Text by ArthurGarvin 
Illustrations by Gallows-Girl-Amy 

Rest in Peace

As Artemis mourned the passing of her friend, she reminisced about Angela’s remarkable ability to restore order and unity to the badly-fractured Steampunk gang after the previous leader had died. Artemis smiled as she thought about the good times she had working with Angela as they restored the Steampunks to their former glory and reclaimed the territory they had lost to the Goths.

Artemis knew she was very different from Angela. She was a street fighter, a woman who expressed herself through actions, not words, and she wondered how she would be able to lead the Steampunks without Angela’s gift for motivating and inspiring people. A heavy weight settled on Artemis’ shoulders as she pondered the uncertainties of the future.

Betrayal and Justice

Meanwhile, in another part of the village...

Secretia was relaxing and wondering what the new Goth order should be now that her lust for revenge had been satisfied and Angela was out of the way. Secretia became lost in her thoughts, feeling happily contented, until she was rudely interrupted by local law enforcement officers who arrested her for dueling and the murder of Angela.

Secretia was caught off-guard by the arrival of the police because the Goths owned this part of town, policing it for themselves with no tolerance for outside authorities. The last time the police dared enter Goth territory, they were repulsed with heavy casualties.

It turned out Penny had been privately hoping Secretia would be killed during the duel, so Penny could take control of the Goth gang. When that didn’t happen, Penny secretly ratted out Secretia to the police and provided them with safe passage through Goth territory in order to arrest Secretia. With Secretia out of the way, Penny became the new leader of the Goths with no one left who would dare challenge her authority.

The townsfolk who lived in no man’s land between the Goths and Steampunks were heartily sick and tired of the violence between the two gangs, along with its associated destruction of property, danger to civilians caught in the crossfire, and weekly payments of protection money. The townsfolk knew Angela had been working to bring peace between the two gangs, so they had no qualms about convicting Secretia of dueling and murdering Angela.

Secretia was summarily sentenced and executed by a public hanging.



Penny watched Secretia hang with satisfaction, relishing Secretia’s humiliation at wearing only her undergarments in public. Penny was fascinated by how Secretia struggled to stay alive by kicking futilely at thin air until her eyes rolled up and she became limp and still with no more control over her bodily functions.

The execution was made particularly sweet for Penny when she was handed a nice, big bag of silver as reward for turning in Angela’s killer. Penny smiled broadly as she accepted the bag of silver; although, any passerby would look at her and see a sneer instead of a smile because sneering was as close to smiling as Penny ever got.

Penny was, in fact, having the best day of her life right up until Artemis appeared and started arguing with her. Artemis complained about all of the Steampunk issues Angela had been negotiating over, except Artemis’ choice of words and tone of voice were not nearly as nice. This simply would not do, Penny thought, so she started considering ways to put Artemis in her place.



The leaders of the two gangs have new names, but the problems are still the same. Like water flowing through a stream—always changing but ever the same.

Secretia's Repose

As the conflict between Artemis and Penny heated up, Secretia’s body was transferred to the Goth morgue, where she lay naked on a cold and hard tile slab. She was all alone except for the morgue attendant, who shook her head and sighed as she began her clinical probing.

“So much beauty and promise lost,” the attendant muttered to herself. “And for what?”