#arrested for danny related crimes

[asharkapologist]

Unpopular Criminal Case Opinion #1

HUGE SPOILERS FOR PACIFIC BAY

The moment he killed Danny, Frank became irredeemable.

as promised, tagging @blenderscientist and @therealziggystardustfr

Just a heads up, this isn't an analysis of Frank as a character. This is me expressing an opinion about a certain part of his character.

And yes, that opinion is what is in the subtitle, which of course I'll explain.

For one, Danny was a LITERAL CHILD. HE WAS SEVENTEEN. Just because he was tried as an adult for killing Louis, that doesn't mean he WAS an adult, and the fandom forgets that too often. This is partially, the game's fault, too, because before Danny is killed, the game/characters refer to him as a boy/kid frequently, but after he dies, he's referred to as a boy like ONCE by Amy, but mostly, including in the very case he is murdered in, he is referred to as a man for some reason? Danny's killer wasn't even caught yet, and the game was already trying to downplay the severity of Frank killing a teenager.

I am also not trying to justify Danny killing Louis. Obviously, that was wrong, but Danny deserved prison time, not getting electrocuted. (I have my own beef with Danny getting 50 years while adults who commit hate crimes and/or dismember their victims get literal decades less than a minor, but that's a complaint for another day). But regardless of what Danny did, that does NOT justify Frank killing him, especially because Frank killed Danny for reasons unrelated to Danny killing Louis.

Speaking of those reasons, the reasons Frank killed Danny were VERY selfish. He literally killed Danny because Danny was going to expose Frank's crimes--which amounted to obstruction of justice and helping a heist, which probably wouldn't have gotten him arrested, just fired, because the police in CC can get away with more than regular civilians can (Jones getting away with holding Marconi at GUNPOINT comes to mind). But when faced with the possibility that Danny was going to tell Frank's friends he was the police mole, Frank decides to up his crimes to murder, and decided to VERY PAINFULLY kill Danny.

I could maybe say that Frank would be redeemable if Danny's murder was a spur-of-the-moment thing where Frank shot Danny suddenly or something, but the murder Frank committed was VERY pre-meditated. He had to modify the stun gun. He had to grab the whiskey bottle. He had to lay the spike strip. He drove Danny to the station. There were plenty of times Frank could have stopped and thought, "wtf am I doing?" But he didn't.

TW FOR DISCUSSION OF INJURIES RELATED TO ELECTROCUTION

And another point against Frank is the fact that the way he killed Danny was? So unnecessarily cruel? Frank has a gun, and he proved in Sting of Death he is very good at using it. So why on earth did he not just SHOOT Danny? Why did he waste time tinkering with a stun gun to make it lethal? And do you realize how PAINFUL electrocution is? I won't go into extreme detail, but basically, being electrocuted can cause burns and can cause convulsions extreme enough that you can literally dislocate limbs and tear tendons, ligaments, etc. And look at Danny in the crime scene. It is clear just from a glance that he died in absolute agony.

Also, put yourself in Danny's shoes. You're a teenager who's agreed to be an informant for the police, but you're trapped with the adult man that you have dirt on. You strongly suspect that he wants to kill you, and you know that because he knows that you know said dirt, he doesn't want to let you live. And then he crashes the car you're in, drags you out of the car, looks you in the eyes, and electrocutes you.

Now, you may say, "but Frank felt bad." Yeah, he did, but that did not change the fact that he wanted to get away with the murder, and he still COMMITTED it when he had many opportunities not to. Even though Frank wanted to gain his family back, especially his daughters, Frank, a FATHER, decided the best course of action would be to murder a child.

And all this brings me to The Final Countdown. Frank died not atoning for or making up for Danny's death or whatever, but trying to fix a problem he helped cause. It was because of Frank helping the heist that he was able to snatch the plutonium, which led to Tesla gaining power and nearly blowing up Pacific Bay. Frank was trying to fix that. He was not trying to make amends for Danny's death--not like he really could. Because Danny is dead, thanks to Frank.

And all of what I just said about how bad Danny's death was is forgotten by the game. Frank murdering a teenager in cold blood is swept under the rug in favor of giving Frank a police funeral that he does not deserve. "We forgive you Frank for betraying us!" That's nice, but you are not who he hurt the most.

(Not helping Frank's case is fans will genuinely sometimes make up stuff about Danny to make him look worse, if they acknowledge Danny at all.)

Justice for Danny Moto. He was a very troubled teenager who deserved prison time, yes of course, but never did anything deserving getting painfully murdered by someone who was later honored as a hero, with no one in the game really caring about what Frank did to Danny by the end of the game.

What Frank did to Danny was unforgivable.

#criminal case #criminal case game #criminal case facebook #criminal case pacific bay #pacific bay #frank knight #danny moto

[avaritia-apotheosis]

Phantom Children Ch. 9

In which: a story is told and Danny isn't the type of guy to do nothing. Not yet.

Ft. a very important author's note at the end

AO3 | Prologue | 8| [ 9 ] | 10

IT GOES LIKE THIS: A man named Fredrick Isak Showenhower was born into a family obsessed with ghosts. The Showenhower’s were collectors and scholars of the antiquated and esoteric, specifically, they collected artifacts that were related to ghosts or ghost-adjacent things. Their lineage spanned centuries, each member collecting and studying and compiling knowledge to pass onto the next generation of Showenhower’s, who participated in the very same cycle.

But they were very careful to keep their information secret.

Ghosts were territorial over their obsession. And Showenhowers, having lived their lives so close to these specters, were much the same. Their ghostly knowledge was their own, and any Showenhower worth their salt would rather die than share it with anyone else.

While Fredrick Isak Showenhower bore the same thirst of knowledge as his ancestors, he did not share their love of ghosts. Once upon a time, he might have. But years of loneliness in his childhood, always placed second in his parents’ hearts next to ghosts, wore down that love. Twisted it into vicious envy and a need to prove his own superiority to ghosts.

So for years he would toil through the treasure trove of knowledge his ancestors passed down for him, researching and dabbling in esoteric arts long since forgotten, in an attempt to satiate this desire. His efforts bore fruit in the form of a mystical orb that glowed a deep carmine red. Infuse it with a bit of magic, and Fredrik Isak Showenhower— now renaming himself Freakshow— had the power to bring any ghost to heel.

Perhaps he was petty in his use of it. Robbery was hardly imaginative when one has the power to command the undead in hand. But exorbitant wealth was more than enough to sate his ambitions, and Freakshow’s parents had spent too long ingraining the importance of keeping a low enough profile to preserve the safety of the Showenhower’s that Freakshow had never been too ostentatious in his crimes.

That all changed when he took his circus to the godforsaken town of Amity Park, where his magical orb, and all his life’s work, were shattered. In the time between his initial defeat by Phantom and his harebrained scheme to control reality via the Reality Gauntlet, Freakshow had been attempting to amass all the resources he needed to remake the orb. Though completed once again, the artifact eventually fell to the wayside and nearly forgotten when Freakshow had to rescue Lydia from the hands of the Ghost Investigation Ward. And by then, he was too focused on the thrum of infinite cosmic power that the gauntlet promised to remember a measly little artifact like that.

But the GIW didn’t forget.

Time in their holding cells was enough to convince Freakshow to reveal the location of one of his many hideouts. (Despite his own hatred of ghosts, Freakshow was a Showenhower . Stubborn to the core and intensely territorial of the knowledge his family had hoarded for centuries. For his own sake, he would give the GIW an inch, a mere speck of the wide ocean of information his family had, but nothing more.)

It was one of the GIW’s greatest accomplishments, raiding and ‘recovering’ the meticulous research and artifacts of the Showenhower family. But even with that, it wasn’t enough to stop the eventual shutdown of the branch. One victory was hardly enough to excuse so many failures.

Besides, the ghostly threat seemed to be well contained within one city. CADMUS had more than enough threats to take care of that putting this one on the backburner seemed fine.

This proved to be a mistake; one they had yet to realize the magnitude of.

---

Talia succinctly described the situation to Danny, with each new piece of information further deepening the furrow between his brows.

Bad news: Freakshow’s arrest gave the GIW more information and artifacts related to ghosts than they had any right to have. Information that Danny basically gave to them on a silver platter, being the one to hand Freakshow off, anyway.

Good news: The GIW was dismantled. Less people to shoot at him.

Worse news: Someone raided and stole from CADMUS facilities. While the ghost artifacts weren’t the only things taken, the perpetrator remained unknown and has yet to reveal their intentions.

Even worse news: Whether the thief knew of the Orb’s purpose or not, there’s now rumors in underground circles of a secret auction—  one that supposedly held all the stolen CADMUS tech.

“I have to stop the auction.”

Talia tightened her grip on Danny’s arm. “Your job is to stay here and stay safe .”

Danny wrenched out of her hold. “It’s my fault that the artifact's loose, anyway. If that thing gets unleashed on Amity Park— could you even imagine what kind of chaos that’ll make?” Freakshow only used it to steal things, and who knows how much he got away with. If someone like the Joker or Braniac or Lex fucking Luthor (who’s Vlad but 20 times worse) got their hands on it…

Danny didn’t even want to think about it.

“That is exactly why you need to stay here,” Talia said, her tone sharper than the biting cold and left no room for a retort. “Tell me, Daniel, are you truly certain you could overcome the artifact’s control?”

He flinched.

“You are far from incapable, Daniel, make no mistake about that. But in this , you are a liability and a danger to everyone in the worst case scenario. Here, with the League, you will be safe.”

His core burned , harsh and freezing like liquid nitrogen.

( Safe?=No-dangerhere-dangerdanger-mustgo-mustprote—)

He grit his teeth, hands curling into fists. His core screamed at him to flyaway-takeaction-gogogo— and it took all his will to tell it no .

Because Talia was right.

Throwing himself headfirst into finding the orb was tantamount to suicide. It was by sheer stroke of luck, Freakshow underestimating him, and Sam nearly being flattened on the train tracks that Danny was able to break free from the artifact’s hold. There was no guarantee he’d be lucky the next time.

But he wasn’t going to just stand by and do nothing .

“You won’t,” said Talia. “The auction is the most opportune time to take the artifact back without scaring the thief into going underground once more. Once we have confirmed the time and location, we’ll have no trouble in stealing it.”

She continued. “But we cannot go in there blind. What the League needs from you, what Ra’s al Ghul needs from you, is your cooperation.”

He clenched his jaw. “What do I need to do?”

----

The trek back to the inner sanctum of Nanda Parbat was made in silence. Talia subtly let her son take the lead to test his navigational skills. Daniel had a surprisingly keen sense of direction, leading them back to the compound with no incident despite having only been on the path once before.

Though perhaps it was not that surprising, given his previous circumstance.

Initially tight-lipped when first asked, Ra’s al Ghul convinced Daniel to divulge what he knew of the ghosts that plagued Amity Park. Daniel, while clever in his attempts at disclosing as little information as possible, told them enough about the world beyond the veil to get a general sense of its workings.

The Ghost Zone, or the Infinite Realms as it was formally called, existed as a mirror to the material world. Where mountains, rivers, cities, and buildings in their world remained, for the most part, stationary, such was not true for the Ghost Zone. There, floating islands would constantly sail in the endless sea of ectoplasmic energy. There one moment, but gone the next. Maps with detailed coordinates were next to useless in that dimension, and so Daniel and his friends had to resort to more unique methods.

Eventually he observed that, while the coordinates of any location kept changing, the pattern of which major islands or landmarks would exist in, stayed constant. Whether they were fifteen miles or five thousand miles away from their original location, Island A would always be to the south of Island B which was always next to Island C. This pattern never changed no matter what direction or speed objects would move in to traverse the Zone. It would make sense then, that Daniel would develop a sharper directional sense and a heightened awareness of his surroundings.

