[The cover shows Madelyn Chin walking down a Chinatown alley in
harsh contrasting lighting at night. The darkness is peppered
by cats' eyes.]

____________________________________________________________________________
.|, COHERENT COMICS PRESENTS An ASH Universe Story
--+-------------------------------------------------------------------------
'|` SHADOW GIRLS #1 - All Cats Are Gray
copyright 2021 by Dave Van Domelen
____________________________________________________________________________

[Editor's Note: All scenes take place in the Manhattan Autonomous Sector.]

[March 12, 2027 - Central Park]

Al Mirage sat on one of the park benches, his heavily customized (and
somewhat shabbily repaired) Ihi Badger parked behind him, watching the late-
season snow fall around him. It was cold, and despite his racing leathers he
could feel it in his bones, especially the ones that Hellhound had broken
last winter. He'd been lucky, all things considered, he hadn't needed any
cyborg replacement bits. Hellhound was gone now, he was still here, victory?
Pretty sad victory, though.
"Hey, Al," came a familiar voice from behind. No whir of turbines, so
Jumping Jack must've walked. Or, you know, jumped.
"Hey, Jack. Sounds like you didn't even hope for a pickup race today,"
Al turned around to face the Satan's Eyes 'rager. Well, Jack still
identified as a member of that gang, but it had never been big and now was
mostly a memory.
Jack sat on the bench, crossing the oversized legs that came with his
paranormal power. "Yeah, snow's not bad, but it's not safe enough for racing
today." To his credit, he kept a straight face for a full second before
snorting in derision. "Man, the scene's died off so much. The PRRC poached
all the best racers, it's not even worth trying to get around the Hangmen
anymore."
Al nodded. The Paranormal Road Racing Circuit was the King of Shadows'
attempt to compete with Paraball for eyeballs and adoration, inspired by the
utter disaster that was the Prix Ultime. No coincidence that he also used it
to suck the life out of the Roadrager scene once he'd gotten too "legit" for
it, especially since he used Dice as a frontman for it. Al was certainly
good enough for the PRRC, but by the time he'd recovered from his injuries
he'd found that Hellhound had salted the wounds by making sure everyone knew
why she'd come after him. A year ago, the Hangmen were fine with what he did
to those little bitches who said no to him, but now he was box office poison.
"Man, first Rex gives us all these new toys so we can help him rule the
city, then he decides we're not good enough for his shiny new regime," Jack
complained.
"Read a history file sometime," a third voice sneered. It was a Manson
Haight, wearing a pin that read "24." Al thought he might be the tenth 24,
it was definitely the unlucky number. "We were his brownshirts. His
Sturmabelung or whatever the German word was. The goon squad. At least we
didn't get a night of long knives when he was done with us, we just got," he
patted the spot before sitting down, "benched."
Jack sighed. "Yeah. I know it could be worse. Like what happened to
all those Vogue Ghouls in Berlin. At least Rexy didn't literally use us up
like Sable did to her dudes."
"Ah, Vogue Ghouls were a bunch of posers anyway," Al snarled.
"And we aren't?" 24 shrugged. "Five years ago, we were a bunch of
unruly teenagers playing at being badasses. Then Warden came along and shit
got real. Plenty of our gangs were posers too, and we got hit just as badly
as Sable's Ghouls. Remember the Snakeaters? I think there's still a few of
my old buddies decaying in corners where the Macoute abandoned 'em once they
weren't useful anymore." Having actual zombies riding around in the streets
ran counter to the lower profile the 5th Avenue Macoute were trying to keep.
"Yeah, I feel like a grandpa now," Al admitted, "getting an ache in my
knee when there's a storm coming. Raging went corporate, and those of us who
aren't media-friendly are just puttering around on last year's models. I
dunno what I can even do. Go legit? Like anyone will touch me."
"You'd be surprised," 24 tapped his forehead. "The right powers can get
you a decent job, especially if you're not too squeamish about how you use
them," he giggled. Neither Al nor Jack wanted more details about how the Pod
Squad was making money. Their Ihi Ticks sure seemed to stay in good repair.
"I suppose we could just throw ourselves on Bathory's tender mercies and
get in on the orgies I hear she throws," Jack suggested.
Al shivered, and it had nothing to do with the weather. "No fucking
thanks," he spat. "I got out of the Blacks just in time. Once Cockatrice
was gone, our gang just slid further and further into Bathory's furry paws.
Sex, drugs, and mind control? I mean, I guess it's an okay way to commit
suicide, but I'm not that bad off yet. I'll stay unaffiliated for now, it's
not like you NEED a gang anymore if you're not looking to start stuff."
"I hear she's started to get serious again," 24 shrugged. "We sent 17
and 27 to hang out and see what was what...and she didn't immediately kill
'em. We're not sure what they're doing, they're not actively in the link
anymore. More like a distant couple of voices on the wind, or somethin'."
"Oh, that's all we need. Bathory deciding to start *thinking* again. I
guess she's over Cockatrice," Al sighed. "Say, I don't remember you being so
lucid, Manson."
"Yeah, this is the longest I can remember any of you going without doing
something crazy," Jack nodded. "Not that I'm asking you to."
24 shrugged. "Near as we can figure? The original was really crazy,
but none of the clones were. Not really. But as long as he was in the link,
it was like an insanity contact high, right? Since he was excised, we've
been stabilizing. I dunno if we're sane by a flatscan standard, but we're
better at leaning on each other when the brain swirlies get too heavy." He
grinned in that unsettling way the Pod Squad was known for. "We still tend
to go all kamikaze for no good reason, for the giggles. Just, you know,
lucid."
"Yeah, can't say I like the new you, and I didn't like the old you too
much," Al admitted.
"Pod didn't put me here for you to like," 24 giggled.

