JSW Energy: JSW Neo Energy LoA for an additional 500 MW of wind capacity under green shoe option for the SECI Wind Power Projects. (Positive)
KSB: Company receives letter of award under PM-Kusum III Scheme under Component B of Rs 63.22 crore (Positive)
IRCON: Company gets LoA for construction project worth Rs 630 cr from NHIDCL (Positive)
HAL: Ministry of Defence signs a contract for Mid Life Upgrade with Hindustan Aeronautics. (Positive)
ICICI Prudential: Company appoints Sandeep Batra as chairman of the Board of Directors (Positive)
NHPC: Company wins bid for 200 MW solar power project in Gujarat (Positive)
RVNL: Company gets letter of acceptance for project worth ₹339.2 crore project from Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation (Positive)
SJVN: Company gets Letter Of Intent from Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam for 200 MW solar project (Positive)
Reliance Power: Promoter sign settlement agreement with ICICI Bank. Entire obligations with respect to borrowings of co, are settled. (Positive)
Droneacharya: Company gets order for supply of drone controllers from Northern Command. (Positive)
RailTel: Company gets work order worth Rs 130.0 Cr from Bihar. Bags order worth ₹352 cr from BMC for supply, operations & maintenance Of HMIS (Positive)
Dish TV: Setu securities bought 1.18 crore shares at Rs 17.26/Sh (Positive)
Kopran: Quant Mutual Fund bought 2.5 lakh shares at Rs 255.41/Sh (Positive)
Electrosteel Cast: Norges Bank Govt Pension Fund bought 41.5 lakh shares at Rs 155.8/Sh (Positive)
Jana Small Finance Bank: Credit rating upgraded by ICRA to A- from BBB+ (Positive)
Voltamp: Norges Bank Govt Pension Fund bought 77692 shares at Rs 8201.54/Sh (Positive)
PCBL: Entered into the Joint Venture Agreement with Kinaltek (Positive)
Sula Vineyards: Demand notice of Rs 116 cr passed by State Excise has been set aside (Positive)
Ashok Buildcon: Company acquires 4.9 crore shares of GVR Ashoka Chennai ORR from GVR Infra Projects. (Positive)
HCL Infosystems: Company has been awarded approx. Rs. 31 Crores in claims against a State Electricity Board for RAPDRP and ERP Projects (Positive)
Vinati Organics: Company has been informed about the imposition of anti-dumping duty on the import of "Para-Tertiary Butyl Phenol (PTBP)" by the Ministry of Finance (Positive)
KPI Green: Company emerges as successful bidder for 100MWAC Solar Power Project at Maharashtra State Power Generation Co (Positive)
Torrent Power: Company receives Letter Of Award for setting up of 300 MW Wind Solar Hybrid Projects with tariff of Rs 3.65/kWh (Positive)
Gujarat Gas: Company is seeking Expression of Interest from Ceramic Customers in Morbi & Surendranagar to purchase Natural Gas. (Positive)
Amber Enterprises: Incorporated a wholly-owned subsidiary called AT Railway Sub Systems Pvt. Ltd. to carryout the business of railway components (Positive)
Balrampur: Inked agreements with three renowned technological experts: Sulzer AG, Alpine Engineering GmbH, and Jacobs for the manufacturing of PLA grade Lactic acid from sugar (Positive)
Indian Hotels: Company plans to set up 50 training centres across India by next year (Positive)
Aurobindo Pharma: Arm CuraTeQ Biologics announces successful Phase 1 clinical study outcome of their BP 11 product, which is similar to Xolair (Positive)
Dr Lal PathLabs: Company appoints Shankha Banerjee as CEO, effective May 21 (Positive)
Coforge: Board approves raising ₹3,200 crore via institutional share sale. (Neutral)
LIC: Company says its proposal of 17% wage hike for its employees effective August 1, 2022. (Neutral)
Oil upstream stocks: Windfall tax on crude petroleum hiked to ₹4,900/t from ₹4,600/t. (Neutral)
Lupin: US FDA issues form 483 with 1 observation for Aurangabad facility. (Neutral)
Dish TV: Company appoints Manoj Dobhal as Executive Director (Neutral)
Anup Engineering: Company in pact to acquire 100% stake in Mabel Engineering. (Neutral)
Shalby: Company has acquired 100% equity stake in Healers Hospital Private Limited. (Neutral)
CSB Bank: Appoints Mr. B. K. Divakara as Whole-time Director and approves candidate for Part-Time Chairperson. (Neutral)
GTPL: Company has completed the acquisition of Metro Cast Network India Private Limited, increasing its holding from 34.34% to 50.10%. (Neutral)
ZydusLife: Company receives final US FDA Approval and 180 days Competitive Generic Therapy Exclusivity for Finasteride and Tadalafil Cap Capsules (Neutral)
Aditya Birla Fashion: Company receives ‘No Objection’ from BSE & NSE regarding scheme of amalgamation between company and TCNS Clothing (Neutral)
Adani Group: US prosecutors are expanding their investigation into India's Adani Group, looking into potential bribery allegations (Neutral)
Oil India: Stock will be open with ex dividend Rs 8.50 (Neutral)
ZEE Ent: Nitin Mittal resigns as President – Technology & data of Zee Ent. (Negative)

What trackers for rule34 content and 3d computer generated porn (daz3d, blender etc) do you know? Hentai/3d section on emp gets updated like 5 times per week, pornolab's one is slightly better but pretty poor too, happyfappy's one does not exist at all. Maybe there are some trackers I dont know about.
I know about kemono and rule34 websites but they have cloudflare that throttles downloading speed if you have to sit behind the ISP's NAT. Torrents are generally faster and have no single point of failure.

So,im using Jackett through the addon stremio-jackett that a well good samaritan create. And i just install jackett.
What would be the best trackers (public) to add if you like to see more than anything MOVIES.
I like movies in the original language and if rare movies also, cult movies, or different country ones.
The list:
ØMagnet
1337x
ACG.RIP
Anidex
AniLibria
Anime Time
Anime Tosho
AniRena
AniSource
AudioBook Bay (ABB)
Badass Torrents
Bangumi Moe
BigFANGroup
BitRu
BitSearch
BT.etree
BTMET
BTSOW
Byrutor
Cinecalidad
comicat
ConCen
cpasbien
cpasbienClone
CrackingPatching
Demonoid
DivxTotal
dmhy
DonTorrent
E-Hentai
EBook Bay (EBB)
EpubLibre
EXT Torrents
ExtraTorrent.st
EZTV
GamesTorrents
GkTorrent
GloDLS
GTorrent.pro
Idope
Il Corsaro Nero
Internet Archive (archive.org)
Isohunt2
iTorrent
JAV-Torrent
kickasstorrents.to
kickasstorrents.ws
Knaben
LePorno.info
LimeTorrents
LimeTorrents clone
LinuxTracker
Mac Torrents Download
MegaPeer
MejorTorrent
Mikan
MioBT
MixTapeTorrent
MoviesDVDR
MyPornClub
NextJAV
Newstudio
Nipponsei
NNTT
NoNaMe Club (NNM-Club)
Nyaa.si
OKPT
OneJAV
ParnuXi
PC-torrent
PornoTorrent
Postman
ProPorn
Rapidzona
RinTorNeT
RuTor
RuTracker.RU
Seedoff
Sexy-Pics
Shana Project
ShizaProject
ShowRSS
SimpleAnime
Solid Torrents
sosulki
SubsPlease
sukebei.Nyaa.si
The Pirate Bay (TPB)
TheRARBG
Tokyo Tosho
Torlock
Torrent[CORE]
Torrent Oyun indir
torrent.by
torrent-pirat
Torrent9
Torrent9 clone
Torrent911
TorrentFunk
TorrentDownloads
TorrentGalaxy (TGx)
TorrentKitty
TorrentProject2
TorrentQQ (토렌트큐큐)
Torrents.csv
TorrentSir (토렌트썰)
TorrentView (토렌트뷰)
TorrentWhiz (토렌트위즈)
Torrentz2eu
Torrentz2nz
TrahT
truPornolabs
UnionDHT
VSTHouse
VST Torrentz
VSTorrent
xxxAdultTorrent
XXXClub
xxxtor
YourBittorrent
YTS.ag
zetorrents

I'm not particularly that well knowledgeable of different torrenting sites, in fact the only one I've used is fit girl repacks for videogames, but does anyone know where I can particularly look for eroge? Preferably those that are easy to navigate and most importantly safe!

