#there are several correct and incorrect answers here

[gummiix]

Tell me in the tags what u answered + why you think that is if you want! (age range or generation data would also be interesting)

[altraviolet]

Oh! I just remembered something about your story I’ve been meaning to ask. I noticed maybe.. 3 times that some bots beginning to explain something to soundwave, and then instead say something like “Ah, you don’t care anyways.” Soundwave always responds in his mind “You don’t know how I feel.” I could be wrong but I don’t think that was ever fully addressed in your story. Like, soundwave just lets it slide. Why exactly? Also even after some people get to know him somewhat they still assume that?

ahhh the "you don't know what i care about" line. one of my favorite recurring threads throughout the fic :D

it's not so much "soundwave just lets it slide," it's that Soundwave Cares About Rodimus, and the three times that line is used, he cannot/will not expose this secret of his to the person he's talking to.

First time:

[Rodimus] “Can I come in?” Soundwave stepped aside. Rodimus slouched on his bed. He looked up at Soundwave. He glanced at the poster of them on Enceladia. His spoiler went down. “You don't care about anything, right?” ?? you don't know what i care about “Well?” “Incorrect. Several... things are important to me.”

Here Soundwave is talking with Rodimus, so he's obviously not going to say anything. It's far too early in the fic for that. The phrase combined with "several things are important to me" is a signal to the reader that Soundwave cares about Rodimus.

Second time:

“That's what I felt during the gray years,” said Drift. He reset his vocalizer. “That's why Rodimus couldn't fix it. He tried so hard to make me happy again. He was so happy when we- I mean, he and I-” Drift's eyes flashed. “Never mind. You wouldn't care.” you don't know what i care about, thought Soundwave as Drift hurried away. His processor chewed on Drift's words, repeating them over and over. “That's why Rodimus couldn't fix it. That's why Rodimus couldn't fix it.”

Here Soundwave is talking to Drift, and he's extremely not going to tell Drift what he cares about.

Side note: these paragraphs tie up the gray years from Soundwave's point of view. The reason Rodimus couldn't fix Drift's hurt is because Drift didn't love him the way he loved Ratchet. The only thing that would've made Drift feel better is Ratchet.

Third time:

Swerve held up the data pad and whistled. “Wow, there's a lot of really specific requests on here. Things I haven't served since...” His gaze moved to a model replica of the Lost Light behind the bar, surrounded by a few dusty, empty bottles. “Since... never mind. You won't care.” you don't know what i care about

Here Soundwave is talking to 0001 Swerve back in the 0001 dimension. He wouldn't waste his time correcting Swerve's assertion. Swerve assumes Soundwave wouldn't care about the Lost Light. He does, but he can't say why without having to answer a ton of questions. Also, shortly after he spots 0001 Rodimus. There's no reason to engage in conversation with this Swerve, whom he will never see again.

Another side note: Soundwave stating openly to himself that he cares about something, in defiance of assured statements by other characters, shows how he's changed since the very beginning.

So this isn't an unaddressed, loose thread. It's a deliberate demonstration of Soundwave's character change and a realistic portrayal of how he would react in those situations: he often defaults to silence.

[freak-accident419]

High On You

Derek Danforth x GN!AFAB!Reader

Summary: You read over the statistics and analytics for Derek’s company, as he requested. Except, while you do this, you’re on his bed, lower half of your body exposed as he does lines of cocaine on your thigh—then he eats you out.

WC: 1.2k

Content: 18+ smut, MDNI, derek danforth x reader (gn!afab!reader), oral (v!receiving), no spoilers for The Beekeeper, brief (yet detailed) cocaine/drug use, graphic depictions of sex and drugs (this is probably the filthiest thing i ever wrote on here), cursing

(A/n: I couldn’t wait to write it, so here !! Haven’t watched the movie yet, but if I notice that there’s anything incorrect here once I do, I’ll go back and change it ! I’m so sorry to my AMAB readers and/or the AFAB readers who get dysphoria from this type of writing !! You can check out my other smuts that aren’t genital-specific !! Love you all!! And thanks to everyone for your support !! Anyways, I think that Derek doing coke on the reader is such a Derek thing to do.)

Tags: @thehermitsaltar @coriolanussnowswife @moonlight-rosevine @harrysflorist @thegirlwholoveslivesfanfiction @joshhutchersons-slut

-

Your rich boyfriend, Derek Danforth, asked you to read over the statistics and analytics of his phishing center, informing him how much money he’s earned in the past week.

Except it wasn’t a very professional or orderly way.

You laid on his bed, looking at the information on your phone, reading how much millions were gained on Thursday, while your entire lower body was naked. You two were always a very intimate couple, so this wasn’t new or had invoked any feelings of diffidence, as your legs were spread out across the mattress.

He snorted a line of cocaine, pressing down on one of his nostrils to inhale the drug after spilling the white powder onto your thigh and scraping it into several thin lines using one of his credit cards. It felt tingly, to have him do this on your thigh, his head ever so close to your cunt. While this occurred, his free hand was resting on your other bare thigh.

He let out an ecstatic groan afterward, and then looked at you as his high rushed in. “What—What’d you say again, baby?”

You chuckle softly at his mannerisms. “I said that in total, for Thursday at least, UDG obtained, like, over six fucking million,” you reply, looking over the statistics on your phone again. “Business is booming.”

Derek smirked as he was satisfied to hear the news. “Damn fuckin’ right it is.”

His body slightly tensed up as he quickly inhaled another white line on your thigh through his nostril, briefly rubbing his nose afterwards. The sharp inhale caused him to feel a surge of euphoria throughout his body as the drugs entered his system. His eyes closed in pleasure, then opened, pupils slightly dilated.

You watched him do this, taking a short drag of your cigarette. “Last week’s average was five point two million dollars,” you add, observing him as he corrected the final line with the card, straightening it out onto your thigh.

“So what was the total earned in that week?” He inquired as your cigarette remained hanging from your mouth.

“Thirty-six million dollars, baby,” you answer proudly while he inhales the last line quite harshly, and heard him whoop as he gained exhilaration from both the drug and the statistics.

You finally place your phone down on the night stand to give full attention to your boyfriend. You bring your hand to his hair, tangling his soft, light curls in your fingers. “Congratulations,” you praise gently, watching Derek close his eyes in pleasure, leaving a small kiss on your thigh.

He placed the package of coke on the night stand and adjusted himself on the bed between your legs. He continued to leave soft kisses on your thigh, gradually trailing towards your untouched pussy.

“Mm, I’ve been neglecting you, haven’t I?” He observed, demonstrating a hint of pity. “Fuck, baby, you’re so fucking wet,” he huffs, pulling your hips closer to his face as he finally licked up your cunt in an animalistic fashion.

You let out a soft sigh, your fingers still in his hair, and you grab the cigarette out of your mouth, immediately putting it out on the ashtray.

Derek’s warm tongue caressed along your folds exuberantly, moving up and down as your breath hitched. He gripped your thighs tightly, pushing his face even further in your cunt. You let out a gasp—almost a moan—as he flicked your clit with his tongue, stimulating the sensitive nub which elicited even more intense sounds from your mouth.

“O-oh, fuck, Derek!” You moaned as you felt him suck at your clit, closing his lips around it while lightly moving his hands up and down from your thighs to your sensitive hips, thumb pushing down on your pelvic bone for a brief moment, causing more pleasure within you. “S-so good, love… Fuck, yes.”

He lapped at your dripping pussy once more, threatening to poke inside each time his tongue ran over your entrance. He incessantly licked at you, so desperately and lustfully, occasionally tugging at your flesh between his soft lips.

“Taste s’fucking good,” he mutters between his rapid licks, “S’fucking good for me Y/n…” He rubbed off some leftover powder on your thigh, messily inhaling it through his nose for enhanced stimulus.

Your thighs jolting as you let out a high-pitched whine once you felt his tongue finally push inside your wet, aching cunt. He was eating you out as if you were forbidden fruit, because he would rather die than never be able to taste you. Pleasing to the eye, he really couldn’t help it. He was practically making out with your pussy, exploring your walls with his generous tongue.

Your legs closed around his head and you brought both of your hands to his hair, tugging his curls, which gets a muffled groan out of him, the vibration causing you to feel even more pleasure. Your breath hitched and you choked out a moan as you felt his nose bumping against your clit as he ate you out. Derek felt so hazy and foggy from his high, and because everything was so sensitive for him, he could practically cum untouched from how much arousal he gained from pleasing you. Not only was he high on cocaine, but he was also high on your taste, and hearing you moan was his ultimate addiction.

“Sh-shit, Derek…” Your head turned to the side tiredly, eyes threatening to close as you felt overwhelmed with all the stimulation. Derek hooked one of his arms around your thigh so he could place his hand warmly on your stomach, below your belly button yet over your cunt, now focusing more on his precision.

You felt yourself closer to your orgasm, waves of pleasure crashing onto you each second. Derek slipped his tongue out, just to spread your pussy lips apart with his fingers, and then lap his tongue against your cunt again sloppily, making your thighs twitch, incoherent whimpers escaping your mouth. “Holy shit, you’re so fucking hot…” he mumbles.

You let out a high-pitched moan as his long, slender middle finger inserted into you effortlessly, quick, deep thrusts provoking wet, vulgar squelches while he simultaneously sucked your clit again. He pulled out his finger smoothly, abrasively running it between your soaked folds, then pushed it back in deeply.

“G-God! Fuck!” You whined, back arching as you succumbed to his touch. Abruptly, he spit on your cunt, lapped his tongue on you, switching constantly between your folds and your clit. You felt a knot in your stomach, in which Derek’s free hand had still remained resting on it. His licks were fast and rough, and you felt yourself being driven over the edge. “G—Fuck, Derek, b-baby, I-I’m—”

“That’s it, that’s it, baby,” he encouraged softly in between licks. He looked at you hungrily with his deep brown eyes, “Cum for me.”

The second you heard his command, you came hard around his finger, moaning his name loudly as he slipped it out to desperately taste your juices, him groaning in your cunt. You whimpered and shuddered uncontrollably, his insistent touch bringing you to overstimulation. He kissed it a few times, then brought himself up from the mattress to make you with you, lips moving with yours as it allowed you to taste yourself.

“Fucking love you,” he muttered in the kiss. “So good for me, Y/n, fuck.” He held you in his arms softly, being as gentle as he could, rubbing your arms up and down comfortingly. The room smelled like sex, as the atmosphere consisted of only your deep breaths and the soft, wet smacking of your kisses.

“Fuck,” you panted, and the corner of your lips curled into a relieved smile until you kissed him again. “I love you too.”

[she-is-ovarit]

This is for all the younger gen Z women, particularly those of you within the ages of 17 to roughly 23. This is written from an American perspective, things might be a little different depending on where you're from.

I graduated high school with the unconscious assumption that certain systems will take care of me. The medical system would educate me on proper nutrition and health issues was probably my largest underlying assumption, but really I just had trust in institutions generally.

This isn't true. You are responsible for learning. As an example, I have been vegetarian since age 14. Nobody talked to me about proper nutrition, they just told me I needed to eat more protein.

