Withmore Globe

I have spent enough time in this city to know that if the Hall calls you by your full name, it's going to be an expensive day. I did not, however, expect the summons to involve a Clone Angels cargo van.

Notorious veteran Judge Edmond Steele summoned Jason "Bishop" Wise, Gilvian "Burnwood" Burnwood, and Devon "MsKwon" Kwon to the Hall of Justice, demanding the surrender of a tactical shotgun, a timebomb, and an unspecified amount of standard service pistols, all believed to be inside the Clone Angels cargo van.

These vans are usually reserved for carrying unlucky souls to the Genetek recombination tanks for a second chance. It would appear they are equally capable of ferrying convicted criminals and enough hardware to make a Judge very interested in their cargo.

The proceedings continued with sterile efficiency as the summoned citizens arrived. Burnwood, whose association with the trio has yet to be explained publicly, surrendered a nine-millimeter service pistol, earning himself a fine for possessing an unlicensed firearm.

Judge Steele suspected the story did not end there and stepped outside to inspect the Clone Angels van himself. According to a witness present during the Judge's absence, tempers flared almost immediately. Wise was reportedly confronted over his actions, with voices raised about "getting out of the city with the goods" and demands of, "What were you thinking?"

This implication only confirmed my suspicions: somebody had made a mistake, somebody had slipped under pressure.

When Steele returned, the verdicts arrived in rapid succession.

Jason "Bishop" Wise, recently fitted with a Behavior Modification Chip in an effort to curb his homicidal tendencies, was found guilty of possessing an unlicensed firearm and a prohibited weapon.

Devon Kwon was found guilty of possessing an unlicensed firearm, possessing a prohibited weapon, and perjuring a Judge.

So, what do we have so far? Three people. Multiple weapons. A timebomb. One Clone Angels van.

Perhaps there is a perfectly innocent explanation. Perhaps "the goods" referred to religious pamphlets, communion wafers, or a particularly aggressive charity drive.

But a part of me cannot help wondering if it referred to exactly what it sounded like.

I have no evidence that this illegal cargo represent the practices of the Clone Angels as a whole. Nor do I have evidence that anyone beyond the individuals standing before Judge Steele had knowledge of what was inside that van. What I do know is this: one of their employees arrived under judicial summons, ferried enough hardware through Gold Sector to arm a small street war using an official Clone Angels vehicle, and surrendered it only after they were caught with the cache.

One uncomfortable question sits with me: how will the Clone Angels respond now that one of their own has been caught using an official vehicle to transport prohibited weaponry?

E. ReedThe Globe.

I thought I had already seen the strangest things Withmore has to offer. For the most part, stories of double sleeving and international treaties were folk stories meant to scare off the immigrants. I was very wrong.

It happened during Liat Peret'z latest public appearance, a performance that many would argue was not voluntary. In an attempt to dole out "creative punishments", the WJF mandated a public appearance where Liat Peretz would have to organize a show at the famous Korova Milk Bar on Gold Sector with a themed song that would speak about the dangers of "grid crimes". Reports say that this punishment was due to Liat Peretz' public bragging about usage of Grid systems to commit crimes.

The show was awful. While Liat's natural talent in the arts cannot be denied, the crowd was spotty, the air was thick, and the entertainment felt... forced. Then just like that, the whispers started, and almost on cue, the room changed. A mirror image of Liat Peretz appeared. People began to notice that uncanny similarity between Liat and her counterpart, with many rumors surging about it being a "double sleeve". Whether this was actually the case remained impossible to verify in the moment.

International law is surprisingly clear on the subject, no room for interpretation. One human. One clone. One person. While rumors suggested initially at "makeup show" and other artifacts of subterfuge, something was impossible to ignore. This was not just someone who barely resembled Liat Peretz, but someone who appeared to share her speech, her poses, and the way she carried herself. Whether that resemblance was natural, engineered, or carefully rehearsed, I cannot say.

The clone, whose question of humanity will be left for offline conversations, reached out and touched Liat's cheek, and quietly said two words:

"We know".

When I approached her and asked her who she was, she answered simply, in her Israeli-inflicted accent: "Liat Peretz".

Then, she walked away. Curiosity has gotten me into trouble before, so naturally, I followed.

I asked the woman, who carried herself with serenity and certainty, as if everything had been meticulously planned out for her in advance, why she was here. Her answer didn't do any favors to my thirst of information: "ask my twin sister".Suddenly, the woman leaped from the edge, and just like that, made a fast descent into the pavement. When I rushed my way downstairs to see the evidence, the truth lay before my eyes was shocking: there was no corpse, only a pool of blood.

