Stomach & Side Sleeper with Broad Shoulders (5’9” / 205 lbs): Was Choosing a Firm Mattress a Mistake? Should I Switch to Medium-Firm? #finsubito prestito immediato

1. Sleep on the shelf in your closet. Replace the closet door with a curtain. Two to three hours after you fall asleep, have your wife whip open the curtain, shine a flashlight in your eyes, and mumble “Sorry, wrong rack.”
2. Repeat back everything anyone says to you.
3. Spend as much time as possible indoors and avoid sunlight. Only view the world through the peephole on your front door.
4. Renovate your bathroom. Build a wall across the middle of your bathtub and move the showerhead down to chest level. Shower once a week. Use no more than 2 gallons of water per shower.
5. Buy a trash compactor and use it once a week. Store garbage in the other side of your bathtub.
6. Sit in your car for six hours a day with your hands on the wheel and the motor running, but don’t go anywhere. Install 200 extra oil temperature gauges. Take logs on all gauges and indicators every 30 minutes.
7. Put lube oil in your humidifier instead of water and set it to “High.”
8. Watch only unknown movies with no major stars on TV and then, only at night. Have your family vote on which movie to watch, and then watch a different one.
9. Don’t do your wash at home. Pick the most crowded laundromat you can find.
10. (Optional for Nukes and A-Div) Leave lawnmower running in your living room six hours a day for proper noise level.
11. Have the paperboy give you a haircut.
12. Take hourly readings on your electric and water meters.
13. Invite guests, but don’t have enough food for them.
14. Buy a broken exercise bicycle and strap it down to the floor in your kitchen.
15. Eat only food that you get out of a can or have to add water to.
16. Wake up every night at midnight and have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on stale bread. (Optional: cold beans and weenies, canned ravioli, or soup).
17. Make up your family menu a week ahead of time without looking in your food cabinets or refrigerator.
18. Set your alarm clock to go off at random times during the night. When it goes off, jump out of bed and get dressed as fast as you can, then run to your kitchen with the garden hose while wearing a scuba mask.
19. Once a month, take every major appliance completely apart and then put them back together. Ensure you have parts left over.
20. Use 18 scoops of coffee per pot and allow it to sit for 5 or 6 hours before drinking. Never wash any coffee cups.
21. Invite at least 85 people you don’t really like to come and visit for a couple of months. Limit showers to weekly for all guests. (Unless they are interested in electronics…force those guests to shower three times daily and wear ½ bottle of stale cologne following each bathing).
22. Store your eggs in your garage for two months and then scramble a dozen each morning.
23. Have a fluorescent lamp installed on the bottom of your coffee table and lie under it to read books.
24. Check your refrigerator compressor for “sound shorts.”
25. Put a complicated lock on your basement door and wear the key on a lanyard around your neck.
26. Lockwire the lug nuts on your car.
27. When making cakes, prop up one side of the pan while it is baking. Then spread icing really thick on one side to level off the top.
28. Every so often, yell “Emergency Deep,” run into the kitchen, and sweep all pots/pans/dishes off of the counter onto the floor. Then, yell at your wife for not having the place “stowed for sea.”
29. Put on the headphones from your stereo (don’t plug them in). Go and stand in front of your stove. Say (to nobody in particular) “Stove manned and ready.” Stand there for 3 or 4 hours. Say (once again to nobody in particular) “Stove secured.” Roll up the headphone cord and put them away.
30. Tag out the steering wheel, gas pedal, brake pedal, transmission, and cigarette lighter when you change the oil in your car.
31. Use Kool-Aid on all your breakfast cereals for 2 months.
32. Fill laundry tubs with oil. Lay in them, on your back, and change the washers on the water spigots.
33. While doing laundry, replace liquid fabric softener with diesel fuel… savor the aroma of AMR2LL.
34. Install more commodes in your bathroom. Serve many greasy meals and ensure the entire family goes to the bathroom together.
35. Buy bunk beds (3 high type) and convert the narrowest hallway in your home into a bedroom.
36. Just for fun, rig 700 PSI air to the bottom of all toilets. Hold a lottery to determine who gets to control the air valves.
37. Knock a glass of water out of someone’s hand and yell “SPILL.” Shout at them the entire time they clean it up, tell them how worthless they are, and then do it again.
38. Give your wife more free time. All the ironing goes under the mattress.
39. Ask for “permission to enter” whenever you go into the kitchen.
40. At night, replace all light bulbs in the living room with red bulbs.
41. Buy all food in cases and line the floor with them.
42. Replace all doorways with windows so that you have to step up AND duck to go through them.
43. Rope off a small area of your living room, turn off the AC, put on a suit made of garbage bags, and mill around inside the roped-off area for an hour with a zip-lock bag tied securely around your head.
44. Whenever someone enters a room you’re cleaning, shout “Up and Over” at them so they’ll go through the attic to get to the kitchen.
45. Tell your kids to “go find me a can of relative bearing grease.”
46. Whenever the mailman steps onto your porch, shout “Postmaster General – Arriving” so that everyone in the house can hear you.
47. Paint the windshield of your car black. Make your wife stand up through the sunroof and give you directions on where to drive. Drive through as many big puddles as possible.
48. Have your kids stand at attention every time you enter the room and make them state quite loudly, “Attention on Deck” or “Make a Hole.”
49. Start every story with “This is no-shit.”
50. Order a dozen foxtails and tell your family that there will be no liberty until everything in the house passes the white glove test.
51. Tell your kids there will be a pressure test in the garage next Monday night. Kid who can take the most turns in the vise will get to stay out later Friday night.
52. Hook up your air compressor to the sewer line to the house and blow a “shit geyser” ten feet in the air. Come inside and tell your wife “calmly” that you forgot to shut the valve.
53. Make her and the kids clean up the mess.
54. Install a furnace and air conditioner that blows directly on you while you are sleeping. Have the controls so they will cycle to hot and cold in a matter of seconds. Also, install a multi-channel entertainment system over your rack that doesn’t work.
55. Install the system above where it will cause a 6-inch vacuum in the bedroom.
56. Set an engine in the living room to run through all this. So when you secure from field day, run like a bat out of hell to shut down the engine.
57. Make your kids some Kool-Aid and add 5 times more sugar than normal and then set it out to get hot.
58. Raise hell with the old lady when she serves steak next time. When she says that’s the way it came from the store, you ask, “Burnt?”
59. Hire about 20 drunks to come into your house about 1 in the morning and start cooking.
60. Just have someone eat your ass over nothing, daily.
61. Go to the market and buy 100 quarts of milk. Pour them into a large white trash bag and secure. Put the bag into the refrigerator and rename it “The Cow.”
62. Remodel your house so as to rebuild your kitchen in the hall closet. Have your family meet there several times a day to walk around in the closet and bump into each other. Have someone shout “mill around in the after battery.”
63. Post the Uniform Code of Military Justice on the wall across from your toilet. Highlight the parts that begin: “penetration however slight…”
64. Take the jack handle out of your trunk and install it in the ceiling over your stove. Several times a day, give it 112 turns and yell: “main induction secured.”
65. Every Friday morning at 7:30, wake the whole house up and inform them someone is trying to steal the car. Then make them clean the whole house for 3 hours. Then serve them lunch, which consists of 2 hamburgers that have enough grease in them to change the oil in the car for a year, buns that weigh more than a TDU weight, and French fries. Then run various drills in the afternoon so that you have to burp into your scuba mask, reliving the lunch.
66. Practice walking quickly with your back to the wall.
67. Rope off a small area of your living room, turn off the AC, put on a yellow suit, and mill around inside the roped-off area for an hour with a zip-lock bag tied securely around your head. Ensure the family critiques your actions afterward.
68. Work at golf course maintenance so you can water golf cart batteries.
69. When your wife throws open the curtains in your closet, make sure that the sewer vent is piped into your rack.
70. Cut a hole in the floor of your house and install some batteries. Go down there once a day and take specific gravities.
71. Cut a twin mattress in half and enclose three sides of your bed. Add a roof that prevents you from sitting up (about 10 inches is a good distance), then place it on a platform that is four feet off the floor. Place a small dead animal under the bed to simulate the smell of your bunkmate’s sock.
72. Set your alarm to go off at 10-minute intervals for the first hour of sleep to simulate the various times the watch standers and night crew bump around and wake you up. Place your bed on a rocking table to ensure you are tossed around the remaining three hours. Make use of a custom clock that randomly simulates fire alarms, police sirens, helicopter crash alarms, and a new wave rock band.
73. Have week-old fruit and vegetables delivered to your garage and wait two weeks before eating them.
74. Prepare all meals blindfolded using all the spices you can grope for or none at all. Remove the blindfold and eat everything in three minutes.
75. Periodically, shut off all power at the main circuit breaker and run around shouting “fire, fire, fire” and then restore power.
76. Remove all plants, pictures, and decorations. Paint everything gray, white, or the shade of hospital smocks.
77. Buy 50 cases of toilet paper and lock up all but two rolls. Ensure one of these two rolls is wet at all times.
78. Smash your forehead or shins with a hammer every two days to simulate collision injuries sustained aboard Navy ships.
79. When making sandwiches, leave the bread out for six days, or until it is hard and stale.
80. Every 10 weeks, simulate a visit to another port. Go directly to the city slums wearing your best clothes. Find the worst-looking place, and ask for the most expensive beer they carry. Drink as many as you can in four hours. Take a cab home taking the longest possible route. Tip the cabby after he charges you double because you dress funny and don’t speak right.
81. Use fresh milk for only two days after each port visit.
82. Keep the bedroom thermostat at 2 degrees C and use only a thin blanket for warmth.
83. Ensure that the water heater is connected to a device that provides water at a flow rate that varies from a fast drip to a weak trickle, with the temperature alternating rapidly from 2 to 95 degrees F.
84. Use only spoons which hold a minimum of 1/2 cup at a time.
85. Make sure every water valve in your home has two backups in line which must all be operated to obtain water.
86. Repaint the interior of your home every month, whether it needs it or not.
87. Every four hours, check all the fluid levels in your car and log the readings. Check the tire pressure and replace air lost from excessive pressure checks. Be sure to place red tags on the ignition stating “DANGER: Do Not Operate” while you perform these checks. Inform your neighbor as to placement of the red tags, the results of the checks, and have him repeat the checks because he did not see you perform them.
88. Lock all friends and family outside. Your only means of communication should be with letters that your neighbors have held for at least three weeks, discarding two of five.
89. Surround yourself with 125 people that you don’t really know or like: people who smoke, snore like Mack trucks going uphill, and use foul language.
90. Unplug all radios and TVs to completely cut yourself off from the outside world. Have a neighbor bring you a Time, Newsweek, or Naval Proceedings from five years ago to keep you abreast of current events.
91. Monitor all home appliances hourly, recording on log sheets all vital information (i.e., plugged in, lights come on when doors open, etc.).
92. Do not flush the toilet for five days to simulate the smell of 40 people using the same commode.
93. Lock the bathrooms twice a day for a four-hour period.
94. Practice taking a shower with a quart of water.
95. Work in 19-hour cycles, sleeping only four hours at a time, to ensure that your body neither knows nor cares if it’s day or night.
96. Listen to your favorite CD six times a day for two weeks, and then play music that causes acute nausea until you are glad to get back to your favorite CD.
97. Make your family’s menu a week ahead without looking in the cabinets, cupboards, freezer, or refrigerator.
98. When making cakes, prop one side of the pan while it is baking, then spread icing really thick on the thin side to make it level.
99. Wash your laundry in a detergent that could be used as an insecticide or sheep dip. Make sure you lose at least one sock and one pair of underwear every other week.
100. Gather the family around each month for a preparedness drill. Stand in the front yard with a whistle and yell “abandon house, abandon house” while blowing the whistle loudly. When the neighbors come to check on you, tell them you are just practicing.

Saturday, October 26 – Friday, November 01, 2024

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• US stocks clawed back from early losses but wrapped up the day mixed as investors processed a bond market sell-off and the latest batch of earnings. The S&P 500 and Dow dipped slightly below flat, while the Nasdaq eked out a 0.18% gain—its first positive finish in two days.
• Adding to the tension, the 10-year Treasury yield topped 4.2%, fueling concerns over rising rates. Despite an early slump, stocks pared some of their losses as traders sifted through a busy earnings day, with markets remaining jittery.

