Withmore Globe

Elana "S1R3N" Jewel walked out of Sense/Net expecting the ordinary indignities of another evening on New Light Avenue. Traffic, gawkers, paparazzi and autograph hunters. Instead she was jumped, dragged off-sector and hauled into the Mix by a group of criminals while a diversion bomb went off at Media Gardens as part of the same operation. By the time New Light Media understood what happened, she was tucked away in one of those decrepit Mix-side closets with a bag over her head, restraints around her wrists, and a gang of operators thirsty for fresh corpie blood.

The ransom photograph sent to yours truly showed Ms. Jewel bagged, cuffed, and wearing a TUNE OUT shirt. The captors had taken her jewelry and dealt out enough violence to leave the otherwise dazzling star a bloody, bruised mess. The choice of the shirt was deliberate political theater. Terrorist organization "The Movement" later acknowledged it has no affiliation with the TUNE OUT campaign, but used the image to reinforce its baseless accusations that NLM suppresses independent Mixer voices.

Ms. Jewel was contacted by the Globe and gave only a brief account of the abduction. "I was leaving Sense/Net, then I got grabbed", the young starlet said. "Still kind of dealing with everything that came after".

I later went undercover and met a member of the Movement who graciously agreed to an interview, exclusive only to the Globe, as long as I maintained their identity anonymous. With a hood obscuring my face so that I would not be recognized by the brutal savages inhabiting the God-forsaken land of trash town, I met my contact in some dimly lit dive bar somewhere in Red Sector. According to my contact, the group had specifically targeted Ms. Jewel because she had a song premiere scheduled for the next day. Keeping her captive would have damaged NLM programming and revenue.

"No starlet, no song scheduled for programming, no chyen for NLM", they said. If NLM refused the ransom, the Movement was prepared to keep her indefinitely. The Movement says the kidnapping was retaliation for what they describe as repeated violence against Mixers who criticize NLM or challenge its positions in the media. They allege that solos have been wielded as weapons against outspoken Mixers and that political disputes with NLM employees have sometimes been followed by convenient trips to Genetek.

No evidence was ever provided to the Globe to support those allegations.

That leaves me with the part of the story that requires no faith at all, and a sour aftertaste in my mouth. A bomb, an abduction, a robbery, a ransom demand, and a media star used as a decorative political prop. The Movement calls this a new era of "more sophisticated tactics" against New Light Media. They warned me, right there, that they would not back down and that NLM should expect more of their advanced guerrilla warfare.

I found myself wondering whether this sophistication just means better branding now.

What happened afterward remained to puzzle me. A recognized terrorist organization claimed responsibility for the streak of criminality, yet there have been no indications as of this writing of a WJF investigation, arrests, or even a serious response aimed at bringing the perpetrators to justice. The Movement did not mysteriously disappear into the nightly mist whispering riddles. If there is a manhunt underway, I demand to see the receipt, and I demand those responsible to be held accountable.

NLM paid for Ms. Jewel, and she came home safely with us. In a city where corporations are accused of treating people as disposable assets, I am glad NLM proved everyone wrong, and brought their star product back home safely in one piece.

E. Reed,Globe Reporter

There is a particular sort of optimism required to believe that a Mixer can be rehabilitated.

Time after time, I have watched Mixers grab the hand that feeds them only to chew through the wrist. There is always another sob story dragged beneath the lights for corporate society to inspect and politely pretend is worth considering.

The fashionable explanation is that Mixers are misunderstood.

My theory is less complicated: some animals bite because biting is what they do. You do not reason with a rabid animal, hand it an employee badge and hope exposure to civilized society cures whatever is rattling around inside its skull. You put it somewhere it cannot bite anybody.

Despite my objections, New Light Media and the Withmore Justice Force tried rehabilitation anyway.

Rexxis "Wheelman" Boonehelm is a criminal element affiliated with the street gang known as the Sinners. Already carrying enough fines to reflect their chronically poor judgement, Boonehelm was reportedly sentenced to community service with New Light Media after illegally tampering with a licensing terminal at the Hall of Justice.

This City is extraordinarily generous to exactly the wrong people. A man interferes with city infrastructure, gets shot for his trouble and accumulates a criminal record thick enough to choke a clerk, and what does corporate society do? It gives him work. Not a one-way ticket to the Genetek recombination tanks. Not a skywalk swan dive. Actual honest-to-God fucking labor. Responsibility, and a chance to impersonate a productive citizen.

There are people in Red who would sell a kidney for that kind of opportunity. Meanwhile, Boonehelm found it oppressive. Like clockwork, a few days later, Media Gardens was brutally set on fire.

According to witness reports, Boonehelm was part of a group of armed Mixers moving through Gold Sector in a series of coordinated attacks. Molotov cocktails were used in multiple locations, including Media Gardens, and Judges ordered citizens away while WCS reported dutifully to prevent a mass-casualty event.

