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villanevest · 5 years

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You’re Mine [pt.1] - villanelle’s perspective in 2x08

okay so i've seen a lot of freaking out post-finale and i want to say: it's all alright. yes, it was a pretty shocking ending, but honestly, i think it was really good for the characters, and for the show. before anybody yells at me for saying that, i'm going to be explaining myself in three posts. in this post, we're going to be looking at villanelle’s perspective on the events of the episode, and next post, we’ll look at eve's, and this will hopefully make their actions a little clearer, and villaneve's future seem less uncertain. in another post, i'll explain why these kinds of tough, dramatic choices are important for the overall health of the show.

let the deep dive begin. VILLANELLE’s thoughts and feelings in the finale villanelle's first really significant scene this episode is the aaron-villanelle-eve showdown at breakfast. remember that last night was villanelle and aaron's conversation about being voids (2x07), and now that she's seen the murder tape, villanelle really feels like she's got a clean read on aaron -- enough to predict and manipulate him, as she would anyone else. seeing raymond's picture tells her it's time to get out, so she essentially invites eve in to supervise the end of the operation. villanelle has the power -- she's seen aaron's kill technique and clearly decided she can beat him, if it comes to a struggle -- and she's comfortable with the confrontation.

and then aaron offers for her to come work for him. crucially, he frames it as, "you'll never be bored again [with me]". we know for villanelle, boredom is her great vice -- she falls into it easily, it controls her, and she's trying desperately to escape it. aaron's offer in undeniably tempting -- we've seen all through 2x07 the luxury on offer -- but it's when he says "all of it" that villanelle makes up her mind.

because eve would hate her if she went with aaron, and it can't be "all of it" if "everything" doesn't include eve. here, she decides that eve, on her own, makes villanelle feel more alive/less bored than any material object or orchestrated murder aaron can provide. that's why she turns to eve -- she's saying, look what i'll give up for you.

i dont think she'd necessarily have killed aaron if he hadn't asked her to hurt eve. he might've been a good option to keep on the backburner in case eve ever gave her the green light. but he's a threat, so she gets rid of him. eve freaks out, and villanelle tries to comfort her, as best as she knows how.

"it's okay", "i'll take care of it", reassuring physical contact. she's probably a bit smug too because now she's killed two people in front of eve, and eve's only upset because of their operation, not because of the murder; for villanelle, this is another indication that violence is not a problem to eve.

i think after this, though, villanelle becomes a bit worried that eve feels like she doesn't have control, which she knows is something eve needs (see: 2x06, when eve was micromanaging the mission). we’ll get back to this. villanelle tries to keep the keel level -- she skirts around the picture of raymond, not wanting to pile on, and slaps eve to start her out of her tailspin. from villanelle's perspective, the morning has probably not been ideal, but it's running fairly smoothly. so villanelle makes her first overture, both because it's what she's wanted this whole time (since konstantin said, "if anything happens, you and eve are on your own"), and because she thinks it'll stop eve from running in to danger.

once she realises eve is serious about it mattering, she stops protesting, and starts helping. and then she runs into konstantin, the second most important person in the world to her, and in her mind, he betrays her. she tells him that she and eve are the same. this is particularly notable at this juncture, because he has just picked his family over villanelle; this comment is partly a bite-back -- villanelle believes she will be eve's first choice, even if she wasn’t his.

then we have the hotel fight with raymond, which again, only really begins once he threatens eve.

unrelated, but i believe raymond's claim "i'm a real somebody" may prove vital in season 3. is he perhaps a high-ranking member of the twelve who likes to indulge in a little recreational axe murder? if yes, then eve may have real problems on that front later.

when raymond is strangling her, villanelle is definitely in a bad way. i dont think, at that point, she has the strength or cognizance to reach for the gun. then eve hits raymond with an axe, and villanelle gets a second to breathe. this is where we get a callback to her saying, "you wanted to save me. and you did." if villanelle is concerned eve feels a lack of control, then this is a chance to return it to her. her encouraging eve to kill raymond is motivated by more than just practicality. firstly, villanelle needs to prove herself right to konstantin -- after he's shaken her faith, she needs absolute unwavering certainty that she and eve are the same. secondly, it binds them, just like the stabbing did in season one. thirdly, villanelle finds a liberation and excitement and power in killing, and she wants to give eve a chance to feel that. finally, and least significantly, i think villanelle probably just found the idea of eve killing someone hot and wanted to watch.

eve starts going into shock again, so villanelle gets her away from the sensory input -- takes off her bloodied shirt and directs her quickly from the scene. she's very gentle and physical in this moment, both because she wants to take care of eve and make sure she feels safe, and because she feels closer to eve than ever before. "like us".

villanelle holds onto eve as they move through rome. she has already turned down one chance (with konstantin's car) to run away without eve, and she's definitely not losing her, especially now. in the tunnels, she lets eve smash through the wall alone, because she can tell she needs a way to get out her excess energy and deal with the overload of sensation.

but the gravity of eve's response is more than villanelle expected. she thought eve would probably panic a little, and then right herself. even though they're both on the psychopathy spectrum, villanelle (in addition to being further along that spectrum) was raised with very little moral framework, whereas eve has spent the last forty years assimilated to society and ideas of good/bad, and these are integral to her sense of self.

but eve says "yeah", she is okay, and villanelle kind of assumes that things are alright, after this beat of catharsis. eve is taking a bit longer to process, but that's fine. maybe villanelle can take her mind off it, right? so she starts with talking about dinner, and then pitches her big idea: alaska.

villanelle has probably been entertaining the abstract idea of "alaska" for a while. she has either watched or help eve lose tethers to her old life (e.g. niko), and villanelle wants a way to make their new connection permanent. she doesn't want eve to vanish like anna did. she picks alaska itself because of the snow globe, which as i said in another post, makes her think that eve's been there before, and liked it enough to buy a souvenir. also, it's in america, so eve would feel like she was on home turf. villanelle clearly prefers europe, but i think alaska has a faraway allure, and she's prepared to compromise.

she reminds eve that they could be normal as another way of allaying her worries post-murder. she's saying, not everything has to change, don't stress, you don't have to kill all the time. we can have half my life and half yours.

and then eve sees the gun. villanelle knows that not shooting raymond was manipulative, otherwise she wouldn't try and distract eve from the fact she had a weapon all along. then she defends, "you had it under control" -- like i mentioned before, she’s trying to return power to eve, remind her of her agency, assure that she's not spiralling.

in this situation, villanelle sees herself like the babysitter who has lied to the child about holding on to the back of the bike to get them to ride without training wheels -- it's for their own good, to teach them their own capabilities. it made me think this:

and then:

this really cemented for me that villanelle saw raymond's death as almost a gift to eve, a way to give her something she'd been missing, that villanelle was SURE she'd, if not necessarily immediately enjoy, then find valuable and help her understand herself. which is why she says she's proud -- she thinks eve has had a personal growth moment. she tells eve, "you made us safe", which mirrors, "you wanted to save me and you did". the "we can look after ourselves now" not only affirms their similarities, but is villanelle's way of saying, you can hold your own, you're in control, which she thinks eve needs to hear. but eve replies that she's going home, leaving. the exact thing villanelle wanted NOT to happen. it's a rejection of what villanelle sees as a big shared experience for them (raymond's death), and of "alaska", which translates to a rejection of villanelle herself. then we have this:

which i think shows a lot of villanelle's character development this season. she's clearly feeling a lot here, but primarily hurt (eve doesn't want her) and fear (eve will leave; she's not enough). konstantin just abandoned her too, by her measure, so villanelle's already more emotionally unstable than she's been. BUT. she takes a breath, and she tries to reopen lines of communication.

when eve says villanelle wants her to be a mess, i think that upsets villanelle quite a bit, because we've been shown that eve is most exciting and attractive to her when she has agency and power, and also because from villanelle's perspective, she's spent half the time trying to STOP eve from becoming a mess. she's held her and reassured her. villanelle wants to steady her again. villanelle does believe that eve wanted this: wanted to kill raymond, maybe wanted alaska, certainly wanted villanelle. part of what makes villanelle so fun for us to watch is her short-sightedness and impatience, but here all that means is that she hasn't got the long-term empathy to see how this might be utterly rearranging eve's worldview. as we'll talk about in eve's post, eve has actually recovered remarkably well (villanelle's efforts to return her sense of control have worked, and she begins to dominate this exchange, and feel confident again), but she's experiencing A LOT of cognitive dissonance (she's a killer / doesn't think of herself as a killer), and she turns that into anger, and projects that anger onto villanelle. a perfectly justified trauma response. villanelle genuinely doesn't understand why eve is having such a strong reaction to this. it'd be like if you thought your friend would really like chocolate, so you left some on the table for them, and then they got mad at you for making them break their diet, which you'd thought they were never actually serious about. no, that's not at all what it's like in actuality, but it's essentially how villanelle is reading this. "you love me." "no." again, villanelle tries one last way of reaching out, and putting herself on the line to prove to eve how serious she is -- "i love you."

but eve tells her she doesn't, that she doesn't know what love is. and that really angers villanelle, because after so long doubting herself, knowing she's a psychopath and wondering how authentic her emotional experience is, she FINALLY got closure last night, with aaron. as we discussed in my post about that, she now believes what she feels is real, and so it's especially crushing to have it questioned by eve. but in this heated, stressful exchange, when she feels rejected after everything (especially considering how attached she probably was to "alaska"), she retreats to the relatively emotionless security of the "i / it".