* * * *

[March 14, 2027 - The Scott Building]

"I do not like whatever Bathory thinks she's up to," Rex Umbrae admitted
to his wife, while looking out over the Autonomous Sector from his offices at
the top of what was once the U.N. Building.
"I think your discomfort is one of her goals," Maria Incarnata replied,
buffing a small smudge from her polished armorsteel breastplate with the back
of one gloved hand. "She's pretty consistently been violating the boundaries
of the Truce, just never badly enough to give you an excuse to bring down the
hammer."
"No, that sort of childish taunting doesn't bother me. I expect it. It
helps keep the Hangmen from getting too complacent, and the neighborhoods she
prods at need to remember that they *need* my protection. Especially the
West Village, where we've been putting the upper class of immigrants. No,
she seems to have found a specific mission lately. It's not just poking the
bear anymore, she's been looking for something or someone." He stepped away
from the window and sighed. "What's her new endgame?"
"Well, what's *yours*?" Maria asked, stalking over and draping herself
across his shoulders. It was a testament to his genetically enhanced
strength that her cybernetic bulk didn't make him stagger or even sag. "Not
that I'm complaining about being legit, but it feels like you have another
shoe to drop."
"I really don't, darling," Rex shrugged, as if he didn't have a hundred
and fifty kilos of battle steel depending from his shoulders. "I was bred to
rule, and that's what I intend to do. For now, this city. Perhaps more,
once I have convinced the Combine that I'm not some cackling supervillain
trying to leverage this into a sloppy and destructive world domination or
apotheosis plot. That means being more scrupulous about following the forms
than the 'real' governments. Manhattan was utter chaos when I arrived, your
Cybernostra just one of many factions playing turf war games. Most of the
gangs were and still are children. The Combine's attempts to pacify it by
sending in STRAFE failed miserably...although not entirely due to their own
fault, I'll grant them that. But they came in as law, which was the core
mistake. I came in as lawlessness, the first among equals in crime, and have
been steering this city back onto the path of order and prosperity. If I
have any ignoble ulterior motives, it's that I want to shove the Combine's
noses in what I've accomplished."
"Ah, so my hubby is human after all."
"At least seventy percent," Rex grinned. "But, seriously, this is a
fragile time for my long term goals. I've dismantled the more overt criminal
enforcement arms as quickly as I dared, but the Hangmen are still more suited
for managing the rabble than putting the fear of God into the remaining
faction leaders. The Cybernostra and the Boys of Pain are essentially part
of the civic government now. The Onyx Eye have been staying aloof, but
treating me as the lawful authority, to be worked around but carefully. The
Macoute are a long term problem, but for now they remain cowed since I bested
their leaders in personal combat...my mojo is too big for them."
"Not too big for me," Maria purred.
"But Bathory...she doesn't fear or respect me. She may *lust* after me,
but that is in no way going to happen. She controls the remnants of the two
biggest paragangs from before the Truce, thanks to Cockatrice abdicating her
position. And while she's had a number of setbacks in recent years, she's
also the only power broker other than the Cybernostra who can create more
paranormal footsoldiers. Oh, I suppose the Onyx Eye can train up more
warriors who are competitive, but it's a much slower process than Bathory's."
"Manson can make more at will too," Maria reminded him.
Rex made a dismissive motion with one hand. "He may no longer be a
lunatic...or as much of one...but he's hardly a major power. Bathory has
reportedly subverted a few of his clones, but there's no signs of a more