Yet—at this Talia frowned—his acting could use some work.

She could see it in the rigid line of his spine. The way his eyes would shift— behind to look at her, to his sides, to the open skies above. How his fists would clench and unclench.

Daniel was not the type of boy to stand back and do nothing. Especially so if he knew his family were in danger. He was like his father in that regard; capable, dangerous, but unwilling to put aside his own sentimentality for the sake of a higher cause.

She could see the signs as plain as day. Daniel was going to risk running.

---

So to explain where I've been....

University. This semester was just so much stress and I just didn't have enough time to think about this fic much less write it. I had some scenes written and a loose outline planned but all of that ended up being a moot point when my laptop malfunctioned to the point that the only way to save my laptop was to do a hard factory reset. So I ended up losing all of my notes and whatnot for Phantom Children were gone.

I'll be real with you guys, I really want to just rewrite this fic from the beginning. I don't want to give up this idea but I don't like how the story is progressing nor do I like what I've written so far. I started this fic on impulse and a vague idea of how an al ghul!danny might go on, but at this point I feel like I'm just rushing the story just so he could meet the bats.

I know this probably isn't the best thing to here from a writer after a long hiatus, but would rewriting this fic be ok with you guys?

#danny phantom #batman #danny phantom x batman crossover #dp fic #phantom children.txt

[enigma2meagain]

The Insidious Appeal of the “Monty’s Vision” Conspiracies by Matt0055.

He makes a pretty compelling point in regards to why the Monty’s Vision Conspiracy tends to stick so hard. Be sure to go and throw the guy a like or something, especially his post on Reddit.

WARNING: Spoilers for the Crime Drama Broadchurch!

(warning: I will hold back on major spoilers for Broadchurch but I might dip into minor ones for the sake of my points).

Season Two of BBC’s crime drama, Broadchurch, takes place in the fallout of the solved murder of young Daniel Latimer where the killer is put on trial and pleads not guilty despite that we saw them confess to everything. The legal team defending the perp spends much of the new courtroom drama twisting events of the previous seasons to make their client look like the real victim.

Much of the lawyer’s words spin a yarn that suggests that what was official reported of the case’s resoluton was fabricated at best. She suggests that Alec and Ellie were desperate to bring in anybody with the pressure put on them that they beat a confession out of who we know was the killer.

They even try to pin Danny’s father as the true perpetrator due to an affair he was having on the night his son died, suggesting Mark killed his son in desperation to keep him silent. I don’t think I have to tell fans of the show that this nearly made me sick to my stomach. We knew what the truth was. We saw the truth in Season One yet here’s this slime ball trying to rewrite the narrative.

What made it chilling was that I could imagine myself as the impartial jurors, hanging onto every word and starting to actually think, “Maybe… she’s right.” They weren’t there to see what the detectives investigated. They weren’t there to see the killer caught and confess up front. What if the story wasn’t as straightforward as officials claim it to be? What if… there was more?

Isn’t that more hooking? Wouldn’t it be more… satisfying if it wasn’t as straightforward as, “boy killed, killer arrested,” but rather a complex web of deceit? It might not be the truth and is clearly based on extrapolation rather than actual concrete evidence… but it sounds like a damn good story, don’t it?

And that is how the “Monty’s Vision” discourse sustains itself.

Tell me which narrative sounds more compelling:

“Monty Oum regularly collaborated with Miles Luna as well as Kerry Shawcross to flesh out his raw ideas for characters and storylines, It was a team effort that involved many others contributing be it off-the-cuff or long term. After Monty’s passing, Miles and Kerry took it hard but knew that it was important to see RWBY through the best they could with their ever expanding team.”

Vs.

“Monty Oum wrote the whole of RWBY volume by volume on his own, considering ideas from Miles and Kerry when need be. He was a visionary, an auteur who had to deal with corporate stooges looking for a quick buck. With his passing, Miles and Kerry saw to it that they make RWBY into a shameless cash cow with nary regard for quality of the story or action.”

Admittedly, I skimmed a bit on both but a former fan of RWBY would find more satisfaction to their frustrations with the latter narrative. It’s not enough for Monty to have died while leaving big shoes to fill. It has to be an secret plan to ruin his vision for the sake of capitol. What, is the show… just not doing it for you anymore period?

It's how many have bought into that one open letter even to this day. It's the classic if cliche story of the creative versus the corporate. Of an honest man's vision versus unscrupulous greed. What's the one thing that most Millennials advocate for most than eating the rich?

Thus YouTube grifters like Hero_Hei get to make bank over the dissatisfaction of miffed fans looking for an answer, peddling stories of “what’s happening behind the scenes” that are hyperbolic at best and fabricated at worst. They need to keep this hate train a-chugging because any acceptance of the truth means that they can’t get the views the need.

The worst part? I get it. I’ve occasionally fallen for the some of the less egregious conspiracies for fear of the worst. However, Tumblr Meta as well as actually good video essays such as by Hypeathon/Team SKGA helped me realize that it really wasn’t anything that... bombastic.

I always asked myself this whenever I run into this: Is a video essay or blog post convincing because it’s based on actual official sources or because it’s just like a documentary you saw on HBO?

Check here for other RWBY related posts: https://enigma2meagain.tumblr.com/rwbyposts

#monty's vision #monty's vision conspiracy #rwby conspiracy #miles luna #kerry shawcross #monty oum #monty oum conspiracy #rwby #r/rwby

[ashintheairlikesnow]

how many people have seen the videos bram made of danny?

There's no accurate number, sadly. These videos were hosted on a specific site that is difficult to access without connections and the right knowledge. After that, it is believed some were disseminated more widely.

To date, more than two dozen individuals arrested for related crimes have been found to have one of these videos, if not several, saved. Abraham Denner is believed to have several thousand potential subscribers at varying levels, and it is known that he would take large payments in exchange for specific forms of torture being inflicted and filmed for the audience.

Unfortunately, this does mean that Danny is always wondering, if someone looks just a little too long, if they recognize him from more than just the magazines and news stories.

#anon asks for danny #bram asks #noncon referenced

[uncloseted]

Why is it that so many famous people turn out to be horrible people? I feel like most of the time irl I meet people and they are fairly normal, albeit flawed but not dangerous. However, I feel like a majority of actors, musicians, and famous influencers regularly are exposed for doing really heinous illegal things. Is there some kind of correlation between fame and feeling more inclined to do wrong? Are morally flawed people more likely to gain fame and notoriety because of the way they are?

I think the premise you're starting with here is a little flawed. Of course, some actors, musicians, or influencers do illegal things, but I definitely don't think it's "a majority", or even a sizable minority. And I'm not convinced that famous people are statistically more likely to commit a crime than normal people. I mean, think about it- the majority of criminals are totally random individuals. And even amongst celebrities who have been arrested for a crime, they're mostly drug related or DUIs, which I wouldn't describe as "really heinous".

We can actually run some (unscientific) math on this. As of 2013, about 0.00041% of all English-speaking people worldwide are famous enough to have a Wikipedia page. That includes all celebrities- scientists, fashion designers, news presenters, social thinkers, sportspeople, tattoo artists, etc. If we assume all of those people are American (which we know they aren't), that would work out to about 41 celebrities being arrested each year.

Now let's look at a list of celebrities who were arrested in 2021 and what they were arrested for:

Yella Beezy: weapon possession, sexual assault

Fetty Wap: drug trafficking

Alyssa Milano: protesting outside the White House

Flavor Flav: domestic battery

Hayes Grier: violent robbery

Andy Dick: assault with a deadly weapon

Alex Caruso: possession of marijuana

Polo G: battery on a police officer

Drake Bell: endangerment of children

Bonnie Somerville: DUI

Joshua Duggar: child porn

Jen Shah: telemarketing scam

Johnny Damon: DUI

Adam Jones: misdemeanor assault

Silento: murder

Chad Wheeler: domestic violence

Trey Songz: assaulting a police officer

Jussie Smollett: disorderly conduct

Joanne Horowitz: assaulting a police officer

Cecil Ray Baker: burglary

Ronnie Ortiz-Magro: domestic violence

Bill Hutchison: sexual assault

T.I.: texting while biking in Amsterdam

Nicholas Brendon: prescription fraud

Luke Petitgout: assault

Jason Alexander: security violation

Joe Don Rooney: DUI

Jason London: public intoxication

G-Eazy: assault

Tyga: domestic violence

Matthew Gwynne: breaking and entering

DaBaby: gun possession

Pooh Shiesty: armed robberty, battery, theft

Zack Scott: DWI (asleep behind the wheel while stopped at a traffick light)

Norman Reedus: assault

Marcus Maye: DUI

Danny Carey: assault

That's only 37 celebrities that I could find who were arrested (not necessarily changed with a crime) in 2021, which is actually a few less than we would expect. And of those arrests, at least a few aren't really what I would call "heinous", although some definitely are.

Which kind of lines up with what I expected. My experience with the celebrities I've met in real life are mostly like the experiences you've had with people in real life. They're fairly normal people just kind of living their lives. If anything, Most of them are nicer than they need to be given how many random people they interact with every day.

That said, there are a few reasons why celebrities may seem more likely to be bad people, or to commit crimes that are more high profile.

I think the largest factor is just that celebrities are being scrutinized all the time by everyone. If you or I have a bad day where we yell at someone, it's likely that nobody will see it. But if you're a celebrity, the chance that someone will record you yelling is much higher, and that moment in your life becomes very hard to erase. Every time you do something else that people deem "bad", that moment will also resurface. And if you're a celebrity, you're disproportionately likely to have frustrating interactions with other people, because people are constantly approaching you all day long and treating you like a commodity instead of a person.

The same goes for social media posts- I think most of us have probably posted a bad take online, or complained about something out of frustration without thinking it through. Those tweets are unlikely to resurface for someone who isn't famous. But if you're famous and someone is looking to "cancel" you, they'll dig through tweets from before you were famous, looking for "evidence" of your wrongdoings. So any "bad take" is impossible to erase, even if you delete it from your account. These types of celebrity scandals are also more likely to be reported on in the media, to be commented on by everyone you know, and to be taken out of their original context, sometimes making the celebrity look worse than they actually are.

The type of person who can become a celebrity may also contribute to their behaviors. Many famous people come from famous families, which both provides them a certain amount of privilege when it comes to the consequences of their actions but also makes them more likely to come from a situation that's in some way dysfunctional. The combination of those two factors may make them more likely to act out without believing that their actions have real-world consequences. Some celebrities develop a condition called "acquired situation narcissism", where they develop traits of narcissistic personality disorder as a result of the lack of social norms and controls in their lives, as well as continually being told how special or important they are and being surrounded by "yes men". For celebrities who became famous as children, I think this is especially true because they've never really known a world where they can't do whatever they want, but they also often have the pressure of being the breadwinner for their families. The type of pressure that comes along with being famous is also too much for people sometimes, which can lead them to developing mental health issues. When every action of yours is monitored, reported on, and criticized by the world, it makes sense how you might act in desperate ways to deal (or to get people to stop paying attention to you, or to regain control of your life).

Coupled with that, much of the time, celebrities are also people with other levels of privilege- they're beautiful, wealthy, connected, etc. - which means that they are more protected from consequences in certain situations. And I think there's also a personality type at play; entertainment is a very competitive industry, so many of the people who make it have a certain amount of ruthlessness to them, which can manifest in bad behavior in other ways.