villanelle's sense of entitlement comes screaming through here. from her point of view, she's done so much for eve. just hours earlier at breakfast, she chose eve over aaron's offer of everything else money can buy. she had the alaska plan. she supported eve when she wanted to go back into the death-trap hotel and get the recordings. villanelle is SURE she's done EVERYTHING right. she's played the game perfectly and is somehow still losing. she's not used to losing, to failing, to not having what she wants. villanelle is addicted to instant gratification (she wants something, she gets it asap), and eve has been the only exception. she worked for her. but the extra time and effort is suddenly for nothing.

and so villanelle does the only thing she can think of, and she moves eve from the category of "special"/"wanted"/"important" to "not special"/"not wanted"/"not important". it's literally emotional triage. yes, villanelle feels things more than aaron, more than most psychopaths, but what she still does have is an ability to mute those feelings, if not entirely, then by quite a lot. so she shoots eve. the logic probably is that if eve isn't around, then villanelle can reconstruct the narrative -- there's nobody else eve's with instead of her, because eve's gone; eve would probably have come back by now if she could, etc. but she doesn't commit entirely, because she doesn't aim to kill. instead, she chooses to replicate how eve stabbed her, because it's something eve "think[s] about all the time". this becomes a don't forget me. it's a think about this, too. is it also an expression of anger? absolutely. villanelle's default is destruction. eve hurt her. she wants to hurt eve. it's a childish tit-for-tat equation. villanelle externalises her feelings, because she can't reckon with them when they're all inside. if she's hungry or annoyed or bored then someone's going to know about it. and here, there is her instinct, and the gun is already in her hand.

she fires.

will villanelle regret this? will she rationalise it? will she stay angry at eve or reconsider? i'll get into that in my write-up about narrative choices for the show. i've also posted another one of these about eve, and how eve's thinking and feeling (check #villanevest writes). i'm a fan of both eve and villanelle, and i think they were acting in ways that made sense to them. i get that we want them to be happy, but i think it's ignoring a lot of context to blame one or the other of them. remember, killing eve is a show about dangerous and irrational people doing dangerous and irrational things.

#ke #killing eve #killing eve spoilers #ke spoilers #killing eve finale #killing eve 2x08 #ke 2x08 #ke finale #villanelle #eve polastri #villaneve #villanevest #villanevest writes #villainever writes #villanelle x eve #eve x villanelle

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skyprincesscommander · 4 years

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Final thoughts on Crisis on Infinite Earths

Before this crossover aired I was filled with anticipation and excitement, which I lost a little after the first 3 episodes aired. Now with the conclusion of the final two, I have many mixed feelings but can safely say I was pleasantly surprised by the final two episodes. So here are my thoughts on the crossover as a whole, complete with what I would have done. I’m giving Oliver’s death it’s own category because I have quite a few thoughts. Firstly though, a question: How do Earth-Prime people know about the Green Arrow if the universe’s rebirth happened at the cost of his death? THE GOOD - The Superhero pairings were great, and I would have liked even more. Barry/Oliver, Kara/Kate, Kara/Barry (my personal favourite), Barry/Sara, Sara/Oliver...all of these characters shared some great scenes. My only complaint would be that they took the momentum off building Kara and Kate’s relationship in the final two episodes. - Part 5. As critical as I was of other things, part 5 was great fun and had a final battle I was relatively happy with. The first 5 minutes particularly had me laughing constantly. - The Justice League. That scene was fantastic. - "Thanks for volunteering Lex” - honestly even though I’m biased I think Kara was the highlight of the entire crossover. - Brandon Routh’s Superman. Enough said. - Kate x Kara, though this was severely lacking in the final two parts for something that was getting built up. - Sara Lance. I thought this was her best crossover yet. - Argo’s destruction. It’s only relevant to Supergirl, but I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, a crucial part of her character is losing an entire civilisation she remembers. It separates her from Superman. I was glad they fixed that. THE BAD - Useless cameos that added nothing. Some were worth it (Tom Welling, Ezra Miller), but just seeing the Birds of Prey have their world wiped felt like a waste of time. - The Flash Episode. I watched all of this season of the Flash, where all characters had to come to terms with Barry dying, and wow was that anticlimactic and predictable. I almost expected him to go missing at the very end of Crisis but literally, nothing happened. Which leads me to... - Barry’s role. I really expected it to be more significant. In my opinion, he should have disappeared on that treadmill into the speed force to return later, after the article and such were written. - Argo’s resurrection. Sigh. - The Paragons. This was a good idea, but they did an awful job justifying their use. Not to mention I don’t believe for a moment that Batwoman, Ryan, and Sara would be in this mix. They don’t have superpowers, so how did they beat shadow demons? Which leads to... - The Arrow fight. The paragons stared and thought really hard while Oliver did all the hard work. I’m fine with this being Oliver’s last hurrah, but the rest of them needed to do something else for crying out loud. - Not Enough Consequences. Oliver’s dead, we knew that would happen. And Earth 1 and 38 combined, we knew that would happen. Other than that there was hardly enough shift in the status quo that was promised from such a big event. Kara even got Argo back. I would have had both Barry and Kara disappear in some way at the end of Crisis (to somewhat follow the path of the comics), and have the aftermaths dealt with in their respective shows. I also would have included a big death that wasn’t Oliver’s. OLIVERS DEATH I categorise most of this as bad. Initially, I was stoked that he died in the first episode. It was surprising and led the way for him to pass down the torch to the next generation. But also, since I knew he was returning, I figured the real heavy mourning concerning his death would come later. That at least was true, but it made the detours in episodes 2 and 3 so fucking frustrating. Firstly, why the fuck are superheroes saving one guy while entire universes die. Oliver is dying over and over while they obsess over resurrecting him. They could have skipped all the nonsense and gone straight to Oliver seeing Spectre in purgatory, who could have explained that he had to die to become something else. That’s two episodes of wasted time available for better things. Admittedly, as someone who has been frustrated by Oliver’s focus in previous crossovers, especially to the detriment of other characters, it felt like the story was obsessing over him instead of allowing his legacy to influence what Barry and Kara etc. would do now that he’s gone, which I think would have resonated more. His final death scene was good, however, and I cared a lot more about the mourning scenes in part 5 than I did in the previous parts (especially because we knew he wouldn’t return that time). FINAL EPISODE RANKING 5. The Flash - anti-climatic 4. Arrow - the fight was bad, and the rest felt like a waste 3. Batwoman - fun adventures though Batwomans felt redundant 2. Supergirl - good introduction with high stakes, threatening a universe we care about 1. Legends of Tomorrow - strong finish with a decent battle.

#crisis on infinite earths #arrowverse #supergirl #arrow #the flash #batwoman #legends of tomorrow #my thoughts #my posts #coie #oliver queen #kara danvers #barry allen

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bitchfromtheseventhhell · 7 years

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bran & jon :: raven & crow :: bran the blessed & king arthur

I've had a million people tell me that was the moment that hooked them, where they said, "Well, this is just not the same story I read a million times before." Bran is the first viewpoint character. In the back of their heads, people are thinking Bran is the hero of the story. He's young King Arthur. We're going to follow this young boy – and then, boom: You don't expect something like that to happen to him. So that was successful [laughs]. [Source]

One of the main things I think is interesting about this quote is that it gets decontextualized. Martin’s saying that he’s subverting the trope in which Bran is going to be the Young King Arthur by having Jaime Lannister chucking him out a window and thus, perhaps, Bran is not in fact King Arthur.

I was googling the Raven King recently because I wanted to know if the fixture in Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell was based on anything specific and I stumbled upon an essay about King Arthur: 'But Arthur's Grave is Nowhere Seen': Twelfth-Century and Later Solutions to Arthur's Current Whereabouts, which explores different representations of what happened to Arthur after he died. I’ve never....given much of a shit about Arthurian legend, tbh. I enjoy it casually, but I don’t #go hard for it, and wouldn’t pretend to know much about it even a little bit, so me dipping my brain into Arthurian stuff is a lot of unknown for me, but some of what I read in this article was interesting to me, especially as pertains to Jon and Bran.

The discussion in the article above is different stories about what happened to Arthur after he died and the immediate thought that I had about King Arthur was that both Jon and Bran have “return from the dead” as a function of their arc.

Jon’s is more literal: he will be resurrected come TWOW (unless Martin’s yanking all our chains which I don’t think he is). Bran’s is more symbolic: Theon “killed” him (and, arguably, there was the death of childhood when Jaime Lannister threw him from the window in AGOT) and he will “return” from that symbolic death when he leaves the cave. (This, in contrast, with Robb Stark, who is very dead and will likely remain so. Crucial to Robb’s death is the fact of who will inherit Winterfell--something that is likely to be a major plot point in the next book(s) and which both Bran and Jon have strong claims to, depending on the contents of Robb’s will.) But leaving aside whose kingship arc will come out on top and in what capacity (I don’t really care too much about speculating on that front--I’d rather read--even if I have a preference for what I’d like)--what I found symbolically interesting was what I stumbled upon in the article above when it cropped up in my google search: the idea “that Arthur still lives but that he has been transformed into a bird and roams the earth in this form.”

