Audio Play / Uncivil Outlaw

Make Your Choice

Uncivil Outlaw is an audio drama created by Alexander Shaw and is the ninth story in The New Century Multiverse, as well as the first part of Phase 2 of the overarching story.

Captain Abigail Grey is the key to securing the world of Century, by closing off every one of the portals which have led to history diverging wildly since 1872. Mister Wight, leader of an aggressive new division of the National Intelligence Agency, has given her clear orders to assist in this quarantining of an endangered planet. However, to Abigail, what will be lost if this happens is all hope and opportunity of forging allegiances with new worlds, and the struggling population will be left alone to fend off their extinction. Abigail’s long-time friend Doctor James Penrose is now caught between these two strong-willed individuals. He must decide who to back, and the wrong choice could mean disaster.

The stage is set for an epic chase across Alternate America, one that will draw in many figures from the Captain’s past as she calls on them for help. Everybody involved in this conflict will have to decide what kind of world to fight for. The continuing saga of the New Century Multiverse comes to a devastating fork in the road, and things will never be the same again.

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Uncivil Outlaw provides examples of:

• Absurdly Sharp Blade: Mister Wight's katana, which can easily lop off limbs and pierce Spearhead's armored walls.
• After Action Patch Up:
  • Abigail does this for Miguel after they escape Langley.
  • After their escape from Wight and Li, James takes the time to properly reset Abigail's dislocated shoulder.
• Allohistorical Allusion: In Deadwood Abigail stops Jack McCall from shooting Wild Bill Hickock.
• Alternate Universe: The starlit orb can't be used to Time Travel, but it can be used to jump to a different universe that is at a different point in its timeline.
• Anachronistic Soundtrack: Krieger and Greta apparently own Led Zeppelin IV on vinyl.
• The Anti-Nihilist: Abigail points out that in an infinite multiverse of infinite possibilities, Krieger and Greta trying to save Century ultimately doesn't matter. Greta retorts that it matters to the people living on Century.
• Apocalypse Cult: The followers of The Lord of All Kingdoms believe that the world will soon end and that their only means of salvation is to escape through the Northern Wind Door, which they believe leads to Heaven.
• Ass Shove: After Mister Wright threatens to cut off his hands, Raven replies that he would just learn how to write by holding a pen with his ass.
• Awesome Personnel Carrier: Spearhead briefly serves this role.
• Baba Yaga: Abigail, James, and the Nag run into Yagana outside Cheyanne.
• Barrier Warrior: Abigail becomes one over the course of the story.
• Beard of Sorrow: James grows one at the end of the book after Abigail disappears.
• Bookcase Passage: One exists behind a fireplace in the Citadel.
• Call-Back: Abigail describes the castle in San Francisco as “cyclopean”, a word she learned from Krieger back in Secret Rooms.
• Cast from Calories: Abigail's Nigh-Invulnerability leaves her tired and hungry after prolonged use.
• Catch a Falling Star: After jumping off a waterfall to escape Wight, Abigail is caught by the Nag.
• Classified Information: James' ability to open Wind Doors and Abigail's ability to close them is treated as this by the RSA.
• Climbing Climax: Abigail’s final confrontation with Mister Wight takes place on the top floor of the Citadel.
• Close-Call Haircut: Mister Wight does this to a boy while showing off with his sword in Winchester, though only James notices it.
• Despair Event Horizon: Sarah’s assassination sent Thomas over this, leading him to become Mister Wight.
• Destination Defenestration: Happens to Mister Wight after being Punched Across the Room.
• Divided States of America: Expanded upon when Abigail and James discover that the lands west of the Pan-State Line have been largely reclaimed by their original Native inhabitants.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: After finding out the Pan-State Line is not as expansive as the RSA want people to believe, Abigail comments that it would be stupid for the American government to actually attempt building a full scale border wall.
• Double Entendre: "I don't usually get ridden at all, but if you two are happy with this strap-on situation, I'm sure we'll all get along famously."
• The Dragon: Agent Li is this to Mister Wight.
• Dramatic Dislocation:
  • Abigail suffers this to her right arm after her Ground-Shattering Landing, forcing her to pop it back into place.
  • Abigail dislocates Mister Wight’s leg during their fight.
• Dramatic Drop: Hector Grey drops a crockpot upon seeing Abigail.
• Epigraph: The story starts off with "Rebellion" by Beatrice Redpath.
