#So WHOOPS maybe he figured something out about these literal roots of evil

[tyrantchimera]

So, uh.... anyone gonna talk about the fact that the tree of knowledge is A) the only tree in the garden of Eden depicted as being red (which is associated with evil in this intro story) and B) the only tree with very visible ROOTS?!?

Like, the roots of all evil? Literally??

No? Just me? Ah well.

[miikkasakari]

21

It took Marvel way too long to get around to a movie starring a female superhero, but Captain Marvel does a good job of sticking to its comic book movie roots while acknowledging, yeah, it’s a little different.

There’s nothing inherently special about a comic book movie with a female lead (and a white one, at that), but what I absolutely love about Captain Marvel is how they played it. For the most part, it seems to know it’s not special. It’s pretty standard fare: you don’t see it for a good feminist time, you see it because you like comic book movies. That’s what it is to its core. But it has all of these moments that work on a universal level, but carry gendered undertones - and it’s nice to be able to relate to those.

Like one of the key plot points in the movie: Carol is constantly chastised for being emotional. There are plenty of reasons that makes sense - the Kree not wanting her to be herself, for them to be able to control her and rely on her (after all, it was her disobeying orders that got her captured to begin with) - but, of course, there’s that moment every time a woman is told she’s being too emotional and can’t be taken seriously. But it’s when Carol gets emotional that she has to be taken seriously - whether it’s Maria giving her a supportive talk or her getting the chance to use her powers in full for the first time, Carol getting to be her true self with full expression is when she’s at her most powerful. And there’s a real joy in getting to see her experience it. The final battle is pretty anti-climactic because she’s so strong, but she’s also literally whooping during it - she’s getting to have the time of her life because she finally knows who she is again, and she’s emotional and protective, and she finally gets to express that as she’s found herself. It’s a celebration of a woman getting to do what she wants and anybody who would tell her off for it can go to hell.

And there’s also what leads up to it: Carol always gets back up again because she’s human. And that’s something pretty much anyone can relate to. But it carries that extra weight for anyone who grew up as a girl because it’s flooded with those mocking moments - “too emotional, too weak” - because she’s doing things not typical of a little girl, like going all out while go-karting or playing baseball (and either the kid pitching has absolutely terrible aim or he was absolutely trying to bean her). I remember those moments of being picked last for whatever I wanted to do and the neglect and dismissal that came with them. Carol’s resilient because she’s a human, but she’s also resilient because she grew up being told she couldn’t be.

And and, of course, the final moment with Yon-Rogg, which has so succinctly put into words exactly the tell-off I’ve needed: “I have nothing to prove to you.” Yon-Rogg’s move was absolutely a survival tactic, and it wasn’t inherently gendered in any way - he was completely outmatched, he knew it, and playing on his history with Carol as the one thing that could have possibly actually worked for him - but at the same time it was gendered, because he made himself the centre of her story. Carol used to go knocking on Maria’s door way too early in the day; she replaces her with Yon-Rogg and latches herself onto him because he’s made himself the central figure in her world (and probably gaslit her to do it, at that). He tried to set it up so that without Yon-Rogg, there’s no Carol; everything she did had to tie back to him in some way. That’s how a main character works, after all. But Yon-Rogg was never anything but a side character to her story - a nuisance, really - and Carol refusing to take him seriously at the end (to the point of dragging him across the desert, which was a perfect shot) is that one last weapon: a fuck off to a small, little man who has nothing to do with you and doesn’t deserve the attention he thinks he does. He’s not important and she tells him as much.

But otherwise, you know, comic book movie.

Except for some of the other moments in which it’s tonally different. It feels like there are many more quiet moments in which characters get to just talk - most scenes in Maria’s house are like that. They talk to Talos to advance the story and find new things out. They’re just having a nice evening together after the big battle. Carol calmly gives Fury his modified pager while they’re doing dishes and goofing around together. The movie gets the chance to breathe and explore its characters emotions, a lot, and that’s what i’m missing in a lot of these: something traumatic happens to a character but there’s no time to process it (except for maybe a scene in a sequel) because it always has to be go-go-go, and Captain Marvel is completely happy to just hit pause on things and square up its characters.

It also does a great job tying itself into the MCU canon and weaving itself into decade-old fabric rather seamlessly. For one thing, it finally gives us a Fury movie - not someone who knows all but certainly doesn’t say all and operates behind the shadows, but a Level 3 agent adapting on the fly to new situations because he has no other choice. We finally get to see him as a person, not just a figure, and turns out the person is pretty awesome. He’s competent, he’s curious, he’s a good judge of character. And his quick rapport with Carol makes the entire movie - when they first escape on the jet and are joking around together is when it really hits home, how easily he can make her laugh as her personality actually gets the chance to start shining through (before she knows the truth, even).

