"I will crawl on hands and knees until you see... you're just like me."
-#1 Crush
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12:01 AM
February 14, 2021
The sound of snow crunching beneath my boots gives me comfort.
She scurries past the motel and my vision shifts.
My mindset shifts into a reality that only I know.
Subtle tremors ripple through my nervous system.
Her silky black hair blows behind her in the angry... winter... wind.
And I make my way to my destination, tip-toeing across street behind her.
I quietly rush along my route, just as I've done every... single... night.
One, two, three, four, five houses I pass in the alley before cutting through.
In the shadows, I wait, knowing I've cut ahead of her.
Even in these conditions, I can see her brilliant, blue eyes...
Intoxicating... suffocating.
She looks up and her eyes lock onto the shadow that consumes me.
But she doesn't... see... me.
She will never... see... me.
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3:45 AM
February 14, 2021
"It's Valentine's Day. You know what that means," Kosnar said.
"Yeah, yeah, yeeeeeeah," Daedalus replied.
Tempest watched curiously, waiting for further explanation. After a few moments, Daedalus stood, his eyes wild and darting from side to side.
"For many, Valentine's Day is the day for sweethearts and expensive dinner dates, chocolate candies and, well you know, everything that comes with it. You can ask Dr. Baal about it. I'm sure he's softened up so much by now that he's an expert on the subject. But for us! This is the season of the vampire in our genre! Get that VCR ready, turn it onto Channel 13, and let's get this marathon started!"
Tempest stared at him blankly. His eyes moved from Daedalus to the old television set on the dresser in front of the beds, back to Daedalus.
"There isn't a VCR there, though. And I highly doubt they get Channel 13 here."
"Oh," Daedalus looked genuinely disappointed. "Well durn, I was hoping to continue my Valentine's Day tradition of watching the Lost Boys, Bram Stoker's Dracula, and 30 Days of Night... but fuck it."
"What other traditions are there on Valentine's Day?" Tempest asked, and he was faintly aware of an obsession trying to escape somewhere deep in his mind; his mind, where the true Labyrinth was built.
"Well," Daedalus said, tapping a finger on his chin. "In school, I remember we always used to make little cartoonish valentines and give them to each other. I suppose you aren't interested in the expensive dinner date, no? Good thing too, we have to start doing better with saving our earnings."
"You mean, handmade?"
"Yeah?"
"You went to school?"
Daedalus eyed him.
"Yeah. Long time ago. Or it feels like it was, anyway. Where are you going?"
Tempest already had one arm in his coat as he swung it around his body to put his other arm in.
"Out. I want to grab some things."
"It's almost four in the morning. Nothing is open."
"Sure there is," Tempest said, and left before Daedalus could get any further explanation from him.
-----
The demons hate you...
...the demons hate you
The demons hate you...
...the demons hate you
Around this time of the month, the Astro Creeps are usually reflecting on the impact they've made on the Global Coalition in recent months. Often do the Creeps revisit past rivalries, their thoughts on what they've considered accomplishments, and so on and so forth. A lot of times, around this time of what the Creeps have identified as cycles, they're preparing to close out previously written chapters, and transition to new chapters while the ink is still wet.
But it's different this time. It's almost as if the first chapter of this new story hasn't yet begun, isn't it? It's more like a prelude.
In Montague's world, it's the introduction and he's just beginning to get into the pledge. He's just about to ask you to look at something ordinary. Perhaps he'll let you inspect it to make sure that it is indeed real, unaltered, normal.
But we all know better, don't we?
In the Tempest's world, you've finished reading the book's sleeves, if you're the type that doesn't believe that it spoils parts of the story for you (assuming anything is written there at all), and you're just finishing the prelude. And now you're preparing to open up to the first chapter.
We've been quiet since the final chapter of our last story.
On purpose?
Perhaps.
Don't mistake our silence for absence, though. We are still very much here.
Watching in the shadows.
Lurking around the corner.
Sneaking up behind you.
Apparently... refusing championship title shots.
One of these days, Konrad Raab, the Astro Creeps are going to cosmically fuck you in the ass with the largest icicle you've ever fucking seen, and then we're going to discard your corpse unceremoniously off to the side like an insignificant animal carcass.
And the only reason anyone will notice will be due to the peace that comes with your being silenced that the entire Coalition will feel.
Keep poking us, and we'll rise like the dead. We'll bring you a hell you won't believe.
...the demons hate you
The demons hate you...
...the demons hate you
The demons hate you...
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6:15 AM
February 14, 2021
Daedalus and Kosnar watched on closely as Tempest almost frantically began cutting into construction paper at the table in the motel room. Markers, colored pencils, even paints were arranged helter skelter across the table.
Daedalus had grown used to his eccentric Tempest, so he watched more with fascination than he had in the past, where he had found himself irritated, to the point of mind-numbing anger. But not this time.
As he worked, Tempest murmured under his breath.
"Festive holidays," he whispered. "And everyone in the Coalition... pretending to like each other!" he screeched maniacally.
When he finished what he was working on, he leaned back in his chair. Daedalus and Kosnar both glanced over his shoulder.
To: The Final Girl
From: The Astro Creeps
Daedalus bit his bottom lip.