I lived a decade of my life having shortness of breath, sleeping issues, clumsiness, cold hands and feet, having brain fog, extreme fatigue, heightened anxiety, etc. My period was extremely light and brown, it'd last for about 2 or so days. I'd go and talk about these problems, and telling doctors that I was vegetarian was one of the first things that came out of my mouth just with any visit because I knew at least that piece was important to communicate.

There was really no action taken over the span of about 10 years. I was told the period thing was normal, that changes for women. A sleep specialist let me know that feeling exhausted was also normal. The brain fog was probably due to anxiety. Here, try allergy medication (tbh that did help for other reasons). Then one day I just asked them to check my vitamin and mineral levels. Prior to this I didn't think you can make requests to doctors, I thought you showed up and they performed tests on what they recommended. With some reluctance from my primary care physician and some compromise because she said my insurance wouldn't cover testing things like B12 levels (I later found out from a nurse that, they would, she would have just needed to fill out extra paperwork), she did some tests.

I found out both my iron and D3 levels were low. What else could be?

I later learned pretty much all the vitamins common to be low for vegetarians were low. D3, magnesium, vitamin Bs, iron, and healthy fats. Bought some liquid vitamins (because the body only absorbs 10% of the pill supplements), began eating an avocado a day, my period became normal for the first time in nine years, and I am able to function.

Another example of how human systems won't educate you: I don't have feeling in some of my toes due to wearing incorrect sized footwear for years resulting in permanent nerve damage. I'm size 11.5 in women's, and I was relying on someone to tell me how proper footwear worked, because surely the guy in the minimum wage position working the footwear section would know.

Don't trust human systems to guide you through how certain things work. Seek specific specialists and experts when you can, and inform yourself on your own. Don't blindly trust search engines like Google, it's not like how it used to be when I was growing up and many millennial adults will tell you to "just google things" because we're used to finding actual substantive answers when we do. However, now, usually whoever pays is who makes the first page or two of search engines, it has nothing to do with what information is "most correct". Don't be afraid to request certain tests be done by doctors or certain referrals made to different specialists.

Edit: And also, I've found general practitioners are terrible when you walk in and tell them about several different symptoms at one time. They're more used to treating one symptom at a time, and they treat the symptom not the root cause. If you go in with a runny nose, general practitioners are going to throw medications at you to try and treat the runny nose, not look deeper into what's causing the runny nose. It's equivalent to if you're in a boat and it's sinking, they're bailing out water without actually fixing the hole or trying to figure out where it is, with the exception of emergency situations and even then it depends.

[zenia62]

Daendels in Malay Literature

Daendels's performance was so recent, not even ten years ago, that it was in everyone's memory, and the Great Lord had made such a tremendous and bewildering impression on the minds, that his word was considered as that of the great potentates of old! (...)

In Batavian color this processing is even more intense; when the indignant prince of Tjirebon says: djangan toean ambil pergoesar ada jang kita mace bilang sama toean dari itoe orang goenoeng", here the marshal answers: loe orang Tjirebon makan oedang trasi mengapa meng adjar goea orang jang makan daging dan minjak sapi". (...)

(...) while Daendels used to say: in applying justice one must take into account the condition of the people. If a prince is unjust and the people therefore do not want to stay in the country, he must become just; but if he is unjust without the country suffering, then he need not be just, because if he is very just, his severity does not have much effect". This cannot be correct, as appears from all kinds of sources, including the Qur'an. How then to explain this incorrectness in such a statesman? Well, because he had a different religion than we do!

(...) As much as he admires him, and even makes efforts to reconcile his statements with the Qur’an and tradition, in one major regard he abhors him, for to him, the author, Daendels is and remains the kafir (...)

I finally found this after a long time 😭 I was so excited to read it but sadly the chapter is mostly talking abt many local prince or even some islamic figures (?) I'm not sure either lol. Managed to fish out some of interesting stuff tho, the second point of them talking in Java language or old Indonesian basically said smth abt Daendels telling them that they shouldn't teach him what to do from my opinion 🧐 Also, I spotted another potential Daendels quote from the third point 👀 Overall, I think this is a very cool discussion and tbh I'd like to hear y'all thoughts abt this if u guys have one ofc. Anyway, that's all for now, thank you n have a great day, stay safe 🌙

[bikefuckersoftheworldunite]

hello bikefucker<3 I'd like to ask you how to find old motogp articles, cuz my google search is a bit out of whack😭

hi, anon!

the general answer is that google sucks sooo bad, that’s why you can’t find anything afghhjjjk.

the real answer is that it depends on what time period you mean by “old” and what topics or which riders specifically.

for 80s-90s stuff I just browse through the issues of Cycle News (scans here on Internet Archive) - it’s a general motorsports magazine, you can use the Archive’s search function to search issues by rider’s name or something for all the mentions of them. [the magazine run in the 00’s too and those issues are also available but I’ll talk about why it’s not a very good source for 00’s motogp info later in the post.]

Internet Archive also has most Mat Oxley books, Valentino’s 2005 autobiography and many more motogp related books

Now, the 00’s stuff!

It depends on where the rider your interested is from! For example, most informative articles on Valentino (and his rivalries) are in Italian! He didn’t talk to English language media that much. And generally speaking since Italian and Spanish riders have been dominating this sport for the last 20+ years, media from these two countries pays the most attention to the sport! So, there are lots of publications and sites in Italian and Spanish that get their news/interviews with the riders first hand (which is important). And, as a result, lots of english language articles are just not that interesting or informative, or up to date or factually correct etc (especially when it comes to 00’s articles).

And as a result the vast majority of all the 2003-2005 sete&vale info or quotes I’ve managed to dig up, for example, was either in italian or sometimes spanish (and I speak neither of these languages lol) because they mostly interacted with Italian media!

now, some tips:

I mostly use DuckDuckGo to search for the articles instead of Google! It has a filter by Date function in its tool bar, where you can set a custom date range so that you’d get the results from a certain time period only, and if you need articles in particular language you can pick the Region you need.

That helps a lot butttttt ehhh allora you need at least to be vaguely familiar with the topic you’re trying to find more info on! (I did a lot of creative “googling” using google translated words in Italian or Spanish, and some times THAT WORKED. LOL) And, of course, sources are important! A lot of articles that you might find might just be factually incorrect or might be misquoting etc. Especially if, for example, the article that you found is like from a Spanish language publication reporting on what Vale said to Italian media agdghjjk. So, just keep that in mind. I’ve encountered Vale being misquoted or his words being misinterpreted or certain stuff just not being factually correct a couple of times already. So, always try to fact check - like at least find several sources of the quote or maybe the original article.

Good “first hand sources” in Italian (at least for my needs) are La Gazetta Dello Sport and Dueruote - lots of reports directly from the GPs and the press cons, interviews with the riders. Obviously, mostly Italians. In Spanish language it’s uhhhh As dot com I guess? Kinda less familiar with 00’s spanish motogp media to be honest….

Also! Crash dot net has motogp articles going back to the early 2000s, but like I’ve said it’s mostly good for basic info. Same applies to Cycle News or some other English language magazines - they were more up to date when Americans and Australians were dominating the sport!

But it’s not like english language media should be ignored, there are interesting tidbits here and there!

And again on DuckDuckGo you can select for results from only one website to be displayed.

But even then finding interesting info or quotes often comes down to just reading through a lot of articles until you hit the jackpot🤪

For example a month or so back when I started my deep dive into 2003/5 seasons I tried to find more about Vale & Sete and their Ibiza holidays but most of the results I got were not relevant and hardly ever mentioned Ibiza at all….

Well, that’s it, I think?

Also, anon you can always dm me and I can give you links to the articles and stuff? But I’m only “researching” 2003-2005 years atm……..

[firesmokeandashes]

Greetings, Tumblr dwellers. I am here today with a bunch of bkdk/mha incorrect/correct quotes. Because I, unfortunately, am lacking inspiration to write anything else at the moment :[

Please enjoy.

□□□□□□□

Izuku and Katsuki: *arguing about something*

Katsuki: "Stop yelling at me, nerd!"

Izuku: "IM NOT YELLING AT YOU! IM SIMPLY... PROJECTING MY VOICE TO MAKE A POINT!"

Katsuki: "OTHERWISE KNOWN AS YELLING!!"

Izuku: "BUT NOW, YOU'RE YELLING!!"

Katsuki: "ONLY BECAUSE YOU YELLED AT ME FIRST!"

Izuku: *starts powering up one for all and charges at Katsuki* "AHHHHHHHH!!!"

Katsuki: *powers up his explosions and charges at Izuku* "AHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

Izuku and Katsuki: *catches each others fists and begin making out aggressively instead*

Denki: "...."

Todoroki: *sipping coffee tiredly*

Denki: "So.... why were they fighting again..."

Todoroki: "Deku said he thought Bakugou was the better hero out of the both of them. Which made Bakugou extremely angry because he thinks Deku is the better hero out of both them, and it kind of escalated from there."

Denki: "...."

Izuku and Katsuki: *intense angry making out noises*

Todoroki: *continues sipping coffee out of his '#No.1 Wonder Duo Supporter' mug*

□□□□□□□□

Katsuki: "...."

Izuku: *standing in a slightly burnt looking pile of paper towles and plates covered in hot chocolate and feathers*

Katsuki: *watches as a featherless and slightly disoriented duck imerges from the pile*

Izuku: "I may have made a mistake..."

Katsuki: "Actually, it seems you've made several mistakes all within the past 5 minutes while I was changing my clothes"

□□□□□□□

Katsuki: "Hey, Izuku! What'd ya say about coming with me on a road trip to the mountains for some hiking?"

Izuku: "I would say 'yes', but Im still recovering from the last road trip we went on"

Katsuki: "Izuku, that was ten years ago, and we were in high school!"

Izuku: "And you got kidnapped! And we had to come and rescue you!"

Katsuki: "That was one time, Izuku. ONE. TIME."

Izuku: "Yes, and I would very much not like to repeat the experience!"

Katsuki: "We're full grown-ass adults Izuku!"

Izuku: "I don't care! It was a traumatic experience that could still happen now that we're adults!"

Katsuki: "We're two of the highest ranking pro-heroes in Japan! WE FUCKING BEAT ALL FOR ONE! I highly doubt anyone is going to try kidnap either one of us!"

Izuku: "...."

Katsuki: *incredulous annoyed silence*

Izuku: "I'll go pack my bags..."

Katsuki: *silent contemplating look of disappointment at his boyfriend's ridiculousness*

□□□□□□

Katsuki: "You have to make a decision."

Izuku: "I did. I've decided not to decide."

Katsuki: "We're in the fucking drive-through Izuku! You have to choose something to eat!"

Izuku: "I can't! It's too much pressure!"

Katsuki: "You're the fucking number one hero you live under pressure! And you can't decide what to eat at a drive-through!?"

Izuku: "That's different!"

Katsuki: "How is saving people from birning buildings less stressful than choosing a meal at a fucking fast food joint!?"