It’s easy to see why they’re friends, too: they have similar lived experiences, as he points out rather quickly from his “rogue soldier” remark. He quickly admitted to his faults in not quite trusting her without argument and had redeemed himself pretty much right away, as well. They don’t just end up with similar goals; they genuinely enjoy one another’s company. It’s what will tie Carol so well into Endgame, in all likelihood, judging by the first post-credits scene - she has a real emotional investment in the outcome, she has just as strong an emotional tie as any of the other characters to fight. We’ve only known her for one movie but she’s just as relatable as the rest of them thanks to her time with Fury.

And, of course, the kicker: the very end, in which Fury names the Avengers Initiative after her, with the theme briefly playing before transitioning to the credits. That’s what makes Carol feel like she’s been a long-time part of this universe even though she was just introduced: her friendship with Fury sets the stage for everything that’s to come without ignoring everyone else who built it up. Her shadow touched it all, even though we didn’t know it at the time, and then seeing Fury quietly work to build a legacy around her really drives it home.

Also, it was completely predictable how they’d tease him losing an eye, and once they showed him aggressively playing with Goose at the end it was obvious, but it was still perfect - him losing an eye was essentially played off as a joke, but also he did lose an eye to one of the most powerful and dangerous creatures in the universe, so it’s not that much of a joke if you really think about it.

Though Carol’s friendship with Fury is a big driving point, her friendship with Maria is equally so: she regains her humanity through her (and Monica), nobody else. It’s Maria she has the most emotional moments with, seeing the astounding loss play out from Maria’s point of view, Maria being the only reason she actually finds herself again. The moment in which Carol is screaming at Talos that he doesn’t know her, not even she knows herself - but there’s one person there who does know her, and then they just hug for a long time - was beautiful. The MCU has extremely little in the way of female friendships - Gamora and Nebula reconciling is the only one that comes to mind off the top of my head - so finally getting to see one so genuine and of such consequence was wonderful.

That, and all of the Photon foreshadowing. Monica was a delight as well - though that seems to be expected, since she was basically co-parented by Maria and Carol. (Seriously, this movie was Steve-and-Bucky-level gay.) It wasn’t a movie dominated by women, but their presences were so much more pronounced than they normally are, it really does make one wonder why they can’t do better in this area. Black Panther figured it out; Captain Marvel downsized it and made it more intimate.

But again - even with all of that - this really was a comic book movie. The way Talos uncovered Carol’s memories was unique and set the right amount of intrigue, but the casual way he goes about it really introduces us to Talos as a character, as well. He’s someone with a sense of humour trying to solve a puzzle - highly relatable - and yet when they made it to Mar-Vell’s lab, I was bracing myself for his inevitable betrayal, because Skrull. It’s wild how relieved I was he actually was just a good guy, because it was easy to get attached to him and his straightforward nature (when he finally decided to go in that direction). Skrulls can be tricky but just making this small group genuinely good people caught up in a shitty war was the right way to do it. I hope the MCU never does a Secret War storyline, because it won’t translate to a movie-verse like this - there’s too much time between movies/chapters, too much time to get attached to characters and actors; it would feel like a betrayal. I look forward to seeing evil Skrulls at some point, but I’m happy Talos wasn’t one of them, and he got to hold his share of heart in the movie, too.

That, and Monica’s budding friendship with Talos’ kid - they’ve set themselves up to do more if they want to.

I wish we could’ve gotten more Ronin - he feels so underused in every movie he’s in, and maybe that’s just the gravitas to his character or maybe he’s legitimately being completely underused - but he was really threatening in the bit of screen time he did have. His intrigue with watching Carol go about her business and his respect for her was outstanding and highlighted the both of them: he’s a brutal murderer and he recognizes he’s no match for her.

Getting to see Coulson again was really great as well, especially since I’ve finally taken the time to watch Agents of SHIELD and get attached to his character. Seeing Coulson as a loyal rookie was just the perfect dose, from him being left behind at the Blockbuster to looking upon Fury in awe at the end. He’s kind of just a guy, but you can tell why he’s special, and why he would have looked up to Captain America: ultimately his defining trait is a very warm heart.

And finally: making Mar-Vell a woman was something I definitely wasn’t expecting, but it really did add another layer to the entire movie. It gave someone else for Carol to relate and look up to; her history and Maria pretty explicitly spell out that their being women is a problem, so it makes it all the more believable she would grow close to someone like Mar-Vell and truly want to help, all the while admiring what she was doing, even if she didn’t know the truth behind it all. It carried so much more weight than if they had kept Mar-Vell a man. And she was such a good character that seeing the Supreme Intelligence warp her into someone so warmongering actually did hurt - and seeing Carol fight partly in Mar-Vell’s honour made it so much better, and it makes so much more sense that she would take on her name.

It really shouldn’t have taken Marvel this long to create a movie actually starring a woman and focusing on her relationships with other women. But at least when they finally did it, they did it right - and it made for a really good, fun comic book movie with just that little bit extra under the surface.