formal alliance. And, frankly, the only exceptional thing about the clones
is their willingness to throw their lives away...which only helps up to the
point he's dying faster than he can replace losses."
"Wouldn't Bathory taking over some clones technically be a violation of
the Truce? Let you send in the Hangmen and at least whittle away her power
base before she gets too big?"
Rex shook his head. "Oh, the list of Truce violations is as long as
my," he raised an eyebrow suggestively, "arm, let's say."
Maria snickered.
"But that comes back to the stage we're at. If I come down on Bathory
too hard, even with good reasons, a lot of the paragangers who aren't happy
with the current arrangements will see it as the start of a purge. Even if
all the leaders stay under my thumb, every paraganger is a small army in
their own right, not just Manson Haight. There's still too many who miss the
wild days of the early 20's, and will decide it's better to go out in one
last party that burns the whole city down. No, it can't look like I'm
cracking down on her, not yet. Maybe in another year I'll have neutralized
enough random factors to start moving openly against Bathory, but I doubt
she'll give me that long."
Maria slinked over to the desk. "And dropping some hints that Bathory
might be looking for Dangerous Artifacts to get ASH on her furry ass might
work, but..."
"But it would come with all sorts of complications I don't wish to deal
with," Rex nodded. That conversation they'd had before. While STRAFE still
had some "covert" assets in the East Village, MetaPsych still reported to
Combine intelligence on occasion, and maybe there were even some spies Rex
didn't know about (although he doubted it), opening those cracks even a
little could result in the Combine deciding not to renew the agreement next
time the "lease" came up. "If you can't manage your own affairs, we're
afraid we'll have to let the autonomy lapse, Mister Umbrae." That sort of
thing.
"It's a shame we can't just steer Hellhound at Bathory, now that we know
who they were," Maria tapped her gloved fingertips on the desk.
"That...is a thought," Rex mused, crossing to the desk and calling up
the display embedded in its surface. "I did try to create a new Hellhound a
few months ago, but without the actual powered members of the trio available,
I didn't press the matter when rebuffed. But one of Professor Upgrade's
projects might be just the thing to throw in the mix...."

On 2021-12-05 21:08, Dave Van Domelen wrote:
> "What's her new endgame?"
> "Well, what's*yours*?" Maria asked, stalking over and draping herself
> across his shoulders. It was a testament to his genetically enhanced
> strength that her cybernetic bulk didn't make him stagger or even sag. "Not
> that I'm complaining about being legit, but it feels like you have another
> shoe to drop."
> "I really don't, darling," Rex shrugged, as if he didn't have a hundred
> and fifty kilos of battle steel depending from his shoulders. "I was bred to
> rule, and that's what I intend to do. For now, this city. Perhaps more,
> once I have convinced the Combine that I'm not some cackling supervillain
> trying to leverage this into a sloppy and destructive world domination or
> apotheosis plot. That means being more scrupulous about following the forms
> than the 'real' governments. Manhattan was utter chaos when I arrived, your
> Cybernostra just one of many factions playing turf war games. Most of the
> gangs were and still are children. The Combine's attempts to pacify it by
> sending in STRAFE failed miserably...although not entirely due to their own
> fault, I'll grant them that. But they came in as law, which was the core
> mistake. I came in as lawlessness, the first among equals in crime, and have
> been steering this city back onto the path of order and prosperity. If I
> have any ignoble ulterior motives, it's that I want to shove the Combine's
> noses in what I've accomplished."
> "Ah, so my hubby is human after all."