Izuku: "Because saving people doesn't involve having to choose between chicken nuggets shapped like dinosaurs or chicken nuggets shapped like space ships!"

Katsuki: "....."

□□□□□□□□

Katsuki and Izuku: *staring at horribly disfigured homemade clay All Might figure with a hand(??) sticking out of his head and four legs 3 of which look like tree stumps, that they made the night before while partially drunk*

Izuku: "So.... Do you think we can fix it?"

Katsuki: "No. And Im not even going to try"

□□□□□□□

Katsuki: *walking around a hero gala, his PR agent dragged him to*

Izuku: *walking slightly behind Kacchan, following him*

Izuku: "Where are you going, Kacchan?"

Katsuki: "Towards the answer of all my problems"

Izuku: But Kacchan, you're walking towards the exit"

Katsuki: "Exactly."

Izuku: "...."

Izuku: "Can I tag along with you, then? Because I really want to go home and finish watching the final episode of Sasaki to Miyano, but my ride won't be leaving for a while."

Katsuki: "Sure. We can pick up some ramen on the way to your place so we can eat it while we watch those two idiots finally get together."

Izuku: "Yay! Thanks, Kacchan! You're the best!"

Katsuki: "I know, I know. Now, let's get going before my PR agent catches me and makes me go talk to more people."

□□□□□

Welp! That's all I got for now! I hope you guys liked them!

[evidence-based-activism]

https://www.tumblr.com/tmblrplsdonutbanme/779384214355345408/putting-the-information-from-the-fbi-the-un-and?source=share

This person claims that 3 billion women are raped in a year? And they seem very sure of it. Is there any truth to this? I don't want this to to around and make us look stupid when someone else proves it wrong

Hi! I've gotten a few asks about this same post, so I'm going to answer them all here.

No, this is not correct. There's a fairly easy sanity check here: there are approximately 4 billion women and girls currently alive [1]. If 3 billion female people account for 75% of the population. In other words, for this statistic to be accurate, three out of every four female people would have to be raped every year.

This is clearly inaccurate. Many of the other statistics are also incorrect and obviously exaggerated; several of the quotes appear to be entirely made up. Ultimately, I would not trust the information in this infographic: look for alternate sources for any of the topics you're specifically interested in.

---

I messaged the original poster, but am still not entirely sure how they arrived at that estimate as I cannot recreate it from their provided numbers.

Here is my attempt at a more accurate estimate:

I believe the main paper they used was a 2018 report by the World Health Organization, on behalf of the UN, which attempted to estimate the extent of (1) physical and sexual intimate partner violence and (2) non-partner sexual violence among women around the world [2]. They used representative, population-based surveys that used acts-based measures for violence. They also applied various statistical modeling and adjustments to improve their estimates.

In it, they found that ~10% of ever-partnered women experienced physical or sexual violence in the past year. In 2018, this translated to an estimated 245 million women. However, this measures both physical and sexual intimate partner violence, and they do not separate these out. That factor makes this a likely overestimate.

On the other hand, this only accounts for violence among ever-partnered women (leaving out all women and girls with no intimate partner), and it does not consider non-partner sexual violence. (And the report does not offer an estimate for past year non-partner sexual violence.) Further, this report could not find data for, and therefore did not include, several countries at high risk (based on other reports) for violence against women. Lastly, their estimates were frequently lower than other sources, such as this data on men's self-reported perpetration. All of these suggest a possible underestimate.

The CDC [3] estimated the 12-month prevalence of rape among adult women as 2.3% for an estimate of 2.9 million victims. They also estimated a 12-month prevalence of sexual coercion among adult women of 3.7% for an estimate of 4.6 million victims. However, they do not quantify the degree of overlap (i.e., how many women were both raped and sexually coerced), so simply combining the two estimates would result in an overestimate. On the other hand, this does not include girls and is likely not representative of high-risk populations of women (e.g., prostitutes, battered women, etc.), so these are likely underestimates.

We also cannot assume that the prevalence of rape in the USA is similar to the average prevalence worldwide. That being said, it is remarkably consistent with a recent paper [4] that estimated the worldwide 2017 prevalence of sexual violence against women as 2.7%. However, for reasons similar to the CDC data, this is likely an underestimate. In any case, for today's population, this would result in an estimated 82 million women who are raped each year.

As a note, the WHO has created a website with the purpose of collating studies on interpersonal violence worldwide [7]. While their methodology does not include the calculation of global prevalence estimates, the median past-year prevalence for sexual violence among the studies they collected was 9%, which would translate to 270 million victims. While this cannot be used as a true global prevalence rate, it does indicate that the above 2.7% estimate is a reasonable bare minimum estimate.

However, these estimates exclude the nearly 1 billion girls younger than age 15. Single-year prevalence rates for child sexual abuse are rare in the literature. From the same WHO site [7], the minimum annual sexual abuse prevalence among girls was a little over 1%. The median estimate among the identified studies was 8.5% and 13% for high-quality studies. Again, while these cannot be used as true global prevalence rates, they do indicate that 1% is a reasonable bare minimum estimate rate. This would account for an additional 10 million victims (with a higher end estimate of 130 million).

Together, this data provides a potential range of 92 million to 400 million women and girls who are sexually victimized each year. The frequency of issues lending itself towards underestimation for the lower end and overestimation for the upper end of this range suggests it is likely the true prevalence is somewhere between these two values.

---

Given the original poster mentioned this, I also looked for data that could estimate the number of women and girls in sex trafficking and forced marriage.

This 2022 report attempted to create global estimates for the number of people in forced labor and forced marriage. [5]

They estimated approximately 5 million women and girls are in sex trafficking in a given year. These individuals are extremely unlikely to be reached via the survey methods used in the previous reports, so it is likely they can be considered additional victims over the earlier estimate.

They also estimated that approximately 15 million women and girls are in forced marriages in a given year. They take care to note that this is likely an underestimate, as they only count marriages that are explicitly recognized as force; in other words, they do not include every instance of child marriage. That being said, they also indicate that only 8% of women and girls in these marriages explicitly indicate they are victims of forced sexual activity, despite 54% being physically or legally coerced into these marriages. (The remaining 46% indicate they were coerced via "emotional threats or verbal abuse.") There are many possible reasons for this, one of which is the simple cultural context around marriage (e.g., 60% of countries do not have legislation against marital rape [6]) that prevents a woman's recognition of rape by her husband. It is also possible some of these marriages no longer include sexual activity or some other similar exception. It is also unknown if the women who indicated sexual victimization overlap at all with the earlier reports on sexual violence.

Between the data on these higher-risk populations, the unknown figure of girls' sexual victimization, and the issues resulting in underestimation for these various sources, it is likely that at least 100 million women and girls are raped each year.

This would translate to at least 1 in every 40 women and girls being raped each year.

References under the cut:

UN, World Population Prospects (2024) – processed by Our World in Data. “Population, females, ages 0-4 – UN WPP” [dataset]. United Nations, “World Population Prospects” [original data].

Violence against women prevalence estimates, 2018: global, regional and national prevalence estimates for intimate partner violence against women and global and regional prevalence estimates for non-partnersexual violence against women. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2021. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO

Basile, K.C., Smith, S.G., Kresnow, M., Khatiwada S., & Leemis, R.W. (2022). The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey: 2016/2017 Report on Sexual Violence. Atlanta, GA: National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Borumandnia, N., Khadembashi, N., Tabatabaei, M., & Alavi Majd, H. (2020). The prevalence rate of sexual violence worldwide: a trend analysis. BMC public health, 20, 1-7.

Free, W. (2022). Global estimates of modern slavery: Forced labour and forced marriage.

Progress of the world’s women 2019–2020: Families in a changing world. (2019). United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women).

Violence Info – A global knowledge platform for preventing violence. (2022). World Health Organization. http://apps.who.int/violence-info/

[mint-ty]

omg can you please elaborate a little on your tag about your history prof's quote? it's a very curious thought, i've always thought the opposite actually (that if all things fit perfectly into a puzzle, then the story makes sense). like not even in terms of bojere here, just in general it's an interesting take. i wonder what he meant by that 👀🔎

Sure! 💕 Basically what we were tought is that any social sciences: history, politics, economy, international relations, etc.. anything that deals with human behaviour can't have a clear answer to a question, because inherintly humans are not rational decision makers 😂 So if a question for example is "why did this country start a war?" - an answer "because people were poor and angry" would only be a part of the big picture that didn't address country's location, it's neighbours, cultural norms, etc. So for complicated questions you might have several correct answers, but all those answers have to be debatable and you always have to ask yourself if this is really correct?

And if a complicated question or a big problem has a simple straightforward answer that explains everything, for example "big pharma makes people sick so they can sell more medicine" - then it's a conspiracy theory :D

The logic behind it is that social sciences have too many variables and it's impossible to 100% accurately group everything under one theory or one answer. That answer might not be incorrect for a specific case, but it also might as easily mislead the reader.

Basically nothing ever is so simple in life 😂 And I find myself picking on it when reading fiction too. It's a bit of a pet peeve for me if characters resolve all their conflicts by the end of the story. Like, really? None of you are salty? All those years of hurt and arguments and now you just love each other and will never fall on past behaviours?.. Hmmm 🤔 Maybe it's just me but I enjoy slightly unfinished stories, it makes me feel like their lives will continue even if I, a reader, will stop here. 😁

[zombiecicada]

The People Have Spoken.

But don’t worry, I can do a DTIYS for the next milestone, if I reach 100 followers!

But for now, here is the event:

Submit theories, head canons, or guesses you have about the characters or lore shown thus far about the Wolfbell AU.

Rules:

-You can submit as many as you want. There is no limit to how many entries you can submit, your only cap is your own imagination. You have my permission to explode my inbox. Is there a limit to the inbox? I would like to test this theory. Please specify if your submissions into my inbox are asks for the Kirby Oc Tourney or for the 50 Followers Event I am an easily confused creature. Alternatively, you can make an actual post with your submission, but be sure to tag me so I can see it and specify that it’s for the event in the post.

-They do not have to be about Wolfbell (the character) specifically! Feel free to take a stab at some of the other characters within the universe or simply the lore and story itself. As long as it’s relevant to the overall AU, it counts.

-These theories/head canons can be as simple or as complex as you want them to be. Fully and completely encourage walls of dialogue and text and in depth analysis. ‘Haha I think character likes *x* or *y*’ and that’s the theory is just as valid. Just know, I’m a sucker for a good long lore dump and it is my weakness.

-Submissions can be serious or silly, it’s both serious but I also want to hear your unhinged hot takes.

-Please keep it fairly SFW. That being said as the Wolfbell AU is more on the NSFW side covering darker themes, I will allow such, within reason. If you’re uncertain feel free to ask me.

-If you submit entries in my ask box you need to not be an anon because I can’t declare you the winner if I don’t know who you are.

-Feel free to include little doodles and illustrations for your submissions, however this is not required! You can also include your own ocs interacting with mine or interacting in some way to make it more fun.

