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otpnessmess · 4 years

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Of Casual Encounters And Late Nights Pt.2

Here it is! I don't know if it's as long as you wanted but it's almost double the first chapter. I hope you like it!

First Next Ao3

A week went by where Jason managed to avoid meeting Ladybug again while investigating, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t heard of her. Akuma attacks were as frequent as ever and gave him an opportunity to learn more about the terrors that had been plaguing Paris for years now apparently. He sent all new info on it to his family, who couldn’t believe none of it had reached them up until that point. Bruce was feeling particularly flabbergasted among them.

“You mean to tell me there’s been a terrorist in Paris for years, one that’s been destroying the city twice a week, and we knew absolutely nothing about it?” He seemed to be going through the seven stages of grief before excusing himself to call Diana.

Meanwhile, Jason’s brothers piled up in front of the computer screen wanting to hear more about the heroes and their work. Tim was looking up information on the internet while Dick asked questions nonstop about their powers, and their suits, and if he had had the chance to talk to them yet.

“They sometimes stay back after the attacks, but their powers have some kind of time limit so those are rare occasions, or so I’ve heard. They’re all proficient fighters and each have their own set of powers and weapon. Ladybug’s powers are the most impressive by far”

The mention of her name threw him right back into the memory of the night they first met. Despite resenting not being given an opening to talk to her more then, Jason had to admit leaving had been the right choice. He wanted to stay in the shadows as long as possible, and dealing with the police on his second night in the city wouldn’t have made that easy for him. Adding to that, even though he was quite stubborn and didn’t want to accept it, he felt curious about the spotted heroine. She was sassy and clever and, if the two battles she had this week were anything to go by, her abilities to strategize rivaled Tim’s.

He came back to the present with a jolt when Dick whined about him not paying attention, eliciting a snort from both him and Damian, who also looked at the eldest with a sneer. “You’re 29 Grayson, no one that age should be making those types of noises.” Jason would rather die than saying it out loud, but sometimes he did miss the dumbasses that were his brothers.

“You know, I don’t think we would have believed this was real even if someone had told us about it. I found a... Ladyblog? It has videos of almost every attack from the last 4 years as far as I can see, and these look every bit as outlandish as I expected them to. There’s this one where apparently the whole city was flooded.” Tim pulled up the video in the peripheral monitors for the others to see and, lo and behold, there was the video from the day Ondine had drowned Paris. Faint screams could be heard in the background as the person recording managed to get to the roof of a building just in time to see the people still left on the street be swiped by the giant wave. From then on it was all silent. “This is horrible, so many people must have died during this. How did they manage to recover? I’m sure the news of Paris underwater should’ve popped up SOMEWHERE.”

“They didn’t because it didn’t last more than an afternoon.” Jason ran a hand through his hair impatiently. The whole week he had been aching to go out as Red Hood but couldn’t risk meeting Ladybug and it was making him jittery. “That’s what Ladybug’s power is. She just….reverts everything. I haven’t been able to find out how yet, but I’ve been told it must be magic or some shit.”

“Reverts everything? Just like that? Like….turning back time?” Dick looked confused trying to come up with a rational explanation

“I don’t think so. Everyone except the victims remember everything that happened. It’s more of a cure, if you will. She fixes everything, makes a new Eiffel Tower appear, brings the dead back to life, you know, no big deal.” Jason couldn’t help but chuckle at their faces. “I know, if anyone tried to tell me this before I saw it myself I wouldn’t have believed it either.”

A moment of silence on his brothers’ end was interrupted by the return of Bruce. “Diana is positively furious right now. Apparently someone received a message from these heroes years ago and thought it was a joke, so they dismissed it. Diana asked to see the message and just unleashed hell on the poor guy after watching it. It seems her mother was a former Ladybug and she grew up knowing about the magic of the ‘Miraculous’” He said the word in a way that made his sons think he was as confused as they were “The League is planning to make a trip to Paris as soon as possible to assess the situation.”

Now that brought a frown to Jason’s face. “I know I’m usually the reckless one here, but listen to me for a moment. You’re just planning on barging in here, with an angry Wonder Woman, and a probably scared shitless League, to battle a guy who makes you his minion if you show the tiniest hint of a negative emotion? Imagine if Diana got akumatized. You must really want the apocalypse to start huh?”

He scanned their faces and wasn’t surprised to see skepticism and some smirks too. This was so not typical of him. Jason was a shoot first, ask second kinda guy, and he used to enjoy killing a little too much for it to be healthy. But he remembered what Ladybug had told him about resorting to the least amount of violence possible, and he was honestly worried about what could happen if three dozen superheroes just showed up one day to a fight. “Listen, as far as I can see, Ladybug and her team have things covered here. Give me some time to gather more information and maybe I can find a way for her and Red Hood to have a meeting. I’ll ask her if she still wants our help. But until then, you should refrain from bringing anyone here. Unless you want panic to run rampant among the citizens because the whole Justice League came.”

Snickers could be heard coming from Tim and Dick. Even Damian was trying not to show his amusement at the situation. “Who would’ve thought Todd actually had a brain. We should go if only to check whether he’s been replaced by a clone or something”

“Oh fuck off Demon Spawn, I can be smart too if I want to."

Their father seemed to be mulling over his words before sighing and nodding. “Alright. I think we can go along with what you said for now, but I want you to keep us updated regularly, and to inform us if something out of the ordinary happens. If you need us there, we’ll be on alert. And I expect that meeting with Ladybug to happen sooner rather than later. Also don’t forget why you’re originally there, we have to gather more information on what the Penguin is planning."

“You got it Brucie.” He made fingers guns at the screen with a click of his tongue. “Expect it to be at least a week until I have some big news for you, but I’ll try to make it happen as quickly as possible. And worry not about my mission, I’m almost done with it. Now my dear family, if you’ll excuse me, it’s already 2am and I would like to pretend to be a tourist at least for a day tomorrow. I’ll let you know if something comes up.”

He quickly ended the call and face planted on his bed. This was going to be a long mission. One week in and he was already exhausted. He wasn’t lying when he said he was close to finishing the mission he was originally sent to Paris for, though. He had infiltrated the goons quickly and efficiently, and managed to hear about a drug shipment due to arrive in a couple weeks together with a human one. As soon as he got the information as to where he’d call his family and they could resolve the problem easily. For now though, he couldn’t help but want to keep them away a bit longer. Be it because, even though he loved his brothers (not that he’d ever tell them), he wanted some time alone, or be it because he wanted more time to try and figure out Ladybug, he still wasn’t completely sure.

If you asked him, he would deny it to his dying breath that he was interested in the heroine, but something about her made him want to get closer and know more about her. In spite of the great amount of knowledge the public had on her, she was surrounded by an aura of mystery and something else that Jason couldn’t pinpoint, which had him turning in his sleep ever since that encounter in the alley. It also didn’t help that she seemed to be around the same age as him, her suit doing her great favours in all her red and black. Alright. Maybe he thought she was a bit attractive. Very attractive?

“No. Nope. Not going there.” He got up and decided to ignore that part of his brain as of now. For no particular reason whatsoever. It was only normal to want to know more about the person protecting the city. Call it a professional interest, thank you very much.

The dark haired man decided to take advantage of having an expensive suite for once and took a long bath while doing some more research on Paris. He was indeed planning to walk around the city the next day after all. When he was done, Jason headed to the bed and fell asleep promptly. Dreams full of back alleys and superheroes.

As luck would have it, it didn’t take long for the both of them to meet yet again. Only maybe not in the way the Gotham vigilante would have hoped for. Set on at least enjoying this pseudo-vacation he was gifted, Jason left his hotel the next morning to visit the most popular places in the city. The Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, the Arc of Triumph and the Champs Élysées were the places he had chosen to visit during the morning and early afternoon, but, even though his main goal was to distract himself from the tasks at hand, he couldn’t will away the questions roaming around his head.

How was he going to contact Ladybug? He wanted to do it as Red Hood, but he didn’t want the heroine of Paris to distrust him since he was pretty sure his reputation would precede him. He was known for being the most ruthless of the batfam, the only thing keeping him from killing criminals once he was done with them was Batman’s No killing under any kind of circumstances rule (which if you asked him was a special kind of bullshit, some of them did deserve to rot in hell in his opinion), and he wasn’t sure if Ladybug would be as willing to hear him out as she may one of his brothers or father. However, his only other option would be to approach her as Jason Todd, one of Bruce Wayne’s adopted sons. He didn’t even know whether Ladybug would care about his family name. This wasn’t his city. And on the off chance that she might have recognized him… He was still a mere civilian. One that had, on top of that, to explain his connection to the Gotham vigilantes without giving away any of their identities. Jason knew his hands were tied. Red Hood had to be the one to try and get the attention of the spotted hero. Knowing there was no other option didn't make him happy about it though.

Once he was done with this line of thinking his brain decided to go back to the Penguin. He was trying to instill one of the worst types of businesses in Paris and he couldn’t wait to put a stop to it. As much as he knew drug trafficking to be terrible, he was of the opinion that people who engaged in (as well as profited off of) human trafficking should have a special circle of hell destined for them. Preferably in the very depths of it.

Jason was very much aware that, for as long as he remained in this city, negative emotions had to be controlled and dissipated as quickly as possible to avoid an akumatization. Especially those of someone with the skills and knowledge he had. He had a lot of the latter in strange topics, most of which he acquired growing up during his training. And albeit he wasn’t sure whether it would actually be useful to Hawkmoth or not, he would rather not put it to the test. All of this, however, was sent to the back burner for a second as Jason's thoughts strayed towards what he would like to do to the Gotham villain when he captured him.

Being so busy imagining the 30 different methods of torture he would like to inflict upon the Penguin had made him completely disregarded his surroundings, however. Coming back to his senses, his brain pointed out they were standing at the door of what seemed like a very nice patisserie, just in time for his stomach to growl, his lunch seemingly having been digested some time ago.

‘Maybe something sweet is exactly what I need right now’

Some days had passed since Marinette met Jason, and though he was still burning in the back of her mind, she had way too many things to worry about during the day to remember him often. At night, however, the questions she had originally asked herself the first night continued to plague her, and since Tikki told her not to worry about it too much, the designer saw wise to keep her train of thought to herself. She wasn’t even sure why her brain seemed so fixed on this stranger she had only met once. Sure, he was involved in a fight, and seemed to be a foreigner, but it wasn’t that uncommon for petty altercations to break out around the city while she patrolled. Also this was Paris, for Kwamis’ sake. One of the biggest tourist capitals of the world. There was no reason why this Jason guy should’ve stuck to her mind as he did. Yet here she was. In the middle of her afternoon shift at the bakery. Still thinking about him.

A chime coming from the door brought her out of her stupor. But as she looked up, ready to greet the new customer, she suddenly froze, and her brain could only supply her with the word green.

Green eyes she had only got a quick glance into a week ago were now in front of her and the color was even more intense as they reflected the sunlight rays that entered through the bakery’s windows.

There you have it peeps and pals! I'll try to update sometime again this week in between Daminette December.

Tag list:

@18-fandoms-unite-08 @bamagirl513 @j-a-n-e--d-o-e @dawnwave16

#jasonette #jason x marinette #maribat #of casual encounters and late nights #miraculous ladybug #part 2 #liswrites #ml x dc #marinette dupain cheng #marinette dupain-cheng #jason todd

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fourangers · 5 years

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Perhaps, in the end, it’s fate

Summary: With one different tilt of the destiny, many other paths can be unfolded. However between them, there would be always an automatic pull since they share an interchangeable fate.

It's ninjaverse AU, completely different timeline. Teacher!Naruto, father!Sasuke, lil!Sarada with a harmless crush on Nardo. No prior pairings with Sasuke (and Naruto btw) because babies can be created through power of SCIENCE! (or in this case, Orochimaru’s experiments).

Based on February prompt from Sun and Moon Challenge, check it out once you can! SNS, T-rated. Comedy and Romance.

AO3 link | FFnet link

⏤.⏤

Squinting his eyes, he swallowed dryly with fingers crossed. He hoped his future mentor would be wise and kind, his teammates nice and welcoming. If he could stretch a little bit more in this wishing department, maybe Sakura will be part of his team. Well, anything, anyone but Sasuke. It was already humiliating enough losing his first kiss to that bastard, going on missions with him would be. The. Worst.

Iruka cleared his throat, staring the list. "Well, Team 7 will be Haruno Sakura..."

Naruto inhaled sharply, tightening his fists.

"Uchiha Sasuke..." He could hear Sakura's jubilant scream all across the classroom, in midst of other feminine complaints and whining. Naruto groaned too.

"...and Hyuuga Neji."

Huh.

That was...sort of unexpected. Really unexpected.

Naruto frowned, wondering why it felt so out of place that he wouldn't be part of this team.

Iruka continued to recite. "That means that the last team will be Rock Lee, Tenten and Uzumaki Naruto."

He threw a tentative glance towards his future teammates, trying not to get freaked out towards the most humongous eyebrows he had ever met in his life. This boy was also wearing a spandex, a bowl cut haircut style and a goofy smile. His female teammate, on the other hand, simply smiled once she noticed him, waving her hand.

Naruto awkwardly waved back, butterflies squirming in his stomach. A brand new life lied ahead of him and he couldn’t wait to get into his first ninja mission.

His new teacher was a bigger weirdo named Maito Gai. He wore Lee’s same spandex and had even thicker brows, but every qualm was instant quelled once he showed impressive taijutsu skills. He was also unbelievably patient and kind with his protegées, taking notes of their strengths and deficiencies, even teaching basic ninjutsus skills to Naruto that he didn’t manage to learn back in ninja Academy.

Gai had auto-proclaimed rival to Team 7’s leader, some shady guy named Kakashi. They stumbled towards that team on a rather frequent basis while watching Gai’s bravados and weird contests with Kakashi laidback responses. That also meant that Naruto and Lee were busy wooing (or at least trying to) Sakura. Noticing Lee’s unsuccessful attempts to ask her out made him shift for another strategy; concentrating on the other rival ergo Uchiha Sasuke.

(though frankly, while sprawled on the bed after another grueling day of training, Naruto had to admit that what he wanted the most was to check if Sasuke, who is another orphan like him, was doing ok on his own)

Sasuke egged him on, honestly. Calling him a total dumbass, smirking while they bickered, it was refreshing someone acknowledge him aside his teammates.

Sakura was treating him better in comparison to the Academy days, much to his positive surprise. She muttered something about Sasuke giving her a blistering lecture, defending Naruto out, which broke his wall for a second.

Chuunin exams arrived, Lee and Tenten losing in the preliminaries, fueling Naruto to get a victory for the team. His fight against Hyuuga Neji ended with some broken bones, painful conversations, a promise and a new friend. He was looking forward to see Sasuke defeat Gaara to honor Konoha, however, as life was full of unexpected changes, that innocuous exam ended with the Sandaime Hokage murdered and the village being attacked.

The village council convinced Kakashi be a temporary Hokage, everyone gathering around to fix the destruction. Soon they returned to their old routine with the usual genin missions while they went back to train. Naruto kept helping Tenten to conjure better weapons as well as sparring with Lee. He had to admit that while Gai was a good teacher, he wished he could expand even further his skills to something other than taijutsu…

Before he could get back to the idyllic days, out of nowhere, Sasuke disappeared. Rumors spread seeing Sakura’s swollen eyes and Kakashi handling a mission to retrieve him. All genins he knew assembled a team with Shikamaru as the leader and Neji to talk him through.

