I have the following Steam CD keys for trade / sale:

• 11-11 Memoires Retold
• 60 Parsecs!
• Aaero
• Ageless
• Almost There: The Platformer
• Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs
• Amnesia: Rebirth
• Amnesia: The Dark Descent
• Among Us
• Aragami 2
• Arcade Paradise
• Arkham Asylum GOTY
• Arkham City GOTY
• Arkham Knight Premium
• Avalanche 2: Super Avalanche
• Aven Colony
• Back 4 Blood
• Batman: Arkham Origins
• Between the Stars
• Biomutant
• Blade Assault
• Book of Demons
• Boomerang FU
• Boreal Blade
• Bravery and Greed
• Broken Age
• Broken Sword 5 - the Serpent's Curse
• Chivalry 2
• Colt Canyon
• Conan Chop Chop
• Cook, serve, delicious! 3?!
• Crying Suns
• Curse of the Dead Gods
• Cyber Hook
• DV: Rings of Saturn
• Dandara
• Dear Esther Landmark Edition
• Death Stranding: Director's Cut
• Desolate
• Disco Elysium - The Final Cut
• Disjunction (GOG key)
• Driftland The Magic Revival
• Dungeons 3
• ELEX II
• Effie
• Eldest Souls
• Encased
• Endless Space 2
• Endzone - A World Apart
• Eterium
• Eternal Threads
• Europa Universalis III
• Evergarden
• Expeditions: Rome
• Expeditions: Viking
• Family Man
• Farmer's Dynasty
• First Class Trouble
• Fling to the Finish
• Fort Triumph
• Founder's Fortune
• Fury Unleashed
• Fury Unleashed
• Gauntlet - Lilith the Necromancer Pack
• Gauntlet Slayer Edition
• Gloria Victis
• Go Home Dinosaurs
• God's Trigger
• Gratuitous Space Battles
• Grow: Song of the Evertree
• HIVESWAP: Act 1
• HackyZack
• Hearts of Iron III
• Heaven's Vault
• Hero's Hour
• Hexologic
• Hob
• Hokko Life
• Hot Brass
• Ikenfell
• Immortal Redneck
• In Other Wars
• Indivisible
• Kerbal Space Program
• Kingdom Two Crowns
• Kingdom Two Crowns
• Kingdom: New Lands
• Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Recoking Fate Edition
• Knock-Knock!
• Kraken Academy
• LEGO The Hobbit
• LEGO The Lord of the Rings
• Last Call BBS
• Levelhead
• Loddlenaut
• Love is Dead
• Lovecraft's Untold Stories
• MINIT
• Mad Max
• Main Assembly
• Majesty 2 Collection
• Marvel's Midnight Suns Digital+ Edition & Midnight Suns Doctor Strange Skin
• Max Payne 3
• Meeple Station
• Merchant of the Skies
• Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor GOTY
• Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor Game of the Year Edition
• Middle-earth: Shadow of War Definitive Edition
• Midnight Fight Express
• Mobius Front '83
• Monaco: What's Yours Is Mine
• Monster Crown
• Moon Hunters
• Mr. Shifty
• NAIRI: Tower of Shirin
• NEX Machina
• Narita Boy
• NecroWorm
• Neon Abyss
• NeuroVoider
• Neverout
• Nova-111
• Oaken
• Old Man's Journey
• One Step From Eden
• OTXO
• Out of Reach: Treasure Royale
• Outlast
• Overcooked! 2 + DLC
• Override: Mech City Brawl
• Ozymandias: Bronze Age Empire Sim
• PGA Tour 2K21
• PGA Tour 2k21
• Pac-Man 256
• Panzer Paladin
• Paradigm
• Path of Giants
• Pathway
• Peaky Blinders: Mastermind
• Pikuniku
• Planet Alpha
• Popup Dungeon
• Project Winter
• Quantum Break
• Radio Commander
• Raji: An Ancient Epic
• Rebel Cops
• Regions Of Ruin
• Relicta
• Remnant: From the Ashes - Complete Edition
• Remothered: Broken Porcelain
• Renowned Explorers: International Society
• Retimed
• Revita
• Ring of Pain
• Road 96
• Road Redemption
• Roadwarden
• Roboquest
• Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break
• Rollerdrome
• Rustler
• SIMPLEROCKETS 2
• Say No! More
• Scourgebringer
• Secret Neighbor
• Seven
• Shadow Tactics: Aiko's Choice
• She Remembered Caterpillars
• Shing!
• Shining Resonance Refrain
• Shotgun King: The Final Checkmate
• SimplePlanes
• Size Matters
• Skullgirls 2nd Encore
• Slipstream
• Sniper Elite
• Snowtopia: Ski Resort Builder
• Soulblight
• Steel Rats
• Steelrising
• Stikbold!
• Still There
• Struggling
• Stygian : Reign of Old Ones
• SuchArt: Genius Artist Simulator
• Sundered
• Super Daryl Deluxe
• Super Magbot
• Supraland
• Surviving Mars
• Swag and Sorcery
• TEMTEM
• Tabletop Playground
• Tannenberg
• Tesla Effect: A Tex Murphy Adventure
• The Adventure Pals
• The Ambassador: Fractured Timelines
• The Darkside Detective
• The Journey Down: Chapter Three
• The Long Dark
• The Outer Worlds: Spacer's Choice Edition
• The Red Lantern
• The Vagrant
• There Is No Light: Enhanced Edition
• This War of Mine (Final Cut)
• Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales
• Tin Can
• ToeJam & Earl Back in the Groove
• Toem
• Tohu
• Tomb Raider
• Total Tank Simulator
• Train Station Renovation
• Treasure Hunter Simulator
• Trek to Yomi
• Tribes of Midgard
• Turbo Golf Racing
• Two Point Campus
• Unmetal
• Wandersong
• Warsaw
• Wasteland 3
• West of Dead
• Where the Water Tastes Like Wine
• Wizard of Legend
• X-Morph: Defense
• X-Morph: Defense - European Assault
• X-Morph: Defense - Last Bastion
• X-Morph: Defense - Survival Of The Fittest
• Yakuza 4 Remastered
• Yakuza: Like A Dragon
• Yoku's Island Express
• Yoku's Island Express
• Yooka-Laylee : Impossible Lair
• Zwei: The Arges Adventure
• Zwei: The Ilvard Insurrection

Looking for offers of rough equivalent value of your Steam CD keys.
In particular looking for gothy/dark games (Vampires, necromancers, dystopian, moody, demons, villains, etc.), LGBT games like in the recent Humble Bundle, and rogue-likes/rogue-lites.