-If two people submit the same exact ‘correct answer’, I will go with the one I feel best explained or conveyed the theory and or head canon. Again, I’m personally biased for blocks of text.

-While there are multiple ways to win, you cannot ‘win twice’, if you submit more than one ‘correct answer’ and make it to the top three you’ll still only win once and two other people will still be other winners. The ‘winning answer’ will simply be the one I liked most and any additional ‘correct answers’ will simply earn you bonus doodles. In the total there’s gonna be six winners, three ‘most correct answers’ and three ‘most incorrect answers’, along with several little bonus winners where I was amused and entertained.

-If you submit an answer and it’s spot on and you crack the lore, obviously for spoiler purposes the submission will be handled differently. But there will be bonus ducks.

What will happen:

Gonna let this contest go on for a week! By the end of the week, I will go through all of the submissions and I will slap them all on a ‘iceberg’, with the most unhinged and non canon answers in the void and the closest to canon answers on the surface!

The top three at the tip top of the iceberg and the bottom most three will get a prize! A full body coloured render of their Kirby oc (or if you don’t have a Kirby oc/don’t want it to be a Kirby oc we can discuss that but yeah, prizes!) if you ‘win more than once’ by submitting multiple ‘correct answers’ you’ll simply get funny little bonus sketches of your characters.

Any questions or concerns, please DM me here on tumblr or on my discord.

Event will end at midnight Pacific Time on Sunday June 23rd.

[i-may-be-an-emu]

hey my dude, happy birthday! (i saw someone else say happy birthday but idk how old you are lol)

I've been wondering how other Christians on the autism spectrum deal with praying, experiencing God, etc. Personally I didn't enjoy my old church that much because The Building Is Ugly and The Lights Are Evil, plus the songs were all about "I, the singer, am experiencing an Emotion about God" which I couldn't always relate to. I do try to pray regularly but I don't often have a lot to say (bc I have no life haha).

Building relationships is hard enough with other humans, especially neurotypical ones but even others with autism. It's a lot more cloudy and confusing when you're trying to build a relationship with someone whose voice you can't hear. But I love the physical humanity of Jesus because all through the gospels he talks to his friends, he loves them, cares for them, eats with them...and I can identify with that humanity. He knew what it was like to be alone, or mad at everybody, or mad at the guy who's preaching because of what he's saying. And he took care of people who were hungry or sick or even DEAD, and I can identify with those things too

(probably one reason I like SFTH so much is that they also make love and care for the characters, and for each other, visible and physical and obvious and said out loud, like Jesus himself but on a much smaller scale)

Anyway I'm not sure what I even came here to ask, except what does Christianity look like for another young autistic person? Is Regular Church hard or unpleasant for you? Do you pray even when you have nothing to say? I don't really want advice, I'm just curious about your perspective

First of all I’m so sorry for taking so long to answer this, but thank you for the ask!! :))

I definitely relate to the sensory nightmare that church can be, I block a lot of it out and kinda shut down mostly- although my church has a “quiet room” specifically for adults and teens with sensory needs (it’s quite a big church, like several hundred people possibly more) and I think you can go in there and there’s low lighting and low volume and you watch the service on a TV (i don’t use it so maybe its only for big services?? Like Christmas?? But idk I think its every service)

The songs have always been a bit confusing to me too, especially cause they often use a lot of metaphors that don’t make sense to me or there’s factually incorrect things that are commonly said but not technically correct and I’m like ???? I also tend to overthink things a lot and it’s hard to actually just be in the moment.

l experience hyper-empathy, which honestly with Christianity helps me a lot? Cause I feel it so intensely, but then it’s hard to decipher what’s my own feelings and what’s God. And idk 🤷 it’s helpful but kinda annoying sometimes.

And yeah I honestly pray just whenever, even when I have nothing to say, I kinda just talk to God about anything. Although, recently I’ve noticed that I don’t as much anymore and I’m trying to fix that.

But yeah :) autism does definitely affect my faith in the way that I see the world. When I was younger and I learned stuff like Jesus leaving the 99 to find the lost sheep I always thought stuff like “but what if I’m not the lost sheep and I’m just one of the 99 and he leaves me” kinda thing. Cause it’s a metaphor and the people giving the example are trying to help you to understand what they’re getting at but my brain would always look at it another way.

I still do quite often, and sometimes it’s good. It’s good to question things and look at things in another way, but I do get caught up in the details rather than just listen to what the person preaching has to say sometimes.

thank you for the question :)

[zerogate]

In another example, researchers presented the word walk to a patient's right brain only. The patient immediately responded to the request and stood up and started to leave the van in which the testing was taking place. When the patient's left brain (language side) was asked why he got up to walk, again the interpreter came up with a plausible but completely incorrect explanation: “I'm going into the house to get a Coke.”

In another exercise, the word laugh was presented to the right brain and the patient complied. When asked why she was laughing, her left brain responded by cracking a joke: “You guys come up and test us each month. What a way to make a living!” Remember, the correct answer here would have been, “I laughed because you asked me to.”

Think about the significance of this for a moment. The left brain was simply making up interpretations, or stories, for events that were happening in a way that made sense to that side of the brain (a shovel is needed for a chicken coop) or as if it had directed the action (I got up because I needed a drink, or I laughed at my own joke). Neither of these explanations was true, but that was unimportant to the interpretive mind, which was convinced that its explanations were the correct ones.

Dr. V. S. Ramachandran, one of the most innovative neuroscientists of the twentieth century, shared a theory of the left brain that is very similar to Gazzaniga's. After conducting his own experiments, Ramachandran found that the left brain's role is one of beliefs and interpretation and that it had little regard for reality in making up its interpretations.

For instance, Ramachandran's experiments included subjects whose right brain was severely damaged—leaving the left side of the body paralyzed. With this level of damage to the right brain, the left brain is effectively running the show. When Ramachandran asked one affected subject if she could move her paralyzed left hand, she replied, “Yes. It's not paralyzed.”

Another one of Ramachandran's subjects claimed that her paralyzed left arm was actually stronger than her right and that she could lift a large table an inch and a half off the ground with it. Others used rationalization as an explanation for the paralysis. They would say things like “I don't want to move my arm, it hurts,” or, “The medical students have been prodding me all day and I don't want to move it right now.”

As in the studies of Gazzaniga, the left brain was simply making up a story about reality without any regard for the truth. Over the last forty years, several additional studies have shown that the left side of the brain excels at creating an explanation for what's going on, even if it isn't correct. The truth is that your left brain has been interpreting reality for you your whole life, and if you are like most people, you have never understood the full implications of this.

For example, in another classic study, people who think, perceive, and behave in ways considered normal were given a choice of a number of similar items and were asked which they liked the best. Most people are unaware that we have a right-side preference; that is, if you have a number of similar items in front of you, you will have a tendency to prefer the thing on the right.

In this study, the researchers noted this tendency. However, when asked, “Why do you like that item?” no one said it was because of a preference for where it was placed. Again, the left brain created a fictitious but plausible theory, and the subjects would say things like, “I just like the color,” or, “I just like the texture of that one.” Beyond that, when confronted with the reality—that a right-side preference is natural in most normal human brains—virtually all subjects denied it and disbelieved it. Some even implied that the experimenter was a “madman.”

Their brain could not handle the idea that they had chosen something not because of what their inner pilot self actually preferred, but due to an arbitrary criterion. This broke through the ego addiction's fog, and for most people this can be a jarring and uncomfortable experience.

-- Chris Niebauer, No Self, No Problem

[maryholmes94]

‘Sherlock’ Out Of Fandom. Essay №1

For several years I’ve been writing about ‘Sherlock’ and its actors, Sherlock Holmes and his various adaptations, and a couple of weeks ago I’ve decided: why not to write about it in English on Tumblr? As some of you pointed out, it is not that easy to find any analysis of this show, which is not johnlock-related (at least on the English-speaking websites). So I’ve decided to express my thinking in writing, hoping that it could be useful not just for me, but for somebody else. I have no idea how many essays I’m going to write, but I want to unite them under the title “‘Sherlock’ Out Of Fandom”. And by that I mean that I’m not going to give any attention to the theories and speculations which were based on the incorrect interpretation of the original source (which in this case is the ‘Sherlock’ TV-series itself). So I’m not going to talk about the so called “Johnlock Conspiracy”, or about “season 4 is not real” theories, or about any other fantasies this fandom is so full of. Furthermore – I’m not going to be involved in the discussions which are concerning such theories, so I warn you in advance: if you want to talk about ‘Sherlock’, please be kind enough to talk about the actual show. The show that was actually released on television and not on AO3 in some fics you like so much. That would be a different topic and I’m not interested in discussing it.

Since we established this simple but important rule, I think we can move to the first essay in this series, which is titled

Three things that make ‘Sherlock’ special

The viewers may like ‘Sherlock’ or hate it, but whatever their personal opinions on this show are, they can’t deny that it is indeed very special. And not just because of the unique place it occupies in the ‘multiverse’ of interpretations of the original stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. And even not because it helped to speed up the revolution that changed the whole TV industry and our perception of it. What makes ‘Sherlock’ really special is its authors’ innovative attitude towards the old narrative. It was a radical break from traditions, which, surprisingly, is still unnoticed – maybe because other subjects interest people more, but maybe because, however radical this break was, it looked so natural that people simply didn’t realize its significance.

This innovation is visible through the entire series, but there are three milestones, which are the fundament for the whole narrative and story-telling of ‘Sherlock’, so let’s have a look at each of them.

The analytical approach to the original material

The fans of Conan Doyle’s stories know that there are basically two ways of bringing them to the screen. The first one is the good old ‘filmization’ – or, to put it simpler, the film adaptation, when the creators take the original story and adapt it to the screen. That was the path taken by the famous ‘Granada’ TV-series, the Wilmer-Cushing series from the 1960s and the Soviet version from the 1980s. The second way is the good old ‘based on the characters created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’, when the creators write a new story and add here and there some ‘easter-eggs’ and references to the original source. The best examples here are Rathbone-Bruce movies from the 1940s, the Guy Ritchie’s movies, and all these young sherlock holmeses, extremely old sherlock holmeses, enola holmeses etc. Which way have Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat chosen? Some may say – both, but the more correct answer would be – none. What they did is what every true scientist is doing when he or she needs to analyze their sources: they’ve read them all, they’ve singled out the essentials and they’ve drawn the balance – which at the end became the carcass of their story. So therefore each episode of their show is not just an adaptation of the original story, and not something new that they invented – it is a profound analysis of the Conan Doyle’s stories which is put under the lens of their own perception. And that makes ‘Sherlock’ not just an adaptation, but a philosophical research both of Sherlock Holmes as a cultural phenomenon and of the world Gatiss and Moffat – and their audience – are living in.

Which brings us to the second point.

