, or just to be absolutely certain, you want to bring the Slender Man down.

First off, let me just say that the goal of being free may very well differ from killing Slender.  Yeah, I know, crazy talk, right?  Especially from a guy who lost his parents to the faceless freak.  But I'm not doing this cause of revenge.  That's pointless.  Meaningless.  They aren't gonna spring back to life in a snappy song and dance routine just cause I kill Slenderman. (maybe I should be happy about that one)  But in the end, what I want is for Slender Man to leave humanity be.  Maybe this will mean destroying him, maybe not.  Just remember that violence is never optimal.  On that topic..

Proxies.  Good god, what a can of worms.  Either our former fellows who've completely lost it or psychopaths sucking up to a monster cause they couldn't take it in the real world.  What do you do with these jerks?  They run around and kill people, and often they're just douches for the sake of it.

What I want you to do is consider this.  How different are you from them?  You're both being haunted by the same enemy.  They just couldn't take it.  You shouldn't hate the proxies, you should pity them.  And you should show mercy.  Don't retaliate with more violence, don't fight force with force.  If you show them mercy, you're reminding them that humanity is still a possibility for them.  Every proxy has the potential to break free.  Hell, I think at least half of them still have their minds but don't have a choice but to serve Slender!

All I'm saying is, we're in the same boat.  True, we've got Rhodes and Writer and the like for the REAL sick fucks, but who knows why they are the way they are?  You certainly don't.  If we're to be better than them, we can't lower ourselves to their level.  We have to show them that we're human, and that makes us stronger.

Also, do I really need to say this?  MURDER IS BAD.  And it's AGAINST THE LAW.  Like, being chased by Slenderman does not give you diplomatic immunity!  Think like a rational person and don't go around knifing fools just because they wear khakis and a mask.

Well, this is awkward.

We all groaned when Sonic Heroes brought back Shadow the Hedgehog (at least, I HOPE we all did) and none of us believed it the second and third times Zero (the MMX character, not the man) died, either.  Coming back from the dead basically leaves a person with no credibility whatsoever, and it's always a bad idea.

So you can kind of understand how this is a little bit of a confusing situation for me.  Let me first confirm- I didn't die.  I don't have any secret ritual that can bring me back to life, I didn't have part of my soul squat in an abandoned cigarette holder just in case some whiny British kid killed me, and I am absolutely not an elf. (thank god)  I was shot by Rhodes, in the center of my chest.  I'd compliment him on his aim if I weren't a little more cross about it.  Then according to Rise (I certainly don't remember, I was kind of in a lot of pain) I was buried under huge chunks of debris as the warehouse came down around us.

I guess the secret technique is "don't actually die."  Cause I didn't.  I lived long enough for the police to dig me out.  The next thing I knew, I was waking up on a hospital bed, with the scars from the surgery starting to heal.  They told me it'd been a week.  Guess I don't do naps by half-measure.

I could barely MOVE, let alone get to a computer, so, you can understand why I was unable to inform you all of the good news.  This time, I was well aware that I could die without the aid, and thus I was less eager to burst out of the hospital.  Oddly enough, they didn't even mention anything about the last time I was hospitalized...  Come to think of it, I never got charged for that.  I guess it was Slender fucking around with shit, again.

Eighteen more days in the hospital, and then I was out.  And ever since then, I've been on the move, hunting down Rhodes.  I kept radio silence for a very specific reason- I wanted to surprise him.  Seriously, posting your intent on your blog happens so much that I was almost overjoyed for the opportunity for some good old fashioned sneaking around.

It didn't give me any pleasure to let those who care about me suffer.  But I was going after Rhodes, a man who kills for fun, and Writer, who he has formed some sort of business pact with (never trust assholes in suits), a guy who can bend reality.  My "death" gave me the perfect opportunity to surprise them, and maybe even fuck up whatever they were planning.  But it was risky.  I didn't want to raise people's hopes, just to let them be dashed all over again.

Another unfortunate side effect was a lonely Christmas.  But...we all make sacrifices.  And that's a relatively small one.

At any rate, last week, I'd tracked Rhodes to Montreal, which is apparently Writer's love nest or something.  I was stalking them down a riverside path, when I spotted a man who'd appeared out of nowhere.  I knew who it was.  And quite suddenly, the three of them vanished.  One of Writer's special little labyrinths, called a Loop.

The last time we broke into a loop, it had...mixed results.  I have a feeling we only got in cause Writer wanted us to.  This time, I was gonna have to get clever.

Or not.  I knew I wasn't likely to be able to exploit the Loop in any way in order to gain entry.  It probably involves bullshit quantum science or something like that.  Writer's a lot more clever than I am.  But he's not nearly as dumb, or single minded.  That was something I could use.

I walked up to the spot where Spencer had been, stuck my hand forward.  Nothing.  Guess it wouldn't be easy, either.  Instead, I took a deep breath and visualized the riverside as it was before the three vanished.  Their positions, and it particularly, Spencer's face.

Throwing my hand forward again, it felt...sluggish.  Like I was moving it through water.  A curious ripple appeared in midair in front of me.  Having seen some pretty weird shit in my time (giant murderous trees come to mind), it was actually kind of tame.  At least the visual effect was.  Mentally, less so.  It felt like someone had applied a pair of psychic pliers or something to my brain.  Crushing, oppressive weight.  I wanted to back out...But I couldn't help but wonder what would happen if I kept pushing.  In my experience, the harder it is to push something, the more satisfying the result is when it comes crashing down.

So I kept going.  And what happened next was surprisingly simplistic.  I broke through the wall of the Loop.  Literally, I could hear a noise like glass shattering, almost.  Maybe it's just cause that was the visual of it I had in my mind.  I could see the three of them, through a weird sort of haze.  As I pushed, the haze started to vanish.  I felt...a bit giddy.  Like, more so than usual.  I attribute it to my brain being squeezed like a lemon.  Hence why the only thing on my mind was what 1950s catchphrase to yell out.  I decided there wasn't enough appreciation for the classics, and made my choice accordingly.

"LUCY, I'M HOOOOOOOOOOME!"

If ONLY I had a camera.  Their faces.  Fucking priceless.  Rhodes in particular was speechless.  I would've liked to have given them a fight, but...Dunno if I could've taken em.  Not with Spencer puking his guts over the pavement.

Speaking of Spencer, he grabbed me and we took the Path out.  As unpleasant an experience as ever.  Luckily, Spence knows what he's doing, whereas when I use it it's akin to a drunken parrot attempting to navigate an alleyway full of used medical syringes and broken bits of glass.

I spent about a day in that House of theirs.  Didn't...really notice anything.  I'd heard stories about how it's a Loop, but it seemed pretty normal to me.  ...Does that make me the crazy one?  Perfect.

But...the good news that I was back was tempered with bad news.  Lia's father died to save her while I was "dead".  So...that's where I've been the past few days.  At her side, where I should've been earlier.  She's...holding up.  I think my flipping death the bird gave her a little bit of hope to stand on.  At least it did some good.

So.  Here I am again.  Not entirely sure what I'm going to do now, to be honest...But to be fair, Lia needs me.  I don't need any other objective than that for now.

But once I've given this wafflegirl all the hugs she needs, I'll probably go find Rise.  Sounds like she needs my help too...

And after that, well, it's a big world, and there's all sorts of trouble I can stir up for our masked friends.  Let's just hope my luck improves a little.

Show's back on the road, people.