Hey, me again. It’s been a couple weeks since the downfall of Matt Shapiro. Legend has it that he’s a mainstay at Harborview Medical Center. There’s not a lot the hospital can do to help him, but he’s still got a lot of money, the bastard. His radio show was taken off the air immediately after the incident, but eventually got replaced with another right-wing scumbag. Don’t know his name, but as far as I’m aware he doesn’t have any fear-based superpowers, so chances are we’re safe unless he transforms into what elon musk thinks Iron man is like.

Mylo & I are safe as well. After showing up on the news, the Movieplex gave Mylo his job back, on the condition that he doesn’t accidentally destroy the movie theater every time he gets slightly drowsy. I think he learned how to control his abilities well enough to not unleash the bean at work. I chose not to come back, and actually moved over to Renton. Got a job as an editor for an indie film studio. I was able to get my own apartment, and figure out where to go afterwards. I’m still part of the unreliables, and getting to their apartment in Seattle is pretty easy with Caspian’s motorcycle in the garage area.

Speaking of Casp, he made it to a hospital and made a full recovery. His casts will still be on for a couple weeks, but things seem to be going pretty okay for him, health-wise. Not sure how he’s gonna stand up to his dad, but I supposed that’ll just be another story for another time. We still keep in contact as much as we can, and he consistently infodumps mythology to me over text. It’s pretty informative, and honestly, really helpful. I haven’t used my powers in a few weeks, and I think I’m learning to control it myself. Though, I still get footloose every now and again. That's what I started calling it when my anxiety deletes my feets.

The rest of the Unreliables are getting back into the swing of things as well. Alphonso’s still working for Lang Inc, but it’s under new management. The current CEO is Lang’s daughter, Jessica. She’s giving people that her father fired their jobs back, which must be a relief for the kinderdrawer, even if she's still in prison. Brendan is still actively a dumbass, but he’s putting more effort into his grocery store job now. Got promoted to Supervisor, even! I also saw him looking at a Wikipedia article for every dinosaur featured in the Jurassic Park franchise which is a step in the right direction. He’s slowly learning. It’s adorable.

Jacob is doing roughly the same as he was before the incident. He’s still a lawyer, which is the same amount of a good thing as it always is. He mostly just spends his time mocking Brendan and watching the john wick franchise, usually with a blunt in his mouth.

Rupaul ended up contacting Gwen Spacey and offered her a spot on the next season of drag race following her re-entrance to the drag scene. She was supposed to be on it prior to being kidnapped, but then everything happened and word got out to Rupaul, who cut her a deal. I’m excited to see where she takes the season. Lasagna Fox is starting a web series where she’s a drag detective, though I don’t know how much of the idea she's has outside of the title. I'll probably watch it out of curiosity.

Sandra’s... well, Sandra’s powers kind of fucked up her life irreparably, but she’s got Valentina taking care of her. She always has a main source of entertainment now, too. She can watch any concert, any show, anything really. She’s never bored, she’s just not really in control of her own body anymore unless she’s actively trying to watch herself, which must be easy with Valentina around. Sometimes I wonder what their sex must be like, if they’re still, y’know, doing it. Which they must be, cause they’re both pretty hot.

The Sinister Gang is still pretty active around Seattle, but not to the extent they used to be. Now that all of Matt’s victims have powers and secret identities, Seattle is far safer than it used to be. Juniper and Larry Thim ended up starting their own superhero team, called the Monster Mash. Juniper gained the ability to transform into any horror movie, mythical, or cryptozoological monster she can think of, which must suck for anyone who tries to fight her. I saw her on the news last week and apparently she just snuck into a Mothers for Freedom conference disguised as The Thing. Everyone was scarred for life and their group was shut down immediately afterwards. It was deserved.

Stolen story; please report.

I went to a Transcontinental Airwaves concert in downtown Seattle, and it was actually really good. Ophelia managed to control her vocal powers for the whole concert, which was actually incredibly impressive. We hung out afterwards and took the whole band as well as myself out for Denny's. Apparently the entire band is trans, which is always cool. I did wonder why she wasn’t dead-named on the list like the rest of the queer people kidnapped by Matt, but she had as much of a non-answer for me as I probably would’ve gotten from anyone else. Guess it’ll just remain a mystery.

Theo Nickel opened up a free sandwich stand in Capitol Hill, but was chased off by the police every time he tried to feed the unhoused. He keeps trying, though. Lots of respect for him.

Tamicka Moore I also met following a concert, though she’s more of a jazzy lounge singer. She has a fantastic voice, and is a lovely person, though her parental heritage is on the 'absolutely insane' side. Apparently her dad was Zeus and her mom was Loki, so she’s got some crazy abilities with lightning and illusions. I mentioned to her that I’ve met Odin personally, and I might meet Zeus/Loki in the future, but she just told me to punch them both in the face.

Probably deserved, honestly.

We never found out anything about Joy Nell. All we really have is the security footage Sandra has of her being tortured, enjoying it, and claiming she’s from some place called Agorbor, which sounds... brazilian, but I highly doubt that. Her skin was green.

As for the rest of them? Not sure. Fernando Ortiz still plays for the Mariners only because this whole scenario happened during the off-season, Shikoba hasn’t been found since the incident, and I can’t find anyone by the name of Phoebe Rhodes anywhere in the state.

I’ll keep looking. Something’s bound to show up sooner or later. Maybe I should check the mail, just to be safe. It’s been piling up for several weeks now on my kitchen counter, like something out of a sketch on The Weird Al Show.

Looking through this it's... mostly bills and junk. Wait, there is an odd letter close to the bottom. The date is... wait. It’s postmarked for the day we beat Shapiro. There’s just... my name on it in big, red letters, it seems like they were cut out of a magazine. Maybe Lasagna Fox would like this idea for her web series. Let me open it.

Okay, it reads as follows:

Meet me at the summit of pure white on the day when hellfire spurts from the earth and the beast motions to strike.

The Quiz Bitch

That’s odd. What does that mean? Who is this person and how does she know who I am? A summit of pure white? That could mean any number of things, from Mount Rainier to any American police department. Also, when the fuck is hellfire supposed to... wait. Wait.

Hellfire Spurts from the earth?

The Beast motions to Strike?

... No, she can’t mean...

Suddenly, without warning, a text message from Alphonso came through my phone. It’s just a picture.

Mount Rainier just erupted.