Rumors began to circulate, and I was promptly informed that the woman who leaped from that building survived the fall. According to multiple witnesses, ViriiSoma CorpSec agents were already waiting beneath the building before she hit the pavement. Within moments, they had seized the woman and dragged her back into the VS Tower. A VS CorpSec Agent later requested WCS outside their tower due to the trail of blood that stretched from Media Gardens to Cobblestone Plaza. They did not disclose any further details.

If those witness accounts are accurate, someone expected her arrival long before I understood what I was looking at. Someone knew enough to have ViriiSoma agents waiting beneath the building before she ever reached the ground.

So, what happened? Naturally, I had to dig into this. As I asked around, I learned a few things. Liat Peretz and ViriiSoma have a long and bloody history together. Years ago, ViriiSoma gave Liat Peretz a biomodification that made them look like a mutant monster. Broadcast Dome-wide, a punishment meant to be as public as it was permanent. It would seem like that would be the last nail on Liat's coffin as an end to her criminal career. It is hard to recruit lackeys when your face looks like a chemical spill with teeth.

However, on the Sixth Dome Day, during mix-side "Punk Day" celebrations, and long after her second round of biomodification in August 2110, Liat appeared without her helmet for the first time in months.I saw the photograph, and something struck me. She looked... normal.

Whether through medicine, surgery, or something else entirely, the punishment no longer seemed to exist. Which brings me back to those two words uttered at the titty milky bar. "We know". Who is "we", and what do they "know"?

Did they know Liat escaped her fate? Did they know who helped her? Or was the message something else entirely?I cannot answer any of those questions for certain. And I also cannot prove that the woman I encountered was a double sleeve, a clone, or anything of the sort. I cannot prove that she was manufactured by ViriiSoma in a lab. I also cannot prove that the encounter was an elaborate act of psychological warfare orchestrated by a corporation with resources beyond anything most of us can ever imagine.

But I can prove this much. I saw a woman who looked exactly like Liat Peretz. She spoke like Liat Peretz. She carried herself like Liat Peretz. Then I watched her leap from a skyscraper wearing the sort of serene expression I can only hope to borrow when my own time comes.

If there is a mundane explanation for what I witnessed that night, I have yet to hear it. Until then, I'm sleeping with an eye open... and I might return for those White Russians.

E. ReedGlobe Reporter

GALE CRATER CITY, MARS -

In a stunning development on May 18th, 2111, UN Military forces breached and infiltrated the last remnants of James Reeves and the few soldiers, Jager Strafe included, that remained of the Red Suns Martyr Brigade. Hiding in an abandoned mining operation on Deimos, a tip for this band of stragglers was received in April and the United Nations planned an operation to put an end to a cell of terrorists who had at one point wreaked havoc on Withmore and beyond starting in 2105.

Reeves, who was known as Janus or The Major, was the leading force behind the permanent death of former Chief Justice Gray on October 17th, 2105 in a series of events that saw a significant number of WJF Judges and employees massacred and the loss of critical assets and equipment. After Chief Justice Gray's demise, the Law found new leadership in Gerik Phillips, who was appointed the next Chief Justice.

Criminal forces in the Mix were drawn to Reeves, helping him in his cause, with names such as Alexei Zukhov, Danilo Cardoso working in the forefront and the background, with the latter's name only coming to light years later. Other individuals flocked to the violent cause, with rumors swirling at the time and in the half-decade that followed of involvement of Friday Tchort, Lorelai Jovanovska, Tabitha Phlox, and thousands of others who came and went in the days, months and years that passed. The influence of this galactic criminal and mass murderer stays today in the works of Liat Peretz, Dillon Akirashu with suspected fringe involvement of Yohan von Luz after the arrival of Rasul Hashemi, who left Withmore some months ago in late 2110. Hashemi was not among the incapacitated or bodies recovered during the siege on Deimos. Neither was Betty Black, a force who goes by V in Withmore.

Despite his absence from Withmore and Earth as a whole during the last four years, Reeves's shadow and the embers of uprisings he fanned have long hung over our city, helping shape and direct violence against megacorporations. Under the excuse of seeking political freedom from the hegemony of corporate control, unsatisfied parties who wish for any reason to complain will grab onto the ideology planted by this suspected last cell of Red Sun Martyr Brigade fighters. As the corporations lead us towards a brighter future, it's up to us all to expose the lies of these propagandist terrorists so that good citizens may live in peace.

GCC locals in The Lucky Fish were happy that these last few holdouts had been caught on Deimos and hadn't tried to cause any trouble on the surface of the red planet. Adolescents and gamers found in Yellowknife Arcade did not respond to requests for comments, too busy fighting robots to an electric end or caught up in retro games while surrounded by clouds of smoke and wild laughter - this reporter hopes these youth will one day become productive citizens for their home world.

Because of the reported deaths of Reeves and Strafe, the sanctioned bounties placed on them have been removed by the Withmore Justice Force.

Rip StormburnTemporary Space Incident ReporterWithmore Globe