I wake up from another nightmare. The Red Menace was haunting my dreams again, this time crushing my head in slowly with his foot. Last time he burnt me alive with a fire ball. War is hell.

There's an envelop under my door. I open it up, and coins start spilling everywhere. Like I said, my job pays well. At the top of the coin pile now on the ground is a letter.

"Your next target is Cory the Spy Guy. You'll find him tonight at Klub Koopa. Do not disappoint."

I never got one job right after the other one before. Usually it takes around a week or so before my next hit, but I'm not complaining. If I got a letter, so did Cordelia, which means we'll be meeting up tonight outside of Klub Koopa. I like the place because the music is loud and the drinks are enough to quiet the world for a little bit. It's a nice combination. I've got time to spare though, so I go out to hang with a buddy of mine down by the dock. They call him Carlos, or the Womp. He's just a goon for hire, but he's a damn good guy. I take the bus to the closest stop near the dock, and I head down there.

Carlos is playing dice with a few Koopas, and it doesn't look like he's doing so hot.

"Fuck, I can never win this fucking game!" he yells out. The other Koopas laugh for awhile, before they see me approaching and shut up. No one knows about my talents, besides for Cordelia and my employers, but rumors get around fast, and anyone who's looking to keep themselves safe learns who's dangerous and who isn't.

"Conrad! My main Goomba! How the fuck you doing?" asks Carlos.

"I'm doing fine. I'm just bored and looking for something to do."

"Man, that's great, because have I got the craziest shit for you to see."

Carlos urges me to follow him, and I oblige. We head down to a warehouse right by the docks, and head inside. The place is practically empty, save for a few boxes filled with who knows what.

"Man, I'm paying a guy to let me hide some real good shit here, and I want you to see it."

He heads over to one of the boxes and pops open the lid to it. In it are a few plastic bags with a bit of purple powder inside of them. I've seen this kinda stuff before. Ground up poison mushrooms.

"What, you're dealing now?"

"That's fucking right, Conrad. In a few more of these boxes, I've got myself some locally grown poison mushroom. Taking this stuff gives you such a crazy high you wouldn't believe. It's real good stuff, you want some?"

I decline. I stick with the legal stuff.

"Suit yourself, man, I'm gonna be fucking rich off of this powder. I've even got this guy who's gonna deal it at Klub Koopa. You should totally work with me, man, we vets gotta stick together."

I decline again. I've got enough good work as it is.

"Well shit, what the hell do you want to do then?"

"How about we get something to eat? I'm buying. Maybe some fast food or something."

Carlos accepts, and we find ourselves a McToads to eat at. I hate how Mushroom Kingdom culture finds its way into KoopConica, but I won't lie that they've got some tasty fast food there.

We hang out for a few hours, just talking about whatever. Television, movies coming out, stuff we saw during the war, news talking about the possibility of another war in the future, that sort of thing. Carlos isn't the smartest guy out there, but if he likes you, he'll be willing to take a whole lot of hurt for you. He was a good man to fight besides.

Eventually, I decided to head back home, telling Carlos I was gonna just read a book or something. Bring up anything like a book and Carlos will just turn the other cheek. That was a lie though, I always leave some time in the day to practice my psychic powers. Right now, they're mainly just levitation and, as I said before, destroying people with my thoughts, but I'm trying to see if I can do some other tricks. So I head home, turn off the lights, and try some meditation stuff I made up, but nothing really comes from it, and I just decide to take a nap until I need to get going. Cordelia and I always meet up at the same time for every job, no matter where we gotta go to do it.

So the time comes, and I find Cordelia waiting for me outside of the club. Bouncers know that two people like us always get in, or there's gonna be consequences. Before we get in though, we talk about the plan. I'm gonna find the Spy Guy in there, and use my psychic powers to throw him into something lethal, making it look like he tripped. If I can do it without anyone else seeing him die, Cordelia will figure out a way to get him out of there without causing a scene. If I can't, the crowd thinks he just had an accident, and the night just has to be ruined for the crowd.
Cordelia and I head in, and we're immediately assaulted by Sarasaland pop music. I got no problem with Sarasaland stuff.

The place is dark and crowded as always, with all sorts of people dancing and making fools of themselves. Spy Guys back in the war were sneaky bastards, but now, seeing some washed up war vet still dressed like a covert operative should make things a little more easy.

"Yo man, you want some PMP?" someone asks me.
I turn around, and see a Spy Guy holding a little plastic bag with ground up purple stuff right in my face.

"PMP? Poison Mushroom Powder? Who are you?" I ask.

"Name's Cory," he answers, "this stuff is new and fresh, man, new and fresh, this will send you on a real trip."

A trip is something I'm going to send him on. Or at least I was, until he suddenly backs up.

"Ah crap, I know who you are!" he yells, before everything suddenly goes black.