The mission was a complete utter failure.

“He just didn’t listen to me. I even mentioned you Naruto-kun, how it’s possible for anyone to get out from our personal darkness and conquer fate but still…” Neji shook his head, swallowing a soldier pill to replenish his depleted chakra.

Words of disagreement lodged on his throat but he couldn’t voice it out. Naruto knew, somehow, that if it were him, instead of Neji, maybe…Maybe he’d be able to convince Sasuke, or…

After this incident, he noticed Sakura’s grim expression when she started her medic nin training, as well as Neji’s renewed determination to change the Hyuuga clan. Naruto questioned himself, why he wanted with almost the same intensity to bring Sasuke back to Konoha, despite wondering if he’d make a difference. He’s not even his teammate…

And yet he pondered; was this the reason why he accepted Jiraiya’s tutelage, when Gai mentioned about him when they went to retrieve Tsunade?

But as painful that experience was for everyone involved in, life moved on. Even shadows casting on Team 7’s eyes were blurring out, Sakura mentioning her ex-teammate with a somewhat nostalgia instead of bitterness, and Neji found a closer friendship with Naruto as years passed by.

Naruto questioned himself then, the irrational need to work to the bone 24/7, red iris plaguing his dreams sometimes. He was evolving, he was becoming a stronger ninja and yet he always felt that he didn’t reach his full potential. As if his body was waiting for a worthy rival to inspire him.

Team 7 and Team Gai were celebrating together for gaining their chuunin title, as well as Neji’s jounin promotion. Lee and Sakura used this opportunity to reveal that they were dating, shocking them all. They were a cute couple; Naruto figured, so he approached her to drop a quiet confession.

“You know, it’s funny but I used to have a crush on you.” He muttered, sipping his tea.

Sakura stared with wide eyes, before letting out a short chuckle.

“What!” Naruto yowled. “I mean, don’t sell yourself short, you are cute so a lot of boys liked you and I used to be one of them so⏤”

Sakura shook her head, giggling. "No, no, no, I mean...I thought you used to have a crush on Sasuke.”

His jaw dropped to the ground. “What?!”

“Yes, whenever our teams met, you were busier staring at him and trying to get him to fight you than trying to talk with me. So I thought maybe you were into him? Like the typical boy who pull the girl’s pigtails because he likes her. Well, though you two were boys. Was I wrong?”

Naruto was scarlet red to the tip of his hair, mouth still slack, unable to formulate any complete sentence. Sakura’s smile grew more mischievous so he settled to avoid looking at her, wolfing down his plate.

Sakura pursed her lips, sagging on her seat. “Sasuke huh...he’s coming back, you know.”

For a second, the world stood stock still. “What?”

She shrugged, fingers twirling strands of hair. “You heard that right. He wants to go back to Konoha, claiming that he saw the errors of his way. So he traded important information about Sound Village and Orochimaru to regain his citizenship and ninja status in Konoha.”

A silence fell between them as they both took their time to absorb this bout of information. Sakura cheered up once her boyfriend was back with fresh food, but Naruto was lost thinking about all possibilities.

Few days later, Sasuke arrived at the gates, battered and tired, cradling a cloth wrapping with his arms. He was already the main gossip of the town, then the whispers grew exponentially once they confirmed that he was, indeed, holding a little child.

At a tender age of 18, this young man was already a father.

Naruto hid in some corner of a store, glancing surreptitiously as Sasuke strolled through the streets, uncaring to people gawking and muttering around him. The toddler began shuffling, hiccuping. Those small noises soon turned to loud wails that made him stop at once, cradling her close as he made little bounces though this wasn’t enough to calm her down. People made annoyed faces and had quicken their paces, everyone refused to help him out.

Listening to the cries that increased in volume, he bit his lip, taking a deep breath. He emerged from his spot, walking closer to Sasuke who appeared a little frantic.

“Um.” Naruto scratched the back of his head when Sasuke turned to face him with a glare, hands busy while his daughter kept crying. “Maybe you can try putting her body resting over your upper arm, like a tiger resting on a branch.”

Sasuke stared skeptical, despite obeying his suggestion. Her short yowls decreased, breathing becoming more even till she slept in his arms. Needless to say, Sasuke was rather impressed.

“Uh yeah⏤Iruka-toosan sometimes asks me to help him out taking care of children in the daycare center. I got some of those tips.”

Sasuke grunted back, gazing upon his baby.

“So…” Naruto smacked his lips. “Welcome back? Uh, what’s her name?”

Sasuke huffed, placing her head on his left shoulder. “Sarada.”

Naruto held her tiny hand, smiling with a whisper. “Sarada-chan~welcome to Konoha. You’re gonna love living here, meeting auntie Sakura, uncle Neji, Kakashi, me...how old is she?”

Sasuke scrunched up his face, staring downwards. “9 months. I thought...I’d be fine on my own but in the end, we needed⏤” He thinned his lips. “I said too much.” Before Naruto would ask any further question, Sasuke said. “I should get going. Thank you, Naruto.”

Naruto nodded back, watching the brisk steps moving away from him.

Once Sasuke had settled in the old Uchiha compound, Sakura, Neji and Kakashi visited him. They were welcoming, but absent. After all, Sakura was busy in Konoha’s hospital, Kakashi was going to be officially appointed as Konoha’s Hokage, Neji was helping his cousin changing Hyuuga clan’s laws.

There was a significant chasm between Sasuke and other ninjas of his generation, since he was now a father between young adults, and left Konoha while the Rookie Nine nurtured their relationship over the years. He made no effort to draw the bridge too, cooped in his house taking care of his daughter most of the time. And even when the gang would reunite, he was always the last one to arrive, the first to go.

On some occasions Sakura would succeed in convincing him to bring his daughter whenever team Gai and team 7 would gather in her house. Sasuke however, maintained his distance with the crew, aside some quiet conversation with Neji.

It was almost like living in an old film reel, rolling all over again. Watching Sasuke as a child from afar, craving to reach his hand and talk to him but never building enough courage to do so. They became mere acquaintances, the occasional nod of recognition when they crossed paths, making small talks while Sasuke was nursing Sarada. Soon Naruto became jounin when Sasuke managed the chuunin title, Lee mentioning he and Sakura took care of Sarada while he was doing the exams.

He stared down the porcelain mask while the townspeople cheered the end of Kakashi’s appointed ceremony. Gai stood next to him, and Naruto smiled from his teacher’s happiness emanating from afar. Long time ago, he remembered desiring conquering such coveted position, but nowadays he was content knowing that Kakashi would make a decent Hokage.

(why did he lose so easily his determination to follow his ambitions?)

Kakashi didn’t waste much time in celebration, throwing mission after mission on him, one longer than the other and in some faraway sketchy places. Most those times Naruto could only hear the faint echoes of their sprinting, casting long shadows on the cavernous walls. He was responsible exploding laboratories while Tenten gathered reports, weird shapes submerged in purpleish water.

How bizarre. Sometimes he could swear some of those shapes had some resemblance with Sasuke.

⏤.⏤

Iruka was like a father to him and he deserved this long vacation after years of tireless tutelage. But still.

Screams. Collisions. Little imps running around all over the place. Those squirmy little brats slithering out of his grasp and making a racket.

Naruto really needed to work in refusing Iruka’s requests, but the older nin was just this damn persuasive.

He spread his clones in every corner of the daycare center, however, it didn’t seem to be enough. The moment the kids understood that his bunshins could pop out with some harder shove, they made their newest game dispelling as many clones as possible.

Yet those kids were old enough to learn basics of ninja skills, so other teachers threw such responsibility on Naruto’s shoulders, considering he had a higher rank. He had a hard time tampering down his strength, why are children such squiggly delicate beings that cried with the littlest wound?

Naruto spent only one day with them and he was already wondering if he would leave this experience unscathed. Nevertheless he summoned every bit of his patience and taught the fundamentals of aiming, giving them the chance to train too.

He heard collective praises and some gasps coming from afar, approaching and noticing the dark haired girl concentrated on her task. Whoa...time surely flies by pretty damn fast. He had forgotten that Sarada was already 5 years old. Naruto snorted when he saw that most shurikens she threw hit the bullseye.

But that wasn’t enough to satisfy her, since she picked all the paper shurikens and threw with renewed zeal. The rest of the kids went away playing on their own, but Sarada remained in training. Heaving tired breaths, she flung another shuriken but this time it flew past the target.

She made a frustrated growl, running to dislodge the weapon that dug deep in the bark of a tree. Naruto heard a concealed hiccup, as Sarada rubbed her eyes with her arm.

“Hey, don’t worry about it, I got this.” Naruto appeared in a blink, quirking a mollifying smile and removed the shuriken with ease. He offered to the young Uchiha, she accepted the weapon with contemplative eyes.

“You’re Lee-san’s friend right?” She realized.

“Sure am! I’m Uzumaki Naruto, it’s nice to see you again Sarada-chan.” Naruto patted her head. “You know, it’s really important to train your skills, but taking a break is also equally as important. Letting your body rest when it’s so tired, so it can grow stronger the next time.”

Sarada pouted, then muttered. “Auntie Sakura told me stories about back when my father was my age. He was a genius, always great with whatever he did, but I’m…”

“Ah yeah your dad...I also remember that he used to train all day and night over and over again. You’ll get as good as him in no time, don’t worry about it.”

“But…” Sarada bit her lower lip, shuffling her feet. “Father once talked to me about the Uchiha clan and how it used to be a very respectable clan and I have to follow their footsteps so⏤”

“Ugh, who cares!” Naruto rolled his eyes. “I think it’s too much that this bastard⏤”

She gasped. “You said a bad word!”

“S-sorry.” He scratched his head. “Anyways, I think it’s unfair to put such heavy duties on your shoulders. Your dad suffered back he was your age, I don’t want you to suffer the same. You should be only Sarada-chan after all right! You’ll make your father proud in your own pace.”

“You think so?”

“I know so! After all, I’m already proud of you and I’m your teacher, right.” He messed her hair, patting on it.

Sarada stared down her shuriken, thumbs sliding over it. She peeked through her fringes, a rosy blush dusting her cheeks. “Thank you Uzumaki-sensei.”

“Oh, you can call me Naruto.” He grinned.

Her voice pumped with more excitement as she said. “Naruto-sensei!”

On the following days Naruto continued with his ninja classes, juggling between paying attention to all students, focusing on the rowdy ones, teaching those lessons and avoid any kind of catastrophe might ensue. He had found another mounting respect towards Iruka, those kids just can’t be real.

In every class Sarada was the first to complete it with pristine score, dashing next to him with eyes silently asking for his praise.

And praise he did, with words of encouragement and approval, injecting an impressed tone as he ruffled her hair. Every single time this gave her renewed motivation to improve herself. Naruto gazed fondly from afar as Sarada hopped between trees with ease. His entire childhood was consumed by hatred and neglect from adults until he met Iruka, he’d never subject any other kid to such trauma once again.

“Naruto-sensei!” Sarada exclaimed, hugging his arm with a tight grip.

Naruto beamed, patting her hair. He was starting to see the perks of this profession, was this the reason why Iruka continued to be a teacher despite having to take care of these little brats everyday?

A baritone voice chimed from behind. “Ah, I see. Expected nothing less I guess.”

They turned around, facing the familiar piercing dark eyes. Sasuke gazed back in fond amusement.

“So you’re really the Naruto-sensei my daughter kept gushing about all last week.”

Sarada pale cheeks reddened at once. “Father!”

“Alright little one, it’s time to go home.” Sasuke hushed by patting on her back. “Go grab our things ok.” After Sarada obeyed him with a pronounced pout, Sasuke muttered once she was out of the picture. “Long time no see.”

“Yeah…” Naruto rubbed the back of his neck. “You look well I guess.”

“Hn. When Lee told me you’re subbing for Iruka-sensei, I didn’t quite believe at first. I thought you’re a jounin?”

“I am, but Iruka-toosan made me promise that I’d take care of them while he’s on vacation. I thought, well, kids right. I took care of ‘em sometimes, one whole month would be nothing and⏤”

“It’s hell isn’t it?” Sasuke smirked.

Naruto dropped his shoulders at once, a long groan vibrating on his throat. “Totally. I was already dead on the first day.”

Sasuke nodded in agreement. “Sarada thankfully is more helpful than most children. But still, where do they get all this energy?”

“I know right??” Naruto laughed. “They look so small I thought they wouldn’t be much trouble but whoa, did I misjudge on this one.”

Sarada arrived with backpack ready. “I’m back father!”

“Good. Maybe we’ll go eat outside for a change.”

“Oh! You should eat Ichiraku Ramen then, it’s perfect for cold day like today!” Naruto said.

Sasuke shook his head. “You and your Ichiraku Ramen, I remember you used to drag Lee and Tenten to eat at that place.”

“Ichiraku Ramen is the greatest, I was just doing them a favor to acknowledge such fact. There’s no other restaurant that would have such delicious braised pork, a tender yet firm noodles coupled with the rich texture and savory miso broth. It’s the best.”

“If Naruto-sensei said so, maybe we should try it!” Sarada chirped. A lightbulb went off and she added. “Maybe he could go with us!”

Both young men crossed their eyes before deflecting in haste, Naruto cleared his throat as Sasuke thinned his lips. “Naruto-sensei looks pretty tired, maybe we shouldn’t bother him too much Sarada.”

“Oh, she’s not bothering me for sure.” Naruto retorted. “But maybe you want to have some quiet time together with your father, right, Sarada-chan?”

“Father wouldn’t mind if you tag along Naruto-sensei, right?” Sarada pulled out the most pitiful expression she could ever muster, jutting her lower lip. “Right?”

Glancing in between her frantic daughter and the bewildered blue eyes, Sasuke exhaled tiredly. He mumbled under his breath. “Is it ok for you to go with us Naruto?”

“Um, ok. Sure!” He messed with Sarada’s hair when she jumped in joy. “I’m going to ask my favorite Ramen flavor for you Sarada-chan, I’m sure you’re going to love it.”

Despite initial reservations, they maintained a cheerful conversation peppered with Naruto’s booming voice and Sarada’s exclaims while they were walking on the way to the restaurant. This time though, Sasuke appeared to be a more sociable mood, chatting back with occasional grunts, which Naruto didn’t mind with his easy-going nature.

Sasuke insisted paying the bill despite all his protests, explaining that this was a small gesture of gratitude for taking care of his daughter. After waving goodbyes, they went on separate ways, smile playing on both their lips.

“Naruto-sensei is like the sun right!”

Sasuke blinked, head tilted to one side to gawk at her. Sarada linked her fingers together, placing to one side of her cheek as she whispered with a dreamy voice.

“He’s so nice and friendly, full of energy and bright. And when he smiles you just feel happier too, it’s wide and sincere, he makes your mood so much better. I love his hair, it’s golden exactly like the sun and his eyes have such a beautiful shade of blue, I’d never get tired looking at his eyes and⏤” She stopped her diatribe once she noticed her father’s peering eyes. “What?”

Sasuke studied his daughter, before settling with a long sigh.