13or30
2007scape
4chan
5Ginsanity
ABoringDystopia
ACAB
ANormalDayInAmerica
AbruptChaos
AccidentalRenaissance
AccidentalTerrorism
Accounting
AccurateBattleSim
ActLikeYouBelong
ActiveMeasures
ActualPublicFreakouts
AgainstHateSubreddits
Ai_Husbando_Art
AirRage
AmIFreeToGo
AmateurRoomPorn
Anarchism
Android
AnimalCrossing
AnimalsBeingBros
AnimalsBeingJerks
AnimeCalendar
Animemes
AntiFANG
Anticonsumption
AntifascistsofReddit
AnythingGoesNews
ApocalympicsRio
Archiveteam
Automate
BadChoicesGoodStories
Bad_Cop_No_Donut
BanPitBulls
BankTabs
BetterEveryLoop
BlackLivesMatter
Bossfight
Breath_of_the_Wild
BuyItForLife
CLICKPOCALYPSE
COMPLETEANARCHY
CartoonGangsters
CatDistributionSystem
CatastrophicFailure
ChatGPT
ChoosingBeggars
ComedyCemetery
ComedyHitmen
ComedyMuseum
ComedyNecrophilia
Coronavirus
CorporateFacepalm
CountOnceADay
CozyPlaces
CringeTok
CubeWorld
DHExchange
DanQuinn
DataHoarder
DeepIntoYouTube
DevUnion
Diablo
DiscoverEarth
Documentaries
Drama
ENLIGHTENEDCENTRISM
EatCheapAndHealthy
ElderScrolls
EmuDev
EntitledBitch
Environmentalism
ExpandDong
ExpensiveAccidents
ExperiencedDevs
FarmsofStardewValley
FemboyHentai
FloridaMan
ForwardsFromKlandma
FreezingFuckingCold
Frisson
Frugal
FrutigerAero
FuckNeoliberalism
FuckNestle
FuckTheS
FunnyViralAnimals
Funny_Flyers
GalaxyS7
GameDeals
GameDealsMeta
GameDevelopment
GamePhysics
Games
GraphicsProgramming
GreatAmericanRoadTrip
HailCorporate
HaveWeMet
HeavySeas
HistoryPorn
HoldMyOpioid
HomeInfrastructure
HyruleEngineering
IRLEasterEggs
IWantOut
IdiotsInBoats
IdiotsInCars
ImaginarySliceOfLife
InfoSecNews
InfowarriorRides
Instagramreality
IntelligenceNews
InterestingSounds
InteriorDesign
Jazz
JoeBiden
Justrolledintotheshop
Kanye
KingOfTheHill
KitchenConfidential
LateStageCapitalism
LaughJokes
LilB
LinkedInLunatics
LiveStreamDramas
LivestreamFail
LooneyTunesLogic
LucidDreaming
Malware
MeMainCharacter
MechanicalKeyboards
MensRights
Methany
Minecraft
MineralPorn
Minetest
MoldlyInteresting
Morrowind
NamFlashbacks
NationalPark
NeckbeardNests
NintendoSwitch
NoSleepOOC
NoStupidQuestions
NotTimAndEric
NotTimAndEricPics
Npchate
OKgaymers
OutOfTheLoop
PathOfExileBuilds
Piracy
PixelArt
Pixiv
PlaneFreakout
PoliticalRevolutionOK
Pomeranians
Portland
PowerElectronics
PraiseTheCameraMan
ProjectDiablo2
PublicFreakout
PublicTweakout
Python
QAnonCasualties
QuarterLand
RLFashionAdvice
RedditArmie
ReportNazis
ResinCasting
ReverseEngineering
RocketLeague
RocketLeagueEsports
RocketLeagueExchange
RocketLeagueMods
RocketLeagueReplays
RoomPorn
Runeroll
RussiaLago
SabuArt
SameGrassButGreener
SchizophreniaRides
SelfDrivingCars
SexyGuyAiArt
ShitAmericansSay
ShitPoppinKreamSays
ShitRedditSays
ShittySysadmin
SimpsonsFaces
Simulated
Sinkpissers
SocialistRA
Soda
SpotTheMC
StLouis
StallmanWasRight
StardewValley
StupidFood
SubredditDrama
SuckMe
SuggestALaptop
SuperMarioOdyssey
SupermodelCats
SwitchHacks
THE_PACK
TOR
TVsTooHigh
TalesFromTheFrontDesk
TargetedShirts
Tay_Tweets
Terraria
ThankYouBasedGod
ThatLookedExpensive
TheSimpsons
TheWayWeWere
The_Bogdanoff
The_Leftorium
The_Mueller
ThisDayInHistory
ThriftStoreHauls
Thunder
TikTokCringe
ToiletPaperUSA
TopMindsOfReddit
TrackMania
TrashyFacebook
TruckStopBathroom
TrueCrime
TrumpCamps
Tvlse
USPS
UniqueIronmen
Unity3D
UpliftingNews
Vaporwave
Vermintide
ViperThaRapper
VoiceOverPete
VoteBlue
WTF
Watches
WeatherGifs
WelcomeToTheNoFlyList
WhatIsThisPainting
WhatsWrongWithYourCat
WhereAreTheChildren
WorkReform
WorstOfModeration
actualconspiracies
adventofcode
albumaday
alkaizerx
ambientmusic
amibeingdetained
analog
anestheatre
anime
anime_irl
anime_titties
announcements
antiwork
artificial
atheism
audiophile
aww
awwnime
battlestations
birthofasubreddit
blackcats
blackholedmemes
blackmagicfuckery
blog
blursedimages
bonehurtingjuice
bookscirclejerk
boomershumor
bowlingalleyscreens
btd6
buildapc
buildapcsales
byebyejob
catpictures
cats
catvideos
cellular_automata
chargetheyphone
charliewinsmore
chiptunes
circlejerk
clubesteban
comedyheaven
comedyhomicide
comedynecromancy
comedysewer
commandline
community_chat
compsci
confusing_perspective
conspiracy
coolgithubprojects
copypasta
cracktivities
crappyoffbrands
cringe
csbooks
cscareerquestions
cursedanimalcrossing
cursedimages
cutenoobs
cybersecurity
dailyprogrammer
dalle
dalle2
dataisbeautiful
datasets
deathgrips
declutter
deepfriedsurrealmemes
degoogle
dioramas
dogsonroofs
downvotesreally
drone
dross
dumbasseswithlighters
dwarffortress
emojipasta
emulation
fantasyfreakout
fatFIRE
fatsquirrelhate
femboyhooters
fieldrecording
fightporn
financialindependence
flightattendants
foobar2000
forbiddensnacks
freebies
freesmiley
freesoftware
fuckepic
fucktheccp
funorb
futurama
gadgets
gamingsuggestions
gay
genetic_algorithms
geologyporn
golang
goodboomerhumor
greentext
hackernews
hacking
hardware
headphones
hentai_irl
hiphopheads
hmmm
holdmycosmo
holdmyfeedingtube
holdmyfries
homelab
homestuck
hotsauce
howdidtheycodeit
humblebrag
ihadastroke
ihavesex
illinois
im14andthisisdeep
incremental_games
insanepeoplefacebook
internetofshit
internetradio
interracialdating
introvert
jameswebbdiscoveries
java
javaTIL
junjiito
justneckbeardthings
keupo
kingsnottrash
knolling
learnjava
learnprogramming
lewronggeneration
lgbt
likeus
liluglymane
linux
lolgrindr
lossprevention
lostredditors
makenoise
malefashionadvice
mallninjashit
masterforgiveme
math
me_irlgbt
mead
mealtimevideos
megalophobia
mineralcollectors
minimalism
minimeals
missouri
movies
musichoarder
natureismetal
nba
nbacirclejerk
nbathunder
netradio
netsec
news
newsbloopers
newzealand
noise
noisemusic
noiserock
nukedmemes
oblivion
oblivionNPC
oculus
offbeat
okbuddyphd
okbuddyretard
oklahoma
oldpeoplefacebook
onthisdayinworld
opendata
opendirectories
openttd
overemployed
pathofdiablo
pathofexile
patientgamers
pcgaming
peopleofwalmart
personalfinance
place
politics
pornfree
privacy
proceduralgeneration
processing
progether
programmerhealth
programming
programmingchallenges
programminghorror
projecteuler
radio
raining
rct
reclaimedbynature
reddit
release_it
replications
roguelikedev
roguelikes
roguelites
rootbeer
ror2
runescapecirclejerk
runescapecollect
scihub
seals
self
sharpshooting
shitpost
shittymobilegameads
shittysimulated
shmupdev
simpleliving
simpsonsshitposting
slavs_squatting
slaycringe
slowcooking
softwaregore
space
spicypillows
spiders
sports
starterpacks
stevenuniverse
streetwear
subcomplainers
surrealmemes
switcharoo
sysadmin
tearsofthekingdom
technology
techsnap
techsupportgore
terriblefacebookmemes
tf2
tf2shitposterclub
theinternetofshit
thenewcoldwar
timeshiftedmemes
titlegore
tookjustenough
tooktoomuch
torrents
trackers
traitorperpwalk
trapmuzik
trashy
truetf2
tulsa
turingmachines
tvtropes
unixporn
unstirredpaint
utulsa
videos
vim
virtualreality
whatisthisthing
whothefuckup
worldbuilding
worldnews

So yeah, a friend of mine just discovered 4K hentai exist, is there any site or torrent that got great amount of collection? He found some on sukebei.nyaa but it's not much and with very low seeders

Link: https://fappaizuri.me/
Description: Tracker appears very new. Hentai and JAV porn
Active torrents: 1769 Total torrents: 1819 Registered users: 2700 Other stats: Don't know. The other post had these stats but they appear to be very old - when the tracker was brand new

Name: Fappaizuri Genre: XXX
Fappaizuri is a Private Torrent Tracker for HENTAI / JAV
Signup link: https://fappaizuri.me/account-signup.php
​
Stats: https://opentrackers.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/fappaizuri_stats_6-7-2023.png

The torrent of white light basked the surrounding area, blinding the shit out of me, and probably everyone else looking at the spell directly. In addition, the pressure of the reflected attack, accompanied by a booming rumble of thunder, nearly knocked me off my feet. The only solace were the shrieks of demons and beasts, however brief, before everything went deathly quiet. Or maybe I've just gone deaf, too. It took my Dragon Spirit some time to help my eyes recover, as the bright spots were dancing in my vision. But once they cleared, I stared in awe at the devastation that I wrought. The barrier was still intact, thankfully, and I could see people running around inside, but the area surrounding the village, where just a moment ago was a frenzied horde of demons - all of it was glassed. There weren't even a trace of demons anywhere, only a deep groove in the ground, probably all around the dome, where the most of them concentrated. The only thing, close by, that survived, was a piece of the road, but even that looked singed. More so, the thick trees, surrounding the village, were blown back like a meteor landed here! And finally, the jungle wasn't in a hurry to reclaim the land, the small vines that used to move with a determination of a hentai tentacle, were mostly inert, floppy even. It seems that was too much stimulus. "Holy shit... No kill like overkill..." I muttered, swaying on my feet. "Radius, Alabastor - you good?" I turned around, mentally kicking myself for not even considering them before unleashing the spell. I was relieved, to see and to see, that both were okay. Mage just finished treating the scout, the poor man thankfully blinked as I released the spell, but he got blown back from the force of it. Mage himself looked a bit shaken. "Never been better," Radius groaned, trying to stand up. "I have to admit. Seeing how much energy you concentrated into the spell, I felt concern that it would break through the barrier. It felt like a Wrath of Goddess herself," mage said after turning around. "Akin to the sky splitting apart to rain death upon your foes. Like..." "Okay stop. None of that. If my head grows any bigger, it won't fit in anyone. Instead, let's enter the village, treat anyone that needs it and see if the cultist revealed themselves." "Wise. Let us proceed downhill." "What kind of spell was that?!" Radius finally saw how much damage it did. "It's called Lightning Nova, but it was supposed to expand from a central point, not concentrate around it, becoming a meat grinder," I replied as we began our descend.
The ground crunched under our feet, as we approached the gates. Looking at the sky, I thought that, perhaps, the spell was somehow amplified by the weather. The clouds began to disperse, and the air was still thick with ozone. As we reached the groove, I could tell that it was filled with ash. I wondered if Oni would survive this sort of attack.
All the villagers that were visible, looked okay, none of them were clutching their eyes or anything. They were alert and even hostile, but as soon as they saw the Mage and the Scout, their expressions turned hopeful instead. "The Royal Mage is here! Open the gates!" I heard the shouting from the wall. As the gates creaked, I turned to Alabastor. "Man am I glad I asked you to come with me, not only you're a great magic teacher and a trove of knowledge, but your mere presence opens doors." "You are giving me excessive praise. When, it is you who..." "Nope! I couldn't have done that had you not taught me how to actually cast any magic, and for that I am eternally grateful. Shame I won't be able to use magic in my home world." "Truly?" "My world lacks any sort of magic. As far as I know. The great Purge of magic, brought on by religion, I think." "Do you believe that magic will vanish in absence of those that can weild it?" Alabastor looked at me like I was a child. "It is far more resilient than that." "Maybe so, but my world is also follows the path of technology, and according to the theories, both can't co-exist so easily," I added. "I guess I'll never know."
As we entered the village, I saw Tia walking towards us, holding onto a tied up and beaten man, looking all proud of himself. I grinned, giving him a nod. Not only he snuck into a surrounded village past all these demons, not only he managed to protect the magic tool, but he also captured a cultist! Of course, it's probably a lucky happenstance but still... By his side walked another man, with a concerned look on his face and the air of authority about him. He wore rather impressive armor.
"Royal Mage! And, I assume, Hero? I am Vonstuff, chief of this village," the man greeted us. "Sir Tiarlin explained that you came to our rescue, and drove all the demons away. Thank you so much... How can we ever repay you?" "Well, since you asked, let us stay the night to recover and then... follow us into the town of Kestrel. I want all of you safe in town and beyond before the real problem starts," I quickly replied. "So please inform the rest of the villagers, that they should pack their stuff and get ready to move. I hope they can handle the road." "I will prepare them right away," Vonstuff nodded. "The Hero didn't drive the demons away," Radius chimed in, feeling a bit left out. "He destroyed them. That was his lightning spell that did it." The village chief paused for a moment, his face paled as he went through a spectrum of emotions before calming down again.
"I grew up hearing stories of powerful heroes laying waste to armies before. But to stand a witness to such an act, was something I never imagined." "That was no army, I can assure you. However, an army IS coming, they are gathering forces for an invasion as we speak. That's why I want all of you in Kestrel as soon as possible," I noted. "An army... by the Goddess... Yes... Of course, please, come this way." The village chief led us to his house as I explained my findings at the Breach, and how we stumbled upon a village, which prompted me to go looking for others. I explained what we've encountered before coming here, including the situation with the Aggregator. "So it wasn't an accident after all," Vonstuff sighed. "None of us wanted to believe that someone would intentionally destroy such a precious artifact." "He is a cultist, I wouldn't be surprised if he sabotaged food as well." "He claimed to be from a recently destroyed village in the southern part of the forest," chief informed us. "They had no reason to doubt his words." "How were you communicating between the villages?" "We have a mage that can send messages, and gather reports. We also used to have traders that would move between the villages. After we got cut off from the only town, we had to rely on ourselves. It's nothing we couldn't handle, at first," chief told me. "But eventually, as the forest encroached on our villages, became more entailed and dangerous, the cost of mana became bigger as well. Traders that knew this forest like the back of their hand, started getting lost. Some never found their way back and died in there." I nodded. "And then, recently, demons started attacking. The new villages were wiped, survivors fled, we were forced to abandon a lot of good land. But no land worth more than people's lives. Just as we thought things were looking up for us, we even started preparing for the festival, the artifacts began to fail." "Sabotage, most likely. Alabastor, is there any spell to seek out cultists, that you know?" "I can search for the tainted mana, but I doubt there are more cultists amidst the people here. If there were, they'd sacrifice their own lives to break the artifact when Sir Tiarlin captured one of them." Royal mage cast a spell, but it came up empty, save for the captive. "Well, thank Goddess for small favors I guess. Chief, please get people organized and get those wagons loaded. Just in case we won't be coming back here. I realize a lot of people would be, reluctant to leave, but I doubt demons would want anything to do with an empty village," I turned to him. "Also, if everything goes well, you might be able to return here... once the threat of demons would go away. That is what I'm here for, after all." "I understand, I'll get people going. Please, rest here, in my house, no one will disturb you," Vonstuff bowed and left. "Well, I don't know about you three, but I'm beat. Hopefully it won't take me several days to recover. Also - Tia - Good job. Thanks to you, all these people are safe. I'm sure your grandfather will be proud." Tia blushed. "Th-thank you Hero."
I stepped into one of the rooms and climbed into bed, hoping to fall asleep as soon as my head touched the pillow. But it turned out to be harder than I thought. Fear of missing out snuck up on me and hit me hard, I became restless. Although the pressing sense of urgency finally left me, proving that this was the place that I was drawn to this whole time, something else was eating away at me. Almost like there was now another goal on the horizon, and I wished I had a visible quest log right now, or at least a notification. I tossed and turned, exhausted but unable to sleep. Then, the door opened and Tia snuck into the room. "Hero? Can I... Can I join you here? I brought some gold with me, just in case. We found it while searching cultist's belongings." I groaned, but waved him closer. "Sure, sure. Just don't poke me with anything," I replied, as I noticed that he was blushing and nervous. Oh sure, it was adorable, but the Heat was in full swing, and my fragile heterosexuality was in danger. To my further torture, Tia actually snuggled up to me, planting his firm ass right into my crotch, wiggling into my arms! Sure enough, my body reacted. 'Why boner... c'mon...' I thought. "I felt like a Hero from the legends today," Tia spoke in a quiet voice. "Sneaking past the demons, capturing the cultist... It was exhilarating. Thank you for letting me come with you." "You've done an amazing job," I replied sincerely. "You should be proud of yourself. I'll be sure to tell your grandfather about it as soon as we get back. Although, the spell I used turned out to be too strong, your sister would have freaked out if she saw it." "Yes... I caught a glimpse of it. The barrier have negated the flash, but its effect was incredible. My mother told us about powerful spells that heroes like you wield. And yet, now, I understand why so many of them want the Stealth as well. I've never considered it to be a bad ability, but today..." "Tia... From what your grandfather explained to me, it's possible that your mother might come back." "What?" "He said that, since her soul was stolen, stolen outright, her body would become stone-like. And that meant, once her soul is returned, she would be revived. The exact details are a bit foggy, but I thought I should mention it, now." Tia turned to me with a sudden burst of energy and hope in his eyes. "Really?! She can come back?!" "Yes. But, like I said, the details are a bit... spotty. From my understanding your grandfather needs to be there as we reach the Demon Lord, and for that, we need to ensure that the assembling army is defeated. I'm not sure how we'll accomplish that, but I suppose it's good that they're... all here." Tia laid back down, then he grabbed my hand and draped it over himself and fell asleep.

