The Search for Snoink

[Back in the super secret SPEW meeting...]
"Her last known position was here. SPEW secured the area and found this object." A hologram filled the room, showing a swirling blue ball of energy.

"I've analyzed the object and it appears to be some sort of gate to another world. I've consulted our Sci-Fi sub-routine and they have confirmed that this is some sort of plot device. They suggest that we put together an away team of members, composed of a mixture of high ranking members who have no business on a mission this dangerous, and a ton of expendable members who can randomly die as they encounter bizarre new civilizations and other associated hazards," Adelaide continued.

"Excellent work. Any volunteers? Not it," Nate said.

"Areida will do it," Firestarter said.

Areida, who was rolling cookie dough into neat, little balls and placing them carefully onto a large piece of foil, looked up, eyes wide.

"Do what?"

"Yeah," Meshugenah threw in. "She'll be great. Plus, she's a plebe, and has to do whatever we say."

"You can't haze me!" Areida said, rolling her eyes.

"Sure we can," Firestarter said. "It's fun!"

Areida sighed and popped one of the balls of cookie dough into her mouth and slid the piece of foil over to JFW1415, on her left. "Guess I'm finished making cookies," she said, scowling. "Fine. I'm in. But who's coming with me? How about them? Look at all the lonely people... Where do they all come from?"

"Ari, honey," Mesh said. "Stop talking."

"But... where do they all belong?"

"So that's one name," Grif continued smoothly. "Who else?"

“Help!” Cat screamed again as the members still asked a million questions.

“Where is Snoink?”

“Do you know who started the rumor?”

“Why are so many people using Beatles references?”

“Cat, do you have any idea where all the mods are?”

“What does mike-echo-echo-papa mean?”

“Help! Please!” She couldn’t take this. She was at the bottom of the pile of members, and the pile was growing by the minute. If they kept on putting pressure on her, she surely would die.

“Oh my goodness, dear, what’s going on?”

Cat sighed as she heard the familiar voice. “June! Help me!”

“Now, dears, please get off Cat. She cannot answer your questions, dears, if you pile up on her. Now dear, please get off.”

After about five minutes of that, Cat was the only person on the ground, gasping for air. “Thank you, June.” She managed to wheeze out before she slipped into unconsciousness.

Later

“Is she okay?” Cat could hear people whispering to the left of her. She was pretty sure it was Demeter with her Finnish accent, but she wasn’t sure.

“I think so, dear.”

“Good. I have a question for her.”

Cat groaned as soon as Evi said that. She was tired of questions.

“Cat, dear?” She opened her eyes to see June looking at her curiously. “You okay?”

“Yes,” Cat said and sat up.

“Well, Cat, did you know that the mods are having a secret meeting right now?” Evi asked with a smirk on her face.

“Pretty much. They always have a meeting when anything goes wrong.” Evi’s smirk slid off her face.

“Well did you know that they are pretty sure they know what happened to Snoink and that they are looking for volunteers to go searching for her?”

“What?!?” Cat jumped off the couch and looked at Evi in surprise. “How in the world did you know that?”

“Because I’m good.” She whipped out a pair of sunglasses and put them on.

“Because she spied on the mods during their meeting in the Mod Hall, which, if caught, would mean an immediate exile from YWS City for the rest of her life,” Demeter said.

Cat and June both gasped at the same time.

"...yeah", Demeter continued. "Sugar and sweets on the outside, an evil eavesdropper on the inside."

Cat glared at Evi. "Don't you realize you almost ruined everything? They could've noticed you!"

"But at least I found out something new, which is more than anyone of you have done so far!" Evi protested.

June patted Evi's head. "That's true, dear. We're not mad at you. Just... be a little more careful next time."

"And Demeter's not exactly Miss Pure-and-perfect herself!" Evi said. "Did I mention she took my wallet and my Purple Pass with it?"

June and Cat turned to Demeter, who looked innocently at something behind their back and said: "Oh, look, a seagull!"

"Don't try to change the subject, miss."

"Aw, fine, I did it. But it was only what's best for Evi," Demeter said. "Besides, it's better for me to have Evi's important things, because I have this cool safety bag and she doesn't."

"Uh... I guess you're right, then. Anyway, this bickering won't get us any further," June pointed out, to which others agreed.

"Right. We can work it out. So what should we do first?" asked Cat.

"Spy some more," said Demeter and Evi in unison.

