Like I'm sure many of you, after a while my screen protector has cracked in the middle and started bubbling. I've previously had it replaced in store (I'm in the UK) but they won't do that anymore, so it was sent to an authorised repair place where they told me it would be £30 to get it replaced which seems reasonable. However after having my phone for over 2 weeks they've done an inspection and said that it needs the back cover and main screen replacing too. It doesn't, the phone is fine apart from the screen protector, but it's obviously not brand new and has some scratches, and they won't do what they call a "partial repair" (one person even went so far as to say there is no such thing!), and insist on only repairing the whole thing to mint condition, for which they will charge me over £300. I've given up trying to persuade them just to replace the screen protector so I'm getting it sent back minus £30 I've already paid which they won't refund.
Anyway on to my actual question - does anyone know somewhere that will replace zflip screen protectors? Samsung won't recommend anywhere. Or have any of you tried doing it yourselves, or just taking off the screen protector and managing without it?
My phone is insured so as a last resort I can just send it off to them and they will sort it all out (probably including replacing the cover and stuff even if that isn't necessary), but I'll have to pay the excess then, and I was trying to avoid that.
I'm an English main (if that wasn't obvious by now where have you been). I think white tower rush is one of the dumbest strats in the game and I detest anyone who uses it. Whilst it is counterable, you have such a small window to counter it and it must not be very fun to play against.
Easy fix. Make all keep landmarks for every civ only buildable within an extendable influence from the landmark TC, similar to emergency repairs.
Now, if you want to white tower drop you have to build buildings across the entire map - which you can't do without map control.
This would mean people who use this shitty strat have to play an extended fuedal which in turn would delay the drop and more than likely kill it in it's tracks.
Issue Fifty Written by u/VoidKiller826 Edited by u/Predaplant Arc: Revelations *************************************************************
Greetings, people of Gateway City. This is your new peacekeeper speaking. You might know me as the White Magician, a rather crude name, but I will accept it considering Man’s World's lack of creativity. However, you may also call me Circe, and I am here with an important message that your news station will deliver for all to hear. SCYTHE is no more: their HQ is under my and the Red Centipedes’ command. The Commander and his soldiers are dead and buried, as you all wished to happen. I was more than happy to oblige you if it meant depriving your stupid President of her next chance for reelection. Any survivors of the prison break are being hunted down by the people they locked in cages, who are more than happy to round them up as they once had been themselves. But none of that’s important, for this recording is only to be heard by one person: Olympos, Wonder Girl, or whatever the fuck new title name you want to be called. This message is for you: You are to surrender yourself to me here in SCYTHE HQ in the next five hours, and in turn, I will not destroy this piss-end of a city. If you fail, I promise you, I will make Coast City look like a picnic by the time I finish with Gateway. That cow you call Wonder Woman is dead, and I will make sure everyone else will follow her if you don’t comply with my request. Your mentor learned a valuable lesson when she tested my patience. *************************************************************
Spears Apartment - Gateway City: [...President Cale has announced the complete closure of all access to Gateway City following the prison break that occurred in SCYTHE’s holding facility hours ago,] said Cassandra Arnold from GateNews, the city’s main news station.
[We still have an unconfirmed number of escapees following the message sent by the White Magician, but the President has assured GateNews a solution will be found.] Vanessa Kapatelis watched the TV in dismay. Pacing back and forth in the Spears duplex apartment, she had the TV on to pass the time while Ares worked on helping Helena and Cassandra upstairs.
“Here,” Vanessa turned away from the TV to see Tanya Spears handing her a bottle of water. “Something for you to drink.”
“Thank you,” Vanessa accepted the bottle. “I would prefer a beer, but this will make do.”
“My mom has her wine collection in a locked cabinet,” Tanya noted, pointing at the kitchen. “She doesn’t know that I know that, but I can get you a bottle?”
Vanessa chuckled. “Thanks, but I don’t want a girl your age to be walking around with alcohol or to get you in trouble with your mom.” She twisted the bottle cap and slowly drank. “I needed that… it feels like I’ve been dry for months.”
“It’s actually been 3 hours,” Tanya said, sitting on the sofa and opening her tablet to look over the internet. “I hope what she said wasn’t true… about Wonder Woman not being around…”
Taking a seat by her side, Vanessa saw that Tanya was reading through the report on what happened to SCYTHE. The escaped convicts had taken control of the SCYTHE headquarters and equipment after killing many of the agents that had stood in their way.
Seeing the photo of SCYTHE HQ burning angered her. That place should represent the absolute shield of Gateway. Now, it had come under the control of the convicts that they were supposed to stop because of
Aeeta Branwen. A name that had made her happy now belonged to a stranger who had lied to her all this time.
Memories of their most intimate moments came flooding back: their first conversation, their first date, their kiss, and the morning after their date in her apartment. It was a moment when she thought she could finally stop grieving and move on from what happened to Coast City. And now, that had been disintegrated into oblivion.
In anger, she crushed the bottle with her hand, spraying water all over the table and the floor.
“Shit!” Vanessa stood up, finally realizing her mistake. “I am sorry!”
“Oh, it's fine!” Tanya ran to the kitchen to grab some paper towels. “It’s just water.”
“I know it’s just…” Taking the paper towel, the two began wiping the floor and the table. “I have a lot on my mind.”