• Philip Morris increased 10.47% after reporting third-quarter results that beat expectations. The company also raised its 2024 guidance and showed strength in its smoke-free business. ($PM)
• General Motors jumped 9.81% after the automaker posted better-than-expected third-quarter results and raised its full-year forecast. GM earned an adjusted $2.96 per share on $48.76 billion in revenue, surpassing expectations of $2.43 per share on $44.59 billion. ($GM)
• Quest Diagnostics rallied 6.85% after third-quarter results topped expectations, earning an adjusted $2.30 per share on $2.49 billion in revenue, above forecasts of $2.26 per share on $2.43 billion in revenue. ($DGX)
• Norfolk Southern popped 4.94% after the freight train operator reported earnings and revenue that beat analysts’ expectations. The move marked its best day since July. ($NSC)
• Rivian rose 4.59% despite analysts at JPMorgan Chase expressing concerns that a softening demand could impact full-year deliveries. ($RIVN)
• Charter Communications gained 4.57%. ($CHTR)
• Carvana was up 3.06%. ($CVNA)

• Genuine Parts dropped 20.97% after reporting weaker-than-expected third-quarter earnings of $1.88 per share, falling short of the $2.42 expected by analysts. The company also slashed its full-year forecast. ($GPC)
• GE Aerospace tumbled 9.05% after mixed third-quarter results, with adjusted revenue of $8.94 billion, missing estimates of $9.02 billion. However, earnings per share of $1.15 slightly beat expectations by 1 cent. ($GE)
• Pure Storage fell 7.90%. ($PSTG)
• Walgreens Boots Alliance declined 6.89% following Walmart’s announcement that it will begin delivering prescriptions to doorsteps in six states, expanding to 49 states by January. ($WBA)
• Lockheed Martin slid 6.12% after posting third-quarter revenue of $17.1 billion, which missed expectations of $17.35 billion. However, earnings beat expectations, and the company raised its full-year outlook. ($LMT)
• Verizon dipped 5.03% after posting third-quarter revenue of $33.33 billion, slightly below the $33.43 billion expected. Earnings per share of $1.19 came in just above estimates by 1 cent. ($VZ)
• Dell Technologies slipped 3.85%. ($DELL)
• Snowflake dropped 3.40%. ($SNOW)
• Pinterest was down 3.30%. ($PINS)

The International Monetary Fund (IMF)—aka the global economy’s watchdog—is sounding the alarm on next year’s growth prospects.
The IMF, which keeps tabs on the financial health of its 190 member countries, has cut its global growth forecast to 3.2% for 2025, slightly down from its July estimate.
On the bright side, inflation is cooling, expected to fall to 4.3% from 5.8%. Central banks have managed to tame rising prices without triggering recessions. So, cheers to that…sort of.
Geopolitics: The Wild Card IMF’s Chief Economist, Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, didn’t sugarcoat it: the risks are piling up. With regional conflicts flaring and protectionism on the rise, global markets could take a hit—especially in commodities.
And let’s not forget global debt, which is on track to hit a jaw-dropping $100 trillion by year-end, mostly thanks to big spenders like the US and China. T
he IMF says governments need to tighten their belts, but with pressures to fund climate initiatives and aging populations, that’s easier said than done.
Eurozone Struggles, China Slows The IMF downgraded the Eurozone’s outlook to 1.2%, mostly due to sluggish manufacturing in Germany and Italy. China didn’t fare much better—its growth forecast was slashed too, largely thanks to a shaky real estate market and low consumer confidence.
Though China’s central bank rolled out some new measures, the IMF isn’t convinced they’ll do enough to turn the tide. On the flip side, the US is winning the growth race with an upgraded forecast of 2.8%, riding high on strong consumer spending.
Inflation’s Almost Beat, But… Even with inflation cooling, the global economy isn’t exactly cruising. Rising market volatility, geopolitical uncertainties, and the potential for more aggressive monetary policy loom large.
The IMF gave central banks a pat on the back for avoiding a recession, but the road ahead is still filled with potholes. Emerging markets, in particular, are bracing for more turbulence as debt pressures mount.
In short: inflation might be on the retreat, but don’t pop the champagne just yet. The IMF’s forecast is a reality check that the global economy still has a lot of risks to dodge.

• ☕ Starbucks Sales Fall, Suspends 2025 Outlook: Starbucks saw a 7% decline in same-store sales for the third consecutive quarter, with a 10% drop in North American traffic. The coffee chain has suspended its 2025 outlook and aims to turn things around with its “Back to Starbucks” strategy, focusing on simplifying its menu and improving customer experience. ($SBUX)
• 💰 Paul Tudor Jones Warns of Fiscal Reckoning: Billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones raised alarms about government spending, predicting a sell-off in the bond market post-election. He plans to bet against long-dated bonds and warned of a potential “Minsky moment” in the U.S. debt markets. ($N/A)
• 🚬 Philip Morris Hits All-Time High Amid Zyn Demand: Philip Morris shares reached record highs, driven by the strong demand for its Zyn oral nicotine pouches. Shipments rose nearly 40% in the first nine months of 2024, helping Philip Morris be seen once again as a growth stock. ($PM)
• 🤖 Anthropic Unveils New AI Agents for Complex Tasks: Anthropic, backed by Amazon, introduced AI agents capable of using computers to complete complex tasks, competing with OpenAI and Google. These AI agents are expected to revolutionize productivity, handling multistep tasks like booking flights or filling out forms. ($AMZN)
• 🚚 Amazon to Shut Down Same-Day Delivery Service: Amazon is shutting down its same-day delivery service, Amazon Today, which offered rapid deliveries from mall and retail stores. The service will be fully wound down by January 2025 as part of Amazon’s broader cost-cutting efforts. ($AMZN)
• 👟 Nike Extends NBA Partnership: Nike has renewed its exclusive deal to provide uniforms for the NBA and WNBA until 2037, with the new agreement reportedly “much bigger” than the previous $1B deal. ($NKE)
• 🏦 HSBC Overhauls Global Operations: HSBC is restructuring into eastern and western markets, appointing Pam Kaur as its first female CFO and merging divisions to boost profitability, effective in 2025. ($HSBC)
• 🛏️ Beyond Partners with Kirkland’s for Store Reopenings: Bed Bath & Beyond has secured a $25M deal with Kirkland’s to reopen stores, providing a $17M loan and earning royalties on sales and e-commerce revenue. ($KIRK)
• 🛒 Target Slashes Prices for the Holidays: Target is cutting prices on over 2,000 items to attract holiday shoppers, following earlier reductions on 5,000 products. ($TGT)
• 💡 Europe’s Fintech Alumni Power Startup Boom: European fintech unicorn alumni, including Revolut and Wise, have founded 635 startups, with Klarna alone producing 62, spotlighting the region’s startup ecosystem.

McDonald’s Quarter Pounder has found itself in hot water after being linked to an E. coli outbreak, which has sickened 49 people across 10 states, leaving one person in Colorado dead.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) flagged slivered onions used in the burger as the likely culprit. McDonald’s wasted no time, pulling the Quarter Pounder from restaurants in the affected states to contain the outbreak. Talk about a PR nightmare.
Onion Tears and Bigger Worries It’s not just the onions making people cry. E. coli O157, the strain in question, can cause some nasty symptoms—think severe stomach cramps, and vomiting. Ten people have already been hospitalized, and a child developed a rare complication that can lead to kidney failure.
The CDC is still investigating whether the beef patties or onions are the real issue, but McDonald’s is already yanking both from its menu in certain states. Safety first, right?
Déjà Vu for Fast Food? If this sounds familiar, it’s because Chipotle dealt with a similar E. coli disaster in 2015 that tanked sales and kept customers away for years. McDonald’s is hoping to avoid that fate by taking “swift and decisive action,” according to Joe Erlinger, president of McDonald’s USA.
He reassured customers that the Big Mac and other menu staples are still safe to chow down on—but for now, the Quarter Pounder is a no-go in several states, including Colorado, Kansas, and Utah.
The Fallout This outbreak couldn’t come at a worse time for McDonald’s, whose US business has already been struggling with inflation-weary customers and slowing sales.
The company’s shares fell over 6% in after-hours trading as news of the outbreak spread. McDonald’s has built a reputation on its robust food safety practices, but as history has shown with other chains, foodborne illness outbreaks can be hard to shake off.
McDonald’s better hope this stays a small fry problem, or it could have a serious mess on its hands.
Tomorrow’s data dump includes a key player: existing home sales. As the name suggests, it tracks how many single-family homes are being sold and at what price—a great pulse check on the housing market, especially with buyers holding out for lower interest rates to make mortgages more affordable.
Last month’s report showed a 2.5% dip in sales, while prices crept up 3.1%—the 14th straight month of year-over-year price hikes. Fewer sales + higher prices = not great news for buyers, but real estate moves slowly. Economists are crossing their fingers for some positive movement this month.

• Boeing has had a wild ride this year. After the CEO shuffle, a massive machinist strike threw the company into further chaos. The good news? The strike just wrapped up with a tentative deal that leans in favor of the union. Now, shareholders are itching to find out how much damage has been done to the company’s bottom line—and how leadership plans to get back on track. Consensus: -$1.49 EPS, $18.65 billion in revenue. ($BA)

• Tesla has also been riding a rollercoaster, battling a rocky global EV market and a CEO who’s been in the spotlight for all kinds of reasons. With an insanely high valuation, sluggish EV sales, and a CyberCab event that didn’t do much to reassure investors, tomorrow’s earnings report could be a crucial moment. Consensus: $0.61 EPS, $25.52 billion in revenue. ($TSLA)
• IBM, meanwhile, has been a much more stable investment, nearly doubling the S&P 500’s returns this year. AI excitement has fueled most of that growth, even though IBM isn’t growing as fast as its competitors. That said, IBM’s slow but steady gains in both sales and earnings make it a surprising dark horse in the AI race. Consensus: $2.22 EPS, $15.03 billion in revenue. ($IBM)

• US stocks clawed back from early losses but wrapped up the day mixed as investors processed a bond market sell-off and the latest batch of earnings. The S&P 500 and Dow dipped slightly below flat, while the Nasdaq eked out a 0.18% gain—its first positive finish in two days.
• Adding to the tension, the 10-year Treasury yield topped 4.2%, fueling concerns over rising rates. Despite an early slump, stocks pared some of their losses as traders sifted through a busy earnings day, with markets remaining jittery.

• Philip Morris increased 10.47% after reporting third-quarter results that beat expectations. The company also raised its 2024 guidance and showed strength in its smoke-free business. ($PM)
• General Motors jumped 9.81% after the automaker posted better-than-expected third-quarter results and raised its full-year forecast. GM earned an adjusted $2.96 per share on $48.76 billion in revenue, surpassing expectations of $2.43 per share on $44.59 billion. ($GM)
• Quest Diagnostics rallied 6.85% after third-quarter results topped expectations, earning an adjusted $2.30 per share on $2.49 billion in revenue, above forecasts of $2.26 per share on $2.43 billion in revenue. ($DGX)
• Norfolk Southern popped 4.94% after the freight train operator reported earnings and revenue that beat analysts’ expectations. The move marked its best day since July. ($NSC)
• Rivian rose 4.59% despite analysts at JPMorgan Chase expressing concerns that a softening demand could impact full-year deliveries. ($RIVN)
• Charter Communications gained 4.57%. ($CHTR)
• Carvana was up 3.06%. ($CVNA)

• Genuine Parts dropped 20.97% after reporting weaker-than-expected third-quarter earnings of $1.88 per share, falling short of the $2.42 expected by analysts. The company also slashed its full-year forecast. ($GPC)
• GE Aerospace tumbled 9.05% after mixed third-quarter results, with adjusted revenue of $8.94 billion, missing estimates of $9.02 billion. However, earnings per share of $1.15 slightly beat expectations by 1 cent. ($GE)
• Pure Storage fell 7.90%. ($PSTG)
• Walgreens Boots Alliance declined 6.89% following Walmart’s announcement that it will begin delivering prescriptions to doorsteps in six states, expanding to 49 states by January. ($WBA)
• Lockheed Martin slid 6.12% after posting third-quarter revenue of $17.1 billion, which missed expectations of $17.35 billion. However, earnings beat expectations, and the company raised its full-year outlook. ($LMT)
• Verizon dipped 5.03% after posting third-quarter revenue of $33.33 billion, slightly below the $33.43 billion expected. Earnings per share of $1.19 came in just above estimates by 1 cent. ($VZ)
• Dell Technologies slipped 3.85%. ($DELL)
• Snowflake dropped 3.40%. ($SNOW)
• Pinterest was down 3.30%. ($PINS)

The International Monetary Fund (IMF)—aka the global economy’s watchdog—is sounding the alarm on next year’s growth prospects.
The IMF, which keeps tabs on the financial health of its 190 member countries, has cut its global growth forecast to 3.2% for 2025, slightly down from its July estimate.
On the bright side, inflation is cooling, expected to fall to 4.3% from 5.8%. Central banks have managed to tame rising prices without triggering recessions. So, cheers to that…sort of.
Geopolitics: The Wild Card IMF’s Chief Economist, Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, didn’t sugarcoat it: the risks are piling up. With regional conflicts flaring and protectionism on the rise, global markets could take a hit—especially in commodities.
And let’s not forget global debt, which is on track to hit a jaw-dropping $100 trillion by year-end, mostly thanks to big spenders like the US and China. T
he IMF says governments need to tighten their belts, but with pressures to fund climate initiatives and aging populations, that’s easier said than done.
Eurozone Struggles, China Slows The IMF downgraded the Eurozone’s outlook to 1.2%, mostly due to sluggish manufacturing in Germany and Italy. China didn’t fare much better—its growth forecast was slashed too, largely thanks to a shaky real estate market and low consumer confidence.
Though China’s central bank rolled out some new measures, the IMF isn’t convinced they’ll do enough to turn the tide. On the flip side, the US is winning the growth race with an upgraded forecast of 2.8%, riding high on strong consumer spending.
Inflation’s Almost Beat, But… Even with inflation cooling, the global economy isn’t exactly cruising. Rising market volatility, geopolitical uncertainties, and the potential for more aggressive monetary policy loom large.
The IMF gave central banks a pat on the back for avoiding a recession, but the road ahead is still filled with potholes. Emerging markets, in particular, are bracing for more turbulence as debt pressures mount.
In short: inflation might be on the retreat, but don’t pop the champagne just yet. The IMF’s forecast is a reality check that the global economy still has a lot of risks to dodge.