[ayankun]

GOTHAM

insanely rambley HUGE spoiler-ridden seasons 1-4 thoughts under cut

FIRST OFF LET ME TELL YOU I GOT CHILLS

Secondly, let’s think back to how I felt about season one.  A little loose in the narrative, not so much weaving threads as having threads, ones that you keep expecting to pull tight but more often than not just get dropped for other, shinier threads.  All leading to a surprisingly effective character-driven season finale that hopes to prove to you that a few meandering plot points can still add to a sum greater than the parts.

(Oswald goes from umbrella boy to King of Gotham, Bruce Wayne starts at the site of his parents’ murder and ends up taking his first steps into the Batcave, Jim enters as this black-and-white idealist and winds learning from a mob boss that even good men sometimes get their hands dirty to get the job done.  A socially awkward unrecognized genius has a psychic break, leading ultimately to the fall of Edward Nygma and the rise of the Riddler.)

Season two is a blur.  A period of transition from Jim “Good Cop” Gordon Fistfighting Corruption into... Gotham City: Arkham Asylum’s Backyard.  Think how much season one was about only Fish Mooney vs Falcone vs the GCPD and Cobblepot doublecrossing everyone he meets, and how much seasons two and three and four were about the Riddler and Valeska and Tetch and Ra’s al Ghul (and Valeska).  We have the bring-everyone-back-to-life at Indian Hill period to thank for the sudden left turn into the Strange.

WHICH IS NOT A COMPLAINT.

There are so many types of Batman stories, and there’s a time and a place for both Joe Chill and Killer Croc.  Gotham started in one and always knew it was headed for the other.

And B.D. Wong as Strange is a DELIGHT and I really appreciated his dynamic with Miss Peabody.  Speaking of, the bomb defusing scene was a real gem omg lololol give the woman some damn water already.

At the same time, the Fish storyline was like WHOA what EVEN is haPPENINg at any given moment.  And it ultimately didn’t amount to much?  There’s so much waffling between the surviving gang camps where everyone’s either got a kill-on-sight order or a owed-life-debt to each other and the pendulum swings back and forth so quickly it’s not really worth holding onto how anyone feels about anyone else.  That dead/MIA character will come back or the rivalry will be revived or the long-held grudge will be recalled if and when that plot point is going to be drafted, but other than that everyone’s friends and that’s ok.

And like.  Ivy??? Ivy Pepper???????  Why is that ride so wild???  There is no cause and effect, only next next next.  It’s insane.  Maybe watching this all at once rather than over the course of four years lends a different perspective, but holy cow.  Such a ballsy way to do whatever with a character you never had a plan for.

Which brings us to Barbara Kean?!  Season one she was there because they knew she was a Mythos Character but then they were like, wait, whateven is she for though?  Which is a fair question, since having her be the Little Lady Trophy Fiance meant she was a boring and needless character wasting space, not standing on her own and hardly informing Jim’s character either.  So what to do, what to do.  How about we kidnap her, put her through some insanely cruel physical and psychological abuse, make her a psycho-revenge-bride, put her in a coma, have her come back as a 100% Arkham Villain, give her a hench(wo)man, have the henchman KILL HER, have Ra’s al Ghul waltz up out of literally nowhere and say “lol, borrow this arcane mojo for a minute, I’ll want it back later or will I” and now she’s a kingpin of Gotham’s underworld with her own mini League of Assassin?!!!!!!!   !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!    !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Like.  Even if they never had a plan going into it, I’m pretty okay with most of what they came up with.  Better than the lil wifey hanging out at home and having one passing remark about curating a gallery that we never saw and was never mentioned again.

Better off a once-crazy, once-dead mafiosa than the less inspired handling of Miss Kringle.  I won’t even get into that trainwreck I-only-exist-to-validate-manpain-of-my-murderer wait I said I wasn’t going to get into it.

So Nygma!  Like I said when I got started with the show, the season one Edward Nygma was crafted as this painfully unsympathetic offbeat loser and I think they fully succeeded with that characterization.  The emergence of the Riddler persona was a welcome change, an upgrade, a spit-shine into something clean cut and confident and stylish.  But I like that, compared to the Penguin, the posterchild for evil-psychotic-villain!Protaganist, for example, they held on to a lot of Nygma’s unlikeablilty in that he’s still an ass, even more of an insufferable egoist, and SO CRAZY he can’t even read himself (which was a big thing about the character before he split in half, so in itself that’s pretty great).

I don’t know.  Maybe you like him and I’m supposed to like him.  I think he’s exactly what he ought to be, and while I'd never want to see him marched off a peer with a bullet in his back, I’m more than happy to see his fellow villain-Protagonists knock him around once in a while.  Penguin and Mooney and now Lee (?!) and Zsasz even are the kind of villan!Protagonist you really root for.  But if it’s any one of them vs. the Riddler, they’re definitely not going to lose.  Nygma’s like in his own category of villain!Protagonist Antagonist.

Of course, the post-Arkham-proto-Riddler who was running Oswald’s mayoral campaign, now HOT DAMN that was a storyline I could get behind.  I almost actually believed they were going to do something great in the Nygmobblepot arena and that was a magical moment.  I think the resulting blood feud, as painful of a 360 as they come, was a sounder storytelling decision and more in line with the show’s Schroedinger’s Frenemies mentality.