She wrinkled her nose. “Anyways, as I was saying…”

⏤.⏤

2nd chapter here

⏤.⏤

AN: at first I thought that it’d be a one-shot but it got too much material for only a one-shot. So...lol. It’s gonna be a two-shot.

#SunAndMoonChallenge2019 #NaruSasu #SasuNaru #drabble #two-shot #snstext #sn fic

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axelsagewrites · 6 years

Text

Aiden Steiner*The Bet

Masterlist HERE (UNDER CONSTRUCTION)

Wattpad HERE

Prompts:

- Is it weird that I actually had fun?

- Pull yourself together!

A/N: this is for @tailsbeth-writes teen wolf writing challenge. Also this is probably one of the longer x Readers I’ve done.

“Do I have to go?”

“Why’d you even sign up for track?” I ask Stiles with a sigh as I tie my hair up.

“Coach said all Lacrosse players had to. No exceptions.” Scott sent Stiles a pointed look.

Stiles sighed as we walked to where the rest of the runners waited. “Yeah well, it's not fair.” He crossed his arms. “You’ve got werewolf powers and you…” He turned to me. I waited with a raised eyebrow “You are a weirdo. Who likes running?” He threw his hands up.

“Can we run ahead and leave him?”

Scott sighed. “No fighting. I cant be bothered stitching Stiles up after the fight.”

“Who said I’d lose?!” Stiles complained. “Scott?!”

“Here comes dumb and dumber” I warn Scott.

Looking over his shoulder he see’s the twins walking near us. Ethan walks ahead while Aiden comes over. “Looking good (Y/N).”

“What?” I really don’t want to deal with him. Sure he’s hot but he’s the enemy. He’s also incredibly annoying.

“Cant I just pay a pretty girl a compliment.” I give him an ‘oh really’ look and cross my arms. “Fine. I've got a bet for you. If me and Ethan-“

“Ethan and I.” I correct him.

He smirks “Ethan and I, beat you and your pack across the finish line, you need to go on a date with me.”

“Hmm let me think…” I fake think, pursing my lips. “Bite me.” I give him the fakest smile possible.

“Can I?” He steps closer causing Scott to growl at him. “Cmon, why not? Scared your gonna lose?”

“Fine.” Stiles tries to interject but I cover his mouth. “But when we beat you, you need to do what I say for a week, plus leave me alone.”

“1 day,” he counters “And I won't bother you for a month”

“4 days and 3 months.”

“2 days and 2 months.”

“Deal,” I smirk. Scott better run fast. Something wet touches my hand. “EW! Stiles!” I yelp, moving my hand away as quick as possible. Stiles smirks as I wipe my hand on a tree.

Aiden chuckles and walks away. “Why?” Was all Scott said.

“Cmon, you’re a werewolf too. Plus we know all the shortcuts.” Scott nods. “I'm going to go tell Issac. And you better run. Fast.” I tell Scott as I walk away.

When I see Isaac I notice the twins on either side of him as he ties his lace. “Move,” I tell the twins as I stand behind scarf boy. They share a look before complying. I bent down next to Issac and tell him “You better beat them. My bet depends on it.”

“What bet?”

“You don’t wanna find out.” The whistle blows and the twins sprint off. I yank Isaac up and begin dead sprinting. “Use your werewolf speed dumbass.”

Isaac, Scott and the twins are soon so far ahead I cant see them. Seeing Stiles a little behind me I reduce my speed. “The bet?” He asks.

“I'm not dumb, how am I meant to beat an alpha?”

“True.”

We keep running but only for a minute before we see the body. “Oh my god,” I mutter, my hand going up to cover my mouth. “That was no wolf.”

Scott and Isaac soon joined us. I didn’t really pay attention to them, or anything until the sheriff showed up. “He was a senior,” Scott told the coach.

“He wasn’t on the team was he?”

“Are you being serious? Is that all you care about you-“ My anger is muffled by Stiles putting his hand over my mouth. I glare at him and he slowly removes his hand.

As we begin the walk back to school Isaac starts accusing the twins. “I hate to break it to you Isaac but what werewolf, alpha’s as well, use human tools? They have claws.” I jump to Stiles defence. He’s right, he normally is.

“Or maybe they don’t want to be caught.” He suggested, “Don’t you think it’s a bit of a coincidence that once they show up people start dying?”

“I cant deal with your bickering.” I wave them off and walk ahead. I know neither Isaac or Stiles will back down.

I hear someone running to catch up “Hey, you ok?” I don’t need to turn to know its Aiden.

“We just found a dead guy. What do you think?”

He looked down for a moment “It wasn’t us.”

“I know.”

Aiden seemed confused “You do?”

“Yup. Their human tools, you have claws. Theirs so many easier, cleaner ways for a werewolf to kill.”

We walk in silence apart from the sound of my phone buzzing as Stiles no doubt texts me non stop about why Aiden is with me. “So, about the bet?” Aiden starts “I think I won since we did get further.”

“But you didn’t win. No one wins, the bets null and void.”

He sighs “That’s not fair.”

“Lifes not fair.”

“How about a new bet?” I nod, motioning for him to continue. He stops and stands in front of me, making me stop too. “I take you on a date,” I cross my arms “And if you don’t like it then I’ll leave you alone forever.”

“And do what I say for a week?” he hums a yes. “Ok,” I say slowly “But what are you getting out of it?”

“If you do enjoy it, which you will, and I win you have to kiss me.” He grins while I frown. I've never actually had my first kiss. I don’t want it to be because of a bet. “So what do you say? Too scared you’re gonna like it?”

“You’re on.”

“You agreed to what!?” Stiles yelled as I paced in his room. He and Scott sat on his bed while I burned holes in the carpet.

“Wait, its fine. You don’t like him so you won't enjoy it.” Scott pointed out.

I nodded along. “Yeah, plus I could lie.”

“He’d hear it. But you don’t like Aiden. Do you?” Stiles pressed.

“You’re right.” I flung myself onto his desk chair. “It’ll be fine.”

I figured I wouldn’t enjoy it so there was no point in dressing up. I stood in front of my mirror wearing skinny jeans, top, and flannel. Just normal clothes. I did throw on a little extra makeup and jewellery but only because I want to, not for Aiden.

The doorbell rings “(Y/N)! Get the door!” my annoying brother/sister yells.

“Whatever!” I reply. I yank open the door to come face to face with Aiden.

“ready to go?” He smiles. Smiles, not grin or smirk. Weird.

“Sure” I step outside and take in his appearance. He’s wearing a leather jacket, jeans, and black button up. I keep it to myself but he actually looks good. Damn wolf.

“You look beautiful.” I snap my head to face him.

normally its hot or good looking or something like that. “I'm wearing jeans and a flannel?” I say confused.

“You still look great.” We get to the street and I see his bike. He hands me a helmet and starts to put his own on. “Have you ever ridden?” I shake my head and stare at the bike. It looks cool but its kinda scary. “Scared?” he teased.

“Never.” I place the helmet on and try to get the stupid strap.

“Let me.” He reaches up and clips it on, his hands staying there for a moment before dropping “There. Wouldn’t want you getting hurt.”

We climb on the bike and I ask “Where do I put my hands?”

He looks over his shoulder and I see the grin on his face “On me.” I make an annoyed face. He sighs “Either hold onto my shoulders or out your arms around my waist.” I place my hands on his shoulders. “Ready?” I nod.

He starts the bike and I jerk forward at the start causing me to grab on tighter. As he gets a bit faster I move my hands to put my arms around his waist and hold onto him. “Faster!” I laugh as I get used to the feeling.

He goes faster and I grin as though I'm on a roller coaster. Eventually, though we stop and I climb off, fiddling with the helmet to get it off. As it comes off I only have to glance to realise “My hairs a mess.”

“It's …adorable.” He ruffles it and I swat his hand away.

I turn away and look to see where we are. “Bowling?”

“Yeah, Ethan suggested it. Its where he and Danny went so, figured I’d try.” He rubbed the back of his neck.

“Ethan has taste. I love bowling.”

“Really?” His face lights up slightly and I just nod.

The night was actually fun. Turns out Aiden had only played once before so I had to show him how to do it without the barriers up. After a couple goes he got the hang of it and got good. I still won though.

As finish the game and walk away it dawns on me that I'm having fun. I was so swept up in bowling I forgot about the bet. “Want to go get something to eat?” Aiden snaps me from my thoughts.

“Nah, I feel kinda sicky.” I make up an excuse.

His face falls but he nods. “You alright to go on the bike then?”

“Probably. I'm just gonna run to the restroom first.” I almost sprint away from him and into the restroom.

I stand in front of the mirror and run my hands over my face. “Damn it” I mutter softly. I look into the mirror and try to brace myself. Be calm, he can hear your heartbeat.

I splash a little water on my face and tell myself “Pull yourself together!” before walking out to meet Aiden.

“Ready?”

“Yup.”

The bike pulls up to my house and I got off and took the helmet off. Aiden copied me and stood beside me and I hand him the helmet. “So…what’d you think? Who won?”

“I think-“ I started off slowly but was cut off by my brother/sister.

“Where have you been? I've had to lie to mum and dad all night.” They storm towards us. They look at Aiden “Oh you owe me.”

“I've got to go.”

He goes to say something but I'm already halfway to my house. He gets on his bike and I hear him drive away.

“Did you at least enjoy it?” My brother/sister asked.

“I wasn’t supposed to.”

The next day at school I avoid him like the plague. I know if he asks it'll be game over. So far I've made it to lunch which I’m spending sitting with Stiles and Scott at a picnic table outside.

“You’ve been awfully quiet today.” Scott snaps me from my daze.

Stiles joined in “Yeah, normally you’ve insulted me at least twice by now.”

“You’re hairs a mess, you’re jeeps a junker and Lydia is way out of your league. Better?”

“Ouch,” Stiles complained. “Too personal. Wait, is this about last night?”

“Uh!” I groan, laying my head on the table. “Can we not talk about it.”

“Um (Y/N)?” I lift my head up to face Scott “You might want to tell him that.” I look over my shoulder to see Aiden walking over.

“Damn it.” I sigh.

Aiden smirks as he approaches and takes a seat next to me. “Ladies, (Y/N). How are we?”

“Better before you were here.” Trust Stiles with the sass.

“(Y/N), can I talk to you? Alone?”

I inwardly sigh but know I cant avoid it. “Sure.” Aiden gets up and I follow him.

He leads me to the side of the school where theirs no one but us. “So, who won?” Aiden asked

“Me.”

“Really?” He raised an eyebrow. “Then why did your heart skip a beat?”

“Because I'm alone with a psychopathic alpha who has tried to kill my friends before.”

This seemed to make him angry “Would it be so bad for you to admit you had fun? I'm not asking you to like me. You were smiling last night. You only got weird at the end.”

I looked at the ground “Is it weird that I actually had fun?”

“No, that was the point.”

Sighing, I look up. “Fine, you win. I had fun. That doesn’t mean I like you though nor that I’ll go out with you.”

Turning to walk away my stomach falls when he says “So what about my prize?”

“Huh?”

“My prize.” He walked in front of me. “If you won I would have left you alone and you’d tell me what to do for a week. If I won, which I did, you had to…”

“Kiss you.” I breathed out. I bit my lip, looked down, and closed my eyes for a moment. “Fine.”

“I'm not going to make you do anything you don’t want to.”

I glare “Stop trying to be the better person and get it over with.”

Aiden reached his hand up to cup my jaw as his other went to my waist. I looked into his eyes before his head dipped down. His lips were softer than I thought and the kiss was bliss.

My arms snaked around his neck as he pulled me in closer. I had never done this before and it's actually kind of amazing. He pulled back and I almost followed.

I drop my arms and he steps back. “So, was it any good?” I had to ask. I’d never done it before and I guess next time I’ll be prepared.

“Of course it was. Guys must tell you that all the time.” I shook my head. Something dawned on him “Please don’t tell me that was your first kiss?” I hesitated but nodded. “Oh god.” He put his heads in his hands and leaned against the wall. I wasn’t that bad was I? “Did I seriously make you have your first kiss because of some stupid bet?”

“I mean, I kinda enjoyed it,” I mumbled.

“What?” Damn wolf hearing.

“I liked it. I wouldn’t be mad if it happened again some time.”

He grinned “Like a date?”

“Maybe,” I smirked, before walking away.

“Pick you up Saturday at 8?” he called after me.

As I sat back at the table Aiden walked out from the side of the school. “What happened? Scott wouldn't tell me.”

“You were listening?” Scott nodded. “None of your business Stilinksi.”

As Aiden walked past he sent me a wink. “Oh God, no” Stiles muttered “Your dating an alpha.”

#teen wolf #teen wolf imagine #teen wolf stiles imagine #teen wolf stiles stilinski imagine #aiden teen wolf imagine #scott mccall #scott mccal imagine #aiden steiner imagine #aiden steiner x reader #aiden teen wolf #ethan steiner #ethan stiener imagine #tailsbethreadsteenwolf

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autisticblueteam · 6 years

Text

Different People (Carolina/Girlie)

Chapter 2 / 4: Waiting

[AO3] [Ko-Fi in Bio]

Rating: Teen

Warnings: Canon-typical violence, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Canonical Character Death, Drowning, Paralysis [other tags on AO3]

Girlie survived Longshore.

The sole survivor of her team, she found herself thrown out into the world with nowhere to go and nothing to cling to except the burning resentment she held towards the Freelancers. After years of aimlessness, when presented with an opportunity for revenge she snaps it up without hesitation.

But reality is never as simple as fantasy. People aren’t always what you imagined them to be.

Chapter Word Count: 4397

Notes: Writing from Girlie’s perspective here is interesting because it’s making me write opinions of characters that are basically the exact opposite of my own, since she’s so negatively biased.

The conviction was nothing if not swift. Girlie barely had time to register her actual charges before she was pushed through the system and thrown into a prison on some obscure inner colony, but they weren’t hard to guess. Insurrectionist activity, especially this deep into the war, could come with a hefty sentence.

With her history it wasn’t even a wrongful conviction. It may have been years since their cell had disbanded and they’d signed up to the UNSC, but their time in the military and working for Charon didn’t erase the plethora of evidence against her. All Charon had to do was plant a little more evidence to fill in the gaps and ONI ate it up.

Didn’t need the lone member of your questionably legal private security force getting in the way of your rising political power. UNSC Oversight Subcommittee her ass. The shit they’d done for Charon was exactly the kind of shit he was now in charge of investigating.

Funny how that worked.

Prison wasn’t kind. The newfound support of her armour had been stripped away from her so swiftly that it left a sour taste in her mouth. Sure, she could move short distances without it, even train for short times, but she relied on her wheelchair for anything substantial. And prisons? Turns out that in practice, they’re just not that accessible.

Especially not when the wheelchair provided wasn’t designed for self-propelling and any requests for an exchange were ignored. Insurrectionists lay low on the hierarchy there, always had; since the war started it had only gotten worse.

It took a long time and a willingness to sacrifice luxuries to get on her cellmate’s good side, get her to push her as far as the prison’s gym. Keeping up with her exercises helped, fought away some of the hopelessness and restlessness that plagued her, but it wasn’t a fix-all. Most of her days were spent wasting away in her cell, with too too little to do and too much time to think.

“You got any Innie buddies waiting for you on the outside, blondie?” her cellmate, Cass, asked after another long, long day of sitting around doing nothing. She was still trying to decide if it was better or worse than the hospital.