• ☕ Starbucks Sales Fall, Suspends 2025 Outlook: Starbucks saw a 7% decline in same-store sales for the third consecutive quarter, with a 10% drop in North American traffic. The coffee chain has suspended its 2025 outlook and aims to turn things around with its “Back to Starbucks” strategy, focusing on simplifying its menu and improving customer experience. ($SBUX)
• 💰 Paul Tudor Jones Warns of Fiscal Reckoning: Billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones raised alarms about government spending, predicting a sell-off in the bond market post-election. He plans to bet against long-dated bonds and warned of a potential “Minsky moment” in the U.S. debt markets. ($N/A)
• 🚬 Philip Morris Hits All-Time High Amid Zyn Demand: Philip Morris shares reached record highs, driven by the strong demand for its Zyn oral nicotine pouches. Shipments rose nearly 40% in the first nine months of 2024, helping Philip Morris be seen once again as a growth stock. ($PM)
• 🤖 Anthropic Unveils New AI Agents for Complex Tasks: Anthropic, backed by Amazon, introduced AI agents capable of using computers to complete complex tasks, competing with OpenAI and Google. These AI agents are expected to revolutionize productivity, handling multistep tasks like booking flights or filling out forms. ($AMZN)
• 🚚 Amazon to Shut Down Same-Day Delivery Service: Amazon is shutting down its same-day delivery service, Amazon Today, which offered rapid deliveries from mall and retail stores. The service will be fully wound down by January 2025 as part of Amazon’s broader cost-cutting efforts. ($AMZN)
• 👟 Nike Extends NBA Partnership: Nike has renewed its exclusive deal to provide uniforms for the NBA and WNBA until 2037, with the new agreement reportedly “much bigger” than the previous $1B deal. ($NKE)
• 🏦 HSBC Overhauls Global Operations: HSBC is restructuring into eastern and western markets, appointing Pam Kaur as its first female CFO and merging divisions to boost profitability, effective in 2025. ($HSBC)
• 🛏️ Beyond Partners with Kirkland’s for Store Reopenings: Bed Bath & Beyond has secured a $25M deal with Kirkland’s to reopen stores, providing a $17M loan and earning royalties on sales and e-commerce revenue. ($KIRK)
• 🛒 Target Slashes Prices for the Holidays: Target is cutting prices on over 2,000 items to attract holiday shoppers, following earlier reductions on 5,000 products. ($TGT)
• 💡 Europe’s Fintech Alumni Power Startup Boom: European fintech unicorn alumni, including Revolut and Wise, have founded 635 startups, with Klarna alone producing 62, spotlighting the region’s startup ecosystem.

McDonald’s Quarter Pounder has found itself in hot water after being linked to an E. coli outbreak, which has sickened 49 people across 10 states, leaving one person in Colorado dead.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) flagged slivered onions used in the burger as the likely culprit. McDonald’s wasted no time, pulling the Quarter Pounder from restaurants in the affected states to contain the outbreak. Talk about a PR nightmare.
Onion Tears and Bigger Worries It’s not just the onions making people cry. E. coli O157, the strain in question, can cause some nasty symptoms—think severe stomach cramps, and vomiting. Ten people have already been hospitalized, and a child developed a rare complication that can lead to kidney failure.
The CDC is still investigating whether the beef patties or onions are the real issue, but McDonald’s is already yanking both from its menu in certain states. Safety first, right?
Déjà Vu for Fast Food? If this sounds familiar, it’s because Chipotle dealt with a similar E. coli disaster in 2015 that tanked sales and kept customers away for years. McDonald’s is hoping to avoid that fate by taking “swift and decisive action,” according to Joe Erlinger, president of McDonald’s USA.
He reassured customers that the Big Mac and other menu staples are still safe to chow down on—but for now, the Quarter Pounder is a no-go in several states, including Colorado, Kansas, and Utah.
The Fallout This outbreak couldn’t come at a worse time for McDonald’s, whose US business has already been struggling with inflation-weary customers and slowing sales.
The company’s shares fell over 6% in after-hours trading as news of the outbreak spread. McDonald’s has built a reputation on its robust food safety practices, but as history has shown with other chains, foodborne illness outbreaks can be hard to shake off.
McDonald’s better hope this stays a small fry problem, or it could have a serious mess on its hands.
Tomorrow’s data dump includes a key player: existing home sales. As the name suggests, it tracks how many single-family homes are being sold and at what price—a great pulse check on the housing market, especially with buyers holding out for lower interest rates to make mortgages more affordable.
Last month’s report showed a 2.5% dip in sales, while prices crept up 3.1%—the 14th straight month of year-over-year price hikes. Fewer sales + higher prices = not great news for buyers, but real estate moves slowly. Economists are crossing their fingers for some positive movement this month.

• Boeing has had a wild ride this year. After the CEO shuffle, a massive machinist strike threw the company into further chaos. The good news? The strike just wrapped up with a tentative deal that leans in favor of the union. Now, shareholders are itching to find out how much damage has been done to the company’s bottom line—and how leadership plans to get back on track. Consensus: -$1.49 EPS, $18.65 billion in revenue. ($BA)

• Tesla has also been riding a rollercoaster, battling a rocky global EV market and a CEO who’s been in the spotlight for all kinds of reasons. With an insanely high valuation, sluggish EV sales, and a CyberCab event that didn’t do much to reassure investors, tomorrow’s earnings report could be a crucial moment. Consensus: $0.61 EPS, $25.52 billion in revenue. ($TSLA)
• IBM, meanwhile, has been a much more stable investment, nearly doubling the S&P 500’s returns this year. AI excitement has fueled most of that growth, even though IBM isn’t growing as fast as its competitors. That said, IBM’s slow but steady gains in both sales and earnings make it a surprising dark horse in the AI race. Consensus: $2.22 EPS, $15.03 billion in revenue. ($IBM)

• US stocks clawed back from early losses but wrapped up the day mixed as investors processed a bond market sell-off and the latest batch of earnings. The S&P 500 and Dow dipped slightly below flat, while the Nasdaq eked out a 0.18% gain—its first positive finish in two days.
• Adding to the tension, the 10-year Treasury yield topped 4.2%, fueling concerns over rising rates. Despite an early slump, stocks pared some of their losses as traders sifted through a busy earnings day, with markets remaining jittery.

• Philip Morris increased 10.47% after reporting third-quarter results that beat expectations. The company also raised its 2024 guidance and showed strength in its smoke-free business. ($PM)
• General Motors jumped 9.81% after the automaker posted better-than-expected third-quarter results and raised its full-year forecast. GM earned an adjusted $2.96 per share on $48.76 billion in revenue, surpassing expectations of $2.43 per share on $44.59 billion. ($GM)
• Quest Diagnostics rallied 6.85% after third-quarter results topped expectations, earning an adjusted $2.30 per share on $2.49 billion in revenue, above forecasts of $2.26 per share on $2.43 billion in revenue. ($DGX)
• Norfolk Southern popped 4.94% after the freight train operator reported earnings and revenue that beat analysts’ expectations. The move marked its best day since July. ($NSC)
• Rivian rose 4.59% despite analysts at JPMorgan Chase expressing concerns that a softening demand could impact full-year deliveries. ($RIVN)
• Charter Communications gained 4.57%. ($CHTR)
• Carvana was up 3.06%. ($CVNA)

• Genuine Parts dropped 20.97% after reporting weaker-than-expected third-quarter earnings of $1.88 per share, falling short of the $2.42 expected by analysts. The company also slashed its full-year forecast. ($GPC)
• GE Aerospace tumbled 9.05% after mixed third-quarter results, with adjusted revenue of $8.94 billion, missing estimates of $9.02 billion. However, earnings per share of $1.15 slightly beat expectations by 1 cent. ($GE)
• Pure Storage fell 7.90%. ($PSTG)
• Walgreens Boots Alliance declined 6.89% following Walmart’s announcement that it will begin delivering prescriptions to doorsteps in six states, expanding to 49 states by January. ($WBA)
• Lockheed Martin slid 6.12% after posting third-quarter revenue of $17.1 billion, which missed expectations of $17.35 billion. However, earnings beat expectations, and the company raised its full-year outlook. ($LMT)
• Verizon dipped 5.03% after posting third-quarter revenue of $33.33 billion, slightly below the $33.43 billion expected. Earnings per share of $1.19 came in just above estimates by 1 cent. ($VZ)
• Dell Technologies slipped 3.85%. ($DELL)
• Snowflake dropped 3.40%. ($SNOW)
• Pinterest was down 3.30%. ($PINS)

The International Monetary Fund (IMF)—aka the global economy’s watchdog—is sounding the alarm on next year’s growth prospects.
The IMF, which keeps tabs on the financial health of its 190 member countries, has cut its global growth forecast to 3.2% for 2025, slightly down from its July estimate.
On the bright side, inflation is cooling, expected to fall to 4.3% from 5.8%. Central banks have managed to tame rising prices without triggering recessions. So, cheers to that…sort of.
Geopolitics: The Wild Card IMF’s Chief Economist, Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, didn’t sugarcoat it: the risks are piling up. With regional conflicts flaring and protectionism on the rise, global markets could take a hit—especially in commodities.
And let’s not forget global debt, which is on track to hit a jaw-dropping $100 trillion by year-end, mostly thanks to big spenders like the US and China. T
he IMF says governments need to tighten their belts, but with pressures to fund climate initiatives and aging populations, that’s easier said than done.
Eurozone Struggles, China Slows The IMF downgraded the Eurozone’s outlook to 1.2%, mostly due to sluggish manufacturing in Germany and Italy. China didn’t fare much better—its growth forecast was slashed too, largely thanks to a shaky real estate market and low consumer confidence.
Though China’s central bank rolled out some new measures, the IMF isn’t convinced they’ll do enough to turn the tide. On the flip side, the US is winning the growth race with an upgraded forecast of 2.8%, riding high on strong consumer spending.
Inflation’s Almost Beat, But… Even with inflation cooling, the global economy isn’t exactly cruising. Rising market volatility, geopolitical uncertainties, and the potential for more aggressive monetary policy loom large.
The IMF gave central banks a pat on the back for avoiding a recession, but the road ahead is still filled with potholes. Emerging markets, in particular, are bracing for more turbulence as debt pressures mount.
In short: inflation might be on the retreat, but don’t pop the champagne just yet. The IMF’s forecast is a reality check that the global economy still has a lot of risks to dodge.

• ☕ Starbucks Sales Fall, Suspends 2025 Outlook: Starbucks saw a 7% decline in same-store sales for the third consecutive quarter, with a 10% drop in North American traffic. The coffee chain has suspended its 2025 outlook and aims to turn things around with its “Back to Starbucks” strategy, focusing on simplifying its menu and improving customer experience. ($SBUX)
• 💰 Paul Tudor Jones Warns of Fiscal Reckoning: Billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones raised alarms about government spending, predicting a sell-off in the bond market post-election. He plans to bet against long-dated bonds and warned of a potential “Minsky moment” in the U.S. debt markets. ($N/A)
• 🚬 Philip Morris Hits All-Time High Amid Zyn Demand: Philip Morris shares reached record highs, driven by the strong demand for its Zyn oral nicotine pouches. Shipments rose nearly 40% in the first nine months of 2024, helping Philip Morris be seen once again as a growth stock. ($PM)
• 🤖 Anthropic Unveils New AI Agents for Complex Tasks: Anthropic, backed by Amazon, introduced AI agents capable of using computers to complete complex tasks, competing with OpenAI and Google. These AI agents are expected to revolutionize productivity, handling multistep tasks like booking flights or filling out forms. ($AMZN)
• 🚚 Amazon to Shut Down Same-Day Delivery Service: Amazon is shutting down its same-day delivery service, Amazon Today, which offered rapid deliveries from mall and retail stores. The service will be fully wound down by January 2025 as part of Amazon’s broader cost-cutting efforts. ($AMZN)
• 👟 Nike Extends NBA Partnership: Nike has renewed its exclusive deal to provide uniforms for the NBA and WNBA until 2037, with the new agreement reportedly “much bigger” than the previous $1B deal. ($NKE)
• 🏦 HSBC Overhauls Global Operations: HSBC is restructuring into eastern and western markets, appointing Pam Kaur as its first female CFO and merging divisions to boost profitability, effective in 2025. ($HSBC)
• 🛏️ Beyond Partners with Kirkland’s for Store Reopenings: Bed Bath & Beyond has secured a $25M deal with Kirkland’s to reopen stores, providing a $17M loan and earning royalties on sales and e-commerce revenue. ($KIRK)
• 🛒 Target Slashes Prices for the Holidays: Target is cutting prices on over 2,000 items to attract holiday shoppers, following earlier reductions on 5,000 products. ($TGT)
• 💡 Europe’s Fintech Alumni Power Startup Boom: European fintech unicorn alumni, including Revolut and Wise, have founded 635 startups, with Klarna alone producing 62, spotlighting the region’s startup ecosystem.