And his season four storyline with the Ed Nygma persona challenging the Riddler was a nice full circle.  Sort of closing the gap between this raging banana nutball and the razor-sharp criminal mastermind he could be if tried.  Not SUPER THRILLED with his creeping on Lee but, with all due respect, that’s par for the character so again I say I don’t think I’m meant to like him??

I just spent half this rant on the Riddler so I guess they’re doing something right.

Ok so Cameron Monaghan’s VALESKA TWINS.  Let’s get right into it, shall we.

Holy smokes they did everything right on this one.  Loved the Primal Fear treatment of his introduction, and the way this random circus kid just so happens to start displaying jokey traits that astute viewers will start to suspect that this could be the big bad we’ve all been waiting for --

and then they kill him.

WOW

I was so ready for this kid to grow up to be the Joker, and they rip that dream away and replace it with an idea that anyone can grow up to be the Joker, and damn if that isn’t the nicest treatment of the character’s fractured and obfuscated origin story.  But.  THEN!

THEY BRING HIM BACK and it’s everything you wanted him to be.  He’s just so good.  There’s just the right amount of (IMO, anyway) Hamill-homage in what is otherwise a fully imagined Character who is instantly recognizable as one of many iterations but at the same time outclasses them all.  The high-level narrative and dialogue stuff, the stuff they create for him to do, I mean, is all great.  And then Monaghan brings this manic A++ game to the table and blows it out of the water.  Best Joker performance?  Arguably so, especially when you consider

JEREMIAH VELASKA because this kid can’t stop having stellar Joker performances.  He’s like, two and a half, three of the best Joker performances on the books.  Jeremiah’s distinct visual style, the characterization, AGAIN with the obfuscated we-are-legion origin story hocow.  NO COMPLAINTS HERE.

Anyway so if that’s what we get in return for sending Fish Mooney through a narrative meat grinder, then I guess it’s an even trade.

Pengiun.  What to say about Penguin.  I loved what they gave him in season two, a ton of character stuff because his plot stuff of rags to riches had played itself out.  I felt real bad for his mom, but I really liked that he went and made himself mayor, and even while his story arcs tend to go riches to rags and back again, it’s never not a pleasure watching him claw his way up to where he thinks he ought to be.

For the most part they do a good job stringing together these different Protagonist story-groups, keeping in mind that most of these groups serve mainly as antagonists amongst themselves (when they’re not being buddy-buddy to serve some winding end).  So when you get the villain!Antagonists you can really tell the difference.  I got a little yawny while we were setting up Fries, and by the time we finally locked Tetch up for good I was very grateful.  These will never be main characters and the show knows it and wants you to know it, too.  So while they’re the main on-screen villain, it can get a little stale because the same effort isn’t being put into their lasting appeal.

Um.  Jim Gordon.  Another thing I liked about season four was a strong return to GCPD bidniss.  Season two there was a lot of GCPD, but with Captain Barnes and the strike force and Galavan, so it was a completely different narrative animal than what Gordon was throwing down with in season one.  Then Gordon goes to prison and after that he doesn’t go back to GCPD until well into season three, and by then the story’s about Mario and Tetch and Lee and omg I forgot about Valerie Vale until this very moment whoops.

As was hinted in the season one finale, Jim Gordon went on a very twisty path through the mud before he figured himself out again.  Killing Galavan was like WHAT JIMBOY and that wasn’t even the worst of it.  What I liked most about his stint as a PI was the character’s eventual acceptance that the law isn’t the be all and end all of righteousness, and that there are other means available when enforcing peace and justice.  Not necessarily by killing every evil mayor you come across with your own two hands, but the eye-opening to the virtues of vigilantism is super important when you realize he’s going to be Batman’s main ally down the line and this time in his life is going to be what ultimately allows the future police commissioner to legitimize this kind of shadowy ninja behavior.

Anyway, in season four, Jim kind of comes back to roost at the GCPD, and finally ousting Bullock as Captain was rough but obviously warranted, and with only one season left that was a good time to do it.  Harper was a nice addition and I’d like to see more of her as a standalone character.  (Similarly, Fox has fit in nicely with the cops, but I’m not overly hankering to see more of his day to day antics.) 

What was my real point?  I really liked the Gordon vs the GCPD dynamics of season one, and while obviously that’s not a story you can tell forever, it did inform the sense that the police force is a living entity that can serve you very well if it trusts you, but before that can happen you really have to jump on its back and break its will LOL.

Also, remember Renee Montoya and Harvey Dent?  Yeah, I don’t either.

SO BRUCE WAYNE, MY FRIENDS.

Gotham is my very most favorite Bruce Wayne story, and much as Batman: TAS is my forever-reference for most Batmany things, Gotham is going to be my heart-canon for Bruce Wayne origins.