Finally, I think it's just power. People who have enough fame, money, and connections can get access to pretty much anything they want, legal or illegal, and I think some of them are curious how far that can be pushed. And I think others are kind of on a version of the hedonic treadmill, where they can get whatever they want at all times, so the things that are novel or interesting to them become increasingly dangerous or difficult to obtain.

[tonio-dawson]

The Perfect Trap

OC x Antonio Dawson

Crossover Blue Bloods x Chicago PD

Words: 4,401

A/N: This is my very first crossover, please be nice :) This story follows the life of Maggie Reagan, twin sister of Jamie Reagan which makes her the youngest of the Reagan family. For context, here is the Reagan family tree. This story took place in New York, I might be writing another one that takes place in Chicago so we can focus on the CPD Intelligence Unit. Hope you like it!

---

"I have to say I don't like this one bit," Frank Reagan finally spoke. “Dad, we’ve talked about this,” said Danny. 

“Yes and I gave it a go, but I just want to say again I don’t like this idea,” Frank gazed to his youngest.

“None of us like it any more than you do,” Maggie answered, all eyes were on her and her fiancee who sat next to her, clenching his jaw. He gave it a long pause, “We can still call it off,” his raspy voice sounded heavy and his remark raised many eyebrows, “Hey! Don’t do this to me brother,” Danny complained, pointing his fork to his soon-to-be brother in law. “Easy, Daniel,” said Henry at the end of the table, trying to calm his eldest grandson.

Maggie Reagan is the youngest of the Reagan family. She followed her family legacy, entering the police academy around the same time as her twin Jamie, but she moved to Chicago wanting a clean slate without the burden of her last name in New York. On the job for eight years, now she’s working as a junior detective in Narcotics. Maggie met Antonio Dawson on a joint operation with the Intelligence Unit two years ago and started dating not long after. Much to her surprise, Antonio quickly grew very close to her family including his hot-headed brother, Danny. Apparently being a hard willed yet by-the-book cop was the ticket to be loved by the entire Reagan family. A big reason why it was rather easy to get all of their blessings to put a ring on Maggie’s finger six month prior to this dinner.

So, the commotion at the Sunday dinner table isn’t about their wedding at all. Danny, who had been picking Antonio’s brain for a lot of his cases, finally caught a big one. Danny’s case this time has become an official police matter between CPD and NYPD, both wanting to keep feds out of it. Teo Rodriguez, who ran a drug ring five years ago in Chicago has resurfaced in New York. Back then, Teo managed to avoid any conviction thanks to the loyalty of his crew  in Chicago. None of them gave Teo up and no crime that he pulled had hard evidence against him. Though he remains free in Chicago, CPD made sure that his operation was crippled and that Teo cannot do business in Chicago again. Not long after a major operation to convict all of his crews, Teo skipped town and fell off the CPD radar. 

A couple of months prior, Danny caught execution-style homicides in Harlem with markings over the victims. It’s obvious that this is gang-related killings, but he never saw these markings before. He had been banging his heads as that was already a third homicide, the killer had definitely been playing with him but he was no close in identifying him. Not until he shared it with Antonio who filled him with useful information. With Antonio and CPD’s aid, Danny came close to locating Teo, but he ran with the same old problem: without hard evidence, they didn’t have enough to convict him. 

They’re back to square one. And so, Antonio and Danny came up with an idea - a risky one. Setting up a trap. Knowing Teo, everything is an eye for an eye. Five years ago, when Antonio arrested Teo’s second-in-command, Pedro, CPD held his 10-year-old son and threatened him to give the kid up to social service and never to see him again if Pedro didn’t give himself up. Pedro finally came to the precinct and had himself arrested. However not 24 hours later, Diego, Antonio’s son went missing. He was finally found unharmed, but they could never connect Diego's abduction to Teo.

The idea was to provoke Teo by revealing Antonio and have him arrest Teo’s sister who lives in New York. They hoped that if Teo took the bait and made the connection, his next move would be taking Maggie into hostage. Being Danny’s sister and Antonio’s girlfriend, Maggie is the perfect trap. They would then set up surveillance and wiretap on Teo, so they could finally catch him red-handed. This is of course an operation with a lot of ifs. And a huge risk for Maggie. Antonio had second-doubting his idea at least a hundred times but Danny convinced him to go with it. With Frank’s blessing, the operation was a go. It’s a risky idea, but a necessary one.

On the dining table, Antonio shook his head looking at Maggie, “Sorry. I know this is my idea and everything, but...,” “Hey, it’s our idea,” Danny corrected. “Yeah Danny, that’s why we all don’t like the idea,” said Jamie, which earned a chuckle from everyone. Danny scoffed, he really likes his future in-law, but doesn't like the detective popularity contest at the dining table. 

“It’s the only way out if we want to get this scumbag,” said Maggie. Frank let out a sigh, “Do what you got to do. But please, be safe,” Frank shot a look at Antonio and Danny. “In case you forget, we are the three finest detectives in the country, Dad,” Danny replied with a smile while Antonio kept clenching his jaw, wondering just how things can go. 

---

A few days later, they started the operation. “Teo Rodriguez!” Danny shouted, he rounded the street near Teo’s apartment, catching him just after he exited the building. “Oh if it isn’t my favorite Detective,” Teo replied with a smug, “What is it? If you have another conspiracy theory, I’m not interested. Already said I have nothing to do with your homicides,” he tried to walk off but Danny stopped him. “It’s not that, I thought you wanted to see something. Come with me,” Teo didn’t comply at first but he finally gave up when Danny revealed her sister’s name. 

Danny took Teo to central booking, across the hall, behind the bars - a sight was presented to Teo: Antonio was holding his sister, Ella, cuffed and ready to be processed. From afar, they watched the scene, “I believe that’s your sister? But who’s that next to her? Do you remember him?” Danny asked. “Ella! No, you can’t do this!” he screamed. Ella only turned her heavy head and gave Teo a disappointed look before disappearing to the next room. 

After processing Ella, Antonio approached Teo, “Teo Rodriguez, remember me?” Antonio asked.

“Not really. But I do remember Diego,” Teo replied with a smug. 

It pained Antonio but he kept his cool, “Well, perhaps Ella facing a 5-year charge will jog your memory. You thought after leaving Chicago, you can start all over again because no one knows you. But we know. It took NYPD a while but now that they’re working with me, we all know well that you like to keep business close to the family. I tracked down Ella long before you did. That mom of yours really does like sleeping around…” Antonio continued.

But Teo laughed hysterically instead, “Oh you like playing games now, Detective Dawson?! Let’s see who’s the better player.” 

“So you do remember him,” Danny said, “Reagan and Dawson..let me guess, extended family? If you have a cop family here in New York I’m gonna find out. Remember Detective, this ain’t Chicago.” Teo pointed his finger at Antonio and left.

“Remind me, how did you know about Ella again?” Danny asked when they got to the car.

“After the investigation, we realised that none of them snitch on Teo not because they’re scared, but because they think of him as family. We dug into his childhood and found out that he actually has a lot of step siblings. One way or another his crew has blood ties,” Antonio explained.

“So when he moved to New York, he only had few contacts. Since his mom has children everywhere, he always has family,” Danny continued. “Long story short. Let’s just hope he took our bait,” Antonio replied.

----

“Is this really necessary?” Maggie whined. “Come on Mags, you need to be seen in the city, reuniting with old friends, having fun.” said Jamie while handing over her dress. 

“It’s 4pm in the afternoon,” said Maggie. “And you are known to be an early drinker, since when you’re complaining about drinking?” Jamie asked. “Since knowing my fiancee and my brother is taking down a very dangerous criminal,” she answered while getting ready. 

“Let’s paint the town red and hope that Teo is indeed as smart as Antonio predicted,” Jamie smiled. He called up a couple of his most trusted cops, pretending to be Maggie’s old friends. Four of them were heading to a corner bar in East Village. 

Detective Baez, Danny’s partner, had been tracking down Teo’s movement with an unmarked car. She’s sitting outside of Teo’s apartment in her car while their team has been listening in to phone calls and text messages from Teo. Nothing suspicious of yet, but close to 7pm, Teo texted his accomplice to meet him somewhere in East Village.  Baez stayed put and ordered Danny to stand by on Maggie.

At around 7pm, Jamie, Maggie, and their friends had been spending time at the corner bar. They haven’t seen anything out of the ordinary. Until three suspicious looking men sat down next to their table, exchanging looks, but no sign of Teo yet. Down the road, Danny and Antonio parked two blocks away, with a TAC team parked further down. 

It’s been half an hour and no sign of Teo, nor that the group of men does anything. Is it a false alarm? Jamie and Maggie sense that something is wrong but they can’t figure it out yet.

“Something feels off. If those are Teo’s guys, why don’t they make a move? Should I go to the back alone to lure them?” Maggie asked. “No, Maggie. Too risky.” said Jamie. 

“Yeah but if you’re around Jamie, they won’t make the move. I’m good with Sandra and Alex here,” asked Maggie. Jamie looked hesitant but eventually yielded, “You keep her safe, okay?” Alex nodded and gave him a reassurance squeeze in the shoulder, “We got this, Reagan,” said Alex.

Jamie went out the bar and joined Danny and Antonio in their car. Another half an hour, still no sign of Teo and no chatter on his phone, Antonio also started to be uneasy. 

“I think you two should join Baez, I don’t think he’s coming here,” said Antonio to Danny and Jamie.

“Leaving you alone with our sister? No,” Danny quickly rejected.

“Come on. I’ve got the cavalry here with me,” Antonio pleaded. “I feel more safe if you have eyes on Teo is all.” 

Danny yielded, went out of the car and took Jamie’s car heading to Teo’s place, “You spotted him yet, Baez?” he called Baez. “No. No movement from his apartment since he’s back from the bodega an hour ago,” Danny and Jamie looked at each other and looked for the bodega. 

“What is he wearing?” Danny asked. “Grey hoodie, black jeans, and white shoes,” said Baez over the phone. “Shit,” Danny muttered. “What is it?” asked Baez. “I’m at the Bodega looking at the security footage. Looks like he paid someone to wear his clothes and went back to his apartment.”

“Well his phone is still at home, so is his car,” Baez reported. “He must know we’ve been sitting on him,” Danny shook his head.

Jamie filled Antonio with the new development, “Shit. We got played.” Antonio cursed himself, he can’t believe all their plan had been crushed. Teo is a man of his words, Antonio is absolutely certain that he’ll take revenge but where is he now? He wrecked his brain and recalled his last conversation with Teo, that’s when he realized his mistake, “Jamie!!” Antonio screamed on the phone Danny swore he could see waves coming out of Jamie’s phone.

“It’s not Maggie….it’s Erin. My extended family. Go find her, I’ll join you.” Antonio’s voice was shaking in panic, he’s about to shift the car gear when he heard a gunshot coming from the corner bar where Maggie was. “Damn it!” he ran out along with the TAC team to the bar.

Danny and Jamie could not hear anything more from Antonio, the line got disconnected after the gunshot, but they decided to trust the man and make a run for Erin. 

Danny was on edge while Jamie drove as fast as he could, “Danny, there’s a thing between us twins. I have a feeling that she’s okay.” said Jamie. “Okay if that you trying to calm me down, I’ll take it. I wish you can say the same for Erin,” Danny was beyond angry at himself. This operation was under his watch, and so far nothing according to his plan. 

Danny kept calling Erin but no answer. Baez pinged her phone and put her in a three-mile radius around her apartment. “Please Erin, please be home,” Danny mumbled. The ride was only 15 minutes but it felt like forever for the Reagan boys. Erin’s car was parked in front of her apartment building, but when they got in, she’s not home. 