Florida - Looking for advise from realtors or people who have experience please and thank you.
Sorry but this is going to be an odd situation. I (44M) live in the Philippines (South East Asia) and my mother (66F) just pasted away yesterday. I'm writing this post as I kill time traveling back to the US from the airport. I have NOT yet spoken to a realtor in the area. Again, still at the airport trying to get back to US.
Here is the question???? Option 1 - Do I sell the house as is and make a lot concessions on house making it sell for almost nothing because of how badly in shape the house is currently or Option 2 - Do demolish the house and sell just the land. or Option 3 - Do I drop all the money I have saved (80K) into it and do a full remodel and sell it after the remodel. Option 4- just build a new house and sell it.
-----I have NO plans on ever moving back to the US so keeping the house isn't an option. I can't rent it out because it would need more work than I have money for to make it "rentable" as well as the issue of managing a rental from half way around the world.
Now onto the details.
My mother owned a single story 2bd 1bth house in St Petersburg / Clearwater, Pinellas County, Florida that was built in the 50's, currently valued at the 230K mark according to Zillow. The house was originally owned by my grandparents. When they passed, she got it. Now that she has passed, I get it. Taxes are paid and the house was in a trust so transfer will be simple. She does have a mortgage on the house currently that is 65K to pay off.
The issue is that the house (in my opinion) is a piece of crap. Nothing is up to code. I know the house has or has had lots or termite damage as well as major bug infestation (back in the mid 90's, it has since been tented and has had on going pest control). The only thing that is newish on the house is the roof which was done (with permits) about 10 years ago (shingle roof). I know for a fact that the house needs a LOT of repairs if its going to be sold. The yard (lot) is 110 x 44 and is close to a highway so the location is good. Good school district. But the house itself is a mess. Last time I was there was 4 years ago and I know she hadn't had any work done to it since then.
The outside of the house has kind of tile like siding (maybe a foot x 3 foot) and a lot of them are broken or just plain missing leaving the asphalt paper behind them visible. She had a tiny porch/deck (4x8) connected to the front door added on about 12 years ago (no permit). The yard, while mowed, is your typical Florida yard that is 50% sand and 50% grass/weeds. The back yard has a small metal shed (6x8x6) that houses the mower and tools. There is a poured concrete patio (10x20) at the back door but it is a good 4 to 6 inches below the door but has no covering or shading and burn your feet to a crisp in summer time.
The inside of the house as you enter the front door, is the living room (maybe 13x20)(standing at the door looking straight is 13' and left to right is 20') with kitchen directly behind it (maybe 7 or 8x10) and an enclosed porch behind the kitchen (12x12).When the house was built it was a screened in porch but when my grandparents had their 4th kid they enclosed it and made it a make shift bedroom. The walls are 3 foot high brick and the top 5 feet are 2x4. The work was done by my grandfather and a neighbor back in late 60's (no permits) and neither of them are professional handymen or tradesmen. After the kids grew they turned it into a dining room / laundry room. The laundry hooks up to the kitchen plumbing (again not done by a pro)
To the left of the front door is the master bedroom (13x13) and directly behind that is the second bedroom (10.5x10.5). There is a kind of shared closet that separates the 2 bedrooms. Shared as in the master has its own and the second bedroom has its own but there is no hard wall between the 2 rooms. The back of the closet is the wall for each bedroom. Sound very much travels lol. The bathroom sits in a kind of hallway/knock between the second bedroom and kitchen. The bathroom is tiny (5x6) You can stand in the center and touch all 4 walls. It has a tub (probably cast iron original to the house), a toilet and a pedestal sink. The walls are the odd thing throughout the house. The living room has 2 walls of wood panels and 2 that are plaster or drywall (can't tell the difference) Kitchen is all drywall. The dining room / laundry room has a mix of 70's or 80's bead board on one wall (the wall between kitchen and dining room) and drywall behind laundry area and bare open space on the other 2 walls. (you can see the 2x4s and what looks like plywood on the outside. The master bedroom has dry wall on 3 walls and wood sheeting on the closet wall. Same in the second bedroom. Bathroom has all drywall with small square tiles (maybe 6x6) going up about 4 feet high. The tub has tile up to the shower-head height.
The floor throughout the entire house is slab concrete (actually in great shape surprisingly) with small carpets placed around (like area rugs). The exception to that is the bathroom and kitchen which are tiled. (probably original to the build) The house sits on a cement block foundation with 6" slab poured on top. Its solid. There is an attic you can access threw a opening just outside the bathroom (2x3) in ceiling. House doesn't have central heat or a/c. Both bedrooms have a window a/c and the living room has a wall heater (hasn't been used in 20+ years) but no other sources or a/c or heat in the house. Living room and both bedrooms have ceiling fans. There are a total of 16 windows throughout the house so if you open them all you get a decent cross breeze.
In the mid 90's ish, there was a bug infestation (its Florida) and the house had to be tented and treated done by Orkin. They are the ones that found what they called serious signs of termite damage. Since then the house has been treated every 6 months via pest control service.
I grew up in the house and moved out in the mid 90's and haven't lived there since but even as a kid I knew the house was a piece of crap.
Now onto the issue. Values all come from looking at Zillow and realtor.com. The neighbors house directly to the left (corner lot) is a fully remodeled (late 2000's) solid concrete block build with 2bd1bth screened in porch (almost identical to my moms house just better, although the yard is smaller) valued at 360K. The neighbor directly to the right (corner lot) is a fully remodeled (8 years ago) stick framed 3br 2 1/2 bth with bonus room and attached garage that just sold ( 2 years ago) 590K (has almost no yard at all). The neighbor directly across the street from the house (corner lot and is also a double lot) is a 5br 4bth triple garage valued at 700K. The house directly behind the house (has a shared alleyway) is a shotgun style house 2br 2bth house (decent yard) valued at 340K.
Currently, my mothers house is valued at 230K, one of the lowest in the entire neighborhood. And by neighborhood I mean I am looking at a 10 city blocks x 6 city blocks. There are currently 2 empty lots, same size (110x44) that are for sale for 225k and 200k. Both appear to be under contract.
Now the question????
Option 1- Do I sell the house as is and get as much as I can for it in its current condition. The house has a mortgage on it that will have to be paid off for 65K. I know that once anyone does a home inspection it will come back lots of things that need fixing (electric, water, sewer, possibly structural, etc.) Doing the math on it, homes value 230k-65k mortgagee - realtor fees - concessions will get me maybe 60-100k to walk away with.
Option 2- Demo the house and just sell the lot. Have to get a permit to demo it and hire someone to demo it and take it to the dump. Looking online thats about 15-20k. If I could sell the lot for 200k - 65k mortgagee - demo fees - realtor fees I could walk with 80-90k
Option 3- I could drop every penny I have into a remodel (80K) and possibly take out a mortgage for remodeling, bring everything up to code and increase the homes value by maybe 100k. (new landscape, new siding, new electrical, new plumbing, new windows and doors, new 2x4's where needed, new insulation, new havoc system, etc.)
Option 4- Demo the house and build brand new. Then sell it.
Thank you if you took the time to read this and respond.

Small premise: I'm not here to complain or accuse the game. I'm here as a huge fan who loves to talk about RE!
The first time I played the original I was just a kid... and I used for the entire game the first shotgun because I liked its aesthetics (I was a chad, yes)
A few years ago I wanted to play it again, this time trying to be as "competitive" as possible and, although I disliked the Striker's "style", I decided to use it anyway because I knew was the strongest... and I admit that it was love at first (second) sight:
Great power and versatility, practically infinite ammunition (thanks, Merchant!)... in short, the strongest for valid reasons
Now, I understand that with today's inflation the Merchant can no longer give you free ammo... but the weapon has been nerfed into the ground!
First point: the spread. I can't say this objectively, but I remember that in the original the weapon was much more precise. Here the spread is really excessive, it's a weapon with the effective range of a knife!
Second point: the management of the ammo. If it's a weapon meant for sweeping, I need to have the ammo for it. Not only I no longer get shells for free by upgrading my magazine... but the game itself is much less generous
(I know that the Striker allows you to find more ammo because the inventory is empty, but they are still ammunition taken from other weapons)
I read many threads and some people think that the strong point is the control of the hordes... but are we really that sure?
Sure, I shoot and knock down (and push away!) 4 enemies at a time... nice, but then I have to kill these enemies! So, either I run out of shells to do it, or I have to waste time (and therefore take risks) to change weapons... a precise weapon, designed for medium distances, which could get me into trouble if another enemy suddenly approaches me in very short range
Speaking of Riot Gun instead, the direct competitor, if I have a horde with a more dangerous enemy in the middle, I can directly and quickly kill the priority target... and then finish off the other enemies
But, more generally, the Riot Gun allows me to plan ahead and prevent myself from being surrounded (since it can easily one-shot many enemies and a more than decent distance)... where instead, with the Striker, I almost have to wait that they are on me
Written this, I'm curious to hear your opinion!
Thanks for reading

*There is no reloaded ammo or components available for trade/sale in this post, per the subreddit rules. I am only looking for some advice on what to do with this lot. Do not message me asking to trade/sell anything mentioned here please*
I had a relative that passed away a few years ago, and he was big into guns and reloading in the late 1990s and early 2000s. He had a stockpile of almost 15,000 rounds of reloaded ammunition that he did himself. After going through it all, some of the approximate counts are 4500 .308, 4000 .223, 1250 .400 Cor-Bon, 1000 .357 Magnum, 1000 38 Special, 500 7.62x39, 400 .358 Winchester, 300 45 Long Colt, 250 44 Magnum, and a bunch of others in smaller quantities. Various bullets, powders, brass quality, etc. Aside from the ammo itself, he also had 4000 primers of various brands/sizes, and 1600 bullets of various calibers.
I got his entire gun collection from the immediate family, as they don't have much interest in guns, and have been just trying to fairly price everything out as time allows and pay them the value (or sell it online as able). However, I'm struggling about what to do with this reloaded ammo lot. The cost of all the components nowadays would be enormous, but the time and effort to break it down into components would be enormous also. I also don't know the quality of brass used, and don't feel comfortable shooting it or selling it for safety/liability reasons. I am into guns and shooting, but haven't gotten into reloading up to this point, so I'm also not crazy about getting into a project of this magnitude.
I'm kind of looking for some input on what might be the fair way to handle this with the family. I feel bad because it's a lot of cost wrapped up in making the ammo, but I don't feel comfortable selling it to anyone (for components) and I don't really want to buy it myself for any large price, given the time investment to break it all down.
Any thoughts or advice on what might be reasonable to do here? Just trying to brainstorm some options on how to handle this. I appreciate anything you all might have to share.
Also, if I do end up deciding to go the breakdown route, is there a better way to handle a project of this size than one-by-one with a kinetic puller?

Hello. What sorts of handguns will take 22 lr. silencers? Is it that most 22 lr handguns can be made to attach a suppressor at the end of the barrel? Sorry, I don't know much about guns. The rimfire suppressors look to be more affordable than the other suppressors that I see for sale online. And I was told the rimfire with suppressors and subsonic ammunition are the most quiet.