Firstly, Arthur himself is associated with the raven or crow in medieval Welsh literature (for example in Y Gododdin). Secondly, his family seem to have been, in early Brittonic tradition, shape-shifters. For example, his father Uthyr Pendragon would seem to have been a renowned enchanter and shape-shifter, with Triad 28 indicating that Uthyr taught his skills to Menw son of Teirgwaedd, who is one of Arthur's men in the eleventh-century Culhwch ac Olwen and in this text transforms himself into a bird (see Green 2007: 146; Bromwich 1978: Triad 28 and pp. 520-3). Similarly Arthur's nephew, Eliwlod m. Madawg m. Uthr, is transformed post-humously into an eagle in the non-Galfridian (c. 1150?) Ymddiddan Arthur a'r Eryr (which displays knowledge of Cornwall), in which form he now lives and talks to Arthur. Whilst such references cannot prove that the idea of Arthur being transformed into a bird was part of medieval Brittonic folklore, they do provide a context in which such a situation would be plausible.

In the case of both Jon and Bran, you have a bird that is associated with King Arthur’s death and his potential to return: the raven (in Bran’s case) and the crow (in Jon’s case). You have--additionally--the fact that while the Starks are not in fact Shapeshifters, there is the capacity to skinchange which is probably as close to shapeshifting as we get (god I hope) in Martin’s world. If King Arthur was born of a magical family, so too were Bran and Jon; they both share bird imagery associated with him as well.

According to the article above, there are conflicting views on what sort of corvid King Arthur would have turned into (and there is one tradition where it’s not a corvid but a puffin). Cervantes makes a reference to a Raven in Don Quixote, the exact phrasing of which “that he did not die, but was, by the art of enchantment, metamorphosed into a raven” (Smollett 1755: 77) intensely mirrors Bran’s not!death in Winterfell and then his training under the hill to the North of the Wall where he is enhancing his magical skills by skinchanging into ravens (among other things). Meanwhile Cornish legends say that it’s neither a raveen or a crow, bu a Cornish Chough--another corvid with a red beak and feet. This last one is interesting specifically as pertains to the color symbolism in Jon’s narrative [1] [2] [3] since red and black are Targaryen colors.

This all gets more interesting when considering one other element of Arthurian legend, specifically:

King Arthur apparently declared that he needed no talisman to protect his own country and dug up Bran's head as proof that he could perform the requirements himself. [Source]

Bran Stark has many parallels with Bran the Blessed, and there’s strong ties to his relationship with Winterfell as being one that is linked to the mythology of the Fisher King [1] [2] [3]. And while this isn’t to imply that Bran’s going to die, and Jon’s going to dig up his head to the detriment of the North, it is to say that the power of the two legendary kings provide a really interesting backdrop in terms of potential directions for Martin’s story, especially given that there are similarities between Bran’s arc and King Arthur’s, even if they’re less strong than Jon’s (including but not limited to the trickery surrounding his birth and being raised unaware of his kingly identity).

So I guess what I’d say to circle back to Martin’s quote above is--no, Bran’s not the young King Arthur. I find it interesting how uncomfortably that sits in terms of both similarities and oppositions to the strong Fisher King imagery in Bran’s arc, and the intersection Bran the Blessed and King Arthur in arthurian legend.

#celia bangs pots and pains: ''i am no arthurian scholar but this feels relavent''#bran stark #jon snow #i don't know what this is so i'm....just going....to....post it #meta #bran meta #jon meta #ok i'm going to go eat lunch i'm so glad work's calmed down some

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saiyan-ummah · 7 years

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[Short Story] The House of Several Smiles

A Crime Thriller

Warning: Reader Discretion Advised!

“Sergeant Major Michelle here from Team C, I have finally found a trail and now heading towards Morbis Hospital, the hospital was abandoned in the late 80s and I believe that the supposed “red-killer” must be hiding there. I have Sergeant Parker here with me, send me backup when I give my next call.”

“Roger that, Sergeant Major, we will be sending backup soon.”

Michelle gasped. It took them 18 “long” months to finally trace a lead to the infamous “red-killer”, the prime suspect of the Chappell Hill serial murder case. 20 women have been found dead, brutally tortured before finally laying them to rest. The eeriest aspect of this serial murder is that the murderer has not strictly followed any relatable pattern while making his kill save for three “eerie” evidences which directed the taskforce to coin it down as a subject of serial murders.

Firstly, all the victims seemed to have a strange smile on their face- a broad stiff grin from ear to ear which is accompanied by their bloodshot eyes, widely open and it looked as if they were still alive. Those grins weren’t the usual ones you see in everyday life when a woman laughs her heart out or when she meets a lover after a while. It was completely surreal, bizarre by its core as the forensic reports failed to comprehend the reason how these broad smiles lasted even when the victim was well dead. Many officers believed a drug was used to plaster these smiles but autopsy reports revealed that the bodies weren’t subdued by any form of drugs during the assault.

On second note, all the victims seemed to have the same type of lipstick on their face. Reports proved that they are exactly of the same brand however, yet another eerie revelation was made. The brand of the lipstick, being a local one, wasn’t doing well which eventually led it to go bankrupt and that happened almost fifteen years ago. Popular rumors started to pop out involving the owner of the lipstick brand seeking revenge on women in general for making the lipstick brand to go bankrupt. However, the newly weaved urban legend soon got debunked when the son of the owner of the lipstick brand was finally traced. He moved out of town after his father’s death (the owner) and was now involved in running a poultry business. The police interrogated the owner’s son for about one week and found he had nothing to do with the serial murders.

Thirdly, all the victims had the following sentence across their neck- “IT WAS RED”, which was deeply pierced with a pen-knife. This led the press to name the subject of their news bulletin as the elusive “red-killer”.

The age distribution of the victims ranged from 15, being the youngest victim till now, and peculiarly extended to even a woman of more than 60 years of age. The murder started off with a singular murder at the “quite, undisturbed” town of Chappell Hill but it soon found its course throughout the other towns of Texas. This was well enough to set a rampant over all the police stations throughout the state.

Over the past few months, cases involving kidnaps also had ominously increased along with one of the victims being the ex-commissioner’s 21-year old daughter causing a complete rampage. No calls or notes involving ransom were ever traced which clearly indicated that money wasn’t the real motive. So what was it then? The young girl was yet to be found with only a handful of the officers still believing in the hope of retrieving her “whole and alive”.

If this shit continues, this will cause a national emergency… Michelle signed. It had only been two hours that she got to find a possible “lead”. Locals had reported that they had noticed strange occurrences around Morbis Hospital, ranging from the lights turning on by itself in the middle of the night to the feminine whispers and cries which can be throughout the hallway which led to the belief that the hospital was haunted.

However, Michelle took this in rather a different manner. The “supposed” demonic infestation started off right a month before the first murder occurred. This led Michelle to believe that this abandoned hospital might be serving as the serial killer’s hideout. She glanced at Parker who lay snugged in his seat, devoting himself to complete silence.

“So what do you say, Red, do we have our man?”

Upon hearing this, his face stiffened a bit as he bluntly answered, “I guess so.”

“I think so too, my gut says so and my gut never lies.”

Parker remained silent, he looked pensive.

“We can finally throw that god dammed son of a bitch in jail. What does he take himself as? He had his little triumph, that little jerk… it’s now payback time. You hearing me out Red?”

She noticed Parker was still in his usual position, his lips pressed and his face stiffened. Michelle took a better look at him, she could not believe that she actually knew him since middle school as the shy nerdy boy with large spectacles and with the distinguishable feature of being a redhead. Most of the time he would sit right at the back of the corner out of everyone’s line of sight. He had always been that “quietest boy in the class”. She was always the topper in class while he seemed to be the next one behind her. It was during high school he actually proposed to her, though not technically a proposal, just called her on a date. She frantically declined the offer and to make matters worse she said the following upon his face, “You know what I really don’t have a taste towards redheads. You know what let’s call you ‘Reddy’ or ‘Red’ from now on, consider it a love token from me as I don’t really like rejecting guys directly though frankly you are not my type.” Upon saying this she noticed his eyes turned all teary, his face seemed wrapped up in what it seemed like a mixture of fear and agony or none of both. From then on she never heard anything from him until he too joined the Police Academy. Michelle passed the academy before him and coincidentally ended up being his immediate superior.

She studied Parker for some time and noticed the sharpness of his jawline and other masculine features. I guess I shouldn’t have rejected you that day. She chuckled to herself. Forget it, now it is time to get serious.

They arrived at Morbis Hospital within the next thirty minutes. The entire hospital seemed stricken with complete darkness. Michelle checked her watch, it read, 11:47 PM.

“Most probably our killer is not home yet. Hey Red, take out the flashlights.”

Parker took out two flashlights from the back trunk and handed over one to Michelle. He also picked up a club stick which laid on the back seat.

“What’s that for?” Michelle asked.

“Protection. You know he is a killer and you never know what tricks he can pull out.”

“Oh… Reddy, that killer should know he is now dealing with the best sergeant major in town. Let’s not waste our time and get inside.”

Both of them stepped in together turning on the flashlight. The air seemed like it was filled with an awkward sense of eeriness. Michelle kept her ears sharp trying to pick up even the faintest of the sounds which can prove to be crucial if they are to find their man.

“This place does gives off the creeps. What do you say Red?”

Parker just hummed, “Hmm…”

“Let’s explore the chambers, one by one to see if we can find any trail.”