It’s one thing to say, “ok so this rich kid watches his parents get murdered in an alley, and from this moment on he vows to do something about it and makes himself a master detective/martial artist who puts on a mask and a cape and runs around at night smashing thugs’ heads in for justice” like it’s a foregone conclusion, a straight-forward A-to-B process, and a wholly other thing to show us, step by step, how he learns to become the thing we all know he’s going to become.

In season one he was this quiet, morose but driven child who didn’t know what to do with this crisis he’d been handed.  He’s a kid who sits in a pool with his whole clothes on, trying to hold his breath for as long as possible because he has no idea how else to become better prepared for handling his issues.  But he has Selina and he has Alfred and he has Fox and he has Jim Gordon, and he will have the Court of Owls and the Valeskas and Ra’s al Ghul who will all play a part in handing him pieces of himself until he has a full set.

He started with this strong sense of right and wrong, a deeply seated desire to put his talents and his money to some sort of use, an earnest diligence towards bettering himself in all ways, and little by little he gets shown just how much of a fragile and defenseless baby he is.  That time Alfred accidentally-on-purpose clobbered him in the eye -- that was the moment Bruce found out they’d all been pulling their punches with him and that he still had so so so far to go.

Of course, at the particular moment, he was going through a well-earned rebel without a cause phase (which will do him well when he calls on those behaviors for the benefit of a wider audience), so I don’t think that realization hit him at the time.  BUT I NOTICED.  Sure he’s got a bulletproof suit and he can look Jim Gordon straight in the eye now and he can fling himself off rooftops like a champ (and when Alfred gave him the keys to the Batmobile I cried a little), but he’s no Batman.  Not yet.  Not quite yet.

But you can see without a shadow of a doubt that he’s gonna be!  Instead of this “Bruce Wayne woke up as Batman” story, we get a look at all the day by day choices and experiences that inform, shape, and depend on Bruce Wayne’s core identity and the way that they will collectively create Batman.

Now, David Mazouz may not have the character acting chops of a Pinkett-Smith or a Taylor or a Monaghan, and he may not be as comfortable living in a everyday character like Pertwee and Logue do so effortlessly, but there’s a steeliness a Bruce Wayne should have, a hauntedness, an idealistness, that Mazouz emotes in spades.  Sometimes his Bruce Wayne does a stunt or pulls a pose that Mazouz KNOWS is Batman territory, and while his awareness of “I’m doing a cool thing look at me doing it” is a little distracting--it’s also SUPER EFFECTIVE and I fall for it hook, line, and sinker.

I’ve always been one of those fans who’s way more interested in the lives and characters of the secret identities (compared to the heroics of the super identities) so hot diggity dog is this the show for me.  All Bruce Wayne all the time.  When we he does put on the mask, it’s all the more powerful for knowing who exactly is wearing it and what’s driving him to do these borderline insane things.

Not 100% sold on Ra’s’ “I saw this in a dream” strong-arm prophecy, feeling like it steps on four years of Bruce Wayne’s self-determination.  Not 100% on how they introduced him and his aims and his baffling reincarnation(s).  But I am 100% on the pronunciation of “Ra’s” because I’m aware that Kevin Conroy et al figured it out somewhere between TAS and Arkham Asylum, but it’s something that they never quite got in Arrow.  (Oliver consistently uses “raysh” but everyone else is a grab bag between that and “rawz”.)

For that matter, David Mazouz consistently pronounces Ra’s with two syllables, so there’s also that.  Wait, hold on.  In Gotham they also draw a hard line between Ra’s al Ghul, the man, and “the demon’s head,” some sort of mystical power of time travel and flashlightiness.  Give one point to Arrow for not being that bizarre.

Long story short, the shot at the finale where Gordon’s waiting on the GCPD rooftop with the spot light and Bruce Wayne stalks up behind him was BEAUTIFUL.  (They also did the thing some episodes earlier where Bruce peaces out on Gordon when Gordon’s mid-sentence with his back turned and I laughed a lot)

Looking forward to their take on No Man’s Land.  Here’s a short story for you at the end of this long story:

One time I was reading No Man’s Land volume by volume from the library.  It was tough because I checked the first time and they had the full set, but then you never knew that the next one was going to be available when you went in for it.

So I get out of the car one day and look there’s a quarter on the ground.  Neat.  It’s mine now!

Going into the library, there was a cart of used books for sale by the door.  25 cents each.  Hell, I’ve got a quarter now, let’s see what they got.

What they got is the No Man’s Land novelization.  For 25 cents, or, in my case, free.

So I read that instead, and turned out I liked it way better than the source comics.  I have a hard time reading comics?  I tend to not look at the pictures, and certain art styles aren’t my jam.  Also when it comes to narrative capabilities, there are different tools and effects inherent to each form, and I appreciated the literary treatment and the internal voice it brought to the table that the comics couldn’t.

Also the author said in the note that his method was to sit down and jam out minimum 2000 words a day and that’s still a feat I admire.