A 90s Card Game for 90s Anime

For those not familiar with Anime distribution (before the torrents and streaming), Pioneer Entertainment was established in the late 80s, as a distributor of films for the laser disc format. By 1993, they began distributing Anime titles, such as Tenchi Muyo; and started partner up with Viz Media, Funimation, and various other California start-ups involved with bringing Anime IPs to the North American market.
A group of employees at P-Anime (a division of Pioneer in charge with Anime licensing), pitched the idea for a TCG game based on the Anime titles that they were distributing at the time. Since the TCG market was the next big thing at the time, they were given clearance and the ability to use raw screen captures of the various Animes they had licenses through their laser disc distribution. It was as much as a logistical nightmare to get various Japanese IP holders to agree with it, but the ones that did, had enough brand power to push the first set. The second set, however, was another story. The third and final set would feature one of the biggest Anime intellectual property in the world.
Unfortunately... the team that pitched the TCG game weren't that experienced with game design, trading card games, nor had prior experiences working with Wizards of the Coast. Many of employees and play testers were mainly Anime fans and office workers.
This caused game play issues, such as inconsistent language/terminology, lack of categories/type, various typos, pages of errata addressing Set 0, and card balancing/interaction. The game doesn't use resources or a turn progression system, but it does offer a way to play the game as solitaire and multiplayer (4+). It's main gimmick was a big scavenger hunt featuring Anime characters.
By July 1996, Anime-Mayhem: Set Zero was released, featuring:

• Bubblegum Crisis
• El hazard: The Magnificent World
• Ranma 1/2
• Tenchi Muyo!

A Game Made By Fans...

Set-0 featured some of the most well known Animes at the time; with an established fan base, boosters sold well, especially at conventions. Sadly, playing the game in a competitive environment yielded a single Tier-0 deck; The Citadel, focusing around looping Wrath of the Eye of God. A mirror match would usually yield constant stalling, which would drag out over an hour and would end with a felony or an actual winner.
Without any serious push for the game to be competitive, Ani-Mayhem was another TCG game pushed into a marketplace without purpose. P-Anime tried it's best through their website with constant errata updates and clarification of card interaction. While some cards state certain deck building restrictions and limit used in a deck, deck construction itself was not intuitive and would require uses of fractions and math for deck building. Card shops across Southern California hosted tournaments, which started off well, but as soon as Citadel lists made their rounds on message boards/IRC, attendance dropped off a cliff. Without a DCI-like program (Magic The Gathering), the competitive scene died off before it started.
Other issues that plagued the game was the lack of time to properly polish the game. This was all due to hundreds of e-mail exchanges between the Anime IP holders, P-Anime, Pioneer, approval process by all parties, legal, deadlines, and getting the cards ready and prepped for printing with another California based company, Upper Deck. Known for sport trading cards, Upper Deck's involvement gave the game some credibility, especially for retailers on the fence ordering Ani-Mayhem.
While the cards felt unique with the heavy glossy front face and featured vibrant color, they were prone to chipping and scratches if not sleeved. Many of those trying the game without sleeves would immediately damage the cards, which would indirectly make the rare demo-set (given to retailers to promote the game), incredibly rare today, especially in Near Mint condition. Again, this could be due to P-Anime and their experience with producing TCGs for selecting the glossy finish.
Either way, Ani-Mayhem: Set Zero sold well enough where they were approved for the second set, Ani-Mayhem: Set One; featuring lesser known Anime IPs that Pioneer had access to:

• Armitage III
• Phantom Quest Corps
• Project A-ko
• Dominion: Tank Police
• Ah! My Goddess!

Ani-Mayhem: Set One was released on March 1, 1997.
Set One fixed many issues of the Zero, including a proper category/classification system, uniform game text terminology, and a revised deck construction explanation. It seemed like the game was heading in a good direction, feeling more like a game, especially compared to Ani-Mayhem's first set. The game still remained too complex without additional game play examples or online tutorials.

The Dragon Got Me

Dragon Ball was a huge property across the globe during the 1990s. The issue was, it didn't find much success in North America due to constant censorship and meddling adaptations by American companies trying to bring the property to the West.
It wasn't until Funimation gave Dragon Ball Z a proper adaptation without compromising the narrative, plot, much less radical name changes. While Dragon Ball Z didn't become merchandising juggernaut until it was on Toonami, it still had a sizeable fan base across the United States, thanks to it's syndication. Although questionable air times ranging from 5:00AM to 6:30AM weekdays provided a challenge for some fans.
Being a licensing partner with Pioneer, P-Anime/Anime Cafe folks were salivating to incorporate Dragon Ball into Ani-Mayhem. One of the issues that was brought up was that TOEI didn't want any of their IPs (Dragon Ball) to be associated with any other Anime properties. This forced Ani-Mayhem's third set to be solely focused on a single Anime IP and a stand-alone expansion.
Introducing Dragon Ball's characters to Ani-Mayhem's game mechanics proved a huge challenge. With characters like Ranma Saotome from Set Zero providing some power scaling reference for a martial artist in the game, Son Goku and the rest of the Z-fighters would have to have much higher stats to represent themselves accurately from the Anime.
Unfortunately, it wasn't possible without breaking the game.
There were compromises to scale them down, but many hardcore fans of the Dragon Ball anime were not satisfied as their favorite characters were nerfed. For players of Ani-Mayhem, the Z-fighters' stats were high enough to make many characters from both Set Zero and Set One absolutely obsolete. You ended up with DBZ fans not satisfied of how their characters were represented and players of the game dissatisfied with the power creep. Obviously, P-Anime staff could not win in this situation, which greatly affected sales for both casual and hardcore.
Disasters (think of them as enemy NPCs) from the DBZ set were also disproportionately more powerful as well, and would often kill low-health characters from the first two sets in a single round of combat. Killing characters in Ani-Mayhem would often lead to stalled board states, with players unable to progress the game. This would lead to players building decks to omit interaction with the Z-fighters, such as the One World card, removing the player vs player aspect of Ani-Mayhem.
Ani-Mayhem's third set, Dragon Ball Z, was released on August 8, 1997.

Chase the Chase

The 5-card chases were controversial as well. For the first time, Ani-Mayhem introduced "Foil" cards (textured foil) and were a mixed bag of a must-have staple, to nearly unplayable in an actual game. You can tell the developers for the game struggled hard to balance the game, but just could not make everyone happy. The chase cards represent the balancing issues of translating lore accuracy to playablity.

• Shen Lon - Considered the staple card in every deck, allows you to choose 1 effect from 3 options. You can select 1 card from your draw pile and play it at instant speed, you could also choose to move one Disaster to one location instantly and finally, you can draw just draw 4 cards... For context with Magic the Gathering cards, this is like having a charm with your option of a Demonic TutoLord of the Pit/Ancestral Recall on a single card at instant speed. Even when the card was clearly worded with 1-per-deck, this still proved as a major challenge as some booster boxes did not contain a chase card, much less pulling Shen Lon against four other clunkers.
• Future Trunks - You could tell this is where P-Anime had issues finding balance and play testing. While on flavor and accurate to the Anime lore, you had limited time to use Future Trunks on your team, until he would self-return/reshuffle back into your deck. He was certainly playable, just not reliable in a game where board state stalling was common, even in a casual environment.
• Super Saiyan (Goku) - 1 of the 3 transformation chase cards. While transformation cards were common in Set Zero, the DBZ set didn't fully develop all transformation cards properly. You had Baby Gohan that could transform into his big ape state, but there was never a separate card printed to represent the big ape. For example, Set Zero had Ranma (Boy type) and if you transformed him, you can replace that card for Ranma (Girl type), from outside the game or vice versa, which was accurate to the Anime. Super Saiyan (Goku) had a requirement to transform from his base card; which needed him to be "bonked," but not killed, three times... From a flavolore perspective, this was on point, but in an actual game of Ani-Mayhem, this was a huge ask. S.S. Goku does have ridiculous stats, but he only remains transformed for one turn, reverts back to his base and automatically transforms every third turn, for a single turn. At least his requirement doesn't require an entire deck built around him.
• Super Saiyan (Goten) + Super Saiyan (Trunks) - The last two Super Saiyan chase cards, these are both unplayable. In order to transform from their base into their S.S. modes, you have to reach a certain level of energy (stat) on their cards. Unfortunately, there isn't a lot of cards in Ani-Mayhem that allows you gain large numbers, but mostly small increments and various card types to stack the bonus. The play testers "knew" this was going to be a problem, so they allowed an energy boosting card from the set (Spirit, +1 energy) to be played with up to six copies in a deck... which was still one card short from actually transforming one of them. You could build an entire deck to stack as much energy as you could on Goten and/or Trunks, but that's a lot of resources dumped onto a single character. Especially considering all items/enhancements fall off a character if they get bonked/killed, which was quite a regular thing in a casual game. A Satellite Strike card (Disaster) would just instantly knock out everyone, forcing you to drop all those bonuses at the location/discard pile. Just like S.S. Goku, they also have the same strengths and draw-backs of transforming in-out of the game.