“I’ll bet with everything that happened,” said Tanya, giving Vanessa a supportive smile. “Your friends are getting hurt, and you can’t do anything but watch. It would piss anyone off. I know it did with me when the RedCent guys invaded EE Tower.”
“Yeah…” Vanessa sat back on the sofa. “But this… I not only possibly lost many friends, but I was betrayed by someone I loved, someone who I thought was the one for me…” she said, distraught, as tears ran down her face.
Tanya, without saying anything more, hugged Vanessa closely. Despite them knowing each other for only a few hours, Tanya knew that Vanessa was in pain. Watching her loved ones being hurt by someone that she trusted must have been a hard truth to accept.
The doors upstairs opening and closing caught the two’s attention. Looking up, they saw Somya Spears descending, looking exhausted, like she had gone ten rounds in the ring. As she reached the ground floor, Tanya ran up to her mother, hugged her close, and guided her to the nearest chair to rest.
“Is everything alright, mom?” Tanya asked, worried.
“Yeah… just felt that I might take that long overdue vacation…” Somya answered, leaning against the soft chair with a tired sigh. “Maybe we’ll go to Paris like you wanted, Tanya…”
More steps followed, and Ares, or Mars as he insisted to be called, followed Somya, pulling his folded-up sleeves back. Unlike Somya, he didn’t seem any different from when he went upstairs to help the Sandsmarks, but the few strands of hair on his face told a different story.
“How are they?” Vanessa asked, walking up to the former God of War. “Are they ok?”
Ares turned to Vanessa. “The girl has a lot of heart, far too stubborn to let a beating keep her down.” He said with praise, impressed with the former Wonder Girl’s willpower. “Her Sumerian blood will help her heal in only a few days, but it won’t help her mental wounds after I told her the news about her mother.”
Vanessa had a lot of questions about what he had said, especially the word Sumerian; perhaps Cassie was not simply half-Olympian. However, she focused on the most important detail in his explanation. “What happened with Helena?” She asked in a worried tone. “Is she-”
“She is alive,” Ares said, but his expression shifted, frowning, making her nervous. “Physically, she will recover, she has only a few cuts and bruises. Even a human like her can heal those.”
“But?”
“But it's the spell Circe struck her with. It is unlike anything I’ve seen because it is of her creation,” Ares explained, and Vanessa ground her teeth together when she heard the name belonging to the stranger who hurt her and her loved ones. “Whatever she used, it is affecting her very soul, slowly killing her.”
“Like a virus?” Vanessa asked, and Ares nodded. “Magic can do that?”
“It does,” Ares answered. “Magic can create a nuclear bomb if the user has the patience for it. And Circe is a master at it, one of the very best and most gifted witches on the planet, so making something like this would be as easy as making a cake for her.”
Magic had never been SCYTHE’s priority, but the Commander still made them study anything related to the subject in case they had to face it. Vanessa had never expected to see it at this scale.
“Can you break it?” Vanessa asked. “Find a way to break the curse from Helena’s soul?”
Ares took a deep breath, pocketing his hands. “It’s too complex to break. I will admit Magic is not my strongest suit, but even if you bring in someone knowledgeable, it would be a while for them to break her creation,” he explained. “You need someone at her level of knowledge when it comes to magic, and I am not the best person to face her in that department.”
“Then we call for a specialist, anyone, really,” Vanessa said in desperation. “If this is like a virus, a curse, then we bring a surgeon to cut it out! Maybe Cassie can use her Justice Legion connection, or maybe you can call someone for a favor.”
Vanessa's desperation was clear. She was willing to call for the Justice Legion, the very people she swore to go against for their vigilantism, if it meant saving Helena Sandsmark, her promise be damned.
“The spell is growing far too rapidly. By the time you find someone, it will be far too late,” Ares said solemnly. “The only person in the world who can break the spell without any problem or fear of failsafe is Hecate, the Goddess of Magic. She was Circe’s mentor, and she taught her everything she could about magic. No matter how complex it is, Hecate would understand it.”
“She can help us?”
Ares shook his head. “No, she has no interest in helping the world unless it is connected to her directly, and even then, dealing with her is the worst-case scenario because there is a chance she’ll side with Circe before she even thinks of helping us.”
“So what now?” Vanessa asked, sounding defeated. “Just let Helena die? Let Cassie suffer? Let Circe win?!” she shouted angrily, finally addressing Circe by name. All of this explanation from Ares told her one thing: that the Witch had them beat, and they couldn’t do anything about it.
Ares didn’t react to her outburst, while the Spears looked worried. Tanya, for her part, tried to walk up to calm Vanessa, but the War God raised his hand to stop her, shaking his head and giving her the silent sign to let Vanessa be.
“There is one way: it will be quicker if we act fast enough, but it would take everything from all of us for it to happen,” Ares said, beginning his explanation. “There is a chain link connecting the spell, from the spell caster to Circe. This means it can be broken if we force Circe to release the chain connecting her to Helena…” he explained, letting his words be understood by the occupants in the room before finishing with one last note. “Killing Circe would also break the binding if she didn’t leave any contingencies.”
Vanessa gritted her teeth. “So we have to make her break the spell, and hopefully she doesn’t screw us over… or we kill her, and hopefully she still doesn’t screw us over even in death?” she asked, and Ares nodded. “What kind of person is willing to put in all that work? Just for revenge? On Diana, who is long gone?”