McDonald’s Quarter Pounder has found itself in hot water after being linked to an E. coli outbreak, which has sickened 49 people across 10 states, leaving one person in Colorado dead.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) flagged slivered onions used in the burger as the likely culprit. McDonald’s wasted no time, pulling the Quarter Pounder from restaurants in the affected states to contain the outbreak. Talk about a PR nightmare.
Onion Tears and Bigger Worries It’s not just the onions making people cry. E. coli O157, the strain in question, can cause some nasty symptoms—think severe stomach cramps, and vomiting. Ten people have already been hospitalized, and a child developed a rare complication that can lead to kidney failure.
The CDC is still investigating whether the beef patties or onions are the real issue, but McDonald’s is already yanking both from its menu in certain states. Safety first, right?
Déjà Vu for Fast Food? If this sounds familiar, it’s because Chipotle dealt with a similar E. coli disaster in 2015 that tanked sales and kept customers away for years. McDonald’s is hoping to avoid that fate by taking “swift and decisive action,” according to Joe Erlinger, president of McDonald’s USA.
He reassured customers that the Big Mac and other menu staples are still safe to chow down on—but for now, the Quarter Pounder is a no-go in several states, including Colorado, Kansas, and Utah.
The Fallout This outbreak couldn’t come at a worse time for McDonald’s, whose US business has already been struggling with inflation-weary customers and slowing sales.
The company’s shares fell over 6% in after-hours trading as news of the outbreak spread. McDonald’s has built a reputation on its robust food safety practices, but as history has shown with other chains, foodborne illness outbreaks can be hard to shake off.
McDonald’s better hope this stays a small fry problem, or it could have a serious mess on its hands.
Tomorrow’s data dump includes a key player: existing home sales. As the name suggests, it tracks how many single-family homes are being sold and at what price—a great pulse check on the housing market, especially with buyers holding out for lower interest rates to make mortgages more affordable.
Last month’s report showed a 2.5% dip in sales, while prices crept up 3.1%—the 14th straight month of year-over-year price hikes. Fewer sales + higher prices = not great news for buyers, but real estate moves slowly. Economists are crossing their fingers for some positive movement this month.

• Boeing has had a wild ride this year. After the CEO shuffle, a massive machinist strike threw the company into further chaos. The good news? The strike just wrapped up with a tentative deal that leans in favor of the union. Now, shareholders are itching to find out how much damage has been done to the company’s bottom line—and how leadership plans to get back on track. Consensus: -$1.49 EPS, $18.65 billion in revenue. ($BA)

• Tesla has also been riding a rollercoaster, battling a rocky global EV market and a CEO who’s been in the spotlight for all kinds of reasons. With an insanely high valuation, sluggish EV sales, and a CyberCab event that didn’t do much to reassure investors, tomorrow’s earnings report could be a crucial moment. Consensus: $0.61 EPS, $25.52 billion in revenue. ($TSLA)
• IBM, meanwhile, has been a much more stable investment, nearly doubling the S&P 500’s returns this year. AI excitement has fueled most of that growth, even though IBM isn’t growing as fast as its competitors. That said, IBM’s slow but steady gains in both sales and earnings make it a surprising dark horse in the AI race. Consensus: $2.22 EPS, $15.03 billion in revenue. ($IBM)