“Nah. No one left to wait for me,” Girlie said, laid back staring at the ceiling.

(Sharkface’s heart monitor flatlining. Snipes, pierced by the same bullet over and over and falling dead on their face.)

There was a pause. “Aliens or humans?”

(Sleeves, his neck snapped by the sheer force of one punch. Demo, blown up and thrown into the water. The Chain Twins, crushed by a fucking crate.)

Girlie chuckled dryly. “We’re Innies. Take a guess.”

(Her back snapping on impact with the concrete platform, water in her lungs and the desperate fight to survive.)

“Damn. That’s rough. Least I can blame the aliens for my lack of welcoming party instead of— y’know, myself.” Girlie raised a brow at her. “You are an Innie. What’d you think was gonna happen?”

“I don’t blame myself,” Girlie said, rolling onto her side. And she didn’t, she never had. This wasn’t her fault, no; she knew who she had to blame and they wore white and aqua armour. Cass mimicked her raised brow and, in turn, Girlie mocked: “You did murder a UNSC official, what’d you think was gonna happen?”

“…touché.”

Huffing, Girlie rolled restlessly to her other side. “All we want is some fucking freedom and the right to self-determination, but nah, that’s enough to warrant killing us. I’ve never blamed myself or any of us when we lose people. Isn’t on us.”

“Shit, girl, sorry I asked,” Cass said, raising her hands defensively.

It had been years since she’d been able to think like that, been able to talk like that—but hey, if she was going to be treated like she was an active Insurrectionist again, then she may as well act like it.

For years, that pretty much summed up her prison experience: being stuck in her room with cellmates that were various levels of shitty; wheelchairs that didn’t suit her needs in prisons that were too big for her to walk; prison guards that didn’t care at best and were outright abusive at worst; long, uninterrupted hours of nothingness. No matter how many times she was transferred—and oh, she was transferred a lot—it was the same. Every prison, every cellmate, every year.

Eventually she came to the conclusion that it was worse than the hospital, much worse. In hospital, there weren’t multiple dangerous pricks in the building that could decide she was the next target at any time. In hospital, there was a modicum of freedom. In hospital, she had a goal.

Locked away in prison with no exit in sight, her anger felt more like a trap than a motivation. All of that rage she’d allowed to fester and target itself at the Freelancers had no outlet—but at the same time, it wasn’t something she could just let go of. More than just a driving force, it came from a place of genuine hatred and resentment towards those fucking Freelancers, from a place of consuming grief that never quite faded.

Just as that resentment and grief wouldn’t fade, neither would the anger that sprung from them. As the years went by it only had longer to simmer, to gnaw away at her.

Everything that had happened since Longshore was their fault—that was a fact to her just as much as it was a fact that you need air to breathe. Agent Carolina and Agent Maine and their team had taken everything from her. Because of them, she’d almost died. Because of them, her family was gone. Because of them, Charon had no use for her. Because of them, she was in prison.

It was all. Their. Fault.

And for all her anger, all she could do was hope that somewhere, out there, they were going through as much hell as she was.

Nothing was unusual about her move to the prison ship, Tartarus. Not only was it far from the first time she’d been stuck on a prison ship for transfer, but it wasn’t even her first long-haul trip with no clear timescale. The ship was filled with a co-ed selection of the UNSC’s least desirable prisoners—people like her, who they simply didn’t care about. People with quite the variety of convictions, from what she heard through the bars.

She’d always hated long-haul transfers. Prison ships meant even shittier cellmates and no time out of their cells. Sure, the cells were a little more spacious to make up for it—she was able to work out, thank god—but there was only so many hours you could share a room with someone without a break before you wanted to add murder to your list.

Weeks went by and nothing happened that challenged the monotony of the journey. The skeleton crew wandered the levels every few hours just to give themselves something to do. Prisoners yelled crude and violent things, but even those began to get repetitive after a while. Stassney did some dumbass shit at least once a cycle. Weeks and weeks of the same shit, of the same routine—it was driving her up the fucking wall, but it wasn’t anything new.

Honestly, the ship getting invaded was the most interesting thing that had happened to her in years.

One minute Stassney was walking past talking about ‘hitch-hiking cheerleaders’—Girlie rolled her eyes so far back she could see herself think—and the next he was returning with a shady looking asshole in full power armour. The way he tilted his head was subtle, but Girlie had years of reading helmets under her belt.

He was scanning the cells.

They disappeared up into the staff areas and the chatter quickly focused on the new arrival. They had to be in the middle of utterly empty, open space right now—where the hell had this guy come from?

Girlie sat on the end of her bed, leaning her elbows against her knees. Even on a full tank and emergency reserves, a Pelican couldn’t get out here on its own and they certainly weren’t staffed by one guy, power armour or not.

Something wasn’t right.

Her suspicions were confirmed less than an hour later when some big fucker strolled through with at least five people in black armour and killed the straggling guards.

It probably said something about her mental state that her only reaction was a dull, “Huh. Figured.”

Yelling filled the air, a cacophony of indistinguishable noise that only fell silent when a deep, commanding voice came over the intercoms with one simple order—

“Quiet.”

Absolute silence fell over the room.

“As of this moment, we are the new crew of this ship.”

Someone a few cells down from her yelled out, “Well who the hell are you?!” and there was a pause, just for a moment, before she saw the taller of the two take a step back and the original guy take the microphone.

He started talking and admittedly, she was only half-listening until she heard the word ‘Freelancers’ in the midst of some verbose speech about needing people for some war, or something. But she didn’t care about that, no.

Freelancers. Fucking Freelancers.

She was listening after that.

“…now, if this totally awesome idea doesn’t sound like your kind of job, we’ll let you off the ship. But if you’re willing to fight for your freedom, then please firmly grasp the bars of your cell in a sign of solidarity.”

Let them off the ship, huh? Nah, no way that was as innocent as it sounded; there was only one way off of this ship when they were out in open space. And she didn’t plan on dying today—especially not without finding out what the Freelancers had to do with this.

So she got up, grabbed the cell bars. All around her she heard the sounds of hands slapping against bars, of indistinct mumbling. Some people sat back down, paced their cells with dismissive waves of their hands. Their funeral, she guessed.

Weakened as her legs were, her upper body had remained strong and when the purge activated, she had all the motivation she needed to hold on tight. The sharp, gut-punch of a tug tore her breath away and filled her with a genuine fear for her life that she hadn’t felt in years—

And then it was over. Purge doors slammed shut and the screaming all but stopped. Girlie collapsed to the floor, waiting for her cybernetics to recover after the sudden jerk.

But she was alive.

And they’d mentioned Freelancers.

Now all she had to do was wait and see what the fuck was going on.

As it turned out she didn’t have to wait that long at all. Not even another hour passed before heavy footsteps approached her cell and she was confronted by both the leaders of this little invasion and another prisoner. A man with deep brown skin and a pair of dark eyes that glinted with something inscrutable.

She’d never seen him before in her life, but that look in his eyes told her one thing: he definitely knew her.

“Arianna Leoraine,” the tall, awkward one said, “we’ve been informed—” his helmet tilted towards the prisoner, “—that you have history with the Freelancer agents we’re up against. Is that true?”

Huh, just like she thought. Somehow, this random guy who just so happened to be on the same prison ship as her knew her and not only that, knew her history. There were only a couple of reasons she could think of that would explain that: either he used to work for Charon—unlikely, her team was known of by only a select few—or he used to work for Freelancer.

And oh, wasn’t that possibility interesting.

“Maybe. What’s it to you?” she said, even as she stood up. Folding her arms under her chest she tilted her head. “Gonna let me at them?”

“Maybe,” the small, talkative one said, one hand on his hip as the other gesticulated vaguely. “Depends on a few things, like if you can hold your own in a fight… if you know how to follow orders… that sort of thing. Boring stuff, but necessary. Can’t have someone causing us more trouble than we already have, now can we?”

Rolling her eyes, Girlie tilted her head forward and set him with a firm stare. “Look, you point me in the direction of one of those assholes? I’ll do whatever you need me to do. No questions asked. I’ve been waiting for a chance like this for years, I’m not going to mess that up.”

“Well then,” he shared a look with his partner, that tall, quiet one whose helmet gave away nothing, “I think we have some talking to do, don’t you?”

“Yeah, I do. But if you want that talk happening up on the bridge? You’re either gonna have to bring me some armour or send one of your guys to grab a wheelchair from storage,” she said, folding her arms tighter and standing her ground. Her legs still felt shaky after the pull of the purge.

The tall one nodded towards a couple of their men that were standing by and soon, they returned with a chair.

Alright, that was a decent start.

Their names were Felix and Locus. They were some mercenaries working out here in the middle of bumfuck nowhere on some backwater planet named Chorus. Somehow the locals had gotten the help of a couple of Freelancers and their friends. All the mercenaries wanted was some manpower to help them clear out the resistance and to get rid of the Freelancers.

Couldn’t say she agreed with the principle of the thing, but she had fallen far beyond principles. Years of boredom and building resentment had left no room for that, not right now. Not when she was faced with the chance to get revenge.

There were only two of them, apparently. Two survivors out of the ten colourful suits of armour she could never forget. At first they didn’t mention names—she couldn’t tell if that was deliberate or not—but eventually, her prodding got an answer.

Agent Carolina and Agent Washington.

The assholes who fought Sharkface (the entire left side of his face crushed and scarred, his eye gone, the bone implants he needed to survive—) two of the assholes that dropped that fucking building on him and Demo (his arm, gone, absolutely mangled, the missing chunk of his torso—) that fucking aqua armoured fuck who stabbed her, who helped that big brute kill Demo and tried to kill her (her back snapping, so much water between her and the surface—)

Turned out the big guy had been dead a while.

She didn’t know quite how she felt about that, not getting the chance to take them out herself, but…

One was better than none.

“Seems like our goals line up perfectly,” Girlie said, sat in her chair. The helmets were still on, but she met Felix’s gaze through his visor. “I want the Freelancers dead, you want the Freelancers out of the way.”

“Exactly,” Felix said, gesturing his pointer finger vaguely in her direction. “A nice neat little arrangement. You get your revenge and we get those pesky Freelancers off our asses so we can finish what we came here to do.”

“You will be provided with armour and equipment,” Locus said, still unreadable behind that helmet. “You will work more closely with us and you will be guided by the Counselor.”

The Counselor hovered silently off to the side. She felt the weight of his gaze on her, observing, analysing. That look in his eye made sense when she realised he must have been some Freelancer psychologist or something, with a name like ‘the Counselor’.

Didn’t surprise her that they wanted to keep an eye on her, but it wasn’t like she really cared. So long as he didn’t get in her way, there was no reason for her to risk objecting.

But only so long as he didn’t get in her way.

“Alright,” she said, shrugging. “That armour better be the good shit. Oh, and I work best with knives.”

With a hand over his chestplate and mock reverence, Felix said, “A woman after my very own heart. Don’t you worry, Leoraine, you’ll be supplied with the very best equipment we have to offer. Just make it worth it.”

“Don’t you worry,” she retorted, “because making it worth it won’t be an issue. Also— I’d prefer if you called me Girlie. Not Leoraine, or even Arianna.”

Even with his helmet blocking her view, Girlie could practically see the quick blinks of his double-take. “Girlie. What kind of— seriously? That’s a little on the nose, don’t you think?”

Maybe. These days she barely even remembered the origin of the nickname—it wasn’t that she was the only girl in the group, after all—but that had always been the point of their nicknames, they were ridiculously, ridiculously ‘on the nose’. They were stupid, but they used them more than they ever used their real names.

She needed that back now, more than ever.

“Oh right, okay, says the guy who’s partner goes by the name of their helmet,” she said, raising a brow. Catching the slight tensing of Locus’ shoulders, she added, “Not being a dick, just making a point.”

“…touché. Alright, Girlie, congratulations, you’ve got yourself a job.”

No, she’d gotten a little more than that.

True to their word they got her kitted up and they didn’t skimp out on her, either. The armour was top quality and it felt good to be able to stand without pain again, without feeling like her legs were going to give out under her at any minute. All black and standard issue, it was nothing special, but it was more than functional.

Somehow, an off-hand comment to the Counselor about how she preferred her old helmet even swung her an old ODST model from somewhere. He was trying to make her ‘comfortable’, get her to open up or some shit—definitely a psychologist. For now, she let him believe it was working.

It had been days since the invasion of the ship and days since she’d been promised her chance at the Freelancers, but so far there had been no opportunity to act. Being stuck up here on the ship felt annoyingly like nothing had changed, but she held on to the fact that as soon as there was news, she’d be shipped out.

Hopefully.

Until then she was subjected to daily sessions with the Counselor. He was good at acting like he gave a shit, she’d give him that, but she wasn’t here to be psychoanalyzed. She gave him just enough to keep him satisfied without ever really revealing anything he didn’t clearly already know—even when he pretended he knew nothing. Offering up little bits about her teammates’ deaths and her need for revenge even got her some information in return, information outside of what he needed to tell her.

Agent Maine, the big guy, had finally been killed by drowning.

She’d be lying if she said that didn’t give her some kind of sick catharsis. Nothing could have been more fitting.

Days passed by and she found it harder to suppress the frustration. Sessions with the Counselor were tedious and she had to watch her words closely. Any time that wasn’t spent with him was spent training, running drills to get her strength back.

After almost a week of nothing, the Counselor brought her another ‘gift’: red spray paint.

At first, she side-eyed it, wondered what she’d said that made him bring it, but finding no point in letting the offering go to waste she picked it up; it would make it easier for Carolina to recognise who she was.

For once the Counselor sat mostly silently as she worked, using the tools he provided her with to mark up her lipstick print and heart—once on the helmet, once on the chestplate—but it didn’t last forever. Eventually, he opened his mouth.

“That symbol… I take it that it’s important to you,” he said, nodding towards both the work she did and the matching tattoo that was visible on the back of her shoulder. There was another one much lower down, but he wasn’t ever going to be privy to that.

“Suppose so.” Finishing taping it off, she threw her hair back into a messy bun and grabbed a face mask.

“Do you find it representative of yourself?”

“I find it representative of me being a gigantic lesbian, sure,” she said, finding herself holding back an eye roll and not for the first time. Fucking psychologists. “Look, we all had a symbol; Snipes had a crosshair, Boss had a pill, the twins had their smileys, Sharkface had his fucking shark teeth, so on and so on. It’s just a thing. It’s not deep.”

“Alright,” the Counselor said, in that tone that meant he really did think it was deep. “Have you chosen to recreate the symbol to honour your fallen teammates?”

God this man was insufferable. Like fuck she was going to tell him that. “No. I’ve chosen to recreate it because one, I like it and two, I want Agent Carolina to recognise me.” She started shaking her spray can. “Simple as that.”

“So you want her to be aware of who’s killing her and why.”

“No shit. Doesn’t take a degree to figure that one out. Yeah, I want the asshole who nearly killed me and did kill my friends to know who the fuck’s killing her.”

“I see,” he said, with that same tone; he really thought he had her on lock, didn’t he?

She was starting to rethink the idea that killing him wasn’t worth the trouble.

Opting to ignore him instead, she finished shaking her can and started spraying out the design on her helmet. The shade of red wasn’t quite the same but it looked good enough. Bright and distinctive against the black. There’d be no question of Carolina noticing the symbols.