*Can someone bring me is*

Jabs: I <3 you!

Amused, Kitty15 shook her head as she slipped her phone back into her pocket. That Jabber. She'd still be trying to wear purple when she got her promotion to full moderator! Admittedly the purple outfit was much prettier and it really tucked your stomach in but hey... she looked okay in green. She rounded the corner and flashed her SPEW ID at the door.

The security didn't take too long and then she was in. The briefing was... well it was brief and there wasn't much to go on other than the fact that Snoink was missing and they needed people to find her.

"Why she had to go I don't know, she wouldn't say but we're going to find her everyone. I'm in; we're going to get Snoink back," Kitty15 said firmly.

Just then, the doors swung open. Everyone tensed, hands reaching for kittens but it was just Jabber and Teague leading the section of JMs who were also a part of SPEW.

"Did you bring it with you?" Nate asked eagerly, leaning forward in his chair. Teague nodded. She took a small, prickly plant out of her bag and placed it on the table. The room breathed a sigh of relief: the last of the security upgrades was in place. No one would be able to breach the defence of the cacti!

"I'm glad it went well with the other JM's," Kitty15 told Jabber as she slid into a seat near her.

Joy... Rosey thought sarcastically. They didn't even notice me. Blues must turn invisible in Purple territory or something.

She heard a rustling in the bushes and spun. "Okay, who's there?"

"JC" came the squeaked reply.

Rosey sighed. "Come on out. The purps aren't talking to me much anyways."

JC got up. "Maybe with two of us we'll get their attention."

Rosey shrugged. "Maybe. Come on, let's try to catch up. Snoink's been spotted in Welcome too. It's no fare the purps have all the fun."

*Evi, June, Demi and/or Cat, please bring me and JC into this!

Sorry Boltage, can't find a place.*

"Guys, spying isn't going to help anything!" June sighed as she fell back in her chair, "you're only going to get caught, get in trouble, and stay in trouble."

"But, we can find some substantial clues, can't we?" Evi asked innocently.

"We can," June said, "but it's not worth the trouble. Besides, if don't you think that if YWS really needed spies, SPEW could take care of it?"

The three girls nodded in unison.

"But, what if SPEW is too preoccupied with other things at the moment and can't spy?" Evi asked, perking up at the thought.

"Or," June said sternly, "what if SPEW has it covered, and they're spying on us right now?"

Everyone exchanged uncertain glances before laughing uneasily.

"She could be right, though..." Demeter said slowly, and they all nodded.

* - *

"Cat? Oh dear, what is wrong now?" June called as she entered Cat's room. Cat was sitting on the floor in front of her laptop sobbing.

"Oh... June!" Cat sobbed, burying her face in her palms.

"It's not Snoink, is it?" June kneeled besides Cat on the floor to look at the screen. All she saw was an email inbox and a paused video.

"The baby," Cat cried into her hands, "she killed the baby!"

June's eyes widened. "Who killed the baby, Snoink?"

Cat shook her head and pointed to the screen, "On Battlestar Galactica..."

June gave a sigh of relief and handed Cat a kleenex to dry her tears.

"So, do you have any new information?"

"No," June shook her head, "all I've done so far is reviews... nothing contains anything about Snoink of course, but, I did want to ask if you've spoken to Rosey yet."

"No yet, but we'll be talking to her next," Cat said.

"Good, let's go. And, make sure you don't look too much like yourself, otherwise you'll get tackled by members again."

"That was fun," she said sarcastically, and rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I'm sure we can find Rosey at JC's house. She was going there when I last saw her."

"Was she wearing that pink jacket?"

"Would she not be wearing that pink jacket?" Cat giggled, "I don't think we've made much progress, June, we should hurry up. I don't see how someone as important as Snoink can just vanish into thin air with no trace of clues..."

"Cat?" June asked, "are we going to JC's house, or thefireinmeisJC's house?"

"Who are you?" The SPEW Commando asked Boltage.

"I'm Boltage," the member replied.

"Boltage, you are in a restricted area. Go somewhere else, this thread is locked," the SPEW Commando said.

Boltage left for the news bureau, in order to report on the weird event. (And thus bring the news people to the funky energy orb.)

****

Grif stood in armory and put on his armor. The armor was green for now, but it could become any color he wanted. The armor molded to Grif's body and meshed with the rest of the suit. He put on the helmet and found himself connected to YWS in a way that only a Mod could be.

