#26

You makes sure Your simple clothes are free of blood. You's disposed of the Fennec uniform; wearing such a thing would be pure poison in this town. It's when You looks down at Yourself that You realizes something—if E is Susie's stepdad, he may be able to recognize You if You doesn't keep a low profile. This is the first time You's thought about how Your enemy—if indeed You has an enemy, and if that enemy is singular—would think about You if he ever learned of Your existence. If he is Susie's dad, he'll know You's still out there somewhere. It's still a little strange to think of the man You's known all Your life kidnapping people, murdering towns, and apparently commanding some sort of monster, but there's so, so much You doesn't know. It's not a complete story by far. Which means You could easily fuck something up.

Maybe there was no monster. Maybe E isn't Earl Sanford, Susie's stepdad. Maybe Madame Levingt is crazy, and Klaus was, You doesn't know, behind a curtain this whole time. Maybe Klaus works for the Empire. Maybe You misheard what the soldiers said, and the Empire was just killing the Fennecs to deal with a legitimate criminal element. And that's not even factoring in things like the Brotherhood of Kletus, or the prison-ghosts, or anything else.

You must be a detective. There can only be deduction, even if it's totally subjective, and could easily turn out to be false.

You and Klaus are walking to the city. There's a walkway from the airport—now clogged by a plane full of corpses—into the town borders. As You approaches, the sounds of cars get louder and louder, and Your head starts to hurt. Klaus sees Your pain, but doesn't really care. There's not much he can do, anyway.

When You gets into town, You sees even more people than from New Cenabum. It's almost too much for You to take; there's all sorts of strange fashions, bizarre smells, horrific sounds, someof them fantastic,some of them unnerving. You feels extraordinary nervous, but this time Klaus intervenes. He pulls You into a cantina, where You sits down in a booth in the back and tries to relax.

In the cantina, You notices, for the first time, a number of posters that You'll later learn recur endlessly throughout the city. They have a painting of a woman on them, wearing the armor of the New Cenabum soldiers, but there are no words. You doesn't recognize her, for now—You assumes that people who live in the greater spheres of Imperial influence know her easily, and thus need no labels. You considers asking about the woman, but that would definitely mark You as a stranger—which could lead You to arrest; torture; execution.

With that image in Your mind, You looks over at Klaus. Nothing is really said between the two of You, but there isn't anything that needs saying. Instead You decides this would be a good time to scan the notebook You stole from Zorro City.

The entries are terribly long, but You knows You can't stay in one place for prolonged periods of time. To be fair, the text is pretty explicit and doesn't need any deep analysis. It is, however, flowery and metaphorical to an irksome extent, while obnoxiously cutting sometimes to a raw, precise, scientific style. In total, here's what You finds out—or, rather, what is written.

• The Fennecs were born in “The House”, which does not appear to be a literal location. The House seems to be some sort of cloning facility, because the “Originals” were “born from one of the templates”. The templates, in their normal lives, were once scientists, exiles from a “War in Heaven” (which is about as trite as it gets, You thinks).
• The Fennecs originally served as scientists until The House abandoned them on Earth. They had limited cloning knowledge but were able to successfully clone themselves.
• Using some sort of “Art”, they survived through the decades by transferring their “souls” into cloned bodies. The writer of the notebook claims to be centuries old.
• They mastered “other Arts”, including the ability to manipulate biomass derived from intentionally flawed clones. This explanation is accompanied by a drawing of one of the creepy flesh-buildings from the City.
• Eventually, after centuries of boredom, the group ended up experimenting with several methods of entertainment, which became more and more grisly as time went on. They seem to have adopted the “bandit gang” motif primarily for “purposes of irony”. Outside of murder, kidnapping, graft, gambling, and robbery, the Gang also practiced human sacrifice.
• The sacrifices were typically of either outside victims or clones, and eventually became more religious, geared towards calling The House back to Earth. However, the writer admits these sacrifices were mainly stage pieces intended to be ironic.
• After awhile, the Gang entered a contract with the Empire through “E”. E's name is never given in the entire notebook. The nature of the contract isn't properly described either, frustratingly, though it is said that the Gang is allowed to commit any and all of their crimes freely, in exchange for service to E.
• There is an illustration of the medical cyborg next to the description of the contract, which has a caption: “Part of the promise”. It could be that they used what scientific knowledge they do have to start producing those things for the Empire. You still doesn't know the advantage of having those, though—cutting costs? Not paying humans for medical services? Does the Empire have, what, a budgetary problem or something? The idea almost makes You laugh, but You's still unsettled by the whole affair.
• The drawing of the armored figure is identified as the Old Man, who owned The House.

It's incredibly difficult to tell what's bullshit and what's not. Frankly, it's a little too incredible to believe, though to be fair, You now knows that magic is real; and You has been told since birth that the fuel can really accomplish anything. A combination of both, which seems to be at play here, could perhaps really make this stuff happen, however laughable it is. (And it could be, really, that these things are all the same anyway.) There are, however, a few things that You can deduce for certain, that are worth listing, if anything for summary's sake.

• The Fennecs do have to be clones. You means, they could all be wearing identical masks or something, but that doesn't seem right. Plus, You saw the cloning pod, so there's that.
• Boredom does make an interesting motivational factor for such a vicious gang. At the same time, so does insanity. This could all be the product of a hallucination brought on by the failures of cloning. Clones cloning clones cloning clones has to lead to some problems down the line.
• The Gang did serve the Empire at some point, and paid for it in blood. But for what reason, You doesn't know.
• You gets the impression the Old Man, however mysterious he is, did exist. The fact that he was mentioned by two different parties that—as far as You knows—have no connection to each other seems to lend credence to the idea of him being real.
• The Fennec clones don't have to be from some sort of unearthly “House”, though. They could be a failed government experiment; or an unnaturally successful government experiment. Or some sort of third or fourth possibility, perhaps.