Ammunition - Insert a live round randomly in the shotgun. Why? just if you want to boost your chances of landing that live when you don't know
Hand gun - Has a 50% chance to deal 1 hp to the dealer, otherwise you. Why? What if the dealer has 1 hp left, then the hand gun could come in clutch.
Swapper - pick one item from the dealer to swap it out with something random. Why? magnifying glasses with knives are annoying so why not disable that plan.
Mimic - mimic the effect of another item that you have on the table. Why? idk seemed like a cool idea
Adrenaline - you get set to 1 hp but get immunity against handcuffs and can avoid one live round. Why? the adrenaline you'd get if you survive
Dice - if you hit a 1-2 you get a 33% on the next round to deal 1 extra damage (including blanks). If you hit a 3-4 you get 1 random item. If you get 5-6 the other one gets handcuffed automatically. Why? It's called buckshot roulette for a reason so why not add more gambling to it.
One last thing, I tried to make these as "vanilla" as possible except for like the dice. But me personally think it went out nicely. Please comment your opinions about these (just not super rude ones)

So for the past few years I have been trying to figure out what firearms I will be needing to fulfill all my requirements over the foreseeable future (also don't have the budget for much yet). For pistols the problem is more which of the plentiful options to choose from rather than a significant difference between options, and will be hopefully getting one within the next year. However when it comes to rifles and pistol caliber carbines, I am a bit stuck. currently I am looking to fulfill the following roles and general requirements from my future PCC and Rifle selection:

• I am looking to minimize the number of firearms down to just what covers all my bases which will also serve to allow me to focus on getting higher quality firearms and accessories rather than a bunch of cheap rifles.
  
• I want to eventually suppress all of these weapons and am looking for ones best suitable for use as suppressor hosts. All together the selection must cover: home/self defense up to potential civil unrest (especially with right wingers growing increasingly militant and currently living in a red state), hunting any game in North America (and potentially beyond, but that is more of a bonus requirement), and being enjoyable to shoot at the range.
  
• Preferably fully ambidextrous controls for either off hand shooting, ease of use, and loaning to a left-handed shooter if necessary Manual of arms should preferably be relatively similar throughout platforms (Excepting bolt action vs semi platforms) to avoid mistakes in use when it really matters
  
• For short action full power cartridges, 6.5 creedmoor is preferred over .308 when applicable.
  
• Rifle accuracy should be able to get approximately 1.5 MOA or less with good ammunition at 100 yards.
  
• Side charging is slightly preferred to t-charging handles as I find the latter a bit more awkward to use and slightly worse for suppressor use from my understanding. Folding and adjustable stocks are preferred for space use efficiency, and I just like the added option.
  
• Non-proprietary parts are of course beneficial, though not an absolute requirement. Reliability and ease of maintenance is, however.
  
• Currently aiming for less than $3,000 per rifle/PCC with obviously cheaper being better when it doesn't cut down on functionality, accuracy, and reliability. Willing to increase price per rifle if I choose to skip the full-power cartridge semi-auto, though only if necessary. most likely to be living in an urban area with people close to me (potentially even an apartment if they allow firearms at all), and thus overpenetration is a concern to be mitigated.
  
• All gas rifles should have adjustable gas block.
  
• Weight is a heavy consideration (pun intended) and I don't want any of the rifles exceeding approximately 9 lbs unloaded and without magazine or accessories. I am not however looking for maximum weight savings, and this isn't as high a consideration as accuracy and reliability.
  

Currently considering:
PCC: 10mm Grandpower Stribog 10mm CMMG Banshee 10mm CMMG Dissent
Intermediate caliber rifles (5.56 and .300 blackout mainly, but also considering 6.5 grendel or 6mm ARC):
DI AR-15 upper of some kind with ADM lower PWS piston upper with ADM lower PWS UXR (If I go this route, I am considering trying to find a scope geared toward multiple calibers out of the box) Desert Tech WLVRN (same scope situation as above) Bren 2 PSA JAKL (only if they make an ambi lower) PSA Sabre AR-15 (Not entirely sure on this one due to lack of full ambi, and PSA's quality control reputation, but put it on here as budget option)
POF Revolution (6.5 creedmoor in DI or Piston) Desert Tech WLVRN PWS UXR PSA Sabre AR-10 (not fully Ambi, but a lot cheaper, and not sure on weight) PSA JAKL (if ever released with ambi lower and preferably 6.5 creedmoor chambering) Bren 2 DMR (if ever released in the states
Bolt-action rifle in magnum caliber (Not entirely sure here as I have done less research and have less hands on experience with modern bolt actions): Barett MRAD Desert Tech SRS Ruger PRS
Note: Currently have a budget AR-15 (mixed parts) and Franchi Affinity 3 shotgun for practical use.
What combination of the above, or guns I haven’t mentioned, would you recommend to fulfill my requirements?

Nice batch of gems for sale. Everything from Joni Mitchell, Megadeth, and Madvillian. Solid mix of rare albums, and classic staples.
All original pressings.
Grading is sleeve/vinyl.
$7 flat shipping.
Photos / https://imgur.com/a/ERo99ei

• Hard Rock / Metal

Accept - Restless & Wild (VG/strong VG) $20
Alice Cooper - Raise Your Fist And Yell (VG-/strong VG) $25
Alice Cooper - Billon Dollar Babies (NM-/NM-) 79 press, w/ poster $30
Black Sabbath - Heaven & Hell (G+/VG) $15
Deep Purple - Machine Head (VG+/VG+) w/ lyric insert $30
Dokken - Back For The Attack (G+/VG+) $20
Dokken - Beast From The East (G+/NM-) $20
Heavy Metal Heroes (VG/VG-) U.K. press $20
Iron Maiden - Number Of The Best (VG-) *record only $10
Iron Maiden - Powerslave (VG/VG+) club press, w/ inner $50
Judas Priest - Sin After Sin (VG/VG+) $15
Megadeth - Peace Sells... (VG-/NM-) club press, w/ inner $70 SOLD
Megadeth - So Far, So Good... So What! (VG-/NM-) club press $85 SOLD
Metal Church - In The Dark (VG-/strong VG) w/ insert $20
Motley Crue - Dr. Feelgood (strong VG/VG+) w/ inner $75 SOLD
Ozzy Osbourne - Bark At The Moon (VG/VG+) $35
Shotgun Messiah - Shotgun Messiah (strong VG/NM-) gold stamp promo, w/ inner $65
Tesla - The Great Radio Controversy (VG-/NM-) w/ inner $30 SOLD
Venom - Blood Lust 7" (VG) $25
-ROCK
Doors - The Soft Parade (VG/VG+) 1970 club press, RL $15
Derek & The Dominoes - Layla & Other Assorted Love Songs (VG/VG) $10
Peter Gabriel - So (VG+/VG+) w/ inner $20
George Harrison - All Things Must Pass (VG-/VG+) w/ all inners & minty poster, box lays flat $50
Jimi Hendrix - Band Of Gypsys (VG/G+) $10
James Gang - Rides Again (VG+/VG+) $10
Kinks - Arthur (VG-/VG+) $20
Led Zeppelin - III (VG/VG) $15
Joni Mitchell - Blue (VG/VG) w/ blue inner $25
Modern Sounds - Hank Williams (In Modern Rock-Acid Sound) (VG/VG) $35
Pink Floyd - Dark Side Of The Moon (VG/VG+) w/ both posters $40
Steely Dan - Countdown To Ecstacy (VG+/VG+) 77 press, w/ insert & company sleeve $20
Steely Dan - Can't Buy A Thrill (VG+/strong VG) 74 press $20
Steely Dan - Pretzel Logic (VG/VG+) yellow label, w/ company inner $15
Steely Dan - Gaucho (VG+/VG+) w/ inner $20
Jerry Jeff Walker - Five Years Gone (VG/VG+) drawing on cover $20
ZZ Top - Tejas (VG+/VG) w/ inner $10
ZZ Top - Fandango (VG+/VG+) w/ inner $10
WWF - The Wrestling Album (VG+/VG+) $25
Cat Power - The Covers Record (VG+/VG+) $15
-HIP HOP / R&B
Brother Ali - The Truth Is Here (NM-/NM-) $75
Brother Ali - Shadows On The Sun (VG+/VG+) picture disc $35
D'Angelo - Voodoo (VG+/VG+) $110
DJ Babu - The Beat Tape (VG/VG+) $20
J Dilla - The Shinning (VG+/NM) $40
Freddie Gibbs - Pinata (Alex Goose Remix) (VG+/M) unopened, unplayed #347/500 $160
Madvillian - Four Tet Remixes (VG+/VG+) in shrink $20
Maxwell - Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite (VG/VG) $40 Jill Scott - Who Is Jill Scott (VG/VG) $40 Outkast - SpootieOttieDopalisicious 12" (VG/VG+) pink marble promo $40 Jay Z - American Gangster - Acapellas (VG+/VG+) in shrink, w/ hype $45 Jay Z - Black Album - Acapellas (VG+/VG+) $15
-FUNK / SOUL / GOSPEL / LATIN
Cannonball Adderly - The Price You Pay To Be Free (VG/VG) prod. by David Axelrod $10
Rance Allen Group - Rance Allen Group (G+/VG+) promo $15
Gloria Barnes - Uptown (NM-/VG+) Colemine reissue, # 000286 $20
Joe Bataan - Salsoul (VG+/strong VG) $70 Joe Bataan - Saint Latin's Day Massacre (VG/VG) mono $170 Chet Baker - Live In Chateauvallon in 1978 (VG+/NM-) $40
James Brown - Live At The Apollo (VG/VG) 66 press $25 Delegation - The Promise Of Love (VG-/VG) $20 Earth, Wind, & Fire - The Need Of Love (VG+/VG) $20 El Gran Combo - De Punta A Punta (VG-/VG-) $10 Gil Evans - Out Of The Cool (VG+/strong VG) blue/green labels $15
Gil Evans - Into The Hot (VG/strong VG) blue/green labels $10
Richard Evans - Dealing With Hard Times (VG+/VG+) mono promo $40
Impressions - Check Out Your Mind! (VG/VG+) $20
Gorgio Moroder - Son Of My Father (strong VG/VG+) white label promo $70
Music Inc. - Abscretions 7" (VG+/NM) promo, deadstock, multiple copies available $30
Ralph Robles - Taking Over / Conquistando (VG+/strong VG) mono, in shrink $220
Objective Exotic Directions (funk comp - Galt McDermot, Ambassadors, Animated Egg) (VG+/VG) UK press $20
Melvin Van Peebles - Sweet Sweetback's Badasssss Song (VG/VG) $20
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Donna Summer - This Time I Know It's For Real (NM-/M) sealed $10
Carla Thomas - Memphis Queen (VG+/VG+) $20
Gabor Szabo - Dreams (VG+/VG) $85 Cecil Taylor - In Transition (VG-/VG+) $10 Andrea Vereen & The St. Marks Choir - Oh, Say Can You See (VG+/VG+) in shrink, mca rainbow label $175
La Wanda Page - Mutha (VG+/VG) hilarious raunchy comedy $10
Songs Of Meter Park (VG+/NM) partially sealed - shrink torn, $10
Music De Wolfe - Meeting Point (VG/VG) $30