• Evil Overlooker: Mister Wight in the cover art.
• The Evils of Free Will: Mister Wight views humans as children who can’t be trusted to govern themselves.
• Eye Scream: During the fight with the fanatics in Canada, James kills one of them by stabbing him in the eye with a knife.
• Fairy in a Bottle: Yagana seems to own one, which ends up in James' possession.
• Faking the Dead: Thomas Arlington, who is really Mister Wight.
• Fallen Hero: Thomas Arlington, who has becomes the remorseless Mister Wight.
• Fearsome Critters of American Folklore: Zonta informs Abigail and James that some of the Native peoples have started referring to the Wendigo as Wampus Cats.
• Fugitive Arc: Most of the book deals with Abigail going on the run from Mister Wight and all the forces at his command.
• Global Warming: This caused the Bad Future that Krieger, Greta and Charlotte escaped from.
• Government Conspiracy: It is revealed that the Pan-State Line is a minor one. The Cartographer's Handbook claims that there is a border wall cutting the country in half, keeping people from entering or leaving the RSA. When Abigail and James get to Dakota, however, they discover that while the border wall exists, it is badly maintained and doesn't cover half the territory the Handbook claims.
• Ground-Shattering Landing: Abigail has one after jumping out of the Stormcloud.
• Hand of Glory: Yagana owns a six-fingered version.
• Haunted Castle: The Citadel has a reputation for being one, as all who enter are never seen again.
• Heal It with Booze:
  • Averted. Abigail offers a drink to Miguel while stitching his wounds but he refuses.
  • Played straight when James gives some whiskey to the Nag to function as a painkiller after he gets shot in the leg.
• Hero Stole My Bike: In desperate need of a horse, Abigail pulls the nearest man off his and mounts it. Averted slightly as Abigail, not wanting to be guilty of actually stealing the horse, then gives the man the key to her apartment and instructs him on where he can get payment for the horse, trusting him not to rob her blind.
• Historical Domain Character:
  • James and Abigail encounter Sitting Bull and Red Cloud in Dakota.
  • While in Deadwood, James and Abigail encounter Al Swearengen, proprietor of the Gem Theater, and E. B. Farnham, the mayor.
• Implacable Man: Mister Wight is relentless in his pursuit of Abigail.
• Intangible Price: In exchange for information about Greta, James gives Yagana his peace of mind.
• Interrupted Intimacy: At one point, Abigail walks in on Al Swearengen being "serviced" by one of his girls.
• Interrupted Suicide: Abigail uses her shield to stop James from carrying out his Stop Or I Will Shoot Myself threat.
• Kukris Are Kool: Calvin possesses one given to him by the Gurkha. Abigail thinks it's a scimitar when she first sees it.
• Love Confession: In Deadwood James and Abigail finally declare their love for each other.
• I Love the Smell of X in the Morning: Upon arrival in Deadwood, The Nag remarks “I love the smell of putrefying debauchery in the afternoon.”
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Abigail is unsure if the Annie she is seeing is a ghost due to her sixth sense or if they're just a figment of her over-stressed imagination.
• Metronomic Man Mashing: Abigail manages to do this to Mister Wight in their fight.
• Mirrored Confrontation Shot: The cover art has James and Abigail facing off like this, with Mister Wight as the Evil Overlooker.
• Mondegreen Gag: When Abigail is first introduced to the weapon, she mishears Kukri knife as Cooking knife.
• Morality Pet: In Deadwood, Hector explains to Abigail that her mother, Pearl, had this effect of Al Swearengen.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: When Abigail complains that Krieger and Greta left them with no instructions on how to control their powers, Krieger retorts that he did, but Abigail and James destroyed them when they burnt the house down.
• Nigh-Invulnerability: The power that the blue orb apparently grants.
• Nitro Boost: Edison apparently installed one into Spearhead, having stolen the idea from Tesla.
• No Escape but Down: After James betrays her, Abigail escapes by leaping off a waterfall.
• Off with His Head!: During the fight with the fanatics in Canada, Mister Wight is mentioned as having decapitated one of the fanatics with his katana.
• Our Manticores Are Spinier: Abigail and James encounter a manticore nest, with a mother manticore feeding her cubs.
• Our Werewolves Are Different: Zonta refers to the Wendigo as Rougarou a word the Cree adopted from the French for werewolf.
• Outside Ride: Mister Wight performs this on Spearhead.
• Pride: Mister Wight’s greatest flaw is that he believes he simply knows better than everyone else and that anyone who disagrees is wrong.
• Punched Across the Room: Abigail does this to finish Mister Wight off, knocking him out a window.