They searched all the chambers in the first floor and the only things they found were some beds with stripped mattresses, tables filled with rusted medical apparatuses and some ‘dead’ equipment. The rats shrilled as the flashed their lights at them. Michelle signed. “The last thing I expect, is to see these rats engaged in the murders. Let’s check out the second floor.

The second floor seemed as desolate and “uninteresting” as the first until passed one chamber which caught up her attention.

Is that dried-up blood?

Michelle went back to the chamber and as she shone the light, she turned baffled. Dried-up blood filled the entire floor and seemed to have appeared from inside the wall.

Bingo, there must be a hidden chamber on the other side of the wall.

She called Parker who came in nonchalantly but as he saw the blood on the floor he too was dumbstruck.

“Neat huh? Well, I don’t mean by that neat which means tidy, I mean that we are close to have our man.”

“Do you think it is a good idea to investigate this area right now? Shouldn’t we just wait for the backup to arrive, like we still don’t know whether the killer works alone or not?”

“Nonsense Red, we have come this far how can we possibly back down now? And I want to teach that freaking bastard who’s the boss.”

Michelle noticed that Parker just stiffened his face while he clenched his fist tightly without uttering anything.

Michelle observed the wall very carefully and tapping on it confirmed that it was indeed a secret passage. She then noticed a large piece of what it seemed like a rope coming out of the wall, upon pulling the rope, the rectangular shape of a door appeared. Michelle pulled the corner of the hidden door with the force of her fingertips and within seconds, a secret passageway appeared in front of them. An eerie pungent smell came out from the passage and Michelle knew from her years of experience that the smell way too familiar for her to miss out.

Rotten human bodies…

Michelle heard Parker gasp as she made her way to the passage. As she lit her flashlight, it was to her dismay, she found that the entire passageway was filled with either freshly rotten human remains, severely mutilated only to be served as a feast for rats or bare skeletons of what they seemed like few decades old.

What is this place…? You got to be freaking kidding me.

Parker was behind her but she lost her focus from him. Perhaps he too was baffled with this monstrosity. There was no doubt the killer was a newbie, he must have killed people for more than few decades now and hid the bodies.

Then Michelle noticed that a streak of green-blue light was glowing at the end of the passage.

That must me it!!!

Michelle rushed towards the light and found that it was in fact a door and night was coming from the other side.

“Quick Parker, I want you to tear down the door, we don’t have much time.”

Parker did not resist her anymore, perhaps the anomaly of the situation must have raised his sense of responsibility. At first he placed at the door knob and when it seemed to have loosened, he thrust his shoulder against the door to make their way to the hidden room.

The room was brightly lit with blue, green, yellow lights and from its tidiness it looked as if was still being in use. Michelle at first thought this was the operating room upon seeing all the surgical instruments and apparatus lying neatly on the table and the equipment. But it was more than that.

At the end of the room, she saw a large self which was big enough to cover the entire wall. This portion of the room was in fact brightly lit. On the shelf rested several large jars and inside those jars rested the severed heads of several women each smiling in the same eccentric manner as all the victims of the Chappell Hill serial murders. They all seemed like staring out at Michelle beckoning her to run away.

Michelle clearly felt the deep surge of nausea as it made its way up her throat, this was a lot more than she had actually anticipated.

What sort of a killer is he…? How can he be like this…?

Michelle could not arrange her thoughts, she made an attempt to look at her watch, trying to avoid the piercing looks of the smiling faces in front of her. Her watch read 12:27 AM. Then she suddenly remembered Parker.

“Where are you Re…”

She could not make out her words as the next second a sharp blow struck her right at the crown of her head and the very next second submerged into complete darkness.

***

Michelle slowly opened her eyes, her head still hurt like hell as she noticed a thin line of blood was dripping from the corner of her blood. It took her time to realize that she was strapped in. The operating light shone right above her face.

“Oh, so you’re finally awake, nice to see that because we got a long night to spend together.”

She recognized the voice, it was Parker’s. Then he finally appeared within her line of sight. He seemed… different. She wanted to utter something but found the muscle of her mouth completely immobile, the only sound she could make were some crude whimpers.

“Well, Sarah you won’t be able to say anything, injected a drug on your cheeks which paralyzes the muscles in your mouth and the reason why I did this because tonight I will be the one who’s doing the talking.”

Michelle tried to wiggle in order to loosen her strap but it was no use.

“Sorry dear, that won’t do, you need to do something better than that to free yourself.” He chuckled. “So where should I begin… Ah yes… Let me introduce myself at first. I am Sergeant Phillip Parker, as you already know, or what you don’t know I have other names as well given to be by the press, that’s right I am the infamous ‘red-killer’, ‘red-demon’ or even ‘red-nightmare’- ooh, I like that one, or what… in whatever manner they feel like naming me in the papers, I give the least bit of shit to those. But I got another name, the name I despise the most, the name given to me by those whores back at The Red Lips, the name which even you don’t seem to care even while uttering it- RED.”

Sarah struggled to move but the grip of the strap was just too strong for her to move properly, even the slightest.

“Well, you said you wanted your man, so here I am, under your nose all this time and you were just too blinded by your own god-damned arrogance that you failed to notice that. I mean I gave you all the clues you needed to find the killer, I did your homework, even went into the trouble of writing, “IT WAS RED” across those bitches’ necks just to give you a hint that it was me all along. I mean, how more straight forward of a message do you want me to write? Or did you wish that I had written, ‘It was Phillip Parker, Sergeant of the Chappell Hill police department, partner to Sarah Michelle…’ all across their fucking bodies just to make you solve this case… Well that would have been too easy then, too god-damned easy.”

The last sentence Parker shouted was at the top of his voice, which shuddered the veins out of Michelle. She peered out at the shelf to find the smiling faces still dazed in their ever-lasting malice.

“Oh, you are curious regarding them, right? Or regarding this whole thing? Well, I was actually rooting for you this whole time to solve this case but Sarah you truly disappointed me like the day you rejected me. On top of that you gave me the most insulting nickname which I had been running away from ever since my childhood. In case you never had the brains to know, here is how it all started.

“My mother was the madam of a local brothel named The Red Lips. She would hire whores from across the states and it was a profitable business. Over the years, the clients’ preference of relieving their urges changed to the extent that we even had lesbians coming in to relieve their homosexual urges. Then one day the men demanded for a young boy dressed up as a female. My mother became agitated as over the years money and the customers’ satisfaction turned into her sole concern. Then her eyes fell on me, I was just six years of age during that time. I still remember that god forsaken day. She called me over and said that she is going to play with me only if I agree to dress up as a girl. I was super excited so I nodded saying, ‘Yes’. She called two of her whores to dress me up and put a wig on me and when I was done, she came up to me and upon curving the red lipstick across my lips, she said the following cursed words, ‘Smile my child, as here in The Red Lips, we all serve with a smile.’

“The next moment she thrusted me to the room of the clients. When I turned my head to face the clients, to my misfortune, I discovered at least six naked grown-up men peering at me with filth in their eyes and voraciousness in their mouth. Before I could react, a dozen hands overpowered me and the next moment darkness descended upon me. Within few weeks, I became the new sensation to the brothel. At times I even needed to attend seven client per day. I was forced to leave school at the command of my mother because it was money which mattered to her the most. While my mother counted her money reclined in her room, her son was left tear-stricken locked up with miserly beasts in a sea of agony and humiliation. The whores at the brothel gave me a stage name- “Red” due to my redhead. This was the name which later became my new identity and it was the through this name I got distinguished and addressed by client and overtime I forgot my own given name. My mother was blonde so I had to place the assumption the man who must have impregnated my mother, most likely one of her own clients, must have been a redhead as well. This filth continued for around three years then I thought to myself that I had had enough. One night I slipped into my mother’s room and upon covering her mouth, I plunged a pen knife through her throat. My mother tried to scream but the only thing which came out her mouth was a stream of her own blood. She soon succumbed to her death thus relieving me of my years of agony. When the police came, I was put in juvenile detention. The brothel was closed and the whores left the business but I could not leave behind my sour memories. Soon afterwards I was set free and I got to learn that a mysterious benefactor was willing to finance my future. I had no other choice, I lived in a very modest house with an old housemaid in the name of Mrs. Thomson who would visit me early in the morning and leave at night. She was in-charge of taking care of my household chores, home schooling and cooking. I was given a new name- ‘Phillip Parker’ and a new home. I used to spend the night in this dreary house all alone but this life was far more soothing to me than I was with my own mother. I stayed there until I turned 18.

“I finally resumed my formal education at the time of middle school and it was during this time I got to admire you not because of solely your looks but mostly because of your charismatic personality. At high school I thought of proposing to you but later decided to ask you on a date. You can’t imagine how much courage I had to muster just ask you that. Instead, the response I got was well enough to spring back my childhood trauma. I have seen mean and bad people but nothing can’t be matched to the foulness of your own arrogance. To my dismay you ended up topping me at Police Academy and in the end even became my superior and acting partner.

“It was after my graduation from the Police Academy, I got contacted by a mysterious person possessing a deep and gruff voice. He claimed himself in being the ‘Devil’ who had been my benefactor ever since the fall of The Red Lips. He claimed me as his ‘son’ as he declared himself in being my ‘father’. He said I was destined to do great things in life and needed to make my country proud. In order to do so, he told me the people in fault must be punished. He recounted to me how my mother and her whores treated me and said such people need to payback for their sins.”