Ares shrugged and turned to the Spears, his gaze focused on Tanya, his daughter. Someone whom he never thought he would meet again was facing him, without knowledge of their blood relations.
“Possibly,” Ares answered, taking a step back. “But if there is one thing I know for sure, Circe does not put these kinds of bindings without any reason. Whatever that reason is involves Cassandra Sandsmark and whether she will choose to make Circe break the spell or kill her, tainting her forever.”
Silence came to the room, letting Ares’s words sink in for all occupants, which might have been the same words he said to the Sandsmarks.
*************************************************************
The room of Somya Spears was quiet, with the only sound being the breathing of Helena Sandsmark lying on the bed sleeping. The room was spacious, with an expensive queen-sized bed as expected from an interim CEO of one the largest companies in the world.
Seated a few feet away on a chair was Cassandra Sandsmark, dressed in fresh clothes given to her by Somya after throwing off the bloody tattered ones she had arrived in. Watching her mother closely, Cassandra’s mind was racing, especially after what Ares told her about the curse Circe placed on her mother, slowly destroying her soul bit by bit until she was nothing but a husk.
“Dammit!” In anger at their situation, she crushed the armchair, tearing its arm off like it was made of paper. If she was stronger, faster, and had the heart for it, she would have stopped the Witch, stopped her from hurting her city, the people of SCYTHE, and those caught in the crossfire, stopped her from hurting her mother…
She buried her face into her hands, tears running down her eyes as she despaired. Everything she worked on after Coast City evaporated was ground up under a very powerful enemy out for revenge.
Considering Circe’s ultimatum, her city could well be gone by the time this was over.
“Artemis… please be safe…” she whispered. She had nearly had a panic attack when she heard the news of the Amazon heading to SCYTHE HQ to stop the prison break, and then… nothing. No matter how many times she dialed her phone, there was no one answering, and she feared for the worst.
She heard her mother coughing, and Cassandra was quickly by her side. “Mom!” she called for her, holding her hand.
“Cassandra?...” Her mother said her name weakly. Her skin was becoming paler, a clear sign that the curse spell was working. “Are you… ok?”
“I’m fine, Mom,” Cassandra answered, covering the bandages hidden inside her clothes. “We’re safe.
You’re safe.” she said, tightening both her hands around her mothers.
“Did you… break something?” She asked, looking at the chair behind her. “You shouldn’t be… doing that… we are guests…”
Cassandra laughed, her tears falling away. “Sorry… it’s just… it’s been a hell of a week…”
Helena touched her daughter’s cheek, noticing the bandage on it. “You’re… hurt…”
“It’s alright, Mom. Just a few bruises,” Cassandra assured. “You shouldn’t worry, you know I can take it…”
“I am your… mother, Cassandra,” Helena said, facing her daughter. “Demi-God or not… I will always be worried… scared for my little girl.”
Cassandra’s tears came back. Seeing her mother remain strong despite everything made her happy, and she was terrified of losing her.
“So… my soul is cursed?” Helena asked.
“You heard all that?”
“Can’t not… with all the swearing…” Helena noted, giving her daughter a small smile. “You shouldn’t swear at people, Cassandra, especially those who are trying to help.”
“I know, I know,” Cassandra said. She had gone off on Ares after he explained what happened to her mother, and she might have overreacted when she put all her anger on the former War God. “It’s just… I don’t want to lose you… not while we can fix this.”
Helena sat up on her bed, fully facing her daughter. “Which is why… I don’t want you to make the wrong choice.”
“I won’t,” Cassandra said with a low tone. “I will make Circe free you from this curse-”
“No, Cassandra,” Helena grabbed both of Cassandra’s hands with hers. “That is not what I meant…”
Cassandra raised her brows, confused. “Mom?”
“I heard everything… from Circe’s spell… how it works… and how it can be broken…” Helena said, shocking Cassandra. “I know you already decided what you feel you have to do.”
Cassandra didn’t answer, avoiding her mother’s disapproving gaze accusing her. Ares said the quickest way to break the binding and the spell was either by forcing Circe to break it herself or by killing her, severing the connection.
But if what Circe said was true, that Diana decided to kill her instead of making her surrender like everyone else who faced her, that means there was no chance the Witch would submit willingly. She would rather die than give the satisfaction of admitting defeat.
Which left only one solution where she could save her mother.
Helena sighed, knowing what decision her daughter might have made. She held her hand tightly and changed the subject. “I have to tell you something…”
“No, mom. You’re not giving me the
‘Dying Speech’, not while there is a chance we can save you-”
“It’s about your father,” Helena cut her off, shutting Cassandra up. “Your real father…”
Cassandra remembered Circe calling her Daughter of Enlil, not Zeus. Ares said he was a friend of her father, which confused her because Ares hated Zeus, so it wouldn’t make sense that he would help out even if they were his siblings.
“
Enlil…” Cassandra said the name aloud, and Helena’s eyes widened, her breath hitching when she heard the name. “Circe… she called me Daughter of Enlil… Child of the Sky...”