I enjoy the world-building aspects of your fiction. Though the in-story
reaction to the new character(s) at the end was classic also.

--
-- (signed) Scott Eiler 8{D> ------ http://www.eilertech.com/ -------

"Your Royal Highness, instead of devoting yourself exclusively
to Minerva, should, instead, rather offer sacrifice at the altars
of Bacchus, Orpheus, Venus, and Morpheus."

- Advice to Prince Duarte of Portugal. From "The golden age of
Prince Henry the Navigator", by Joaquim Pedro Oliveira Martins.
Coming soon to Project Gutenberg.

On 12/6/21 12:08 AM, Dave Van Domelen wrote:
> [The cover shows Madelyn Chin walking down a Chinatown alley in
> harsh contrasting lighting at night. The darkness is peppered
> by cats' eyes.]

oooooooh

> ____________________________________________________________________________
> .|, COHERENT COMICS PRESENTS An ASH Universe Story
> --+-------------------------------------------------------------------------
> '|` SHADOW GIRLS #1 - All Cats Are Gray

Oh man, I hope there's at least one Utena riff in this

> [Editor's Note: All scenes take place in the Manhattan Autonomous Sector.]

Oh, good to know. :o

> Jack sat on the bench, crossing the oversized legs that came with his
> paranormal power. "Yeah, snow's not bad, but it's not safe enough for racing
> today." To his credit, he kept a straight face for a full second before
> snorting in derision. "Man, the scene's died off so much. The PRRC poached
> all the best racers, it's not even worth trying to get around the Hangmen
> anymore."
> Al nodded. The Paranormal Road Racing Circuit was the King of Shadows'
> attempt to compete with Paraball for eyeballs and adoration, inspired by the
> utter disaster that was the Prix Ultime. No coincidence that he also used it
> to suck the life out of the Roadrager scene once he'd gotten too "legit" for
> it, especially since he used Dice as a frontman for it.

Gentrifying road raging!? That's a straw too far >:/

> "Ah, Vogue Ghouls were a bunch of posers anyway," Al snarled.
> "And we aren't?" 24 shrugged.

Ouch, but I'm glad he has perspective at least. o3o

> "I hear she's started to get serious again," 24 shrugged. "We sent 17
> and 27 to hang out and see what was what...and she didn't immediately kill
> 'em. We're not sure what they're doing, they're not actively in the link
> anymore. More like a distant couple of voices on the wind, or somethin'."

ooooooh creepy.

> 24 shrugged. "Near as we can figure? The original was really crazy,
> but none of the clones were. Not really. But as long as he was in the link,
> it was like an insanity contact high, right? Since he was excised, we've
> been stabilizing. I dunno if we're sane by a flatscan standard, but we're
> better at leaning on each other when the brain swirlies get too heavy."

Oh, big neurodivergence-passed-down-thru-family mood. o3o

> "Well, what's *yours*?" Maria asked, stalking over and draping herself
> across his shoulders. It was a testament to his genetically enhanced
> strength that her cybernetic bulk didn't make him stagger or even sag.

Awwwwww cute

> For now, this city. Perhaps more,
> once I have convinced the Combine that I'm not some cackling supervillain
> trying to leverage this into a sloppy and destructive world domination or
> apotheosis plot.

Well. o3o;

> "Wouldn't Bathory taking over some clones technically be a violation of
> the Truce? Let you send in the Hangmen and at least whittle away her power
> base before she gets too big?"
> Rex shook his head. "Oh, the list of Truce violations is as long as
> my," he raised an eyebrow suggestively, "arm, let's say."
> Maria snickered.