Anyway, that’s my long winded take on Gotham.  Not perfection, but certainly a respectable and authoritative representation of a subject matter we all know and love.  I give it my second favorite Batman portrayal (behind Kevin Conroy and above Adam West) and my absolute favorite live-action Bruce Wayne, hands down.

[aspen-arts]

Price of Freedom Ch 13

Whoop! Chapter 13 up and running!

Oh geeze, you guys are going to hate me for this...

CH 13

Cagney spent the next few weeks traveling in the Phantom Express and going around all over Inkwell Isle. The first stop they made was Inkwell Isle One and he was able to get a chance to see familiar friends with Specter. Weepy sobbed with joy when he saw Cagney. Moe acted apathetic but Cagney knew he was glad to see him again while Psycarrot kept on patting his back as if proud of him for coming to visit.

Cagney was also able to revisit his old home, Fleischer Fields and was overwhelmed by so many memories of the place. Some good, some bad. Yes it was truly a memorable day for Cagney, revisiting his old home and encountering the Root Pack again. However he felt happier going back to the Phantom Express and being with Specter in the caboose area.

“Hey Cag?” Specter spoke one time during their nightly cuddles. “Can I ask you something?”

“Hmm?” Cagney opened one eye.

“Well…are you bored with all this?”

“All of what?”

“The areas we usually stop at. I mean sure, we visit a lot of places but usually it’s the same routine. First Inkwell Isle One, then Two, then Three, and then the Casino. It must be getting boring.”

“Not really,” Cagney smiled. “I mean, there has been a lot of stuff happening in the train that I don’t really get bored of the regular stops. It’s like…something new happens inside here.”

“Like when T-bone chased after the twins when they stole his conductor hat?” Specter cackled.

Cagney couldn’t help but laugh. “Yeah, that’s one.”

“Well, what I was meaning to say is…is there any place you want to visit? Like, you really, really, REALLY want to visit.”

“Well…” Cagney drummed his leaf fingers. “There is one area I would love to see…but I don’t think—”

“Name it,” Specter said instantly, “and I will take you there myself.”

“Oh,” Cagney wilted a little bit. “You don’t have to do that.”

Specter smiled and kissed the flower’s forehead. “I want to.”

Cagney thought about it for a minute before reaching down for a magazine laying on the floor. Specter sat up as he watched Cagney flip through the pages before he stopped and pointed at a page. The page was a landscape image of a green forest filled with trees and flowers. The words on the page said, “Come visit Tyrus Gardens!”

“I’ve always dreamed about visiting that garden,” Cagney told Specter, “it is said to be the best garden there is in all of Inkwell.”

Specter grinned. “I think it sounds like a great place. Maybe we’ll be able to visit it sometime soon.”

Cagney smiled and nuzzled into Specter. “Hmm, I’d like that.”

The ghost hugged the flower closer to him as Cagney yawned. “Getting tired?”

“A little bit…”

“Well you go right to sleep. It’s getting late after all.”

“Okay,” Cagney closed his eyes. “G’night Specs…love you…”

Specter smiled. “Love you too, Cag.”

 The dawn sun peeked over the mountains of Inkwell Isle bright and early and not a cloud in the sky. This suited T-bone fine. Despite being a skeleton, he did enjoy watching the sun rise over the horizon while sipping his usual morning coffee. Which he was about to do at the moment. The skeleton stepped out of the caboose car and leaned against the railing as he watched the sun rise above the mountains. He took a sip of his coffee which he instantly spat out in disgust.

What was in this?!

T-bone looked closer and noticed several lumps floating in the coffee.

“Morning, T-bone!”

“Morning!”

T-bone glanced up to see the Blaze Brothers grinning down at him.

“Morning,” T-bone raised his coffee cup towards them. “Say, you wouldn’t know who made this coffee, right?”

“Sure do!” One of the brothers grinned. “It was us!”

“Yeah! Us!”

“Oh?” T-bone had a bad feeling about this. “And…what did you put in it?”

“Can’t tell you, T! Made it with our very own recipe. Top secret, you know?”

“Yeah, top secret.”

Oh, so that was it then.

“Where’s Spec’s?” One of the Blaze Brothers asked. “Still asleep?”

“Seems that way,” T-bone nodded. “Heard him still sleeping upstairs along with Cagney.”

“Can we wake them up?”

“Absolutely not.” T-bone snorted. “You two are going to go back to your posts and do your duties. I’ll wake Specter if he sleeps in too late. Got it?”

“Yeah, yeah,” the Blaze Brothers slithered away, grumbling. “We heard ya’.”

T-bone waited until the brothers were out of sight before dumping out the rest of the coffee. Suddenly the train came to a sudden halt which nearly toppled the skeleton over.

“What the—?!”

T-bone straightened his conductor’s hat and stormed into the railway cars. “All right! What’s the hold up?!”

He found the Blaze Brothers hidden in one of the railway cars and they looked absolutely shaken.

“Hey!” T-bone snapped. “Why did we stop? Did you two mess up with something again?”

“You don’t want to go out there, T…” One of them whispered in fear.  