Meanwhile, the situation at the bar wasn’t pretty either. The TAC team surrounded the bar, already securing civilians. Antonio could not believe what he’s seeing, it was like seeing a scene from a movie: gun standoff between the three men versus Alex and Sandra, with Maggie held on a chokehold, gun on her temple. Antonio quickly made his way in, which gained a strong protest from the perp that held Maggie, “Don’t move! Or I’ll kill her!" he yelled. Antonio took the risk coming in, but he’s fairly certain that Teo didn’t order his guys to kill Maggie.

Antonio rose his hands up, “If you don’t know already, you’re holding hostage a Chicago Police Detective. And I guess you didn’t expect the two friends here are also cops,” he pointed at Alex and Sandra.

“Now, I am from Chicago too so I wanna make sure that I bring her safely home. I know Teo sent you. And you’ve failed already because the task was to kidnap her, right? Why don’t we make this quick man-” Antonio kept talking to shake them off. “Shut up!! Or I’ll kill her!” the perp became more and more nervous. Maggie exchanged looks with Antonio, trying to understand his play. Antonio looked at her, Maggie looked calm, she trusted Antonio could get her out of the situation. 

“I know it’s not the deal. The order was not to kill anyone,” Antonio tried to win them over.

“You don’t know anything,” the one holding Maggie pulled his trigger, the two others looked utterly confused and panicked. As the prep adjusted his arm position, Maggie elbowed him hard on his stomach, pushed his arm up and duck down. His shots were fired but went to the ceiling. Antonio tackled him as Maggie crawled to the side. Antonio pulled his gun on him, “Don’t you even think about it,” and the perp dropped his gun. 

The two other men were taken aback wanting to shoot back, but Alex and Sandra shot their legs first and lunged at them. They were apprehended quickly and taken outside. 

Antonio asked to deal with the one holding Maggie earlier. He was cuffed now so Antonio threw him on the table pressing him hard with his body. Maggie watched in disbelief from the side with the other officers. She had seen Antonio in action a few times before, but never quite like this. 

“Where is Teo?!” Antoino screamed pinning him to the table, “I don’t know man-” the perp laughed. 

“You want to laugh now?” Antonio pulled his gun and placed it on the back of the perp’s knee, “Well, you should know, in Chicago, we play things differently. There’s no need to be politically correct. Now where does he say he wants to stake out Erin?” 

Maggie just put two and two together now, Teo has levelled up his revenge game, he went after Danny’s two sisters. Not caring about all the eyes, Antonio put his hand around his neck now and pressed his gun more, “I’m not playing here-” the perp was shaking and finally gave in, “I don’t know the name of the place, Blue something… a diner near her apartment. Now let me go!!” he screamed and coughed. Antonio threw him to the ground and motioned the other officers to take him. He knew that he would get in trouble later coercing a perp like that, but he couldn't care less.

He quickly called Danny, giving him Teo’s location and possibly Erin’s. After that, he turned to Maggie, who was still processing the situation, “Babe, you okay?” he reached out to hold her hands, she nodded but suddenly gave Antonio a tight hug. “Hey, you’re okay, I’m here,” Antonio tried to calm her down. She was on the verge of tears when Antonio pulled her away, he cupped her face with his hands, “I love you Maggie and will always protect you.” he paused and continued, “I hate to do this, but unless you can pull yourself to be Detective Reagan now, I suggest you get check out on an ambo because I still have to save your sister..” he said it calmly but not leaving the sense of urgency. Maggie bit her lip, realizing that her day was far from over and that her fiancee is still a cop on a job. So she took her deepest breath, “Let’s go, Detective Dawson,” she gave his hand one last tight squeeze before quickly making her way inside his car. Antonio nodded, still worried but he knows Maggie can do this. She was a cop before she was his girlfriend afterall.

Danny and Jamie ran across the street together with Baez who had joined them. They didn’t notify anyone yet as they don’t want to spook out Teo and put Erin in more danger. The Blue Whale diner was a bit more crowded than usual. Danny came in and asked Erin to the front counter. They confirmed she’s in the back, when he showed Teo’s picture the barista nodded and a few seconds later they heard a commotion from the back. People started screaming and ran out. Teo has found Erin.

“Jamie! Baez! Secure everyone!” Danny yelled. Turned out that Teo didn’t expect that Erin would recognize him right away - she immediately reached for her phone to call 911 when she saw him. And when he realized this, he quickly drew his weapon out, taking Erin before she could press dial.

Danny went to the back of the restaurant while Jamie and Baez were still out front making sure everyone’s out. Seeing Danny, Teo held Erin tighter and put his gun on her side.

“You Reagans. Think you’re so smart,” Teo smirked.

Danny drew his weapon to Teo, “It’s over Teo. You didn’t get Maggie either,” said Danny. “Oh yeah? So, I have more reason to kill this one then,” he grinned. Danny’s stomach was twisted. He could make the shot but Teo’s too close to Erin.

The standoff felt like forever. Danny tried to talk their way out of the situation. What took Baez and Jamie so long? He didn’t have back up. So he could only stall and talk nonsense to Teo about making a deal to get him out of jail. 

Just when Danny was about to run out of options, Antonio came through the back door with Maggie, both weapons drawn to Teo, “It’s over Teo, you’re surrounded. You put the gun down real slow, or we take you out,” Antonio said calmly. Teo looked at Antonio, "You think you finally won, Detective Dawson?" His grip on Erin became tighter "Oh if I had known earlier that the famous Reagan family had ties to you…" He shifted his aim, his weapon pointed at Maggie this time. 

"Teo, if you want to walk out alive…your only way out is me. My brother and Detective Dawson here won't think twice about shooting you," said Maggie. “Detective Dawson? You think I did not know you’re his girlfriend?!” Teo shouted. 

She looked straight to Teo but her gaze was to Danny's. She gave Danny a slight nod, “I know you know now. Teo, now please…” Maggie begged, throwing her arms up like she was about to surrender, “Please, don’t hurt…” before she could finish her sentence, Danny fired a bullet to Teo's shoulder that was holding the gun. 

Teo's gun went off but his aim was horrible, Maggie dodged his bullet and in a split second, she ducked and pulled Erin who was already on the ground towards her. Teo now on the ground, with Danny on top of him cuffing him. He grunted, Antonio kept his gun pointed at Teo and put it on Teo’s temple. "Tony, don’t. He's not worth it." Danny looked at him. Antonio's eyes were filled with anger, "I'm gonna make sure you're going to the death chair, and you’ll wait for that agonizing day in misery," Antonio hissed when getting him up. Teo still didn't look defeated, Danny shoved him and let Baez take him to the station.

Maggie held onto Erin as tight as she could. Today was horrifying. "Erin...are you okay?" Erin hugged his sister tighter, "I am now, thanks to you," to that, Maggie suddenly sobbed at Erin's shoulder. Looked like she had it worse than Erin. Erin looked confused, she never saw Maggie cry this way. Not even after the incident that made her move to Chicago 9 years ago. She held her, looking to Danny and Antonio for explanation. They may not be the closest siblings but Erin loves her siblings equally don't matter what. Antonio looked at Erin with an apologetic look, feeling responsible that he didn’t force Maggie to sit out after the bar shoot out. 

Antonio approached her, "Hey Maggie, your arm is bleeding. Let's get you check out, the ambo's here," a bullet must've grazed Maggie’s arm during the first shootout. Maggie didn’t move an inch, still hugging her sister tight. He rubbed her back, closing in to her ear, "Come on, let Erin go. She's okay and you can go see her after. Okay? Danny will take care of her,” Maggie pulled away and looked her sister in the eye, "Erin I'm sorry…" still sniffing. "Hey, none of this is your fault, Maggie. And look, your sleeve is dripping with blood, go with Antonio," Erin reassured. Antonio pulled Maggie close to his side and walked out holding her. 

After Maggie left it’s Erin now who could not take it anymore, "Oh Danny, that was too close to comfort," she buried her head against Danny’s chest. He put his arm around her, "I’m so sorry sis. It's over now, it's a good thing that we rehearsed that move over and over again," said Danny comforting her, "One hell of a day," he muttered.

--

Outside, Maggie was still shaking while getting patched up. Antonio held her hand the entire time, "I'm so sorry," was all Antonio could say to her. He knew his fiancee was hurting more in her heart than physically. But he did not know what to say, his head was still full with anger, heart pumping, adrenaline still hadn't washed out. He saw Jamie and motioned him to come over to the ambulance. 

“Hey Mags, you okay?” Jamie asked. “Um.. yeah no,” Maggie started sobbing. Antonio pulled her into a hug, his brows curled and his face spoke a thousand words to Jamie. “It’s over, okay? It’s just adrenaline wearing off,” he realized that Maggie was still shaking. “You did good, babe. You did good.” he whispered to her ears. 

Maggie pulled away, seemingly calmed down, she looked at Jamie, “I uh… I put Erin in danger, I got the whole cavalry looking after me and not one on Erin’s side…” tears streaming again. Antonio sighed, looking at Jamie for help, this is going to take long to recover from.

“We can’t go to that rabbit hole Mags, you know that. If you keep doing this then Danny would probably beat himself up, he brought everyone into this,” Jamie tried to reason. 

“Or me- I should’ve forced you to stay after the bar,” Antonio’s words are shaky now, he’s also on the verge of tears, seeing Maggie like this, not his best forte. 

Thankfully one of the officers came to break the moment before Antonio shed any tears, “Detective Dawson? The commissioner is on the line,” Antonio realized he had left his phone in the car and hadn't given an update to Frank yet. He nodded at the officer and turned to Maggie, “I’ve got a lot of explaining to do to the NYPD. You sit tight here with Jamie, okay?” Maggie nodded as he left. 

“How can you all be so strong?” she asked Jamie. “We’re not Mags. We just pretended to be, so the others can be,” Jamie took his twin sister’s hand. “If you can’t do it for us, do it for Antonio. He’s the one that got it the hardest. Danny is a close second though and that’s just because he’s a Reagan. But marrying a PC daughter and getting in the middle of this mess? Fiancee of the year that he is,” Jamie chuckled, tried to lighten up the mood. 

Now that Maggie can put things into perspective she put on a brave face, “I’ll start pretending now,” she smiled at him. “Yeah, you can be all sappy and sad when we’re alone at my place?” he offered. “With a bucket of ice cream and a superhero movie?” Maggie asked. “Yeah, can you give Antonio something to do tonight? Eddie’s got the night shift so we can have the night for the two of us.” he said.

“Oh, I won’t have him tonight. After today, I bet Danny would be drinking his night away with him…”

“So, it’s officially our night then,” Jamie hugged his twin sister.

#blue bloods imagine #antonio dawson #danny reagan #antonio dawson imagine #blue bloods #antonio dawson x reader

[eretzyisrael]

The alleged Israeli attack on Iran's Natanz nuclear facility destroyed an electrical substation located 40 to 50 meters underground, Fereydoon Abbasi-Davani, former head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, told Iranian media on Monday.

Davani added that the substation was built underground in order to protect it from air and missile strikes, and that the attack was carried out either via cyber, sabotaged equipment or sabotage committed by agents.

The Iranian official stressed that such an operation takes years, saying "the design of the enemy was very beautiful." The explosion managed to damage both the power distribution system and the cable leading to the centrifuges in order to cut power to them.

An intelligence official told The New York Times on Tuesday that the attack was carried out through an explosive device that had been smuggled into the facility and detonated remotely, taking out both the primary and backup electrical systems.

Davani confirmed on Monday that this was how the attack last July was carried out as well, telling Iranian media that it was done with explosives that were embedded in a heavy table that was brought into the facility.