Setting the helmet down to dry, she moved onto the chestplate. There was silence, for a while; the Counselor slipped back into that observant quiet, ever analysing eyes set on her.

She’d moved onto adding other red details by the time he spoke again.

“Once Locus and Felix have finished their work at the newest location of interest, you’ll be sent down to monitor the location for the Freelancer’s arrival,” he said out of nowhere. Forced her to restrain the burst of what was almost excitement in her chest, tense up to stop herself reacting too strongly. “I trust you’ve reviewed the files on Agent Washington and Carolina?”

“Of course I have. And no, I don’t have any questions.” Agent Washington was stubborn and survivable, but he was better with a weapon in his hand than he was at hand-to-hand. Agent Carolina was competitive and highly skilled in multiple ways; she worked with an aging AI called Epsilon and had units at her disposal. Nothing she hadn’t seen before. “No, actually, I do, but not about them. What kind of location?”

“An ancient temple of alien origin. There are several on Chorus, this particular one having been newly revealed. It’s a point of interest for both sides of the conflict, at least one of the Freelancers will certainly arrive.”

“Alright.” Alien temples. What kind of planet was this? “I can work with that.”

Stopping the spray, she took a moment to admire her work.

Striking red, unmissable and unmistakable.

Agent Carolina would definitely know what hit her.

The strange mix of anxiety, excitement and rage that filled her on the Pelican ride down to Chorus was… indescribable. A combination unlike anything she’d ever felt before. Years waiting for this opportunity, hanging onto the idea of revenge with a somehow resigned desperation. She didn’t know if she’d ever believed she’d get the chance, not after Charon turned her in.

But here she was.

They arrived on-location a little while after Locus and Felix had moved on, heading to some big confrontation out at one of the radio towers. Girlie only had time for a cursory glance at the temple itself and the strange bright light shooting out of it before she and her back-up had to duck into a hidden area, overlooking the central zone. Wait.

As the sound of Warthogs and voices approached the temple.

A voice that Girlie hadn’t heard in years, but would recognise anywhere, among them.

It took all of her willpower not to blow their cover then and there, to gather information first like she’d been told to. She had to stand there, gripping her knives tight to ground herself as she took in everything that was said—most of it was irrelevant, but once that alien AI appeared… well, she figured the mercenaries would like the information that followed.

The Purge. Any other day she might have felt some kind of hesitance in passing that information on, but as she typed and sent the communication she found she felt no such thing. Not with Carolina a mere hundred metres away.

Not when the mention of the multiple maps finally gave them a chance to act.

“Carolina!”

Four of the ‘space pirates’—really, what kind of title—jumped out from their hiding position, rifles drawn, firing—

And just like she’d expected, the bubble shield appeared. (The thing that had killed Snipes, the death trap that ricocheted bullets endlessly, shooting them over and over with the same fucking bullet—)

Like she’d ever have let the pirates have first shot if she thought it’d work.

“And that was close.”

“Affirmative.”

“Charon’s here?!”

“Urgh, they've been here the whole time.”

“That’s right.” Her heart pounded in her chest as she strode forward, out into the open. Looked down at them, at that aqua coloured armour that had haunted her for years. Rage, bubbling up in her chest—

Carolina looked at her. Girlie saw the intake of breath. Smirked.

“Well hello. What a pleasure to see you again.”

#rvb girlie #agent carolina #girlina #rvb #red vs blue #rvb fic #my fanfiction #fic: different people

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psychicdan · 7 years

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Samurai Jack: Renegade Samurai

Rating M for graphic depictions, language, violence and suggestive themes

Warning:

The following is a work of fanfiction and is not intentionally connected to real world places, events, or people, nor intended to copy others’ work. Samurai Jack is the work of Genndy Tartakovsky, his team and affiliated studios and companies. This is solely fanfiction for fun and not profit.

Chapter VII: Mechanics and Death Metal

Within the steel, towering Citadel that overlooked the grand Capital city of Novas Sanctum, the Lord Protector, Magnus, sat on his throne with his hand over his face in dismay. “So then, we lost Inquisitor Maxil?” he asked his closest aide Xander. “It would seem so, Lord Protector. His last report showed him closing in on Samurai Jack, and all communication from him and his troops vanished. We investigated Havenground, but found nothing conclusive, not even their remains.” Xander reported.

Magnus sighed, saying “I figured as much. I could feel his presence vanish, which could only mean either the ward I placed on him was removed or he died.”. As part of each 1st Class Inquisitor’s vow to the Lord Protector, he placed wards on each of them, so that he could feel both their life force and loyalty to him. It was by no means a tracker, nor did it technically shackle their free will. But, if they died in service to him or their loyalty ever sway, he would know. As a result, if it was the second, then they would wish they were dead instead. That was how he kept his most powerful in check.

“Well, Maxil was hardly the strongest of our Inquisitors. He was always too eager to improve his standing. But to lose such an accomplished soldier is unacceptable. It damages our morale, troubles the people, and is a damn insult to us all. Xander, who is the nearest 1st Class Inquisitor to the Samurai’s last spotted location?” Magnus inquired.

Xander was streaming through the device’s reports, filtering through suspect data and military personnel information. “Let’s see, based on his last suspected sighting, the Samurai is likely in Sector E8, seen leaving with the defector Ashi from one of our settlements before Cyber Troopers arrived. Strange, the reports indicate a third person in a leather coat there with them.” he reported, a bit baffled.

“Ignore it, Xander. Whoever it is can’t be important, probably just another dumbass over his head like Jack, but remember who the targets are.” Magnus stated. “Sorry, I’ll just list him as an accomplice and leave it at that. Now, from our listed personnel in that Sector, the nearest 1st Class in the area is…uhh, ohhh, umm…” Xander said with discomfort and pause. His face was cramped up, like he was eating a stale expired fruit cake.

“Well, come on Xander, spit it out, we don’t have all day!” Magnus shouted, impatient for results. Xander gave a long sigh, knowing neither he nor the Lord Protector would like the response. “Inquisitor… Dreadskull, Lord Protector”. Magnus gave a long, audible groan as he facepalmed with both hands, already having a migraine hit him with that name. “You’ve got to be SHITTING ME! That dumbass?! UGGH! Of all 11 remaining Inquisitors, why HIM?! Why did we even let him change his name to that?!”.

“He does get some results in, and before you approved him, he was quite competent as a 3rd and 2nd Class.” Xander countered. “And ever since then, I knew I made a mistake and he must have cheated his way somehow! The only reason he’s still where he is that power of his is somewhat useful. Otherwise, I would have dumped him on the streets and let him be someone else’s headache! God, what is he even doing there anyways?” Magnus lamented, feeling like his migraine was turning into a tumor just from thinking about it.

“According to the logs, he is reportedly on recruitment drive. But, the personnel we placed with him state he is doing so by having another one of his… concerts.” Xander said, feeling awkward from the unprofessional details. “Of course, he’s still plaguing the world with that trash he calls music. He must be tone deaf to not know how terrible he makes it. Great, I give him a real job, and instead he’s jerking off to that stupid guitar of his!” Magnus vented.

Magnus’s rage over this particular Inquisitor, in part, comes from a rather traumatic past experience. The Inquisitor in question had tried to hold one of his “concerts” in the main hall of the Citadel. The ensuing noise rocked the whole facility, and Magnus himself stampeded down to the area, unable to take another second. He destroyed all the equipment and threw the Inquisitor out on his ass, not removing his position, but the Lord Protector threatened if he pulled another stunt like that in the Citadel ever again, he was next on the execution list. Needless to say, that Inquisitor’s name alone pissed Magnus off to no end.

“Well, I don’t refuse that power gives him the advantage. Maybe he’ll blast the Samurai’s brains out or something with that trash. Or maybe I’ll get lucky and they’ll just kill each other.” Magnus mused. He knew he just said how bad it was to lose an Inquisitor, but he would be quite pleased to let this one go and take out the Renegade Samurai in the process. “All right, you handle informing him Xander. I want the renegades to suffer under that damn dumbass, not me.”.

…

A pair of motorcycles rode through the late day, the sun setting over the conifer treed area. Aside from these vehicles, the road, and of course the perpetual sign of occasional war wreckage, there was only nature to be seen. Jack, though he still had his eyes focused on the road, appreciated the sights and sounds of the trees and birds with a smile. Behind him, Ashi shared a similar expression, taking in the atmosphere as they drove on. “Wow, look at it all.” she said with a hint of wonder.

In the previous timeline, these natural landscapes were rare, as Aku had reduced many forests and other natural wonders to hopeless wastelands, one such sight being Jack’s proof of Aku’s true nature to Ashi. She had seen some vestiges of nature when searching for Jack, but they were a bit sparse and she had no time to gaze. In Jack’s time, when nature was almost untouched, it was as though she were living a dream, beholding unattainable majesty. When she had vanished and gained a new life in this new future, she had been confined to the steel walls of the Inner Sanctum, only knowing of nature thanks to her dreams and returned memories of the previous timeline with Jack.

Now that she had freed herself again from all that, she had witnessed with Jack the scenery of this world. It was honestly somewhere between Jack’s time and Aku’s time, but not really like either. Civilization was larger and more obstructive of nature than the people of Jack’s time, but there was still nature surrounding the cities at least, even plants within them, something Aku’s cities never had. There were no charred and barren wastelands like the demon’s world, at least as far as they knew, but that didn’t mean there were no scars.

Everywhere they went, reminders of the Near End War could be seen. Craters, skeletons, and war machine monoliths were scattered in every region, some sparse, others vastly littered, but it was never hard to find the remains of a battle. But, while this clearly ravaged the land in the past, nature was showing signs of revival, as only some battle areas remained partially barren and the area surrounding them lively again. Some battle sights were even returning to nature, with fauna and other plant life covering the war remains.

This forest was one such area, as the trees were rarely disrupted with the sight of a derelict monolith and continuing for miles. Instead of a battlefield, the swaying pine and leaf trees and passive wild life gave off a peaceful vibe, the kind only nature afforded.

“Even in the aftermath of such terrible strife and destruction, life flourishes and blooms.” Jack said in passive awe. He had seen many astounding sights, but none would amaze him more than the testament of nature itself. He felt Ashi tighten around his back, and Jack turned his head to see Ashi right beside his. He blushed as he smiled, as did she. “HEY! Lovebirds, eyes on the road!”.

Jack and Ashi broke sights in sheer embarrassment from that callout, not sure how to stare at each other. While Jack turned back to look at the road with an awkward discomfort, Ashi turned to look very upset at the one who ruined the moment.

“Will you shut it already!” she screamed across the road. Cassius, who was driving the other motorcycle behind, shrugged. “Dunno, depends on how many times you keep getting starlight in each other’s eyes. There’s a time and place for that you know. Maybe we wouldn’t have gotten caught by that patrol earlier if you saved that for later.”. “Maybe we wouldn’t have gotten caught if you did your job and kept watch while we got supplies! I saw you, you were definitely taking a nap!” Ashi retorted. “I-I wasn’t. I was keeping a low profile, something you two need to learn.” Cassius said a bit suddenly. “Right, low profile. That snoring was a great signal by the way.” Ashi said sarcastically. Jack sighed in response, knowing he had to get accustomed to this. He thought that he and Ashi had a rough start, at least Aku’s doctrine was responsible for most of the physical and verbal violence then. Ashi’s upfront personality and Cassius’s dismissive attitude had been at complete odds since they met. Honestly, Jack was wondering if they were going to kill each other before Magnus got the chance.

As though in response to that thought, the roar of engines similar to their own rumbled from behind. Jack looked behind to see five motorcycles of grey and black aesthetic, each armed with dual machine guns like his, and mounting each were Cyber Troopers. “Samurai Jack, in the name of the Lord Protector and our commanding Inquisitor, you will stand down or be terminated!” shouted one on a mechanized speaker then. “Oh great, look what you did! The bucket heads are on our six now!”. “Because you slept on the job!”.

Jack was not willing to obey the Cyber Troopers. nor deal with this heated argument. So, he sharply turned and swerved his motorcycle without losing too much speed, sending him into the opposite direction towards the pursuit. He held out his sword, and as he came near one of the Protectorate cycles, slashed across it in one clean hit. For a split second, nothing happened, then the Protectorate cycle came undone in two pieces as they, and the Cyber Trooper, got caught in a fiery explosion.

The other motorcycles tried to swerve in their direction, but they had forgotten Cassius, which was a fatal mistake. He readied and aimed his laser revolver, blowing the head off one Cyber Trooped and making the cycle crash. His would share the same fate though. as an upcoming Protectorate cycle shot up the motorcycle and tires, making it grow unstable. Cassius barely jumped off in time before the veering motorcycle came to a crash. He turned to face the Protectorate cycle about to run him over, till it received machine gun fire in return. He looked in the direction to see Jack using his own mounted machine guns to shoot up the opposing cycle, causing that one to explode to. Another one behind them tried to use that tactic as they closely fired behind. Ashi took the initiative, bringing out her SMG and firing at the cycle. It would be difficult to inflict fatal shots on the driver, so she aimed at the cycle and tires instead. Damage in the right spots caused the cycle to swerve and speed up uncontrollably. Suddenly, it was on a collision course for Jack’s cycle. “JUMP!” he shouted. The pair did so, seeing from the air their cycle colliding with the Protectorate one, as they both crashed into a wall of trees and explode.

The pair landed on the road, then turned up to see the last Protectorate motorcycle zeroing in on them. Jack stood there with his sword readied, waiting for the right moment. Finally, the cycle got in firing range and engaged. Jack jumped right before the gunfire reached him, somersaulting over the ground to the enemy cycle. The Cyber Trooper was startled see the incoming Samurai rapidly approach him as Jack slashed with his sword using his own momentum, bisecting the Cyber Trooper and part of the cycle as they crashed thereafter. Jack landed gracefully in the aftermath of the following explosion, his sword dripping with blood.

He was about to cleanse and sheath his sword, until he heard the sound of rolling steel coming their way. Ashi and Cassius returned to his sides, and soon thereafter, driving up the road was an armored Protectorate tank of sorts. The tank closed in with machine guns and cannon pointed at the trio. All three had tense expressions as they readied their weapons. Though they faced worse odds, this would be an intense fight. Or it was going to be, till all three saw an overhead missile shoot straight for the tank. It collided with the armored tank, turning it into a ball of fire and shrapnel, leaving a crater on the road with only flaming, blackened metal wreckage in its wake.

The trio stared at the sight dumbfounded for a second, then looked towards the source of the missile. Driving towards them was another armored vehicle. But this one was not Protectorate, in fact it was far from professional. It was all mismatched parts and makeshift composition, as though it was assembled from junk parts. Jack recognized the various parts were similar to the old war wreckage, surmising it was all likely made from salvage. The armored vehicle approached them and stopped, but did not give off hostile intent.