• Retcon: The spelling of Celador is changed to Kelador. Merelene explains this helps better differentiate it from Centrum.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: The Nag pulls this upon spotting Yagana's hut.
• Seen It All: Calvin's reaction to Abigail's magical invulnerability.
• Sequel Hook: The story ends Greta knocking Abigail into an Alternate Universe analogous to the modern day while James is recruited by Rebecca Wolverton and Frank Butler to hunt down Krieger and Greta in wendigo-infested New York.
• Set Right What Once Went Wrong: Abigail and James discover Krieger and Greta's original intention was to change the course of history for the better, though they admit they failed.
• Shout-Out:
  • Abigail and James encounter the Northern Lights on their way to a portal to another world in the Arctic.
  • Calvin Wilson claims that a moose once bit his sister.
  • Nikola Tesla: "I will not say it is no problem. It is big problem. But my whole career is one big problem after another, so....this is just Tuesday."
  • The chapter where James and Abigail spend time with Merlene and the Nag is titled The Odd Couple.
  • The Nag compares himself to Falcor while carrying Abigail and James across Kelador, even getting Abigail to do the infamous "Yeeah!" scream.
  • James and Abigail end up visiting Deadwood, which is shown to be just as dirty as it is in the series that bears its name.
  • When Abigail discovers Krieger and Greta they are listening to Stairway to Heaven on a record player.
  • Chapter 19's title is Great Explanations.
  • "What the fuck is a Nickelback?"
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: The appropriately named Al Swearengen.
• Slipping a Mickey: James does this to Abigail in an attempt to bring her back to Wight.
• Soft Water: Mister Wight survives being knocked into the San Francisco Bay, despite falling from the top floor of the Citadel.
• Something Only They Would Say:
  • Abigail tries to use this to figure out if Annie is a ghost or a figment of her imagination. Annie points out this won't work, because there's nothing they could say that Abigail doesn't already know.
  • Butler helps convince James he and Rebecca are not hallucinations by reminding him of when James deduced that one soldier was sleeping with another one's wife in Elkview.
• Spirit Advisor: Annie's ghost shows up to give Abigail some advice.
• Staircase Tumble: During her escape from the hotel in Winchester, Abigail knocks a pair of her pursuers down some stairs.
• Static Stun Gun: Tesla uses one, apparently of his own design, to stun Edison during Abigail's escape from Langley.
• Steel Ear Drums: Averted when Abigail and James are using a pistol to provide the necessary energy to practice opening and closing Wind Doors, where it's specifically mentioned they're wearing ear protection.
• Stop, or I Shoot Myself!: James threatens this against Abigail to get her to stop running, with the added threat that she would be blinded if she absorbed his endowment after he died.
• Super Window Jump:
  • Abigail does this to escape the Stormcloud, mid-flight.
  • Abigail pretends to do this again at the hotel, tricking Wight into doing it as well.
• Supernatural Gold Eyes: Yagna possesses yellow eyes.
• Tae Kwon Door: During her escape from the hotel in Winchester, Abigail slams one of her pursuers with a door at one point.
• Technicolor Fire: The fire in the hearth of Yagana's hut has violet hues.
• Teeth Flying: Mister Wight knocks out one of Abigail’s teeth during their final fight.
• That Man Is Dead: Mister Wight in regards to Thomas Arlington.
• Time Skip: The final chapter picks up six months after the events of the preceding one.
• Translator Microbes: Abigail mentions the people she and James encountered in the Autumn world using devices they put in their ears that let both groups understand one another.
• Trapped in Another World: At the end of the story, Abigail is knocked through a Wind Door into modern day Earth, with no apparent way to get home.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Everything Mister Wight does is in the name of saving the world.
• Wham Line:
  • Zonta reveals to Abigail that the former inhabitants of Clearwater settled in the infamous town of Deadwood.
  • James revealing that Mister Wight is Thomas Arlington.
  • What the fuck is a Nickelback?
• What the Hell, Hero?: Abigail calls out Krieger and Greta, saying that for all their talk of saving Century, all they did was unleash the wendigo plague on the world and sat back as it ravaged the human race.
• Winged Unicorn: After arriving in Kelador, Abigail and James run into the Nag, who joins them on their journey from there on.
• With Us or Against Us: Mister Wight believes that anyone who doesn’t align with the Reunified States is an enemy.
• Wrecked Weapon: Abigail manages to use her shield to break Mister Wight’s sword.