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Gotham's Dead End Bar Ch.70

— Raven —

“This… is a bad idea,” Raven deadpanned to herself.

Surprisingly, Passion agreed with her, ...

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Gotham's Dead End Bar Ch.69

— Sean —

“-As I said, Seattle was the big time for Shadowrunners,” I continued. “It was the perfect blend of corpo and criminal, tech and magic. Those gray areas, along with the fact that it was the last bastion of UCAS on the West Coast, meant the Shadows of Seattle were extensive and deep. The megacorps ruled the Seattle Metroplex more than UCAS did, though, and it was cut off from the rest of the country. There was always work to be found, even mostly legal...

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Gotham's Dead End Bar Ch.68

— Lucy Kushinada —

Comms buzzed back and forth as she kept them all connected on Overwatch. Here, not nearly as many people could challenge a netrunner in her prime. But those who could…? They tended to be much, much more dangerous as a result. Like, ‘AI past the Blackwall’ dangerous… Still, for something as simple as keeping everyone in the crew in communication with each other, Lucy wasn’t worried.

“Damn, those hips, choom… Look at ‘...

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Gotham's Dead End Bar Ch.67

— Su Xing —

The chance to know his father was the greatest gift, the best blessing that Su Xing could ask for. He’d dreamed of it for as long as he could remember. Since he was just a babe on Mother’s knee. Way back then, Mother would tell him stories. Stories of a man who shook up the Heavens with everything he did, of an impossible man who never settled for simple stagnation, of adventures and mischief that awed and exasperated even Mother.

Even now, yea...

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Gotham's Dead End Bar Ch.66

— Diana —

Diana was mid-flight when it happened. Just traveling, truthfully. Her presence had been requested to deal with an ancient foe. A monster from her own mythology. Such things happened now and again. Currently, a minotaur (thankfully, not The Minotaur) had managed to set itself loose in Alexandria, Egypt.

She would deal with it quickly and without much hassle, Diana was sure. The unnamed minotaurs were only a threat to mortals and civilians. A...

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Gotham's Dead End Bar Ch.65

— Sean —

I’d been clotheslined. Bamboozled. Flabbergasted. Dumbfounded. Stricken and staggered. Completely and utterly. And I really should’ve seen it coming.

“STEP-BABIES, STEP-BABIES, STEP-BABIES~!” Didi squealed, practically chanting her excitement for Heaven and Earth to hear.

I knew I’d left proverbial (and rather literal) buns in the oven when I moved on from this reality. But those ‘buns’ had completely slipped my mind ...

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Gotham's Dead End Bar Ch.64

— Sean —

The reveal of ‘when’ Didi and I ended up in the world I knew was certainly surprising. It also promised to be very, very entertaining. 800 years in the past, well before I was reborn here, and another 200-odd more until this iteration of myself would ascend past this Heaven.

The Fa Ram wouldn’t be founded by Jin Rou for a good long while yet. A shame. I was looking forward to visiting again. But this era had advantages of ...

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Gotham's Dead End Bar Ch.63

— Wind Waver —

The day had finally come. Waver always knew it would. Rose was leaving the tribe, leaving Chy’a-kit entirely. Waver had to go with her. She’d forget all the little, important things otherwise! Like eating! Or sleeping! Or the most terrible prospect of all...

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Gotham's Dead End Bar Ch.62

— Rose Rising With the Sun —

Rose Rising With the Sun — simply ‘Rose’ to those she cared to claim and ‘Rose Rising’ in less formal settings — had been named in the tradition of her clan. Her venerable father was named for the rare sun in all its glory — Ember of Sunlight, al...

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Gotham's Dead End Bar Ch.61

— Sean —

Traveling out past the Source Wall and through the Void Between to other realities and clusters could’ve been instantaneous… But really, where was the fun in that? Every vacation needed downtime. To relax, to comfortably simmer, to truly appreciate the break from it all you were giving yourself.

So instead of traveling in an instant, Didi and I settled in for the ride. We surfed the Void Between, our course set and nothing that lurked the...

