Susan the secretary sat in a chair under the glare of multiple S-grade light stones that shone so brightly they made her skin seem transparent. The quick, stressed rhythm of her heart beat evident in the pulse of her veins was clearly visible for the pair of Auditors who calmly watched her through black sunglasses from the other side of the metal table. She clinched her fist and rolled her wrist against the restraints that held her hands tightly against the chair she was seated in. Yes, this is the same Susan who panicked and sent our wayward Hero, Joe, onward with the PMS system.
After Joe had been sent away, the whole of the DOD was swarmed by several legions of Intergalactic System Auditors. It is said they come from the race of beings who first fashioned the systems that guards the known realities. No one really knows. However, one thing is certainly known about the Auditors. They have no sense of humor at all. They had not found it amusing when Susan had implied that releasing the S grade system, PMS, into the hands of one ‘Joe Hunt’ had been an accident.
I won’t bore you with the dialogue that took place between these characters, but I will tell you that she held no detail back from their fierce questioning. The only thing they couldn’t figure out was why the name Joe Hunt was attached to the ticketing number 3592 that belonged to one ‘Wilbur Franchesa’ from Fresno California. The auditors with their lack of humor would begin their reclamation efforts there. Which, thankfully, was several hundred miles away from the actual location of our intrepid young hero, Joe.
It's a good thing that’s true, because reclamation always required the termination of the individual’s current life cycle to happen. What they didn’t know was that Wilbur Franchesa was actually hiding in storage room A134. He was hiding from his dearly departed wife while he flirted with one of the younger secretaries who had also decided to hide in the same storage room to avoid the audit. It was a good storage room to hide in because it was basically neglected and forgotten, but it was full of survival gear sets for various planets and circumstances. It was a huge room, and you could live there comfortably for years.
Susan was demoted to janitor but allowed to live. That was a rare occurrence with the auditors. They had seen her 578 Universal Standard Cycles of consistent service as reason to be somewhat lenient. However, the biggest reason is not one Susan was aware of. She had been manipulated into sending Joe onward. What no one realized yet was that even the dropping of the ticket at Joe’s feet, Joe’s system, and his return to His own world had all been orchestrated by someone. Who is a question that will not be answered until a much later time, but those who pay attention may discover the answer earlier than expected.
Somewhere else in the Multiverse
??? – How is the Audit going?
Potato – How do you think it’s going? They caught us completely unaware. I’d be surprised if they didn’t use this as the excuse they’ve been looking for to take control away from us.
??? – And what do you plan to do about it?
Potato – Oh, I have a plan. Somehow, whatever happened dropped PMS literally on my doorstep. I picked up on it with my right eye scan. There are some complications, however. It won’t be easy to leverage this advantage.
??? – PMS?! The S-grade system. It’s literally limitless in its potential.
Potato – Yeah, but somethings wrong. Bad wrong. I’m not sure why, but every time I try to access it with level 3 protocols, all I get back is a ‘System Error’ message.
??? – No excuses, you must make this happen. We need the PMS system if we are going to fight the influence of the Auditors.
Potato – … I know. It will happen. Somehow. It will take some time
??? – Time is not something we have a limitless supply of…
Potato – Obviously, but it will take the Auditors at least 6 months to reach a critical junction. We have at least that much time if not double that. Just wait. I’ve got this. Have I ever failed?
??? – No, you haven’t. But let’s make sure it stays that way.
Potato – Okay, I have to get back. I can’t stay gone any longer. Claire will be back out of the bathroom soon.
??? – Go. I’ll contact you if anything changes.
Potato – Yes Master. Goodbye
As Joe walked down the street with his friends, he suddenly had a strange foreboding. ‘That’s weird. Why are my ears burning all of a sudden.’ Shrugging His shoulders, Joe let it all go and focused back on the conversation He was having with his best friends as they made their way to Jakes house. Sweet Memories Trailer Park was on the ‘other side’ of the railroad tracks and took about a half hour for them to walk the distance. Samantha was there as well. She had been steadily working her way through a couple of bags of popcorn as she watched everything that had happened in the last couple of hours. She had left to ‘finish a chore’ she had committed to, but she caught back up with the group about 7 minutes later.
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“Hey Joe! What ya want to do next time you get a bunch of GD points? You want to make yourself crazy strong?” (Samantha)
“No, yeah no. I think I’ll just gradually increase everything equally. That perception boost sucked!” (Joe)
“I’d save it up for a skill”. (Will)
“Yeah, like invisibility! Imagine what you could do if no one could see you” (Jake)
“You’d just use it to spy on Sally next door! (Will)
“Shut your mouth! No, I wouldn’t!” (Jake)
The two continued to bicker and Samantha continued to eat popcorn and smile. Joe just tuned it all out and tried to pay attention to what was around him. As they went, he kept finding spare change. He was already up to $15.87 on this trip alone.