Helena took a deep breath, bringing her daughter closer. “Yes… that is true…” she began. “You are not Zeus’s daughter, Cassandra, nor you are an Olympian in any way… but you are in fact… Sumerian… Mesopotamian,” The elder Sandsmark brought her youngest closer and spoke carefully, as if worried that someone might hear them. “Your father is Enlil, the Sumerian God of Wind… and he was the kindest man I have ever known…”
From then on, Helena explained Cassandra’s origins as carefully as possible, pushing on even while the spell affected her. She explained how she met Enlil, a man with golden hair similar to Cassandra’s, who introduced himself as an expert in Mesopotamian history during an expedition in Iraq. They had become rivals at first due to their clashing personalities, but how that developed into respect, to eventually falling in love after a very lengthy adventure that sounded like the plot of The Mummy.
And that love resulted in Cassandra’s birth. He helped raise her with Helena for the first year and a half before he disappeared because he had Olympian enemies and had to leave them to keep them safe.
While she explained all this, Cassandra’s mind went to another piece of critical information. Her father’s true identity had never been the most important thing for her. But what made it important was what Circe told her about Diana’s true reason for coming to Gateway City. It wasn’t just settling in a ‘piss-end of a city’ the more she taught about it, the more she realized the terrifying truth behind her mentor’s reasoning for coming to the city.
Diana was sent to find Cassandra, a
Sumerian Demi-God, the Olympians greatest enemy since the Titans, and eliminate her. The prophecy of the Godkiller that they had feared might have come from Cassandra, but all it did was start a long, personal, and bloody war between two women because of the gods' demands for blood.
And now, she, Artemis, and Gateway City suffered the consequences. Even after Diana’s death, Circe would not let her hatred for what had happened to her go, and if it meant destroying her mentor’s legacy, she would do it.
‘Diana…’ Cassandra thought in sadness.
*************************************************************
SCYTHE Sub Base - Industrial District: “I am not sure how you were able to do it, but you somehow found an ever more depressing place than that HQ of yours. It makes the cell you put us in look like a five-star hotel room,” said one Pamela Isley, formerly Poison Ivy, seated in the middle of a large room behind a large table. Around her were what was left of the SCYTHE agents they had saved during the escape, all working to get the makeshift base they had hidden up and running.
Alexei Abramovici, the Bloodcrow of SCYTHE, glared at the former supervillain, not happy with her comment. He turned to one of his men and began barking orders, “You! Get the goddamn Black Room working! We are running blind here!”
‘Worker drones even without their Commander.’ Pamela looked on unimpressed at the agents. She had never been that sympathetic to the plight of cops getting killed, especially militarized ones. The once mighty and feared peacekeepers of Gateway, who went to war against all the crime syndicates and the Red Centipedes, were now a mere little squad that won’t be able to protect a mini-mart, let alone every escaped convict under the command of the White Magician.
“Man… the signal here sucks!” complained Miguel Barragan by her side, raising his phone and trying to catch any kind of signal. “Could barely talk to my boyfriend when I called him, and can’t connect to the internet,” he complained. He tried once again to call but he couldn’t find a signal. “Useless brick…”
“We are underground in a bunker previously owned by Neo-Nazis, Barragan,” Pamela noted. From what she had heard, this used to be an old RedCent hideout that SCYTHE took over after the war, using it as a smaller base in case of emergency. “Not receiving any signal is part of the appeal of the place.”
“Bunker, huh…” Miguel chuckled. The name Bunker reminded him of the super name that he picked out; the more time passed, the more convinced he was that it was the right one.
Pamela gave a confused look at his expression and shrugged it off. Turning to her right, she saw the silent Emily Sung staring off into the distance. Unlike Barragan, Emily had other matters on her mind. Whatever she sensed or saw back at SCYTHE HQ freaked her out, like seeing something she shouldn’t.
Just as Pamela was about to ask her how she was feeling, a knock on the large blast doors echoed around the base, loud enough for all to hear. Quickly, everyone felt tense, and the SCYTHE agents covered the door as Alexei signaled them to aim their weapons. After the news of the escaped convicts taking control of SCYTHE HQ and their equipment and weaponry, the agents knew that they were being haunted now by the convicts looking for revenge, so they were not taking any chances.
“Would you mind opening the door!” A familiar voice said behind the door, a voice Pamela recognized right away. “I have a bloody Amazon here, and I would like her off my fur!”
“Barbara?” Pamela realized.
“Minerva? As in the Cheetah?” Alexei asked, eyes narrowed with suspicion. “She could be working with them, with
the White Magician.”
“She isn’t,” Pamela answered, glaring at the SCYTHE soldier for the accusation. “She would never ally with the psychos you had under lock and key.”
Alexei scoffed. “That woman got a cemetery filled with people who say otherwise, and she hurt the mother of someone I know.”
Before the two could argue, Miguel stood up and decided to take action. He extended his hand, forming a large arm construct from it, and grabbed the handle of the blast door. With one pull, he opened it wide. Barbara entered. Her feline form made some of the SCYTHE agents tense, and weapons were still trained on her.
“Quite the welcoming committee…” she noted in sarcasm. “Now, would you be dears and get this woman some help?” She adjusted the unconscious and bloody Artemis on her back. Her blood covered Barbara’s fur.
“Medic!” Alexei called for an agent nearby before turning to Miguel. “And you, don’t use your freaky powers until I order you to do so.”
“Sorry tin man, I don’t speak fascist,” Miguel responded with a smirk, and Alexei glared at him.