These Chase cards are coveted by the Dragon Ball collectors/fans, new and old; but finding them in good condition has been a challenge, as card sleeves like Ultra-Pro weren't common at the time.
While the Dragon Ball Z set finally nailed down the execution of the Ani-Mayhem, core mechanics and it's quirky game play, sales of Ani-Mayhem could not justify another expansion. Booster boxes of Set Zero/One were sold at discount at Electronics Boutique for $19.99, and often found on clearance across retailers, such as Tower Records, Wherehouse and Sun Coast stores. Dragon Ball Z's popularity at the time couldn't move enough booster boxes/cases, which forced the cancellation of Ani-Mayhem.

26 Years Later

Just like how the lock-downs created a massive influx of collectors across all hobbies, only a few niche collectors remain in Ani-Mayhem. The most hardcore collectors are down to collecting promotional posters and P-Anime trinkets, and casuals are still trying to find Mint-Near Mint singles to complete their collections. Promos and Demo Cards command a high number on the secondary market. As a game, players need to read page after page of errata, translate game terminology that makes sense and add and subtract fractions (half joking), when deck building... Although it is one of the rare games where you can have both multi-player or single-player options.
Ani-Mayhem represented a small window in the 90s where a 30-minute VHS copy of Tenchi Muyo! could be sold for $29.99 and the laser disc for a kidney. Where Anime in the West was still regulated to high school kids trading copied VHS tapes and prayed it wasn't recorded in LP mode. If you had La Blue Girl (Hentai), you were everyone's best friend... until someone snitches you out during gym. FUCK YOU JERRY PHAM.
Cashing in the 90s craze of both Trading Card Games and Anime, Ani-Mayhem will always be remembered as a game made by fans, for fans.
You just can't please them all.
​
Author's Notes:
- Most internal discussions of the game were shared second hand at conventions through the years, concerning with various e-mail chains and approval between Pioneer and various IP license holders in Japan.
- Conflicting reports online/wiki between Upper Deck reaching out to PioneeP-Anime for a card game. I was told it was started as a pitch between co-workers at P-Anime/Pioneer and Upper Deck being the manufacturer. If anyone that was involved at P-Anime at the time could shed some light, please do and correct the Wikipedia article.
- Ani-Mayhem Online is still maintained after two decades. Great resource if you want to get into the game. It looks like something from the 90s. Not a complaint!
- I still re-watch Ranma 1/2 Movies/OAVs once every year.
​