2. ‘Sherlock’ tells the story of its own time

Again, the fans of Conan Doyle’s Holmes certainly read many books and articles about the famous writer and his attitude towards his creation, about the origins of his ideas, and about many other things, but what sometimes is overlooked is the fact that all the stories about Holmes written by Conan Doyle are a huge source of historical material. His stories present a chronic of his own time – yes, it has its flaws and it is far from complete, but nonetheless, if the reader wants to know something about the late Victorian and Edwardian era, Conan Doyle’s books are a rich source of knowledge on the subject. And ‘Sherlock’ is the first interpretation of it which is also a chronic of its time. Yes, there were other movies before that which were set in the contemporary era, but how much can a viewer find out about the 1940s from the Rathbone-Bruce movies? Yes, there was a war, and people wore certain clothes and travelled by trains, but who were these people? What a world they were living in? The information on this subject is scarce and hides behind the human drama and detective plots. ‘Sherlock’, on the other hand, is rooted in the time it speaks about – just like the original material it is based on. That’s why Conan Doyle’s stories were so popular, and that’s why ‘Sherlock’ is so popular too. People see in it the world that surrounds them, they know it and understand it, and understanding brings interest and a sense of belonging – the key to any TV-show’s success.

3. As its title says, ‘Sherlock’ has only one main character

The third milestone of ‘Sherlock’ narrative seems at first sight to be more concrete, but it is closely tied to the other two. A long history of bringing to the screen the characters created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle accustomed the viewer to a certain paradigm. Sherlock Holmes is always accompanied by Dr. Watson, and sometimes (though in fact very rarely) they are joined by other characters, such as DI Lestrade and Mrs. Hudson (more often) and Mary Morsten or Mycroft Holmes (more rare). And here ‘Sherlock’ broke the tradition again: not only did Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat give the supporting characters important roles, but at the same time they also made Sherlock Holmes a little bit lonelier than he already was by putting his personality at the center of their attention. In the end, it’s all about Sherlock and the circumstances which made him a man he is. Yes, his interactions with other characters are part and parcel of the story, but the fact that Dr. Watson doesn’t have the “exclusive access” to him anymore enriches the narrative and enables the writers to show all sorts of Sherlock’s personality. Suddenly he takes a whole number of roles nobody before thought him capable of taken: he is a son, he is a Godfather, he is the best man at the wedding, he is a close friend of Mary Morsten, a defender of Mrs. Hudson, a sarcastic, but caring younger brother and a tender forgiving older brother. And the main subject of the show is the moral and internal evolution of this extraordinary man. Sherlock Holmes written by Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat and played by Benedict Cumberbatch is not a legend and not a monument: he is a man of flesh and blood, and it is his extraordinary inner world and not his deduction skills that makes him so unique – and special.  

These are the three major things that in my opinion make ‘Sherlock’ a special adaptation of the original Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories. It presents an analytical take of the original source, it perfectly depicts its own time (and its main problems), and it brings Sherlock Holmes at the center of the narrative, making him not just a hero of his time, but a man who has a story all of us can understand, and some – even relate to. In the end, ‘Sherlock’ is not just another adaptation – ‘Sherlock’ is an original story everyone can take to heart without even knowing about its source.

@rey-jake-therapist - tagging you in case you find it interesting

[fluentmoviequoter]

to being ghosts.

Chapter 1 - Ordinary Origins

Chapter Warnings: angst, misogynistic/sexist comments towards fem!reader, mentions of death and executions, incorrect depictions of hacking, a lot of world-building and several OCs are introduced. 7.5k+ words.

A siren blaring in the distance wakens you long before you’d prefer. Holding your eyes closed, you hope you can fall back asleep and dream of the old world. Such hope grows weaker every day, unable to keep your mind from the new horrors plaguing the world... your world.

“The New World Charter has assigned a president-elect,” a robotic voice announces outside.

Covering your head with your pillow, you try to drown out the reminders that life will never be the same, not after the death of Eli Ever and the subsequent dissolution of democracies and dictatorships alike.

With a sad sigh, you stand from your bed in your government-assigned apartment, dressing in your uniform and wondering how things went so terribly so quickly.

✯✯✯✯✯

Miles away from you, Victor Vale leads Mitch Turner and Sydney Clarke into an abandoned house on the outskirts of what used to be the overpopulated city of San Francisco. Today, it’s a ghost town, and Victor Vale (along with thousands of other EOs) is using these places as a refuge.

“How many countries are in the New World now?” Victor asks, watching Mitch pick up an outdated newspaper.

“As of two months ago, nearly half of the UN, 85,” he answers.

“Is that bad?” Sydney asks quietly, holding Dol closer as she awaits an answer.

“It may be,” Mitch answers honestly. “As long as they don’t have a unified leader, we’re better off.”

“And when they do?”

Victor looks out the dirt-stained window as he says, “We’ll know.”

✯✯✯✯✯

Walking into the New World Agency Headquarters, or NWA, you look at each passing agent and wonder what they did to earn their place. From open-minded United States federal recruits to Russian KGB leaders, every person wearing an NWA badge is considered qualified and necessary to the long-term mission. You, however, don’t know what the mission is, and though you feel like a ghost in these halls, the moment you decide whether or not you agree with it solidifies your future.

“Morning, agents,” NWA Director Smoak calls.

“Director,” everyone answers in sync.

“You have been called here because of your exemplary records.” He looks around the room as if analyzing each agent, including you. “Consider yourselves lucky to be the first group of recruits for NWA’s new task force, dedicated to the location and execution of EOs.”

Your breath catches in your throat. You didn’t choose to join the NWA; very few did, but you certainly didn’t agree to kill innocent people.

“We’ll be splitting you into teams. Agents Samuelson, Waller, and Daniels, stay here. The rest of you will find your lead agents outside. Head out and do good, bring the new world into the light!”

Following your partner, whom you have only heard referred to as Daniels, you have innumerable questions you want to ask. The walk to the director isn’t far, but it feels like miles as your stomach churns.

“You’re welcome,” Agent Daniels says, turning his head toward you.

“For what?” His eyes meet yours, and you quickly correct, “Sorry. Thank you, but for what, sir?”

“Getting you assigned to the best task force in the agency.”

You stop, unable to walk upon learning that your partner, the man who has been at your side since training ended three months ago, is willing to kill EOs just because they’re different. Not only that, but he thinks the assignment is something worthy of gratitude. A former U.S. Army sniper, Daniels’ kill count consists of a higher number than most peoples’ IQs.

“Daniels, I want you and your partner out by nightfall. You know your first mission, and upon its completion, you will receive the next. Prove your worth and another ticket may be in your future,” Smoak says, ignoring you as he speaks to your supervising agent.

Once upon a time, you dreamed of being a federal agent, but now that title is a nightmare come to life around you.

“Where are we going, sir?” you ask Daniels.

“Some town called Merit,” he answers, leading you through the back hallway of the NWA building.

“Merit? Where Eli Ever was arrested?”

“Maybe. I don’t tend to keep up with monsters like those people.”

“Those people?”

“EOs. We’ve got a long flight, so maybe pace your questions,” he snaps.

Nodding, you ask yourself how someone can have so little empathy for EOs, simply assuming they’re all like Ever. The Gulfstream plane awaiting you could get hundreds of EOs to safety, you think, before realizing that your mind and your mission are nowhere near aligned.

✯✯✯✯✯

“Problem,” Mitch calls.

Victor turns away from the window, walking to Mitch’s side.

“They have a leader. President-Elect Smoak, also rumored to be leading the New World Agency, the combination of all the government and law enforcement agencies of participating countries.”

“Number?”

Mitch doesn’t answer, turning around to face Victor as he tilts his head to the side.

“All of them?” Victor clarifies.

“Which means the new task force, Task O, has plenty of people to back it up.”

“We have to move.”

“Why?”

“Call it a hunch, a ghost giving me a clue, I don’t know, but we do. So, let’s go!” Victor turns away as he calms to say, “Sydney, time to go.”

“What are we telling her?”

“Not a word more than we have to.”

✯✯✯✯✯

“What is your issue?” Daniels asks.

You look up from the picture in the file, glancing at the clouds below. Even the sky seems sad these days.

“He looks like a kid,” you answer, shrugging. “Just not sure how you keep it so separated, sir.”

“He’s not a kid. Not even an ordinary human, not anymore. That- that change makes them different, and someone needs to do something about it.”

After the news shifted to the existence and creation of EOs, particularly Eli Cardale, you’d scoured the internet to find what made them so special. A rough draft of his work from Lockland University was produced by your effort: a simple, straightforward explanation with a bit too much religious symbolism.

“There was a time not long ago when being ordinary was considered a bad thing,” you hum.

“Not at the cost of our souls, our freedom, and the consistency of human nature.”

Human nature has never been consistent, you want to say. Instead, you nod and look back to the file. Daniels continues watching you, a suspicious narrowing of his eyes the only sign that he is experiencing any emotion.

“Do you have a problem with the mission? Because there’s a nice place for NWA agents who decide they don’t agree with our ideals,” Daniels says. “I hear most people never want to return to their old homes after visiting.”

“As nice as that sounds, sir, I’m fine. Just tired, I think.”

“Then get some sleep. We have an ordinary world to protect.”

Reading the top line of the file one last time, you close it and set it aside, wishing you felt safe enough to sleep. Dreams of a different world are the only relief you’ve found, but even that can only do so much.

✯✯✯✯✯

Mitch’s fingers fly across the keyboard, a few clicks of the trackpad interrupting his consistent typing. He knows better than to hack the New World Charter computers. If he can get into the United States government’s records, he may be able to find a thread worthy of tugging.

The screen goes black before an out-of-use desktop loads. Smirking at his success, Mitch navigates to the most recent records. It takes a few minutes, but he finds evidence of a conversation with someone named Smoak. He assumes it is the same Smoak now running the entire world, and the few ideas expressed in the months-old exchange concern him.

Noticing the presence of another user in the system, Mitch freezes his screen, disappearing into the shadows of the servers.

‘hey,’ someone types, ‘we’ve met before. they’re killing EOs, just thought you should know.’

The text box disappears before a small file opens: a single page titled “Task O” lists three teams, one under Smoak’s leadership and the team members. As concerning as it should be, Mitch’s attention is caught on the task motto: “For an ordinary world, no matter the cost.”

He knows he should tell Victor, but something makes him pause. Saving the file to his own computer, Mitch erases any sign of himself and his unknown partner before closing the laptop. Smoak has three teams under his direction: Samuelson, Waller, and Daniels, plus their partners. Seven people answering to one leader, who wants EOs dead as far as Mitch can tell, does not seem like a good thing. Though he knows Smoak’s name, one other name stays on his mind after closing the computer.

✯✯✯✯✯

When the plane lands, Daniels offers to split up and cover more ground, and you immediately agree. If you can find the young EO before Daniels, maybe you can help somehow. Daniels will eliminate him without a word or thought, but there has to be another way.

After a few minutes, you realize that Daniels is following you. He’s keeping his distance, but you must lose him and convince him to trust you for a few minutes before continuing.

“When you find him, radio immediately,” Daniels says in your earpiece.

“Yes, sir.”

After walking around the same city block twice, letting yourself look incompetent, Daniels sighs and breaks away. Picking up where you left off, you navigate the darkest alleys alone. Though you should probably be concerned for your safety, the EOs need your concern and protection more than you do. Daniels has already threatened to make you disappear, but your fate is still in your hands.