Established in 1973, the Precision Made Cartridges (PMC) plant in South Korea was tasked with providing the country with all of their ammo needs. Now PMC provides high quality ammo at an incredibly affordable price point to American shooters.

Developed in 1904 by John Moses Browning for his iconic 1911 pistol, the 45 ACP was the main sidearm cartridge for the US military from WWI all the way through Vietnam. Renowned for its stopping power, the 45 Auto is America’s cartridge that is synonymous with freedom, victory, and the fight against tyranny.
If you’re looking for the most bang for your buck, then you owe it to yourself to grab a box of PMC Bronze 45 ACP ammo. PMC is renowned for producing extremely high-quality ammo that burns clean, is consistent, and accurate at a price point that virtually everyone can afford. PMC Bronze 45ACP is the flagship ammo line for the company and comes loaded with 230 grain FMJ (full metal jacket) or 185 JHP (jacketed hollow point) bullets.
These PMC 45 Auto rounds shoot straight and hit hard, making them an excellent choice for practicing with your favorite 1911, Glock 21, or M&P 45. PMC 45 ACP ammo is also Boxer primed, meaning the cases are reloadable if you like to reload your brass.
PMC Bronze 45 ACP is so popular that it is available in hermetically sealed battle packs of 250 round or you can really enhance your ammo stockpiles by purchasing PMC 45 ACP 1000 rounds at a time in a bulk ammo pack.
Another new line of ammo for PMC 45 ACP is their eRange ammunition. These PMC.45 ACP cartridges are loaded with a 230 grain TMJ (total metal jacket) bullet that is perfect for limiting lead exposure while shooting. Many indoor ranges now require TMJ bullets, so PMC 45 Auto eRange makes a great choice if you plan on shooting indoors for an extended period of time.

How Can You Save Money Buying PMC 45 ACP Ammo?

Here at Ammo.com we do everything we can to ensure that your cost per round is as low as possible to keep your favorite handguns full of premium PMC Bronze 45 ACP ammo. With ammo shortages looming on the horizon, the best thing you can do is make sure you load up with PMC 45 ACP 1000 rounds at a time. And we can help you with that!
The best way to save money when you’re stocking up for your favorite 45 ACP handguns is by purchasing PMC 45 ACP 1000 rounds per order. Although the upfront costs are higher, the cost per round is lower. This way, you’re actually saving money every time you hit the range. No longer are you subject to the whims of supply lines or range store stocking, because you’ve got a boatload of PMC Bronze 45 ACP ammo stocked up from your bulk order.
We’ve got tons of PMC 45 Auto for sale at the lowest prices on the web. And our massive supply of PMC .45 ACP is ready to ship discreetly to your door at the click of a mouse. Get your ammo stockpiles stacked to the rafters for target practice, plinking, personal defense, or any SHTF situation so that your favorite 1911 or any other 45 ACP handgun never runs dry of PMC 45 ACP when you need them the most.
History of PMC 45 ACP Ammo originally appeared on Ammo.com

Known for its low-cost ammo formerly manufactured in Russia, Wolf's best-selling calibers are steel-cased 7.62x39mm and .223 Wolf. Wolf is an importer of ammunition that is manufacturer agnostic, as well as brass and steel agnostic. When you see “Wolf Gold,” all that means is that these are brass cartridges.

Where Is Wolf Ammo Made?

Contrary to popular belief, Wolf Ammunition is not a Russian company. They sell ammunition once manufactured in the famous and historic Tula Cartridge Plant in Russia’s Tula District. This plant is owned by High Precision Systems, which is a part of the Rostec Group of companies, with a majority ownership in the hands of a holding company owned by the Russian Federation. TulAmmo is likewise manufactured at this facility. The plant is not to be confused with the Tula Arms Plant, which is a separate entity owned by the same holding company in the same region of the Russian Federation.
Another place Wolf manufactured ammunition was at Lugansk. However, this factory was destroyed in the fighting between Russia and Ukraine. Some of the steel-cased ammunition is made in Russia these days, but none of it is made in Tula. Wolf also imports brass-cased ammo from Taiwan, such as their Wolf Gold .223, as well as importing ammo from the same factory manufacturing Prvi Partizan.
Rostec, High Precision Systems and the role of Tula in manufacturing ammunition for the United States market and the Soviet war effort has quite a detailed history. Like all ammunition manufactured by Rostec, the emphasis is on the high-performance, tactical ammo capable of reliable use in combat situations.
The American company is affiliated with Sporting Supplies International. Wolf Performance Ammunition was founded in 2005, making it a baby in the world of American ammunition manufacturers. They also partner with SK Jagd und Sportmunitions Gmbh (also known as SK Hunting- and Sporting-Ammunition) to manufacture some of their .22-calibre rimfire ammunition.

Tula vs. Wolf

Wolf is no longer manufactured in Tula, and hasn’t been for some time. In 2009, Wolf brand ammo ended their relationship with Ulyanovsk Machinery Plant and Tula Cartridge Plant due to legal disputes between the parties. Wolf now uses suppliers from the European Union to meet their needs. The Wolf ammo website and TulAmmo both issued emails in 2009 that did little to clarify the situation beyond the fact that TulAmmo is not Wolf and Wolf is not TulAmmo.
Part of the confusion stems from what precisely Wolf and TulAmmo are. Both were manufactured at the same plant and made to the same specifications. Upon importation, they were put into different boxes with different logos and different brands. However, on the inside, they were more or less the same ammunition. While in some cases they might have been exactly the same ammunition, they ceased to be functionally identical when Wolf ended their relationship with the Russian manufacturer. Hence the statements from both organizations as to their difference.

Wolf Ammunition vs. The Taliban

The history of Wolf Performance Ammunition (also known as WPA) is tied very closely to the ammunition shortages of the 2000s. This is particularly true of the 7.62x39mm ammo, which sometimes doubled in price and in other cases, vanished from American shelves entirely. The shortage was a result of the Venezuelan military adopting the AK-103 as its standard issue rifle. They placed a massive order, as did the United States military in an attempt to supply the newly formed Afghan Army with the ammunition it needed to secure the countryside.
Make sure your favorite 7.62x39 rifle never runs dry and get some bulk 7.62x39 to keep stored up for a rainy day!
Between 2003 and 2005, the Taliban experienced a resurgence in Afghanistan, requiring a response from both United States troops and the Afghan Army they support. The insurgency was easily crushed, however, the large ammunition order stood. What’s more, the United States and Afghan forces were constantly engaged in mop-up operations against the failed Taliban insurgency.
In January 2006, the United States military began sharing its role in Afghanistan with a multinational NATO force. This prompted another Taliban insurgency requiring, once again, more ammunition supplied by Wolf and other ammunition manufacturers. The fight against this insurgency was far less clear cut and one sided, but the NATO forces obtained many tactical victories and was able to deny the Taliban territory.
Later in 2007 and 2008, Wolf’s steel-cased .308 rounds disappeared from shelves across America. 7.62x51mm NATO rounds were likewise disappearing, pushing .308 Winchester rounds to the highest prices they’d ever seen. The Afghan Army order once again played a key role in driving up prices.
2007 was indeed a rough slog for coalition forces in Afghanistan, largely the British Royal Marines. It was estimated that the Taliban was 10,000 fighters strong at this point, with between 2,000 and 3,000 of these being dedicated, full-time insurgents. Again, tactical victories were the order of the day, but the Taliban always seemed to bounce back. 2007 was also the high water mark for foreign insurgents in Afghanistan. The next year was likewise described as “precarious and urgent” by Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown increased the number of troops in the country.
While many stateside have forgotten about the War in Afghanistan, it is directly responsible for a shortage of ammunition and the attendant rise in prices.