Fappaizuri is a Private Torrent Tracker for HENTAI / JAV
If you need a JAV source and want to be part of Fappaizuri rising you might consider doing an interview to get an invite:
Join irc with your home connection;
Wait for the staff to PM you;
Former users who can provide the registration mail and profile screen of the Oppaitime account or Sinderella account are able to be invited without parsing any interview.
It will be a 10 days interview, the channel will be open a few hours a day only so you need to try to find the open door on irc.
IRC Information:
Hostname: irc.p2p-network.net
Port: 6697 (SSL)
Channels:
#fappaizuri-interviews
​
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https://ibb.co/MZ5sV49 full site stats.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
POP.
​
Everything that happened next seemed to happen in slow motion.
​
There was the sound of the door being blown open, followed by the sight of something being tossed into the room with us and it took me a moment to recognize exactly what it was.
​
A flashbang grenade.
​
Nicky’s eyes settled on it, before she dove off of the bed. Daphne scrambled underneath the bed to safety. Clive bolted to his feet, while Josey tried to do the same, only slower.
​
Me?
​
All I could think to do was cover my ears and look away, knowing damn well that it wasn’t going to do any good.
​
The flashbang went off. The world went white. My ears started ringing. A familiar choking smoke filled my lungs and through the brightness, I could only faintly see shapes moving around.
​
One shape, that vaguely resembled Clive seemed to be screaming. I heard distant gunshots and watched his body jerk violently as each bullet hit him. He stumbled backward, crashing to the ground in a lifeless heap. Beside me, I could see either Josey or Nicky on the ground although I wasn’t sure who it was. A shape was coming toward me, and I felt a hand on my throat. I could barely make out a face above me, but I couldn’t make out any of the features. I felt myself being forced down onto the ground and felt a gun press into the back of my head.
​
My heart seemed to stop as the panic set in. I know I was screaming. Beside me, I could see the shape on the floor being forced to her knees. I’m sure that it was Josey… I could hear her crying out in pain.
​
Then I heard more gunshots, distant and almost far away. I thought for a moment that they’d killed Josey… but no… no, she was still on her knees beside me.
​
My vision was starting to come back to me. I could see three new men in the room with us, all of them dressed in neat black suits. Two of the men were standing behind Josey and I. The third was kneeling by the bed, clinging to the side of it as if for dear life and I could see him screaming in agony.
​
“Drop the traitor! Get the blue one!” The man behind me snapped.
​
The man behind Josey left her, giving the bed a wide berth as the man kneeling by the bed collapsed. I could see him twitching. Blood trickled out of his open mouth and I could’ve sworn that I saw his skin going a shade paler. I heard another two gunshots, and the man rounding the bed’s head jerked backward. A dark red stain appeared on the wall beside him.
​
There were two more gunshots, and the man beside me hastily scrambled out of the way, toward Josey, firing haphazardly into the bed. That was a mistake.
​
She lunged for him, grabbing him by the waist and pulling him down to the ground with her.
​
A final gunshot sounded as a bullet hit the final man in the throat, causing his body to buck violently as blood gushed from his throat.
​
For a moment, all was silent.
​
Then, I saw a bloody pair of hands emerge from under the bed, one of them clutching a hooked knife and the other clutching a gun. Slowly, Nicky dragged herself out from under the bed. She looked around and tried to stand, only to stumble and catch herself up against the wall.
​
I ran to her side. My balance was off, but I still made it and my ears were still ringing so I didn’t bother talking. I checked Nicky to see if she was injured, but she brushed me off. As far as I could tell, there wasn’t a scratch on her. But where had the blood come from?
​
I looked over to the man by the bed and got my answer. I could see bloody tears in his flesh along his ankles, and his entrails spilling out through a devastating wound in his stomach. It didn’t take much to piece together what Nicky had done to him.
​
“What the fuck…” Josey asked, looking down at the gutted man on the floor. At least, I’m pretty sure that’s what she said. My hearing was still a little shot. Nicky looked over at her and held up her curved knife.
“Always have an ace in your pocket,” She said.
“You were lounging in your fuckin’ pajamas! Why the fuck did you have a knife!”
“Always…” Nicky repeated.
​
I saw Daphne poke her little head out from under the bed and give us a wide eyed: ‘What the fuck was that?’ look, before retreating back to safety. Our attention shifted to Clive next. He lay by the desk, and he looked pretty dead to me… well… deader than normal. (Are vampires technically alive or dead?)
​
“He can survive bullets, right?” I asked, looking over at Josey.
“No… no he cannot,” She replied, crouching beside him. She sighed, before reaching over to close his eyes.
“Wait, I thought vampires were supposed to be hard to kill? I thought you needed to drive a stake through their heart or something!”
“That’s all mythology. People made that stuff up. Most vampires are just immortal assholes with weird dietary needs and they sure as hell ain’t bulletproof!” Josey said.
​
“Fuckin’ swell…” Nicky said, trying to stand again. She was still a little unsteady on her feet. She seemed to be struggling to think for a moment. She looked at the corpses again, before shaking her head.
“Take the guns… somebody get my fucking cat… and let’s get the fuck out of here…”
​
She shuffled over toward her laptop and quickly inspected it for damage before slamming it closed and stuffing it into a backpack. Nicky and I collected the guns while Josey coaxed Daphne into her carrier. We didn’t stay after that.
​
We took off down the fire escape and didn’t look back.
​
***
​
Going back to the townhouse probably wasn’t the brightest idea, but we needed somewhere to put the cat, and there was already a litterbox there. In the time since we’d left the hotel, my ears hadn’t stopped ringing, although it had gotten a little better.
​
Nicky had retreated back to her office after feeding Daphne and set up her laptop again while Josey crashed down hard on the couch in the living room. I took the opportunity to change her bandages and make sure she got her medication before shambling into the kitchen to break into Nicky’s stash of Baileys. Once I had my drink, I went into the office to check in on her.
​
She was still wearing her bloodstained Sailor Moon pajama bottoms, although she’d at least changed out of her bloody t-shirt and put on a new hoodie. She stared almost blankly at the screen of her laptop, lost in thought and didn’t even seem to notice me coming in.
“So… plan B’s gone to shit…” I said softly. “Options for Plan C?”
“Working on it…” She said, her voice low and exhausted. She smoothed down her hair and looked over at me “I don’t suppose you’ve got any ideas?”
“One,” I said. “But you’ve already thought of that. You’re looking for alternatives.”
“I don’t suppose Josey’s got any more friends?” She asked.
“I didn’t ask,” I replied. “Although after that…”
​
She sighed.
“Right…”
She opened one of her desk drawers for a plastic bag of weed and started rolling herself a joint. I reached into my pocket for a lighter, and lit it for her. She took a long drag before sitting back in her chair.
​
“You know they say that cops are more likely to be psychopaths,” She said. “Never thought I’d meet one this fucking nuts, though.”
“Well this weeks just been full of surprises,” I replied.
“No shit.” She took another slow drag on her joint. “La vie est sadique… how long have we been doing this, Jackie? Three years? Five? I mean it hasn’t always been a walk in the fucking park but it’s never been this fucking bad before! The others… we could always get in their heads. Keep them scared of us, put them back in their place every time they got ballsy. Human trafficking was their business, killing them was ours. That was how it worked! This guy though…”
​
“Maybe God really is on his side,” I suggested half joking.
“In that case, we can bury them together when we’re done.”
She turned back toward her laptop and opened her file on Babineau again.
​
“Never go all in if you can help it…” She said to herself, “I don’t mind gambling, but I don’t like playing my pocket aces and right now I’m not seeing a lot of other options. This situation is already spiraling out of control. At this point… I’m not even sure if we could go back to Toronto and wash our hands of this fucking mess, even if we wanted to.”
​
I bit my lip.
​
I hated to admit it, but I feared that she was right about that.
​
“If the ace is what’s on the table… how exactly do we use it?” I asked.
Nicky didn’t reply. She drummed her fingers on the table, staring at the PDF file as she thought. I saw her brow furrow, and she clicked into something else. The audio I’d recorded a few nights ago started playing.
​
“This is the place?” Meg’s voice sent a chill through me.
​
“My associate is fairly private,” Cheryl replied. “But he’ll make sure you’re safe. It’s what he does.”
​
Nicky had a thoughtful look on her face as the audio played, before finally looking back at me.
“I might have one idea…” She finally said. “Walk me through that night again.”
​
I did.
​
Point by point, I went through that night again. Nicky held on to every word and as she listened, I could see her putting the pieces together in her head. I already knew exactly what she was thinking.
​
***
​
Nicky and I had agreed that she needed to go to Salvation House alone. I’d told here where I’d parked the rental I’d stashed away the other night, and set to work on my half of the operation. If we were going to use this ace of ours, we figured it’d be best not to play it back at the townhouse. We needed someplace else.
​
So I suggested the Nightlife Grill.
​
After the shootout the other night, I expected the place to be empty. That, combined with the fact that the mall the restaurant was attached to closed at 9 ensured that we’d be well enough alone that evening.
​
I helped Josey up the fire escape to the third floor and let her rest in one of the booths while I took Nicky’s laptop to the management's office out back and set it up. I may not have been as capable with this thing as she was, but I still had a general idea of how to use some of her programs and the first thing I did, was tap into Cheryl King’s cell phone.
​
After that - it wasn’t long until she made a call.
​
The phone rang, and I heard a voice on the other end answer.
​
“Detective Babineau speaking.”
“Mr. Babineau, we have a problem.”
“Cheryl… what can I help you with?”
“Someone was just inside the Salvation House! They were trying to get into the basement! I… I shot at them, I might’ve hit them? But they got away!”
“Who?”
“I don’t know! Some woman! Short, blue hair, that’s all I saw! She drove off in a black Chevy Malibu!”
​
I heard Babineau let out an almost impressed chuckle.
“That so?” He asked. “You get a look at the plates?”
“No sir. But they were heading south.”
“I see… give me twenty minutes, then be ready to meet where I tell you to meet. Come armed.”
“Yes sir…”
​
Babineau hung up, and I grimaced. He was coming. I hoped we were ready.
​
“Nicky’s here,” Josey said, as she made her way into the kitchen.
“How’s she doing?” I asked.
“Go and see for yourself.”
I nodded, before grabbing the drink I’d mixed for her and bringing it out of the kitchen.
​
Nicky was sitting at one of the nearby tables, rolling herself a joint. She’d dressed up just for Babineau, wearing a black and white hoodie covered in panels from hentai manga, depicting the faces of girls (and maybe some boys) getting the ever loving shit fucked out of them. I don’t know much about hentai or manga, but she called it her ‘ahegao jacket.’ Honestly… as ugly as I thought that sweater was, I’m not sure I could’ve imagined a better outfit for picking a fight with a Puritan… although I couldn’t help but wonder if the mess of blood on her stomach would ruin that sweater forever.
​
Nicky looked up at me as I approached and set the drink down in front of her. I stared at the mess on her stomach and couldn’t keep myself from grimacing.
“That looks bad,” I said.
“How bad?” She asked, lighting her joint.
“Very bad…”
​
“Getting shot in the stomach fucking hurts,” Josey said. “One minute you think you’re tough, then you’ve got a fucking hole in your guts… getting thrown into the goddamn lake doesn’t help either.”
“Well, good news is that Babineau probably isn’t going to throw any of us into the lake,” Nicky said. “So if nothing else, we’ve got that going for us!”
​
She took a sip of her drink and sighed.
“Is Babineau on his way?” She asked.
“He will be soon,” I replied. “Cheryl’s already called him. How are you holding up?”
“I mean, I’ve kinda just accepted that the pain is endless and forever at this point. But otherwise… I’m great.”
​
Well, at least she was still in good spirits.
“Can I get you anything?” I asked.
“Another drink?”
​
I nodded and went to mix it for her. From the corner of my eye, I watched as Josey sat down beside Nicky, who was taking a moment to inspect her curved knife.
“Never seen a knife like that before,” I heard Josey say.
“Yeah… picked it up at a knife show about… I dunno… six years ago? Seven, maybe? It’s called a karambit. They’re originally from Indonesia.”
“Is it any good if you got it from a knife show?” Josey asked.
“I mean, it’s treated me pretty good so far. It’s a little easier to hide than this…”
​
She reached into her sweater to take out a fairly large bowie knife.
“I mean… I love this one, but it’s more for intimidation, you know? This one…” She held up the karambit again, “It’s good in a scrape. I’ve also got a ka-bar, I’ve got a ballistic… I’ve got a WASP knife, but that’s more for discretion.”
​
“Jesus lady, how many fucking knives do you have?”
“On me or in general? I dunno, either way it’s a lot,” Nicky said. “Look, you think that’s bad… you should see the all the Sailor Moon plush I’ve got back home.”
“Ain’t that a kids show…?”
“Suck my dick, I love it.”
​
Josey put her hands up in surrender as Nicky took another sip of her drink. Nicky slid the karambit up her sleeve, before putting the bowie knife back in her sweater. I came back to the table carrying three drinks. I set one out for Nicky and the other for Josey. The last one I kept for myself.
​
“So,” I said. “We’ve got less than half an hour before the shit hits the fan… anyone up for a toast?”
Josey picked up her drink.
“Shit, I’m in. What are we drinking to?”
“À mort… to death,” Nicky said. “Specifically, Ash Babineau’s death. But hey… we’ll see how it goes.”
“Fuck it,” Josey said, “To death.”
“À mort,” I said, clinking my glass with theirs.
It was time to play our ace.
​
***
​
I could see it on the cameras when Babineau’s Audi parked out front and Cheryl’s Jeep followed soon after. I also saw the van full of assholes in suits pulling around out back, and hoped that they really would be stupid enough not to notice the tripwires we’d set up in the back stairwell. I grabbed one of the kevlar vests we’d brought and strapped myself into it before leaving the office.
“Showtime, people,” I said as I walked back into the dining room.
​
Josey and Nicky were at the table, fussing over Nicky’s gunshot wound and making sure it looked right. They both looked up when they saw me come out of the office. Nicky sprang to her feet, while Josey took a moment to stand. The three of us made our way to the balcony of the third floor.
​
We took our places on either side of the standing glass waterfall. Nicky and Josey on one side, and me on the other. I could see that Nicky and Josey had already drawn their guns and I quietly did the same. We stared down at the lobby and watched as the doors opened and Ash Babineau walked through with Cheryl at his side.
​