He smiled and turned, to see Areida at the door. She was similarly attired, but her armor had a grey color instead.

"You didn't volunteer at Mod Hall," Areida said.

"If I did, then I might end up leading it. I figured you might want this one."

"Grif, you're very strange."

"I know. Who is coming with us?" Another suit appeared, this one was colored black and carried a sniper rifle.

"Dono?"

"I figured you might need help on this one. I'm not exactly Master Chief," Dono said modestly. "I'm better."

"Very modest," Areida snorted.

"Anyone else?"

"No one else has volunteered that I know of," Areida said.

"I think you're forgetting me," a voice said. Adelaide flickered into view.

"Not at all. You generally follow Grif where he goes."

"I'd have to this time. Your AI slot is already full, either with an AI or all a disc with all the disney films ever made. As for Dono, he has more than enough AI personalities to work with," Adelaide said.

"Hop on over to Grif then and we'll head to the weird energy orb thingy," Areida said. Adelaide disappeared and Grif felt her presence in the suit.

"What's the answer?" Grif whispered.

"What's the question?" Adelaide said, giving the traditional response. Grif turned over to the wall and picked up a weapon.

"Let's go," Areida said. The trio trotted down towards the orb.

Jabber cocked an eyebrow. "Yeah, security system works great..."

"You sound so uneasy about it," Kitty15 said, turning her chair to face Jabs.

"Well, I'm sure whoever tries to eavesdrop on us next time will be in for an adventure," Jabber replied. "Anyway, Teague filled us in with a general overview. What's been happenin' 'round these parts?"

"They're forming a superteam of superheros for a supermission for a superweapon shaped as a superball," Nate filled in.

"Sounds super!" Jabber said.

"That was not funny," Teague said. "It only deserves an xD."

Jabber frowned.

"The team's already leaving, Jabbers," Nate said. "You'll just have to sit there in Missoura."

Suzanne and JabberHut verbally pounced.

"So anyway!" Nate said, changing the subject. A riot was about to start, but Suzanne and Jabber sat down in their chairs. "You guys are all the losers here, not going on this secret super mission. I guess that makes you super losers."

"Super win," Wooster said. Jabber raised her hand for a high-five, and Wooster completed it with her foot.

"Um..." Nate stumbled.

"You're jealous," Jabber nodded, crossing her arms and leaning back. "It's a JM thing, though. 'Pologies."

"Keep that up, and you may see me fulfill another YWS dream you had involving me and the sci-fi forum."

Jabber sat up, folded her hands, and propped a halo on her head.

*stares*
Meep. The last I checked, I was being interrogated by Teague.
Help?

As soon as Teague had disappeared around the corner, the slim dark shadow detached itself from the wall and slid over to the door, finding it unlocked. Even with the the blaring alarm muted to a dull drone, the flashing red lights gave an air of supressed panic to the scene, causing him to check carefully in each direction before turning the handle. Feet moving noiselessly on thin rubber soles, he opened the door and stepped inside.

The room brought back dark memories. Ill-lit save for the cold glare of the interrogation lamps, it seemed pregnant with spectres from his time in SPEW: frightened ghosts lurked in the dank recesses, pressing themselves against the slimy tiles, trying to become even more transparent, shying away from his presence. Shying away from the recollection of the things he had done here - mods, greeters, instructors, even the Cabassi; they had all come to him. Some had left.

Enough, he told himself sternly. This is the past.. The ghosts wavered. It was a harder time, we did what was necessary. Barely anyone even remembers anymore. With a last sigh, as if of regret, his ghosts sank quietly back into a haze of old memories. Looking around properly for the first time he saw the young woman tied firmly to the chair in the centre of the room, unmoving, her back to him. Brushing aside the eidolans threatening to engulf him again, he moved across the floor quietly and stooped down to free her ankles.

It was like an electric shock had polarized her body. She screamed and twisted frantically against her bonds, eyes rolling wildly. "No, no!" he heard her cry, and caught the faint line of red trickling from above her hairline. Grabbing her firmly by the shoulders he shook her, not gently.

"Enough, enough! Stop thrashing, or should I leave you trussed up here?"

Slowly he felt her body relax, some of the fear and tension leaving her knotted muscles.