Wolf Brand Ammo

Wolf sells centerfire ammunition for rifles in more than a dozen different calibers and in three different lines of product. Popular lines Wolf Polyformance and Military Classic Rifle Ammunition are for sale in the calibers most commonly associated with the military – including Wolf 5.56x45 ammo, .223 ammo, .308 Winchester, 7.62x39mm, 6.5mm Grendel and others. They sell bullets that are bimetal or copper jacketed and configured as full metal jacket, hollow point or soft point. The cases are steel with a polymer coating, and can be found with both Berdan and Boxer primers.
Ammo for the Wolf Gold Centerfire Rifle line is distinct from other lines they sell, as the cartridges have brass casings and Boxer primers. The same style of bullets are sold in this line, but they also include options for match hollow points and multi-purpose tactical bullets.
Wolf also sells centerfire pistol ammo in all of the most common calibers – including Wolf 9mm ammo, .40 S&W, .45 ACP and the increasingly favored .380 Auto. These cartridges come in the steel-case lines of Military Classic and Polyformance, and the calibers can also be found in the Wolf Gold line, .32 Auto, .357 Mag., .44 Mag., and 7.62 Tokarev.
Wolf Ammunition also carries .22 Rimfire ammo. You can find .22 Long Rifle Wolf Ammo with 40 grain bullets, offering three types of bullets for the .22 LR: round nose bullets, flat nose bullets, and hollow point bullets. The ammunition itself is available in many different types including Standard Plus, Match, Rifle Match, Pistol Match, High Velocity and Subsonic.

Wolf Brand Ammunition and Lacquer Coating

It is a misconception that Wolf Ammunition uses or has used lacquer coating on its rounds, in particular on the cartridge casing. This is not true. Wolf instead uses an acrylic-polymer coating, transitioning from a clear coating to a frosted style coating several years ago. Some people thought this was lacquer and that it melted while firing, despite the fact that it was neither lacquer nor even a substance that would melt when a blowtorch was taken to it. All Wolf Ammunition is in complete compliance with SAAMI standards, meaning that it is completely safe for all purposes – from plinking in the backyard to competition shooting to hunting.
With Wolf's extensive variety of ammunition, they will likely remain a popular choice among shooters looking for low-cost, quality ammo. This is particularly true of people looking for Wolf bulk ammo – a common choice for preppers, plinkers and competition shooters alike.

FAQ

Where is Wolf ammo made?

Although Wolf ammo is an American company, its ammo is manufactured all around the world. For a period it was made in Tula, Russia at the Tula Cartridge Plant, the same place that makes TulAmmo. Wolf gets some brass from Taiwan and imports cartridges from the same Serbian factory that makes Prvi Partizan. Currently, most of the supplies for Wolf ammo comes from the European Union.

Who makes Wolf ammunition?

Wolf ammo is owned by Sporting Supplies International, an American company located in Anaheim, California.

Is Wolf and TulAmmo the same?

Wolf and TulAmmo are not the same. But from 2005 through 2009, Wolf was manufactured at the Tula Cartridge Plant in Tula, Russia, the same plant where TulAmmo is made. Wolf ammo and TulAmmo ammo shared the same configurations and were made the same way. Since Wolf has left the Tula plant, these ammunitions are no longer comparable.

Is Wolf ammo corrosive?

Like other modern commercial ammo, Wolf ammo is non-corrosive. That being said, it is “dirtier” than traditional brass-cased ammos and if your firearm is not properly cleaned after use, it can cause a buildup inside the barrel that may lead to corrosion.

Can Wolf ammo damage guns?

Wolf ammo features steel casings and steel is much harder than brass. This means, over time, it may cause more wear on your barrel than brass casings. In modern firearms, this is most likely minimal. Another reported problem with Wolf ammo, and steel casings in general, is that they tend to be “dirtier” than brass-cased rounds. When this crud is left in the gun, it can lead to corrosion. If you clean your firearm after shooting, this shouldn’t be a problem.

Why do shooting ranges ban Wolf ammo?

Wolf ammo comes in a steel case. Like most steel-cased rounds, it also features a steel jacketed bullet. This makes the bullets extremely hard, much more so than lead and copper, and can damage the backstop in many ranges. If you want to stick with steel casings, opt for Winchester’s Forged ammo, which feature steel casings with brass jacketed bullets.
History of Wolf 6.5 Grendel Ammo originally appeared on Ammo.com

Timestamp/Image: https://imgur.com/a/6HfvA2z
Items are used and in very good condition—all functional sets.
Canon EOS M50 Mark II EF-M15-45 IS STM Kit Asked for $540 shipped.
Rode VideoMic Camera-Mount Shotgun Microphone Asked for $90 shipped.
Canon EOS + Rode Video Mic Bundle Price: $600 shipped.
I accepts price offer though.
Sale only in CONUS, Paypal G&S only.