The medic quickly came to Barbara and guided her to a nearby makeshift hospital room, which had a bed and various equipment to help the SCYTHE wounded. Barbara went in haste, and gently, with the help of the medic, they placed the injured Amazon on the bed, her blood soaking the white sheets red.
“How the hell did you even find us?” Alexei asked as he and the others entered. “I made sure I covered all our steps.”
“You did,” Barbara noted, stepping back to let the medic check on Artemis. She turned to Alexei and pointed at her nose. “But one of you has a very special pheromone that I can smell for miles,” she said with a smile as she turned her gaze to Pamela. “Still with those rose scents around you.”
The redhead smiled. “Maybe it’s that mark you left on me.”
“More than you think, Pammy.”
“Christ…” the medic gasped, catching everyone’s attention. “How is she still alive? And how long has she been like this?” He asked, examining the injured Amazon.
Her armor was wholly wrecked, beyond repair. Her headpiece was half broken, and the gauntlets and braces on her arms and legs were dented and unusable. Her injuries were severe: open wounds, slash marks, and burn marks were all over her body, and judging from blows on her armor, she might have had a few broken bones as well.
“Didn’t bother to look at the time with some of the grunts that were sent after us,” Barbara answered, leaning on a nearby chair as fatigue finally set in for her. “But these Amazons are too stubborn to die, and I know that from experience…”
The number of times Barbara thought she had beaten Diana only for the Amazon to get back up and beat her back was many, and it frustrated the woman to no end, but now she couldn’t help but be in awe at the resilience of these warriors.
“Her Amazon gifts will heal her,” Barbara noted. “But I am not sure how long it will take…”
“I doubt it will take more than a few days at least…” the medic noted, bringing out some bandages and wrapping them around her arms. “She will need a miracle to even walk out of here on her own two feet.”
“Uhmm…” Everyone in the room turned to Emily Sung, who stood by the doorway. “I… I think I can help her heal faster.”
Barbara and the medic gave her an odd look. To better explain it, Emily brought her hands together, and a small flame began to form from her palm. However, they weren’t bright orange flames; they were blue flames, and they didn’t feel any heat from them.
“I developed this technique while training,” said Emily. “It's a fire spell that doesn’t burn, but it heals people. I first used it on Miguel when he hurt his hands, and it was instantaneous,” she explained, and Miguel showed his fully healed hand as if he was demonstrating it. “But this will be the first time I will heal someone with this severe of injuries…”
Pamela and Barbara looked at the blue flames with wide eyes. In Pamela’s case, she was told that Emily had powers, and from Miguel’s description, she had the power of all the elements. However, seeing it firsthand and feeling it from just that tiny flame made her sense there was power behind it, warmth, like the sun.
“Do it,” Barbara said, taking a step back. “At this point, if we need magic to get her back into the fight, we better get to it before we lose her for real.” She turned to the shocked medic. This was the first time he would ever see magic in play. “And you, guide her in whatever wounds need to be healed.”
The medic nodded. It was better than nothing. With his guidance and Miguel’s support by her side, Emily went to work to heal Wonder Woman, who was in a state of life and death if they didn’t work fast enough, all while Circe and her crew were out there terrorizing the city.
“What’s the news out there?” Alexei asked after the three left the infirmary room. “We are in the dark here, and I couldn’t radio in anyone with the pieces of junk we got. Not even my brother, who was trying to get as many agents as possible.”
“Brother?” Barbara asked before she realized who his brother was. Her expression became solemn. She remembered the Warhammer who stayed behind to slow Circe and her crew, giving Barbara a chance to escape with Artemis on her back. “The guy with the Hammer…”
Alexei furrowed his brows, noticing the change in her expression. “What happened to my brother?”
Barbara took a deep breath and began explaining everything that had happened: the White Magician’s true identity, her taking over SCYTHE HQ, her ultimatum to Wonder Girl, and finally, Anatoly Abromivici’s sacrifice to save them.
*************************************************************
Somewhere in Gateway… With the loss of SCYTHE and their headquarters, the surviving agents didn’t have the necessary support from the intel agents in the Black Room to fight off against the newly revived Red Centipedes, now grown more powerful with the help of the escaped convicts, more than happy to exact revenge.
With the bridges closed off, SCYTHE’s weakened state, and Wonder Woman being presumed dead, the city had been thrown into chaos. Streets filled with criminals and looters taking full advantage of what had happened, stealing anything from everyone across the island.
Red Centipedes roamed the streets with military trucks, taken from SCYTHE after their HQ had fallen to the White Magician’s control, making full use of their hardware to hunt down any surviving agent, delivering the message that they were the new peacekeepers of Gateway.
“Let me go!”
A woman, a worker from Taco Whiz, was being dragged from the streets by a group of RedCent grunts. Taken into a nearby corner, the RedCent dropped the worker on the dirty ground. Their eyes had terrible intentions behind them.
“Come on, man,” one RedCent grunt said from behind to his buddy. “We are supposed to find those SCYTHE fuckers, not mess around.”
“You’re serious?” The buddy looked at his friend like he was crazy. “We’ve been locked for months in SCYTHE’s cells; we can have a few minutes of fun.”
“Please! Don’t do this!” The woman screamed, tears falling from her eyes, afraid of what they would do to her. She tried to stand up and run away but was quickly pushed back down on the pavement.