That's probably all that You has to know about the Fennecs—for now, at least. Unfortunately, You didn't learn much about the Empire, which was Your goal.

However, You is presently in Imperial Central, meaning...You could learn whatever You wants about them, theoretically. You could even question some of the locals, but You doesn't know how good of an idea that is.

Your head is a little more calmed now. You could probably venture into the streets and poke around.

You and Klaus exit the cantina; the bartender doesn't seem to care that You didn't order anything. You keeps Your face pointed low, and Klaus does likewise. You isn't aware that Madame Levingt killed Your almost-captors; if they succeeded in their mission, You realizes, they could have sent word of the two other fugitives—accomplices to a magic-user—to this city. Presumably those guards answer to the authorities here; or their commanders do. It wouldn't be likely for You to find another mage or whatever to aid You. Not here, in the center of Imperial law.

The Empire doesn't seem too efficient—You was never educated about Imperial legal codes, really, which suggests they're not too big on making their rule known. But You thinks about such legal codes. Theft, murder, racketeering—those must be illegal, because of how Your parents talked about them. But some other things, like jaywalking or even speaking certain words, could be punishable offenses too. It might be best to even try to find the shadier parts of the city, if those exist; not knowing the law could get You into some unneeded trouble.

You decides, however, to head to one of the sunnier areas first. You walked past the ocean when You entered the city, but You can see some docks in the distance that You wants to check out. You heads there, and takes in the sight for a little bit. Here, You does some pondering, but on the somewhat more simple pleasure of the meaning of life, rather than on this adventure. And this pondering may be the best of all.

You must stay there for some time, because when You snaps out of Your pondering the sun has begun to set. It's time to find some place to stay; but as You turn, something shocking greets Your eyes. It's a caravan, but its cargo strikes a chord in Your mind.

In a bunch of cages, You sees several hunched forms. They're not people—they're not even mutilated cyborgs, like the doctor (or doctors). They look like humans, but they're hairless; their bodies are grey and cancerous, and their eyes glow in the low twilight. Their stench is familiar, but far too overwhelming to permit guessing. And most tellingly, their long hands terminate in wicked-looking claws.

You knows those claws. One of these things ended up attacking You in the field.

The caravan is being protected by a cadre of soldiers. You feels the inclination to escape at all costs, but curiosity overwhelms You. You approaches them as Klaus tries to stop You; You shakes his hand off Your shoulder and step next to a suddenly-irritated guard.

“Excuse me,” You says. “What are these things?”

“Who is You to inquire?” he replies. He then grits his teeth. “Aside from an apple?”

“Um. A traveler. I've never seen such a wonder in all my born days.” You tries to take on an accent, to make Yourself seem different.

“Well, if You must know, these are new beast creatures intended for service in the Empire. The Europeans are itching for war again, and we'll need every advantage we can get. And so that's what they are. Advantages.”

“Very well. Thank you.”

You turns around and begins to walk back to Klaus. You feels the soldier's eyes on Your back, but the caravan keeps moving, and soon he and his eyes are gone.

It's when they're gone that You acknowledge a thought nagging at the back of Your head. This thought continues to nag and continues to grow even as You walks to an inn, and pays with some money stolen from the Fennec member You killed. And when You starts to fall asleep in bed, Klaus snoring on the floor next to You, You knows that the creatures smelled of the fuel.

You think of the strange fuel-scented bats in the abandoned house of that Incomputare, and now those strange monsters, under the command of the Empire; and under the command of E. You think of the slight hint of fuel covering the tortured cyborg-medic, and You thinks of all those who complained about the fuel; people near home, the Brotherhood of Kletus, and Madame Levingt. You harvested all of it mindlessly, an unwitting servant of the Empire—and You begins to think about it. A miracle substance: the ultimate power source, with the ability to cleanse wounds and induce healing. What else could it do?

In the hands of someone perpetuating an enormous conspiracy, the fuel could be even more powerful than suspected. Perhaps some of its properties could be hidden, masked from the public. Like its power to alter and warp living tissue into...something else.

You must decide now where Your trust lies. You can choose some barely-known criminal sorcerers and barbarian cultists; or a government that could well be employing slaves, as well as bandits, for reasons unknown.

You decides to hide from the question, and sleep until morning.

#25

A while after landing, the cargo door opens and You hears several Fennecs walking around. You smells something strange in the air. It's salty, and the instant that adjective—“salty”—washes over Your brain, You realizes with both shock and hope that it is the scent of the ocean. You had never hoped to see the ocean, but it seems the airstrip or wherever You is now is close to it. That's even more motivation to escape alive.

They don't seem to be unloading the crates yet, so You turns to Klaus and makes a gesture indicating Your desires. He nods in affirmation and the two of you attempt to, as both of you have done several times now, make a break for it. As You runs, You sees several Fennecs disembarking and heading for a gate. Several sights hit Your eyes at once, all of which surprise You greatly.

The first is that there are many cars here, and there are many cars in the distance. They are all absurdly loud; You's never heard anything so terribly cacophonous in Your life. It's probably coming from that ridiculously shiny city that is off to Your left. Holy shit, You has never seen such a gorgeous thing in Your entire life. Its ability to inspire Your intrinsic grammar mutations to shift Your thoughts to italics is enough to make You forget that a bunch of heavily armed bandits are greeting some Imperial soldiers to Your right. This causes You to dive behind some boxes, alongside Klaus, whose expression doesn't show any emotion in regards to either the city or the soldiers.

The boxes are somewhat close to the soldiers and gangsters. That they didn't notice You is a miracle; it's likely that whatever they're concerning themselves with is serious business, and they aren't paying much mind to background details. At least, that's what You hopes.

The crates are near enough to them so that You can hear them speak.