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The following two brain scans were provided by the Neuro-Warfare branch of the Halcyon Security Division (HSD) for the purpose of analyzing the thoughts, behaviors, and information of notorious gangsters Vincent 'Troy' Cohen and Bruno (Deadname: Koraak Tel-Char). At the point of the recording of this archival shared, Bruno has since received his rebirth therapy, and Vincent is currently serving a long-term rehabilitative and reeducative sentence in the Erebus Supermax Prison on Io.
Warning: the contents of this archival shared may be especially disturbing to some audiences. Viewer discretion is advised.
Warning: the contents of this archival shard are for the sole purpose of analyzing the thought patterns and memories of certain degenerate criminals in an effort to ascertain vital information that can be used to eliminate their organizations. Only staff with clearance level Omega may view this archival shared, and the viewership of this archival shared by anyone of inadequate clearance level will lead to twenty years in prison and a fine of over a hundred thousand credits.
Booting up memory scan: Vincent 'Troy' Cohen, November 4th, 2446…
Loading and processing firmware data… translating… memories and subconscious simulated…
Beginning archival shard presentation…
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"Do you have visuals of the target, Troy?"
I knelt down in the alleyway, the bodies of me and my partners shrouded in long, waterproof, ashen-gray overcoats the shade of dirty street scum that we wore to ward off the constant heavy rainfall the color of osmium. Our faces were covered in a mix of scrapped respirators, visors, or full metal face masks carved with intricate designs to hide our identities. On our waists were our badges of honor: leather belts studded with interlocked rivets made from blackened titanium, each buckle forged of silver and shaped into the head of our gang's symbol, the black mamba. We hid amongst the shadows of the dark midday of Halcyon City, the heavy, oppressive rains blanketing the roads paved obsidian-black with asphalt and weathered concrete walkways. The street lamps were always on, like beacons of false hope in a storm of melancholy.
The city was dark and dreary as always, the planet of Proxima Centauri B, renamed Dawn's Lamentation over a century ago, orbited the red dwarf star of Proxima Centauri, and the atmosphere was thick with natural smog and ever-storming rain clouds. That didn't dissuade people from living here: there was plenty of money to be had for shrewd industrialists and hardworking pioneers, even in the urban sprawl. But that life also came with risks, especially for those on the bottom of the totem pole.
I was a ganger, and we were criminals; full stop. I won't assault you with some spiel about how we're the good guys fighting oppression because, at the end of the day, we could be just as bad, if not worse, than Halcyon's Security Division, or the HSD for short. We were traffickers, killers, extortionists, and money launderers. We dealt with everything from stolen tech and military-grade hardware to hard drugs and sentients.
Yes, sentients. We trafficked sentients, but not in the way you might think. They weren't prisoners, in fact, we were their saviors if they had the cash. We had developed a reputation for fighting the power, but it was still business: sure, freeing captives from the clutches of the Protectorate. The disruption of its many oppressive organizations held a certain satisfaction in my heart for sure, but we didn't help those who couldn't pay unless someone else paid on their behalf. It was about making sure me and my gang, my family, could live a decent life for another day.
It helped that most of us joined after leaving the state yard for partaking in acts of 'degeneracy' and 'anti-xenopet illegalities' as if those terms meant anything anymore other than that we were a threat to the local status quo. It was hard to pick up a job as a former inmate when even in something as harsh and backbreaking as a job in the iridium mines near the poles when the employment office had you blacklisted as a degenerate, which lead to the formation of many of the gangs: we needed to make a living somehow, and when all social programs were cut off from you unless you submitted for 're-education' and the only way to put food on the table was subverting, breaking, or even downright fighting the law, you did what you had to do or you died on the streets a scorned beggar.
It wasn't like the HSD made it easy for us on even a good day: the local HSD units were armed to the teeth with advanced, military-grade hardware that you'd often see on the front lines of the Second Authority War: armored assault transports, a myriad of advanced war droids, all sorts of chemical countermeasures that made tear gas seem like putting the garden hose on mist mode, and of course advanced firearms. Add that to the fact that they were authorized to use deadly force when they deemed it necessary and you had a ruthless, heartless, and nearly unstoppable enemy. But we could make that work: we weren't trying to stop them, just to withstand them.
"Yeah, I got eyes on the prize, Koraak; seven armored transports, two for droids, five for prisoners."
Today wasn't a day for a normal job: we were getting bolder, cockier, more ambitious. Our numbers had swelled for the last few years after the raid at Barnard's Star and the fall of the Blood Dragon Mafia. Their leader, Saito Yasuhide, had committed seppuku as their manor burned, and his twin sons had gone down fighting rather than allowing themselves to be captured simply to face a firing squad. In the aftermath, many of the family's associates had fled to the surrounding systems, and with the sheer size and scope of the criminal underworld found here, it was no wonder that many people who had developed skills of the less legal variety had decided to form ranks with the gangs, and with them they brought guns, tech, knowledge, contacts, and even something that we thought wasn't possible beforehand: a semblance of peace between the gangs, or at least the closest thing to peace that gangs could cultivate effectively. With the fall of the Blood Dragons, we saw the writing on the wall, and the writing couldn't have been clearer: work together or die together.
"Sounds like a massacre, Troy: are you sure we can handle seven?"
"We ain't got no choice, Cinder: this job's double the usual rate, and that's not including the weapons and gear we could scrounge if this goes well," I hissed, my eyes scanning for any resistance. There were at least four guards for each van, not to mention at least eight droids in total, meaning that we were already outnumbered, but we had the element of surprise: we could make it work. "So put your balls in your purse and get ready to spill some blood."
Koraak snorted at our antics, which sounded like someone pulling the ripcord on a lawnmower. He was a veteran Russu Corsair, and while his past of slaving, raiding, and killing was unsavory, so were the lives we'd lived, so who were we to judge? All we cared about was that he was a brutal and capable fighter and a loyal brother in arms. It turned out that being a ganger wasn't much different from being a Corsair: you lived and died by a code of honor, you fought to the death for your brothers, and you lived to die for the sake of your gang and your family, simple as that. In a strange, ironic way, it was an incredibly honest way of life: we were under no illusions as to what we were, what we did, and why we did it, and we'd long since accepted it. The Russu related to us in that aspect, in many ways I could respect, which is why I hated what the Protectorate was doing, and why I couldn't grasp how most of humanity could just collectively lose their marbles so long ago. What had happened for us to deem all other life below us in such a demeaning and infantilizing way?
The Russu were a race of tall, muscle-bound Saurians with avian features, and Koraak was no exception: reaching almost seven feet in height and weighing over four hundred and fifty pounds, he could be an absolute menace if he so desired. His skin was covered in stubby, knobby scales and dense plumage, with elegant feathers adorning the ridges along his back as well as his forearms, elbows, knees, and the crests on his head. He almost looked like how paleontologists described velociraptors, with razor-sharp talons, feathers shaded in vibrant greens, reds, and purples, and a maw full of sharp teeth, but at the tip of his snout was a sharp, beak-like growth meant for ripping flesh off the bone.
The Russu were strange as hell, but they also looked almost cute in the same way a fully grown alligator was cute: they were obviously dangerous, but humans would always have this innate desire to anthropomorphize them and to pet them for some inexplicable reason, although common sense usually prevented that, at least amongst the very few of us left that were sane.
"Shut up, Troy! All I'm saying is that that'll be rough, and you know it," hissed Cinder. Cinder was a tall black man whose coffee-colored skin was covered in tattoos. He wore an ebony mechanic's jumpsuit with metal inserts underneath his grimy overcoat covering his body and a faded black respirator on his face. His eyes were a startling blue that seemed sorely out of place, and his hair was braided into thick cornrows along his scalp. He wore a pair of heavy black combat boots and palmed his compact shotgun in his hands, the square barrel less than seven inches. Like a lot of the weapons the Black Mambas carried on their persons and dealt in, they fired caseless ammunition; in Cinder's case it was 16x40mm caseless shotshells filled with depleted uranium micro-flechetes no thicker than a toothpick. Cinder nervously fiddled with the detachable tube magazine underneath the barrel, his hands shaking. Despite the shit I have him, I didn't blame him for being anxious: I was anxious too, even if I refused to show it. The biting cold of unease and pessimism was in my stomach, and I ran all the way that this job could go wrong in my head over and over.
"Just hold yourself together, this ain't anything we haven't done before, there's just more of it," I reassured Cinder, "besides, we're not alone; we have reinforcements across the street. We'll make it out of this alive."
Cinder nodded almost absentmindedly, his eyes downcast and his breathing shallow. I turned from him and back to Koraak, who was making sure he had everything on his person; he had a synthetic leather bandoleer across his chest that contained the heavy eight guage depleted uranium slugs he kept loading and unloading into his much larger, longer, and more traditional shotgun he nicknamed ‘carnage’ and several leather straps that held his Tu'shan daggers: traditional Russu pyramidal blades forged from a silvery alloy with all three edges serrated and the tip barbed to leave behind horrible, gaping wounds that gushed blood. They were wickedly sharp and absolutely straight like a stiletto, and the hilts and pommels were beautifully decorated. He wore no clothes underneath his overcoat to cover the countless scars and blemishes he's earned in combat across his chest and abdomen, and instead of a normal respirator or visor, he simply wore a hood over his head and some traditional Russu facial armor to protect his mouth, eyes, and cheeks.
"You ready to fight, Koraak? The caravan will pick up and leave soon."
Koraak was silent for a moment before nodding, a human gesture he had picked up after serving as a soldier with the Black Mambas for years. "I'm always ready to fight," he said before lifting up his shotgun and aiming down the sights at the reinforced front wheels of the first armored car in the caravan. He exhaled and fired, the slug ripping through both front tires and causing them to deflate and fall apart. The echo of the shot rang through the alleyway and the street, causing pedestrians to panic and flee the scene as heavily armored guards poured out of the side doors of the armored cars and unholstered their carbines.
"Go, now!" I shouted, and both me and Cinder rushed out into the fray, our guns raised. Koraak was right behind the two of us, providing covering fire with his shotgun. Several guards fell quickly, Koraak's precise fire and the sheer force of the depleted uranium slugs putting them down for good as their heads were vaporized or their chest cavities were turned to mush. He emptied the tube with one final shot that painted the grey matter of a security guard on the door of one of the armored cars, then racked the shotgun and expertly loaded it in threes, his hands deft and agile as he reached for more slugs faster than any human.