Michelle stared at Parker in utter disbelief. Devil… what in the world is he talking about, he has completely lost it.

“A week later, after our conversation, a package arrived at my door. Its content was a box full of bottles consisting of some sort of bluish serum with at least a dozen syringes. That night, the Devil called me once more.

‘My son, have you got my little gift.’

‘What is it?’

‘Your doorway to getting your revenge…’

“The serum initially did not work as per the claim of the Devil. I was asked to inject it accurately at the location of the cervical vertebrae but initially I had problems. My first ten victims could not take the serum very well so they passed out and I could not leave them as they were so I had to take them back to the lair. The ones you saw in the passageway as the ‘oldest skeletons’ were in fact my initial experiments. The ones you see here are my finest ones and some of them also used to be the whores of my mother’s brother. Father Devil taught me how to take my revenge. He told me to redden the lips with the same brand of lipstick we used in the brothel so that they get to understand the pain, the fear and anger I felt in my old days and receive their judgements. As their lips curved into a smile being overtaken by the serum, I used to stare in delight as their hearts lost its pace and they would leave this world for good. This is the merriment I received from the works of the Devil. Do you know I happen to kill only sinners? Every head you see here are no better than the prostitutes you are going to find in the sewers. Even the ex-commissioner’s daughter, he used his own daughter as a fucking piece of shit for the rich to reach to the top and his daughter actually enjoyed the entire process. What a whore! These are some things you won’t be learning at the Police Academy.

“Then the command came to put down my arch nemesis- you! It was rather a simple technique, I just went to a payphone and called you saying that I had seen some paranormal occurrences at the Morbis Hospital and I set the date of the occurrence in such a fashion that upon hearing it you would start to believe that this event might have something to do with the entire series. And the best part is you totally fell for it and crawled into my lair bearing any defense or backup. Today your demise is not going to happen due to my malice and misdeeds but due to your own arrogance and negligence. So get prepared you slutty bitch!”

Michelle suddenly felt a sense of urgency as she tried to wriggle her way out of her straps. Her struggle seemed futile as it only added further merriment to Parker’s bitterness.

“You know sweetheart, you could have ended all this if you just had taken a good look at me. I mean come on, your killer was just behind you all along, all you had to do was look behind or in other words taken notice of your comrade. Rather you were just blinded by your own arrogance and ambition. Death be upon all the arrogant, Amen!”

Michelle started to sweat as she noticed Parker taking out a syringe filled with bluish liquid out from a box and make his way towards her.

“You know I wish we had fought crimes together for a bit longer but you know Father’s order are Father’s orders and it is best bitches like you get your right treatment…” The next second he plunged the syringe into the back of her neck, possibly at the position of her cervical vertebrae. She let out a shriek but it appeared more like a whisper.

“Now, for the finale. Since you will be gone soon, I have no one to fight against, so it is best if I leave this world as well. We were not meant to be together in this world so perhaps this may come true in Hell where we will finally be one with the Devil.”

Parker took a pen and wrote some words in a piece of paper. Next he took out his penknife and eyed malevolently at Michelle. “Sergeant Major Sarah Michelle, today I, Sergeant Phillip Parker shall grant you your ultimate punishment- seeing your comrade die in front of you before you sink to your own demise. This is the same penknife which saved me from my mother and today I shall end my deal with this world with this as well.” With these words he abruptly slashed the back of his neck with the penknife. Michelle just gave out a tiny squeal as she witnessed her comrade’s body quickly turn motionless.

He is dead… Parker how could you have done this to yourself? I know you have been through a lot but why take this path in the end?

After few minutes of silence, the backup finally appeared. Upon seeing Michelle, they dashed towards her but it was already too late. Michelle clearly felt the muscles in her face tingling.

“Sergeant Major, what’s wrong? Sergeant Major!”

Her entire body started to shake profoundly as a face began to bend and curve into that despicable smile. She glanced at the shelf.

“Sergeant Major Michelle…”

She could not hear anymore, the very last thing she felt like noticing were the gleaming eyes of the smiling faces and it felt like all of them were laughing at her. The next moment her heart felt light, it began to slowly faint, then her heartbeat grew fainter and fainter till it could no longer beat, even the faintest.

***

“Chief Conway, so you are telling me that there is no way we can control this incident before the press.”

“I am afraid not sir.”

“What do you mean by that? Two of our officers died in that shit place filled with more than 30 severed heads of women with several other bodies found in the passageway and you still think that the public is going to let us once the press releases this news?”

“I am sorry, sir, it is just too big of an incident to cover up.”

The commissioner signed, he hardly could imagine what was going to happen once the press got this news in their hands. This was going to be a total massacre once the news get released leading to the “death” of the creditability of the police force.

“Listen here chief, if you can’t control this situation, I will be making transfers and replacements and it won’t go very pretty.”

Chief Conway shuddered upon hearing this, “I… I will try my best.”

The commissioner just nonchalantly nodded scratching his head filled with red hair. “I want you to do it, don’t just try, you need to do it otherwise all of us are a goner. Say, what did you say that the backup team found a small piece of note in the hand of one of our officers?”

“Yes sir, it was found in the hand of Sergeant Parker.”

“What did it say?”

“It said, ‘The Devil told me to do so!”

Upon hearing this the commissioner’s face lost its blood. “What utter nonsense! Was he under drugs?”

“No sir, he is believed to be the red-killer himself, well, we still haven’t confirmed it yet, we are still waiting for the forensic reports.”

“When the reports come off, do inform.”

“Yes sir! Sure will do.”

“You may leave now.”

“Thank you sir.”

As Chief Conway left, the commissioner rubbed his sweat off from his forehead, he was sweating frantically out of fear and anguish. He reached for his phone and upon grabbing it, he swiftly tapped a bunch of numbers bearing a strange unfamiliar sequence. He placed the phone on his ear.

A feminine robotic voice called out, “Please name yourself and place your request and after doing so press 1”

The commissioner cleared his throat to reveal his gruff, deep voice, “A… This is Commissioner Desmond Parker speaking, it seems like my son Phillip Parker has messed up our plans. Just last night he killed himself out of excitement and the police has found the hideout which previously had the body and head of the ex-commissioner’s daughter. My son has also disclosed my codename so I also request for a new one. Please forward my message to the President as soon as possible.”

Then the commissioner pressed “1”.

The robotic requested, “Please spell out your codename.”

The commissioner said in his usual deep voice, “My name is D-E-V-I-L, Devil”

“Process completed, your message will now be forwarded to the President, thank you for your co-operation.”

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ageeksnerdyworld · 7 years

Text

It’s Worth The Wait

Characters: Jason Todd, Barbara Gordon, Harley Quinn, The Joker

Word Count: 3,158

Trigger Warning: Blood. Swearing. Death. Smoking. Abuse Mention.

Summary: Here’s a fic I wrote strictly for @lesbopoisonivy ... I’m sorry it’s not that good, but I hope you like it, buddy. Jason, Barbara and Harley team up to kill Joker. They have lead him to an abandoned warehouse on the city’s waterfront. Click that read more if you feel like it...

xxxxx

“Did you really think that I would’ve let you walk away after everything you’ve done?”

He punctuates the sentence with a hard uppercut to the chin of the sickly white face of the man that stood in front of him. The punch was unexpected and hard enough to send The Joker to the floor. The clown was always one for playing games and so they, he, Barbara and Harley, made one up. The one sure-fire thing that would work After all it was the one thing Joker couldn’t resist.

Batman. Broken and defeated at his feet. Hand delivered to him by two of The Bat’s protégés and Harley.

They believed that the irony alone would be enough.

And it was. Their plan worked perfectly. The Joker followed the clues and played the game, after a little bit of nudging from Harley of course, until it brought him to this specific abandoned warehouse on the city’s waterfront. Bringing him to this very moment that sent the sick bastard to his knees. The moment they planned would leave him to die; bleeding and in pain but above all else completely alone.

Just like how he had left the three of them.

The Joker stumbles as he tries to get up but Jason kicks him hard in the ribs; sending him back down to the floor. Jason picks the crowbar up off the floor and slams it into Joker’s body. Standing over the man, if you could really call this sad excuse for a human being a man, he hits Joker with all the anger and hatred that had been stewing inside him ever since he came back.

Each swing brings on a feeling Jason hasn’t felt in a long time. Something he felt so very little that at first he actually can’t remember exactly what it is. But the more he beats on Joker, the more pain he inflicts, the clearer it becomes.

So this is what doing something right feels like.

When he has had enough he gets up and looks over at Barbara who has been sitting silently near the warehouse’s entrance. Watching. Waiting. He nods at her, telling her that he was almost done, then he turns back to Joker.

“After what you did to me? What you did to her? To the woman you claim to love? To this city and its people? There’s no scenario where you’re walking out of here alive. Bats claimed he was doing something good when every time he made the mistake of letting you live.”

“I’m doing the right thing.”

Joker laughs in response. A sick, wet, blood-choked laugh, so different from the way Joker’s laugh would sound, but it sends shivers down Jason’s spine anyway. That laugh. That loud, evil, mocking and maniacal laugh was one of the last things he heard the day he died. And it had haunted him ever since; an ever-present part of his nightmares that left him terrified and screaming when he woke up.

But not anymore.