“Greetings,” says one of the soldier.

“Hey there,” replies one of the Fennecs.

“Welcome to Imperial Central.”

“Thanks. E told us to come here in case of an emergency, y'know? So where we staying? Somewhere with good grub, I'd hope.”

There is a pause.

“Well. It is said, sometimes, that Hell has quite a feasting table.”

Suddenly, there is a loud burst of machine gun fire. You flinches away and covers Your ears as the Fennecs start screaming. You sees droplets of blood fly past the crates, and a dead Fennec flops down past You. His eyes move to look at You slowly, but there's no life behind them.

Eventually the shooting stops. Several soldiers start to run past You to board the plane; You and Klaus cringe away from them. Several still remain from their point of assault. You hear one of them begin to speak:

“My Lord. We have disposed of the Zorro survivors. The Fennec Gang's exhausted usefulness has been taken care of.”

The people who bombed Zorro City, then—they must have been with the Empire. But who could be the “Lord” of these guys? “E”? Who might be Susie's dad...?

A vast conspiracy unfolds, but You can only see its shadow.

You waits until the soldiers leave, before deciding to head to the city. It certainly was convenient that they didn't deliver their message from inside their car. It's just another one of those things that perfectly slides into place.

You stands up and watches their cars head towards the strange city.

Besides You, the sea glistens, and tries subtly to hypnotize You; but the ocean of blood seems to You to be about as big as the waves beside You.

#24

Eventually the sounds of thunder fade off into the distance. It's probably for the best that You didn't see the death of Zorro City. It's not like You was fond of it, clearly, but the place was certainly disturbing enough on the outside—You doesn't want to know what it looks like with its insides out.

The notebook Klaus recovered likely tells the story of the City. You wishes You could read it, but it's far too dark in this cargo bay. You pats Yourself down, looking for a light, but a large rectangular block reaches Your fingers. That's when You remembers: the Game Boy. You hopes You hasn't damaged it in all You's been through recently, because now that can keep You busy while the plane goes to whoever-knows-where.

You is really, really glad that the Game Boy Classic had a backlight. Perhaps in other spheres of existence, it did not, but You cannot imagine something so horrible.

You only has that one game, Headhunter, so You hopes it's good. Though of course You is hoping many, many things right now, and not merely that the game is good. After all, such a thing would be beyond capricious. The mercurial state of such fickle feeling astounds You, and probably emanates such strong vibes of closemindedness that even Klaus is feeling them. Ignore the fact that Klaus is Your Guide, and can feel Your feelings anyway.

You boots up the game.

Unfortunately, the cartridge seems to be corrupted. You manages to start a new game, and sees an opening crawl describing the plot. Yet even then, this crawl is heavily pixelated, and is struggling to remain in focus. What You knows of the game is drawn from what little functionality You can conjure up. In the game, you play as Lefty Sinister, a gangster who wants to fix a policeman named Inspector Fox. Apparently Fox has arrested Sinister's entire gang, and you have to free them to confront him in a final battle; there are eight gang members in all, and each of the eight worlds contain stages where you can try to rescue these members. Sinister's sprite is dressed like a stereotypical 20^th Century gangster, not like one of the Fennecs, and at first he only wields a pistol. If there are any other weapons, You never finds them, because the game crashes after just a few steps.

You tries to get the game back several times, but it's all the same—walk a few steps, crash, power off. Whatever.

The journey becomes slightly more bleak, and it certainly isn't any brighter. That's when You remembers that You hasn't slept in awhile, so You takes a slight nap. It is not particularly interesting, You is aware, but You isn't feeling interesting. You is feeling nothing, or trying to do so, at least.

There is silence in the cargo bay for a few hours. The old man watches over You, but not in a creepy way. It's more in a grandfatherly way, albeit through the eyes of an ambivalent pissy German grandfather who never talks. The best sort of grandfather You can really hope for in this situation, though You had not really paused to calculate the potential grandfathers You could possess right now.

You has no dreams of note, but is shaken awake when the plane lands.

You embraces the peace of a few hours of nothingness, because You gets the impression that You's gonna be pretty busy for awhile now.

#23

The explosion is not alone, and suddenly, the medbay is collapsing. The clone pod breaks open and its inhabitant falls out onto the floor—abruptly, it's eyes snap open, and it starts screaming and flailing uncontrollably, jerking around like a broken marionette, slipping around in the fluids. You screams at the sight of this, but Klaus pulls You up and you start running.

You turns around just as the ceiling caves in. The cyborg doctor is killed instantly...which must be a mercy for him.

You gets aboard the elevator, but Klaus points to a panel in the ceiling. He punches it out, revealing a ladder leading up the shaft. The two of you begin to climb just as rubble slices through the cable. In the walls, fluid-pipes breach and begin leaking everywhere. Above, even more bursts rock the entire tube. This place is going down, and fast.

You's about two-thirds up the way of the shaft when You starts to smell burning meat. Zorro City, with all its fucked-up buildings, is on fire; it must be being bombed. But why? And by who?

If they're using a certain type of fuel, an older type, that'll catch on fire, creating more explosions. This place could be a time bomb.

Just above You, suddenly, You hears confirmation of that concept. Stone shards fly out and sprinkle liberally down towards You; however, at the top of the shaft, You sees a vision of a flash of flames. A pipe must have been opened up—now its contents have been turned into a flamethrower. You looks for another alternative as the chambers below You collapse.

You's scared, but Klaus isn't. He's doing what You's doing, and he's making more headway: he finds another panel, like the one from the roof of the elevator car, and kicks it open. It leads into a steel vent—if another fire breaks out, it'll cook You alive, but it's Your only chance. Klaus jumps and pulls himself in, and You follows suit. You shouts at him to move, but he's already going pretty quick for a fat old man. You hopes the metal will support his weight, but such thoughts tend to jinx things in situations like this. The vent suddenly collapses, and the two of you fall down into a room.

