... Since it is a retconned reality that will soon be retconned again, except that certain things will carry over ...

> A frightening display of power and the will to use it by a self-proclaimed supervillain. I wonder at what point does it stop becoming a misunderstanding on his part? Are we to take the SPUD agents as knowing accomplices of the Moderator, or simply as loyal forces protecting their nation as best they know how? Lots of opportunities for this to haunt Dream...

My take on it is that all the deaths in this story - Meg's, Clancy's and the SPAM Agents' - will be undone once the retconned reality is retconned, but that Dream will still remember them, and still bear the scars (ie. his arm) of his experiences here. This brings up the question of how one can atone for actions when they're retroactively "fixed" by someone else. After all, in the "real reality," Dream has never done any of these people any harm ... which, ironically enough, makes it more difficult to make up for those deeds than it would be if they hadn't been undone.

More importantly, I wanted to show what would happen if Dream was cut off from his loved ones - first by the false memories of his friends and family in a "Brand New Day"-style virtual reality simulation, then by a "One More Day"-style offer of a deal with the devil to save the life of his primary parent - because I wanted to underscore what a source of strength they are for him. My backstory for Dream has always been that he briefly considered becoming a Robin Hood-style supervillain at first, but decided against it mainly because of Meg. Strip away his buddies, his teammates, his daughter, his sister, his girlfriend, his wife, and especially his mom, and he's literally left with nothing to hold him back.

> Impressive stuff... You usually focus strongly on dialog, but you can write full blown action and prose with a great deal of talent.

As I said, I'm pretty sure this is the first sustained combat sequence I've written for Dream. It took me several days just to force myself to write it, and I still needed to retain some sense of conscience on Dream's part, which was why he not only issued his warning to the SPAM Agents who stood against him, but also kept his promise to the ones who ran.