Joker laughs again but this time it’s interrupted by a cough of blood. Spitting on the concrete he turns back to Jason and says “The baby bird left the nest and finally learned how to fly? Funny. Only took your Uncle J, a couple of swings of a crowbar, and an explosion for you to man up.”

Jason sneers at him then punches Joker once more; knocking him out.

When Jason walks away, and walks outside in total silence, Barbara wheels herself over. She looks down to get a good view of Joker’s bloodied form. Strands of green hair stick to the fresh, wet, blood on his face. Dark purple bruises start to form; adding a bit of color to the stark white of his skin. Jason’s beating did a number on him but no-one was finished with him yet.

Besides one crucial member of this little group was missing in action.

Bending down just a bit she looks him in the eye and smiles. “The tables have turned and look who’s laughing now.”

Jason looked up at the inky black night sky and blew out a puff of smoke. Not a single star was in the sky which was perfect for a moment such as this one. Stars hide your fires; let not light see my back and deep desires, he mutters to himself as he brings the cigarette to his lips again.

Wheeling herself out of the warehouse Barbara sees Jason leaning up against the wall; smoking a cigarette and staring at the starless night sky of Gotham City. He tosses the finished cigarette on the ground and rubs it out with the toe of his boot.

“So…”

“So?” Jason repeats with a sideways glance and a questioning eyebrow.

“How do you want to do this? Finish him off I mean? I don’t really have experience in this kind of thing.” Barbara says as she removes the ponytail from her hair and shakes her hair out.

“I was thinking of waiting until he comes to then giving him a taste of his own medicine. Take a crowbar and wipe that smile off his face. Rigging the place to blow and then hauling ass; leaving him to die the same way I did. Poetic justice and all that.”

Barbara nodded silently; she was deep in thought and not really listening.

She had dreamt of this day and she did exactly what Jason had said each time. No matter how the dreams started, Joker breaking into her home, confronting him while he committed a crime, paying him a visit in Arkham, they all ended the same way. She gave that sick clown a taste of his own medicine and it always ended with Joker shot, dead at her feet, blood pooling underneath his body. Only to wake up and realize that it was all a dream. And now? Now that it wasn’t a dream anymore?

Now she wasn’t so sure.

“I don’t think we should do this, Jason. Regardless of everything he’s done murder is still wrong. And if we kill him then we’ll be just as bad as he is.”

“Oh don’t give me that antiquated morality bullshit Babs. Makes you sound a bit too much like a certain someone. Let’s not forget that disgusting piece of filth in there shot you and left you for dead! You were lucky that your dad was there but that didn’t save you, did it? Just paralyzed you, instead of killing you, and stuck you in that fucking chair! Don’t tell me you wouldn’t give anything to have your legs back.”

“Of course I would, Jason. But you have to know that killing…”

“Won’t give you that back and it won’t give me my life back either. But it’ll give us the next best thing. He beat me within an inch of my life, left me with a bomb, and left me to suffocate underneath all the rubble when it blew. This is the only thing that’s been on my mind ever since I came back and I’ll be damned if…”

He paused trying to clear his head and find the right words.

“Here on my knee I vow to God above, I’ll never pause, never stand still, till either death hath closed these eyes of mine or fortune give me measure of revenge.”

With that Jason turned and walked back inside the warehouse; leaving Barbara alone in the dark of night. He was going to kill Joker tonight whether or not she joined him. The Henry VI line he quoted told her everything he couldn’t seem to find a way to say in his own words. He had been waiting for this moment longer than she had and he was done waiting.

Nothing was going to stop him.

Looking up at the black, tar-esque, sky Barbara thought about it. The Joker took away everything she had when he shot her. And did so with the intention of killing her. Even though she found other ways of crime-fighting, mainly helping the rest of family, there was quite a lot she missed. She missed the feel of the ground beneath her feet as she ran in Robinson Park. She missed the sound of her cape when it waved at her back as she grappled across Gotham.

He deserves it, that voice in her head whispers. You know he does and Jason’s right. You have to take the chance before it passes you by.

She spun the chair around and wheeled herself back inside the warehouse. And she continued her way over to Jason who sat on the floor hunched over slightly; clearly working on something. A bomb by the looks of it. He’s really going for the poetic justice thing. Her eyes land on the gun that lay in the small space between them. Reaching down she picks it up.

“Wouldn’t this be better? Quick and easy. Still gives you the poetic justice since he shot me.”

“Shooting him between the eyes isn’t going to do much for me, Babs. Or Harley for that matter.”

She chuckled slightly and shook her head. But Barbara couldn’t deny it. After years of abuse that she suffered at Joker’s hands Harley would want to see him bleed. No, not just want, she needed to see him hurt as much as she had. See him die a horrible death and watch as the light left his eyes.

Be honest with yourself. You need to see it too.

“Speaking of that crazy bitch,” Jason began but Barbara cut him off with a look.

He held his hands up in defense.

“Hey. She is crazy and a total bitch. Harley’s done just as much evil as he has and you know it. She helped him fucking murder me for crying out loud!! You can’t deny all that just because she’s doing slightly better now. Just because she stopped killing for fun and things like that doesn’t make her a good person.”

“Does killing make you better just because you kill criminals?”

“We’re not talking about me here, Barbara.”

“Maybe we should.”

Jason threw his hands up in a I give up gesture. “I take the bitch back but she is crazy and evil. We’re not going to sit here and talk about shit like this. All I was trying say was: she’s late.”

“There is some soul of goodness in things evil would men observingly distill it out.” Barbara said as she angrily crossed her arms.

“Really?” Jason scoffed.

Barbara shrugged; “Hey. You quoted The Bard first.”

“Oh my god… Ok. Firstly don’t call him The Bard; makes you sound pretentious. Secondly that wasn’t what I was getting at, Babs.”

But before they could discuss Harley and her virtues at length they heard a moan. The sound could only mean one thing: Joker was coming to. Jason took his gun from Barbara and tucked it in his thigh holster.

Then they heard a loud bang from the complete opposite direction. Harley stood in the open doorway with her trusty red and black hammer slung over her shoulder. Her makeup was more messed up than usual and one of the hair bands had fallen from her pigtail. There was a dark bruise and a lot of swelling underneath her right eye.

“Hiya guys!” she says with a wave and a wide smile that revealed a newly missing tooth. Jason shoots Barbara a look that read I told you this was a bad idea. But there was no turning back now. They had come too far to do that.

“Hi, Harley.”

“Ya look good Baby Bat! Ya do somethin’ different? Wait, wait, wait!! Don’t tell me… Ah! I got nuttin’. I’m likin’ the hair down, though. Should do that more often,” she says as she walks over to them; Harley finishes with a wink before turning to Jason.

“Aren’t ya gonna say ‘hello’ Toddy Woddy? … No? C'mon! I’m just tryin ta lighten the mood a lil bit. Tryin ta have a little fun.”

Jason crossed his arms and gave Harley a stern look. “In case you forgot the last time we crossed paths wasn’t very fun. So, sorry, if I’m not as thrilled as you are about this.”

She shrugged then walked over where Joker lay on the floor. He was almost fully conscious but hadn’t noticed Harley enter. When he saw her there his eyes lit up and he threw his arms out to her.

“Harl! I knew I could always count on you!”

She swings her hammer as hard as she could into the side of Joker’s face. He doesn’t showcase his pain but his face betrays him and he wears a clearly shocked expression.

“Harl?” he whispers.

“So, Mistah J, what’s it feel like?” she asks as he hits him again. Harder than the time before it. Then she drops the hammer and begins stomping on his ribs; repeatedly until she hears the satisfying loud sound of his bones crack. And just for the hell of it she gives Joker one good kick to the chin.

“Does it feel good, huh, Puddin’? What about the betrayal? What does that feel like? Go on, tell Harley all about it.”

Joker lay curled up in the fetal position with his arms covering his head. He was bloodied, broken and helpless and the sight of it brought a smile to Harley’s face. She had been in that exact state far too many times and it was way more than satisfying to see him like that for a change and to see the fear in his eyes as she stood over him with the barrel of a gun to his forehead instead of being the one trapped and paralyzed by fear.

Just deserves, she thinks to herself as she smiles and picks up her hammer. She walks over to where his head lay and starts to swing the hammer to inflict the fatal blow.

“Stop!”

“What?!” Harley screams as she stopped the swing of the hammer barely inches above Joker’s face.

“Harley. I said stop. Pretty sure that’s clear enough.”

“Oh, Toddy Woody, don’t tell me you’re going soft on me and Baby Bat. Don’t tell me you’re turning into B-Man.”

“Jason, what are you doing?” Barbara asks angrily but quietly but Jason ignores her and answers Harley.

“Hardly,” he scoff as he walks over to stand next to Harley. Barbara wheels herself over to the others and Jason passes her a black Mark XIX Desert Eagle. She turns the handgun over in her hand surprised with the weight of it. Then Jason gives one to Harley as well.

“Be careful, ladies, they’re already loaded.” he adds with a smirk.

Jason stands in the middle of the three with Harley on his right and Barbara on his left. Pulling a silver and black Beretta 92FS out of the holster that was attached to his belt, which allowed the gun to rest against the small of his back, he keeps his face a blank and empty expression.

“On my count, on three, we all pull the trigger. Aim for the forehead.”

Finally.

“One.”

You’re finally getting what you deserve.