You barely gets time to assess the situation. Three Fennecs are suddenly standing around You, and then let out cries of surprise. But as they do so, they're drawing guns. You whips out Your spear and, without thinking at all, pikes one of them. Klaus seizes one by the arm and whips him like a ragdoll against the floor, cracking the tiles...and the man's spine. The other tries to tackle You but Your knife sinks into his throat.

You gets up real quick, trying to block out Your murders from Your mind. This section looks a lot more modern, and is something like an office. There's a computer nearby, but it was smashed in the scuffle. There is a door leading outward, and You can hear a number of men running past it. Above Your head, You hears a voice over a loudspeaker.

“Alert...the city is under attack. Head to the hangars for immediate evacuation. Repeat...Zorro City is being attacked, assailant identity...unknown...”

It seems to be being handled by a computer. The voice is a mechanized female sound. There are two things You knows now: there is a hangar You can escape from; and the Fennecs don't know who is attacking them either.

Overhead, You hears screams and what appears to be the sound of gunfire. Machine guns are blitzing the city.

Can those...buildings up above...feel pain? Are they the ones who are screaming now?

It doesn't matter. You opens the door and begins to follow the squad of identical gangsters. They don't seem to notice You, and half of them aren't even armed. You hopes they're headed to the hangar, which would make sense. Sure enough, they go through an automatic door into a large space—there's a metallic roof, a disc of sorts, extended over what must be the airstrip, but it's almost gone. Flaming rubble and corpses are everywhere. One of the planes has been destroyed, but no one seems to care. One large passenger jet—the first You's ever seen in Your life—is docked and appears to be okay. Everyone is getting aboard, but You can't much climb onto it and expect to not get shot.

You and Klaus break away from the rest of the squad, hiding behind some supply crates. One of the crates is open, and inside are a couple of large guns—Tommy guns, though You doesn't know that. Klaus takes two, and then uses one to gesture towards a part of the plane separate from the others. It seems to be a luggage area; two gang members are loading some crates onto it. You decides to make a break for it; below the sounds of the fires, the bombings, and the intercom, and the general chaos of the survivors trying to escape, they won't notice either of you. The boxes are being placed on a portable conveyor belt, which You shimmies up onto. You hides behind a crate, and Klaus does likewise; and soon, you're in the cramped, dark cargo bay, unseen by everyone.

Now it's just a matter of waiting. And that waiting seems to take forever; for the explosions are louder in here, and so are the screams.

Eventually, however, the bay door seals for good; and moments later, the plane shakes and begins to go forward. You and Klaus struggle to hold onto something, but since there are so many boxes, You couldn't go flying around if You tried. You's safe, for now.

The plane takes off into an uncertain future. Though it's not like the future's been certain at all, through any of this.

#22

You and Klaus step out of the elevator and look around. Both ends of the hallway curve off somewhere, and they both look about equal in terms of possibilities. Your footsteps echo, and aside from the low sound of fuel flowing somewhere, it's silent. As much as You doesn't want to split up again, You gestures for Klaus to head right while You heads left. He nods and does so, leaving You alone—once again. This is starting to get monotonous.

As You walks, You absorbs Your surroundings, like usual. This place looks pretty ancient, which might tie in with its ridiculous depth. It could date back to the 20^th Century Cold War, though You doesn't know much about that. It looks...military, but that's just a guess. You never learned formally about such things. Surprisingly, the knowledge You does have about the Cold War comes from the only fulfilling conversation You had with Susie's stepdad. He was happy to talk about it with You, actually, which was the only time You's seen him genuinely happy. You doesn't remember too much about the War itself, though. But that's not the issue.

You's begun to consider with greater depth the circumstances of Your family's disappearance in regards to Susie's stepdad. However, after everything that You just...thought about, upstairs, You figure this still isn't the time. This hallway isn't leading anywhere, and curves off to the right up ahead. At the curve, You's starting to hear something, but You can't tell what it is. You figures there's certainly no time like the present to find out.

You walks down around the corner almost as if You doesn't care. If it's a Fennec, You'll just take him down and keep moving. But, this isn't a Fennec. It's something else. It seems to be a man dressed in a doctor's garb—probably a physician for the gang. All doctors have sworn an oath of non-offense, though, so he won't harm You. Instead, he just stares at You from beyond his metallic mask. You considers asking him a question, but despite the oath, he may still have Fennec loyalties. There's no point in pressing Your luck.

However, this small area has no outlets. It seems to be some sort of medbay for the town. Several (empty) medical beds are around, and some boxes with red crosses on them are attached to the walls. Aside from that, there's actually some pretty nice-looking equipment here. You doesn't know the official names for most of it, aside from, say, a “heart monitor”, and that's only because You was hooked up to one of those in the hospital from that concussion. However, there's something else in the room—it seems to be a large tank of sorts, full of fluid. There's someone inside it—a nude man. The man is identical in every way to the set of identical men that attacked You outside.

Okay. This is getting to be even odder.

You approaches the tank and is about to put Your hand on it. Suddenly, however, You sees a flash as the doctor runs towards and grabs Your arm. You begins to struggle with him, and he seems prepared to actually fight You to defend this tank. His fingers bite into Your wrist. You tries to remove his hand from Your arm when You pulls his glove off. With a grunt of pain, You succeeds, briefly noting five new bruises on Your wrist.

Underneath the glove is some sort of mechanical appendage. Five long steel fingers, much thinner than those of a normal human, were what had formed the grip on Your arm.

A cyborg?