\Note: this article was originally published before the Thursday Night Football game (Broncos-Saints).*
Welcome back to the Rookie Report! We are already a third of the way through the NFL season. Time flies when you’re having fun, right? The truth is a lot of us are not having fun this year dealing with what feels like a never-ending avalanche of injuries. I feel like I’m talking about this every week, but every week there have been more back-breaking injuries that have to be worked around. This week it’s Chris Olave, and Rashid Shaheed, and Marvin Harrison Jr., and Dallas Goedert, and Travis Etienne. As crushing as those injuries can be, the NFL season marches on. We don’t have time to dwell on the players we don’t have. We need to be able to pivot and move on.
The silver lining here at the Rookie Report is that all of these injuries continue to make more and more rookies relevant each week. This week’s report touches on 4 QBs, 15 RBs, 20 WRs, and 5 TEs. I’ve been doing this Rookie Report since 2012, and this may be the most rookies I’ve ever written about in one week. We’ve got a lot to get through, so let’s get down to business.
A couple of housekeeping notes for the players listed below – All players listed under the same header at the same position are listed in the order that I would play them this week. All usage rates (snap share, target rate, air yardage share, etc.) are from the MB Fantasy Life Utilization Tool from Dwain McFarland, and all references to fantasy points and points allowed rankings are based on half-PPR scoring unless otherwise noted.
Let’s get into week 7…
Rookies You Already Know You Should Start:
QB Jayden Daniels, WAS (Wk. 7: vs. Car.): You already know what to do here. Daniels has scored 20+ fantasy points in all but one game this season, and he gets to face one of the worst defenses in the league this week. Carolina ranks 31^st in FTN’s pass defense DVOA and has allowed the 12^th-most QB points per game. He can’t be on your bench if you have him.
WR Malik Nabers, NYG (Wk. 7: vs. Phi.): Nabers has missed two consecutive games due to a concussion, and he’s still the WR12 in total points for the year. He’s already been cleared to return this week, and if he’s back in the lineup, he should be back in yours. Nabers had logged 3 straight top-6 PPR finishes before getting hurt, and the Eagles have allowed the 6^th-most WR points per game on the year.
TE Brock Bowers, LV (Wk. 7: @ LAR): For Bowers, the Raiders’ change at QB was a non-issue in week 6. Bowers logged his 4^th top-5 PPR finish of the season in O’Connell’s first start, and with the news that Davante Adams is now gone to New York, Bowers should be the de facto WR1 in this offense going forward. That was probably already the case, but he no longer has the return of Adams looming over him. Will there still be a down game now and then? I’m sure there will, but he’s a player who should be plugged into your lineup every week. This week he faces a Rams’ defense that has allowed the 2^nd-most TE points per game. The Rams have allowed a tight end to hit 40+ yards in 4 of their 5 games this season, and Bowers demands a higher target share than just about every other tight end they’ve faced.
Borderline Rookies I’d Lean Toward Starting:
QB Drake Maye, NE (Wk. 7: @ Jax.): Maye made quite an impression in his first NFL start. We were all hopeful he’d give the Patriots’ passing game a much-needed spark, and he certainly came through. Jacoby Brissett’s season-high passing yardage mark this season was 168 yards, and he had totals of just 2 passing TDs and 49 rushing yards for the year. Maye eclipsed all of those numbers in just 1 game, throwing for 243 yards and 3 scores last Sunday, while adding 50 rushing yards to boot. I don’t expect Maye to duplicate last week’s performance every week, but the arrow for this passing game is clearly pointing up, and they get a fantastic matchup in week 7. Jacksonville ranks dead last in pass defense DVOA, and they’ve allowed each of the last 4 QBs they’ve faced to tally 23+ fantasy points. Deshaun Watson is the only QB this year to finish worse than QB9 against the Jaguars. I wouldn’t immediately rank Maye in the top-10 QBs this week, but he’s should be treated as at least a mid-range QB2.
QB Bo Nix, DEN (Wk. 7: @ NO): I’d only think about Nix in 2-QB and superflex leagues this week, but I think he’s worth consideration Thursday night in those formats. His performances so far haven’t been pretty to watch. Often the passing numbers are abysmal – he’s yet to hit 250 passing yards in a game and has averaged fewer than 4 yards per attempt twice, and the team is averaging just 18.7 points per game (8^th-lowest in the league) – but Nix keeps willing his way into decent fantasy performances. The rookie has now posted back-to-back top-10 finishes, and has only turned the ball over once in his last 4 games. He’s also averaging 6 points of rushing production per week, giving him a decent floor even when the passing numbers are bad. The matchup this week looks tough on paper. The Saints allow the 9^th-fewest QB points per game and rank 8^th in pass defense DVOA, but they’ve given up plenty of passing yards. New Orleans has allowed 290 or more passing yards in 4 of their last 5 games. If Nix can finally hit 250 and keep his solid rushing floor, he’s going to creep his way into the QB2 ranks pretty easily.
RB Tyrone Tracy, NYG (Wk. 7: vs. Phi.): Tracy’s outlook this week is once again going to be dependent on whether Devin Singletary gets cleared to return. Singletary is practicing in a limited capacity, but he did the same last week and eventually sat. If Devin sits again, Tracy should again serve as the RB1 in a matchup that’s better than you might think. The Eagles have allowed the 13^th-fewest RB points per game, but that’s largely because they haven’t let any running backs get into the end zone. Bucky Irving is the only RB to score a TD against Philly this year, but they’ve allowed the 9^th most RB rushing yards per game and 9^th-most RB receiving yards per game, and rank a paltry 29^th in run defense DVOA. This is a team that can be run on, and I expect Tracy to have success if he gets the starting nod. I’d view him as a borderline top-20 play in that scenario. If Singletary returns, I think Tracy will play a lot more than he was playing prior to the Singletary injury, and may still be able to find his way to a passable RB3 performance. He’s a good starting option if Singletary is out, and a dicey one if Singletary plays.
WR Brian Thomas, Jr., JAX (Wk. 7: vs. NE): Thomas predictably had a bit of a down week last Sunday in London against a tough Bears’ defense, but there’s no reason to overreact to one bad game. If Thomas had posted another strong outing against the Bears, he would’ve graduated to the section above, but we’ll keep him closer to the borderline for now. The rookie is still the PPR WR14 on the season and gets a much more favorable matchup this weekend (again in London). New England is a middling WR defense, allowing the 17^th-most WR points per game, but they rank just 27^th in pass defense DVOA. Thomas is likely to draw shadow coverage from Christian Gonzalez in this game, but that hasn’t been a huge hinderance to the other receivers he’s shadowed. Gonzalez has been targeted on 27% of his coverage snaps and the Patriots have allowed the 9^th-most fantasy points to perimeter WRs this season. I’m not sure I’d pencil BTJ in for his 3^rd top-10 finish in the last 4 weeks, but he should be a solid WR2 option against the Pats.
WR Marvin Harrison, Jr., ARI (Wk. 7: vs. LAC): If you’ve been starting Harrison every week this year, he’s now burned you 3 times in 6 games, but it’s hard to blame him for the concussion last weekend. There’s not much he could’ve done to give you production from the blue medical tent. In spite of the down weeks, and in spite of his tough matchup this week (the Chargers allow the 6^th-fewest WR points per game), I’m recommending you go back to the well again this week if Harrison is able to get cleared. He was practicing in a non-contact jersey as of Thursday, so there’s a good chance he’s able to suit up this week. Harrison has finished as a top-24 PPR WR in 3 of his last 4 healthy games, and he’s had a 24% or higher target share and 33% or higher air yardage share in each of them. He’s getting excellent usage that should continue this week, and it’s hard to view him as any worse than a WR3 if he’s able to play. One word of caution here – Harrison doesn’t play until Monday night and still has a questionable tag. If you’re planning to start him, make sure he’s cleared or that you have a contingency plan ready to go in case he’s not able to play. In a perfect world, you’ll have him in a flex spot and give yourself some flexibility. There are 2 Monday night games this week, so anyone on the Chargers, Cardinals, Ravens, or Bucs could be used as your contingency.
WR Xavier Legette, CAR (Wk. 7: @ Was.): This is shaping up to a week that could be Legette’s best of the season. The Panthers have been missing Diontae Johnson in practice all week and they face one of the worst secondaries in the league on Sunday in Washington. I don’t know if Diontae’s absences are truly due to the injuries or due to waiting on a trade to come together, but either way, if Johnson misses this game, Legette would serve as the de facto WR1 against a Washington defense allowing 18.3 fantasy PPG to opposing WR1s. His production hasn’t been overwhelming the last two weeks, but this is a get-right matchup. I think he’s a solid WR3 if Diontae sits. If Diontae plays, I think I’d still be fine leaving Legette in this section, but I’d move him to the bottom of it and rank him behind McConkey, Worthy, and Whittington.
WR Ladd McConkey, LAC (Wk. 7: @ Ari.): McConkey continued to get the kind of usage most receivers can only dream of last weekend, logging an 85% route participation rate and earning a 25% or better target share for the 4th time in 5 games (he was at 21% in the other game). The problem for McConkey is team passing volume. He’s emerged as Justin Herbert’s favorite target, but the Chargers rank dead last in pass attempts per game. In games where the Chargers are underdogs or face good WR matchups, McConkey will be a solid PPR WR3 play. In games where they’re favored and/or face tough matchups, he probably won’t be. This week he gets a favorable matchup. The point spread is just 2.5 points, so game script should remain somewhat neutral, and the Cardinals have allowed the 8^th-most WR points per game and rank 28^th in pass defense DVOA. The Cards have been more vulnerable on the perimeter than in the slot, but I expect McConkey’s steady weekly target share to give him a great opportunity at a WR3 performance in this one.
WR Xavier Worthy, KC (Wk. 7: @ SF): Worthy remains a boom-or-bust fantasy option, but as expected, the absence of Rashee Rice has cut down on that volatility a little bit. Worthy has now logged an 80% route participation rate or higher in each of the last 2 games, and though he hasn’t been heavily targeted, he’s still finished as a WR3 or better in each of those 2 contests. He could finally see his target share start to tick upward this week after JuJu Smith-Schuster was added to the injury report Thursday with a hamstring issue. JuJu led the Chiefs’ WRs in targets in their last game. Worthy’s limited route tree makes it tough for him to become a true target hog, but the JuJu injury is just another layer added to the rookie’s floor. The 49ers are a formidable matchup – they allow the 13^th-fewest WR points per game and rank 3^rd in pass defense DVOA, but I like Worthy’s chances to find his way to another WR3 day, and his speed always gives him a ceiling beyond that.
WR Jordan Whittington, LAR (Wk. 7: vs. LV): Whittington’s outlook could hit a snag this week if Cooper Kupp is able to return, but if Kupp remains out, I like Whittington to post a 3^rd straight solid game. In the last two games before the Rams’ bye last weekend, Whittington had earned 18 total targets and posted 12+ PPR points in each game. He’s effectively been the WR1 in the last two games for LA, and while the Raiders have allowed the 9^th-fewest WR points per game, they also rank just 24^th in pass defense DVOA. I’d treat Whittington as a stable WR3 this week if Kupp sits, albeit one without a huge ceiling. If Kupp comes back, all bets are off, as Whittington could find himself splitting snaps with Tutu Atwell rather than playing a full-time role.
Borderline Rookies I’d Lean Toward Sitting:
QB Spencer Rattler, NO (Wk. 7: vs. Den.): I believed Rattler had sneaky upside last week because he had strong weapons and a good matchup, and he put up a respectable performance in spite of Chris Olave being injured right out of the gate, finishing as the QB20 for the week with 243 passing yards and a TD. I don’t believe that same upside exists this week. The Saints will be without both Olave and Rashid Shaheed on Thursday night, and Denver is a much tougher matchup. The Broncos have held 4 of the 6 QBs they’ve faced below 200 passing yards, and they’ve held 5 of 6 below 2 total TDs and 14 fantasy points (Rattler scored 14.4 last weekend). Spencer will be hard-pressed to match what he did on Sunday. He’s a bottom-of-the-barrel option this week among starting QBs. Patrick Surtain being out for this one is a small bump for Rattler, but he’s still just a fringe QB2 at best.
RB Bucky Irving, TB (Wk. 7: vs. Bal.): There is probably no harder backfield in the NFL to figure out than the one in Tampa Bay. Irving and Rachaad White have been part of a 2-man committee all year, with Irving slowly creeping closer to an even split with the incumbent starter, but week 6 threw a big wrench into this situation. That wrench is named Sean Tucker. White was sidelined with an injury last weekend, and rather than Irving taking over a workhorse role, he split the backfield with Tucker, and Tucker made the most of his opportunity. Both Irving and Tucker finished the week as RB1s, but Tucker finished it as THE RB1 after putting up 192 scrimmage yards and 2 TDs. It appears as though White is going to return this week, and if he does, head coach Todd Bowles has said this that all 3 backs will play and he’ll take the dreaded ‘hot hand’ approach to sorting out the backfield. In this matchup, it’s possible that no one develops the hot hand against a Baltimore defense that has allowed just 45 RB rushing yards per game. The Ravens rank 4^th in run defense DVOA and have only allowed 2 backs all year to reach 10 fantasy points against them. Even if the Bucs go back to Irving and White splitting the backfield work, and Tucker fades into the background again, it’s hard to be confident in either guy posting better than an RB3 day, and that’s if they find their way into the end zone.
RB Ray Davis, BUF (Wk. 7: vs. Ten.): Davis put on a show on Monday night while James Cook was sidelined by a toe injury, leading the Bills in both rushing and receiving while finishing as the RB14 for the week. He faces a stiff test this week against a Titans’ defense that allows the 10^th-fewest RB points per game and ranks 6^th in run defense DVOA, but I would still be telling you to start him if I was convinced that he’d have the lead role to himself. James Cook practiced in full on Thursday, so I’d be very surprised if he’s inactive again. That means Davis returns to splitting the backup work with Ty Johnson. I think Davis showed enough last week that he could carve out a bigger role going forward, but not big enough to be a strong lineup option in a tough matchup like this one. If you have to start him, you’re just praying he gets a couple cracks at the goal line.
RB Jaylen Wright, MIA (Wk. 7: @ Ind.): Wright had his best game of the season in week 5 ahead of Miami’s bye last week after De’Von Achane suffered an early game concussion. Wright still played behind Raheem Mostert, logging just a 34% snap share and 34% rush attempt share in that game, but he found a lot more success than Mostert, piling up 86 rushing yards on 13 carries. Unfortunately for Wright, it appears that Achane is in line to return this week, which pushes Wright into a 3-headed backfield at best. I’m not convinced he’ll play ahead of Mostert as the RB2 (if Achane is back) despite the strong performance the last time out. If Achane isn’t able to get cleared though, Wright has some flex appeal against an Indy defense that has allowed the 2^nd-most rushing yards per game behind only the Rams.
RB Braelon Allen, NYJ (Wk. 7: @ Pit.): I was enthused for Allen last week as the Jets took on one the worst running back fantasy defenses in the league, but the Jets’ change in play caller seems to have derailed that enthusiasm. Allen played just 19% of the snaps in week 6 – his lowest snap share since week 1 – and was limited to just 3 carries and 2 targets. It’ll be hard to trust that Allen will get a big enough share of the work going forward to be a flex option until we see it happen with Todd Downing calling the plays. Keep him parked on the bench against a Pittsburgh defense allowing the 8^th-fewest RB points per game.
RB Carson Steele, KC (Wk. 7: @ SF): Steele has been limited to just a 19% snap share in each of the two games Kansas City has played since signing Kareem Hunt. Steele would’ve played more in week 4, but he lost a fumble and was sent to the bench. After the game, Andy Reid said the team still had confidence in Steele and that he ‘isn’t a fumbler.’ Then he lost another fumble in week 5, and again spent most of the game on the bench. Steele is likely coming out of the bye comfortably behind Hunt and Samaje Perine on the depth chart. He might be behind Clyde Edwards-Helaire at this point too.