Picture this. Corporate employees providing value for their companies. Gardens maintained at considerable expense so this city retains some resemblance to a place fit for human habitation. Then a bottle comes sailing through the air full of burning fuel because somebody from Red had another fit of LnA-3z induced delusions.

And regrettably, Street Judge Severino Staley, one of Withmore's finest, was murdered during the incident in cold blood. According to the Withmore Justice Force, Abu "Harami" Bakr and another unnamed assailant attacked and killed Judge Staley. Bakr was subsequently Judged, while the identity of the second assailant remains under investigation.

The association between Bakr and Boonehelm remains unclear to me, but one thing is certain. When rabid animals are cornered, they'll try to seek numbers to increase their strength.

Fortunately, Boonehelm is as competent as a criminal as he is smart. He was Judged guilty of conspiracy to commit Judicial Homicide for his role in the attack. After interviewing the WJF, I learned that Boonehelm acted as a distraction device, occupying himself by assaulting a random bystander while the murder took place. There is something almost ironic about it: one man attacking a stranger while his associates kill a Judge nearby, the grand Mixer struggle reduced to its most honest form.

Sounds familiar? Misled Mixers following a blind cause, getting thrown into the deep end for someone's else whims of unjustified violence.

We cannot stand idle and ignore patterns. There will be people who insist for nuance here. "But Reed, Boonehelm felt mistreated! Community service bruised his dignity! He was just a poor victim of society, forced to steal to survive! We need to rehabilitate them into society!" I'm more of the school of thought that a man who insists on remaining at the bottom rung of society found honest work psychological torture.

None of these explanations matter very much to the victims. What should we tell them? What should we tell their children, brothers, and sisters?

This city has spent years constructing an entire industry around the delicate management of Mixer feelings. We are told to employ them, hear them out, give them another chance, adjust the language, commission the focus group, and ask whether the boot currently kicking us in the teeth feels sufficiently represented in the quarterly report.

Meanwhile, the corporations build the towers, pay our wages, and keep the lights on in a world where the landscape beyond the Dome walls is inhospitable. Judges stand between civilized society and the lunatics try to burn it down. And after all of that, we the corporate society are somehow still expected to apologize for having walls.

I refuse. I refuse!

There comes a point where sympathy ceases to be virtue and becomes an expensive form of stupidity. I do not see oppression here. I see squandered mercy. We're just too good for them. I see a civilization so determined to prove its compassion that it hands matches to people standing beside gasoline and acts surprised when somebody smells fire.

Boonehelm was offered a path back into civilization, like many others, and his answer was to rally up with the closest like-minded lunatics he could find, and issue fire and death to a Judge. Why were we so soft? If I was running the Law around here, I'd put them in cages and hang them over lamp posts, for the entire city to observe and bask in their shame.

Perhaps next time, we should believe the answer before our eyes.

E. ReedGlobe Reporter

The citywide obsession with Sex Cougar Energy has officially reached a fever pitch, and SIC network chatter shows no signs of slowing. Tucked away inside the recently reopened Okey Dokey Karaoke Bar, the city's sole vending machine for this Japanese imported drink continues to draw steady lines for the long and skinny aluminum can featuring a cougar prowling through the jungle.

What sets the drink apart from typical high stimulant beverages is its surprisingly unusual taste. It opens with a swanky sangria flavor of red wine and fruit, then follows with a strange fizzy tang that seems to deliver an immediate jolt of energy, powered by a heavy payload of caffeine.

Public SIC has been flooded with citizens sharing their experiences with the energy drink. SIC user Sulfar admitted to being pleasantly surprised, stating, "Ah thought it was gonna be merzky but it actually taste like summer fruits." Meanwhile, Doctor6 simply called the beverage "glorious!" and another user, Sugar3, claimed the drink "fills me with the energy I need to vibrate through walls." The obsession has even turned it into a daily necessity for some, such as Chex driver Chex-Kra who reassured Withmore citizens after a rough night that they were "Feelin' a bit shite. Probably not enough Sex Cougar. Ahm not dead!"

One should be warned that the drink's delicious taste and high potency have medical workers across local clinics raising alarms. Because Sex Cougar Energy tastes so much like a pleasant middle-aged woman's brunch beverage, consumers frequently drink multiple cans in a single sitting without realizing exactly how much caffeine they are taking in, leading to a noticeable rise in heart palpitations and severe dehydrations. While no deaths have been reported from these symptoms, citizens across Withmore are advised to pay attention to them should they arise, and to slow down consumption and introduce water into their drinking routine.

Since Okey Dokey's reopening, this reporter has observed discussion of Sex Cougar Energy nearly every hour of every day and the trend seems only to keep growing. Despite medical warnings, the Jihanki Galleria inside the karaoke bar remains one of the most active destinations in Central Gold Sector.

Viola VanceGlobe reporter.