You begins to look him over, then. During this entire time, he has said nothing, and has barely moved. You starts to think he could be one of those robots You's heard about—a robot doctor would be nothing new (or so You's heard), but this one is garbed in the same sort of mask and coat as the ordinary doctors who worked on You in the hospital. They never took off those masks, which so resemble those eerie pictures of gas masks Susie showed You. You pulls down the back of his shirt.

Metal plates have been fused with actual human skin. The tissue is red and inflamed even though the surgery must have taken place years ago. There's some sign of infection, as there are little green patches mixed in with the angry-looking flesh.

However, everything above the shoulder line is mechanical. The back of his head doesn't have any indication of having any human tissue on it. The “mask” reaches around the face to form a sort of helmet that encases the man's head, but with the neck covered by plating and the head totally encompassed, it's almost like his entire head is a machine. This begins to creep You out, but then Your hand brushes against a tiny catch on his face...

The entire metallic casing of his head suddenly bursts open like a jack-in-the-box along the seams in the steel, revealing several wires and plates fused onto a raw human skull.

You screams. Several nodes are branching off of a metal frame built about the skull, drilling into the cranium...into his brain. This is a cyborg, alright, but it's barely human. Fuel seems to be being pumped directly into the brain, with some other fluid—one that You doesn't recognize—being extracted. Whoever this man—or woman, You considers with a chill—is or was, he or she's been heavily lobotomized. The empty eye sockets have been refilled with clicking, buzzing sensors, that twitch as they regard You. You slowly reaches for the catch to replace the casing, when Klaus walks in. He doesn't seem to react to the horrible sight, but he may be internalizing his response.

As the case closes, You turns to him. Your voice, and thoughts, are suddenly shaken by an idea that's entered Your mind. You remembers now, back in time, to thirteen years ago, as the doctors' voices have a mechanical filter to them. You remembers that they all looked the same, a detail that's bypassed You until this moment.

“Are all of the doctors...the ones employed by the government...these things?”

Klaus pauses, before he nods.

You looks at the unmoving thing, and sees a tiny chip on the front of its coat. The chip bears the three colors worn by the Imperial soldiers from New Cenabum.

There's no guarantee that what Klaus has affirmed is true, at least from Your perspective, but if it's even partly the case, You feels ill. You tries to choke back another sob, and looks away from the doctor. You realizes that unless this thing was stolen by the Fennecs, it's entirely possible that these...drones...are for sale. You can't jump to conclusions, not know—this isn't the time for pondering at all. But Klaus approaches You, handing You something. It's a notebook.

You opens it up, keeping part of Your brain aware that You may not have much time left. (Worsened by the fact that Klaus didn't seem to find anything down his hallway, indicating that this isn't where they might keep prisoners.) You can't read the entire book, but fortunately, much of it seems to be in the form of sketches. You peruse it slowly, intending to steal it anyway.

One page depicts a giant mansion of some sort. You wonders if this is “The House”.

Another features a figure wearing some sort of armor. The armor is almost obsessively colored, and this seems to be the only colored image in the entire book. The armor is drawn to be a mystifying iridescent green.

Text page amounts seem to increase as the book goes on. On one, You sees a sketch of a pod identical to the one in the room that You's in now. You quickly scans the text, and has difficult reading the handwriting, but makes out one obvious word, “clone”.

The notebook ends abruptly with a last entry. However, there's something attached to it. It's a photograph—and it's of Susie.

You struggles to keep Yourself together as You reads.

“The boys made contact with E today. He was traveling with special delivery. One male (adult), two females (one adult, one child). Allowed Him to take plane, of course. He's heading to Imperial Central. Will keep in contact—photographed the child female on order. Apparently she is of great interest to Him.” That's all that's written.

“E”? Who could he (or He, apparently) be? And he was escorting Susie and Your parents...?

He must be Susie's stepdad. He has to be. And he's working with the Fennecs, who are...clones, for some reason. But if he works for the government, as well as the Fennecs...are the Fennecs employed by the Empire? And if so, for what purpose? Attacking people? Stealing things? Perhaps they're eliminating undesirable people or looking for items...

Items. There's something about that eight-sided stone. Is he looking for that, for some reason? Susie thought it was important—maybe he revealed to her that he wanted it before they started moving, and she knew where it was this whole time, and just never told him, thinking it worthless. All just a theory, of course, with lots of holes in it.

There are a lot of holes in a lot of things here. Maybe the notebook explains more. You still needs to know why the city is made of body parts, what the whole deal is with the Brotherhood of Kletus (if they even fit into this at all), the thing about the ghosts in the prison, the foosball voodoo dolls...so many mysteries, and probably very few solutions. And Your family and Susie, alive—but being held hostage by the same people who produce lobotomized cyborgs who serve as doctors. The Empire. You needs to get to “Imperial Central”, whatever that is, and...

Just then, there is an explosion overhead. The medbay is rocked and You is knocked to Your feet.

#21

You turns around and looks about twenty members of the Fennec Gang in the face.

“Hey guys,” You says nervously. “What's going on?”

“Not much,” they say, all speaking with one voice. “How 'bout You?”

As You reaches for the logo-badge sewn into the shirt of the dead man that You happens to be wearing, You sees then that all of the assembled members have the same face. And that face isn't Yours. In fact, a sort of coincidence is set up, in that the dead man's face is repeated on all of them.

You puts Your hands up in the air at once.

With their guns out, they begin to walk You “downtown”. You doesn't say anything, instead just focusing on maintaining a stiff upper lip. If You had an witty one-liners in the event of this exact thing happening, they're gone now; of course. L'esprit d'escalier, You figures (though naturally not in such exact terms).

“You should've figured that the logo-badge would have broadcast the news of our friend's death right to us,” one of the men says.

“Why would I think of that?” You asks, which is a relatively good question.

“I'm not sure either. In any case,” another says. “We're gonna make You part of the gate for The House.”

You blinks for a second, but with what emotion, You's not sure. “The House?”