A brief moment later, the hatch opened, and from that, a young girl emerged. She appeared to be the same age as Cassius, a young adult in very early 20s. She had brown eyes and dark blue hair. Aside from the strangely naturality of the color to it, her hair was in tuffs to the sides, the rest in a ponytail that reached down as far as her neck. Her skin was white, but more brightly colored compared to Cassius’s somewhat pale skin. Her complexion was clean and youthful, only marred by smudges here and there. Her attire and vehicle hinted why. She wore a red mechanic jacket over a faded brown shirt, both seeing some wear. Bellow that she wore pocketed black denim shorts that reached down to her knees. Below that, she wore faded yellow worker boots, clearly worn yet durable. She was of similar height to Ashi, but their clothing was very different, Ashi’s tight so that she could move quietly and quickly, and this person garbed in looser clothing for comfort.

Their rescuer spoke then. “Hey, you alright? Well, yeah, you’re alright I guess, but that’s just what you ask with this situation and all. Oh dear, um, uh, you got a ride out of here?” she asked on the fly. She didn’t seem shy so much as bashful, as it seemed she just blurted out what she said and felt only a bit self-conscious. Given the situation though, conversation would be awkward. The three looked to their motorcycles which were now flaming scrap parts. “I’m…afraid not.” Jack said a bit awkwardly and troubled. “Yeah, thanks to someone getting their attention.” Cassius said a bit callously, Ashi once again glaring at him for that remark.

“What’s his problem?” the girl asked. “Ignore him, he’s stupid and inconsiderate.” Ashi said without looking at the insulted Cassius. “Ah, gotcha. Well, how about you hitch a ride? The cyber bastards have a base not too far, so those patrols are regular. I can take you to my place till we get you sorted out.”. Jack, Ashi, and Cassius looked at each other. With Ashi nodding and Cassius giving a reluctant shrug, Jack turned to the girl. “Thank you very much, for both saving us and helping us further, miss…uh…”, “Agalia, but cut the miss, thanks.” the girl said with a smile.

…

As the sun began setting over the forested area, the makeshift armored vehicle approached a junkyard of sorts. Jack was a bit puzzled as to why they were headed there, but then he noticed some of the massed salvage resembled buildings like a home and garage. When they entered, he recognized most of it as the same derelict war remains that constantly dotted the landscape. Then they entered and parked in the sizable garage, where a few other machines, some covered, lie in wait.

The garage, like the junkyard, was far from tidy, with junk parts, tools, and fluid cans strewn all over the floor. The walls were covered in schematic designs and tool racks, giving not much space there either. “Uh, sorry, not used to house guests.”. Agalia said. “It… speaks great character.” Jack said a bit awkwardly. “This place is a dump.”, “Cass!” Ashi said with disapproval. “Yeah, but it’s my dump. Well, me and my aunt’s. It’s almost suppertime, come on!” she said with energy as she led them from the garage and into the living area. Though this building was made partly from salvage too, all the various furniture and decorations gave off a family vibe. They could hear sounds and smell tantalizing scents from a lit room nearby.

In there was the kitchen, with an older woman, likely in her 50s, with short braided graying hair and garbed in similar mechanics clothing. She was tending over a stew pot when she looked up. “Agalia, where the hell have you been?! I’m here making dinner, then you disappear and, for all I know, went to cause a row with the soldiers again! You know it’s not good going out there!” Agalia’s aunt chastised. “Heh, sorry Boss. Maybe I did get into a scrap, but it was to help these guys, see?” Agalia said as she gestured to Jack’s group.

Her aunt gazed at them as though analyzing a trinket to see what it was worth. “Hm, well aren’t you an odd lot? Not hard to figure out why you might get into a snag with the bucket heads, but like I care, just don’t bring ‘em here. Oh, and sorry for having you put up with my trigger-fingered niece here.” Agalia’s aunt said as she turned a criticizing glance to said niece. Agalia tried to laugh it off, albeit uncomfortably.

“Ahahaha, well, this here is my aunt Andrea, but myself and everyone else who works in the junkyard calls her Boss. That’s about a third of the settlement some ways from here, so the name spread, now everyone calls her that.” Agalia explained. “Great, had to remind me. Why is everyone there a bunch of idiots?” Andrea dismayed. “You’re good at keeping everyone on track, even help the farmers and wildlife workers, remember?” Agalia explained. “Hmph, that reminds me, why am I doing everything around here?! Agalia, stop fooling around and help me! We’ve got a meal of 5 to get ready, so help me out! You three, the soup will be ready soon, so find the dining table and sit down till it’s ready, alright?” she said with a bit of sternness. Jack, Ashi, and Cassius found themselves unable to counter to an offer like that, so Jack simply said, “Thank you.” a bit awkwardly as they did as she told them. Soon, Andrea and Agalia came in, with Andrea setting the table and Agalia pouring out the heavy pot of soup. They all sat down and began to eat.

As they enjoyed the nicely made soup, Ashi began to inquire. “So, Agalia, you and your aunt bot live and work here?” she asked. “Yep, it’s only the two of us that live here. Everyone else who works here in the day lives in the settlement. Most people either salvage, work in farms, or tend to the wildlife. This place used to be a battle sight in the war, but the land was still fair afterwards, so it recovered well in those reforestation and recovery efforts that are still going on I hear. That’s what wildlife workers used to do, now they just make sure we don’t ruin the forest. As for us, we salvage and clean up all that war junk. It was just the cleanup at first, I hear, but now we make some good revenues by salvaging it and selling what we can. Course, we can’t rebuild those weapons, for, well, obvious reasons.” Agalia explained.

“Hold on, if that wasn’t a weapon, then what do you call it? A stroller?” Cassius asked with scepticism. Agalia became awkward at that, and Andrea spoke, if only to criticize her niece rather than explain. “Like I said, this here niece of mine is a trigger-fingered pain in the ass. She’s held a real grudge against the Protectorate for years, and now she keeps turning scrap into anything that shoots or goes boom! I kept trying to scrap it back to junk, but she just rebuilds everything in secret, so I stopped trying. Now I just keep her away from them by having her focus on the job, which apparently someone needs to learn.”.

“Did the Protectorate wrong you in some way?” Jack asked Agalia with a serious glance. Suddenly, Agalia’s cheerful and bashful nature vanished, as she now looked down with a somber gaze. Jack realized then that he must have inquired into something too personal, and tried to apologize. “I-I am sorry, I did not mean to…”, “I-it isn’t all complicated, I just hat those sons-of-bitches is all! I mean seriously, they started a fight with you on the road, I saw, and you don’t know how they’ve been acting lately. They keep harassing everyone, usually about raising the tax, or reminding us to be grateful to Magnus, yadda, yadda, yadda.” Agalia explained as she tried to defuse the oppressive atmosphere.

“The worst part though is the drafting. Those bucket heads apparently don’t get enough recruits. Heh, that’s surprising, considering their charming manners. So, they sometimes make an announcement that they need “fine, able recruits” to fill out their ranks. Not many volunteers then, probably because being turned into a cyborg doesn’t sound great. So, they sometimes just grab you right then and there. Heck, they barge into your home and take your family sometimes too.” Agalia said with bitterness.

“That’s enough, they only do that when the Sectors need more patrols, and it’s not like it’s all dangerous, so long as you’re not shooting them. Most join up without complaint, remember?” Andrea explained, trying to calm her niece. “They’ve been acting like jackasses! Hell, I hear that guy in charge of the base has been using some weird marketing tactic to get more recruits, how is that not bad?!” Agalia retorted. “That’s just one idiot, don’t let that get to you. This will all be over soon, alright? So stuff your gripes, I won’t have it!” Andrea shouted to finish this family argument. They all returned to eating the soup, Andrea and Agalia rather bitter about it, while Jack, Ashi, and Cassius were rather awkward as they ate following that heated conversation.

As they nearly finished, a loud banging came from the front door. They all got up and went to the door, as they were alarmed by the urgency. When opened, a young worker straggled in, out of breath. “B-boss! Agalia! We’ve got trouble!” he panted out with his breath. “Whoa, slow down, what happened?” Andrea asked with clear seriousness. The worker collected his thoughts and his breath as he recounted. “There were rumors going around that some huge music artist was touring in the area, and that got a lot of the young workers in the settlement excited. Some of the guys asked if I wanted to go with them, but I said I wasn’t interested. When I saw them off in those busses though, I saw some Cyber Troopers off to the distance, and the busses took off for their base! I think this is that recruitment scam thing that’s been going on!” the worker said with great fear.

Apprehension seized Agalia, as most of those people were peers and co-workers her own age, her friends. She stormed off then to the garage. “A-Agalia, what do you think you’re doing?!” Andrea screamed after her as they all followed. Agalia moved a schematic paper and pressed button beneath. Suddenly, the wall flipped, revealing a whole weapon rack of various makeshift tools of destruction. “Damn, this girl means business.” Cassius said with both astonishment and appreciation.

Agalia began strapping on the various guns to her person and then loading what she couldn’t on to the armored vehicle. “Oh no, you are not going to go start a gun fight! It doesn’t matter if you bring bigger guns, they got a lot more guns and people there. I am not having my dumbass niece kill herself!” Andrea shouted as she moved to stop her. “Don’t worry, she’s not going this alone.” Cassius said as she stood by Agalia, Agalia herself being surprised by this. Jack and Ashi were similarly surprised, as it seemed Cassius was the type to follow others initiative rather than his own.

“Hey Jack, we are doing something about this right? I mean, we’re not about to let them pull this kind of shit, right?” Cassius said, a clear invitation for some assistance. Jack and Ashi understood, knowing that they would have helped anyways. “Don’t worry, Agalia, we’re going to stop them and get your fiends back.” Ashi said with resolve. “Y-you guys…” Agalia said, a bit shocked to receive support in her recklessness. Jack turned to bow his head to Andrea. “We are so very sorry for our imposition, but we would like to assist your niece in her endeavor. Please, we promise we will see to her safety and return her friends safely as well.” Jack promised.

Andrea gave a long sigh. “Honestly, I knew I couldn’t stop that dumbass, even if I dragged on her feet. I thought an old lady like myself would have to march there myself and take a shot for her. Well, you three look like you can handle yourselves well, so make sure that pain-in-the-ass comes back in one piece, you hear?”. Jack nodded with affirmation, promising not to let anything happen to her niece. “B-boss…” Agalia said, absolutely stunned by her aunt’s acceptance. “I keep putting up with the Protectorate, telling myself they got their reasons and such, and honestly, not many are that bad. But whoever’s running the show there really has his head up his ass, and messed with my employees. I’m going to be frank, go kick ass, Agalia.” Andrea said with a fierce smile. Agalia nodded back with a similar smile.

Soon enough, all four helped to pack up the armored vehicle. When they were done, Agalia turned back to Andrea. “I’ll be back with everyone, Boss.”, “You better, how’s a person my age supposed to handle all this heavy lifting?!”. They both laughed, and Agalia turned back to Jack and the rest. “Are you ready?” Jack asked. “Yeah, let’s go.”.

…

The armored vehicle drove through the evening-skied forest, with the stars beginning to replace the set sun. In the distance, Jack’s group could see a lit-up clearing which came into focus as they got closer. They were surprised by what they saw though.

“Wait, that’s a base? Why is it all out in the open like that? Where are all the walls and stuff?” Ashi asked with bewilderment. The Protectorate “base” up ahead had to be the place, as the tracks led there and the busses could be seen, but it was hardly fortified. In fact, it looked like a stadium of some sort, with a wide-open field in the middle of rounded walls with seats in them. The lights strangely didn’t look outward to search, but shone on the area inside. There was a stage in front of the clearing to, and it looked like people were gathering in the field before it. The whole place looked like it was constructed on the go. There were Protectorate vehicles and provisional buildings nearby, but that was more of an additional encampment. What strategic purpose did this strange building serve?

“The rumor was something about a music artist touring through here. Maybe they set this all up to make the scam look convincing or something?” Cassius suggested as he scratched his head. For a drafting scam, this was going rather convincingly far, unnecessarily so, in fact. It had to be drafting, since the Magnus Protectorate was involved. They weren’t exactly patrons of the free arts, so there was no way they were sponsoring a music artist. Jack was a bit baffled as well, but he kept his guard up. This reminded him of the other timeline, where a servant of Aku used rave music altered by Aku’s dark magic to enslave youths to do his bidding. This all looked too familiar to that.

Beside him, Agalia was gripping some makeshift tool weapon. She explained earlier that it was something she made herself for both work and self-defense. On one end of the rod-like tool was something that could be interchanged with various tool ends like wrenches, screwdrivers, blowtorches, etc. Right now, she had a hammer affixed for fighting. The other end had a makeshift shotgun. She carried other firearms on her, but she said this was a personal favorite. She looked down at the stage area, undeterred by the bizarreness of it all and ready to take action.

Jack returned his gaze to the view, knowing now was the time. “Let’s go” he said. The vehicle drove down to the stadium entrance. Strangely, no Cyber Troopers could be seen, and the entrance was open. However, they couldn’t drive the vehicle through. Jack and company exited the vehicle and entered the stadium, cautiously watching out in each direction. Before them was the crowd, dressed up in a strange style. They wore all black clothing, some in tatters and some with strange diagrams like skulls and other gothic elements. Their accessories were like so as well, such metal armbands, chain necklaces and such. It probably had something to do with the theme of whatever music event they were expecting.

Suddenly, the lights went out, then centered on the stage. Smoke was gathering there, and then, BAM!, an explosion effect triggered there, and standing at the center of it all was a man with a guitar. He was tall and well-toned, but that was hardly most characteristic of him. He had long silver dyed hair and a face painted like a skull. His clothing and attire were similar to the crowd, but if analyzed, it could be seen his gothic style was also Protectorate themed, if only barely with the gray and black aesthetic.

Specifically, he was shirtless with only a grey, torn up open jacket on his top and wearing a spiked choker across his neck. Across his body were tattoos, such as a flaming skull on the front. On his right shoulder was the Magnus Protectorate shield and saluting figure insignia tattooed there as well, indicating he may, somehow, be affiliated with that group. He wore torn black leather pants and spiked leather shoes.

The man jumped over to the mike and began to yell into it. “YOOO, how is everybody?! Are you ready to ROCK?! Are you ready to party you souls to HELL?!”, “YEAHHHH!” the crowd cheered. “Alright, then get ready to tear up the ground, while I, INQUISITOR DREADSKULL, lay down some sick beats!” the Inquisitor yelled on. Suddenly he gripped his guitar, and using his pick, he started playing. Suddenly, two flaming skeleton figures appeared beside him and started playing bass and drums. Then the mix of guitar and drum noises kicked up in cacophonous manner.

“Stay down, stay low, for here come the armies of hell! Ravage savages, killer criminals, and all manners death bringer! You stay down, you stay low, wondering when the end will come. Suddenly you see him, you cheer him, and all the monsters cry before him! MAGNUS! Our Lord Protector! MAGNUS! Our savior and ruler!” Dreadskull sang on. His lyrics, sang in a mix of long guttural speech and high-pitched screeching, kept yelling about hell, monsters, and of course Magnus propaganda.

Apparently, no one liked it, as everyone, including Jack’s company, was kneeling down and covering their ears from the poor guitar playing, banging drums, and screaming that was going on. Jack tried to think through the pain, wondering how Magnus allowed anyone to sing this badly about him. “GAHH, what is this?!” Ashi screamed. “UGHHH, it’s death metal! Really shitty death metal though!” Cassius screamed back. Suddenly, the music stopped abruptly with a static pause.