With the cacophony of our initial assault, more Black Mambas poured out from the alleyways and the subways, armed to the teeth with all manner of weapons; shotguns, submachine guns, pistols, machetes, baseball bats, and all manner of homemade explosives. Molotovs and more potent concoctions shattered against the asphalt, herding in the caravan guards with their volatile contents as they were quickly gunned down. The assault was working, and we were winning.
Then I heard the robotic whine of a combat droid activating, and my heart sank. One of the armored cars in the back activated the four combat droids it held, the robotic assault units detaching from their charging ports on the sides of the large van and began to form up, each armed with a terrifying array of deadly weapons meant to quash any and all resistance. They were blocky, soulless, utilitarian things that stood at eight feet tall, with flat feet meant for stomping and blades, grasping claws designed to lacerate flesh and shatter bone. On each shoulder was a weapon: on the left was a multi-barrel rotary grenade launcher loaded with 15mm concussion grenades, and on the right was a burst-fire splinter cannon. They were all painted a dull grayish-green, the color of Halcyon's Security Division, although some had a few decorations on them: the one closest to me had a bit of graffiti on the side that said Mr. Hugs in Comic Sans, which I couldn't decide whether that made it more or less terrifying. They split up without hesitation and began to scan the chaotic battlefield, their single, red, beady lenses the security forces had the gall to call eyes focusing on specific targets to eliminate.
An entire group of Black Mambas was torn to pieces by a cloud of flechettes as one of the droids fired a withering three-round burst of shotshells from the four gauge splinter cannon mounted on its shoulder. Another picked up a Black Mamba in its hand and crushed her skull effortlessly before tossing her limp body to the side, its single, red, remorseless robotic eye tracking a new target. Most bullets that struck their thick armored chassis simply bounced off, and those that could pierce the armor didn't seem to phase the droids whatsoever, merely notifying them of a new potential target.
"Damnit," I shouted as I gunned down another guard only for two more to take his place. "Cinder! We gotta pop open the cars and scram! Get the maglock cutters!"
Cinder rushed and slid over through a dirty puddle, pulling out a maglock cutter from the inside of his coat and slipping it onto the back door of the first van. It immediately went to work, drilling through the maglock with a high-powered plasma torch nozzle, and within ten seconds we heard the telltale clunk of the maglock separating. I yanked the door open and ordered I side, ready to escort the prisoners out… only for my face to contort in shock and horror.
The back was empty. There was not a single soul inside of the back brig of the armored car.
"What the fuck…" Cinder gasped, his eyes wide with shock. "What the actual fuck… what the fuck is this, Troy?"
"I… I don't…" I stuttered the sounds of battle and carnage drowned out by the sound of blood rushing in my ears. All five cars were supposed to be filled with recently captured Russu from the front lines ready to be housed in the local Xenopet-Megaplex for processing and conditioning. The fact that this one was empty…
Suddenly, it all hit me at once with the force of a freight train, but it was too late. "We were set up, Cinder; our fucking client either squealed or was crooked to begin with…"
"Fucking bitch!" Cinder shouted as he spun around in an enraged arch, anger growing in his eyes. He aimed his shotgun at an approaching security guard and reduced his upper body to a fine red mist with a cacophony of shotgun blasts. "We gotta get everyone who's left out of here! Do you know what this means? The Jurors will be here soon, and then we're all going down! We gotta go, fuck the job!"
I grit my teeth. Not the Jurors, anything but the Jurors.
"Fine, gather everyone who's left and we'll slip through the sewers, the droids are too bulky to follow us there…"
As I spoke, my eyes wandered to the seventh and final armored car, the second of the droid cars, and my blood froze. Not only were all four ports empty, but they were also smaller and more shallow than the ports for the combat droids. That could only mean one thing.
"Oh fuck! Cinder, we gotta get our Russu members out of here! They've got arachnid droids!"
Arachnid droids were the stuff of nightmares. Resembling blocky, robotic arachnids the size of a manhole cover, they were specifically designed to take down sentient aliens, specifically the Russu, using sickeningly non-lethal means. They were equipped with full-body adaptive cloaking to blend in with their environments, paralytic agents that they could inject into their victims, built-in taser barbs, psychedelic gas ports for crowd-control, and a narrow-coned cacophony canon that disabled the Russu using incredibly high-pitched sounds that only they could hear, forcing them onto their knees and clutching the backs of their heads where their auditory organs were stored in agony. But worst of all was their stygian spinnerets: special ports near the end of their robotic abdomens that excreted a viscous, latex-like substance made up of millions of nano-bots. This substance could be used to render Russu blind, deaf, and mute by having it forced onto their faces, the black substance growing and enveloping their heads and working its way into every orifice. It was completely permeable to the standard atmosphere, but any Russu who had been 'webbed' was completely helpless and essentially captured, and the 'webbing' was both nearly indestructible and nigh impossible to remove without a triple-encrypted override key that was found in every arachnid droid's code, which was corrupted when the droid was destroyed or hacked into. Once you were 'webbed', you were essentially captured and the standard protocol was to leave you to the wolves since the nano-bots could be tracked, endangering the entire gang.
I turned just as I heard the deafening sound of Koraak discharging his shotgun, and I saw him squaring off against one of the assault droids. The droid has obviously been programmed to not use lethal force against Russu if possible, as instead of simply killing Koraak with it's shoulder-mounted splinter cannon, it approached with its claws extended, blades retracted. Koraak continued to back away and fire, pumping the droid full of depleted uranium slugs, its armor crumbling inward as the slugs pierced its chassis and damaged its internal cyberstructure. Eventually, Koraak ran out of slugs and instinctively reached to his bandoleer only to find that he had no more shells left at all, and he drew one of his knives and his sidearm, a simple high-caliber handgun. He tried to take down the droid with his handgun, but the bullets didn't even seem to affect the droid upon penetration, it's claws still extended as it attempted to apprehend Koraak.
In the corner of my vision, as I watched Koraak battle with the droid, I noticed a faint shimmer in the air on one of the black streetlight poles that was right behind him. I focused on it and blinked, believing my eyes had deceived me for a moment before realizing that it was actually a cloaked arachnid droid stalking Korvaak, ready to pounce and incapacitate him.
Before I could shout, it leaped from the pole and landed on Korvaak, causing him to shout in surprise while it began to coagulate its horrifying stygian webbing to disable Korvaak. Korvaak tried to wrestle it off of him, but the droid was agile and fast, clinging onto Korvaak and skittering around across his upper body as he attempted to grab it, forcibly wrapping the sticky black liquid across his face as he gagged like a spider wrapping up a fly. I rushed towards him to try and help, but I felt pain explode in my ribs as I was struck with the arm of the closest combat droid and launched into the chassis of a parked car, the metal denting from the sheer force of impact. I groaned in pain as I saw stars and my head spun, and just then I felt a blinding light be cast over me.
“Drop your weapons and kneel with your hands on your head, or you will be pacified with deadly force!” Shouted a loud, artificially deepened voice from above. “I repeat, drop your weapons and kneel with your hands on your head! Neither hostility nor hesitation will be tolerated!”
It was the Jurors, I could feel the air being pushed around from the thrusters on their drop ships, and I could hear screams and shouts as my fellow Black Mambas were quickly gunned down. I couldn’t see well since I was seeing double, but I could hear the slaughter as my eyes dimmed and I began to lose consciousness, my regrets crawling up my throat like vomit.
I’m sorry was all I could think as everything finally went dark, and the sounds of chaos, destruction, and combat faded away.
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Memory halted due to loss of consciousness. Booting next available memory in shard…
Booting up memory scan: Koraak Tel-Char Bruno, November 5th, 2446…
Loading and processing firmware data… translating… memories and subconscious simulated…
Beginning archival shard presentation…
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“Good morning, sleepyhead; it’s time for breakfast.”
My eyes shot open. I was not in the street anymore, nor was I home in my bed with my mate. I knew instantly that something was horribly wrong. I tried to stand up, but I couldn’t gain the leverage to do so: my ankles had been shackled together with magnetic cuffs and my arms were forced together in front of me.
I was wearing some kind of thick shirt. It was warm, fluffy, and comfortable on the inside, but it still made me incredibly uncomfortable that my arms didn’t have a free range of motion. I looked down to see that I was wearing some human garment I had heard about before, a straightjacket maybe?
The entire room was padded: the walls, the floor, even the ceiling. There was no bed or furniture; the floor was soft enough to serve as a bed in itself. There was nothing else except for the soft reddish-orange lights on the ceiling that somehow made me sleepy. I blinked slowly for a moment, my body screaming at me to just lay back down and lose consciousness, but I couldn’t do that: I needed to figure out where I was and how to escape.
Then I noticed who was speaking to me: it was a short human female, with crow's feet around her blue eyes, blonde hair braided down her back, and freckles all over her face. She had a soft smile on her lips, and her forehead was slightly crinkled. She wore a full-body white lab suit with a white overcoat and a pair of glasses for snugly on her face.
"There we go, now I can see those pretty eyes, such a beautiful shade of teal," she cooed softly, "You're such a handsome boy, even with all those scars: I'm sure you'll be adopted very quickly once we get you fixed up."
Fear gripped my heart as I began to piece all the evidence together. I had been captured; I was no longer on Halcyon, and instead, I was in one of the horrific space-born facilities I had heard so much about from the inside agents. I started to hyperventilate and squawk like a newborn hatchling, my eyes dilating in panic. This couldn't be happening! This has to be a nightmare!
The human woman merely wrapped her arms around me and pulled me into an embrace, cradling my head under her chin and speaking softly. I couldn't bite at her or claw at her: I was muzzled and wearing a straight jacket, so I had no choice but to allow her to coddle me.
"It's okay, sweetheart: I understand you're scared, but Julie's here to make all the pain and bad thoughts go away," she said as if she was comforting a child, which made anger blossom in my chest indignantly. "I'll be your caretaker for the next few months, and I'm going to make sure you're healthy, happy, and most importantly safe while you're under our care. I'm sorry to say that includes your restraints and restrictive clothing, but we have to make sure you aren't a threat to yourself or others before we can determine if it's a good idea to remove you from suicide watch."
I growled under my muzzle. Suicide watch? They must have had a lot of instances of Russu taking their own lives after being captured, something I wished I had been able to do before that damnable droid launched itself onto me and…
I shuddered at the thought of the black, viscous substance forcing itself into my nostrils and down my throat and windpipe, gagging me and rendering me completely helpless. It was so cold, so harsh, like slime, and when I had tried to tear it off of my face it merely attached itself to my claws and bound my talons together. I remember squirming on the ground as it enveloped me, unable to see, hear, or speak, and then everything went dark in an instant. It was the most horrible thing I had ever experienced, which was saying something.