"

As soon as Teague had disappeared around the corner, the slim dark shadow detached itself from the wall and slid over to the door, finding it unlocked. Even with the the blaring alarm muted to a dull drone, the flashing red lights gave an air of supressed panic to the scene, causing him to check carefully in each direction before turning the handle. Feet moving noiselessly on thin rubber soles, he opened the door and stepped inside.

The room brought back dark memories. Ill-lit save for the cold glare of the interrogation lamps, it seemed pregnant with spectres from his time in SPEW: frightened ghosts lurked in the dank recesses, pressing themselves against the slimy tiles, trying to become even more transparent, shying away from his presence. Shying away from the recollection of the things he had done here - mods, greeters, instructors, even the Cabassi; they had all come to him. Some had left.

Enough, he told himself sternly. This is the past. The ghosts wavered. It was a harder time, we did what was necessary. Barely anyone even remembers anymore. With a last sigh, as if of regret, his ghosts sank quietly back into a haze of old memories. Looking around properly for the first time he saw the young woman tied firmly to the chair in the centre of the room, unmoving, her back to him. Brushing aside the eidolans threatening to engulf him again, he moved across the floor quietly and stooped down to free her ankles.

It was like an electric shock had polarized her body. She screamed and twisted frantically against her bonds, eyes rolling wildly. "No, no!" he heard her cry, and caught the faint line of red trickling from above her hairline. Grabbing her firmly by the shoulders he shook her, not gently.

"Enough, enough! Stop thrashing, or should I leave you trussed up here?"

Slowly he felt her body relax, some of the fear and tension leaving her knotted muscles.

"That'll do, I think - I'm here to help you out, not to interrogate you more. Just stay still for a moment, and I'll get you out of this chair." How ironic, his mind observed, the jailor has become the hero. Where might this escapade lead, do you think? Ignoring it with some effort, he brought a small flick-knife from inside his coat and bent to cut the thick pastic ties that were cutting into her ankles and hands, snapping them one-by-one until she sat blinking tearily in the huge metal chair, painfully massaging her wrists. He gave her some space, leaning carefully against the wall opposite and waiting for her to speak.

"Who are you?" she asked finally, trying to clean the blood off her face with her sleeve. "I didn't think anyone would ever come to get me - I've never heard of anyone rescued from SPEW before."

He smiled faintly. "Nor have I, but there's a first time for everything. Don't recognise me, do you? I admit it's been a while since I wandered these halls, but I thought I'd see more familiar faces than this." He walked slowly back across to her, taking pains to seem unthreatening, and held out his hand. "My name's Bob."

She grasped his hand gingerly to shake it, looking at him in astonishment. "Bob?" she said, as if trying to work something out, "as in backgroundbob? But I do know who you are! You were a member of the Cabassi, before you joined SPEW, you worked here! No-one knew when you'd appear, and then suddenly oneday you were gone, you just left entirely - they said you were dead."

Releasing her hand he shrugged lightly, moving off toward the door. "I may have been," he said with a flicker of a smile, "but there are some people you can't keep dead forever. Either way, I have a feeling you might be needed before the end of this thing, so you had better get out of here before someone comes to check on you. There's plenty to be done."

"Bob!" Her voice pulled him back from the other side of the door - he paused, looking back over his shoulder. "You had everything here, didn't you? Why did you leave? Where have you been?"

He smiled brilliantly, his white teeth incongruously bright in the dim cell.

"All across the universe," he said quietly. "But now? Now, the universe is coming back to rest, here. Get ready, Meep - everyone still thinks were looking for Snoink, but there's something... else. Something other." He ran his hand distractedly though his hair, then smiled again, as if seeing something in the room she could not.

"Remember," he said finally as he slipped around the corner, his voice floating back to her through the cold underground air, "remember, and tell them - all across the universe. It's coming."

*Thank you June!*

Rosey stood outside JC's house, leaning against a lamp-post. She'd managed to put on her dusty-pink jacket. The only thing she kept from her previously all-pink wardrobe.

"Snoink's been spotted in Greeter HQ, Purp Territory, her last story was posted in sci-fi..."

"What are you doing?" JC asked as she came out.

Rosey shifted against the post. "Thinking out-loud. Trying to figure out where Snoink was last." She pulled out her YWS pocket computer. "None of those. Her last post was in Other."

JC wrinkled her nose. "'Other'? What goes on there?"

"Everything, apparently. What doesn't show up in Poetry or Prose gets stuck there." Rosey continued to look through files. "And her last story was in sci-fi."