WR Keon Coleman, BUF (Wk. 7: vs. Ten.): Coleman has been largely underwhelming through the season’s first 6 weeks. He came in as a 1^st round pick to a WR room with no clear leader, and he’s struggled to separate himself from the pack (and also from cornerbacks). Coleman has finished as a top-40 PPR receiver just once in his first 6 games, and this week the Bills decided to go out and trade for that WR room leader that they’ve been missing in Amari Cooper. Coleman already has just a 14% target share on the year. It’s hard to envision that drastically going up once Cooper gets integrated. This week’s opponent, the Titans, have allowed the 2^nd-fewest WR points per game, so I’d view it as a bad week to expect Coleman to get on track. I’d treat him as a WR5 this week.
WR Ja’Lynn Pok, NE (Wk. 7: @ Jax.): The first start of Drake Maye didn’t bring the boost for Polk that we were hoping for last weekend. He lost playing time to Kayshon Boutte and Kendrick Bourne (Polk saw his route participation rate drop from 97% to 69% while Boutte’s rate went up 17% and Bourne’s jumped by 25%). Polk also saw his target share go in the wrong direction. He had totaled 13 targets in weeks 4 & 5, and was down to just 3 in week 6 as Demario Douglas emerged as Maye’s go-to receiver. Polk was even called out by his head coach Jerod Mayo after the game. Mayo said Polk needs to eliminate the dropped passes, be better at blocking, and work harder…not exactly things you want to hear about your fantasy WRs. In spite of all that, Polk has a chance to bounce back against the Jaguars’ terrible secondary. Jacksonville allows the 2^nd-most WR points per game and ranks dead last in pass defense DVOA. I still think I’d be hesitant to fire him up this week given the way other receivers on the team are stepping up.
TE Ja’Tavion Sanders, CAR (Wk. 7: @ Was.): Sanders set a new season-high fantasy point total for the 3^rd straight game in week 6, but that peak game was good enough for just a TE16 finish. He tallied 5 catches for 49 yards on 7 targets. If Tommy Tremble is out again this week with the concussion he suffered in week 4, Sanders is a viable option if you’re looking for a fringe TE1. He’s playing close to a full-time role, and there’s enough passing volume for him to be a factor. The Commanders are a bad pass defense, ranking 29^th in pass defense DVOA, but they’ve been much more vulnerable to receivers than tight ends. They’ve coughed up the 12^th-fewest TE points per game. I’m still not quite ready to say you should be starting Sanders in 1-TE formats, especially in this matchup. If Tommy Tremble is able to play, Sanders shouldn’t even be considered.
TE Theo Johnson, NYG (Wk. 7: vs. Phi.): Johnson has benefitted the last two weeks from the absence of Malik Nabers, putting up stat lines of 5-48 and 3-30 without Nabers around to hog all of the targets. Nabers will return this week, which should leave Theo as an afterthought in the passing game as he was earlier in the year. Theo has shown himself to be a passable TE2 if you’re in a pinch when Nabers is out, but the matchup this week is rough even if Nabers weren’t able to return. The Eagles have allowed the 2^nd-fewest TE points per game.
Rookies You Already Know You Should Sit:
RB Jonathan Brooks, CAR (Wk. 7: @ Was.):Brooks has returned to practice this week and has a realistic chance of making his season debut on Sunday, but Chuba Hubbard has just been too good to be pushed to the bench. Hubbard finished as the PPR RB16 last weekend after posting 3 consecutive top-7 finishes in the weeks prior. Hubbard is basically an RB1 right now, and he’s going to continue to handle the bulk of the backfield work until we see some slippage. Brooks will likely be eased in at first and could eventually work his way up to a 30-40% share of the work over the next few weeks. If Hubbard gets injured or falters at any point, it could open the door to Brooks taking over the lead back role, but until that happens, Brooks’ ceiling is as the team RB2. I wouldn’t expect more than a few touches this week if Brooks is active.
RB Blake Corum, LAR (Wk. 7: vs. LV): Corum finally moved ahead of Ronnie Rivers into the Rams’ RB2 role in week 5 ahead of the bye, but it didn’t lead to significant production. Corum was on the field for just 14% of the team snaps behind Kyren Williams. He carried the ball 5 times and was targeted once, and he finished with 33 scrimmage yards on the day. Corum did get stopped at the goal line a couple of times in that contest, only to watch Kyren Williams ultimately score the TD. The climb up the depth chart is good news for Corum, but this is still Kyren’s backfield. The Raiders are a weak run defense, ranking 28^th in run defense DVOA, but it’ll likely have to be a lopsided score for the rookie back to get more than a handful of touches in this one. He’s no more than a desperation play this week.
RB Trey Benson, ARI (Wk. 7: vs. LAC): There was a chance for Benson to move up a bit this week after James Conner left last week’s contest with an ankle injury, but Conner is practicing in full as of Thursday and should be good to go Monday night. Even with Conner sitting for the majority of last weekend’s game, Benson played just 18% of the offensive snaps. The Cardinals will continue to roll with Emari Demercado in negative game scripts, making Benson an afterthought. The Cardinals are 2.5-point underdogs this week, so perhaps they keep this one close and are able to keep running, but Conner’s health means Benson probably only gets a handful of carries if they do. The Chargers have allowed the 4^th-fewest RB points per game for the season and rank 7^th in run defense DVOA.
RB Marshawn Lloyd, GB (Wk. 7: vs. Hou.): Lloyd is eligible to return from IR this week, so he may be worth a stash in deep leagues, but it’s going to take time for him to work himself back into the rotation here. Emmanuel Wilson has performed admirably as the RB2, averaging 5 yards per carry behind Josh Jacobs. Lloyd isn’t going to just be handed his spot on the depth chart upon his return.
RB Audric Estime, DEN (Wk. 7: @ NO): Estime returned from injured reserve last week, but he returned as the team’s clear RB3 and played just 2 snaps while Javonte Williams and Jaleel McLaughlin played 36 and 13, respectively. Estime can’t be started until we see that role grow.
RB Terrell Jennings, NE (Wk. 7: @ Jax.): You may not have heard of Jennings before – he’s a UDFA out of Florida A&M – but he was a part of the Patriots’ running back rotation last weekend with Rhamondre Stevenson sidelined. He played 22% of the snaps and logged 5 carries for 13 yards. Jennings essentially served as the change of pace back on early downs behind Antonio Gibson while JaMycal Hasty served that role on passing downs. If Rhamondre misses another game, I’d expect Jennings to have a similar role, but it isn’t one that’s likely to lead to fantasy goodness, even in a good matchup against the Jaguars.
RB Dylan Laube, LV (Wk. 7: @ LAR): Laube finally played his first snap of the season in week 6…and he fumbled on that one snap. It might be a while before he plays his second.
WR Luke McCaffrey, WAS (Wk. 7: vs. Car.): The return of Noah Brown in week 6 meant McCaffrey was once again relegated to the muddled WR 3/4/5 range on this team with Olamide Zaccheaus and Dyami Brown. McCaffrey still hasn’t reached 4 targets in any game this year, and he’s hit 15 or more air yards in a game just once. He needs volume to be relevant on his short targets, and that volume just isn’t there, even in a good matchup with a bad Panthers’ defense.
WR Jalen McMillan, TB (Wk. 7: vs. Bal.): McMillan returned from injury in week 6, but he did not return to his pre-injury role. Jalen logged route participation rates of 80% or higher in each of the first 3 games of the season, but that number was at 15% in week 6 as Sterling Shepard was at 83%. There’s a chance we see some of that work shift back to McMillan this week, but it’s not something I would rely on for fantasy lineups. The Ravens do allow the most WR points per game, but I’d still keep McMillan parked on the bench.
WR Ricky Pearsall, SF (Wk. 7: vs. KC): Pearsall’s practice window is officially open this week as he works his way back from an IR stint for a gunshot wound. It’s possible he could be active as soon as this week, but the top 3 receivers in this offense are so well established, it’s going to take time for the 1^st-round pick to carve out any sort of meaningful role. In the past 3 games, WRs not named Brandon Aiyuk, Deebo Samuel, or Jauan Jennings have run a total of 15 routes. There is a sliver of hope here as Jennings and Deebo are both questionable this week (Deebo is practicing as of Thursday, Jennings is not). If one or both of those players sit and Pearsall is active, he could serve as a starter and have a path to a handful of targets, but there’s no guarantee he plays a large role even in that scenario.
WR Adonai Mitchell. IND (Wk. 7: vs. Mia.): Mitchell’s opportunity for a breakout game in week 6 went by the wayside when Josh Downs was able to play with a toe injury and Michael Pittman Jr. miraculously recovered from a hamstring injury that had the team considering an IR stint for him. Instead of getting a chance as the WR2 in a high-volume Joe Flacco attack, he was relegated to his usual WR4 role. Mitchell was in a route on just 28% of the team dropbacks. The ball has come his way when he’s on the field – he’s getting open consistently and has been targeted on 30% or more of his routes in 4 straight games – but he’s not playing enough for that to matter. The outlook gets even worse for him this week. Anthony Richardson returns, lowering the passing volume substantially, and he faces a Miami defense that allows the 3^rd-fewest WR points per game.
WR Roman Wilson, PIT (Wk. 7: vs. NYJ): Wilson was a healthy scratch in week 5, and was limited to just 1 route run in his NFL debut in week 6. I’d view it as a win if he’s able to get to a handful of routes run this week.
WR Jermaine Burton, CIN (Wk. 7: @ Cle.): Over the last 4 weeks, Burton has gone from running 3 routes, to 2 routes, to 1, and then was a healthy scratch last Sunday night. I don’t expect he’ll be a healthy scratch every week, but he’s a long way off of being relevant right now.
TE Erick All, CIN (Wk. 7: @ Cle.): All hit a season-high 40% route participation rate in week 6, but for the 2^nd week in a row, he was targeted on less than 15% or his routes. He had some TE2 appeal when he was racking up targets on his limited snaps, but the re-emergence of Tee Higgins seems to have deflated those target numbers. This week’s matchup isn’t a good one for tight ends anyway, as the Browns have allowed the 6^th-fewest TE points per game.
TE Ben Sinnott, WAS (Wk. 7: vs. Car.): I’m going to repeat a popular refrain I’ve had for Sinnott this season…the next target he sees will be his first. The K-State product was the second tight end off the board in the NFL draft in April, but through 6 NFL games, he’s run just 35 targetless routes.
Deep League Sleepers and Stashes:
RB Isaac Guerendo, SF (Wk. 7: vs. KC): Guerendo is an intriguing option this week if Jordan Mason’s shoulder injury keeps him sidelined. Mason is practicing in a limited capacity early in the week, but keep tabs on the injury report here. After Mason departed last Thursday, Guerendo split snaps evenly with Patrick Taylor, but it was Guerendo’s breakaway 76-yard run to help seal the game that stole the show. I’d expect him to lead the backfield if Mason can’t play. The matchup is a tough one – KC allows the fewest RB points per game and ranks 2^nd in run defense DVOA, but the 49ers are always going to lean on the run game. They’ve put up over 100 rushing yards in every game this season, including against a stingy Vikings’ defense when they were playing from behind all game. If any team can have success on the ground against KC, it’s the 49ers. If Mason plays, Guerendo is not a viable fantasy option, but he’s a reasonable flex play if Mason sits.
RB Kimani Vidal, LAC (Wk. 7: @ Ari.): Vidal finally made his debut last weekend with Gus Edwards on IR, and he made a strong first impression, finding the end zone on a 38-yard catch on a wheel route for his first career touch. His playing time was still limited overall – he played just 24% of the snaps behind JK Dobbins – but Dobbins has an extensive injury history and there’s still room for Vidal’s role to grow even without an injury. He’s worth a stash as the next man up in one of the run-heaviest offenses in the league.
WRs Troy Franklin and Devaughn Vele, DEN (Wk. 7: @ NO): The Broncos have played quite the game of musical chairs at WR behind Courtland Sutton this season, seemingly changing on a whim who plays the bulk of the snaps each week. With Josh Reynolds now on IR, Franklin and Vele each logged around a 70% route participation rate last Sunday and put up PPR totals of 11.8 and 11.6 points, respectively. For now, they look like they’ll serve as the WR2 & WR3 while Reynolds is out, but of course that’s subject to change in this offense. Both receivers took different routes to get here…Vele was heavily involved in the offense in week 1, then hurt his ribs and was kept inactive for weeks after he’d recovered before finally getting back into the mix last week. Franklin, on the other hand, was minimally involved early and has slowly worked his way into a bigger role. Both players have shown a connection with Bo Nix. Franklin was his college teammate and has been one of the players Nix looks for when he throws deep (his aDOT for the season is 16.1 yards). Meanwhile Vele has been targeted 8 and 6 times in the two games he’s played with Nix, with most of those targets coming in the short and intermediate parts of the field. Both players are lucky enough this week that they get to avoid Marshon Lattimore, and that makes both of them sneaky upside WR4s. If you’re looking for ceiling, Franklin gets the better draw against the vulnerable Paulson Adebo. Adebo has allowed the 3^rd-highest PPR points per route run against him of any starting CB playing this week (per ESPN’s WCB Cheat Sheet). If you’re looking for a safe PPR floor instead, Vele should be the safer bet to provide that. Both guys are in play this week against a New Orleans defense that allows the 11^th-most WR points per game.
WR Jalen Coker, CAR (Wk. 7: @ Was.): Diontae Johnson is not practicing this week as of Thursday, and a Johnson absence would be big news for Coker. It’s worth noting that Johnson is dealing with the same injury he played through the last two weeks, so the days off may just be for maintenance, but he’s practicing less this week than he did in the last two, so something may have changed. Coker has already shown himself to be a reliable target the last couple weeks and he’s already taken over the slot WR role and pushed Jonathan Mingo to the bench. If Diontae Johnson sits, it removes a 28% target share from the offense against a Commanders team that allows the 5^th-most WR points per game and ranks 29^th in pass defense DVOA. Given the way he’s played the last couple weeks, I’d expect Coker to soak up some of those targets and should be able to find his way to a 5-50 sort of game. If you’re in a pinch in a deeper league, you could do worse than plugging in Coker if Diontae is out.
WR Bub Means & Mason Tipton, NO (Wk. 7: vs. Den.): The Saints enter their Thursday night tilt with the Broncos with both Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed already ruled out for the week, elevating Means and Tipton into more prominent roles in the target pecking order. Means entered last week’s game after the injury to Olave, and he performed admirably, putting up 5-45-1 on 8 targets. Tipton has been serving as the starting WR3 for weeks now, but it hasn’t really translated into many fantasy points. This week’s matchup isn’t a great one, as the Broncos have allowed the fewest fantasy points per game to WRs, but their star CB1 Patrick Surtain Jr. will miss this game with a concussion, softening that matchup just a bit. The Saints will start Spencer Rattler at QB once again, so the passing production could be volatile, but at the very least Means and Tipton will be on the field a lot, and we’ve seen at least one week of Rattler putting up reasonable production. If I were looking for a WR to pick here in a deep league, I’d go with Means. He’s shown a clear connection with Rattler, and will probably spend more time on the perimeter against Riley Moss and the Surtain replacement than Tipton will, but both players will have more upside than usual with Olave and Shaheed out. I’d view Means as a volatile WR4, and Tipton as a desperation dart throw.
That’s all I’ve got for this week. Hopefully it helps you sort through your lineup decisions and find your way to a win this weekend. Feel free to hit me up on TwitteX (@Shawn_Foss) if you have any questions or want to yell at me about anything written above, and always make sure to apply what’s written in the context of your own league rules and roster. Keep a close eye on the injury report throughout the week if you have any guys who are questionable and do a final pre-game check to make sure you don’t start any inactive players. As always: Good luck, trust your gut and have fun. It’s just a game. Original article from drinkfive.com.