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Gotham's Dead End Bar Ch.60

— Kara —

Mid-flight, Kara was forced to duck and dive. A beam of electrified, half-solidified, and widely varied radiation swept through the space she just was a moment later. Even her Kryptonian physiology would’ve had trouble standing up to it. Especially since the monster seemed to be learning, adapting, and semi-evolving on the fly. Half of that radiation was of the Kryptonite variety…

Kara pulled her charge up short and flew back up. Hovering high, sh...

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Gotham's Dead End Bar Ch.59

“As you might expect,” I began. “I couldn’t do

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Gotham's Dead End Bar Ch.58

“-So stories never die. They linger and spread and Change post-humously. Some grow within their own bounds, others grow beyond. But so long as they’re not forgotten, stories will be told somewhere, somewhen, somehow until there’s no one left to tell them.”

As I spoke of immortality in the form of stories and legends and every tale in between, I looked out over my domain. A domain that had quickly become a modern legend of its own. The Dead End was a place where those same immort...

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Gotham's Dead End Bar - Companion Piece #3

In yet another life, war came for Sean at his end. A crusade from the blackest of Hells ravaged everything sacred and Living. The 13th of its kind — an ominously auspicious number — it threatened to bring the galaxy itself to its knees. Watching the end of that life of Sean’s, Didi witnessed Death, Despair, and Destruction on a scale that even she and her siblings would struggle to comprehend.

In that reality, Mankind had long since spread throughout the stars. They’d thrived on...

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Gotham's Dead End Bar - Companion Piece #2

— Didi —

How long had this fight been raging? Didi didn’t know. Perhaps she couldn’t know, and for one such as her, that was a terrifying prospect. All she could say for certain was that her beloved was TIRED.

Weary of Body. Weary of Heart and Mind. Weary of SOUL, most of all.

Sean fought for an eon, an age, and even beyond. He was given only mere moments of respite throughout it all. Infinite waves of invaders pounded...

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Gotham's Dead End Bar - Companion Piece #1

[AN: Alright. This isn’t the first return chapter of The Dead End. More like… side content. A ‘companion piece’, as the post’s title says. Omakes, but only a few. Three, I think. That’s what I have tentatively planned, at least. They’ll all be from Sean’s lives that we already know about. And mostly (I expect), they’ll focus on his death in those lives. This one (Life 68), Sean’s Cultivation World endgame, and 40k.

I’m about halfway through...

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KYBER-PUNK 22BBY S-INTERLUDE

— Dooku —

Nar Shaddaa, Dooku of Seranno found, had never been to his tastes. It was a quagmire of ‘crime’, debased depravity, and ill-earned egos. Hutt Space bore its corruption on the surface without even the tiniest effort to hide it. A despicable thing in Dooku’s mind. And at the center of it all, Dooku despised few things like he despised the Smuggler’s Moon.

As much as he loathed to admit it, the Republic was objectively ‘better’...

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KYBER-PUNK 22BBY FL-INTERLUDE

— Podry —

When Podry was born, the galaxy seemed to hold its breath. At least, that’s what he remembered his mother saying. He was still young when that story was told to him, so young, so innocent, and so sheltered from the dark truth his life would become.

Still, he remembered what his mother claimed to everyone willing to listen. How the galaxy held its breath. How his father fainted outright, the opposite of sorrow overtaking him. How she h...

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KYBER-PUNK 22BBY P-INTERLUDE

The first strokes of a masterful campaign were painted across Nar Shaddaa. It opened — as most things that were shown to a wide, wide audience — on a screen. It played out with cinematography and editing and a message that couldn’t be denied.

Propaganda was a funny thing, different everywhere it existed. Some places liked subtlety, to not even know they were dancing to a purposeful tune. Night City liked to be beaten over the head with that shit until something stuck.

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KYBER-PUNK 22BBY Ch.21

— Atom —

For a sh

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KYBER-PUNK 22BBY Ch.20

— Sasha —

Sasha felt… so, so, fucking raw… But at least she wasn’t numb anymore. When Atom challenged Smasher, it was as if her whole world was raised up onto a cliff and left to fall. Nothing she could’ve done but watch.

Of course, she never lost faith. But even faith had to contend with reality. Smasher was… Adam Fucking Smasher. There wasn’t a more dangerous man in Night City. Or Nar Shaddaa. Or even Hutt Space as a whole, if Sasha...