“The House, yes! The glorious House which the Old Man brought to us, brought us up in, and then took away!”

“W-wait. Hold on. You bastards are cultists too?”

“I don't know whatcher talking about, but The House is the way back to the Great City, and You must go into the gate to open the latch.”

Cultists. Again. Yeah. Just my luck, You thinks. And to that, that reference to luck, You allows Yourself a bitter laugh.

In all seriousness, though, being caught by two cults in less than a week isn't a very good record. To say the least.

You could make another grab for Your weapons—they didn't take them this time. Unfortunately, You knows You doesn't have the combat skills to fight them all off. You does like the idea of being alive, still. You tries to think if there was anything useful that Madame Levingt told You; is the “Old Man” these guys are mentioning the same as the dude she brought up?

“Who is the Old Man?” You asks.

“Who's the Old Man, You says,” one of them chuckles. “He was a powerful magician, until he left us behind...locked away, from our birthplace and from our home. An age ago, that was...now the boredom is overtaking us and we need our little games.”

“Don't tell You too much, you fat freak!” another one yells, before punching him in the back of the head.

“You's going to die anyway,” says someone at the back.

“C'mon, now, though...just because it's a farking trope doesn't mean we have to do the whole 'Brag About the Plans to the Soon-to-Be Dead Man' bit here.”

“Well said. Though killing You with a trope...”

“Killing h̶i̶m̶ h̶i̶m̶ You h̶i̶m̶ HIM with a trope, you means? I mean, you mean?”

“Yeah. It'll make...this guy...a tastier target for whoever's sending The House back to us...”

“Burn him at the stake, then?”

“Is 'Burn the Witch' a trope? We could also use 'Kill It With Fire'.”

“Ooh, that's an Internet one. Why not?”

Several voices affirm that this sounds good to them. Then, there is talk of bringing You to the town square for a good old witch-burning. There's little You can do. If You make a break for it, You'll just get shot in the back, and there's no point in that. At least, so it seems. Perhaps later there will be an advantage towards suffering some sort of grievous bodily injury. (And bloody hell, You must be nervous again to be thinking thoughts this shitty.)

Soon enough, You is tied to a stake and some straw is placed at Your feet. The identical men around You begin to smile as one of them takes out a hilariously huge cigarette lighter. Things are happening too fast. You tries to make peace with Yourself. You doesn't try to think of those who are about to lose You, and instead just prepare for the grave. Things spiral around and begin to form the continuous stream of that “final flash”, the moment...

A guttural German scream sounds from the rooftops.

Klaus suddenly appears and begins to punch everyone in the face.

“Holy shit!” someone shuts. “Gun down that mother—” The speaker prefers to be a man of action and so empties a clip into Klaus' body. You can't look, and shut Your eyes just as You sees a quick flash of another Fennec throwing the cigarette lighter onto the straw.

However, with Your eyes closed, You hears the fight sounds continue. The Fennecs begin to scream and run away, their footsteps receding into the distance. The smell of smoke begins to fill Your nostrils, and You starts to choke, forcing Your eyes open. Through the smoke, You can see the gangsters retreated, but also a large shape; this shape begins to stamp out the flames with little care for personal risk. When the smoke clears, You realizes that this is Klaus.

Klaus has a number of bullet holes in him, but there's no blood—no leakage of any kind. Instead, the holes are just—holes, and now they're beginning to close. You can't see any sort of muscle or bone underneath the exposed flesh—he's just like a big marshmallow. The holes push out from the back forward and don't seem to be very deep.

“How did you—” You begins as he lets You free, but then You realizes that it must be the doll. Even though Klaus' body and soul were freed from entanglement with the doll, it must somehow still function as his body—or at least, the stand-in for his body. You takes a small smoldering stick and presses it against the doll's arm. Klaus howls angrily, and You quickly drops the stick. So Your companion is invincible, unless someone gets their hands on his doll. Good to know.

Klaus seems to be restraining his pissiness towards You, which is good. You sees several dead Fennecs lying on the ground. Their necks are broken, or they seem to have sustained too many blows to the crotch to sustain survival. Klaus is an ice cold motherfucker, You realizes, and You doesn't inspect the bodies too closely.

“Other ones might come,” You says. “We should keep moving.”

He nods, and the two of you get a move on.

You considers that this is the town square, and so you two must be in or near the center of the settlement. You looks around for any significantly large buildings, something that could be used to hold prisoners. Then You looks back at the stake grimly. You can't tell if it's been used lately, outside of what it was just used for. But You doesn't want to think about that right now.

Most of the buildings here seem to be roughly the same size. And, they are still made of that particularly gross material; not all of the buildings seem to have eyeballs, but You counts, as casually as possible, several fingers and toes hanging out from the walls. You wonders what they must look like on the inside, with the knowledge that You will probably have to blindly explore a lot of them. There are no signs and no convenient markers about. The situation seems hopeless.

As You searches, however, Klaus begins to wander off. You decides to keep an eye on him this time, and begins to follow him; wherever he's going, he has a purpose. You goes into what is revealed to be an alley in pursuit of him, and by the time You reaches him, he's already begun to crank on a wheel that emerges from the wall, connected to a sliding grate...made out of bones. This suddenly surges at You as too much, however ridiculous of a notion that is, given all else. You needs a break.

We cut briefly to Klaus, who watches the strange young man suddenly sit down, trying to look away from the flesh wall. He feels HIS thoughts course through HIS head, each of them jumping to conclusions and passing judgments. Most of them are directed at Klaus, who feels a twinge of anger—it's not his fault that he has the "cheat sheet" to all of this. But then, it really is, isn't it...? Du erneuert selbst, um dieses Spiel für ihn zu lösen. (Not so good German, of course, but that was also part of it.) He sees the boy turn to him suddenly, HIS face ablaze with...fear. And that's the answer, natürlich. It always is in these games. And this is a very unnatural game. The boy isn't prepared for this, and it's only going to get worse. Klaus wants to say something, to warn HIM of what's ahead—but of course it wouldn't come out right anyway. He's seen to that.