Babineau stopped at the base of the fountain in the lobby, looking up at us with a knowing half smile on his face.
“Well, well… what a reception,” He said, staring up at us. “I’m curious, was this all part of a plan, or are you improvising right now?”
​
“Take another step closer and find out…” Nicky said, teeth gritted in pain. Babineau studied her and I knew that he noticed the bloodstain on her shirt.
“You’re resilient…” He said, “I don’t think Josey was even able to stand after I shot her.”
“It’s just a graze,” Nicky said.
“Is it?” Babineau asked, “Lucky you. Speaking of gunshot wounds, Josey, how nice to see you again! How are you holding up?”
“Eat shit and die,” Josey spat.
​
Babineau chuckled.
“Charming,” He said. “So this is all you’ve got for me? I’m sorry… but it’s a little underwhelming, isn’t it? A few guns, some high ground… don’t get me wrong! It’s not bad! It’s just… less than I was expecting.”
“We’ve still got numbers,” I said.
“Are you sure?” Babineau asked, and I heard footsteps behind me before feeling a gun pressing up against the back of my head.
​
From the corner of my eye, I noticed a man behind Josey and another behind Nicky.
“I count six of us to three of you,” Babineau said as he headed for the stairs. “Take their guns and sit them down.”
​
The gun was torn from my hand as I was dragged toward a nearby table. Nicky and Josey were sat down beside me. Babineau ascended the stairs with Cheryl right behind him. He regarded us thoughtfully for a moment and I saw his eyes linger on Nicky’s sweater. His brow furrowed in quiet disapproval before he pulled out a seat across from us.
​
“There were tripwires in the fire escape, hooked up to a half pound of C4. ” One of the men said. “It’s been disarmed.”
“Good,” Babineau replied. “And here I was worried you’d leave your entire flank exposed.”
“Well… can’t make it too easy, can we?” Nicky asked coldly.
​
“No, no you can’t!” Babineau agreed. “Honestly… I am impressed with how resourceful you’ve been so far! I was certain that you wouldn’t survive this morning's attack, but here we are. This little setup is… well, it’s not quite as impressive as I was expecting. But I have to say, you’ve been far more entertaining an opponent than most! Dealing with you has been sort of like a game of chess, I was actually a little excited to see what move you were going to make next. I’m almost disappointed that Cheryl caught you.”
“Really? So do we get a do over?” Nicky asked.
​
Again, Babineau laughed.
“No… I’m afraid not. This was fun while it lasted, Nicole, but it can’t last forever.”
I noticed Nicky tensing up a little bit at the mention of her name and Babineau’s eyes locked with hers.
​
“I found your fingerprints all over that C4 charge you left on my car. I would’ve thought you’d be a little smarter with that… but I digress. Nicole Marie Weber de Beauchamp. I almost thought it was a false positive at first, since you’ve been dead for over ten years. Then I found myself wondering if you weren’t exactly human… but no. You’re no fae. You’re just as human as I am. Although I can’t imagine what you’ve survived. I read about your ‘death’, what Patrick Hawthorne’s organization did to you and how they swept it all under the rug. I can’t even begin to imagine just how broken that might leave someone.”
​
“No…” Nicky said plainly, “You can’t.”
“The cruelty and immorality of this world makes me sick sometimes…” Babineau said, his voice low and reverent. “But I believe that there is purpose in all of it. The path you walked, however violent, it's led you here to me. God has led you here to me.”
“Did he now?” Nicky asked.
“He did. It’s why the three of you survived the attack this morning. God was trying to send me a message, that it wasn’t your time! I see that now. God ensured that our paths would cross so that after all the pain you’ve endured, you could find salvation!”
​
“And what exactly does that salvation look like?” Nicky asked, “A white picket fence in a suburb from the 19-fucking-50s, married to some mediocre dipshit with two kids and a dog?”
“Would it be so bad?” Babineau asked. “Has it ever occurred to you that you’re made for more than this?” His eyes shifted between all of us before returning to Nicky who stared back at him with a look that even I couldn’t read.
​
“I’m already dead, Ash…” She said, “I’ve been dead for ten years now. This is the only reason I’m still moving. So please, save your fucking sales pitch for someone who gives a shit.”
“But I can change that!” He said, “We can change that together!”
“No. We can’t,” Nicky said. “You know… for what it’s worth, you and I are a lot alike… only you know in your heart that you’re a ‘hero’. You’ve embraced it. Made it your whole identity. It’s why you don’t see just how much of a piece of shit you really are. You sleep soundly every night, knowing that the horrible shit you’ve done was all done in the name of ‘salvation’. Me? I know I’m a monster. I chose to be a monster. I don't sleep soundly after the things I've done. I can't. But I know that some good came out of them, and that’s enough for me. You’re not going to save me, Ash. So, please. Just go ahead and fucking kill me. Because that is the only ending I’ll accept. Kill me. I made my peace with it a long time ago. After all, I’m already dead.”
​
Babineau stared at her, before finally sighing.
“God gave us the free will to choose,” He said softly. “And so you’ve chosen.”
He extended a hand toward Cheryl who quietly handed him her gun just like she had before he’d killed Meg.
​
“I don’t usually like to use my service pistol for these things…” His words from the other night echoed in my mind.
​
He aimed the gun at her head and Nicky stared down the barrel. I saw the ghost of a smile crossing her lips. Cheryl looked away and I reached for the gun I’d taped under the table.
“Still… I will miss you,” Babineau said before he pulled the trigger.
​
POP.
​
For the second time that day, the world seemed to slow down for a moment. As soon as I heard the sound, I dove under the table. The gun in Babineau’s hand vanished and with it went his entire right hand. I saw a lost finger land on the ground beside the table as I grabbed the gun I’d taped underneath it and took aim at one of the men Babineau had flanked us with. I fired two shots into one of their stomachs and beside me, I could see Josey under the table doing the same. There were other gunshots, and I knew they came from Cheryl.
​
Nicky lunged onto the table, charging for Babineau, and tackled him to the ground. I watched as the two of them spilled out onto the floor. Her karambit had appeared in her hand and she slashed him across the face, drawing blood in the instant before Babineau threw her off. His eyes were wild with panic. The men he’d brought with him were either dead or wounded, with the sole exception of Cheryl.
​
She stood beside him, her gun drawn and aimed at one of his fallen associates and I saw Babineau make the connection immediately.
“You…” He rasped, almost in disbelief.
​
Cheryl didn’t answer… but she had the same look of dread on her face that she’d had a few days ago when Nicky and I had shown her the audio of Meg’s murder.
​
Once she knew we had that, she’d been easy to flip.
​
I could see the look on Babineau’s face as he put it all together. Cheryl’s call to him, Nicky’s ‘gunshot wound’, even the gun that put in his hand, a gun we'd 'modified' with a small C4 charge… it had all been part of a setup.
​
Babineau moved to lunge at her, but Nicky was on top of him a moment later, driving her knife into his back. Babineau cried out, rolling on the ground to try and force her off of him. She stabbed him in the ribs, over and over again before he pushed her away. I saw him scramble to his feet before Nicky could. Cheryl backed away, putting as much distance between the two of them as she could.
​
Nicky came for Babineau again. Her hollow eyes were locked on him, betraying no emotion although her lips were curled into a smile that seemed more muscle memory than genuine glee. Babineau caught her in a bear hug and with a cry of panic and exertion, hurled her to the side. She crashed into one of the nearby tables which broke under her weight. But the moment he’d freed himself from Nicky, Josey came for him.
​
She fired three times, striking Babineau in the side and the stomach. His knees buckled beneath him and he gripped a nearby table for support as Josey advanced on him, the gun aimed at his head.
“Now we’re even…” She hissed.
​
Moving seemingly on pure instinct, Babineau launched himself at her as she fired again. Her bullet went into the floor as he crashed into her, ramming her against the third floor railing. He forced his bloody stump of a hand against her gun, keeping it away from his head as he slammed his fist into her stomach, over and over again. I saw Josey’s eyes bulge. Her breath caught in her throat as the gun slipped from her grasp.
​
I took aim at Babineau, firing two more bullets into his back. He cried out and slumped against the railing as Josey pulled away from him. He looked over at me. Blood trickled out of his mouth. His eyes were wide, panicked, and bloodshot. But he was still fighting. I don’t know how he managed, but somehow he was still fighting! With his good hand, he’d grabbed his service pistol and fired blindly at me. I felt the impact of the bullets in my chest, and the sheer force of them sent me crashing to the ground. My breath caught in my throat and I felt like someone had just hit me with a baseball bat, but the kevlar had done its job.
​
From the corner of my eye, I saw Nicky charging at Babineau again. He turned to shoot at her too, but he wasn’t fast enough. She tackled him and the railing snapped under their combined weight, sending them both plummeting down into the fountain below.
​
Josey stumbled toward the railing, looking down at Nicky and Babineau and I picked myself up to do the same. Beside me, I could see Cheryl creeping closer as well. The shapes of Nicky and Babineau lay in the water below us. Crimson blossomed around them and I saw Nicky move, starting to pick herself up. The fake blood from her bogus wound was already washing off her shirt, but Babineu didn't have that same luxury.
​
​
He twitched, looking up at Nicky as he slowly began to stand.
“Still underwhelmed?” Nicky panted. Her dead eyed rictus grin slowly crept across her face as Babineau rose to his feet. His legs buckled beneath him again before he righted himself. Even from the third floor, I could hear the rasp in his breath.
​
The crimson in the fountain continued to bloom, slowly spreading outward from him. Babineau didn’t reply. I saw him reaching into his jacket for his own knife. He held it up, ready to fight although his balance seemed off. He seemed ready to collapse at any moment.
​
Nicky moved, and Babineau tried to react, but he was already running on fumes. She slashed at his throat first. He held up his ruined arm to stop her and her knife dug into his flesh. He thrust his own knife toward her stomach, but Nicky was faster.
​
In one fluid movement, she pulled the bowie knife from her sweater and sliced into his arm. I saw Babineau’s teeth gritted in pain, blood dribbling past his lips. Nicky ripped the karambit from his arm and swept it downwards. She could have gutted him… but she chose to be crueler than that. Instead she raked the curved end of her knife across the inside of his thigh, drawing fresh blood in torrents. Babineau threw his weight against her, swinging his knife toward her head. Her bowie knife was raked across his skin, leaving a deep gash in his arm. Nicky simply took a step back as Babineau stumbled forward and fell. As he collapsed, Nicky drove the bowie knife into his back, embedding it down to the hilt.
​
The water around them was turning a deeper crimson as Babineau bled out. His breath came in short, heavy pants. His skin had turned deathly pale. But somehow he was still alive. He lifted himself onto his hands and knees, but didn’t seem to be able to pull himself up any higher.
​
“God ensured our paths would cross,” Nicky crooned, “You said you believed that… what do you believe now?”
“God… God is my shield… I shall not die here…” Babineau rasped. “I am His soldier… He is my strength… ”
“Well… at least you’re a consistent psychopath."
​
Babineau groaned in pain as he forced himself to stand again.
“I can’t… die here…” He said. His skin was almost alabaster white. “I can’t… die… I can’t die… I can’t… I… I…”
Nicky extended her arms, beckoning him closer.
​
“Come on, Ash. I thought you were supposed to be some kind of badass. The Knight of Chastity. Don’t tell me you’re running out of steam already! Come on. Impress me.”
​
With a groan, Babineau stood.
“I can’t die…” He wheezed. The words spilled out of his mouth like a mantra, slurred and barely intelligible.
“I can’t die… I can’t die… I can’t… die...”
​
He shuffled toward her, although seemed to struggle to muster the strength to raise his knife again. Nicky watched him as he came for her, her head cocked slightly to the side and that absent grin still plastered on her face.
​
He raised the knife, readying himself to fight, although his movements were sluggish and slow. I could see the terror in his eyes slowly fading away with nothing to replace it. The knife slipped from his hands and dropped into the water. Babineau still stood, his lips moving, but no sound came out.
​
His legs buckled beneath him again as he collapsed to his knees. His eyes remained locked with Nicky’s, the life slowly fading from them.
​
She just kept smiling.
​
Babineau tried to move. Tried to stand again, but instead, he simply collapsed forward into the crimson water.
​
All of us were silent, waiting for Babineau to rise again and keep fighting.
​
But he didn’t.
​
Beside me, I heard Cheryl let out a breath she’d been holding and Josey’s expression seemed calmer as she stared down at the body. Nicky’s smile faded. She studied the body for a moment, before calmly ripping her bowie knife out of his back and calmly making her way toward the edge of the fountain.
​
That was it.
​
We’d won.
​
***
​
It took both Nicky and I to drag Babineau into the trunk of his Audi. At least Cheryl had been kind enough to move it for us. He collapsed into the back with a thud, and I noticed his lifeless eyes staring at me before I slammed the trunk closed.
​
Cheryl watched us from the curb, uneasily wringing her hands the whole time.
“So… what exactly are you going to do with him?” She asked.
“Don’t worry, he won’t be missing for long,” Nicky assured her. “Once we’ve finished our work here, we’ll ensure he suffers an accident.”
​
Cheryl grimaced but gave a simple nod.
“Right… and the audio you have…?”
“You can consider that deleted,” I said. “Although don’t assume that means we’re done with you.”
“We still have questions about the Brethren,” Nicky reminded her. “Babineau proved more trouble than he was worth… but you? I think we work wonderfully together, don’t you?”
​
Cheryl nodded hastily.
“Y-yes ma’am… I do.”
“Good. You’ll be hearing from us soon,” I said with a smile.
Cheryl took the opportunity to leave and I didn’t bother watching her go. Instead, our attention shifted to Josey as she walked over to us, arms quietly folded. She stared down at the trunk, then back to us.
​
“So… guess you’re going after the Brethren, then?” She asked.
“Soon,” I said. “Why? You want in?”
“I’ve settled my score, but thanks. No… I’m heading off for greener pastures. I’m gonna take a bit, get myself back to full strength and then, I’ve got an idea on where I might be able to reconnect with some old friends and find some work that suits me.”
​
“Well, best of luck to you then,” I said. “Although if you ever need anything, you can always find me in Toronto.”
“Careful, I might take you up on that someday,” Josey warned. She cracked a small but warm smile. “You two take care now… I’m sure I’ll see you around.”
“See you around,” Nicky said.
​
Josey gave us a nod before turning to leave. She headed to the Malibu that I’d rented and a few minutes later, she was gone leaving Nicky and I alone.
​