"Uhh... well, while I do like the artwork, T, I... don't think she will appreciate you implying that the two of you are a couple. Since... well, you're not."
"Oh, I know that," Tempest said with a chuckle, "she won't take it that way. Hidey-ho! Ha ha ha!"
It was a voice that actually haunted Daedalus. It was that mechanical, robotic, almost programmed line that spoke just like the Good Guy doll that Daedalus wished he could erase.
Tempest set the valentine off to the side. Below the to and the from, a further message was written in red ink...
Unlock the storm that lives in that music box. Unlock your tempest. We'll be watching...
-----
The demons hate you...
...the demons hate you
The demons hate you...
...the demons hate you
Anything is real if you believe. Right Montague?
It's real that a cannon appeared on the ramp during the handicap match on Monday. It's real that you were shot out of said cannon to the ring apron, where you Kano'ed Kosnar out of the way and took a bow. Wonderful showmanship, Daedalus told me.
And it's real that we travel the caverns of these mind games, like a self-destructive dance that never may end. It never may end, Montague.
Isn't that... fantastic?
It's the perfect magic trick. It's the illusion that hangs in the air forever.
For a showman like yourself, Magician, it's the jackpot.
There's a cheerful darkness in you. You may be aware of it. You may not be.
But if you notice, the Global Coalition, as they applaud you, you can see them shy away from you. It's subtle. But it's there. They're uneasy around you. Uncomfortable. They're afraid of you. Because they see, what I see.
A cheerful darkness in you. Perhaps the most unsettling of darknesses.
I'm certain you've wondered, or analyzed, why you and I have been paired together so frequently since we've come back. Obviously, I have. And perhaps I've talked about it too much. Perhaps I'm beginning to bore the target audience.
Good evening, target demographic.
My point is, they're putting down the 'Best Frenemies' card, and they've left it there. You and I have the opportunity to pick up that card and mark it up, and deface it, in any way we choose. We can do whatever we want with that card and then put it back... because they're allowing us to.
Please keep up. I know that my brain goes this way and that.
Back and forth. Back and forth. Back and
Side to side.
Brutal honesty?
I want brutality. I can go through the mantra of the past, where I talk about all of the violence that I want to inflict, that you'll walk away from the match and you'll know who you were in the ring with. But, I don't need to do that, do I?
I want to experience the brutality of the dark magician that I know lives inside you.
...you know... the last time I asked something like this from someone, he destroyed me. He left me inside a desolate existence, a skeleton of the mutant that I was before.
And yet I return, a ghost of the skeleton of the mutant I was before. Constantly evolving. The engine of chaos may have preceded me. But I'm the bad dream that those four fellows had as the engine malfunctioned.
They all had cute little names too, didn't they?
The engine of cruelty?
The engine of cthulhu?
It's all very cute. But it's not sincere.
They wanted to be chaos so bad, but when chaos cannibalized them, none of them survived. Not really.
Hear me, Magician.
Chaos is my nature.
It's not a gimmick that I chose.
It isn't something that I meticulously toy with to perfect like you do with your presentations.
It's something that I just... liberate. And let it take what it takes. It's natural.
And even through the smoke and the mirrors, and the bright lights, nature always emerges. And sometimes nature isn't what you want it to be.
...the demons hate you
The demons hate you...
...the demons hate you
The demons hate you...
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8:30 PM
February 14, 2021
To: Boolz
From: The Astro Creeps
Beware the Final Girl. There's something inside her that wants out. We hope she lets you survive this night. We'll be watching...
To: Angelica Vaughn
From: The Astro Creeps
The prim and the proper never get out alive. We'll make a horror show out of you yet. We'll be watching...
To: Konrad Raab
From: The Astro Creeps
We want you to feel a real chill this Valentine's Day. The chill of our words crawling up your spine. We'll be watching...
To: Lucy Wylde
From: The Astro Creeps
We would give you the attention that you deserve. Support you. Levitate you. Evolve you. In a perfect world... We'll be watching...
To: Dave Rydell
From: The Astro Creeps
When you need a horde of creeps to support your cause... We'll make their heads spin. We'll be watching...
To: Centurion
From: The Astro Creeps
The demons hate you... and so do we. We'll be watching...
To: Carlson Rex
From: The Astro Creeps
We love hurting you... this much. We'll be watching...
To: Jay Ceeeee
From: Tempest
Don't think I haven't forgotten about you. I'll be watching...
To: Duncan Ryder
From: The Astro Creeps
We heard you're too silky soft to be on our level. We'll be watching...
To: Fear
CC: Wrestley
From: The Astro Creeps
We want to know your fears. We'll be watching...
To: Sebastian Everett Bryce III
From: The Astro Creeps
We're not the only ones... Stay on our good side. We'll be watching...
To: Travis Pierce
From: The Astro Creeps
Camera A. Camera B. We'll be watching from both...
To: Hide Yamazaki
CC: Johnny Bonecrusher
From: The Astro Creeps
We sincerely hope that you absorb Johnny in the near future. We'll be watching...
To: Eden Morgan and Dr. Baal
From: The Astro Creeps
Ha... Ha... Ha... We'll be watching...
To: The Magician
From: The Creep
We all know the hat is wearing you...