In this way, they quickly made their way through the faded wooden arches that marked the beginning of the property known as “Sweet Memories Trailer Park”. Walking down the gravel road, they turned right at the first intersection and went to the end cul-de-sac. There, directly ahead, sat Jakes trailer in all of its grungy glory. Walking up the 4 shaky wooden steps on the outside, Jake wrestled his keys out of his pocket and opened the door for the gang.
Loud shouting and gunfire greeted them as soon as the door swung open. Diving for cover, the Will and Joe looked up at Jake standing there shaking his head.
“It’s just my older brother, Jason playing one of His shooter games. Come on in, we will go back to my room” (Jake)
Hesitantly Joe followed Will up the stairs, through the small kitchen, and past the dimly lit living room where Jason sat on a frumpy, miscolored, brown couch man-handling a console controller and cursing like a natural born sailor.
“Jake?!? Grab me a beer from the fridge! Where have you been?” (Jason)
“Whatever, bro” Jake said as he quickly backtracked grabbed a cheap beer and chunked it toward the couch.
Following that, our trio quickly fled the living room, entered Jakes room, and shut the door behind them. Jakes room is what you would expect from a typical rocker teenager. Lots of concert posters of dubious morality hung on the walls. There was a computer, various comic books, and a trophy from a middle-school track and field competition. A cheap guitar and amp sat in the corner next to a practice drum pad and various sheet music; all signs of Jakes struggling musical talent. And of course, somewhere, hidden underneath piles of teenage detritus, was an old, favored, Metallica t-shirt, lost to the ages.
With a grunt of aggravation mixed with a sigh of relief, Jake flopped down on his bed while his friends took a couple of semi-cleaned spots on his couch.
Just as they were about to unpack their bags and get settled in for the evening, Jakes brother started pounding on the door with the vigor of a self-righteous older brother.
“Open up Pip-squeak! I’m not going to ask a second time” (Jason)
“What’da ya want? Go away!” (Jake)
Keeping his word, Jason yanked the door open and stormed in
“Give me $50. Stacy’s coming over.” (Jason)
Jason had a crush on Stacy for the last 4 years, and Stacy milked it for everything it was worth. Always close but somehow just out of reach. She had started “coming over” for the last year since she discovered that she could get Jason to loan her money if she played some video games with him.
“No way! Loser! Go get a real girlfriend.” (Jake)
Jason scanned the room and noticed a bulging side pocket on Joe’s backpack where Joe had been stuffing all of his coins and found cash. With a speed born of teenage hormones and lust, he darted in grabbed the backpack and fled.
Joe was having none of that.
Leaping up with increased agility he chased after Jason who had darted outside, backpack in hand. When Jason looked up he saw Joe hot on his heels with the intensity of someone who had had enough bad days to last a lifetime. Joe was over it. Jason yelped in surprise and fled around the back of the trailer and through the woods.
Joe quickly caught up to him, grabbed one of the flaps from the backpack, and kicked Jason’s feet out from under him as he ran. Jason tumbled to a halt in the leaves and got up. He was angry.
“Joe! That’s going too far. Who do you think you are? Are you courting death!! [wait, wrong genre] Who do you think you are?” (Jason)
“What’s going on, Jason?” (????)
Joe and Jason turned simultaneously toward the sound of the voice just in time to see 5 young men walk out of the tree line behind Jason. It was the Willowford Gang. Jason had connections with them; kind of a junior member if you will. Bill, their leader, had spoken.
“Joe’s stealing my money!” (Jason)
“What!? No, that’s not ri..”. (Joe)
“Is that right? Well, we can’t have that. Touching one of us is touching all of us.” (Bill)
About that time Jake and Will entered the scene sliding to a halt behind Joe. Realizing that things were getting complicated Jason said “Just give me back that money, Joe. I’ll let it slide this time. It’s not like you got the muscle to back these kinds of things.”
“Yes, he does!” Blurted out Will “He could kick your butt! He could.. He could even beat Bill”.
Joe stared slack jawed at Will who was grinning and giving him a double thumbs up as he slowly backpedaled.
Chuckling and exchanging glances, the Willowford Gang spread out in a circle around Joe as Bill stepped forward.
“Them are fightin’ words where I come from.” (Bill) “Better put your money where your mouth is.”
~~~~~~~~~~
*Ding* (APP)
A small-time gang is committing a crime in your vicinity. You have three tasks.
- Stop them from stealing.
- Defeat their leader to lower their morale.
- Dismantle or repurpose the gang if possible.
Rewards will be according to your level of success.
Good luck young hero!!
~~~~~~~~~~
End Chapter 10