“HEY, I heard that! Which one of you shitheads said my beats were shit?!” Dreadskull screamed. “BOOOO!” the whole cried out. “You suck!”, “Get off the stage!”, “This is shit!” were the various remarks people in the crowd were making. Dreadskull looked very upset, his ego unwilling to take any form of criticism. As far as he was concerned, he was a death metal god.

“Alright, that’s it! I wanted to invite you back country bumpkins to the Magnus Protectorate nicely and treat you to the best damn concert of your lives, but it seems no one in the sticks has taste! So guess what, I’m just drafting you all on the spot! Troops, be bros and put all these damn ingrates on the busses!” Dreadskull screamed out. Suddenly, the exit slammed shut, and from the stadium walls, Cyber Troopers stormed in with restraints. The crowd tried to run away, but they saw there was no way out. People at the edge screamed as the Troopers began to raise their weapons.

Suddenly, one of the Cyber Troopers cried out in death as a hammer slammed through their helmet. Agalia lifted her blood-soaked weapon from the corpse and looked at the enemy with resolve. The Cyber Troopers all prepared to fire, but then Jack, Ashi, and Cassius moved in cutting down the surprised Cyber Troopers who fought in vain. The company of four turned to look at Dreasdskull then, who looked surprise till he smiled with realization.

“Well, if it isn’t Samurai Jack, the Renegade Samurai who’s been stirring shit up. I gotta say, you really screwed with the wrong crowd. After what you did to Maxil, my main man the Lord Protector called me and told me to kick your ass! Well, he said to kill you, but you get the point! You really must have pissed him off. But to think you would have strolled right into my concert. Did you want my autograph, because I respect people who would die for it you know?” the Inquisitor gloated. Jack narrowed his eyes. This person acted in ridiculous manner, but something told him that this person was dangerous.

“Anyways, like I was saying, I was here doing my recruitment drive, inviting people to the cause with my sick beats, and then the Lord Protector tells me you’re passing through and to eliminate you at all cost. I was planning a road block concert or something, but you actually came here! Man, this is great! Maybe the Lord Protector will be a bro and let me do that apology concert in the Citadel for this!” Dreadskull mused on. He conveniently left out that it was Xander who told him as an acting proxy, not Magnus himself. He seemed to take Magnus’s threat of execution not all that seriously.

“Shut it! First, we’re gonna kick your ass for tricking all my friends here and trying to kidnap them! And second, you really suck at guitar and talk too much, you know that?!” Agalia screamed at him. Dreadskull scowled at that, then smirked in confidence. “Oh, you’re dead wrong about that, bitch! Let me show you how killer I am with this baby!”.

Dreadskull started thrashing on the guitar again. The ephemeral skeletons that played drum and base, who had vanished earlier, reappeared and started playing again. They weren’t alone though. Suddenly, a whole horde of ephemeral skeletons, dressed in gothic fashion similar to Dreadskull, manifested in front of Jack and the others.

“Oh, almost forgot. Troops, my bros, get started on that laser lightshow, like we rehearsed!” Dreadskull commanded. Suddenly, from the tops of the walls Cyber Troopers emerged in firing positions. Rather than bullet based firearms, they seemed to be using laser weapons, obviously a theatric Dreadskull was going for. “Shit, more of them. Looks like this guy’s an Inquisitor for a reason, at least one.” Cassius said as he stared from the overhead soldiers to the skeletal horde.

It was a ridiculous gimmick, but all four of them realized how deadly it was. Suddenly, the music intensified, and the horde charged and the troops fired. Jack and Ashi engaged the front charge, slashing at the skeletons who vanished with each hit, but more manifested from the rear to take their place. Cassius aimed at the overhead soldiers with his laser revolver, but it took time, and he only managed to shoot two before the horde forced him to defend with his cybernetic photon sword.

Agalia hammered at the coming skeletons, smashing them to bone bits before they vanished. She fired with the shot gun end, blowing back several in a line with each shot. But this fighting style did not help much against overwhelming numbers, and soon she was surrounded. As she stares at the flaming ephemeral skeletons, teeth gritted, she prepared for the onslaught when suddenly an unusual sword from behind them cut them up.

Running over the vanishing skeletal remains was Cassius, who looked a bit ragged and torn, but no worse for wear. “We should follow their lead and watch each other’s backs.” he said as he gestured to Jack and Ashi, who were keeping the skeletons from getting in each other’s quarters. Cassius and Agalia followed suit, cutting down skeletons that approached and keeping each other’s space from the enemy. However, that was starting to wear on all of them, and it did not help that they needed to dodge and block the laser fire from overhead.

“(Huffs) We’re getting run ragged here, and that damn music is getting on my nerves!” Cassius vented. “I got an idea, but first we need to take care of the bucket heads! Can you cover me for a bit?” Agalia asked. Cassius nodded, not sure what trick she had up her sleeve, but willing to trust it. As he fended off the skeletons from her, Agalia drew out some sort of control tablet and started giving inputs. Her specialty was mechanics, but she also knew some things about electronics too. She was glad she implemented this.

Outside the stadium, the armored vehicle Jack’s company drove in started up. Agalia could see a display of what the vehicles sights were, and started directing it to get in motion. Outside, it aimed its main weapon, then fired a missile. The troops were so focused on the stadium grounds, they never saw the missile or explosion that blew them and the portion of the wall off. Dreadskull and the troops were surprised, wondering where that fire was coming from. Suddenly, more explosions blew the tops of the stadium walls, taking out all the Cyber Troopers.

“Damn, this is why I prefer a solo career.” Dreadskull muttered. He didn’t count his ephemeral skeleton horde, it was his own power. The power the Lord Protector awakened in him fit his passions perfectly. It allowed him to manifest force into several forms, all based on the death metal he played. Often, he manifested these flaming ephemeral skeletons because of how cool they were and easy it was for him to imagine. How much he could manifest and how powerful depended on how loud and passionately he played, mostly loud though.

That’s why, despite how useful this power was in this situation, he couldn’t fully use it on the spot, so that’s part of the reason why Inquisitors like Maxil didn’t consider him fairly strong. In a concert though, he was king. That’s why, after the recruitment drive, he was going to set up a stage like road block, ambushing the Samurai in Dreadskull’s best advantage. Thanks to the Samurai’s meddling though, Dreadskull could finally please Magnus here and now. He didn’t stand a chance so long as he was still rockin’.

Jack was beginning to feel the fatigue take him, knowing that Dreadskull had the advantage and he needed to end it. He already figured out the music had something to do with it, as the bass and drums skeletons vanished when he stopped playing earlier. He just needed to get through the horde and get on stage to stop him, but that proved difficult.

“Jack, get back!” Agalia shouted. He did so, and saw a makeshift grenade got tossed into the horde. An explosion ripped through, and in its wake a portion of the area cleared. “Quickly!” Jack shouted as the others followed. They neared the stage when the skeletons reappeared completely and enclosed them. “Go, we’ll catch up!” Ashi told him. Jack nodded, and bracing himself, jumped from his spot, over the horde, and on to the stage.

Dreadskull faced him with his constant smirk. “Ha, they said you got chops! Not many make it to the stage in one piece. But you think that’s the only jam I got?!”. Dreadskull brought his hand down on the guitar strings, and from there a shockwave erupted that blasted Jack backwards. He felt blood trickle down his forehead, feeling a slight concussion from that. It seemed Dreadskull could manifest force into what it was as well, force.

Jack fired his pistol, but the shots stopped midair and crushed as Dreadskull continued playing, a force field stopping the gun fire. Jack scowled, knowing he could not defeat this enemy conventionally. If only he could stop the music, he thought. Then he noticed how the mike and other playing equipment had wires running in them. He saw that it all lead up from sound systems to the huge speakers behind Dreadskull, blasting his death metal to absurd volume. That was it!

Suddenly, Ashi, Cassius, and Agalia came up behind him. They barely managed to make it, and were a bit torn and bleeding here and there. “(Huffs)Ugh, so, can we kick this guy’s ass now?” Cassius asked as he huffed for stamina. “Not quite, his power is preventing all form of attack. But I think we can lessen it and use his own equipment to beat him.” Jack stated. “We can distract him, you do what you have to.” Ashi stated. “I need you all to clear out when I give the signal, understand?” Jack said to them all. They nodded, and so did he.

Ashi, Cassius, and Agalia charged at Dreadskull, and he just smirked even more. “Dumbassses, this will be easy!” he asserted as he blasted another force wave at the three. They barely dodged, and all three fired their firearms at him, only force him to stand there and block it with his force power music. More skeletons surrounded them now, and Cassius and Agalia decided to take them while Ashi kept Dreadskull busy with her SMG, since a frontal attack would have her blown away.

Thanks to their assault, Dreadskull didn’t notice Jack jump up on top of the massive speakers. Jack lifted his sword and let it reflect the overhead light. The three noticed and backed away, Dreadskull thinking they were backing off in fear. Jack cut the wires, causing the death metal-filled atmosphere to fall largely quiet with a static stop. The majority of the skeletons suddenly vanished, as Dreadskull suddenly felt his power drop drastically. “Huh, what the hell happened to my vibe?!” he said as he looked around at his equipment. He turned to the speakers as he saw them falling down towards him, Jack using all his leverage to tilt the top just a second ago.

Dreadskull became wide eyed, playing desperately to amass a strong enough forcefield in vain. “Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, OH SHIT!”. The speakers crashed down on top of him with the sound of one last guitar sound, the sound itself indicating sudden interruption and loss of tempo. Jack looked from the fallen wreckage to his comrades. They were all roughed up like him, but mostly intact.

“YEAHHHH!” a crowd suddenly cheered. All four turned back to see the crowd from earlier cheering them on for their success, grateful for their actions. Agalia breathed a sigh of relief and smiled, glad all her local friends were safe. She turned to see Cassius walk up to her and smile. “Guess you’re their local star now. You’re on hell of a fighter.” he remarked. Agalia blushed slightly at this, not used to praise for her actions. “Th-thanks.” she said. Jack and Ashi looked on, a bit awkward at how to approach either those two or the crowd. “Hmph, and he criticizes us for that.”Ashi said as she smirked. Jack chuckled tentatively at that, not sure how he should comment. Still, he enjoyed the now pleasant atmosphere as he looked on.

…

Jack and Ashi roused from their slumber and started to get dressed. Last night was quite the ordeal, so once they got to Agalia’s home, they didn’t celebrate or anything, just dropped into sleep. They were still a bit sore from then, but their wounds were patched up and their stamina good again. They turned to the kitchen. Inside was Cassius helping Agalia make breakfast, or rather the other way around, as he was used to scraps and was no cook. Andrea was giving him an earful, yelling “How the hell does a full grown young man not know how to feed himself?!”.

All three turned at the pair’s approach. “Ah, look who woke from the dead. Breakfast will be ready soon, as long as your “ladies man” friend here stops screwing up.” Andrea said as she turned a criticizing eye to Cassius. “Hey, it’s not like that! J-just wanted to be useful, okay.” Cassius stuttered with slight embarrassment. For a guy who criticized Jack and Ashi on their romance, it seems relationships of that nature were actually unfamiliar to him. All of them except Cassius laughed lightly, Cassius himself sulking from that.

Once he was done burning food, they began eating what was saved for breakfast. As they munched on, Agalia brought up something she wanted to ask for a while. “So Jack, I never got to ask since we were fighting then, but it’s true, you’re THE Samurai Jack?!”. “Ah, well, yes, that is what I am called.” he said with slight embarrassment. He always felt this way about his reputation. “Oh my god, I always wondered what you were like! I mean, an actual samurai with a katana fighting the Magnus Protectorate, facing the odds, how cool is that?! I mean, we heard out here, but I didn’t know you guys were the renegades fighting the Protectorate. Except Cass, never heard of him before.” Agalia said in glee. “Hey, I’m still new, give me a break!” Cassius said in response to that comment.

Agalia then got a bit fidgeted and nervous. “S-so, I guess that means you’re up fighting Magnus and his soldiers, huh?” she asked tentatively. “Yes, it has… not been easy.” he said with dismay. Despite how far he came, it still felt like he had to cross an ocean and climb a mountain just to reach Magnus. That was how difficult he had come to realize his present ordeal. While Aku fought through deception and his minions, Magnus was a force to be reckoned with, blocking Jack off with every resource he had in an effort to crush him straight out. If Aku’s hand was deceptive and out of reach, then Magnus’s could be defined as imposing force.

“W-well, if it’s okay with you, maybe I can help and, uh, tag along?” Agalia finally asked. Jack and Ashi were dumbfounded, not really prepared for that kind of request. But they recovered quickly, understanding that it was not out of the blue. It became obvious that Agalia was very hostile to the Magnus Protectorate, so of course she would take a chance to fight them.

“You seem very capable, but are you sure about this? We are journeying to Novas Sanctum, it will be dangerous.” Jack said. “Seriously?! Then of course I’m going! If you’re fighting Magnus head on, I want to help! I mean, you guys helped me, so I have to help you, no buts!” Agalia stated. Jack sighed, knowing he couldn’t really turn down that enthusiasm. He turned to Ashi, who nodded with a smile. Then he turned to Cassius, who said “Why not? She was a real badass last night, I respect that.”.

Finally, he turned to Andrea. “Miss Andrea, I am sorry, but do you approve of your niece coming with us?”. ““Miss” Andrea? Sheesh, I thought men this needlessly polite were extinct. Well, can’t say I’m happy about it, but you all did right by me and this town last night. She’s an adult too, and she can look after herself, from what you said.” Andrea approved. “T-thanks Boss!” Agalia said as she hugged her. “Just one thing. If she gets to be a pain in the ass, then kick her ass back here, alright?”, “B-Boss?!” Andrea and Agalia bickered. “We will look after her, thank you.” Jack said.

“Alright! I’m going to get my stuff and the ride ready, meet me in garage, okay?” she said as she took off. As everyone went get ready, Jack finally noticed something in the living room. There was a picture of a family. In it was a man in mechanic’s clothing with rough, blue hair, accompanied by a woman with dirty blond hair. Between them was a smiling blue haired girl. All of them were smiling. “Wondering about that, huh?” said a voice startling Jack. He saw it was Andrea, who had a somber expression.

“You probably knew earlier that Agalia has actual reasons for hating the Protectorate, not just because there are jackasses in it. Well, that there is the heart of it. The girl there is Agalia, and the goof of a man there is my brother and her father. That woman there is Agalia’s mother, kept my brother in check when I couldn’t. They helped me run things around town, we were a tight knit little community, and a good family.”.

“Well, one day the Protectorate tried dragging the sons of a friend’s family out for drafting. My brother and his wife wouldn’t stand for it, and gave them a good throttle. Then some 2nd Class Inquisitor went and shot them, right in front of Agalia, and took those young boys anyway. Could barely even get Agalia to eat, let alone speak. It took a whole year for the whole settlement to get Agalia to warm up again. We were all glad to have that sweet girl back. Except, ever since then, she hated the Protectorate. Spat at them, threw rocks at them, anything to vent out what she’s still feeling. That’s part of why she got so emotional about the drafting. A huge part of the reason why I’m such a hardass on her is because I don’t want her to end up like her parents.” Andrea lamented.