Black Sheep Family
Part 76
Arc 7
Lost Ones
“Just because someone stumbles and loses their path, doesn’t mean they’re lost forever.” ~ Charles Xavier (X-Men)
(B)(S)(F)
GO!
Tuesday, March 28, 2079
Maddock O’Donnelly was old. Older than he had any right to be. He was cursed, along with his sister, brother and two friends to a life of immortal servitude. Well, all except Cardinal, as he was called to his service from death. But for Maddock, Raien, Elbee and Spazferd they were condemned to service, driven to the bidding of their curses. Spazferd was made an insatiable detective, always thirstring to find those lying to gain more. Elbee was driven to a form of paranoia and loneliness, afraid of contact with anyone outside his family and friends. Maddock and Raine were both cursed with some form of wrath, hence the name that accompanied their legend; The Family of Wrath. For Maddock it was Vengeance, he would take in the last moments of a victim’s life or feel the evil off of monstrous people and then he was compelled to kill. Raine was less capable of sensing such powerful emotions, but when she was angered her wrath was anyone’s and everyone’s undoing.
He had spent many years of his existence, he couldn’t call it life, running and hiding from people out of fear of hurting those around him. Only twice, in recent memory, was he drawn out from the shadows he called a home. Once in the 1940’s he began a slaughter that most people still couldn’t explain, through the countryside of German occupied France. He still couldn’t recall what he had done, but even Raine refused to talk about it so he didn’t push to find out. The last time was during the Purge War, he couldn’t let humanity face its end alone and for a short time during that war the curse seemed to lift, he could help people and do things he never thought he could. For a short time he had been a hero. Then when another was called upon to make a sacrifice he took it in the man’s place, the coward had nearly killed an entire platoon to save face and leave Maddock behind. Maddock faced that fight with what little faith and dignity he had left, and now he was awake again decades later in a world that felt just slightly to the left of what he had sacrificed for.
Awakening had left him in a deep spiral of guilt and depression as the act of doing so had caused a chasm to open violently in the center of Dross City and it was during an attack. An attack, much to his horror, that Maddock had eventually learned had been made to find and destroy his resting form. Instead it had spurred his awakening. He still wasn’t at full strength, but he was stronger than he had any right to be after being atomized by an exploding engine. He hated that more than anything.
He had been spending the last few weeks recovering with his family and friends. Cardinal had made it a point to visit him daily to make sure he was at least acting like he wanted to recover. Maddock appreciated the kindness, Cardinal’s position as the Revenant of Loyalty aside, he was truly a good friend. But he hadn’t showed up this morning, he had sent a text about stopping Spaz from buying something stupidly overpriced and specific. Maddock had a feeling there was more to it, but he took the opportunity to go for a walk. And that was the last thing he recalled before reality spun back to him as he was throwing a man out of a restaurant and into the sleeting afternoon of Dross City.
A few claps pulled his attention to the inside of the restaurant. A few customers were showing their approval of tossing the man out. Maddock blushed and slid over to the booth, he knew he was at the Bodhi Tree Grill but he had no idea how he had gotten there. Other than walking that is. He sighed as he realized he had dissociated yet again. It had become common in the days and nights since his awakening.
“Hey.” A cheerful voice said.
Maddock looked up to see a dark skinned woman, one of the kids who helped her parents run the restaurant, she was in a bright yellow top with a brown smock that held a notepad and pen. She had flaming red hair that, as far as Maddock could tell, was natural. She had a pleasant smile and was holding a glass of water.
“You okay? I know he socked you in the jaw so I got you some water.” The woman’s name tag read “Karma”.
Maddock nodded, “Thanks.” He had meant to cover his accent, but it slipped out like a cat from a child’s arms. “Sorry to cause a scene.”
“You didn’t do anything, Seven C’s are always the problem.” Karma smiled, “So my name is Karma, as the name tag says. Papa says you can have a meal free tonight.”
Maddock nodded, “Thanks. Just some butter chicken curry. Non-spicy if possible.”
Karma laughed, “We can do that. Where are the others you’re usually with?”
“Sister and brother are out, friends are making fools of themselves without me.” Maddock tried to force a smile but it felt like he was simply stretching his skin over his face.
Karma slid into the seat opposite of him. “Are you okay? We can call an ambulance.”
Maddock shook his head, “It ain’t the knock to the head. Just my demons screaming’ through my ugly nob of a skull.” He closed his eyes and angry accusing faces stared back at him and he flung his eyes back open again.
“I know the attacks were rough, I guess you went through hell, huh?” Karma nodded, “S.A.F.E. has councilors, good ones. Gabby, my sister, has been seeing them. Let me get that Curry for you.” She stood up and left for a few minutes.
Maddock took a breath and tried to center himself. Raine had tried to teach him more than a few times, but he never did take to it properly. He heard a plate being sat down in front of him and he opened his eyes to see Karma taking off her smock and sitting down with her own plate.
“Hope you don’t mind, it’s my lunch time, and you seemed lonely.” Karma said.
Maddock was silent for a few moments, but nodded as he started to slowly eat. He and his family had found the place to be enjoyable and the food was always good. It was no different this time, except he was eating with someone new.
“Thank you, but you don’t have to.” Maddock smiled weakly.
“It’s all right, sometimes we just need another person to see we exist.” Karma smiled, “Small things ripple to huge waves.”
Maddock blinked as he absorbed the words, then went back to silently eating. When he looked up again Karma was neatly finishing her meal and smiling back at him.
“It was nice to eat with you.” Karma smiled, “You’re always welcome here.”
“Thanks.” Maddock nodded as he finished his own meal.
“I’ll take that back.” Karma smiled, “Your brother is adorable by the way.”
“He’s a turd.” Maddock sighed, “Likes to get in to trouble hacking into things he shouldn’t”
“Ah, a little trouble maker.” Karma chuckled, “Well I hope he isn’t doing bad things then.”
“Aways is.” Maddock laughed, “But he won’t leave his room most days. The world scares him and I can hardly blame him.”
Karma was clearly and briefly saddened but nodded. “You know where to take him at least. They might have a program for agoraphobics.”
Maddock didn’t say anything but stood and nodded, then offered his hand.
Karma quickly shook it.
“Maddock O’Donnelly.” He smiled back.
“Well if the accent didn’t give it away, that name sure did.” Karma chuckled.
Maddock snorted and paused, he hadn’t laughed genuinely in a long time. It had caught him off guard.
Karma was beaming at him. “I know a real laugh when I hear one. Next time the demons come around, tell them to go bother someone else for a while, then come get a curry.”
Maddock nodded, “I just might.”
As he left the restaurant he heard an older woman shout out something he barely recalled to mean “scandalous” in Hindi. He smiled again and walked into the city. He walked for a few hours before returning to the apartment his family had taken to renting, they were always prepared with “inherited” funds from “older family members”, so it didn’t really cost them much. They had been saving since before the United States was a country. Maddock still remembered watching the Declaration being signed, granted the signers didn’t know he was there, but he was proud to watch it be signed.
He walked in and found Elbee sitting on the couch, three laptops all opened to various sites. One was on the Charter Organization’s website. Another was on Union Heroica and the last one was opened to the Thrush Evolutionary Academy.
“What’s this one for?” Maddock asked as he picked it up and looked it over. “A school? We’ve lived most of modern history.”
“Yeah.” Elbee nodded, “But I never got to go to a school.”
Maddock paused and thought about it. His family had always been self-educated and raised to be killers and assassins. Elbee not only hadn’t ever gone to a school, but was taught by their father to shun such places.
“Lonely?” Maddock asked.
“Kinda.” Elbee nodded, “And tired of being so afraid. I just want to help people!” He tossed the laptop he was working on towards a wall, a shadow opened and Maddock caught it as it passed through and into his arms.
Maddock looked the laptop over and handed it back.
“Sorry. I’m just…” Elbee sniffled, “I get it now. Why you were so out of it for so long. You know when pirates were a thing.”
Maddock grinned, “They still are.”
Elbee blinked and opened the laptop and did a quick search, “Well that is weird.”
“So what’s so big and important about this school?” Maddock asked.
“It’s for people who want to be heroes. But I can’t find a way around the physical exam and I don’t want to risk exposing us all.” Elbee sighed.
Maddock nodded, Revenants could fool humans into thinking they were alive on a surface level exam or to a passing scrutinous eye, but once a doctor and tests stepped in they were unable to do so. And very few things that were undead were considered friendly.
Maddock reached over and pulled his brother closer, into a hug. “You want to be a hero?”
Elbee nodded, “Like we were then. I wasn’t afraid when we fought them, but then you left and it was all scary again.”
“I’m sorry.” Maddock hugged his brother tighter, “I never meant to leave you all without an explanation.”
“We know.” Elbee sighed, “Sir Immortalis the English Butt-face is to blame.”
Maddock snorted a deep laugh, “He is.”
“Don’t worry, it’s just a silly dream.” Elbee sighed again.
“Nah.” Maddock stood up and kneeled to face his brother. “Dreams save us. Dreams lift us up and transform us, you remember who said that?”
“Superman, Action Comics Seven Seventy-five.” Elbee smiled, “Those are mostly gone you know. He’s only in museums now.”
“Remember the rest of it?” Maddock asked. “And on my soul, I swear… until my dream of a world where dignity, honor and justice becomes the reality we all share, I’ll never stop fighting. Now I can’t promise all the light and valor, but I can promise you I will find a way to get you into the school.” He nodded, “I promise that much.”
“Don’t keep promises you can’t keep.” Elbee sighed.
“Have I ever?” Maddock asked. “I came back, fifty odd years late, but I came back.”
Elbee sniffled and nodded, “Do you think they’ll hate me?”
“Well, you are a bit of a know it all turd.” Maddock smiled, “But they’ll learn to love it.”
Elbee smiled, “I got a lead on where the Nazi shit-head went.”
“Oh?” Maddock asked, “Is this one I pissed off?”
“I don’t know. I was getting people out of camps while you were stacking bodies. But I imagine he knew at least one of those corpses you made.” Elbee snorted and sighed, “We have seen way too much violence.”
“Aye.” Maddock sighed and nodded.
“Aye.” Elbee let his accent slip just a little as he pulled up a map of the Atlantic Ocean.
—B)(S)(F—
Saturday, April 1, 2079
Salem was sitting on a stool at the Quains. They were celebrating both Jasmine and her father’s birthday. He was there at her request because she had just arrived back from South America and wanted to tell her family about who she had been seeing. The response was mixed, but not surprising. Her brothers delivered the usual brotherly threats. Her father merely made a dad joke but Salem knew the man was watching him closer from that moment on. It was the kids that surprised him, in a good way.
“Way to go Salem.” Agatha had clapped in support and made no jokes the entire time. It had momentarily worried the nosferatu.
“Is Salem going to be a new uncle?” Anna asked.
Cassandra nodded and begged for Jazz to say “yes” along with Anna.
Jasmine, for her part, had quickly begun to regret sharing the information with her family.
“So, Aunt Jazz.” Danny asked as he sat next to Salem. “Was it the midnight games of chicken on motorcycles?”
Salem thought for a moment, “Didn’t hurt.”
“Honestly, I’m surprised Sawyer was able to keep it a secret.” Endara commented, “You’d think he’d be a little protective of you given how long you two have been friends.”
“Precisely why he isn’t.” Salem started to explain before his phone went off and a few messages drew his attention. He quickly stood up and walked into the other room.
The MechAnimals had just finished a large sweep of suspected GLOBAL hideouts. Each one was empty or trapped. He growled before walking back into the kitchen and sitting back on his stool. The sound of a whoopee cushion went off as he did so.
“Okay, who’s the smart ass?” Salem grumbled.
Alan raised his hand and giggled.
“Be glad you’re the boss.” Salem threw the emptied air bladder at Alan.
“That’s a lot more bitter than I’d expected you to be.” Alan said, “What’s got your guts?”
Salem showed Alan his message. “Last of the spots we had are all coming up, meaning it’s a trap or more nothing. Honestly, I’m gonna need help on this one and I hate asking for help from pricks like him.”
Alan arched his eyebrows in curiosity.
“Cymaster.” Salem practically spat the name. “Sell out son of a bitch.”
“Still in a coma.” Stephen added, “Well partially, his mind is currently hooked into his cyberspace matrix conversion thing.”
Salem blinked, “The Web-Runner?”
“That one.” Stephen nodded, “I keep telling him we need to test it. It gives off radiation.”
Salem sighed, “I’m gonna head that way now then.”
“Need a ride?” Alan asked.
“Nah, sewers will do.” Salem grabbed his coat and loomed over Jasmine who had been watching her favorite El Tejon matches with Agatha and her father.
Jasmine looked up, slightly disappointed, but nodded in understanding.
“Sorry. I actually want to stay, but this is lives on the line.” Salem bumped his head to hers and she gave his bald head a hug.
“Don’t kill the prick if he angers you.” Jazz warned, “Trident would hate that.”
Salem chuckled as he grabbed an umbrella and headed to the sewage outlet where a pair of waders awaited him. Then he slowly made his way through the sewers and pipelines of Dross City. Many people were still unaware of just how spacious the sewers were, widened during the Purge War to make for places to hide, they were left alone just in case the Purge returned. Eventually he surfaced in the basement of the Central Specialized Hospital and stowed his traveling gear in a corner.
He made his way up in a way only a vampiric being could. His inhuman speed left a chilling breeze in his wake and papers flew around in a flurry. He stopped outside a far too neatly labeled door and knocked.
“Come in.” A synthetic voice said from some old speaker. To Salem it sounded like an old toy his dad had once shown to him, one that had ignited his love for computers.
Salem paused before opening the door, thoughts of his birth family had long been banished to a dark corner of his mind and the sudden, though not unpleasant memory was not something he had expected. He shook his head and brushed the memory away for the moment and opened the door.
“Stevens…” the robot voice seemed annoyed.
“Shove it Cy.” Salem closed the door, “We got a serious issue. I need a coder on par with me for this. Someone who knows how to code and problem solve.”
“Flattery gets you places today.” Cymaster said, “As it happens I’m bored out of my skull and cyberspace.”
“Good, cause this problem is pretty unique.” Salem put down his laptop and hooked it into CyMaster’s system.
“Catching data off a website isn’t unique.” CyMaster began, then he paused. “Wait…”
“It doesn’t exist on any connection listed, you have to seriously know the old net to get to it.”
“Fascinating. Whoever made this is as old as you or as smart as I am.” CyMaster dropped his speaker’s stylized speech.
“Or both.” Salem said, “Can’t discount that.”
“That would be unsettling.” CyMaster’s voice filtered through perfectly, a husky baritone that was barely above a whisper.
“But not impossible. So I need an old net data trap, one that’s hard to perceive.” Salem explained, “I know you know the infrastructure and how it’s being maintained nowadays, so you know it’s a hacker and criminal den.”
CyMaster said nothing but Salem’s laptop began to flash programs on it’s screen.
“Real fuckin’ creepy when you do that.” Salem grumbled.
“Surprised you didn’t go to Meissner.” CyMaster said, “He seems to be the big tech guy now.”
“He’s hardware. I needed a code nerd.” Salem explained, “Only other code nerds I know who have this knowledge are dead or enemies.”
“That is true.” CyMaster’s voice seemed to imply a smile. “Okay, this should be the base of what you need. It’d take an A.I. to even have a chance to notice it. I’ll leave the refinement to you.”
“Thanks.” Salem said as he began to collect his laptop.