“Excuse me,” you call. The man turns around, his eyes wide and wild as he does. “I’m here to help you but I need you to trust me. Someone is trying to hurt you.”

“This is about that other guy that got killed in Miami, ain’t it?” he asks. “All the EOs are talkin’ about it. Like the police think we’re all bad because that Eli guy killed someone. EON was bad enough, but we didn’t think it would get worse after they went away.”

You raise your hand as you attempt to calm him and ease his nerves. “I know. When EON went away, I hoped it would get better for you guys, but there are always going to be people who are scared of new things, different things.”

“Then what’s the point of fighting?” he whispers.

“Because if you don’t, you’re proving them right. Let me help you, and maybe someday, you and the other EOs that I help will be able to make a difference and show the people that they don’t need to be afraid of you.”

Your shirt rides up slightly, exposing your NWA badge. He sees it, staring at it as he takes a step back.

“Hey, hey, look at me. They want me to do something that I’m not going to do, do you understand that? I wear the badge because I have to, but it doesn’t control me. They don’t control me, and you don’t have to let them control you either,” you explain.

He stops, nodding slowly. “What do you want me to do?”

“There’s a little town about ten miles from here. It used to be-“

“The train depot, yeah, I know it,” he interrupts.

“Go that way and wait for me. If I’m not there by sunset to give you more instructions, leave before dark and get to the depot.”

“Why? Why help us?”

“Because what they’re doing is wrong. You deserve a chance.”

“What if you’re wrong?”

You finally smile, and he mirrors it as you say, “Then I’ll change my mind.”

✯✯✯✯✯

Victor’s pale eyes are on Mitch. He fights the urge to squirm at his undivided attention.

“Can I help you?” Mitch asks finally.

“You tell me.”

Mitch glances over at Sydney before saying, “No.”

“Are we leaving again soon? Because I’m really tired,” Sydney asks, lying on the dilapidated couch with Dol under her arm.

“Not for a while. That’s the plan for now, at least, so get some rest,” Victor answers, demanding yet concerned.

“Still can’t help,” Mitch mutters as he walks by Victor.

✯✯✯✯✯

“Suspect down,” you radio, looking around the scene you’ve set up.

Standing on the rooftop, you’re impressed by the view. As the sun sets, mirroring a bloody smear across the sky, you imagine this is how Frodo felt on his journey to Mordor, just with more people to talk to. Below you, you’ve arranged pallets and red paint to look like someone fell off the roof. Your plan isn’t great, and it’s entirely dependent on Daniels believing it from the roof, but it’s all you can do for now. Either way, you gained a few more hours for the target to get to safety.

“I told you to radio when you found him, not after you took him out,” Daniels chides roughly behind you.

“I was going to, but he panicked and fell back when he saw the badge, sir,” you answer, keeping your eyes on the ground below.

Daniels walks to your side, surveying the damage in the alley below. His eyes darken momentarily before he nods.

“Back with the trash where he belongs,” he mutters. “I’ll call Smoak and get our next assignment. Meet you at the plane.”

As he turns around, you ask, “Should we do something with the body?”

“Leave it there. It’ll serve as a warning.”

Closing your eyes, you bite back your anger before you get in trouble. The new government doesn’t care about these people; they only notice EOs because they are afraid. Someone has to show them that EOs aren’t monsters to be feared, though you’re not sure if they’re allies. Regardless, you can’t prove anything without help, so you need to save enough of them to start a revolution.

Taking a deep breath, you hope the future is heading north.

✯✯✯✯✯

Your phone rings as you near the plane. Raising a hand to Daniels, you stop and answer it.

“Hello,” you greet.

“Hey. It’s Barton, do you have a minute?” your classmate from the police academy asks.

“Of course. Where are you these days?”

“NWA analytics. They- they want me to do something that I don’t agree with, and I feel stuck. If I don’t do it, something terrible will happen to me, right?”

“Barton, don’t,” you whisper harshly. “Do not do something stupid.”

“I’m not running.”

“Don’t do something else, then.”

“Too late,” he mutters. “But they won’t know about you.”

You flinch and drop your phone away when a gunshot echoes through the speaker. Ending the call, you breathe heavily as you wonder what he did. His promise that they won’t know about you makes you confident that whatever it is will make an impact. 

Leveling your expression, you walk to the plane and stand beside Daniels. He types quickly, his complete focus on his phone.

“Everything okay, sir?” you ask quietly.

“No,” he answers. “New World Charter is- our leaders are in trouble.”

“How so?”

“Some- some complete idiot at NWA released a list of names.”

“Oh.”

Daniels looks up suddenly, his eyes dark and angry as he glares at you. “’Oh’? That’s all you have to say. Do you know what this means, agent? Every single person working with the New World Charter’s identity, their pictures, addresses, it’s all out there for anyone to see.”

“Well, they’re working for good, so no one should have a problem or try to do anything. Right, sir?” you ask, hoping everyone can see their true intentions and someone decides to do something about it.

“You really have no clue how governments work, do you? No matter how good they are, there will be people who try to hurt them.”

You press your lips together and nod. Daniels shakes his head, looking back at his phone when it buzzes again.

“Great,” he mumbles. “Now NWA.”

“What about it, sir?”

“List of names,” he grumbles.

“Our leaders?”

His eyes scan the screen, scrolling quickly. He releases a small sigh before putting his phone in his pocket.

“Good news?” you pry.

“My name isn’t on the list. Well, it is, but just my last name; listed as your superior.”

“Mine?”

“Oh, yeah, it’s all there. Full name, picture, address, contact information,” he lists off before smiling at you. “Better prove your worth or no one will care what you go home to.”

Daniels turns and boards the plane, yelling for you to follow. You swallow, hoping that having your name and picture made public won’t ruin your chances of helping the next EO.

✯✯✯✯✯

Mitch shakes his head, wondering how a police recruit was assigned to one of the most dangerous task forces in the New World. When he hears Victor approaching, he closes the window and moves away from his laptop.

“It’s getting worse,” he tells Victor.

“Shocking,” Victor mumbles sarcastically.

“Vic, we need to do something other than run. Surely there has to be another option.”

“Like what? Making a stand with a guy who can control pain, a hacker, and a kid who can raise the dead? We have no chance alone, Mitch.”

“Then why are you so opposed to help?”

“Because we aren’t normal people, Mitch. We have no home, no help, and no chance of being noticed without dire consequences. We’re ghosts.”

“You defeated Eli, and then EON. Why is this different?”

“Because this is EON multiplied by a million. And, technically, I didn’t defeat Eli, I just got him out of the way long enough to keep going.”

“If we’re ghosts,” Mitch says slowly, “then there’s still a chance.”

“Three versus the world government is not a fair fight, and one I refuse to pull you or Sydney into.”

“What if we had more help? A Good Samaritan willing to gather EO troops?”

Victor rolls his eyes. “Even if that was a possibility, it will never work. NWA doesn’t recruit Good Samaritans, or at least trains it out of them.”

Mitch doesn’t respond, which leads Victor to return to his side. “You know something.”

“I know lots of things.”

“Mitch,” Victor warns.

“I do, but it’s not important yet. Not pertinent, even.”

“Then tell me.”

“No. If I’m wrong, we don’t need that kind of negative impact.”

“Mitch, if it doesn’t matter, why do you keep bringing it up?” Victor demands.

“Because something is changing!” Mitch replies, raising his voice as he stands. “Can’t you tell that?”

“I can,” Sydney says quietly, standing in the doorway behind them. “There’s more, more life or something. It’s not quite as bad as it was.”

“That doesn’t mean there’s a powerful savior that makes this all go away; we are still in danger of being killed,” Victor argues. “I know it’s not what we want to admit, but it’s the truth – this ends with death for us. Especially if we rush into this fight without stopping to think for a minute. This isn’t beating Eli, not revenge, it is life or death.”

“Not just for us,” Mitch interjects. “Task O, as in O for ordinary, is killing EOs. But I think an agent, or someone else, is helping them. That’s why Sydney can sense more life than there ‘should’ be.”

“So, what you’re telling me is that because of one good NWA agent, there’s a bunch of ghosts?”

“Basically.”

Victor rakes his fingers through his pale hair as he thinks.

“You said it would take more than three ghosts,” Mitch reminds him gently. “If we can find a whole race of ghosts? EO ghosts, at that, and the NWA, the New World Charter doesn’t stand a chance.”

“What else are you keeping from me?” Victor asks.

“Chocolate milk,” Sydney whispers, a smile appearing when Mitch laughs. Each day her smile becomes a little rarer. That alone makes Victor want to fight, even though he’ll never admit it.

“A name,” Mitch answers. “And I’m still going to hold onto it. Until I’m sure.”

“You really think this will work?”

“I do. But not without you on board and willing to trust me.”

“I trust you, Mitch, I do. It’s them I don’t trust.”

“Give it some time. And we need to stay here.”

“It’s been days already; someone will be able to find us if they look hard enough.”

“Exactly,” Mitch says with a smile.

✯✯✯✯✯

You return to NWA Headquarters before receiving your next target. Every agent is recalled upon Barton’s sudden betrayal and execution. Sitting at the back of the crowded room, you hope more EOs have caught word of the ambush and found a safe hiding place. Finding them will be difficult, but the future lies in the hands of the superpowered people your neighbors are hunting.

Your mission, however, is to find the unfindable and get them to a safe place before gathering them for a revolution. Your future, and theirs, of course, has far too many variables. But, you will give everything you have, including your life, to bring peace and remind ordinary people that ExtraOrdinaries aren’t so different.

“Why can’t we just train them?” someone asks. “If EOs are dangerous now, then we can show them another way. Maybe they’re just as lost and surprised as we are. Thousands of experts are at your disposal, able to teach EOs how their powers work and maybe even gain an ally.”

You agree entirely, wishing you had the strength to stand up and voice your opinion, too. When the agent is cut off in the middle of a sentence, you’re glad you waited. NWA is not fond of its agents speaking out of turn, especially when what they say is morally right.

“Any other comments?” Smoak asks, practically daring someone else to speak. “Well then, let’s get this meeting underway.”

“Wait! My partner never showed up and I’m worried,” an agent explains, standing as they speak.

“Yes,” Smoak says, glancing at the paper before him. “Your partner has decided to take a less active role in our Canada region.”

Sighing, you wish you could comfort the agent. ‘The Canada region’ is the codeword NWA officials use for the same place Daniels threatened to send you. It’s a place for exiled and disgraced agents who are never heard from or seen again. You’re sure it’s a type of black site, not simply a prison compound, so you feel empathetic towards the exiled and their partner.

“Focus,” Daniels whispers, tapping you with his elbow. “We’re next.”

“Task O has made excellent progress in the early stages of the program. There is much work to be done ahead of us, and as the days progress, we will add manpower and more teams to this task force. We are aware of the security breach, and it has been dealt with internally, but the information is still out there for the public to view. Our analysis and cyber teams are working to scrub as much of this from global internet servers as possible, but we will be providing temporary housing and other aid as needed. NWA is not just an agency, we are here for you, so do not hesitate to reach out as needed.”