She turned to face Jack. “Listen, try not to bring this up to her, let her be the first. I just thought you should know in case she does something reckless. At my age, I can’t stop her anymore, so I’m hoping with people like you she will learn to move on and not throw her life away. Sorry to throw all this heavy stuff on you, but that girl’s sake means a lot to me.”. Jack sympathized with the both of them, knowing the pain and frustration of losing family like that, and not wanting to lose anyone, anymore. “Thank you, for telling me that. We will do what we can.” Jack said. “Thanks. Well, you better get a move on. That girl has too much energy, let me tell ya.”.

…

Jack’s company stood in the garage before the unveiled vehicle before them. It was decided not to take the armored tank like vehicle, as it was too slow to outrun pursuits. Fortunately, Agalia said she had a newer, more sleek combat vehicle she made herself. It was some four-wheeled car, somehow both sturdy and sleek. It was well armored, and had a sizable area in the bock for storing weapons. It even had a convertible function, in case of rain, she explained. There were mounted machine guns, fiercer than the ones on his motorcycle, and even a rocket launcher beneath. Whatever unfathomable car this was, there was no way it was legal. Not like that mattered in their case though.

“It is certainly a veritable vessel” Jack said with appreciation. “Thanks, I’ve been working on this badass for a while now, just finished last week. Since we’re going on a long journey and all, I decided to call her, “the Odyssey”.” Agalia said with pride. “The journey and story of the legendary Greek hero?” Jack recalled from his learning in his time. “Yep, inspiring, huh?” Agalia said. “Um, what’s the Odyssey, and what Greek hero?” Ashi asked. They all turned to her in surprise, unable to believe she never even heard of Odysseus, then Jack understood as he remembered her upbringing. “I will tell you the story later, I think you will enjoy it.” Jack said.

“Well Boss, I’m off.” Agalia said as she hugged Andrea goodbye. “Take care of yourself. Just one very important reminder. Watch out for that Cass fellow, he looks like the type that runs out on you.” Andrea said with a distrustful look to Cassius. “Alright, that’s enough! Do I look like womanizing scum to you?!”, “Yes.” she said without hesitation. Cassius sat in the car’s backseat, only capable of grumbling to himself. They all began to pack in the car. Jack thought Agalia was going to be in the driver’s seat, but instead she sat in the back.

“What, you’re the designated driver of this whole road trip, so you should be the one behind the wheel.” she said as she smiled. “V-very well, if you insist. He got into the driver’s seat, with Ashi occupying the opposite one. Though a bit different from a motorcycle, the mechanics were similar enough th omake the connections and understand what they did. Jack gripped the steering wheel and readied the ignition, the bristling engine flaring to life. “Ready to hit the road?” Ashi asked as she looked at him with a smile. “Yes, let’s go.” he said with another smile as the Odyssey drove out of the garage and onto the road leaving the junkyard.

…

“Ughhh, Ooooowww, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow.” cried out a pathetic figure in a full body cast. Resting in this Magnus Protectorate care facility was Dreadskull, who had been literally crushed by the Renegade Samurai a few days prior and now receiving treatment for his severe injuries. If his remaining forces hadn’t found him, he’d probably have died underneath all that wreckage. It would take a long while till he was able again though.

“When I find that Samurai Jackass, I’m gonna…” Dreadskull said before he was interrupted. “Inquisitor, phone for you. It’s Chief Advisor Xander, he wants to talk to you about your mission.” said one of the care staff. “Uh, tell him I’m not here, no tell him I’m still knocked out, just don’t let him…”, “Inquisitor, ahem, “Dreadskull, is it true you failed to stop and eliminate the Samurai?” said a voice from the phone pressed to him. “Ah, well, see that’s a funny story, so you see…”, “Oh, give me that Xander! Theodore, you dumbass! You’re fired!” said the voice of Magnus as he seized the phone line from Xander.

“Wha, fired?! No, wait, Lord Protector, boss man, I can fix this, I, uh, hello, HELLO?!” Dreadskull, or rather, Theodore, as was his real name, pleaded when suddenly the phone line ended and was replaced with beeping. “Ah Shit.”.

Author’s Notes: Whoa, longest chapter yet. I planned a lot for this one, including bringing in a new character to join Jack, plus this new joke villain I came up with. That’s why it took longer than usual to write up this one, plus I’ve been a bit busy, but I spent a lot of thinking and writing here. Agalia is meant to be a more “cheerful” member of Jack’s group, but she’s a bit headstrong and trigger fingered, and you got the spiel about her own tragic past. In other words, she’s kind of this upbeat person carrying quite a bit of negative baggage and trying to hide it. You probably picked up something going on between her and Cassius. Right now, it’s just picking fun at him, but I’ll try to advance it further later.

Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten Jack and Ashi’s relationship, but try to remember, I don’t have much experience with this and romance isn’t my strong suit. Now, Dreadskull, or Theodore, was this joke villain I’ve been thinking up a while now. Samurai Jack has had plenty of joke characters, both good people and villains. So this guy was designed with them in mind, while I tried to be original. If he’s the same as another fictional character, sorry I didn’t know, not trying to plagiarize.

When I started, I was trying to think up a shtick, as most SJ villains have one, usually making them eccentric. I remembered the DJ from the original one, and I think Scaramouche is still rather fresh for everyone, so I decided to make another music loving villain, and chose death metal. I don’t hate death metal, not trying to trash it either, just thought it give him real flair. As part of the joke though, he sucks at it. I used the fact that I can’t write lyrics to save my life to help with that, haha. I kept him alive for that last gut punch at the end, plus I’m thinking up to bring him one more or even two more times later, in Arcs 2 and 3. Let’s just say he will be jamming that guitar again with a certain Season 5 flute lover.

Now, I’m going to take a break, because I’m exhausted now, but I already got ideas for VIII. Jack’s group will be helping a group inspired by a faction from a videogame I love as they face a mutant plague, the Abominables. I’ll have one more chapter after that where Jack will be facing an Inquisitor who follows bushido customs like him and press more guilt onto Jack, and then we’ll be looking at the shocking end of Arc 1. Man, I just want to write this stuff now, but I’m so tired. Till next time, enjoy!

#samurai jack #renegade samurai #fanfic #chapter

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ruffledfog · 7 years

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Title: Lamppost (Read it on AO3)

Fandom: Haikyuu!!

Pairing: Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru/Hinata Shouyou (IwaOiHina)

Rating: Teen

Warnings: None

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For Oikawa and Iwaizumi, falling in love with each other was a long montage of awkwardness. It wasn't so much of a fall, as a climb to the realization that they had always been in love with each other. That they had always wanted to wake up together since they had figured out what love was. The climb was filled with awkwardness and stumbling, some setbacks, and leaps forward into the unknown. They built their new relationship together, on the back of their friendship.

Falling in love with Hinata was much like falling in love with each other. Except it was a lot more unexpected. Their fall for Hinata was filled with quiet, sunny moments. It was during these moments where everything else would cease to matter. In these moments, Hinata shined like the sun, and they shined with him.

Iwaizumi was the first to fall for Hinata's smile. He realized it too late, however. Oikawa hadn't been far behind Iwaizumi in falling in love with him. The weekend, when they had both realized their feelings for Hinata, was dubbed “Oh Shit” Weekend in their heads. They both were worried about what the other would think- and how it would affect them. Of course, when each of them had separately come to the conclusion that they had feelings for Hinata, they each proceeded to avoid the topic like the plague.

Needless to say, copious amounts of ice cream and junk food were consumed in the days following Oh Shit Weekend.

By the time Oikawa and Iwaizumi had gathered the courage to actually talk to each other, the Aoba Johsai team had at least 3 running bets on what they were arguing about. Oikawa had looked serious as they were walking home, and Iwaizumi had worried about him between worrying about his feelings towards Hinata. Oikawa had pulled him aside on the street just before they turned the corner to their houses, not exactly meeting his eyes. He then preceded to very quickly word vomit the fact that he maybe-kinda has feelings for Hinata, and he still loves Iwaizumi, he means, ah, ah-

He was abruptly interrupted by obnoxious laughter coming from Iwaizumi. His eyes widened. A tentative smile appeared, "So mean Iwa-chan, here I am pouring my heart out to you-"

Iwaizumi just kept laughing, shaking his head slightly, and letting his worries wash away. "Y- you- you're an idiot. Who isn't in love with Hinata at this point?"

Nobody won that bet. ~~ Oikawa and Iwaizumi went back to normal, well as normal as they could be, during practice and school, with the exception that they started sneaking off more and more often. To do what, nobody had any idea. The team assumed they were sneaking off to make out, and they would… not be wrong. Still, Oikawa and Iwaizumi were only making out when they snuck out 5% of the time. This, what with the amount of time they were not sneaking off, was not that much. The other 94% of the time they were sneaking off, they were spending it on a small volleyball court (where else) with Hinata. The other 1% they were walking him home, eating ice cream and drawing stories out of him, basking in the sun that shone even in the evening light.

It was during that 1% of the time they spent with Hinata that things changed… for the better.

Now that their feelings, unrestrained by worry, were free they fell even deeper in love with Hinata. With the way, his smile almost split his face, the way his eyes crinkled up whenever he laughed, the way his passion for sports that transferred over to his passion for his friends. Neither of the older ones was quite sure what the three of them were, but Hinata seemed happy talking with them, which satisfied them both for now. Satisfied with the way that Hinata would smile at them and the way the setting sun would highlight his features and make his hair even more vibrant if that was possible. They both tried to enjoy the time they spent with him as much as they could, especially since they didn’t get the opportunity as much as they would like.

Making the most of their time obviously meant that they spent every moment they could talking, teasing, and laughing. Until, surprisingly, it was Iwaizumi that made the first move. ~ It was in the evening and the three were walking to their normal midway point where they would part ways with Hinata, in between their houses (really, why did they have to live so far apart). They stopped at the old, rusted lamppost that shone a spotlight on their corner. Chatter had begun to slow as they reached the lamppost, evening settling in around them.

It was quiet for a second. Crickets chirped, and the lamp flickered once. Then it happened.

Iwaizumi paused for a moment and preemptively called himself a dumbass (his inner dialogue was something along the lines of 'oh god. I’m about to do something incredibly Oikawa-like aren't I.'). He sucked in a breath and tried to gain courage from the cold night air- it wasn’t working. As Oikawa and Hinata turned to him to ask what was wrong, Hinata in front of him by just a step- he could just lean down- and- he kissed Hinata.

It was chaste and sweet and perfect. He could feel the pause in Hinata's motions, the settling of the energy he always held, the almost freeze- and Iwaizumi started to pull back, to rethink, to worry before Hinata kissed back. It was just the light press of lips to his own, taking a step forward to meet him, but his lips were soft and inviting.

His blood rushed, his focus stifling any noise that might have distracted him from the moment, stifling the flow of thoughts other than - Hinata, soft lips, Hinata, warm, Hinata... Hands came up to grasp the sides of Iwaizumi’s face. Hinata's eyes fell closed as his nose scrunched slightly. Iwaizumi’s breath hitched, taking in the sensation of the warmth emanating from Hinata as he stepped forward to embrace him as much as he could. Hands grasped the little fireball's hips, and- it's over. Their noses bumped and Iwaizumi had instinctively pulled away-

He pulled back, just a bit, and stammered "I'm sorry- I- didn’t- ah- shit-" his voice was now hoarse. He tried to come up with a good explanation and found that he had none. He hadn’t planned this out at all. He glanced at Hinata. His eyes were still shut, almost as if he was savoring the kiss. Iwaizumi's eyebrows drew together, he had probably made a mistake, somewhere, he had made a mistake when he became friends with this little fireball. He had fallen for him along the way and now he had gone and messed it up. He didn't want to lose Hinata as a friend, even if he couldn't have him as a lover. ~ Hinata blinked slowly, opening his eyes wide. There was no way that Iwaizumi had kissed him. No way, this was some kind of weird (awesome) dream. Hinata pinched himself.

His surprise at being kissed was only rivaled by the surprise that it had been Iwaziumi that had kissed him. Don't get him wrong, Iwaizumi was a good friend, but Hinata had never considered... Not with… anyone, not specifically. Now, though, Half-forgotten dreams of being cuddled by two people jumped to the front of his mind. Dreams of holding a calloused hand and a soft one on either side. Getting ice cream together with a laughing smirk, and kissing.

And, wow, did that sound nice or what, now especially so because he finally knew what it was like to kiss someone! Especially if that someone was Iwaizumi … or Oikawa…

Then Hinata was smiling. It was smile 52, one of Iwaizumi’s personal favorites. It was the one he made when he had discovered something amazing in volleyball, except this time it was directed at him and Oikawa.

The lamppost flickered some more. The flickering in time with the beating of Hinata’s heartbeat. In the background, Oikawa whined, "Iwa-chan, I wanted to do that first!" Iwaizumi didn’t hear him, still mentally freaking out. Hinata did, though.

His gaze shot towards Oikawa, his eyes widening even more. Oikawa held out a hand, smiling wolfishly, "Come here, Hinata, I'll show you what a real kiss is."

Hinata took his hand, still wide-eyed, immediately being spun into Oikawa's grasp. Oikawa held him like that for just a moment and studied Hinata's face and lips. From the surprise in his eyes to the sweep of his nose. Taking his beauty in and running his thumb over his lips as Oikawa's hands come up from Hinata's waist to frame his face. The tension racks up as Oikawa slowly, so slowly, as to savor the moment, leaned in to take Hinata's lips. It was similar to Iwaizumi's kiss at first, chaste and sweet. And then it wasn't.

Hinata made a little gasp at the contact - Oikawa could get addicted to that sound - Oikawa pushed Hinata's smaller, flushed lips open. At the insistent push of his lips and tongue, Hinata let his mouth fall open, blood rushing to his face in embarrassment, and not just a little bit of pleasure. His heartbeat sped and a gasp escapes his captured lips. The tiny, almost kitten like moan that came out made Oikawa want to devour him for ages, not even half a minute into the kiss.

Iwaizumi, quietly muttering something to himself to the side (it sounded a bit like, 'Ohh ohno no. no. no.'), gaped at the sound he could just barely hear. He looked towards the couple that was kissing under the spotlight of the lamppost and sucked in a breath at the sight. They were both beautiful, perfectly illuminated by the spotlight, he couldn't help but be a bit jealous.

Then Hinata broke away from the kiss, lips red and rough, his hair mussed, breathing very unsteady. He stared at Oikawa for a moment before looking behind him, towards Iwaizumi, as if he had heard his thoughts. He smiled that blinding smile, reaching out his hand in a mimic of Oikawa's movement earlier. Iwaizumi took the hand stepping towards them, wondering if he could stay in this moment forever.

Everything felt right, though. Like the when you went out to play in the rain with your best friend(s) as a child and came back in sopping wet, dripping everywhere, laughing. When you watched the sun come out afterward and smiled so much it felt like your face was going to split. It was like that, but with more kissing.

#writing #writerscommunity #writers #my writing #original

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psychicdan · 7 years

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Chapter VII: As Jack, Ashi, and their new companion travel across Magnus's domain, they are ambushed by the forces of the Magnus Protectorate. They are soon helped by a young able mechanic, who requests their help to save her friends. But to do so, Jack must face the Inquisitor there, a new lethal adversary who is a...death metal artist?

Samurai Jack: Renegade Samurai

Rating M for graphic depictions, language, violence and suggestive themes

Warning:

Chapter VII: Mechanics and Death Metal

…

#samurai jack #renegade samurai #fanfic #chapter

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