Oh my god you adorable *nerds*, you're all Gomez and Morticia here.

> There's still too many who miss the wild days of the early 20's,

Remind me which of our universes is the dystopia again? @-@

> "See you next week, Mister Li," Maddy said as one of the Grocery Store's
> regular customers walked out. The store was actually just called Grocery
> Store, the rest of the sign got blown off decades ago and her father had just
> left it as Grocery Store.

Aw cute. X3

> The store over the secret entrance to her
> grandfather's old hideout was actually a profitable concern these days, what
> with the upswing in the island's population and economy. It seemed like
> every day she got another new regular customer, and she'd had to hire several
> part-timers to cover things while she was off on...extracurricular
> activities. But those had been curtailed in light of recent events, so she
> was steering her part-timers towards ideas of starting their own store.

God, I love the little random details of life in this world. <3

> "Relax, Miss Chin. I represent some interested breeders, if you will,

That's fuckin kinky

> Boring was still good, Maddie thought. Life around Warden, and then as
> part of Hellhound, had been like a roller coaster ride. Exciting as hell,
> fun when it wasn't terrifying, but eventually you needed to get off for a
> while.

Legit. o3o;

> New York was quieter now, she was doing good just by running the store
> and being an upstanding member of the community. Sure, it was a brittle and
> false peace, but sometimes people needed to heal even if the wolves were
> still at the...yeah, the metaphor got away from her there.

X3 But yeah, I mean, the last five years show that. @.@

> She always stayed
> open a little late on the last day of the month, in case anyone got off shift
> and needed to spend some of their paycheck.

Awwwww, fair.

> Maddie was probably the youngest regular at Mama Cho's
> restaurant for Friday night karaoke, but it was at least something social
> that didn't run the risk of meeting someone she used to punch.
> Other than old man Manny Xu, but that was his own fault for getting
> fresh.

Well. X3

> "Where is it?" growled a voice from the shadows.
> Literally growled. As in, one of Bathory's werecritter followers.

O damn Lo

> "What black opal? I run a grocery store, not a jeweler's." Not good.
> No one should think she had any connection to a black opal. That was her
> grandfather...and he didn't have any actual black opals, just an armored
> black glass helmet and inborn powers not related to any gems.
> Oh, she really wished she'd inherited those powers right about now.

Understandably. X3

> "Or maybe not! TETRA-KICK!" shouted a girl's voice from behind the
> shadowed Snow Leopard.
> With a dull crunch, the black-furred cat-man flew into sight, followed
> immediately by a slender girl seemingly dressed mostly in dark red shadows,
> save for her eyes and a glowing gem on her right fist.
> "You really should be more careful, Miss Chin," the girl winked,
> flashing a V-sign before jumping at the still-standing Snow Leopard.
> Maddie blinked. "What. The. Actual. Fuck. When did we get Magical
> Girls?"

OMG :D :D :D <3 <3 <3 HELL YEAH

> Yes, magical girls. Well, *a* magical girl right now. But they do tend
> to come in packs.

:3 :3 :3

> As a result, this issue might be a little
> longer than I intend to write going forwards, the sheer size of ASH issues
> tended to make them daunting and I want to work shorter form for a bit.

Familiar. o3o

> After City of Night, I think the big
> players deserve some quiet time, if and when I return to the main ASH title
> it'll likely be after a time jump.

Sounds good. <3

> Manhattan is not the only Autonomous Sector, with Detroit and its
> surroundings ceded to Doctor Developer at some time in the past as well.

Oooooh, makes sense.

> As RACC regulars will know, I tinkered with some magical girl stuff in
> The School and its subsequent drabbles, playing around with some ideas (see
> http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/School for those stories), but that's an
> entirely separate world. This series is more about getting magical girl
> tropes into ASH, in the same way that the Otakuza bring sentai teams in.

Hell yeah. :D

Drew "love it love it!!" Nilium