You shake your head, wondering how long they’ll be able to keep up the lies that they’re doing good and here for the people. The idea that Smoak cares about the agents who were exposed is laughable; your memory of hearing Barton’s execution keeps you from exposing your hand too early.

“One team, however, has made a big impact on us here at NWA. Supervising Agent Daniels and his team were the first to complete their initial mission.”

Supervising Agent Daniels and his team… as far as Daniels knows, you completed the mission. Yet, in typical government fashion, the man with seniority gets the credit. Not that you care; you are trying to stay below the radar and make yourself invisible as often as possible. Although, if this were your choice career, you’d be indignant.

“They have both our gratitude and admiration for such effectiveness in the field. For that reason, they will be receiving two assignments moving forward.”

There’s a small round of applause, and Director Smoak nods at Daniels before moving on to the next item on the docket.

“Port operations have resumed in major cities such as Los Angeles, Singapore, and Colón…”

You tune him out, your mind split between wondering what that nod was about and planning where you can send every EO to wait. Waiting will undoubtedly be the worst part of taking the world back from the dictators and murderers currently in charge, so a slow and steady approach is essential.

“You are dismissed,” Smoak nearly yells, pulling you from your planning.

“He wants to meet us about our new targets before we leave again,” Daniels fills you in, leaving you as he walks to the crowd of male leaders at the front of the room.

“Don’t know how you have the patience to work with a woman,” one of them jokes.

Daniels looks at you before reluctantly admitting, “She was vital to our success.”

It’s not an acknowledgment of the truth or your worth, but you play your role and smile at the men, unwilling to get angry or prove them right in any way. You will give Daniels all the praise and credit he wants to keep this assignment. One day, one person may know what you did or tried to do, and that is all you can ask for.

“Daniels,” Director Smoak greets, clapping his back. “You are our best, that’s for sure. Which is why I’m giving you and your partner here a new target. And I’m giving you our current most wanted EO. I don’t expect him to be easy to find, so I want you to blow through these other monsters while you’re hunting him. Shouldn’t be a problem, right?”

Smoak glances toward you, and you nod, giving him a respectful smile.

“I like this one. You work well together.”

“We do,” Daniels agrees. “And that’s certainly not a problem. We’ll keep knocking them down while we make our way to the top.”

“Exactly what I wanted to hear. Meet me in my office and we’ll discuss our most wanted.”

As you walk through the private hallways, off limits to agents such as yourself, you cross your fingers that you can find a well-known EO and get him on board with your plan. Another name, another pair of hands, anything will help. As long as they’re alright with being invisible.

✯✯✯✯✯

Victor drags a marker across a page, the odd domesticity of the situation making him anxious. Sydney returns from a quick walk with Dol, smiling again as she falls onto the couch beside Victor. Mitch is reading something on his computer, not unaware of how they’re all acting like they’re at home. He chuckles at the thought of the three of them sharing a home forever, and Sydney immediately asks what’s so funny.

“Nothing, just picturing how terrible Victor would be as a permanent roommate,” he answers.

Sydney joins his laughter as Victor pauses his editing.

“I wouldn’t be that bad,” he argues.

“Your last roommate is dead,” Sydney points out.

“Who killed him?” Victor challenges.

“Calm down,” Mitch says, feeling more like an overworked dad than ever. “And don’t get too comfortable, this isn’t the new normal, just a- just a break.”

“So, we’re setting a trap, luring someone into finding us?” Sydney clarifies, welcoming Dol onto the couch between her and Victor.

“More or less, yes.”

“Seems like more of a trap for us. Like a mouse sitting in a cage to catch a cat.”

Victor looks over at her, his brows raised as he nods. “Didn’t know you could make sense like that.”

“Says the cryptic old guy.”

Mitch sighs, and Victor returns his attention to the book in his lap, hiding how pleased he is to see Sydney acting like herself again.

“What happens after?” Sydney asks. “We get killed?”

“No,” Mitch and Victor answer together.

“I don’t know for sure what happens, Syd. This isn’t the same world we started in, and I can’t guarantee much past your safety, but I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“Or yourself,” Sydney demands, not a question but a statement.

 Victor nods, aware that he’s lying, and that Sydney knows it too.

✯✯✯✯✯

“Like many of our smaller units, we have a most wanted list for EOs,” Director Smoak explains as you and Daniels sit across from him. “Currently, there are ten EOs worthy of special attention. We don’t have pictures for several of them, but we have names and ideas of what their powers are. These people are dangerous, not just criminals to slap handcuffs on. There’s no training to prepare you for this mission, but you’ve proven yourselves trustworthy and competent.”

“Thank you, sir, it’s our honor to take this on,” Daniels responds.

Smoak slides two file folders across the desk before folding his hands in front of his chest. You open yours as Daniels takes his.

“Our most wanted.”

“Victor Vale,” you read. “What makes him so important, sir?”

“He is responsible for the death of Eli Ever, and the fall of EON. Not immortal or invincible, but he is hard to injure and harder to capture. The few agents who have had contact with him, or something close to it, have experienced excruciating pain and only one fully recovered.”

“His power is an ability to control pain,” Daniels deduces.

“Sorry, sir, but what do you mean by ‘something close to’ contact with him?” you interject.

“You don’t have to see him, even be all that close to him to be affected,” Smoak answers. “If he can see you, he can kill you.”

Nodding, you can’t help but imagine him dropping Daniels and removing perhaps your biggest obstacle. It is no wonder someone so powerful has maintained his freedom for so long.

“Two known associates? That’s a bit strange for EOs,” Daniels adds.

“It is. They tend to move and work alone, but this one has been seen with another man as well as a young girl,” Smoak reads.

“A young girl? Why?”

“We have reason to believe she is one of the EOs Eli Ever was searching for. There’s something special about this one, but we can’t be sure what without getting close. With Victor Vale at her side, that’s nearly impossible.”

“Is she considered dangerous?” you ask.

“Everyone with any association to Victor Vale is considered highly dangerous, especially if they are a suspected EO, as the girl is. While you hunt them, do not let your guard down for even a moment. Dangerous fights are unavoidable, but your safety is a possibility as long as you work together and use caution and logic.”

“You can count on us,” Daniels says.

You nod your agreement, your mind too caught on Smoak’s phrasing to reply. He considers this a hunt, not a search for a criminal. It fits, though, more like a hunt for sport as you track someone with the only intention of killing them. Or that’s what you would do if you weren’t a traitor.

“One more thing,” Smoak says, looking at you for once. “We have plenty of evidence that Eli was able to manipulate people very easily, especially women. Victor may have similar charm, but you need to keep your wits and the mission in mind, okay?”

You blink rapidly at his blatant sexism. “Yes, sir. I know that any interaction with Vale is simply to eliminate him.”

Smoak nods, dismissing you before speaking to Daniels. He doesn’t wait until the door closes and you hear, “Keep an eye on her, she’s good, but empathy has no place in this.”

You agree entirely as you desperately seek a way out of this fight, to finish it, and move on into a world where empathy is once again common and accepted.

✯✯✯✯✯

With the file nearly memorized, you stare at the ‘No Image on File’ block where Victor Vale’s picture should be. When you imagine meeting him, you see three possibilities: he reluctantly trusts you to join your treacherous plan, he doesn’t trust you and ignores you as he leaves, or he recognizes you as an NWA agent and kills you without question. Any choice has pros and cons, including the third, which removes you from the fight but reveals Victor’s path. If, miraculously, Victor chooses the first option, the New World Charter won’t know what hit them.

“What are you thinking about? If you’re worried about the charm statement, just force yourself to remember his known body count is nearing a hundred,” Daniels offers.

“No, sir, I wasn’t thinking about that. I was just wondering how he got his powers; pain can be an emotional experience sometimes, so it’s just an interesting idea.”

Daniels hums before arguing, “It doesn’t matter. He’ll be dead by the time we get to him anyway, so his second death will make a much bigger impact.”

You run your finger under the line about the young girl. If she’s present, you know you will do anything to keep her safe. After your own childhood and working with troubled youth early in your career, you have a soft spot for kids.

“We’re going after a water bender first,” Daniels says. “We’ve got his location and I’m exhausted, so I’m going to sleep until we land. Feel free to get started on tracking our ticket.”

The NWA equivalent of a golden ticket, or an assigning of your choice, a ticket is only achievable by apprehending or eliminating a top-tier EO or criminal. Since NWA was founded several months ago, only two tickets have been given: one for catching a serial killer and another for apprehending the last surviving captive of EON. 

Uninterested in a ticket, you begin researching, hoping to find something that will help you before it helps Daniels. Your hands hover over the keyboard as you wonder where to start. The list of names that Barton leaked, you realize, wasn’t just a moral decision but a head start. Finding his already deleted account, you begin working backward until you find the original posting. With each step, each download and movement of the document, you get a bit more discouraged.

One record, however, was nearly wiped: a download from a U.S. government database. You track it, surprised to find a 30-second interaction between users, just sharing the file and sending a now scrubbed-away message. Assuming it’s somehow related to Victor, you track it as far as possible. There’s no IP address or location, but you get a region: somewhere outside San Francisco with no secure internet. Whoever hacked the database was very good, so you must work quickly and effectively before they realize someone is on their computer.

It's a long shot, but you manipulate the document and post it in a private forum, dropping a link to the two computers you can find. The first one bounces back, but the second seems to deliver. And now you have to wait.

✯✯✯✯✯

“EO down,” Daniels alerts.

You stop in the alley, pressing your hand against the brick wall as you lean forward. Your stomach flips with anxiety and sadness. 

“Copy,” you radio.

A rogue tear breaks past your waterline. Wiping it away quickly, you kick a box before you, wondering how you failed to find this one.

Daniels says your last name, his voice eerily even.

 “Find anything else? This guy implied there was another one around here.”

“His accomplice, Rock?”

“Presumably. All we know about Rock is he has geo-powers. Just keep an eye out, we’ll keep patrolling for a bit.”

“Copy that, sir. I’ll let you know if I find anything.”

Turning, you decide to go back the way you came. As you near the sight of the execution, the ground rumbles beneath you. You stow your badge in your back pocket, out of sight.

“Rock?” you ask quietly, introducing yourself. “I want to help. I’m sorry about your friend.”

“Help? No one can help. You should let him take me, too.”

“I’m not going to do that, Rock. Can you come out and talk to me? There’s still hope.”

“No, there’s not. You let me walk today, and tomorrow someone else comes along, gets scared, and I end up in the same position. I’m tired.”

The ground shakes harder this time, and you grasp the wall beside you.

“Rock, I’ve been helping EOs for a few days, and I’m trying to get more of you to help me fight NWA.”

Rock chuckles sadly. “NWA will always win. You should know, since they’re beating you, too.”

“Just for now. I’m doing what I have to for now, and then they will be history. But I need your help, Rock.”

“I need it more,” he says before the ground tilts beneath you.