She leaned against the trunk and tilted her head back, taking a deep breath of the crisp night air. We stayed like that for a while. Neither of us speaking. Just existing in that moment. Then, when we’d had time to catch our breath we got in Babineau’s car and left the Nightlife Grill behind.
​
There was still so much work to be done, and we’d barely even gotten started.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
POP.
​
Everything that happened next seemed to happen in slow motion.
​
There was the sound of the door being blown open, followed by the sight of something being tossed into the room with us and it took me a moment to recognize exactly what it was.
​
A flashbang grenade.
​
Nicky’s eyes settled on it, before she dove off of the bed. Daphne scrambled underneath the bed to safety. Clive bolted to his feet, while Josey tried to do the same, only slower.
​
Me?
​
All I could think to do was cover my ears and look away, knowing damn well that it wasn’t going to do any good.
​
The flashbang went off. The world went white. My ears started ringing. A familiar choking smoke filled my lungs and through the brightness, I could only faintly see shapes moving around.
​
One shape, that vaguely resembled Clive seemed to be screaming. I heard distant gunshots and watched his body jerk violently as each bullet hit him. He stumbled backward, crashing to the ground in a lifeless heap. Beside me, I could see either Josey or Nicky on the ground although I wasn’t sure who it was. A shape was coming toward me, and I felt a hand on my throat. I could barely make out a face above me, but I couldn’t make out any of the features. I felt myself being forced down onto the ground and felt a gun press into the back of my head.
​
My heart seemed to stop as the panic set in. I know I was screaming. Beside me, I could see the shape on the floor being forced to her knees. I’m sure that it was Josey… I could hear her crying out in pain.
​
Then I heard more gunshots, distant and almost far away. I thought for a moment that they’d killed Josey… but no… no, she was still on her knees beside me.
​
My vision was starting to come back to me. I could see three new men in the room with us, all of them dressed in neat black suits. Two of the men were standing behind Josey and I. The third was kneeling by the bed, clinging to the side of it as if for dear life and I could see him screaming in agony.
​
“Drop the traitor! Get the blue one!” The man behind me snapped.
​
The man behind Josey left her, giving the bed a wide berth as the man kneeling by the bed collapsed. I could see him twitching. Blood trickled out of his open mouth and I could’ve sworn that I saw his skin going a shade paler. I heard another two gunshots, and the man rounding the bed’s head jerked backward. A dark red stain appeared on the wall beside him.
​
There were two more gunshots, and the man beside me hastily scrambled out of the way, toward Josey, firing haphazardly into the bed. That was a mistake.
​
She lunged for him, grabbing him by the waist and pulling him down to the ground with her.
​
A final gunshot sounded as a bullet hit the final man in the throat, causing his body to buck violently as blood gushed from his throat.
​
For a moment, all was silent.
​
Then, I saw a bloody pair of hands emerge from under the bed, one of them clutching a hooked knife and the other clutching a gun. Slowly, Nicky dragged herself out from under the bed. She looked around and tried to stand, only to stumble and catch herself up against the wall.
​
I ran to her side. My balance was off, but I still made it and my ears were still ringing so I didn’t bother talking. I checked Nicky to see if she was injured, but she brushed me off. As far as I could tell, there wasn’t a scratch on her. But where had the blood come from?
​
I looked over to the man by the bed and got my answer. I could see bloody tears in his flesh along his ankles, and his entrails spilling out through a devastating wound in his stomach. It didn’t take much to piece together what Nicky had done to him.
​
“What the fuck…” Josey asked, looking down at the gutted man on the floor. At least, I’m pretty sure that’s what she said. My hearing was still a little shot. Nicky looked over at her and held up her curved knife.
“Always have an ace in your pocket,” She said.
“You were lounging in your fuckin’ pajamas! Why the fuck did you have a knife!”
“Always…” Nicky repeated.
​
I saw Daphne poke her little head out from under the bed and give us a wide eyed: ‘What the fuck was that?’ look, before retreating back to safety. Our attention shifted to Clive next. He lay by the desk, and he looked pretty dead to me… well… deader than normal. (Are vampires technically alive or dead?)
​
“He can survive bullets, right?” I asked, looking over at Josey.
“No… no he cannot,” She replied, crouching beside him. She sighed, before reaching over to close his eyes.
“Wait, I thought vampires were supposed to be hard to kill? I thought you needed to drive a stake through their heart or something!”
“That’s all mythology. People made that stuff up. Most vampires are just immortal assholes with weird dietary needs and they sure as hell ain’t bulletproof!” Josey said.
​
“Fuckin’ swell…” Nicky said, trying to stand again. She was still a little unsteady on her feet. She seemed to be struggling to think for a moment. She looked at the corpses again, before shaking her head.
“Take the guns… somebody get my fucking cat… and let’s get the fuck out of here…”
​
She shuffled over toward her laptop and quickly inspected it for damage before slamming it closed and stuffing it into a backpack. Nicky and I collected the guns while Josey coaxed Daphne into her carrier. We didn’t stay after that.
​
We took off down the fire escape and didn’t look back.
​
***
​
Going back to the townhouse probably wasn’t the brightest idea, but we needed somewhere to put the cat, and there was already a litterbox there. In the time since we’d left the hotel, my ears hadn’t stopped ringing, although it had gotten a little better.
​
Nicky had retreated back to her office after feeding Daphne and set up her laptop again while Josey crashed down hard on the couch in the living room. I took the opportunity to change her bandages and make sure she got her medication before shambling into the kitchen to break into Nicky’s stash of Baileys. Once I had my drink, I went into the office to check in on her.
​
She was still wearing her bloodstained Sailor Moon pajama bottoms, although she’d at least changed out of her bloody t-shirt and put on a new hoodie. She stared almost blankly at the screen of her laptop, lost in thought and didn’t even seem to notice me coming in.
“So… plan B’s gone to shit…” I said softly. “Options for Plan C?”
“Working on it…” She said, her voice low and exhausted. She smoothed down her hair and looked over at me “I don’t suppose you’ve got any ideas?”
“One,” I said. “But you’ve already thought of that. You’re looking for alternatives.”
“I don’t suppose Josey’s got any more friends?” She asked.
“I didn’t ask,” I replied. “Although after that…”
​
She sighed.
“Right…”
She opened one of her desk drawers for a plastic bag of weed and started rolling herself a joint. I reached into my pocket for a lighter, and lit it for her. She took a long drag before sitting back in her chair.
​
“You know they say that cops are more likely to be psychopaths,” She said. “Never thought I’d meet one this fucking nuts, though.”
“Well this weeks just been full of surprises,” I replied.
“No shit.” She took another slow drag on her joint. “La vie est sadique… how long have we been doing this, Jackie? Three years? Five? I mean it hasn’t always been a walk in the fucking park but it’s never been this fucking bad before! The others… we could always get in their heads. Keep them scared of us, put them back in their place every time they got ballsy. Human trafficking was their business, killing them was ours. That was how it worked! This guy though…”
​
“Maybe God really is on his side,” I suggested half joking.
“In that case, we can bury them together when we’re done.”
She turned back toward her laptop and opened her file on Babineau again.
​
“Never go all in if you can help it…” She said to herself, “I don’t mind gambling, but I don’t like playing my pocket aces and right now I’m not seeing a lot of other options. This situation is already spiraling out of control. At this point… I’m not even sure if we could go back to Toronto and wash our hands of this fucking mess, even if we wanted to.”
​
I bit my lip.
​
I hated to admit it, but I feared that she was right about that.
​
“If the ace is what’s on the table… how exactly do we use it?” I asked.
Nicky didn’t reply. She drummed her fingers on the table, staring at the PDF file as she thought. I saw her brow furrow, and she clicked into something else. The audio I’d recorded a few nights ago started playing.
​
“This is the place?” Meg’s voice sent a chill through me.
​
“My associate is fairly private,” Cheryl replied. “But he’ll make sure you’re safe. It’s what he does.”
​
Nicky had a thoughtful look on her face as the audio played, before finally looking back at me.
“I might have one idea…” She finally said. “Walk me through that night again.”
​
I did.
​
Point by point, I went through that night again. Nicky held on to every word and as she listened, I could see her putting the pieces together in her head. I already knew exactly what she was thinking.
​
***
​
Nicky and I had agreed that she needed to go to Salvation House alone. I’d told here where I’d parked the rental I’d stashed away the other night, and set to work on my half of the operation. If we were going to use this ace of ours, we figured it’d be best not to play it back at the townhouse. We needed someplace else.
​
So I suggested the Nightlife Grill.
​
After the shootout the other night, I expected the place to be empty. That, combined with the fact that the mall the restaurant was attached to closed at 9 ensured that we’d be well enough alone that evening.
​
I helped Josey up the fire escape to the third floor and let her rest in one of the booths while I took Nicky’s laptop to the management's office out back and set it up. I may not have been as capable with this thing as she was, but I still had a general idea of how to use some of her programs and the first thing I did, was tap into Cheryl King’s cell phone.
​
After that - it wasn’t long until she made a call.
​
The phone rang, and I heard a voice on the other end answer.
​
“Detective Babineau speaking.”
“Mr. Babineau, we have a problem.”
“Cheryl… what can I help you with?”
“Someone was just inside the Salvation House! They were trying to get into the basement! I… I shot at them, I might’ve hit them? But they got away!”
“Who?”
“I don’t know! Some woman! Short, blue hair, that’s all I saw! She drove off in a black Chevy Malibu!”
​
I heard Babineau let out an almost impressed chuckle.
“That so?” He asked. “You get a look at the plates?”
“No sir. But they were heading south.”
“I see… give me twenty minutes, then be ready to meet where I tell you to meet. Come armed.”
“Yes sir…”
​
Babineau hung up, and I grimaced. He was coming. I hoped we were ready.
​
“Nicky’s here,” Josey said, as she made her way into the kitchen.
“How’s she doing?” I asked.
“Go and see for yourself.”
I nodded, before grabbing the drink I’d mixed for her and bringing it out of the kitchen.
​
Nicky was sitting at one of the nearby tables, rolling herself a joint. She’d dressed up just for Babineau, wearing a black and white hoodie covered in panels from hentai manga, depicting the faces of girls (and maybe some boys) getting the ever loving shit fucked out of them. I don’t know much about hentai or manga, but she called it her ‘ahegao jacket.’ Honestly… as ugly as I thought that sweater was, I’m not sure I could’ve imagined a better outfit for picking a fight with a Puritan… although I couldn’t help but wonder if the mess of blood on her stomach would ruin that sweater forever.
​
Nicky looked up at me as I approached and set the drink down in front of her. I stared at the mess on her stomach and couldn’t keep myself from grimacing.
“That looks bad,” I said.
“How bad?” She asked, lighting her joint.
“Very bad…”
​
“Getting shot in the stomach fucking hurts,” Josey said. “One minute you think you’re tough, then you’ve got a fucking hole in your guts… getting thrown into the goddamn lake doesn’t help either.”
“Well, good news is that Babineau probably isn’t going to throw any of us into the lake,” Nicky said. “So if nothing else, we’ve got that going for us!”
​
She took a sip of her drink and sighed.
“Is Babineau on his way?” She asked.
“He will be soon,” I replied. “Cheryl’s already called him. How are you holding up?”
“I mean, I’ve kinda just accepted that the pain is endless and forever at this point. But otherwise… I’m great.”
​
Well, at least she was still in good spirits.
“Can I get you anything?” I asked.
“Another drink?”
​
I nodded and went to mix it for her. From the corner of my eye, I watched as Josey sat down beside Nicky, who was taking a moment to inspect her curved knife.
“Never seen a knife like that before,” I heard Josey say.
“Yeah… picked it up at a knife show about… I dunno… six years ago? Seven, maybe? It’s called a karambit. They’re originally from Indonesia.”
“Is it any good if you got it from a knife show?” Josey asked.
“I mean, it’s treated me pretty good so far. It’s a little easier to hide than this…”
​
She reached into her sweater to take out a fairly large bowie knife.
“I mean… I love this one, but it’s more for intimidation, you know? This one…” She held up the karambit again, “It’s good in a scrape. I’ve also got a ka-bar, I’ve got a ballistic… I’ve got a WASP knife, but that’s more for discretion.”
​
“Jesus lady, how many fucking knives do you have?”
“On me or in general? I dunno, either way it’s a lot,” Nicky said. “Look, you think that’s bad… you should see the all the Sailor Moon plush I’ve got back home.”
“Ain’t that a kids show…?”
“Suck my dick, I love it.”
​
Josey put her hands up in surrender as Nicky took another sip of her drink. Nicky slid the karambit up her sleeve, before putting the bowie knife back in her sweater. I came back to the table carrying three drinks. I set one out for Nicky and the other for Josey. The last one I kept for myself.
​
“So,” I said. “We’ve got less than half an hour before the shit hits the fan… anyone up for a toast?”
Josey picked up her drink.
“Shit, I’m in. What are we drinking to?”
“À mort… to death,” Nicky said. “Specifically, Ash Babineau’s death. But hey… we’ll see how it goes.”
“Fuck it,” Josey said, “To death.”
“À mort,” I said, clinking my glass with theirs.
It was time to play our ace.
​
***
​
I could see it on the cameras when Babineau’s Audi parked out front and Cheryl’s Jeep followed soon after. I also saw the van full of assholes in suits pulling around out back, and hoped that they really would be stupid enough not to notice the tripwires we’d set up in the back stairwell. I grabbed one of the kevlar vests we’d brought and strapped myself into it before leaving the office.
“Showtime, people,” I said as I walked back into the dining room.
​
Josey and Nicky were at the table, fussing over Nicky’s gunshot wound and making sure it looked right. They both looked up when they saw me come out of the office. Nicky sprang to her feet, while Josey took a moment to stand. The three of us made our way to the balcony of the third floor.
​
We took our places on either side of the standing glass waterfall. Nicky and Josey on one side, and me on the other. I could see that Nicky and Josey had already drawn their guns and I quietly did the same. We stared down at the lobby and watched as the doors opened and Ash Babineau walked through with Cheryl at his side.
​
Babineau stopped at the base of the fountain in the lobby, looking up at us with a knowing half smile on his face.
“Well, well… what a reception,” He said, staring up at us. “I’m curious, was this all part of a plan, or are you improvising right now?”
​
“Take another step closer and find out…” Nicky said, teeth gritted in pain. Babineau studied her and I knew that he noticed the bloodstain on her shirt.
“You’re resilient…” He said, “I don’t think Josey was even able to stand after I shot her.”