T-bone raised a brow, his annoyance switched into concern. He had never seen the Blaze Brothers this terrified. Something must be really wrong. The skeleton got off the train and went to the head of the train.

“Hey Head, what’s going—”

He froze when he saw the expression on the train’s face. His usual grinning mouth was turned down in a grimace of fear and his eyes were wide with terror. T-bone looked over to what he was staring at and a hand of fear gripped him.

Standing before them was the familiar black furred devil with eyes narrowed in malicious glee while behind him the feared King Dice was standing silently with a smug smile on his face.        “Gentlemen,” The Devil spoke in a calm voice. “It’s been awhile since we last spoke…”

 Inside the caboose, Specter and Cagney awoke when the train had skidded to a sudden stop causing them to fall out of their bed.

“Oof!” Specter grunted as Cagney landed on top of him.

“Sorry!” Cagney yelped.

“It’s fine,” Specter sat up and frowned. “Something must be up with Head.” With a sigh he floated up in the air. “Guess I better go see what’s going on…”

“Should I come?” Cagney asked.

“Nah, you go back to sleep.” Specter smiled. “It’s probably for train employees.”

“But you said you’re not an employee.”

“True, doesn’t mean I can’t eavesdrop and figure out what’s going on.”

“Well,” Cagney smiled. “I guess not.”

“And as long as we’re up, I’ll see if I can snatch us some breakfast as well.”

“Sounds great!”

Specter gave Cagney a quick peck on the cheek. “I’ll be right back.”

The ghost floated through the caboose door and headed towards the front of the train. He blinked when he came upon the Blaze Brothers cowering in the car. Odd, he had never seen them this terrified.

“Hey guys…what’s going on?”

“Get back to the caboose, Specter! It’s too dangerous for you to be out here!”

“Why? What’s going on?”

“It’s the Devil and that lackey of his, King Dice! They’re the ones who stopped the train!”

The Devil?  Specter froze in horror as the words of the Devil rose in his mind.

“Don’t even think about running away from this debt or else I will have to drag you here myself.”

Was he here to do that now? And where was T-bone? Ignoring the cries of the Blaze Brothers for him to come back, Specter rushed over to the front of the train. Getting to the front of the train he floated towards Head’s big wheels and hid behind, peeking his head out to watch the scenario before him. T-bone was standing tall in front of the Devil and had his fists on his hips. 

“Just what’s the meaning of this, Devil?” The skeleton asked in a calm voice.

Specter felt a wave of pride come over him. He had no idea how T-bone could remain so calm and unafraid in front of the Devil but his admiration for the skeleton heightened.

“I’m here to finish a little bit of business one of your crew members have with me,” The Devil answered simply.

“What business?” T-bone snorted. “There is no business. We’ve already signed that lousy contract of yours and we’re paying it by bringing souls to your casino.”

“True,” The Devil grinned, “however there is one who hadn’t signed until now. Where’s that blind ghost?”

“Specter?” T-bone sounded confused. “Why would you want him? He’s a good kid. He wouldn’t—”

“Wouldn’t sign one of my contracts?” The Devil laughed. “Oh how wrong you are! Dice, the contract if you will.”

King Dice stepped forward and took out a scroll from his suit pocket. He unfurled it and handed it over to T-bone.

“There’s all the proof you need. You can see he signed it with his own signature and everything. Now we’ll just take him back to our place and we’ll—”

T-bone looked up from the contract and Specter was shocked to see pure hatred on his face. “Over my body, you two! I have no idea what you guys did to him, but he’s not going with you!”

The Devil sighed sadly. “Oh, I feel sorry for you…well actually…”

There was a burst of light and T-bone was thrown back, landing hard against the Head of the Train.  The Devil gave an evil grin. “No I’m not.”

He casually walked over to the skeleton and placed a foot on T-bone’s skull. “Now I’m asking you one more time…where’s that blind ghost?”

“F-forget it!” T-bone coughed. “You ain’t getting the kid’s soul!”

“I see…well if I can’t take his soul…” The Devil suddenly pressed his foot against T-bone’s skull harder and T-bone began to choke in pain. “Guess I’ll have to take yours.”

“NO! WAIT!”

The Devil looked up to see Specter rushing towards him. Specter stopped and glared up at the Devil. “Leave him alone! It’s me you want!”

“Spec!” T-bone gasped. “Get away from here!”

The Devil chuckled. “Like I said, you’ve got a lot of spunk for a shrimp.” He then bared his teeth in a twisted grin of delight. “You’ll make a fine addition to my little collection of souls. Dice, take him.”

Specter yelped as King Dice’s huge hand grabbed him and lifted him up. The dice gave his own monstrous grin as he held up Specter up to his face. “You’re going to enjoy the Devil’s place, kid. It’s the hottest place in town…literally!”

Specter glared straight into the Dice’s eyes and tried so hard not to show any hint of fear. It wasn’t easy when you were really terrified out of your mind.

“Specter?”