The former AEO head explained that in a similar attack at the Fordow nuclear facility in 2012, power lines from the city of Qom were cut by an explosion, so they had anticipated such an attack and had stored fuel for producing electricity for three months in case such an incident occurred.

Davani, who now serves on the Iranian Parliament's energy commission, survived an assassination attempt in 2010 in which bombs were attached to the side of his car by men on motorcycles. Another nuclear scientist, Majid Shahriari, was killed in a similar attack the same day. Davani reportedly worked closely with Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, Iran's top nuclear scientist, who was killed in an assassination blamed on Israel last year.

Additionally on Monday, Behrouz Kamalvandi, a spokesman for the AEO, told Iranian media that he had injured his ankle and head while visiting the Natanz facility after the attack when he fell into a seven-meter-deep hole that had been covered with metal. It is unclear whether the hole was related to the explosion. EXPLOSIVES WERE used to completely destroy the internal power system at Iran's Natanz uranium enrichment facility in an alleged Israel operation, two intelligence officials told The New York Times on Sunday night. The explosion caused severe damage to the site and it could take at least nine months to restore production at Natanz, according to the officials. According to The Wall Street Journal, the Biden Administration was given no advance notice about the attack. The White House said on Monday that it had no involvement in the attack. The WSJ report added that the destruction of the power supply in the attack could have damaged or destroyed centrifuges by causing them to slow down too rapidly. A number of former Israeli security officials expressed concerns at the leaks being shared about the attack, with former Mossad chief Danny Yatom warning that it could impact Israel's operational capability, in an interview with Army Radio on Monday. "If indeed this thing is the result of an operation involving Israel, this leak is very serious," said Yatom. "It is detrimental to the Israeli interest and the fight against Iranian attempts to acquire nuclear weapons. There are actions that must remain in the dark." "Once Israeli officials are quoted, it forces the Iranians to take revenge," warned Yatom. "If the Iranians start investigating with the publication hovering over their heads that the people behind the attack are the Israelis or the Americans, they will leave no stone unturned. This has an impact on our operational capability." Iranian officials have downplayed the significance of the attack, with multiple officials stressing that the impacted centrifuges were first generation machines that would be replaced with more advanced centrifuges. Iran's permanent representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Kazem Gharibabadi, claimed on Monday that enrichment had not stopped at Natanz, despite foreign media reports to the contrary. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif complained to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres abut the attack, calling it "nuclear terrorism and a war crime." "Israel’s efforts aimed at preventing the revival of the international nuclear deal, JCPOA, after the US presidential elections was initially reflected in threats, which are now materialized," said Zarif, according to Iranian media. The foreign minister added that Iran had accelerated its retaliatory measures against US sanctions in response to the attack. Saeed Khatibzadeh, a spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, stated on Monday that Iran would respond to the attack "in its own time." "The regime has been carrying out some actions and some news leaks in the last few months. Its goals are clear and not hidden from the elites and intellectuals of Iran," added Khatibzadeh. "The foreign minister and our delegation are following up on this issue and actions will be announced today or tomorrow. Some actions will be taken in their undisclosed way [and] may never be said." An informed official in the Iranian Intelligence Ministry told the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency on Monday that the identity of the disruption's cause had been found and that "necessary measures are being taken to arrest the main cause of the disruption in the electricity system of Natanz complex." This is the second attack on Natanz that foreign reports have blamed on Israel within the past year, with an explosion and fire at a facility at the site in July reportedly impacting Iran's nuclear program significantly. The facility hit this week was a new facility built at the site to replace the one hit last year. Iran is still nowhere near having recovered to the point where it had been before that July 2020 explosion

in terms of its capacity for assembling new advanced centrifuges, The Jerusalem Post recently reported. The most recent attack against Natanz took place a day after Iran began injecting uranium hexafluoride gas into advanced IR-6 and IR-5 centrifuges at Natanz and was revealed as US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was visiting Israel. Tensions are rising between Israel and Iran amid a number of attacks on Iranian and Israeli maritime vessels, with recent reports claiming that Israel has hit dozens of Iranian ships in recent years. Tensions were already high between the two nations after the Fakhrizadeh assassination and reported attempts by Iran to carry out revenge attacks on Israeli embassies around the world. The report also comes as Iran meets with European and American officials to discuss a possible return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the formal name for the nuclear agreement signed in 2015 between the Islamic Republic and world powers. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned multiple times in the past week that Israel would defend itself against Iranian threats, stressing that Jerusalem would work to combat Tehran's nuclear ambitions. The prime minister called the security cabinet’s first meeting in two months next Sunday to discuss Iran amid increased tensions with Tehran. Yonah Jeremy Bob and Lahav Harkov contributed to this report.

#Israel #Iran #nuclear weapons

[newagesispage]

                                                                JULY                                   2021

 THE RIB PAGE

 *****

They are still uncovering statues on Easter Island.

*****

Everyone is talking about ‘Exterminate all the Brutes” from Raoul Peck.

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Vampire bats, prevalent in Latin America may be on the way to the U.S.

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What they call faith, I call strength.

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Criss angel will open CABLP, a restaurant in Overton, Nevada. The letters stand for breakfast, lunch and pizza and will include a free meal outreach program to help under privileged and pediatric cancer families.

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A fifth ocean in Antartica??** There have also found 4 new ocean species: Apolemia, Tegula Kusairo, Leptarma Biju and Duobrachium Sparksae.

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In China they have found a possible new species in a skull that is 140,000 years old.

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Why would Jeffrey Toobin be back at CNN?? Surely there are more young deserving talking heads around.

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The Keystone pipeline is dead.

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5,000 pounds of explosives were discovered in a home in South LA. LAPD seems to have detonated the fireworks in a truck right there in the neighborhood. They were too dangerous to transport but not enough to blow them up??? How stupid are these people??

*****

Days alert : So glad to see Clyde again even if it is only for a moment!! **BTW, I do not understand the Daytime Emmy noms this year as they relate to Days. I really was pulling for Victoria Koneful (Ciara) and she won but George DelHoya (Orpheus), Tamara Braun (Ava) and Cady McClain (Jennifer)??? I was shocked when Cady McClain won. I mean, she was so whiny. I question my own ability to judge a performance. In most categories, the winner was usually the one I thought was the worst option. I was happy for Max Gail and CBS Sunday Morning.  Some performances were sure overlooked. What about James Read (Clyde), Paul Telfer (Xander), Bryan Dattilo (Lucas), Robert Scott Wilson (Ben), Daniel Kerr (Eli) and Lindsay Arnold (Allie) ?? As annoying as the Kristen character is and as long as it took me to get used to Stacy Haiduk in the role, she kicked ass this year. Did they even submit clips?? And,  they are not often on but Tony and Anna forever!!!!!!** And how wonderful is it to see the Dimera boys all together and recounting the whole fam for the votes? **And one more thing, Days was not even nominated for writing while Bold and the Beautiful spends every other show with the Liam character standing in front of the fireplace making excuses for the same shit! Just push repeat, C,mon!!**Philip had a great line for Brady about following Kristen like a zombie.** Dis Eli really say, “Peacock and chill??’ Are these the things they will have to do to do to stay on the air? It took me right out of the show. It was the same day the ads for Days on Peacock started. OMG

*****

Texas Gov. Abbott vetoed a bill that would make it illegal to chain up dogs without water.**ATexas churches have lost their 501(c) (3) status because it actively ‘educates’ its members on electing specific Republican politicians. –Pete West* This should have been happening long ago. Many churches I know of do this and should not be allowed to have it both ways. #tax the church

*****

Ellen Burstyn, Jane Curtin, Loretta Devine, Christopher Lloyd, James Caan, French Stewart and Ann-Margaret in Queen Bees and directed by Michael Lembeck?? Yes please!!

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NY has suspended Giuliani’s law license.

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Miracle Workers: The Oregon Trail is coming to TBS, this will be season 3 in the series.

*****

What is this about Bowen Yang?? A podcast about a sperm bank heist?? Yeow!!

*****

David Geffen has given $150,000,000 to Yale drama school: Every student will be tuition- free in perpetuity.

*****

Allison Mack was sentenced to 3 years.

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The latest in sexual assault news: James Franco has agreed to 2.2 mil settlement in sexual misconduct case.** Kyle Massey was charged with immoral communication with a minor.**Bill Cosby is out and here are some reactions: A terrible wrong is being righted.: a miscarriage of justice is corrected. I fully support survivors of sexual assault coming forward.- Phylicia Rashad*I really don’t ever want to hear again as to why many survivors don’t report their rape or assault.- Charlotte Clymer* Women are showing great restraint in not burning everything to the ground right now and I don’t know how they do it.-Jeff Tiedrich

*****

Amazon is making a series of A League of Their Own with Nick Offerman as the coach.

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Does anyone else have family members that are rich, transient, know it all snobs??

*****

It looks like New York’s ranked choice voting is leaning toward Eric Adams for Mayor.

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Michigan republicans investigating voter fraud found 2 incidents. One is for a lady who voted by mail and then died, the other was confusion over a man who had the same name as his Father. That was it!

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Jamie Lee Curtis will get the Golden Lion for lifetime achievement at the 78th Venice International Film Fest in September.

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Jerry Seinfeld will star in and direct ‘Unfrosted’ about Pop-Tarts.

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Why is Airbnb still listing properties in illegal settlements and outposts in Palestinian occupied territories? –James J. Zogby

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Merrick Garland has announced that the Justice department sued Georgia over the voting rights.

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The NFL says that it will halt the use of “race norming” which assumed black players started out with lower cognitive functioning in a $1 billion settlement of brain injury claims. The practice had made it harder for black players to qualify. –The Associated Press.

*****

Scary Clown 45 ended his ‘From the desk of Donald J. Trump’ blog after 29 days. Word is that he felt he was being mocked in the media.

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Religious leadership keeps engaging in partisan politics on behalf of politicians that are particularly unpopular with younger people and they wonder why younger people are disenchanted with the church. – Schooley ** Give young people credit as well for seeing through the hype and lies of these religious hypocrites who use God only as a weapon and a threat. –Larry Charles

*****

Amazon will stop drug testing for employment. Can every other company jump on this bandwagon? Let’s judge employees on the work they give.

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The Backstreet Boys and NSync are going to work together??!!

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Showtime is bringing back American Gigolo with Jon Bernthal.

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If Biden can carry out air strikes without proper authorization, the Senate can raise the minimum wage without the Parliamentarian.  –Alexandra M. Hunt

Reality Winner is out!!

*****

Judy Woodruff has been given the Peabody award for journalistic integrity.

*****

Donald Glover is bringing us Hive. Malia Obama will be a writer.

*****

Nicholas Cage has married Riko Shibata.

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Catch and Kill: The podcast tapes, is here on HBO.

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Bryan Cranston and Annette Bening will star in Jerry and Marge go large.

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Amblin Partners and Netflix are partners.

*****

Fall 2022 will bring the Roybal School of film and television production for underserved communities. They are looking to help 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th grade students. Among others, the program was cofounded by George Clooney, Don Cheadle, Kerry Washington, Mindy Kaling and Eva Longoria.

*****

Will there be a Wedding Crashers2??

*****

The Mysterious Benedict Society stars Tony Hale.** I would love to see he and Danny Pudi in something together.

*****

Actor Stephen Amell from Arrow was removed from a plane after getting into it with his wife.  A source said he was drunk and screaming. An official source said that they removed “an unruly customer.”** Andy Dick was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon, allegedly assaulting his partner, Lucas with a metal chair.

*****

So.. Fox news was digitally altering the faces of people they did not care for??? Is there no end to their bullshit????