“And Salem.” CyMaster added, “It was good to see you again. I wish you would have considered coming back before joining Quain.”
Salem paused again, “Quain’s history is better than the Charter’s. He hates lies and secrets, and hasn’t lied to me once. The Org lied about me…” He put his laptop in his bag. “…can’t undo the past Cy.”
“Fair enough I guess.” Cymaster sighed. “By any chance have you asked the MechAnimals about their theft earlier this year?”
“Unknown client used a drone to collect the drives.” Salem chuckled, “It is weird that hasn’t come back to bite you all.”
“I suspect they wanted very specific data that would be impossible to locate normally on the drives.” CyMaster admitted, “You would need a computer capable of quantum computing and a security clearance high enough to unlock the entire drive.”
“So if they do unlock it, you all get another black eye.” Salem snorted with a smile.
“Honestly, I don’t know.” CyMaster said, “Those drives were made before I joined, I never had clearance to view them, that’s why they were held off site, I didn’t trust them.”
Salem nodded as he walked to the door, “Probably should have chosen a place with tighter security.”
“The plan was to hide them in a place no one would expect.” CyMaster said, “Clearly someone figured it out.”
Salem snorted and shook his head, “Yeah. Clearly.”
Salem left the room and closed the door. He was happy to see that the sun had set, so he was able to simply grab a bus home. While on the bus a small child noticed him and tugged on his mother’s shirt, pointing at him.
“Monster.” The kid said in a worried whisper.
“Honey, he’s just bald.” The mother smiled and patted the boy’s head. “Sorry.”
“Kid’s got good instincts.” Salem smiled, flashing his teeth, “But wrong team kid.”
The kid blinked. The mother pulled back in fear.
“Not a monster?” The kid asked.
“I try not to be.” Salem smiled with his mouth closed, “We got enough of them nowadays.” He pulled out a small business card of his, it was in the shape of a black cat and he held it out for the kid.
The boy reached out and grabbed it, then handed it to his mother.
“Triple S Investigations.” She snickered at the name. “Wasn’t that a big company in the forties?”
“Didn’t last long.” Salem smirked, “But it’s what you do when all you have is hope.”
“What?” The kid asked.
“Help people.” Salem said as his stop came up and he got off the bus with a wave.
He walked up to the building and was surprised to see Sawyer talking with a dark skinned woman with a French-adjacent accent. He wasn’t sure why but it sounded familiar.
“Hey, Salem! Lady is looking to rent. Has all her ducks in a row and even a sponsor.” Sawyer laughed, “Ain’t seen anything like it.” He tapped the application on a clipboard he was holding. “This is great stuff.”
“Yeah?” Salem held his hand out.
“Your superintendent’s sense of humor has much to be desired, but I am looking for housing for myself and my son. You have a two room apartment that is more than adequate on the third floor.”
Salem looked the paperwork over and noted the last name, “Ava Leon…” He knew that surname, he just couldn’t place it.
“Yes, Mr. Quain said you would be amenable to renting to us possibly.” Ava smiled.
Salem paused, the memory of Bull’s kid laughing flashed in his head. “His dad’s Bull?”
Ava nodded, “Cameron isn’t perfect, but he’s doing better than I had expected.”
Salem pulled out a pen and made a few adjustments. “You’ll want the fourth floor. I keep the troublemakers on the third. They’re all loud and noisy jerks.”
“Wasn’t I originally on the third floor?” Sawyer asked.
“Like I said.” Salem smirked, “I’ll still need a first month’s rent, but I suspect given your sponsor that won’t be an issue. You know when you want to move in?”
“Once he’s out, if that’s possible.” Ava smiled.
Salem nodded, “I’ll have the keys for you in a few days, you can move what you need in then. How many keys will you want in total? And mailroom keys?”
Ava blinked, “That’s very generous, but I guess the strongest hero does have some pull.”
“Don’t make his head any bigger please.” Sawyer sighed. “Salem rents for people, not cash.”
“Stop, I got a rep to uphold.” Salem snapped.
“Right, right.” Sawyer shook his head and whispered loudly to Ava, “He’s not really as grumpy as he seems.”
Salem signed the document and handed it to Ava. “Welcome to the building, we got a website with message boards and chat rooms. It’ll be in your welcome packet after we sign the contracts.”
Ava smiled, “Thank you Mr. Stevens!” She smiled and dashed off to a car.
“Bull’s wife?” Sawyer asked.
“Ex, I think.” Salem nodded, “Gotta work a bit, serious coding to do.”
“Ah, that’s cool.” Sawyer nodded, “I found something I wanted to check out anyway.”
“Should I expect a brutality report in the morning?’ Salem asked with a deep resigned sigh.
“Maaybe!” Sawyer laughed as he grabbed a golf bag full of bats and other sports paraphernalia and then ran off into the night.
Salem walked into his apartment and put his keys on the giant wooden key he had inherited from his grandfather. It was silly and stupid but Salem loved it as much as he loved that goofy old man. He smiled and heard the mewls of his cats. Stella was staring at him from a high perch, the look of hunger in her eyes. Ruby just rubbed against his legs as she always did.
He put his laptop down in his work room and went to the kitchen where he got each cat their preferred bowl of food. He never skimped with his girls, it was always an actual meal worthy of a cat’s needs and desires. Each one got half a can of tuna and half a can of salmon. Stella got some fried egg bits in hers while Ruby got some slices of bananas. They were both weird cats, but they were his girls and he loved them.
“All right you two, I got work to do. Let me know if there’s trouble or mice.” Salem chuckled.
Ruby looked up and quickly bounded over to a pile of mail. Salem walked over and looked it over. Most were bills he had already paid, but one letter caught his eyes. A hand written and addressed letter from Lucretia Bloodgarden. He picked it up and briefly used it to toy with Ruby before she returned to her meal.
“Yeah, I know it’s not even that interesting to me.” Salem nodded, “She can wait, or come here directly if it’s really important.” He put the letter on a table as he left the kitchen and walked into his computer room.
Rather than hook the laptop up to his networked machine he opted to use an old machine from nearly sixty years ago. It was one of his older machines and still had a few games he hadn’t gotten to play on it, but it also had no network connection and was safe to work on as a result. He booted up an editing program on his old system and opened CyMaster’s program, then he began the slow and painstaking process of altering and shining up the code someone else had written. It was going to be a night of hell so he reached over and cracked open a bottle of type A cloned blood, it was his work flavor.
It took hours of work and the sun was just about to peak over the horizon, at least according to his apps, when Sawyer crawled home with most of his clothes torn and blood that was clearly not his, splattered over him and the distinct scent of zombies on him as well. He peeked in briefly and let his friend know he was back before making it halfway to a couch and falling asleep on the spot. Salem chuckled at the sound of his body hitting the floor, Sawyer never could resist the sun’s power over him.
Salem wasn’t even tempted to ask what had happened as his attention was focused on the last remaining problem for the program before he was ready to test it online. It was constantly trying to reach out to a site on the very old and very unpleasant to use dark-net. Salem was not happy with that, CyMaster wasn’t one that would typically use such a shadowy place to hold data, he preferred his own data stores. He had to wonder if the man had accidentally switched a digit or three up; he was, after all, in a partially induced medical coma. When he finally was able to get a deeper read on it he paused and disconnected from the site immediately, he needed a better machine. He needed the Tech-Hut.
He got up and looked at his phone, it was seven in the morning, Jazz would be up. He dialed her immediately and she picked up while still clearly eating.
“Hello Jawsome.” Jazz said playfully.
“Jazz, I need to get to the Tech-Hut ASAP. Serious business.” Salem said flatly with no jokes or sarcasm.
“I’ll be there in forty.” Jazz said but then paused and spoke to someone else. Salem heard keys jingle before she got back on the call. “Make that twenty five, Alan’s letting me use the purple car!”
“I’ll be ready in ten.” Salem said as he ended the call and gathered his gear.
He looked at his laptop with deep concern. The program was one thing but the site he found on the darknet wasn’t restricted in any way, it was as if no one expected someone to come snooping around. It worried him deeply. Then he waited and rushed out to the car, and dove into the back seats and curled up in a blanket that was back there.
“What’s got you spooked?” Jazz asked as she drove off once again.
“Some seriously bad possibilities.” Salem sighed, “Do I smell coffee?”
“Hi…” Alan’s voice came from the passenger seat. “Did you really think I’d let her take my baby all alone?”
Salem sighed, “I honestly don’t care.”
There was a silence before Alan spoke again. “Right, serious time. How bad?”
“If I’m right, every hero in the U.S. is potentially in danger.” Salem grumbled.
Alan was immediately on his phone and quickly cursed. “Paradox is still zonked.”
“How does that thing need sleep?” Salem asked in shock.
“Everyone needs to recharge some time, pretty one.” Jaz said with an audible smile.
“You two flirting is a sin.” Alan snickered.
“This isn’t flirting.” Salem wanted, “These are pet names.” He could only imagine Jazz’s enthusiastic nodding.
“That’s a big yike from me.” Alan chuckled, “We’ll get you there, no worries.”
“We have a twenty minute dr-” Salem felt Alan grab his legs and knew in an instant what was about to happen as the man let rip with a maniacal laugh.
The next thing Salem knew he was landing on the wooden floor of the Tech-Hut. Alan was toppled over a chair, covered in coffee and using a trash can to vomit in. Salem was unaffected by the spatial distortion’s effect on the balance centers of his body, but he was still wobbly when he stood thanks to the speed at which he hit the floor.
“Okay, you done showing off?” Salem asked.
Alan stood up and held the trashcan close by, but nodded.
“Good, let me get to work.” Salem sat on his chair and began to type.
His work was slow and planned carefully. He had to disguise every action he took as he started to bring a modern super system into the dark-net. When he was finally there he put up a display to simplify the data stores that he and Alan were looking at. The data stores were exact copies from the Charter Organization’s mainframe for the last six months and they included hero identity information. Both men stared in shock at the information before them.
“Salem, I’m not a smart man by any measure but…” Alan paused and confirmed what he was seeing, “This means what I think it means, right?”
“Yeah.” Salem grunted, “And it gets worse.” Salem began typing, “CyMaster’s coding led me here.”
“We’re gonna nuke it right?” Alan asked.
Salem was about to nod, “It’s a risk. This definitely isn’t in Blackwood’s game. He may take drastic measures if we nuke it. Could hurt Greg.”
Alan frowned. “I’ll leave it to your expertise then.”
Salem was frozen for a moment, but very thankful that he had been as he noticed a system scan passed over his connection and missed it. Then he watched more data pour in, including information on the program CyMaster had written. Then it was as if data began sorting itself. It took him a few moments longer to realize that he was watching an A.I.at work. He quietly disconnected as soon as the A.I.’s connection vanished.
“So playing it close, I get it.” Alan nodded.
“Quain, we need to talk to Trident. Now.” Salem stood up. “No delays.”
Alan sighed and stood up next to him. “This is the last I got in me for a day or two, you sure?”
Salem nodded.
Salem felt his body lurch and light and sound inverted for a moment before he came rolling across a floor. Then felt fire on his side as sunlight hit him. It was promptly extinguished and the sunlight blocked just as fast.
“Gods alive!” Trident shouted, “You two couldn’t have given a heads up?! I would have closed my curtains.”
“Didn’t think about it.” Salem admitted with a grunt as he stood. Alan was vomiting into a nearby trashcan once again. “We need to have a serious threat to the country level talk.”
Trident’s face didn’t soften, but he switched gears from anger to business. “What’s wrong?”
“Give him a minute.” Salem nodded to Alan.
“I’m good. Just as long as we don’t need to do that again.” Alan gasped, “It keeps getting less fun each time.”
“I can only imagine why.” Salem shook his head, “Make this place soundproof, yeah?”
Alan nodded and focused, the walls glowed purple and became opaque at the windows. “We’re good.”
“What is the issue?” Trident looked at Alan over Salem.
Alan gestured to Salem. “Ask the expert.”
“Alan, I’m asking you, you’re supposed to be the leader here! Believe me I know I’m not the one to talk with all the bull I’ve missed and let go under my nose, but you need to be up to speed! We’re leaders here.” Trident snapped.
“He’s my head of security and technology. He is a leader in BSC.” Alan countered.
Trident looked at Salem and nodded, “What’s the situation?”
“CyMaster is compromised. Probably digital in origin, A.I. seems to be connected and we both know he’s got vulnerabilities to stuff like that.” Salem said flatly.
Trident groaned and sat in a chair. “I don’t need this. The entire Organization is falling apart, it has been since I got there. We lost guards when I joined and even if we got one back, now we’re losing heroes.”
Trident’s state of mind was obvious and Salem was having none of it. He stood to his full height, no longer stooping over to make others comfortable, and marched over to Trident. He reached down and lifted the demi-god up by his shoulders, then slammed him into the nearest wall.
“Well you don’t have a choice, do you? You’re the leader here, right? You think you’re the only one looking at how fucked this situation is and wiondering how we’re gonna dig our way out? We all are, that’s the curse of your leadership. People look to you when hope is gone and you gotta act like you have the answers. I had to act like that on my walk of shame out of the Org and I’ll be damned if I let that fucked up tradition continue.” Salem let Trident go, “We don’t have all the answers, but we have some and we need your help to work with what we have. We need to be smart about this because your smart guy is under GLOBAL’s thumb.”
Trident sighed and nodded, “I know, I’m just so tired of seeing good men and women…” He gestured about pointing to the windows.
“I know, that’s the thing about guys like us, we got limited leadership shelf lives.” Salem sighed, “But we do mentorships very well and for a long time.”
“This is going to destroy the Charter Organization, possibly the Charter document in the U.S.” Trident sighed, “He has access to so much information.”
“And now GLOBAL does.” Alan added, “We need to take him down without them knowing. Preferably without him knowing.”
Trident nodded, “Once this is over, the Organization will be shut down, can you take those the Union can’t or won’t?”
“We’re the Black Sheep Company, baby, we take all munchkins and shenaniganry.” Alan grinned.
“I have no idea what he just said.” Trident sighed.
“Yes.” Salem translated with his own sigh.
“And you claim to be men of culture.” Alan scoffed.
“Alan…” Trident sighed, “You really are a doofus.” He laughed deeply and nodded, “Then once the investigations are over, I’m going to D.C. and I’m gonna get answers and a proper understanding of The Charter. I won’t let it stay dead.”
“Good.” Salem grinned, “I didn’t sign it for nothing.”
Alan smiled, “Time comes, I’ll walk with you. But let’s work on the current issues, yeah?”
Trident nodded and stood to stretch.
Salem smiled as the two leaders came to a deeper understanding than they had ever done before. He stretched and yawned, stooping over once more, hiding his full intimidating height.
/////
The First Story
Previous Part! //// Next Part!
Arc 1 – Black Sheep Family – Arc 1, First Chapter
Arc 2 – Paradigm Shift – Arc 2, First Chapter
Arc 3 – Gravitas Rising Arc 3, First Chapter
Arc 4 – The Director’s Chair Arc 4, First Chapter
Arc 5- The School War Arc 5, First Chapter
Arc 6 – Rise of the Earth Daughter Arc 6, First Chapter
Spotify
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Credit where Credit is due:
Kyton & Cassandra Quain are © u/TwistedMind596
Obsidian is © u/Ultimalice
Leroy Leon & Ixton the Blade of the Wielder is © My friend Forged of Souls who does not use reddit
Furnace is © my friend Matt who does not use reddit
Cedric Stein Meissner aka Tesseract is © my friend James, who does not use reddit.
All other characters and Dross City are © u/TheSmogMonsterZX
//// The Voice Box ////
Long chapter no word space here. Ask questions, will answer.