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KYBER-PUNK 22BBY Ch.19

— The Force Itself —

Excitement, awe, and anticipation filled the air, racing through Night City like a tidal wave. It began at the center of the city and spread outward as wildfire. The emotions didn’t rest or wane for a moment. Only grew and grew, history in the making building to a feverish peak. A statement made, a challenge cast —everyone waited to see them fulfilled on the edge of their proverbial seats.

And in a meeting of so many comm...

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KYBER-PUNK 22BBY Ch.18

— Atom —

Kyber-spice was the curse that Never. Fucking. Quit…

I hated the stuff with every fiber of my being. I hated how it kept popping back up. I hated how it seemed to spread no matter what — like some sort of memetic infection. I hated the way I felt just being around it. I hated what it did — that cruel parody of a Force connection. I hated the dangers at play should the curse continue unopposed. I hated what it represented — a test...

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KYBER-PUNK 22BBY Ch.17

— Atom —

A concrete, steel, and glass jungle splayed out below me in all directions, as far as any eye could see. ‘Scrapers that pierced the sky. Whole districts and sectors stacked atop each other. Bridges and walkways connected the buildings at every level. Between them, a constant commotion of traffic, of lives being lived. Gleaming glass, shining steel, and the unnamed billions who inhabited both.

The distance was eaten up by my strides and...

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KYBER-PUNK 22BBY Ch.16

— David —

“This is impossible! Stay still, David!” Aayla shouted.

David snickered, “And let you hit me with that glowstick of yours? Not a chance, choom!”

“Breathe, Aayla,” Quinlan instructed sternly. “He is frustrating, I know. Force knows I know… But you can’t let yourself be carried away by that emotion.”

“Now, look what you’ve done,” Aayla glared playfully. “Quinlan is lecturing me as if I...

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KYBER-PUNK 22BBY Ch.15

— Atom —

After being brought so low, we had no time to waste. We’d survived, we’d escaped, and still, there was so much to be done. Rebuilding was the Gonk Cartel’s top priority. Everything done since returning to Night City went toward that goal. The moment we crossed into the Limits, efforts began in earnest.

It was the only option, the only way forward. We worked tirelessly ‘cause if we didn’t, we’d all die pathetic, overwhelmed, i...

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KYBER-PUNK 22BBY SSS-INTERLUDE

— Jackie Welles —

Jackie Welles was having a night out. His input Misty was with him, and their mutual choom Vik. Getting Vik out of that clinic of his had taken some doing. That brother was cut from a simple cloth. These days, at least. He’d put his past in the ring behind him, and now, Jackie was lucky to tear Vik away from watching his fights or tinkering with his cyberware.

But Jackie had managed it tonight. He could be damn persuasive when...

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KYBER-PUNK 22BBY Ch.14

— Atom —

The dust was still settling. It blocked out the sun and cast us into darkness. In the decimated ruins of a once great tower, in the center of a crater, my throne room now sat. The destruction was hard to believe. Harder to comprehend. And impossible to fully internalize. Only a few minutes ago, 200 floors of so many lives and livelihoods pierced into the sky from here. Now, there was only desolation, destruction, and damnation.

<...

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KYBER-PUNK 22BBY Ch.13

— Master Fay —

Her mission was true and just, ordained by the Force itself. It was a calling more than any chore. It was fate. Destiny. The Will of the Force. Master Fay had always looked to the Force for purpose. And always, it showed her the way. The path was lit. It was her duty to walk it to the end.

That lit path had brought her here. To a wretched hive of a shadow port. Nar Shaddaa was not an easy place for Fay to be. Billions of souls. Fay...

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KYBER-PUNK 22BBY Ch.12

— Atom —

“Becca. Dorio,” I ordered. “Let ‘em rip.”

From one, I received a wicked, eager grin, and from the other, a dutiful nod. Man-portable rocket launchers were mounted up on shoulders. Becca was almost dwarfed by hers, and Dorio was the opposite. They lined up long-range shots on a Hutt convoy in transit. Weapons and ammunition for the war effort, our intelligence had gathered. Just one of many…

The convoy itself cons...

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