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Penny sat at her old desk at Pandora, the former base of Project Afterthought, otherwise known as Area 50.99, named so because it was the closest in function to the public's (and true) suspicion about the activities of Area 51. The difference was that Penny's base dealt with the supernatural and Greek myths. She started recalling the night that it happened. “Sir, Project Afterthought has been compromised." The report came in at about 0327 hours- about three thirty in the morning. The officer that delivered it was a thin wolf with blue eyes and grey fur, one of the highest ranking of the Agents of Hope. Of course, Penny was the highest, the most trusted, the Commander, the direct decedent of Pandora herself, the first fox who released the Evils within Zeus' “gift" with her burning curiosity- another one of Zeus' “gifts" to Pandora. Penny was padding around the compound at the time, enjoying the night, when the alarm was tripped and the officer ran to her. Cursing the thief, she ran to the only possible exit to the compound that the thief was to use if they were to get out alive: the underground Prometheus Corridor. Running through the hallways of Pandora, a figure ran in the opposing direction, the stopped and turned on his heels. It was Penny's second in command, Cristopher, a former Olympic runner for Canada before the United States annexed it. Chris was a descendent of Arian, the fastest horse ever, and he ran like it, not quite as fast as his ancestor, but faster than a normal Equine. "Where's you goin' Penny?" The white stallion asked with a grin. “I ain't that ugly, am I?"

“No, you aren't ugly," the fox agreed. “I am running after a thief. The idiot decided to steal the Box, exiting by way of the Prometheus Corridor."

“Well, then. I can help," Christopher replied. “I can run fast enough to overtake 'em, grab the box, and bring it back!"

“As much as your help is appreciated," Penny started. “It's my fault. I was just strolling on the grounds at the time, not doing my duty. I must do this alone," she added, as her Guilt and her Pride wouldn't allow anything else.

She got to the Door just as it closed. The bandit was already inside the passage. “Damn… I already rounded up all but a few of the evils, Greed, Unwarranted Guilt, and Excessive Pride, to say the least. I will not lose the Box and have to start over from scratch!" As she ran inside of the corridor, Penny noted that the thief had a black trench coat on, occasionally dropping money from several different countries, Dollars, Euros, Yen, Pesos, even some discontinued currency such as Afghanis, and scrambling to pick them up. That meant that the thief was an Embodiment of Greed, a person that had been so greedy that the Spirit of Greed overwhelmed any kind of individuality that the person had- leaving them to be controlled by Greed, one of the evils still active on Earth. It was no doubt trying to release the rest of its kind, the Evils of The World. Unbeknownst to her, another free evil, Unwarranted Guilt, was working its way into her mind, telling her that it was all her fault, everything was her fault, and the evils were to be released again because of her. As she ran, the light in the tunnel grew dimmer. The well-lit tunnel was ending, now having a light that was was as bright as the darker side of Las Vegas, but still very bright, and Penny realized that was where she was: the darker side of Vegas. The tunnel sloped up, and the thief sprinted away as inertia and gravity worked their magic on her, but not effecting the Greedy apparition at all. After she was out, her auburn fur, once smooth against her head, was wet with sweat and matting like it was overgrown. "Las Vegas. Greed's home turf," Penny said to herself. "But where are we going?"

* * *

As the Embodiment of Greed ran through the city, Penny, driven by Unwarranted Guilt strengthening its hold on her mind, followed. She was breathing hard and slowing down to the point where the thief was disappearing around street corners as she was turning the previous corner. Eventually, the thief dived into a casino. The Casino. Greed's famous capital, full of its pale, corpse-like Embodiments. The entire building was full of the shuffling, avaricious, hosts that Greed didn't actively control, and just left to bet away their money, trying to gain more money, and more power, for as they got more money, they wanted more. As Penny stumbled in, the Embodiments stopped and all turned their heads in unison, some, one-hundred-eighty degrees, making them seam inhuman, not merely possessed . Surrender. Surrender, surrender surrendersurrendersurrendersurrendersurrendersurren “STOP!" Penny screamed. The Embodiments of Greed started advancing on her, and started fighting back. Using a sword conjured from nowhere, she cut through body after body, but like the Hydra's heads, there were always at least two to take the place of every one she cut down. Penny suddenly felt a deep resignation and she accepted the Tapestry that the Fates had woven for her: She would fail to Greed and lose the box. Penny accepted her Fate, but still fought against it. She cut through boy after body, but the horde still swarmed on her, like a pack of vultures closing in on a corpse, and Guilt permanently settled in her mind. The Embodiments started hitting her back, getting through her defenses. Penny felt a blow to her side, to her leg, and she saw the Box flying through the air, helpless against the chain of events that would lead to.

The Box hit the far wall.

The Box fell to the floor.

Pandora's Box,

Penny's entire life's work,

The prison of All Evil,

Pandora's

Unbreakable

Box

Shattered.

And it was over. The evils were released. They flew out, howling. They split and split to fit into every mind in the world. They made the world what counted as normal before Project Afterthought. Penny failed at recovering the box, and didn't think to take anyone else, anyone faster, with her. The entire world suffered because her Unwarranted Guilt fooled her into thinking that it was her fault, that Penny, the leader of operation Afterthought, the one responsible for the Box, the one not doing her duty in protecting it at the time of its theft, should take the mission alone.

The government report came in the next morning. “In the wake of the Pandora Disaster, the Galactic Federation has unanimously voted to suspend Project Afterthought. The authority in which the Mythos Compound on Terra keeps guard of the Magic Items and Beings currently in the Vault will be reviewed by the Magic counsel. The Mythos Compound may not search." The Magic Counsel meet in Asgard and its report came in just after that- just a few minutes later. “The Authority given to you to search out Monsters and Divines is revoked by the Magic Counsel. Turn over all prisoners in your Vaults. You may keep searching for artifacts, but you are restricted to Midgard. You are not to enter Olympus, Hades, Osiris's kingdom, any other Realm on the World tree, etc."

As Penny sat at her desk, reflecting on that night as the former base, now an apartment complex of which she was the landlady, she realized: Unwarranted Guilt never helped anyone. There was a reason, after all that it was stuck in the Box with the Evils, after all. She resolved to never let Guilt drive her again. It would be the first evil to be recaptured. She radioed down to the Prometheus Corridor, still a secret among the inhabitants of the Pandora Apartments, who all just happen to be former high-ranking Agents of Hope. “Is the Restoration going well?" A voice crackled back, struggling to penetrate the ceilings and floors in the layers between the secret hallway and Penny's command center. “Yes ma'am, the Box should be restored within the year, by 2232 at most, and we can go back to capturing the evils soon enough. We have already pinpointed Disease, in a human hospital on Venus..."

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