Specter gasped at the sound of a familiar voice. “Cagney! Cagney, get back in the train!”

The carnation stepped down from the railway car and stared at the scene in front of him. “W-what’s going on?”

“Cagney huh?” The Devil turned his attention to the flower. “So you’re the guy this kid sold his soul for?”

“What?” Cagney’s eyes widened. “What do you mean, sold—”

“Oh he never told you?” The Devil threw back his head and laughed. “That’s priceless! I heard the entire story, kid. You were being pummeled by your old fling and in order to save your precious life, this guy sold his whole soul to me so that you can escape.”

Cagney took a step back as if he had been struck. He stared at the Devil and then up toward Specter. “Spec…is…is this true?”

Specter closed his eyes and sighed deeply. “I-I’m sorry Cagney…I did it.”

“B-but…selling your soul?! W-why—”

“I did it to save your life!” Specter cried out. “I didn’t know what else to do! If I hadn’t…you would have died! I love you too much to let you be killed by that bastard!”

“Aw,” The Devil smirked, “young love…touching, but idiotic. All this talk is making me bored. Now if you don’t mind, we’ll be on our way.”

“No!” T-bone desperately began to crawl towards King Dice. “You can’t take him! He’s—”

A swift kick to the head from Dice knocked the skeleton to the ground.

“Haven’t you learned nothing?” The Devil snorted as he glared down at the crumpled skeleton. “I’m the Devil…you can’t fight against me and expect to win. Now if you don’t mind—”

“STOP!”

The Devil glared down at the carnation who had yelled. “Oh what is it now?!”

“I…” Cagney faltered for a bit before standing up straight. “I’ll make a trade.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah…you let Specter remain here in the Phantom Express…and I’ll…I’ll take his place.”

“What?!” Specter gasped. “Cagney no!”

“Shut up!” Dice snapped, giving Specter a hard shake.

“Hmm,” The Devil leaned closer to Cagney, eyeing him with interest. “You’re saying that you’re willing to give up your newfound freedom, your very own soul…all because of him?”

“That…” Cagney swallowed. “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

“Why?”

“Like you said…young love…”

“Hmm,” The Devil rubbed his chin and thought it over. Finally with a snap of his fingers a contract and a quill pen appeared in front of Cagney. “Very well then. He’ll stay…but you come with me.”

“Cagney, don’t do this!” Specter cried in desperation. “Don’t worry about me! I can handle it!”

Cagney froze at this sentence. He had said that before and what had Specter said to that?

“No…you can’t…”

“CAGNEY!”

Without another moment of hesitation, Cagney grabbed the quill pen and signed right on the dotted line. Once he was finished, the Devil snapped his fingers again and the contract disappeared. “Dice, let the ghost go. Take the flower.”

Specter wriggled out of Dice’s grasp and flew towards Cagney, throwing his arms around the flower and pulled him into a tight hug.

“Cagney, you idiot!” He sobbed. “You…idiot! Why…why did you do this?!”

“Same reason as you,” Cagney tried to keep his tears at bay as he hugged the ghost. Suddenly he felt himself being pulled away from Specter’s embrace and he desperately tried to hold on longer.

“No, please!” Specter cried as he tried to hold onto Cagney’s leaf hands. “Don’t take him away!”

“The time to say goodbye is over, kid.” Devil snorted as he jabbed his trident on the ground. “We’re on a tight schedule.”

A large black portal opened up and the Devil leapt in.

“CAGNEY!”

Cagney glanced up to see T-bone holding Specter back as the ghost tried to get to King Dice.

“Cagney!” Specter was yelling. “No! Please, don’t do this! I can’t lose you like this!”

A single tear finally escaped Cagney’s eye and rolled down his cheek. He stared straight at the ghost and uttered a single sentence.

“I love you.”

That was the last thing Specter heard before King Dice leapt into the portal taking Cagney along with him and the portal completely disappeared.

“CAGNEY!” Specter pulled himself away from T-bone and tried to glide down the railway tracks heading for the casino. “Cagney! I’ll save you again! I’ll—AAAGH!”

It was like an invisible chain had grabbed onto his wrists and neck and he was pulled back to the Head of the Train. After catching his breath, Specter tried to glide away once more but again he was pulled back

“Spec,” T-bone’s voice was low and hoarse. “Stop…”

“What’s going on, T-bone?” Specter’s voice was rising in panic. “Why can’t I leave the train?!”

“It was part of the deal…you are now an employee of the Devil working in the Phantom Express…and now you have to stay in the train…forever.”

“What?” Specter stared at T-bone with despair. “So…I can’t…I can’t—”

“I’m sorry Spec…”

There was a period of silence as Specter stared at the skeleton. Finally the blind ghost clenched his fists together and pounded them on the ground, screams and sobs erupting from deep inside him. Stories have been told for years about the ghastly noises coming from the train that took souls to the devil. Now the noises coming from the train was more terrible and more heart wrenching than ever before and one would be surprised to know it came from a ghost grieving over the loss of his one love.