*****

Mark Ronson is set to marry Grace Gummer.

*****

Crime shows seem to be in the cycle of prisoners and the women who get a thrill from helping them escape.

*****

Wolfgang Van Halen has released a debut album: Mammoth

*****

Everyone seems to love Danny Trejo’s memoir and its honesty.

*****

David Spade will take over as host of Bachelor in Paradise.

*****

I am sickened when I see the first question that pops up on an online search is the net worth of a person. Oh this twisted world.

*****

Life is a short pause between 2 great mysteries. –Jung

*****

Prince Harry and Meghan had a daughter that they named Lilibet ‘Lili” Diana.

*****

Michael Flynn’s brother Charles (who withheld help from the capitol on Jan. 6), leads the U.S. Army Pacific and commands 90,000 troops.

*****

I am so excited to read ‘The Boys’ from Clint and Ron Howard, due out in October.

*****

Dave Chappelle closed out the Tribeca film fest with a surprise concert. This was the first in person film fest since Covid. Look for This time, this place which premiered there.

*****

Ron Wood will release the album Mr. Luck: A tribute to Jimmy Reed on Sept. 3

*****

Howard Stern signed a new $500 mil contract with Sirius XM. He is taking the whole summer off and many fans say they will cancel their subscription because they don’t want to pay for a summer of reruns.

*****

Acorn will bring Jane Seymour back to a series. Seymour will be co -executive produce on Harry Wild. Her character will be a retired University professor who loves her whiskey and solves crimes.

*****

Annie Murphy  stasr in ‘Kevin can f*** himself about a sitcom wife which airs on AMC.

*****

I still do not understand why Rep. Mike Nearman hasn’t been arrested for letting insurrectionists into the Capitol.

*****

There is a wing shortage??

*****

The Pulitzer prizes have been announced. The list includes Ben Faub, Barry Blitt, Katori Hall, Emilio Morenatti, AP photographers Marcio Jose Sanchez, Alex Brandon, David Goldman, Julio Cortez, John Minchillo, Frank Franklin II, Ringo H.W. Chiu, Evan Vucci, Mike Stewart and Noah Berger. There was a special citation for Darnella Frazier who filmed the death of George Floyd.

*****

Conan’s last TBS guests were Martin Short, Jack Black, Bill Hader, Mila Kunis, Dana Carvey, Patton Oswalt and JB Smoove. There were some surprises.  The big musical number never happened when Jack Black hurt himself. It was all funny and sweet but Conan never mentioned the band in the last show WTF????????????????????????????????????????? Music is so important to him and he does not thank the band? ** Colbert and Brian Stack gave Conan a cute send after4, 368 shows on CBS calling him a ‘Slenderman Ron Weasly’.  Kimmel wished Conn well also.** Hope his HBO MAX variety show goes well.** BTW, the Duvall interview with Colbert was great to see but why does nobody ever mention ‘Get Low?’ What a performance!!

*****

Tattoos are on the rise.

*****

Fast food drive thru’s sometime close with fake excuses like the equipment is down or something because they don’t feel like working. Good people can’t find work and so many waste the opportunities they have. AAAAGHH!!

*****

Valerie Bertinelli and Demi Lovato will star in ‘Hungry’ on NBC.

*****

Hulu will bring us David E. Kelley’s Nine Perfect Strangers with Nicole Kidman, Michael Shannon, Regina Hall, Bobby Cannavale and Melissa McCarthy.

*****

R.I.P. Gavin Macleod, Frank Bonner, Joy Vogelsang, Benigno Aquino, Champ Biden, victims of the Miami building collapse, Robert Sacchi, Stuart Damon, Johnny Solinger  and Clarence Williams III.

[sloshed-cinema]

Hot Fuzz (2007)

Edgar Wright executes absolute control in this cop comedy.  As with anything from Wright, it’s a masterclass in editing, with match cuts and seamless transitions galore.  Comedy is about timing, and this demonstrates that to the fullest.  Sgt Angel’s trip out to his new post, the intercutting of the cop-bro moment with the fiery inferno that was the second murder, the lot of it.

Hot Fuzz represents the inverse of Naked Gun in that it seeks to rise above the tropes of its form by being more clever than them, whereas the Z-A-Z farce collapses (intentionally) under the weight of its burden.  Where Gun simply wants the viewer to laugh at it at its expense, Fuzz winks over its shoulder at the audience, though never in an insulting fashion.  Two different ways of breaking the fourth wall.

THE RULES

SIP

Someone says ‘arrest’.

A stabbing is mentioned.

Danny asks a shooting-related question.

Simon commits a crime-related pun.

Someone gets booked.

Angel corrects someone’s terminology.

“THE GREATER GOOD.”

BIG DRINK

Someone orders a beer.

Pen click.

The living statue appears onscreen.

LIVER TRANSPLANT WAITLIST MODE *Only for those who want their just desserts*

Sip every time there’s a seamless transition in cutting.

#drinking games #hot fuzz #edgar wright #simon pegg #nick frost #comedy #cop comedy #action #the greater good #point break

[coolmarriagerecords]

Johan Kugelberg's Top 100 DIY Singles

From Ugly Things via http://www.hyped2death.com/Kugelberg100.html

1. The Desperate Bicycles -The Medium Was Tedium (Refill Records, 1977 UK) The Desperate Bicycles are the yardstick for this obscurist sub genre. No one did it as easy or as cheap as them. Of the slew of unfathomable brilliant pop 45's, The Medium Was Tedium is the apex: The enthusiasm, anger and joy de vivre that oozes from the tracks contained within has me reaching for Village Green-Kinks and first album Cramps to describe the passion. For drunken, leftist dorm-room intellectuals to describe the faith and for Dez/Chavo-era Black Flag to describe the power ? notwithstanding that the recordings themselves are of 4-track bedroom shut-in lo-fi jangle. Too bad the band don't want the material re-released but a good thing indeed that the records barely rate at all in the collector scum price guide pantheon.

2. Beyond The Implode -Last Thoughts EP (Diverse Records UK 1979) Barrett/early-Floyd psych as good (or better) than any Soft Boys, obscurist strum & drang way more passionate than any Flying Nun band I've heard and Inflammable vocals of the purest Oxbridge confusion. The Spacemen 3 never did anything to match this record. [Messthetics #6]

3. V/A -Weird Noise EP (Fuck Off Records UK 1980) The legend doesn't start here, but at least this isn't a cassette-only release in an edition of 50 copies or so like the majority of the Fuck Off Records oeuvre. This lines up the finest advocates of tuneless bashing within the UK late 70's underground: The 012, Danny and the Dressmakers, the Instant Automatons, The Door and the Window and finally the Sell Outs who seem to be Danny and the Dressmakers under a different moniker. The cut "Please Don't Make Another Bass Guitar Mr. Rickenbacker" showcases one of the odder qualities popular music can have: The ability to disorientate the listener. "Simply the very best in bad music" indeed! [Danny...Messthetics Greatest Hits]

4. Desperate Bicycles ? New Cross, New Cross (Refill Records, UK 1978) The godlike power of "I Make The Product" or "Advice On Arrest" (two of the songs on this six song EP) deliver a little salvation of sorts ? the Desperate Bicycles make you believe, make you feel a sense of belonging. Music does that when it is this good. 5.Slugfuckers ? Three Feet Behind Glass EP (No label Australia 1979) Invoke the god Nyarlathotep they do, cover Manson-songs w/o ever having heard him they do, shmear on the middle class art school elitism thick they do. This is an extreme record; noisier and more abrasive than most first generation industrial stuff, a hell of a lot more punk than, say, the Lewd and intelligent in a scary, vicious bullying kind of way. A blazing, hard record at the same time as everything is slightly out of tune, kind of inept and sorta shoddy sounding.

6. Popes -Knup In Your Eye (Vatican Records. UK 1980) This appeared on the worldwide punk list a few issues ago, and educated guesses can be made for this appearing on any other lists I might do in the future. Not only is the record the cats pajamas as far as relentless art school mirth goes (Derek & Clive go through puberty, again!) but the throb and spark of the band makes for repeated play. And then we have to tag on the swollen nostalgia of my friend buying the only copy at the Rough trade shop in 1980 leaving me with none until Bill Forsyth digs one up for me in his back room, oh yeah, and one for Geoffrey too.

7. The Flak -EP (Northern Records UK 1980 (?)) Starts with a depressed "why am I here" poem and moves straight along into "Knocking on Heaven's Door" done dorm-angst-diy-style. This is followed by what sounds like the band attempting a Joy Division-style song the first time they pick up musical instruments. Completely inept, utterly charming and brilliant indeed. Top shelf genre defining DIY.

8. Fatal Microbes -Beautiful Pictures (Small Wonder, UK 1979) Certainly the best record with Honey Bane on it. Charming, relentless punk-crazed homemade guitar crunch. The window of opportunity of the UK underground musicscene in the late 70's is clearly demonstrated here: I doubt the Fatal Microbes stupendous teen energy could have been nurtured in the world of merchandising deals and first-look demo A&R we live in today.

9. The Silver -Do You Wanna Dance (Black Label Finland 1980) The Silver -No More Grease (Black Label Finland 1979) A riddle wrapped inside an enigma etc. The band appears to be around 12 ? 13 years old. They hail from Finland where the trail grew cold a long long time ago. Maybe upon the release of the record. Pussy Galore without post-modern baggage. "Love Theme from the Snails" as performed by SPK. 12 year olds virtually destroying a recording studio captured on tape, not once but four times.

10. Instant Automatons -Peter Paints His Fence EP (Deleted Records UK 1980) More Fuck Off/Street Level-related sublime nonsense. The battle call is the track "People Laugh At Me Cuz I Like Weird Music" which states: "I was at a pub the other night, when a bunch of mods came in, they eyed me up, then they asked me: Hey man what's your scene? Are you a hippie a mod or a punk? Got a scooter or a motorbike? I can't understand why they burst out laughing when I told them the music I like, because: People Laugh At Me Cuz I Like Weird Music People just don't understand Why pay six pounds for an album when you can, listen to a weird noise band for free I had a girlfriend named Josephine, she liked Abba and the Bee Gees. She thought music was about lawyers and accountants, percentages and legal fees. Just the other night we stayed up late, playing records til half past ten, then I played the Danny and the Dressmakers tape and I never saw Josephine again, because: People Laugh At Me Cuz I Like Weird Music People just don't understand Why pay six pounds for an album when you can, listen to a weird noise band for free" The gospel, folks. From God's mouth to your ear via the Instant Automatons. [Instant Automatons 'Another Wasted Sunday Afternon' CD]

11. Sir Alick and the Phraser -In Search of the Perfect Baby (Black Noise UK 1980) As Chuck Warner put it: They wrote beautiful pop songs then destroyed them. More Homosexuals pseudonymous mystique. The intelligent reader who followed our previous musings on this band and their universe know how much we love them and how much they perpetually pull our collective leg. No straight-ahead answers in this lifetime which is fine ? fine as far as record collecting is concerned, fine as far as lifemanship is concerned.[The Homosexuals -Astral Glamour 3CD]

12. The Four Plugs -Biking Girl (Disposable Records UK 1979) The subtle charm of marginal culture: Truly marginal culture where 1000 singles were pressed more than 22 years ago. How many got lost? How many are never being played? How many are stored in a box in the attic? How many are being played repeatedly on turntables that cost ten times as much as the recording and pressing of this given 45? "She used to be my biking partner ? she used to be my biking girl. We used to go for rides in the country side". A true punk rock/diy statement issued by the Damaged Goods people, who knew their Chesterton and Thomas Browne.