You chokes back a sob and gives a hard look at Klaus, who undoubtedly thinks You's crazy. Fuck him. You stands up and begins to walk through the now-opened grate. Inside, You sees everything is made out of metal, like a real building—mercifully. Klaus comes inside, despite Your knotted face, and he points toward a lever. You sees what this is all is now—it's an elevator car. The lever only has two positions: up (where it is now) and down. So wherever it leads is...below the city. Lovely.

“Is this really a good idea?”

Klaus nods.

“Alright.”

And You pulls the lever down. It's a start. Like You said, it's going to be a long search if Your people are even still here. Have to start somewhere.

The elevator begins to descend with a small lurch. It's a loud elevator and suddenly You feels concerned that they're going to hear You use it. Still, there's nothing that can be done. Once it arrives, just move fast and stay hidden. There's no way of knowing what to expect, except for maybe a fight. You takes out Your spear and Your knife and gets ready.

The elevator sinks for about four minutes, which is strange because it's moving relatively quickly. Klaus looks concerned, but in an untrue way, while You begins to wonder how far down this does go. You looks around, trying to see through the grate. There are no other floors; just long, rusty walls. You can peek out of the cage for a little bit and look down, but there's almost no light—nothing aside from an unshielded fuelbulb which snaps on weakly overhead.

It takes about eight minutes total for the cage to reach a destination. This might be a more promising outlet than You first thought. What's down here?

The door opens into a hallway leading left and right. There's a dirty tile floor and very little lighting. You can barely hear, much less see, anything at all.

As You begins to feel a cold breeze from down one end of the hall, You begins to hope that this isn't where Your loved ones are. Because this whole situation is starting to become very unsettling indeed.

#20

Back in the car, Your hands inch towards one of Your knives. The driver catches this out of the corner of his eye, which You in turns catches out of the corner of Your eye. “No funny busin...” he says, before You stabs him in the chest. He screams in pain, and the car swerves off the road and crashes into a tree. You and Klaus are still a good distance from Zorro City—but You hopes no one heard it.

There is a gurgle as the mobster perishes. You feels bad for killing the man, but it was what You had to do. And if he wasn't bluffing—which You doesn't believe he was—then he's probably killed other people before for much less noble reasons than those which made You kill him. You pulls the knife from his chest, and Klaus looks at You, his eyes ablaze with (though it makes You feel weird to realize it) admiration.

The two of you get out of the car and look around.

You knows from the note that Susie went, or was taken, down this road. It seems likely, then, that she's being held captive in the City. You'll have to go down there and face the Gang if You wants to rescue her. Yet—as You's sure a wise old man somewhere has said—there may be an alternative to fighting.

You searches the dead man's body for identification. Sure enough, sewn onto the inside of the collar of his shirt, is a tiny logo of what seems to be a wolf's head; or something similar. It must be the logo of the Gang. You decides to take the man's shirt and put it over Yours—it might be possible to disguise Yourself as a Gang member, You figures. You also finds the man's wallet. It doesn't seem to have any ID, but it does have money, and several tickets. The tickets seem to be remains from some sort of game, probably played by Gang members in the City. You doesn't know how these tickets work, so You only takes the money. Which, of course, does make You feel guilty, but there's nothing he can do with it now.

You decides to start heading into town. You urges Klaus to stay behind, but at a distance, until You can perhaps sneak him a disguise. He nods to this, and stays in the background. However, by the time You's made it about halfway from the woods to the City, You realizes that Klaus is gone. You considers letting forth a few curses, possibly into the face of his doll, but You doesn't see the point in it. You doesn't know for sure if he's just hiding really well...or if he's deserted.

It's probably not a smart thing to ignore this particular element from a tactical standpoint, but You has no choice. This must be where Susie is, and You doesn't want to think about her or anyone else in the hands of the Fennec Gang.

You walks and finds the entrance to Zorro City empty. There are no guards, which doesn't surprise You much for some reason. The Gang has a reputation, both protecting them, and to uphold; any “visitors” would find that the real danger is inside, rather than in the streets. And plus, having guards would generate a semblance of authority, which the Gang presumably wants to avoid--being gangsters and all.

You feels somewhat confident about Your abilities to disguise Yourself as a member of the Gang. As long as You makes a bunch of luck-based comments, You ought to be okay. Unless there are more secret codes and whatnot that Your would-be murderer wasn't intent on sharing with You.

You begins to look around for some sort of prison—or just anything in general that could be used to hold a small group of people. Or even a large group, for that matter—they could be taking other hostages. Of course, the stories also talk of how the Fennecs never take hostages. Your family could be dead right now. You just needs to not focus on that, however, if this is all going to go well.

It's pretty impressive that a gang of bandits has managed to construct a city like this. It's entirely possible that they've stolen it, though. The architecture is a sort of bony white, sort of like the creamy stones of New Cenabum. The cityscape really is similar to a skeleton, really—the spires of the town are jagged and poke out like ribs and spines. If they did steal the city, they must have really cut it up, but it's still possible they built it. They...hold on. Wait.

You looks close at one of the buildings You's standing next to it. The texture of it is...odd. Up close it looks less like bone and more like flesh—quivering and jelly-like. It's cold to the touch, as well, which doesn't make it much better. That when You notices that there are eyeballs in it...

And then the barrel of a gun pokes Your back.

Scheisse.

#19

We cut briefly to Madame Levingt, who had broken the necks of her Imperial captors. Fascist scum.