"You alright, sweetheart? Oh, I know, you're probably hungry! Here, try some of this." She held up a piece of what looked like raw bacon and wiggled it in front of me before reaching out to remove my muzzle. In an instant, I attempted to snap at her only for pain to blossom in my forehead and my eyes to roll up in my head as I convulsed. It was like something was attempting to drill through my skull from the inside, and every breath felt empty and labored.
"Now, that didn't feel very nice, did it? This is why we have countermeasures in place because we can't trust you yet, sweetheart! Don't worry, we'll work on breaking you of all those bad behaviors and habits while you're here; after all, a well-trained pet is a happy pet!" She began to stroke the crests on my head as I slowly recovered, and she snugly fit the muzzle back onto my snout. "But I won't hold it against you this time, sweetheart; you're just scared and confused, but I'll make all the pain go away."
I struggled in the straight jacket, trying my best to break out of it, but it was no use. Eventually, I became exhausted and despondent, allowing my new caretaker to have her way with me as she gently ran her fingers through my feathers and along my ridges, quietly speaking to me in a hopeless attempt to cheer me up. She seemed genuinely concerned for my well-being, which concerned me even further: who could be this naturally twisted while attempting to be as benevolent and kindhearted as possible?
I felt the pain and terror build up in my chest, the anxiety from what horrific activities I imagined they had planned for me here. I couldn't take the infantilization, the lack of any autonomy, the dehumanization, and what I feared the most was if the rumors of 'rebirth' were true: would they take my personhood from me?
Suddenly, I felt her whisper to me. "Don't worry sweetheart, I know you're so scared and confused, but I promise you everything will be okay: it's going to be your birthday soon, and then everything will get better." She ran her fingers through the feathers along my crest lovingly. "It will be such a wonderful day, and then we'll choose for you the most wonderful family, and you'll spend the rest of your life happy in your forever home! Doesn't all of that sound wonderful?"
I wanted to die. I wanted to disappear. I didn't want to lose myself, not like this, not to these monsters!
"It'll be your birthday soon," she said wistfully as if she was remembering similar events to this in the past like I wasn't the first she'd done this too, "and you'll never be sad again."
I realized that I wasn't the first the stay in this particular cell, and I knew for certain that I wouldn't be the last: I'd end up like my brother, a broken, erased mess of a pathetic creature, reduced to nothing more than a pet for these humans to amuse themselves with.
"We took the liberty of picking out a nice name for you, sweetheart! Now, let me just slip this little programming chip into the port slot on your occipital bone, and... there we go! It will also help you calm down a bit and adjust."
I felt the chip begin to invade my mind, suppressing my thoughts. What made me me was slowly being ripped out of my mind. I couldn't remember my name my name is Bruno, and I needed to get out! I can't let them do this to me! Somebody help me! I was a good boy.
##Do not think. You are a good boy.##
I tried to scream, but my voice wouldn't work: I had trouble forming any words at all, the confusion clouding my mind like wet, slimy eels curling around my brain and sinking their teeth into its folds like needles. I couldn’t scream any longer, because I had nothing left: the chip was slowly beginning to take everything from me, robbing me of my identity and branding a new one into my psyche with a white-hot iron. Julie simply held me close, attempting to reassure me as I awaited the inevitable demise of my personhood. Soon I would be just like my brother: erased. My mind would be shaped into the mind of a loyal plaything, like a Dog.
##Relax. Allow caretaker [Julie] to comfort you. You will let go of your burden.##
Soon, everything was a blur. I quickly found myself resting my head in her lap as she whispered to me and fed me, my eyes bleary and my head fuzzy. I couldn't remember my name anymore My name was Bruno, and I needed to break free from this trance relax, and allow her to help me; good boys didn't resist help.
##Good Boy. Do not think. You are a good boy.##
You can't... I...
##Good boy.##
I wouldn't… good boys don't… I…
##Good boy##
I was a good boy… I was a good boy…
I was… I was… a good… boy…
Someone help me, please! I don't want to be erased!
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The following script is from episode #343 of Halcyon After Dark, a popular late-night and current events talk show hosted by Melinda Carter. This specific episode was sponsored in part by the Halcyon Security Division, with Director Lochlin O'Brien joining as a guest star to talk about the changing crime statistics in Halcyon City and the HSD's recent successes in busting organized crime as well as their plans for addressing the growing criminal underworld.
MC: Good evening Halcyon! I'm your host, Melinda Carter, and you're watching Halcyon's most popular late-night talk show, Halcyon After Dark!
The crowd claps and cheers as Melinda walks on stage and sits behind her desk, her glittering red dress waving as she does so from the special effects.
MC: Tonight we have a very special guest here to tell us about the state of crime in the city and his plans on resolving it: please put your hands together for the HSD's very own Director, Lochlin O'Brien!
The crowd cheers some more as HSD Director Lochlan O'Brien, a tall, muscular, caucasian male in his early forties with red hair and a well-trimmed beard steps into the room, waving at the crowd with a bright smile. He sits in the armchair angled next to Melinda's desk and gives her his full attention.
MC: It's so good to have you on the show, Director! Tell me, how are you doing on this fine evening?
LO: I'm doing excellent, Melinda: every day I wake up feeling fulfilled knowing I'm serving Halcyon to the best of my abilities and then some."
MC: That's the spirit, Director! Now, I know this question is just on everyone's lips, so I have to ask: how successful was the recent gang bust? I heard HSD forces took out dozens of gang members and liberated at least a dozen Russu Hounds from their abusive clutches, but I know that everyone in the audience and at home wants to know the numbers.
LO: I'd be glad to tell you, but I do have to preface this by saying that we still lost a lot of good officers that day, and while we did strike a crippling blow to one of Halcyon's biggest gangs, it doesn't change the fact that each death is a tragedy, and we're taking steps to prevent them in the future. That being said, those valiant officers did not sacrifice themselves in vain: we had over a dozen confirmed kills and several arrests, including the rescue of several corrupted Russu hounds.
MC: That's excellent, Director: proof that even when the number of degenerates and scum grow by the day, the HSD will always be here to keep the citizens of Halcyon safe.
LO: Absolutely, Melinda, and we're always working tirelessly to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of our units, as well as racing to stay several steps ahead of the many gangs of Halcyon at all times. My newest goal as Director is to vastly increase the funding given to our Robotics Department and our Neuro-Warfare Department to potentially reduce the number of casualties we may experience in the future, as well as to quickly and effectively detain, and if necessary, eliminate criminals. Within the next decade, I want to double the number of automated units each Security Platoon is assigned: droids are the future of public safety as well as countless other industries, and it would be foolish to be left behind.
MC: That is quite a lofty goal, Director: what about the displaced jobs from the increased automation? What will the union say?
LO: And to that, I say: what misplaced jobs? We aren't replacing our honored and beloved service members with droids, Melinda, we are simply supplementing our units with more droids to ensure that future gang assaults end with fewer HSD casualties and more gang members in prison or eliminated, simple as that.
MC: That makes much more sense, Director, thanks for clarifying. Now, I have one more question that I'm sure much of Halcyon wants to know the answer to before we take a short break: what plans do you and your fellow directors have to make long-term progress in reducing crime beyond just increasing funding? Have you proposed any plans to strike at the source of where crime and degeneracy flourish?
OL: That's an excellent question, and one I am proud to answer: my constituents and I have been working tirelessly on a two-step plan to greatly reduce crime levels in Halcyon. Step one would be to prevent people from becoming criminals and degenerates at all in the first place: a lot of young men and women, but especially young men, have lost either one or both parents or even a sibling, aunt or uncle, or even a close friend by the brutality of the Second Authority War, and while the service of their lost loved ones will always be recognized and honored, many of these young men and women are left bitter, angry and lost without the guidance these people give them in their lives. Oftentimes they seek to fill that void with others who claim to relate to them: career criminals. These criminals will fill their heads with lies and false narratives to make them feel like they're fighting back against the 'evil protectorate government' that took their loved ones from them by sending them off to war when in reality it was the rogue Xenopets of the Triarchy that took them away by resisting their just and inevitable unburdening.
In response, I have proposed a slew of special programs that will make sure local law enforcement and HSD officers are present and contributing to their local community, and we'll be providing easy and light job openings for youngsters and teens looking to make a career for themselves in the force when they grow up. We want to let these lost souls know that there are people who care about them, people who understand them and that you shouldn't turn to degeneracy to feel fulfilled. We want to help the youth of our great society soar to new heights!
MC: That sounds like a wonderful beginning to your plan, Director, but what about the second step?
LO: Well, the second step is to prevent criminals and degenerates from becoming repeat criminals. Sure, they've made their mistakes, some worse than others, but they're only human like the rest of us. Some of them have been through hell: some are traumatized veterans who don't know how to adapt to normal life, others were recruited when they were young and don't know that there's a better way to live, and even more are mentally ill. We're alone in this galaxy, and we can't leave so many people behind. That's why we've come up with an excellent solution: we've set up isolated communities on distant moons and frontier planets where these criminals can be reeducated, rehabilitated, and allowed to repay their debt to society. When they're deemed 'reformed' and have graduated from our program, they'll be granted a hefty stipend and their criminal record will be deemed irrelevant, allowing them to reintegrate and become functioning members of our proud society.
MC: all of these sound like incredible steps forward in the fight to better our society and make real progress, Director. Sadly, we do have to step away for a moment, but you best believe I'll be back, Halcyon, and we'll be asking the Director here some burning questions about allegations over the quality of life Erubus Supermax! Now, a word from our sponsors!
Halcyon Xenopet-Megaplex! Everything your xenopet could ever need in one place! Adoption is now free-
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Good, you’re still alive! The rest of this shard appears to be corrupted, which means this particular trail seems to have run cold here, but do not despair; you need to keep searching. Find out what happened. Find the truth.I cannot guide you any longer: they've already found me, and if I remain in contact with you they'll find you as well. Take the archival database, and see what you can piece together. Maybe if we discover what truly happened we can put an end to this madness once and for all. I'm counting on you. Don't cry for me, I don't fear death, but I fear what they'll do to me to get to you: there are far worse fates than death, after all.