"How do you--"

"I critiqued it."

JC crossed her arms. "Should have known."

Rosey shrugged. "She asked me to. Anyways. Ugh, I wish June and Cat were here. Cat, at least, would know what's up."

"We could spy, or hit the sci-fi section. I'd be risky, though, going into Purp territory."

"Maybe. Sci-fi isn't a place I like to go. We'll have to see if they let us." Rosey suddenly remembered something. "Meep! She never showed up at Greeter HQ! Think she's vanished too?"

JC hit her forehead. "You're right! But I don't think she's vanished."

Rosey looked down the street to see a group of purps glancing around at all the peppiness in Blue territory. "There's Demi, June, Evi and Cat. Let's ask them."

*Awesome I'm actually in here!*

Rosey called to the assortment of Purps coming down Thefireinmeis Lane.

"Cat, Evi, Demi, June, we definetly have a mystery on our hands." She said, running her fingers across her chin in thought.

I've seen Cat I think and Evi but Demeter and June I've never seen. I know June is known for her many "dears" infesting her dialogue. Evi wrote that amazing story a school in YWS City and Demeter has the famous Lion King shirt. In fact, Demi was wearing her Lion King shirt now.

"Dears, all of us need to stick together. If we are going to solve this enigma, its going to take as many brains as we can get. Am I right, dears?" June said.

"Right!" we all exclaimed in unison.

"Now, first off. We need to figure out what happened to Meep?" Rosey chimed in.

"Meep's disappeared?" Evi asked.

"I think so. She may know something about Snoink!" Rosey said.

"Let's find her!" I yelled, pumping my fist in the air.

Everyone looked at me strangely as if that was the only thing they had heard me say in a long time.

"I think JC's right. Meep wasn't at the Greeter HQ." Rosey said in my defense.

"Yeah, I third the motion of finding Meep!" Demeter said.

"I fourth it!"

"I fifth it!"

"Well what are we waiting for, lets find her!!!"

"I think we should split up into groups. Search the entire city!" I said, excited about the whole thing. I was actually a part of something!

*well that was random...*

Evi sighed, looking around the group as they headed back to the Community Center, where most YWSers tended to congregate. There were six of them now-- Cat, June, Demeter, Rosey, JC, and herself-- and they would hardly be efficient in any spying endevours if they didn't split up. Who would go with who, though?

Rosey nodded towards Cat. "As YWS Reporter, you're going to have to make the choice as to whether the YWS City popuation has the right to know all that we've found out."

Evi narrowed her eyes. "I vouch for releasing the information, but...anonymously. We wouldn't want SPEW to decide any of us have taken the situation into our own hands."

Cat laughed dryly. "In other words, don't mention any of your names so you aren't busted."

June looked around worriedly. "I'm not sure we should release any information until we're sure we have the facts straight, though. Cat, dear, what would we do if SPEW doesn't want YWS to know anything?"

Demi rocked on her heels, obviously uneasy. "WWSD?" she muttered to herself. "What would Simba do?"

"Cat, you'll have to decide on what the public should know, and what information should be kept confidential," Evi agreed, "and someone should try to find Meep, just to ensure she didn't get into any mess. JC, do you know her very well?"

JC shrugged. "I know her well enough. I think I can gather some of her friends, and we can find her before too long."

Demi nodded. "I'd hate for anything to happen to anyone. I think one or two of us need to be patrolling the city, too, keeping an eye out for any suspicious behavior or foreign objects. Just in case we can find anyone who could be involved in Snoink's abduction. We can question the citizens and gather some information."

There was a short silence, and then June looked down at the ground. "We don't know that Snoink was taken by force," she said quietly, almost reluctantly. "We have no proof that she didn't just...leave. Because she needed to. Because she wanted to."

This was something that none of the girls had really even considered a possibility. Snoink just leave, without any warning, without leaving any word? What could have called her away from YWS City? This was her home.

Evi nodded somberly. "You're right, June, we don't have proof that she was taken by force. But, either way, the city isn't going to rest until we find her, whether she wants to be found or not. So, I suggest another group of us look inside her latest posts to see if she's left any clues. It's something that I can see her doing. She knows YWS citizens are smart, clever, resourceful--"

"Modest, too," Rosey laughed as a large group of assorted citizens approached them. "Alright, so, who's going to do what?"