The RedCent approached the woman, who crawled away from them in fear. “Come on, girl, I just need to release all this stress after being locked up for so long!” He proclaimed, giving the woman a leery look before turning to his buddy. “Hey man, I can share! Maybe we can get someone else from the street-”
The RedCent stopped speaking, catching his breath for a moment after he saw his buddy lying on the ground face first, knocked out cold. Looking up, his eyes widened in shock when he saw the person standing before him. “You’re… you were supposed to be dead?!”
Covered in heavy bandages and wrecked NIGHT armor, and carrying a mace in his hand and a pissed-off look on his face, Commander Hector Hall stood before the RedCent grunt like a dark spectre coming back to life. Kicking the knocked-out buddy aside, the Commander looked between the grunt and the terrified woman before he hardened his glare at the RedCent.
“Stay back!” The RedCent grunt aimed his weapon, hands shaking in fear. “I said stay the fuck back-”
In a moment, Hall moved at such a speed he looked like a blur, cutting the distance between the two. With one swing of his mace, he smacked him squarely on the head, sending him to the ground.
Hall turned to the woman he saved, who looked at him in horror. “Go… get to safety…”
Without another word, the woman ran toward the exit and into the streets, away from the alley. Now alone with the two RedCents, Hall grabbed the knocked-out buddy and woke him up, making the man see the bandaged-up Hall looking down at him with hateful eyes.
“You… I want you to send your boss a message…” Hall began, making him face the Commander. “Tell the White Magician,
Circe, that I am declaring war on her and on anyone who stands by her side.” He turned and walked up to the other grunt, who was crawling away from the Commander in fear, grabbing his bleeding head. He begged for his life, but Hall ignored his pleas. “And this
, this is for my men that you Centipedes have killed…”
He lifted his bloody mace and brought it down like a hammer on the begging Red Centipede as his buddy looked on in horror. He lifted it up once more to reveal the man’s head was crushed like a watermelon.
Commander Hector Hall was still alive, and as long as he was still breathing, SCYTHE would remain standing to fight against all threats against Gateway City.
*************************************************************
Wonder Women Vol 3.
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hello, I got in an accident (wasnt at fault, t-boned a girl that tried to do an illegal left turn crossing double yellow. my airbags deployed and frame damage)last month that left my 2019 Yaris deemed as a total loss ): insurance said we can buy it back and get it repaired but it'll have a salvaged title. I decided to take the payout and just get a used car. we were originally looking at a 2017 corolla at the dealership priced at 16k but my dad and I saw the 2013 corolla, it had one owner only. I instantly liked it because of the body plus its superrr clean and nice, past owner definitely took great care of it! we both test drove it and I loved it ! some minor cosmetic damage but its not a big deal, I just dont want a new car because of the car payments rn at all😅.
my parent's main concern was of the high mileage as this will go to my little sister when I get a new car in 2-5 years, but I told them I wont be driving as much since im graduating college this weekend. the rep also told us they got the car 3 days ago.
insurance will give us about 15k for the payout.. I'm hoping we can get the corolla for $8-10k but im not too sure... my mom tried to bargain the corolla initially and the rep was meh about the price. I just dont know how Toyota does it when the car is old + high mileage but in great shape.. we all are totally new to buying used from a dealership😅
curious if anyone had an experience buying an older used car with high mileage? appreciate it !
hi! i’m not asking for relationship advice just getting some stuff off my chest, i’m (f 20) in no position to have a child. i was diagnosed as infertile a little over a year ago but recently got pregnant. i didn’t realize until i was around 8 weeks and had already been at coachella, partying, etc because i do not have regular periods and obviously would not assume pregnancy thinking i was infertile. i made an appointment at a clinic yesterday to have an ultrasound and my mind was mostly made up on choosing an abortion (pro lifers do not come for me) but when i got the ultrasound they ended up telling me the baby had no heartbeat and had stopped growing at 5 weeks. at this point i should have been around 11 weeks pregnant. it’s been hard to process that while i was coming to terms with the idea of aborting the baby it had already been dead inside of me for 6 weeks (longer than i even knew i was pregnant) and that might explain why i was feeling so sick. i am also not healthy enough to carry a child and that was another big reason why i planned on choosing abortion, i’m very underweight, anemic, etc. also this past month i have gone on anti depressants for the first time and am still not feeling regulated. i go to therapy, i take the zoloft every day and not only do i not feel better i feel way more vulnerable however my therapist and my psychiatrist both have said it will take a few more weeks before i know if it is working for me. my boyfriend m(18) of 3 years is usually great and really hasn’t been doing much wrong but i’ve found myself becoming extremely hurt by small things, mainly that we had a little trip planned for next week that i paid for and now it is not looking like he wants to take the time off of work because he recently had to pay unexpected repairs for his car. i feel like the abortion and everything has been weighing on me and i really wanted the break he says it’s up to me but has been making little comments about missing work, wanting to cut the trip short etc. all of the other things have been minor. we also have a mutual friend (m18) coming into town next week staying until july that i’ve talked to my boyfriend about wanting distance from and in the past he’s agreed and now he is already making plans for both of us to see him. usually i would be okay with that but my mental health is not good right now and i don’t want his visit to impact that but i have a hard enough time keeping him at a distance because at one point i considered him my closest friend. sorry for the rant i’m just going off HAHA
Level 25 Druid, still finishing up the Act I quests before moving on to the Act II stuff. Been doing some side quests and dungeons also.