“Two.”

He stopped counting. It all felt wrong.

“Look at us,” Jason says with a cold and commanding tone. “I want you to look all of us in the eye before we kill you. I want you to know that we were the ones who finally ended your reign of terror over Gotham. Ended your pathetic excuse for a life.”

“I want you to know that I’m the only one who can write my story. I am not defined by you and what you’ve done to me.”

“Mistah J, I want you to know that you’ll never control me, or anyone, ever again. You’re not my puddin’ anymore.”

“Look at me while you die, Joker. Look. At. Me.”

Joker looks up and his gaze meets the faces of the three people whose lives he had ruined. People who had been utterly destroyed by him, and only him, but were somehow still alive. And he laughed. Laughed and laughed even though there was nothing funny about his situation; especially not from his perspective.

Yet he laughed anyway.

“Three.”

Each gun went off at the same time, echoing in the empty space and making the noise so much louder. Joker’s body lay on the ground with three bullet holes in his forehead. Blood began to pool underneath his corpse; staining the concrete.

Harley poked Joker’s body with her shoe as if she couldn’t believe that Joker was actually dead. Then she let out a happy squeal and hugged both Barbara and Jason.

“We did it!” she cried happily. “Ya know… We could team up more often if ya want ta.”

“No!” Jason and Barbara exclaimed simultaneously.

Harley just shrugged, slung her hammer over her shoulder, and waved goodbye.

Barbara waited for Harley to exit the building then she wheeled away, already getting sick of the sight of the body, and made her way outside. The rush of the moment had gone pretty quickly and she didn’t really know how to feel now. He deserved it and death comes for everyone... but did that really mean that she had to be the one do deal it?

None of that matters now. He’s dead and you pulled the trigger.

She began to wheel herself down the sidewalk towards the closest bus stop. Barbara didn’t wait for Jason to finish whatever he was doing because she didn’t want to hear whatever he had to say. He was going to find ways to justify it and she needed to wrap her head around this by herself. It made sense for both Harley and Jason to be more okay with this. They both killed people before but she never had.

Joker was her first.

And definitely my last.

Jason got one last good look at Joker’s body and then left the warehouse and walked out into the night. He never planned on getting rid of the body. He wanted someone, anyone really, to find the body. It would happen sooner if Harley decided to let the secret out. He didn’t care if Bruce found out that the three of them did it. He’d take the fall for both Harley and Barbara if he had to.

I’m not letting Bruce take this away from me. He can say whatever he wants but it won’t change the facts. I did the right thing. I did the right thing and he can’t take that away.

He can’t.

Jason lights another cigarette looks at the sky above Gotham and now there’s a few stars dotting the black. When he finishes the cigarette he straightens his brown leather jacket and gets on his bike. Revving the engine he pulls away from the waterfront and gets on the road. His revenge was long overdue but it was worth the wait and it brings a smile to his face.

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studio123ca · 7 years

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10 tips for designers looking to go out on their own

I had a blast speaking to designers from across Ontario over the weekend at RGD’s Creative Directions conference held in Toronto. The youthful energy was infectious and I was blown away by the wonderful work being presented.

I was asked to give a talk on important things to consider for young professionals looking to start their own design business. I did my best to distill my entrepreneurial advice to 10 tips based on my own experience, but in reality, this list could have been 45 points long. There are tons of things that need to come together to make a successful design business—from good creative, to talented team members, to excellent customer service, continuous networking, efficient management and being smart with finances.

Starting a business can be one of the most fulfilling and exciting things you can do. It takes faith and it takes commitment. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows. There are highs and lows, good times and bad. Times you want to jump for joy, and times you want to curl up into a ball. But like anything in life, you get what you put in!

I hope the following points act as a good starting point for anyone looking to make the leap from student (or employee) to entrepreneur.

1. Define why you want to go out on your own.

When it comes to starting a new business, we often talk about the how, and the what, as opposed to the why. Figuring out why you really want to start a business requires a bit of self reflection. Is it because you don’t feel fulfilled at your current job? Is it because you’re not doing the type of work you want to do? Is it because you feel you have such an innovative approach to design that starting your own business is the only right option for you? Are you looking for a more flexible schedule so you can spend more time with your kids, or traveling the globe?

If you’re looking to live the laptop lifestyle where you can set your own hours, work from wherever you want and only be held down by yourself and your clients, a solo freelance gig is likely the best choice for you.

On the other hand, if you’re looking to collaborate with others, bring on employees and/or partners and you’re looking to leverage the skills of others to grow your business, then a more structured business may be a better fit for you. This option obviously requires more management, accountability to others and diplomacy than the solo gig.

Both options are viable, but determining your motivations for starting a business will allow you to choose the best model to reach your goals.

2. Determine who else is doing what you want to do.

For two reasons mostly. Firstly, especially if you’re planning to service clients locally and/or regionally, you’ll need to know which companies you’re up against. What other options do clients have to explore in your area? What services do they offer? Who do they serve? How can you be better than them?

More importantly, determining who else is doing what you want to do can lead you to individuals who are willing to show you the way. Often times, especially if they’re not in direct competition with you, people are willing to help you out and share valuable advice with you. Entrepreneurs nearing the end of their careers are goldmines of knowledge and are generally willing to open up and give back. Early in my career I was lucky enough to be mentored by a former boss (newly retired, of course). Over the years he’s given me a treasure trove of advice which I continue to use to this day.

3. Define your strengths and weaknesses.

This step, if you want to do it correctly, requires digging deep and being honest with yourself. What are you really good at and what are you only okay at? In this exercise, defining your weaknesses is important. This allows you to outline what you need to improve, what you may want to avoid, and who you may want to add to your team (or subcontract) to help fill those voids.

4. Avoid being a generalist. Become a specialist.

In today’s increasingly competitive marketplace, clients are seeking out experts, and they’re willing to pay more for that expertise. Think about how we search online, for example. Our searches are hyper specific because we want to find the most fitting solution to our search as quickly as possible. We seek out the “best camera lenses”, “best boutique hotels in Toronto”, “best invoicing software”, “swift developers in San Francisco” because we want our immediate needs fulfilled by those who specialize in precisely what we’re looking for. Clients are willing to pay more for those they perceive to have a higher degree of knowledge or skill, because it will likely result in better service, a higher competitive edge and a bigger return on investment. Being great at something, is typically more attractive, and easier to sell than being okay at a whole bunch of things. There are only so many hours in a day and it is best to concentrate on what you’re great at. It’s okay to dabble in a whole bunch of things if that’s what you want to do, but it’s always easier for a prospective client to remember what you are great at, as opposed to trying to recall your laundry list of things you do from time to time.

*PS - I’m not suggesting you put “expert” next to your name. That just seems phony and self-absorbed. However, demonstrating a superior level of skill or knowledge in a particular subject based on your education and work experience will help position you as a leader.

5. Know who you’re trying to sell to.

This may seem simple enough, but it’s not. If your answer is everyone and anyone who needs marketing/design, then you’re probably looking too broadly and need to narrow in on more specific targets. Find your niche. Determine exactly who will be looking for your particular service, the type of work you want to do and those who will jive with your unique approach. Which companies are actively looking for what you offer and have recurring budgets dedicated to your types of services? Where are they located? Who are the decision makers? How old are they? What is their level of education? What are their behaviours and how can you reach them? Throwing a bottled message into the ocean and hoping someone picks it up on the other side is a surefire way for your message to fall on deaf ears. Make a list of those you want to work with, make contact and make sure you’ve got a good offer for them. Even if you only manage to get a small fraction of the clients on your list, at least they’ll be the ones you actually wanted to work with.

6. Partnerships are a lot like marriages. Choose wisely.

This may sound ominous, but it’s the truth. Much like any other long-term relationship (long-term friendship, dating, marriage etc), partnerships require a lot of work and communication. If you’re looking to bring on partners, you’ll want to choose someone you can trust, someone who is dependable and someone who is committed. It’s easy for people to be passionate at the start when things are hyped, but your business will hopefully last a long time, and will ultimately become your livelihood, so you’ll want to be certain you’ve chosen someone who is stable, in it for the long term and won’t flip the switch and negatively affect your business out of nowhere. I hear a lot of young designers mention that they’re hoping to start a business with a friend, or a fellow student, or a colleague seemingly without having known them for very long. Much like marriage, don’t rush into anything too quickly. Ensure you’ve known your potential partner long enough to know their true character, what their strengths and weaknesses are and how they react to stressful challenges.

7. Partnership/shareholder agreements are your friend.

So you’ve found the right partner that compliments your skills and is fully committed to your business. You’re off to a great start! Now, you’ll want to make it legal. A partnership/shareholder agreement outlines what’s expected of you and your partner(s), the consequences of not fulfilling your expectations, how to proceed if a partner wants out, or what happens if one of you are unable to perform your work due to illness or death.

A common mistake for green entrepreneurs is to defer drafting up agreements early on. The “we’ll deal with it later” mentality just may come back to haunt them. I mean, who wants to pay thousands of dollars right out of the gates to set up an agreement when there are so many other start-up costs to deal with?

In reality, there are several reasons why you should. Over time, life happens—people can get bored, start conflicting side projects that interfere with business, get offered other opportunities, become greedy, or start to get flaky and lazy. It’s not all doom and gloom, but it’s a fact that things can change over time so you should prepare for the unexpected.