13. The Evening Outs -Channel (Refill Records UK 1980) Super-fierce skronk from a pissed-off pseudonymous Desperate Bicycles. Puts that no wave stuff to shame, really.

14. Puritan Guitars -100 Pounds in 15 Minutes (Riverside Records UK 1980) How much it cost to make the record and how long it took. Genius sturm und sturm und sturm und drang clank from a seriously inspired one chord wonder.[Messthetics Greatest Hits and Messthetics #104]

15. The Flying Brix -EP (Modello Records UK 1980) So subtle it can barely be heard: A band consisting of Wally's and Erberts, with the odd dead-end yob or two. This record could've been released by Illegal, Fuck Off or fit in on Carry On Oi. It could also have been performed on an episode of Noddy or by Flanagan & Allen. Ur-English music, this.[Messthetics #104]

16. Shrinking Men/Beevers -Hazards in the Home EP (Pop Records UK 1981) The Beevers present a Guthrie-esque talking blues here, except that it isn't a blues, but a charming DIY-shuffle, and that Woody Guthrie as far as I know never sang about the plight and blight of the office boy. The Shrinking Men in turn showcase an angry, loutish anti-army rant that Phil Ochs would've been pretty proud of I think. And there you have it: The folk music connection rears its uncombed head. [Beevers -Messthetics #6]

17. Handgrenades -Demo To London (Phonographics (?) USA 1980 (?)) Coulda fooled me ? Excellent primitive punk/chug/diy from Noo Yak City! Who woulda thunk? Somewhere between "Pink Flag" and Fuck Off Records.

18. Homosexuals -You Are Not Moving The Way You Are Supposed To (Black Noise UK 1980 (?)) An untouchable band, and the lack of a retrospective isn't much of a crime in this house (I have lots of their records snicker snicker snicker) but in other people's houses it sure is. As if Gang of Four would've been any good, as if Wire would've immersed themselves in dub, as if indeed. Parallel universe chart toppers indeed. We all know that there is at least one world out there in the ultra-cosmos where the proverbial kids are kicking these jams daily. A truly inspired and inspiring record..[The Homosexuals -Astral Glamour 3CD]

19. Cindy and the Barbi Dolls -Press The Shutter EP (A Not Major Production UK 1980) Dorm angst at its very best. Dark, brooding overtly romantic without gothing it up, these jams have the same lurking power as the pre-Joy Division Warsaw EP or the spookier first line up Soft Boys tracks. A possible sister band to Beyond the Implode in the sense that they play a curiously British form of psychedelic music in the midst of the DIY lack of musical chops. This Cornwall band were seemingly very hip to musical peers, thanking the Desperate Bicycles, the Mekons and Ralph and the Ponytails on the sleeve. There are musical (and one lyrical) nod to the Kinks "Village Green Preservation Society" as well. A very good thing. [Messthetics #7]

20. Versatile Newts -Newtrition (Shanghai Records UK 1980) If this record hadn't existed we would've had to invent it: The marriage/blend of the Swell Maps, This Heat and the TV Personalities. In equal chunks with no lumps. Gadzooks! [Messthetics #103]

21. Pink Dirt -Hey Sir (No label Norway 1979) As far as inept, crazed joi de vivre goes ? Here's the acme. I've written this one up before and will do it again. While this is obviously a straight-ahead angry punk rock band, the abandon and enthusiasm of this record could raise the dead. An angry rant against organized religion ("I have this to say tonight ? never, never get involved with christianity!") howled in a barely English Johnny Rotten-imitation by some Norwegian genius backed by shitrock more primitive than the first Endless Boogie rehearsal. There is no sleeve, no labels, just the legend "Pink Dirt Hey Sir/Hooker" scrawled in magic marker. Who were these gods and why did they walk among us? Please email me if you know anything about the people behind this stunning art experience.

22. Scrotum Poles -Revelation EP (One Tone Records Scotland 1980) Helicopter Honeymoon is going to be played at least three record collector funerals I know of, not including mine. The mighty, mighty Scrotum Poles, proudly proclaiming "DIY! We love the TV Personalities" on the shoddy, xeroxed sleeve. Their website (http://home.switchboard.com/hornstreet) is highly recommended, though we're hesitant to vouch for its complete veracity. Here's how they tell it: "'Pick the Cats Eyes Out' featured lyrics found on the back of a set list by one of the first Dundee punk bands, Bread Poultice and the Running Sores..." [Somebody please send us a demo tape!] "Helicopter Honeymoon," meanwhile, came from a headline "in the Sunday Post." What we should add for American fans is that "cats eyes" are what Brits (and Scots) call those little orange reflectors embedded in highway pavement: "Cats Eyes Out Ahead" used to be a common roadside sign. [Messthetics Greatest Hits and Messthetics #105]

23. File Under Pop -Corrugate (Rough Trade UK 1979 (?)) Godlike DIY power. Primitive grunting, out of tune skeletal instrumentation and noises recorded at Heathrow. I know a guy with an extra copy who'll swap it for Butchy Butch and the Butch Butchers.

24. Nancy Sesay and the Melodaires -C'est Fab (It's War Boys UK 1981 (?)) Un-musical, un-punk and possibly unpleasant music hall-esque skronk/DIY by the godlike Homosexuals using one of their myriad of pseudonyms. And whence you can't imagine the doofus art wank getting any more unlistenable, they spin on a dime and throw in a beautiful chorus sitting on top of a backwardsy funky drummer beat. I am, as per usual, in awe. Shall I hook some enterprising young bootlegger up with a CDR of all their stuff?

25. Performing Ferret Band -Brow-Beaten (Dead Hippy Records UK 1981) Deeply moving primitive musical fumble from this rare 45 by the masters behind the in my mind most seminal LP to come out of DIY. The eponymous Performing Ferret Band LP, which features jaw-droppers such as "Plastic Macho Man", "Fizzly Drinks" or "Great Duos Of Our Time". Fantastic over-enthusiastic juvenilia of an almost supernatural beauty. The Performing Ferrets - no one told us CD (Messthetics #216)

26. Different Eyes/Royston - Shish EP (Tuzmadoner Records UK 1979) One of the two masterpieces released on the Tuzmadoner label (the other being a 12" comp entitled, uh, "folk music" bringing up more parallels to skiffle that we should probably choose to ignore). Royston are like Flanagan & Allen fronting the world's greatest shit rock band. Different Eyes sound more lethargic than anyone else I've heard I think, and I used to work for Pavement's label. Simon Gilham from either Royston or the 'Eyes later played in Colin Newman's solo band. [Royston -Messthetics Greatest Hits and #1; Different I's -Messthetics #101 (plus their even better track from Folk Music)]

27. Homosexuals -Hearts In Exile (Black Noise UK 1978) Words fail me. As far as beauty goes, this is like Mozart or Shirley Collins. Probably their greatest moment. Somewhere along the lines of Brill Building and traditional UK folk and the Upsetters and ESP Records all at once in perfect harmony. A milestone, I think, and a record that I'd place in a timecapsule of 20th century folk art.[The Homosexuals -Astral Glamour 3CD]

28. Andrew Klimek -Felt Hammer (Mustard Records USA 1979) The guitar break alone sends this one soaring over the sky scrapers. Has that patented and most beautiful basement 4-track sound down pat even though I get more and more convinced that all those legendary Cleveland bands all were record collector rock of the umpteenth degree. Extraordinarily self-aware, sly and with meticulously thought out records, this one being no exception. The pompous liner notes on the sleeve of the 45 proves me right. You got to be some kind of Apples in Stereo-type shmuck to brag on a record sleeve that you put the bass guitar through a ring modulator.

29. Mekons -Never Been In A Riot (Fast Records UK 1978) Way before they became icky hippy-punk icons for aging counter culture types across the world they released a couple of singles of gorgeous nihilist slop. This is the first, and the funniest and the noisiest.

30. Jelly Babies -De Nada EP (No label name UK 1981) Simply heaven. A clumsy speed-chug with lyrics about a day of roller-skating and lovely pre-pubescent boozy backing vocals. Genius. Extra-tinny sound, extra passionate execution. I've quoted this portion of the notes on the (shoddy xerox, natch) sleeve: "Recorded at Dirt Cheap Studios, the best studios in the whole wide world by Grant Showbiz, the most silly person in the whole wide world, who steals your food and has a nice red guitar with a super tremelo arm which somebody gave him." Like Blake, the words transcend space, time and mortality. You need this record. Crunchy granola collectors should also note that I have personally seen at least five different (shoddy xerox) picture sleeves for this record where the priority can be determined with relative accuracy using the carbon 14 method. [one from the EP is coming on London v.III: another song from the EP demos appears on Messthetics Greatest HISS (Messthetics #110)

31. Thin Yoghurts -Girl On the Bus (Lowther Street Runner Records UK 1980) More sing-a-longa-slop-charm. You can take the limey out of the music hall but you can't Cute, touching and romantic lyrics about lusting over some tasty lassie on the bus to the kippers factory. They did this record as well as a cassette, which is a hundred bucks in your sweaty palm, if you send it to me. [Messthetics Greatest Hits]

32. Lucky Pierre -This Could Be The Night (No label USA 1984 (?)) Scuzzy, phenomenal art-rant by some Ohio Bowie-boy who'd re-record these musical chairs of Chain Gang, Klaus Nomi and cocaine freebase ten years later for Trent Reznor's label adding a "industrial dance beat" to the mess and changing the band name to Prick. Supposedly (some record-log-pincher told me) there were only 50 copies pressed for Lucky Pierre to use as record deal bait (also the reason that the lyrics are etched on the flip together with a ten second excerpt of the song). Well, I guess it worked. I seem to recall seeing a video for the re-recorded version on MTV during ol' Pierre's 15 seconds in the spotlight. The awe-inspiring power of this record remains tho'.

33. Skabb -78 EP (Mistlur Sweden 1978) Track 2 side one is jaw-dropping Opus-style DIY-crunch punk with Kriminella Gitarrer-guitar breaks. I can't believe this isn't a hotly pursued record by herd-following punk rock turd-swallowers round the globe. Fantastic slop-o-rama-lama-fa-fa-fa production too.

34. V/A -Angst In My Pants double EP (Street Level UK 1979) Imagine how good the previous 33 records on this list are, as I guarantee by risk of punishment of rock writer hyperbole, that this is doubtlessly one of the finest records I've ever heard, and the second greatest compilation in the history of rock! How can I say this wonders Rutger the Punk from his bedroom in Krakow ? Well the proof is in the pudding: Not only does the record include some of the finest recorded moments by the legendary Instant Automatons (who unknowingly channel the Monks!), 012 and the Door and the Window, but furthermore a rare vinyl appearance by the Digital Dinosaurs, heralded by me, Mario and Geoffrey in that most smug sort of way as unheralded gods of music! If that ain't enough you get some fine TVP-related spurts from the Missing Persons and extremely do it yourself DIY frenzy from the Midnight Circus. Who in "Silicone Baby" and "Hedonist Jive" have out-poignanted a tow-truck full of Aimee Mann's and Michelle Shocked's edgy humanity and funny as shit to boot. [Digital Dinsaurs and Instant Automatons are on Messthetics Greatest Hits: Midnight Circus have their own CD...And there's more on Deleted/Street Level at the Instant Automatons website]

35. Pleemobielz -Dagenlang Balen (Kamikaze Records Holland 1981) More sociological sloganeering a la Midnight Circus here: Dagenlang Balen which needlessly translates as "fuck all day" roars through the speakers with all the might of a bunch of over-testosteroned 16 year old virgins singing about what they think it'll be like to have sex some day. Tinniest sound in history. When a copy finally showed up on my doorstep after the fucking (literally!) record had spent a solid 10 years on my want list my expectations were quite low since anyone I had talked to who had heard the record all stated that it was weak/a waste of time etc. Well: It being a want list staple has more to do with the scarcity of the disc than it being a desirable punk rock record. However: It is an extremely desirable record if frenzied DIY bliss is your chosen poison.