Struggling to stand, you slip forward and tumble down the hill you stand on. A man sits at the bottom, and you move toward him slowly.

“Rock,” you say gently.

“It’s over.”

You look past him and see the hills moving, rocks rolling quickly toward the city.

“Rock don’t do this. These people don’t deserve this.”

“Neither do we.”

“Then come with me and help me show them. Killing these people won’t change anything; it will just make them think that you are the monster they believe you to be,” you explain, your voice rising passionately.

“Maybe we are.”

“We’re not!” you yell.

“We?” Rock whispers.

You can’t take it back, and you can’t admit that you misspoke, so you nod. “Don’t let them see us the way they want to.”

The ground stills, the rocks slowing to a stop as the ground levels out.

“What are you planning to do?” he asks.

“Gather EOs, get them to safety, and then when we can group together and make a plan that lets us work together, we take the fight to them. The New World Charter is telling people that EOs are monsters.”

“Won’t fighting them be proving them right, too?”

“Not the way I’m planning,” you answer with a small smile. “But sometimes it takes a little evil to fight for good.”

Rock nods, standing from a tree stump. “Tell me where to go.”

“West. There’s an abandoned train depot. It’s pretty far from here, but it was huge in its day. That’s where I sent the last three EOs.”

Rock nods and takes a step past you before you stop him.

“I can’t guarantee that they’re there,” you admit. “I can’t guarantee your safety after I leave, either. My plan is built on hope and nothing more.”

“We all died before this started. If there’s anything we can trust in, it’s hope,” Rock promises.

“Just- just be careful, Rock.”

He pats your arm, the ground rumbling beneath you.

“You, too. I think you’re in for a lot more trouble than we are.”

As he runs over the hill and out of sight, you let the faint shaking of the ground soothe you. He’s right, you’re in more danger than you care to think about. Now, though, you need to stage another execution.

“You got him?” Daniels asks. Confused, you don’t answer, so Daniels says your name.

“Yes, sir?”

“The ground is still; did you get him?”

“Oh, yes, sir. Sorry, he was strong.”

“Well done. Two in one. Meet me back at the plane.”

Daniels’ apparent trust in you gives you more hope that you are making progress. It also temporarily blinds you, and you don’t notice someone watching you in the shadows. You look at the tree stump beside you and step over it on your way back to the plane.

✯✯✯✯✯

Mitch’s brow furrows as he notices a changed name. The NWA’s list of names has been renamed, so Mitch opens it.

The motto at the bottom has been added to, For an ordinary world, no matter the cost. now says For a world that accepts the unordinary, no matter the cost.

Your name is highlighted, and Mitch smiles as he realizes he was drawn to your information for a reason. He types a quick, nearly unnoticeable change before saving it. A simple letter added, and a change of address to your contact information, which Mitch trusts will be enough to draw you in. The trap has been set, and he hopes they’re the cat in Sydney’s analogy, luring a mouse inside and not the other way around.

✯✯✯✯✯

Your name has been altered, your first and last now surrounding the middle initial V. For Victor, you presume. Your address lists a different city, and you finally know where you’re going.

“Daniels, I think I found a lead. Someone hacked into an old police database and downloaded some files. The computer was in a smaller town outside of San Francisco, sir,” you tell him.

He looks over your shoulder at the computer, and you’re grateful that you took the time to create some faux tracking records. Nodding, Daniels moves to sit across from you as he opens Victor’s file.

“One of the ones that was evacuated?” he asks.

“Yes, sir. During one of the first riots from what I can tell.”

During the dissolution of the United States and its integration into the New World Charter, there were riots in several big cities. They became overwhelmingly violent, and biological weapons were used, or at least threatened to be used in numerous cities, including San Francisco. When it reached this level, many of the residents in the cities and surrounding areas evacuated. Now, ghost towns litter the U.S., acting as the perfect hiding spot for people who don’t want to be found: for ghosts.

“Our next target is on the way to San Francisco; think we have time for a quick stop? Or will they move quickly?”

“I think we have time, sir. The IP location hasn’t changed since the download; maybe that data leak made them think we’d stop searching.”

“Let’s hope. It’d be nice to see that document used for some good.”

If you trusted Daniel a bit more, you’d think he was concerned for the well-being of the people on the list, but he only cares about himself and getting a ticket.

“That would be nice, sir.”

✯✯✯✯✯

“Promise not to get mad,” Mitch begins.

“What about me makes you think that’s something I would do?” Victor replies.

“Vic.”

“Fine. What’ve you got?”

“Our Good Samaritan. NWA Agent.”

“No.”

“Hear me out,” Mitch begs. Victor sighs, so Mitch smiles and continues. “She got into my computer; we’ve gone back and forth a few times, and she’s probably on her way.”

“You told her where we are?” Victor asks incredulously. “We don’t know anything about these people, except that they want to kill us!”

“She changed the motto, Vic, she’s on our side.”

“Oh, right, because liars and cheaters working for the New World Charter would never change a motto to learn where I am.”

“Guys?” Sydney asks, holding her arm over her chest. “It happened again.”

“Another life?” Victor asks, his voice softer.

Sydney nods. “I think I know what is causing it: a lot of people think someone is dead, but they’re not. Or something like that.”

Mitch looks at Victor to hypothesize, “As if someone was pretending to kill EOs, and telling their superiors they did their job. Which would affect the one person who can sense life and bring it back.”

Victor shows no emotion as he begins pacing, thinking about everything he’s learned in the last few weeks and now, minutes.

“Do you really trust her?” Sydney asks, moving to stand by Mitch.

“I do. I never would have told her where you were if I didn’t.”

“He doesn’t trust her.”

“No, I don’t,” Victor interrupts. “But I’m willing to meet her. Alone. If, somehow, she convinces me she is trustworthy, I will give her a chance to explain herself.”

“And if she doesn’t?”

Victor nods, acknowledging that he still vows to hurt people before they can hurt Sydney. His safety, his fate, is not the only thing reliant on his decisions, which is why he makes them so methodically.

✯✯✯✯✯

“I found her, Daniels,” you radio.

Someone is standing behind you, and you tense as you turn to face them. Looking around, you’re surprised that no one is there. You still feel eyes on you, but you ignore it and focus on Daniels’s reply.

“Where are you?”

“Second alley west of Main.”

“I’ll meet you there.”

Daniels enters the alley from the east, which surprises you. He passes you while you look at the alley entrance, wondering where he came from.

“Alright. Let’s go get a ticket, then,” Daniels says.

“That’s it, sir?”

“You did your job, didn’t you?”

Daniels sounds strange, something you can’t place in his expression and his words.

“Yes, sir.”

He shrugs and gestures for you to follow him. “Then we can go.”

Doubt, you realize. He’s doubting you for some reason. Assuming that it’s because you are risking his ticket if you are wrong, you follow him wordlessly.

“I think that I should go in alone to get Vale,” Daniels tells you as the plane door closes.

“Sir?”

“I’m the supervising and senior agent, and I don’t feel right about leading you into a death trap like that.”

“Oh. Yes, sir, I understand.”

Daniels smiles as he adds, “And Vale is mine.”

[theuniversitychallengereview]

I wrote a blog called No Spoiler last year, about how easy it had been for me to avoid spoilers for the previous day's episode of The Challenge, and how that was an oddity in our information-dense, social-media flooded lives. Well, on Tuesday I innocently logged onto Twitter, having missed this week's episode due to my Book Club, and had the result spoiled for me. It was my own fault - as I said in the other post, when you log on to a Twitter account which is specifically for University Challenge then that is the kind of fire you are playing with. 

For the past few weeks, I've been watching the Netflix Tour de France documentary with my girlfriend. With no prior interest in the sport of cycling she really got into it (and really loved Wout van Aert, which did make me a bit jealous, but who doesn't?). Despite the fact that it was about last year's Tour, the result of which has been known for nearly a full twelve months, and despite the fact that we watched several stages of this year's race together, she made it to the final episode with no knowledge (besides her correct inclination that there was no way redacted would be coming back from such a large deficit going into the final few days) of the overall victor. 

What's the moral of this story? Nothing particularly profound, just that its interesting how siloed our consumption of things is. If I had to estimate, I'd say that I read/heard the fact that cyclist A beat cyclist B in the 2022 Tour de France more than a hundred times in the past month, but if you're not looking out for something, or if your personal Internet isn't pre-programmed to show you it then this sort of thing is far easier to avoid. 

It would be pretty funny, I think, if I did go ahead and not review this week's episode, but I've already spent a while looking up cool stats and I don't want to waste them, so with that in mind; here's your first Starter for Ten.

You can watch the episode here before reading my review...

Birkbeck were regulars in the early years of the Paxman era, appearing six times in the first nine series, culminating with victory in 2003, after which they weren't seen for seventeen years. Oxford Brookes, meanwhile, have only been on five times in total, making the quarter-finals twice.

Brookes skipper Manton buzzes early on the first starter, but he's wrong, and McMillan swoops in for Birkbeck to steal the points. An easy bonus set on films nets them a full house, before Manton makes up for his earlier mistake with epiphany. They grab a hat-trick on the Biafran war, but remain behind thanks to the incorrect interruption.

Another from McMillan stretched the Londoner's lead, but Gardner hit back for Brookes to keep things tight. McMillan is then able to give one of the coldest possible UC answers of all time when asked to complete the phrase written on Woody Guthrie's guitar, 'This machine... kills fascists". Rajan shows off his cricket credentials, scolding Birkbeck for mistaking a doosra for a googly, and demonstrating the bowling action at his desk. 

The first picture starter continues the ping-pong nature of the game so far, with Broadbent, eyebrows plastered in a kindly frown, quickest to recognise the Togo flag. He blitzes the bonuses too to tie the game. Two more consecutive starters for Brookes open up the biggest lead of the game, but Birkbeck fought back through Huntley and McMillan. 

It looks like no one knows the musical on the music starter, but Chadha guesses Funny Girl after hearing the lyric 'good for a laugh', which is excellent quizzing. After the bonuses we're back level, at 110 each. 

The scoring has been going at quite the clip and doesn't let up in the second half. Brookes get a couple to go ahead again, but three in a row from Birkbeck nudge them back in front. No one is allowed to build up too much momentum though, and Broadbent buzzes rapidly with games console to regain the advantage for Brookes. Its an absolute basketball match of a quiz, but who is going to be the one to score the dagger?

McMillan puts Birkbeck five points clear, and skipper Chadha gives Taylor Swift (an answer for the second time this series) to put the game beyond Brookes.

Birkbeck 220 - 205 Oxford Brookes

Phew! You can definitely see the effect of Rajan's quicker questioning here. 

This was the first match with a combined score of 400 or more since Durham thrashed Strathclyde 360-55 in 2018. You've got to go back to 2014 for the last match where both teams scored more than 200, when Trinity beat Manchester 285-205 in the quarters.

So despite the fact I think the average score is going to be a bit higher this series than in recent history, Oxford Brookes can count themselves supremely unlucky, and will definitely be returning as high-scoring losers. 

See you tomorrow for Southampton vs Christchurch

[varunhiremath]

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