Once your company has built equity, your brand has enough good will attached to it and there is significant money in the bank, it’s much more difficult to work backwards to try and address organizational issues when the legalities weren’t laid out correctly in the first place. Add in a dose of emotion, angst and stress and you may be in for a doozy!

Setting up your legal structure correctly in the beginning will ensure you agree on how to run the business, where you’re headed and how you’ll get there. It’s a pressure cooker of commitment. You have to think long and hard before signing on the dotted line. If you’re all at the lawyers’ ready to sign, you can rest assured that you’re likely all truly committed.

8. Work for others first.

Now, I considered making this recommendation #1 because I believe it is of utmost importance. Starting your own company right out of school is not impossible, and there are anomalies who have become very successful with their first endeavour, but for the most part, working for others is crucial. This is where you learn how things are done—what works and what doesn’t, how to present to clients, what clients expect from client-agency(or supplier) relationships, how to manage a project, how to respond to RFPs, etc. I worked for a few different companies before starting my first business and it helped me realize how it all works and how I could do things differently.

9. Your first few projects will set the stage.

Be conscious and strategic about the first few projects you advertise under your new solo/business identity. It’s a common mistake to hastily throw a few projects together into a portfolio when a sudden opportunity presents itself so try and be prepared. First impressions stick, and your selection choices will communicate to your prospective clients what you’re all about, the type of work you want to do, and the quality of work you plan to do for them.

10. Have fun doing it.

No matter what you do in life, if you don’t love it, it’s going to be hard to keep pushing when things get tough. Especially in the early stages of building your business, you’ll be faced with significant challenges and you’ll have to be ready to work when others are resting, grind when your friends are out socializing and keep the faith in your vision if success comes slow. If you’re not having fun, the grind will wear you down. Whether you’re going it alone, or you’ve got partners or employees to help back you up, you have to keep it fun. You have to laugh, celebrate and embrace all the ups and downs of this crazy entrepreneurial life. Make sure you bring on people that nourish and inspire you so you can grow together and don’t forget to return the favour and celebrate them when they work hard and propel your business.

Running a business isn’t for the faint of heart, but at the end of the day there’s nothing more satisfying than knowing you did it all your own way.

- Nico Taus, RGD Co-founder / Creative Director at Studio123

*with photos from Unsplash.

#design #entrepreneur #student #studio123 #howto #advice

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stuntmanking-blog · 6 years

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The Beauty in the Kill Bill Endings

Kill Bill is the fourth movie in the highly-praised filmography of director Quentin Tarantino. The film is divided into two volumes, due to its plus four hours of run time. In the next blogpost we will analyse why the endings on both Volume 1 and 2 are so terrificly written, crafted and are an excellent example of how to finish a film.

This will of course contain spoilers for both Kill Bill Volume 1 and 2

Kill Bill Volume I

Kill Bill Volume 1 has to accomplish the amazingly challenging task of being a solid follow up to the next chapter in the Bride’s journey of revenge AKA hooking you enough so you go watch Kill Bill Vol. 2 AND having to be a solid film by itself and not feel like it’s lacking. Tarantino not only succeeds, but surpassed expectations in this story. The character of the Bride is someone that you sympathise completely with right from the beginning.

Chapter One introduces us to a female warrior that goes balls out in her battle against her second name on her death list, Vernita Green. It’s just a kick-ass fight sequence. We don’t get why these girls are fighting, but we love it.

We do understand why the Bride is in this rampage on Chapter Two, her heartbreaking motivation. After awakening from the coma, she goes straight into action by killing a trucker and bashing Buck’s skull. And as she enters the Pussy Wagon, she starts crafting her revenge plan.

From Chapter Three to Chapter Five we get the first part of Beatrix’s revenge. Chapter Three gives us the origin story of the first name on her death list in a beautifully drawn anime sequence, in Chapter Four we meet the famous Hattori Hanzo played by legendary actor Sonny Chiba and to end off the movie, Tarantino displays a plus 50 minute chapter filled with eye candy for every fan of good old Tarantino violence. A gore fest that starts with the showdown between our protagonist and the crazy maniac Gogo Yubari, followed by a war between Thurman and the Crazy 88 and ends with a Katana clash between Beatrix and perhaps the most interesting antagonist besides Bill himself, O-Ren Ishii. In facts many fans have stated that she was more interesting than Beatrix and claimed a movie made just about her.

Understanding The Kill Bill Volume I Ending

There are three crucial parts about the Kill Bill ending we have to understand. We will dive deep into the meaning of each and why it’s simply glorious

Part One - The Snowy House of Blue Leaves: After the fantastic bloodshed that The Bride has unleashed, she has one final enemy to face. And that is O-Ren. Contrary to the multi-man battle against the Crazy 88, Liu and Thurman give top notch performances as they demonstrate the level of mutual respect that the two warriors have for each other. Even though O-Ren starts with a cocky attituded, as the battle progresses she realizes that Kiddo is not here to play around and gets to the point of apologising to her for the pain that she has caused her. This entire sequence is gold firstly because of the tension, a thing that Tarantino knows how to hold well. The fight is drawn out and cruel. The girls pause as Quentin gives a shot from behind a pond that fills with water. Each time the water is filled and the mechanism activates you just beg for the action to happen. You want to know the resolution to the fight. The song played in the background is also top notch. Tarantino has a natural talent for picking the right music and he knocks it out of the park with the tune “Don’t let me be misunderstood”. The visceral end to the battle’s and O-Ren’s last words are crucial. The cinematography is beautiful as the camera pans away once Beatrix gets a rest in a bench filled with white snow.

Part Two - The Hook to Volume 2: Between the last dialogue in the film, held between Sophie and Bill, we get to receive some clips of the upcoming movie and boy does Tarantino nail the selection of this themes. Budd’s monologue about revenge, Elle Driver asking for the suffering of her biggest enemy. It just makes you want to see Volume II as soon as you finish this movie

Part Three - The Last Line: It’s crucial for a movie that wants to sell its sequel to have a glorious last line. Tell me, who in all hells remembers the last line in Mockingjay Part one? The Deathly Hallows Part one? No? Of course not. Because it’s not memorable. Kill Bill’s last line makes your jaw fall to the floor. I wish I was 8 years old again so I could be surprised of the huge shocker. Remember what I said about perfect background music? Well it happens here again and maybe even better than with Don’t let me be misunderstood. With the sound of the Lonely Sheperd, Bill reveals to the audience that Beatrix’s daughter is still alive. Gorgeous.

Kill Bill Volume II

The first chapter in Kill Bill Volume 2 is a well crafted exposition into the relationship between Bill and The Bride. How is his shown? In Kiddo’s wedding rehearsal, the day the massacred happened. This chapters sets the tone for the entire film, a more slow placed film that gives priority to the character development.

After the beginning of our bloody tale is shown to us we jump to chapter seven, where Beatrix is trying to cross the third name in her list, Budd. However, the only thing she faces are two bullets directly in her chest. The chapter ends with Il Mercenario playing on the background, as we see the Bride being vulnerable and lost for the first time after she awoke from the coma. Budd is burying her alive.

How does she overcome this obstacle? Thanks to the Cruel Tutelage Of Pai Mai, shown in Chapter Eight. The gritty training that our hero had to go through.

Chapter Nine is starred by the most cruel and evil character in the movie, Elle Driver. After killing Budd thinking she won in this story of revenge, Beatrix denies that with a dropkick right to her chest and we can see that this battle is not a honorable sword fight like the one in Chapter Five. These bitches are here to fight. They hate each other. Beatrix doesn’t kill Elle, but boy does she suffer. Being now completely blind, Kiddo leaves her blind and alone, in the middle of nowhere.

And then we jump to the heart-breaking conclusion

Understanding the Kill Bill Volume II Ending

Right in the first chapter of Kill Bill Volume 2 we know how much Beatrix loved Bill.

“I was a woman, I was your woman. I was a killer who’d killed for you”

Beatrix is doing the hardest thing on her life by murdering her true love. But she has to. It’s a heart-breaking end to the tale of two lovers. It’s an ending that always makes me cry. It’s an ending that makes me stay to watch the entire credits.

Both Carradine (RIP) and Thurman are one of the greatest actors in the history of cinema and they really show. Uma’s shock by finding out her daughter is alive is relieving, is filled with love. Even though we already knew she was alive, we feel for her. She is an amazingly written character. And then there’s David, with his final scene being just a huge memorable sequence filled with amazing quotes and a tear-jerking conclusion to my favourite movie of all time.

The Bigger Picture

I love every part about Kill Bill. Both films. But the endings are, in my opinion, what makes them masterpieces. It’s my favourite Tarantino movie and my favourite movie overall. I don’t even think this is Tarantino’s best. That honour goes to Inglorious Basterds. However, it’s still my favourite movie. Vol. 2’s ending makes me cry every single time I watch it.

You can tell that Tarantino had this movie in his mind since he aspired making movies. It’s a work that screams Quentin. And it’s a movie that he loved making. This film is an entire homage to everything that Tarantino enjoys.

From classic Kung-Fu movies...

To Spaghetti Westerns...

And even an anime sequence

And isn’t that the goal of filmmaking?

Creating something that you love with the purpose of sharing and introducing more people to the things you enjoy.

This is how the essay ends. A goodbye from the master himself

#movies #film #kill bill #quentin tarantino

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