Things didn't have to be like this. The ban on magic is arbitrary, because any sort of genuine sorcerer would never try to generate enough power to beat out the fuel, but evidently, that doesn't matter. Still, she thinks, they didn't try to arrest me because they know me as a witch. I should've figured out why they took me prisoner before I killed them.

Still, the important thing is that You is okay. H̶e̶ You and Klaus managed to make it further down the path that You was seeking. I can try to find them both later—for now, I have a promise to keep.

She started walking down into the woods, heading towards the prison of the Brotherhood of Kletus, reflecting all the way. These reflections are good reflections.

Back in the good old days, before the Empire, she had had some good adventures with other mages. They had considered forming an official team—probably incorporating the correct term for their kin, “Incomputare”—but the Empire rose to power quickly after she began. She still misses them all: the Old Man, Craolith and Elsa, Doctor Kai, Iron-Mask. Now gone or driven from the plane for their “crimes”. They had a chance to fight back but the risk was too great. The instabilities here are not to be tampered with; and just because they chose not to generate power beyond the fuel didn't mean they couldn't...but the problem was is that they disallowed themselves that youthful rebellion so critical to defeat the Empire on this world. And the Old Man went back to his castle, Iron-Mask found yet another world in need of help, Kai had his breakdown, and the two lovers...what even happened to them?

She misses S., too. She smashed his heart like a glass of whiskey, but she swore to never love again to honor him.

She doesn't want to think about the past right now. Though if her theory is correct, it's more relevant than ever.

She gets an impression that once she heals up Kletus, he'll be able to key her in on the nature of those “ghosts” You told her about. If her theory is correct, she needs to reach that house sooner, rather than later.

It's going to be a long hike, but it's been a long time since she's gone so far from town. It's really quite stirring, to be honest.

#18

You stops and sits in the middle of the road. It's the same that You was trying to follow earlier, alright. You can't hear the soldiers or Madame Levingt anymore; and You simply hopes that she's alright. You looks at Klaus. “We need to keep moving.” He shrugs. “Do you think they're following us?” He nods, but then shrugs. “Not much of a talker still?” And he just makes an irritated face, and You accepts this for an answer.

“Guess we'd better get going.”

You glances at him to see if that gets a response. It doesn't.

You both start walking.

This walk isn't so nice. Without someone to talk to, it becomes boring—but there are greater problems than boredom now. You is merely being capricious, or mercurial, as You often is, and You is in fact trying to cover Your sudden nervousness of being captured for associating with a known crazy murderer witch. You's discovered quickly within the last twenty-four hours that Your nervousness or anxiety manifests strangely, which must mean Your life was pretty cushy before all this. There were some moments where You was, say, drawn to drinking excessive amounts of water to hide things from Yourself and others (not specifically that, of course, because that would be stupid) but never like this. Now You's whistling. You never whistles. What the hell.

Klaus is eying You strangely. Best to cut it out and walk fast. Sweat some more, so it looks like normal people fear, and not crazy weirdo fear. You's not used to people looking at You, and while Klaus may judge everybody, it still feels really weird and kind of offensive.

Eventually, however, You begins to hear a sound behind You—it's the sound of tires. A division of soldiers riding after You? You gestures to Klaus to hide in the forests and...be silent. The car begins to pull down the road, driving cautiously over the dirt, trying to avoid sharp rocks that could cut the tires. You watches it carefully—it looks like there's just one guy in it, the driver. Maybe you could use him. You steps out, and the car slows to a halt before You.

“Do you two need a ride?” the driver calls out.

“That'd be great!” You says. Klaus tries his best to smile, but fails miserably.

He opens a couple of the doors and both of you climb in. The car starts down the path, and there is silence for a little while. Eventually, though, he smiles and tries to strike up conversation.

“I'm hoping you guys aren't Fennecs,” he laughs nervously. “I had a nasty run-in with them once. They took my briefcase, but let me go with my skin.”

“Oh no, we're not, don't worry,” You says. “I've never met them myself, but I don't really want to.”

“Yeah. Just stay lucky! That's what I always say.”

“Yeah.”

The silence resumes for a little bit.

“Where you folks headed?”

“Well, we're basically just headed down this road. We're planning on meeting up with someone.”

“Oh, fun, fun.”

You pauses again. “I don't suppose you know what is down this road?”

“Oh! Yeah, down this road is Zorro City.”

“Zorro City? Like, that one storybook character?”

“That's probably what it's named for. A lot of the people there are nerds.”

“Are they friendly?”

“That depends! That all depends. It hinges on how lucky one happens to be...”

You breathes a small sigh of relief—he almost said “how lucky You is”, which would out You as an apple.

“Something the matter?”

“Hm? No! No, not at all. Um, how much further is it to this...Zorro City?”

“Not far at all. Which is our good luck.”

You's noticing he keeps referencing the idea of luck. You feels like this means something, and indeed, a small something at the back of Your head is being tickled. But You can't figure it out.

“So, tell me about Yourself!”

You pauses for a second. “There's not much to say.”

“Oh, there must be. But I understand if people don't like to talk. I keep a tight lip myself.”

“Um. Hm. Well, do you want to tell me about you?”

“Ha, ha. Well, I might as well get right to it. You sees, I'm a gangster.” He reaches over and locks the car doors. He doesn't take his eyes off the road. “I'm a member of the Fennec Gang.” Then he glances over at You, his eyes full of humor. “And that's Your bad luck, chum.”

“Scheisse,” Klaus whispers angrily.

You remembers now. The Fennecs use luck-based phrases to denote themselves to other possible members, based on their gambling habits; so they often will say stuff like "just stay lucky". They're common thieves but their obsession with cards, pool, and other games is infamous. In fact, sometimes they commit incestuous murders over these games.

You figures this is the end, but perhaps not yet. The car begins to pull down into Zorro City, which You suddenly realizes must be the main headquarters of the Fennec Gang.