So far I’ve mainly been salvaging every item I find. I have 60K, which is still enough to buy potions and repairs and whatever, but should I be saving up for later down the line, or what?
I have some pedals and other gear I’m looking to get rid of, hopefully in place of some stuff I’m looking for. Here’s what I have:
Walrus Audio ACS1 - Basically brand new. I bought it straight from Walrus Audio and it arrived a couple of days ago, but I just prefer the sound of my UA Ruby. Comes with box and all of the goodies as well.
JHS AT+ (black edition) - Bought as a demo unit from Sweetwater. Looks and sounds excellent though! Comes with box as well.
EHX Big Muff Nano - Shows some minor cosmetic wear but still works and sounds great. Also comes with box.
Feelers: Source Audio Collider - Great condition, comes with box as well. Current my only delay/reverb though, so I’d be looking to trade it for a similar effect.
Wampler Terraform - Great condition as well, though it did have some repair work done by Wampler. Also my only modulation so I’d have to trade it for a similar style effect as well.
Other gear: Squire Jazzmaster - Beautiful vintage sunburst, relic’d Jazzmaster with 920D Hot pickups and wiring. Traded another guitar for it, but I’m just not a Jazzmaster guy. The previous owner had a lot of work done to it though, including some the relic job so it really is phenomenal for a Squire. Also comes with a beautiful Crossrock case.
Bootstrap Skookum Mean P90 Set - Humbucker sized P90s that are on the hotter side. They sound phenomenal, they just weren’t the sound I was looking for.
I’ve also got quite a collection of Magic: The Gathering cards (things like Cyc Rift, Dockside, Great Henge, etc.) if anyone is interested.
Things I’m specifically looking for: UA Dream 65 Black Mass 1312 Benson Preamp Any of the Brown Amplification pedals, but mainly the Protein
Honestly though, I’m open to offers or outright selling any of it! Just let me know what you have or if you’re interested in the cash price. I’m also in DFW for anyone who wants to do a local pickup.
My living situation is something equivocal to a telenovela. I live with my ex, and two other roommates. One of them is MIA because I called her out on not showering for WEEKS on end, making a mess everywhere, making the house smell bad, sleeping on the couch and making that also reek of BO. She has left dirty underwear on the couch and the list goes on, but thankfully she is gone.
My ex is now my best friend and we get along really well now. I am seeing someone else and he is totally cool with it - they get along really well and it’s really cool.
My MAIN issue for this post is this roommate who is a COMPLETE thorn in my side. My ex and I are both at Witt’s end with him. He lies about EVERYTHING. He lies about things that don’t matter at all. He lies so often that they don’t match up with the lies he has told other people. He is always about himself and is beyond selfish. His cat needed surgery and the first thing he did when he walked into the pet ER after seeing the initial quote was “I cannot afford that, let’s take him and go home” this was after hours of me literally nurturing this poor kitten as much as I could. The veterinary staff was explaining to him all of the financial options and that there are resources out there to help cover costs. He kept cutting the staff off with his nonsense. Eventually my ex and I had to convince him to fill out an application for discounted services. The application was estimated to take about 45 minutes and all he did the entire time was sigh and complain about how “hard it was” and “he is stressed” which was beyond irritating. Moreover, the kitten got surgery and is doing very well now! I ended up doing most of the medication administration and aftercare. Which I only did because it was an animal in need and I am not a monster.
His sister got a major surgery - he didn’t check in on her. He did, however, call her and ask for a ride the day after her procedure. Their brother flew in from across the country to assist in the care of their sister and he hadn’t made an effort to see him for over a month.
He eats all the food. Literally all of it. Anything that I get for food I have to hide in my room because otherwise he’ll get too stoned and eat it all. He also expects me or another roommate to cook for him. He doesn’t directly say it, but insinuates it with his words.
He has sexually assaulted myself and another roommate while he was extremely intoxicated and claims to have no recollection of it. He is very creepy with girls and says things that are very disturbing. He says borderline homophobic, racist and misogynistic comments regularly. I also am starting to believe that he may be a bit of a pædophile with some of his comments about the age of consent being lowered.
He thinks he has his family to support him.
I have been in contact with his siblings and mother. Yes, I am his roommate and I acquired the numbers of his family from them. They reached out to me and provided me their information when we first moved in together - which I should have seen that red flag immediately. He has sexually assaulted his sister’s partner in front of the entire family because he was too drunk with the premise of “you really want a man and I look like my sister, so you want me” so, clearly he cannot stay with them. His brother has had it with him and loves him from a distance - so to speak. Their mother moved into a 55+ community to ensure that he can’t stay with her. She is a mom and well, loves her son, but is also fed up. He has done some VERY questionable acts in the past. Things including taking medication from seniors in a senior living facility and selling them / taking them to get high, drinking and driving regularly - to the point where he got in a car accident (which the story about that changed like 5x as well) without car insurance and had to pay for it all out of pocket just to get drunk a few days after getting his car repaired and drove home. He has also struggled with addiction most of his life. Normally I would be understanding of that, however, he takes no accountability nor does he even think that anything is wrong - he’ll acknowledge his addictions, but sees nothing wrong with it. He can’t deal with life sober at all.
He lies about everything. It’s so often that it’s hard to tell reality from fable. We try and find nice things about him, but honestly with how consistently he lies and does questionable acts it is very difficult to oversee all of that.