“It’s just a graze,” Nicky said.
“Is it?” Babineau asked, “Lucky you. Speaking of gunshot wounds, Josey, how nice to see you again! How are you holding up?”
“Eat shit and die,” Josey spat.
​
Babineau chuckled.
“Charming,” He said. “So this is all you’ve got for me? I’m sorry… but it’s a little underwhelming, isn’t it? A few guns, some high ground… don’t get me wrong! It’s not bad! It’s just… less than I was expecting.”
“We’ve still got numbers,” I said.
“Are you sure?” Babineau asked, and I heard footsteps behind me before feeling a gun pressing up against the back of my head.
​
From the corner of my eye, I noticed a man behind Josey and another behind Nicky.
“I count six of us to three of you,” Babineau said as he headed for the stairs. “Take their guns and sit them down.”
​
The gun was torn from my hand as I was dragged toward a nearby table. Nicky and Josey were sat down beside me. Babineau ascended the stairs with Cheryl right behind him. He regarded us thoughtfully for a moment and I saw his eyes linger on Nicky’s sweater. His brow furrowed in quiet disapproval before he pulled out a seat across from us.
​
“There were tripwires in the fire escape, hooked up to a half pound of C4. ” One of the men said. “It’s been disarmed.”
“Good,” Babineau replied. “And here I was worried you’d leave your entire flank exposed.”
“Well… can’t make it too easy, can we?” Nicky asked coldly.
​
“No, no you can’t!” Babineau agreed. “Honestly… I am impressed with how resourceful you’ve been so far! I was certain that you wouldn’t survive this morning's attack, but here we are. This little setup is… well, it’s not quite as impressive as I was expecting. But I have to say, you’ve been far more entertaining an opponent than most! Dealing with you has been sort of like a game of chess, I was actually a little excited to see what move you were going to make next. I’m almost disappointed that Cheryl caught you.”
“Really? So do we get a do over?” Nicky asked.
​
Again, Babineau laughed.
“No… I’m afraid not. This was fun while it lasted, Nicole, but it can’t last forever.”
I noticed Nicky tensing up a little bit at the mention of her name and Babineau’s eyes locked with hers.
​
“I found your fingerprints all over that C4 charge you left on my car. I would’ve thought you’d be a little smarter with that… but I digress. Nicole Marie Weber de Beauchamp. I almost thought it was a false positive at first, since you’ve been dead for over ten years. Then I found myself wondering if you weren’t exactly human… but no. You’re no fae. You’re just as human as I am. Although I can’t imagine what you’ve survived. I read about your ‘death’, what Patrick Hawthorne’s organization did to you and how they swept it all under the rug. I can’t even begin to imagine just how broken that might leave someone.”
​
“No…” Nicky said plainly, “You can’t.”
“The cruelty and immorality of this world makes me sick sometimes…” Babineau said, his voice low and reverent. “But I believe that there is purpose in all of it. The path you walked, however violent, it's led you here to me. God has led you here to me.”
“Did he now?” Nicky asked.
“He did. It’s why the three of you survived the attack this morning. God was trying to send me a message, that it wasn’t your time! I see that now. God ensured that our paths would cross so that after all the pain you’ve endured, you could find salvation!”
​
“And what exactly does that salvation look like?” Nicky asked, “A white picket fence in a suburb from the 19-fucking-50s, married to some mediocre dipshit with two kids and a dog?”
“Would it be so bad?” Babineau asked. “Has it ever occurred to you that you’re made for more than this?” His eyes shifted between all of us before returning to Nicky who stared back at him with a look that even I couldn’t read.
​
“I’m already dead, Ash…” She said, “I’ve been dead for ten years now. This is the only reason I’m still moving. So please, save your fucking sales pitch for someone who gives a shit.”
“But I can change that!” He said, “We can change that together!”
“No. We can’t,” Nicky said. “You know… for what it’s worth, you and I are a lot alike… only you know in your heart that you’re a ‘hero’. You’ve embraced it. Made it your whole identity. It’s why you don’t see just how much of a piece of shit you really are. You sleep soundly every night, knowing that the horrible shit you’ve done was all done in the name of ‘salvation’. Me? I know I’m a monster. I chose to be a monster. I don't sleep soundly after the things I've done. I can't. But I know that some good came out of them, and that’s enough for me. You’re not going to save me, Ash. So, please. Just go ahead and fucking kill me. Because that is the only ending I’ll accept. Kill me. I made my peace with it a long time ago. After all, I’m already dead.”
​
Babineau stared at her, before finally sighing.
“God gave us the free will to choose,” He said softly. “And so you’ve chosen.”
He extended a hand toward Cheryl who quietly handed him her gun just like she had before he’d killed Meg.
​
“I don’t usually like to use my service pistol for these things…” His words from the other night echoed in my mind.
​
He aimed the gun at her head and Nicky stared down the barrel. I saw the ghost of a smile crossing her lips. Cheryl looked away and I reached for the gun I’d taped under the table.
“Still… I will miss you,” Babineau said before he pulled the trigger.
​
POP.
​
For the second time that day, the world seemed to slow down for a moment. As soon as I heard the sound, I dove under the table. The gun in Babineau’s hand vanished and with it went his entire right hand. I saw a lost finger land on the ground beside the table as I grabbed the gun I’d taped underneath it and took aim at one of the men Babineau had flanked us with. I fired two shots into one of their stomachs and beside me, I could see Josey under the table doing the same. There were other gunshots, and I knew they came from Cheryl.
​
Nicky lunged onto the table, charging for Babineau, and tackled him to the ground. I watched as the two of them spilled out onto the floor. Her karambit had appeared in her hand and she slashed him across the face, drawing blood in the instant before Babineau threw her off. His eyes were wild with panic. The men he’d brought with him were either dead or wounded, with the sole exception of Cheryl.
​
She stood beside him, her gun drawn and aimed at one of his fallen associates and I saw Babineau make the connection immediately.
“You…” He rasped, almost in disbelief.
​
Cheryl didn’t answer… but she had the same look of dread on her face that she’d had a few days ago when Nicky and I had shown her the audio of Meg’s murder.
​
Once she knew we had that, she’d been easy to flip.
​
I could see the look on Babineau’s face as he put it all together. Cheryl’s call to him, Nicky’s ‘gunshot wound’, even the gun that put in his hand, a gun we'd 'modified' with a small C4 charge… it had all been part of a setup.
​
Babineau moved to lunge at her, but Nicky was on top of him a moment later, driving her knife into his back. Babineau cried out, rolling on the ground to try and force her off of him. She stabbed him in the ribs, over and over again before he pushed her away. I saw him scramble to his feet before Nicky could. Cheryl backed away, putting as much distance between the two of them as she could.
​
Nicky came for Babineau again. Her hollow eyes were locked on him, betraying no emotion although her lips were curled into a smile that seemed more muscle memory than genuine glee. Babineau caught her in a bear hug and with a cry of panic and exertion, hurled her to the side. She crashed into one of the nearby tables which broke under her weight. But the moment he’d freed himself from Nicky, Josey came for him.
​
She fired three times, striking Babineau in the side and the stomach. His knees buckled beneath him and he gripped a nearby table for support as Josey advanced on him, the gun aimed at his head.
“Now we’re even…” She hissed.
​
Moving seemingly on pure instinct, Babineau launched himself at her as she fired again. Her bullet went into the floor as he crashed into her, ramming her against the third floor railing. He forced his bloody stump of a hand against her gun, keeping it away from his head as he slammed his fist into her stomach, over and over again. I saw Josey’s eyes bulge. Her breath caught in her throat as the gun slipped from her grasp.
​
I took aim at Babineau, firing two more bullets into his back. He cried out and slumped against the railing as Josey pulled away from him. He looked over at me. Blood trickled out of his mouth. His eyes were wide, panicked, and bloodshot. But he was still fighting. I don’t know how he managed, but somehow he was still fighting! With his good hand, he’d grabbed his service pistol and fired blindly at me. I felt the impact of the bullets in my chest, and the sheer force of them sent me crashing to the ground. My breath caught in my throat and I felt like someone had just hit me with a baseball bat, but the kevlar had done its job.
​
From the corner of my eye, I saw Nicky charging at Babineau again. He turned to shoot at her too, but he wasn’t fast enough. She tackled him and the railing snapped under their combined weight, sending them both plummeting down into the fountain below.
​
Josey stumbled toward the railing, looking down at Nicky and Babineau and I picked myself up to do the same. Beside me, I could see Cheryl creeping closer as well. The shapes of Nicky and Babineau lay in the water below us. Crimson blossomed around them and I saw Nicky move, starting to pick herself up. The fake blood from her bogus wound was already washing off her shirt, but Babineu didn't have that same luxury.
​
​
He twitched, looking up at Nicky as he slowly began to stand.
“Still underwhelmed?” Nicky panted. Her dead eyed rictus grin slowly crept across her face as Babineau rose to his feet. His legs buckled beneath him again before he righted himself. Even from the third floor, I could hear the rasp in his breath.
​
The crimson in the fountain continued to bloom, slowly spreading outward from him. Babineau didn’t reply. I saw him reaching into his jacket for his own knife. He held it up, ready to fight although his balance seemed off. He seemed ready to collapse at any moment.
​
Nicky moved, and Babineau tried to react, but he was already running on fumes. She slashed at his throat first. He held up his ruined arm to stop her and her knife dug into his flesh. He thrust his own knife toward her stomach, but Nicky was faster.
​
In one fluid movement, she pulled the bowie knife from her sweater and sliced into his arm. I saw Babineau’s teeth gritted in pain, blood dribbling past his lips. Nicky ripped the karambit from his arm and swept it downwards. She could have gutted him… but she chose to be crueler than that. Instead she raked the curved end of her knife across the inside of his thigh, drawing fresh blood in torrents. Babineau threw his weight against her, swinging his knife toward her head. Her bowie knife was raked across his skin, leaving a deep gash in his arm. Nicky simply took a step back as Babineau stumbled forward and fell. As he collapsed, Nicky drove the bowie knife into his back, embedding it down to the hilt.
​
The water around them was turning a deeper crimson as Babineau bled out. His breath came in short, heavy pants. His skin had turned deathly pale. But somehow he was still alive. He lifted himself onto his hands and knees, but didn’t seem to be able to pull himself up any higher.
​
“God ensured our paths would cross,” Nicky crooned, “You said you believed that… what do you believe now?”
“God… God is my shield… I shall not die here…” Babineau rasped. “I am His soldier… He is my strength… ”
“Well… at least you’re a consistent psychopath."
​
Babineau groaned in pain as he forced himself to stand again.
“I can’t… die here…” He said. His skin was almost alabaster white. “I can’t… die… I can’t die… I can’t… I… I…”
Nicky extended her arms, beckoning him closer.
​
“Come on, Ash. I thought you were supposed to be some kind of badass. The Knight of Chastity. Don’t tell me you’re running out of steam already! Come on. Impress me.”
​
With a groan, Babineau stood.
“I can’t die…” He wheezed. The words spilled out of his mouth like a mantra, slurred and barely intelligible.
“I can’t die… I can’t die… I can’t… die...”
​
He shuffled toward her, although seemed to struggle to muster the strength to raise his knife again. Nicky watched him as he came for her, her head cocked slightly to the side and that absent grin still plastered on her face.
​
He raised the knife, readying himself to fight, although his movements were sluggish and slow. I could see the terror in his eyes slowly fading away with nothing to replace it. The knife slipped from his hands and dropped into the water. Babineau still stood, his lips moving, but no sound came out.
​
His legs buckled beneath him again as he collapsed to his knees. His eyes remained locked with Nicky’s, the life slowly fading from them.
​
She just kept smiling.
​
Babineau tried to move. Tried to stand again, but instead, he simply collapsed forward into the crimson water.
​
All of us were silent, waiting for Babineau to rise again and keep fighting.
​
But he didn’t.
​
Beside me, I heard Cheryl let out a breath she’d been holding and Josey’s expression seemed calmer as she stared down at the body. Nicky’s smile faded. She studied the body for a moment, before calmly ripping her bowie knife out of his back and calmly making her way toward the edge of the fountain.
​
That was it.
​
We’d won.
​
***
​
It took both Nicky and I to drag Babineau into the trunk of his Audi. At least Cheryl had been kind enough to move it for us. He collapsed into the back with a thud, and I noticed his lifeless eyes staring at me before I slammed the trunk closed.
​
Cheryl watched us from the curb, uneasily wringing her hands the whole time.
“So… what exactly are you going to do with him?” She asked.
“Don’t worry, he won’t be missing for long,” Nicky assured her. “Once we’ve finished our work here, we’ll ensure he suffers an accident.”
​
Cheryl grimaced but gave a simple nod.
“Right… and the audio you have…?”
“You can consider that deleted,” I said. “Although don’t assume that means we’re done with you.”
“We still have questions about the Brethren,” Nicky reminded her. “Babineau proved more trouble than he was worth… but you? I think we work wonderfully together, don’t you?”
​
Cheryl nodded hastily.
“Y-yes ma’am… I do.”
“Good. You’ll be hearing from us soon,” I said with a smile.
Cheryl took the opportunity to leave and I didn’t bother watching her go. Instead, our attention shifted to Josey as she walked over to us, arms quietly folded. She stared down at the trunk, then back to us.
​
“So… guess you’re going after the Brethren, then?” She asked.
“Soon,” I said. “Why? You want in?”
“I’ve settled my score, but thanks. No… I’m heading off for greener pastures. I’m gonna take a bit, get myself back to full strength and then, I’ve got an idea on where I might be able to reconnect with some old friends and find some work that suits me.”
​
“Well, best of luck to you then,” I said. “Although if you ever need anything, you can always find me in Toronto.”
“Careful, I might take you up on that someday,” Josey warned. She cracked a small but warm smile. “You two take care now… I’m sure I’ll see you around.”
“See you around,” Nicky said.
​
Josey gave us a nod before turning to leave. She headed to the Malibu that I’d rented and a few minutes later, she was gone leaving Nicky and I alone.
​
She leaned against the trunk and tilted her head back, taking a deep breath of the crisp night air. We stayed like that for a while. Neither of us speaking. Just existing in that moment. Then, when we’d had time to catch our breath we got in Babineau’s car and left the Nightlife Grill behind.
​
There was still so much work to be done, and we’d barely even gotten started.

Was rescanning the gurochan torrents I found and found this. Obviously not able to confirm it has anything to do with SS/GFAP but Im going to look into it and look around some more.