I could go on and on about how this guy lives and drives me up a wall.
Our lease is up in a few months. I am very much so aware of the fact that he has nowhere to go. OH! He also got an eviction notice from a previous landlord shortly after we got approved for our current apartment. That basically solidifies the fact that he has nowhere to go.
I need roommates to fill the spaces. He also has kittens that I am actually fearful for their future care because of his blatant negligence for life. He makes money to pay rent, but is an absolute nightmare.
I am in a pickle.
SOS lol 🤦🏼♂️
Repaired it after front end collision. I have the main key for it. No my key are registered to it. But am still governed to 60 MPH!? My airbag light is on would that effect my speed for safety concerns.? Has anyone run into this?
Hi, as stated above, I have some physical & mental impairments that affect my every day life, and have caused me to lose multiple jobs. 1st, I was diagnosed with ADHD as a kid & still as an adult which causes abnormal behavior in me, that's my main mental disorder. & my main physical disorder is a severe nasal septal perforation that causes me a lot of problems, severe pain daily, & I was diagnosed with Somatic Symptom Disorder, and labeled Seriously Mentally ill due to the severity of symptoms they cause me. Deviated Septum. Atrophic rhinitis due to a doctor tearing out my inferior turbinates, & Chronic recurring Rhinosinusitus. ,I'm also diagnosed with major depression, severe anxiety, recurring panic attacks, sleep apnea. These things cause me a lot of symptoms that are also noted alongside my diagnosis, which are severe pain/constant headaches, insomnia, sleep deprivation, non-restorative sleep, daytime fatigue, occasional dizziness. What's also noted along with the disorders is that get constant recurring nasal infections due to the septal perforation making me more susceptible to Infectious diseases, and I've been constantly on different medications every few months like antibiotics, antifungals, & antivirals. The infections all confirmed by Otolaryngologists, Infectious Disease Specialists, & Labwork. It has become so unmanageable that no matter what I do, I just end up getting another infection, over & over again because of the septal perforation. My doctor also has noted that I have to rinse 4-5x daily because of blood crust forming & pain & to keep infections low, along with taking multiple medications. This long standing nasal disordeinfections has even caused me pituitary disfunction and I have to do hormone replacement therapy for the rest of my life because of it. My sphenoid sinus was so infected & inflamed & spread to my pituitary gland with inflammation that impacted it. My testosterone levels were under 100, and my pituitary wasn't functioning. My doctor even has wrote all of this on accommodation paperwork for my employers, and has suggested different accommodations. My disorders get so unmanageable, that I haven't even been able to adhere to the accommodations. I've been written up at jobs for yawning while talking with clients, have been written for sounding extremely lethargic, for being late/tardy, missing days. In 2021a doctor tried to do septoplasty to fix deviation, but he ended up burning a hole through my septum. & no lawyer I reach out to cares. They have all refused the case saying it won't pay them enough lol. Since then, I've lost multiple jobs because of it. I've been at work and my nose start uncontrollably bleeding. Even tried office work for a few years & still end up getting in trouble and fired for missing work, or for sounding like shit. My doctor even wrote that I have permanent impairments that are unmanageable and that I require surgery to fix the septal perforation. And that his full belief is that I'm unable to sustain employment due to my septal perforation & other disorders i have, and that if I tried to procure even another job, that no matter how simple and mundane it is, I would most definitely end up losing that job again. And that my septal perforation must be repaired in order to start improving my health to make things manageable. And also wrote that I've seem dozens of specialist doctors who say it's too difficult for them to repair, and that I need to see the doctors at the Mayo Clinic, but the Mayo clinic refuses to see me because they don't take medicaid. And that my Somatic Symptom disorder is a result of my septal perforation that exacerbates my mental disorders. My doc wrote up a descriptive letter of all this and said I need to be on SSDI until I can get this septal perforation repaired, and that until it's repaired, I'm living with a permanent unmanageable impairment. & that employment cant be sustained until uts repaired, and that this has even caused me homelessness. & last year SSA STILL DENIED ME. So I'm trying to figure out how to get these jerks to stop playing games with me, and approve me. Any idea? I rather be able to be self sufficient and keep a job than to need disability income, but it's been hard keeping employment. If I could post a picture on here of my nasal cavity, you could see my septal perforation, & the deteriorating/decaying tissue around it, this shit hurts so bad 😓
Hi all- I’m looking for info/experience with abdominal phallo especially for anyone who already had a meta w/ UL.
I had a meta w/ Miro at MT Sinai starting in 2016. I have had 2 stricture repairs since then. The last one in 2019. Now I have another one. Facing another yet surgery anyway, I decided to talk with Miro about phallo options. He said I’m not a good candidate for MLD b/c my BMI is too high. It seems more to do with being exceptionally lean rather than weight per se. I’m a solidly muscled 170 at 5’6”. Not overweight by any real measure.
So that leaves abdominal phallo. I don’t want to risk any donor site issues with my forearm or legs. I work with my hands and am a martial arts instructor.
My main concern is being able to urinate without trouble. I’d like to retain the ability to stand to pee but less invested in size etc. Honestly if it weren’t for the repeated issues with strictures I wouldn’t have pursued a phallo at all even though the idea of being a bit bigger is a little appealing.
Any thoughts/guidance?