36. Just Urbain -Guns & Guitars (No label Australia 1979) Another amazing DIY record from Australia, this one definitely sports a spiritual kinship with SPK, the Slugfuckers, the first Thought Criminals record, and those Systematics and Tactics records I need to find. Very dark, scuzzy art-damaged DIY that (a la Cabaret Voltaire or early SPK) is well aware of the fine krautrock musics coming out of Germany on Ohr or Sky a few years previously. The proto punk of say Neu or Cosmic Jokers is here handled with poisonous skronky passion.

37. The Gags -Sex Ist Schau (Leg Auf Records Germany 1981) And then one has to simply wonder if the belly laughs generated by this piece of vinyl have racist connotations: How much are we allowed to laugh at the Germans? This might be the stiffest record I've heard. The vocals lyrical bark manages to reanimate Basil Fawlty's classic performance in the "Germans" episode as well as the Sprockets. The jams are crazed. Stiff, yes, but crazed.

38. Desperate Bicycles -Smokescreen (Refill Records UK 1977) Their debut, more aggressive than a lot of the other classics and maybe it was the year. This is the 45 that launched hundreds of others: Two songs on one side to save mastering costs, the cheapest packaging, music that had to be documented, and it didn't matter if it was done in the cheapest and easiest way imaginable. [Messthetics #8]

39. Butter Utter -Jävlarnas Jul (Leonid Breznjev Records Swe 1977) Took me ages to find this one. Extremely inept, Shaggs-like fumble with a certain Je Ne Sais Qui of punk rock aggression. A lot of Killed by Death-types paid a lot of moola for this one, that some guy hyped to the moon in a Boston straight-edge fanzine back in the 80's. Only truly "punk" in the musical disaster sense of the word.

40. Cut-Outs -DIY (EMI UK 1979) Great novelty pop monster complete with carpentry noises. Possibly not a DIY record at all, but since the genre is made up by people like me this is a DIY record cuz I sez so. [NOT on Messthetics #7]

41. Massmedia ? EP (Massproduktion Swe 1979) Debut sloppiness from future KBD mainstays. There is no discernable musical ability to be found on this record and yet they play and play and play. The energy level is however awe-inspiring.

42. Dagens Ungdom -EP (Mistlur Swe 1980) Having an art school wank with Dagens Ungdom. Brilliant faux-DIY released on one of the major noo wave era indie labels of Sweden, home of Ebba Gron. All songs have titles nabbed from Kafka books, lyrics are more adjective heavy than a tub full o' Morrisey and the music is flawless DIY stumble n' fumble.

43. The Discounts -Selling Records (Original Records UK 1980) Blank 1000-yard stare DIY novelty straight out of High Fidelity. The lyric is a monologue as by a bored-to-tears record store clerk. The jams are sub-sub-sub-Blockheads DIY stumble. Extremely amusing.

44. Grinder Wickford's So Boring -EP (Wax Records UK 1979) Forget punk rock, bring in hick-rock! The aliases of the band read: "Dav-Id, Si-Kic, Terry-Ball, Stu-Pid and Holy-Grail"!. Three band members have moustaches! The singer is wearing a Rocky Horror t-shirt! The a-side is a "humorous" ditty about the acne problem of Spiderman, reflecting the sleeve front depicting some fool in a Spiderman costume driving a tractor, The b-side is an anti-fuzzy dice song. Genius. It is obvious to me that Wickford wasn't boring at all as long as you hung out with the bold gents of Grinder. The songs range from primitive clunky riff-rock to DIY jangle of the highest order. Messthetics #101

45. Psykik Volts -Totally Useless (Ellie Jay Records UK 1979) More Music Hall-punk DIY genius. The spirit of Vivian Stanshall is looming large; as is the empty pint glasses littering the room as this 45 is stuck on repeat. All together now: "It's to-tal-ly useless"!! The sleeve bears the legend: "Side A: recorded in a sock, Side B: recorded in a morgue. May god bless vocalist and songwriter Victor Vendetta. Now pardon me while I go to the corner and cry.

46. Raisinets -More Fun To Play Than To Listen To (Fun-Ethic Records USA 1979) Fantastic record-collector hippie-punk a la Gizmos/Afrika Korps/Half Japanese. Primitive guitar duets complete with questionable production values and mucho muchacho helpings of pure static. Great post-arrest pre-OD lyrics making fun of Sid too.

47. Dag Vag -Dimma (Ball Records Swe 1978) Two years after this record was released, Dag Vag were playing new wave-scented white-boy reggae to sell-out crowds all over Sweden. This, however, is a one-man band bedroom project by a Träd Gräs & Stenar roadie who had discovered punk rock and the DIY scene. Beautiful dark/sinister home studio atmospherics, killer fuzz guitar and demented lyrics about psychiatric care and drug experiences. A great record. And by all means: Don't buy any other Dag Vag records after you've obtained this one.

48. I Jog & the Tracksuits - Redbox (Tyger Label UK 1978) More lost artform unique stumble-rumble from the UK. Sounds like it was recorded under water this one. A petty miracle of a pop tune with a sublime lyric about waiting for the bus. Gotta bless em for the stamina it takes to get a record out: Recording, Mixing, Mastering, Designing, Printing, Approving, Distributing, Balancing. All to get a little song about missing the bus heard by me 22 years later.

49. Injections -Prison Walls (Radioactive Records USA 1980) This has always been an extremely desired and expensive record in KBD/Japanese Tasty/Moustache circles, and it doubtlessly deserves its inflated price tag even though we aren't talking chainsaw-buzz punk rock per se here.

50. Devils Hole Gang -Free The People (Slow Burning Fuse Records UK 1979) Huge moustaches, huge choruses, and a record that sounds like it was recorded inside one of those Moroccan hotel showers that basically consist of a huge tube of aluminum siding. My pretentious nature is such that I feel forced to unleash the folk art metaphor for this again. If your friendly neighborhood rare record dealer charges you a couple of C-notes for this and you feel like your being had for big G's by the sleaze, then remember that you are investing in art, not buying a record!!

51. Funboy Five -Life After Death (Cool-Cat Daddy-O Records UK 1980) A pure pop record indeed, but where pricey production values would've turned this into a memorable Stiff Records 45, the band's lack of bucks and resulting throwaway/enthusiasm production and energy has created a masterpiece. Both sides are stalwarts for a neighborhood sing-song or a rousing music hall chorus. Punk rock music hall: A genre waiting to happen again! [Messthetics #101]

52. How To Get Rich In Rotterdam - Dapper Dan (Vormgeving Rotterdam Records Netherlands 1981) Brilliant, plodding art-slop that reeks of inside jokedom. This record is a reason unto itself to pay ebay prices for vintage drum machines.

53. Come -Come Sunday (Come Organization UK 1979) Before William Bennett became the Benny Hill of industrial noise, his band Whitehouse were called Come and released a single and an album which both are quite lovely homemade art-dirge crankiness, a friendly psychedelic kind of crankiness indeed.

54. The Riotous Brothers -Vicki's Dancing (Riotous Records 1980) How all these disparate bands came up with a sound this cohesive is a mystery to me. Any of the hints handed to us through fanzines and interviews only mess things up further: Yes, anyone could form a band, make a record, start a record label indeed. Where it gets weird is why so many of them harbor a similar tinny guitar sound, cardboard-y drums, messy synths, inept recording techniques, smart-assed lefty lyrics and nasal singing tone. This was not a movement. It was just a bunch of stuff that happened. That's all. This record has the beautiful simplicity of a Shaker chair or a Maine seafood soup. The swanky speedpunk of "Operation Zero" or the plink-a plunk-a guitar solo on "Emotional Cripple" will some day have their own wing at the Victoria and Albert museum. Make my art primitive!

55. Partizans -Goods (A-Noyz Records UK 1980) Chain Gang's retarded English cousins. Ace!!

56. Amor Fati -Economics 100 (Yuck/Flesh Records USA 1984 (?) Very angry anti-r&r/anti-big-business slightly tongue in cheek rant that shows spiritual kinship to "Rat City" by the Art Attacks. Vertical Slit/V-3. The odd blend of wanting in, wanting to play the game and wanting to stay the fuck away that is symptomatic for a lot of Ohio underground musicians (Shepard, Hummel, House etc.)

57. Desperate Bicycles -Skill (Refill Records UK 1978) Blazing DIY-shuffle and unmistakenly Bicycles. More pro production which has this one slip further down the list. Still godlike though.

58. Sarah Coffman -Titta Jag Ar Död (Konkurrenz Rekårdz Sweden 1980) Excellent primitive shit-rock by band from my hometown!

59. Hornsey At War -Deadbeat Revival EP (War Product UK 1979) Extremely amusing ultra-sloppy DIY. No discernable production values, sound-as-filtered-through-ground-beef, emotionally charged out-of-tune vocals, crackly guitar (broken cable?) and a true aura of dead end yobs (and jobs) instead of the more common middle class art school vibe as prevailing on most DIY records. Hornsey At War are complaining about English radio too: "They won't play this record on the radio because it poses a threat!" Here tis again: That charming blend of hubris and defeatist that seems to penetrate the psyches of most people involved in underground music and/or collectors of it.

60. Take It -How It Is (Fresh Hold UK 1979) Stunning out of control DIY/noise not unlike a more frenzied Soft Boys, a more good Gang of Four or a less psychotic SPK. Igor and Simon seem like a couple of gents with some hardcore political and intellectual pursuits, and like the Desperate Bicycles before them I sense that the choice of releasing a noisy cheaply recorded 45 with a xerox cover was an act of some sort of political defiance, back in the day where such an act was not co-opted from the ground up by extreme sports and Wall Mart hair dye. [Messthetics Greatest Hits and Messthetics #2]

61. Rough Cuts EP (Z-Block Records UK 1980) Inspired sampler of four bands (The Boywonders, The Ghoulies, The Czechs and the Decadent Few) two of which tell us their age on the cover (The Boywonders are all 16, The Czechs are all 17). Humbling thought that such musical spirit could be mustered at such a tender age. Great variety of flavors too: The Boywonders great inept, spooky DIY strut where the band might think that a reggae influence is prevailing, us knowing that the stumbleblock shuffle bears more resemblance to ancient Celtic airs, the unbearable beauty of the Czechs utter disregard of tone, meter and signatures or the Ghoulies oddly Booker T-esque chug n' scrape. The business, all and all. [Boywonders and Czechs on Messthetics #104: The Z-Block Story is here]

62. The Petticoats -Normal (Bla-Bla-Bla Records UK 1980) Ripping good-kind-feminist anti-normalcy rant. Spiritually uplifting in a way not dissimilar to first-hand experience of medieval church architecture, I shit you not. Recorded at Street Level which means that this record is Fuck Off Records related.

63. Reducers -We Are Normal (Vibes Product UK 1978) The sub genre Geoff Weiss-punk is hereby coined to describe this record. High-energy ineptitude. There is a strange kinship to the Pink Fairies/Deviants axis on this record ? A similarity in energy and attack, notwithstanding that the Reducers really don't know how to play their instruments very well. [Messthetics #1]

64. Il Ya Volkswagens - Kill Myself (Mechanical Reproductions UK 1981) One more year in the rehearsal space for these guys and I wouldn't be writing this. Discernable elements of gothrock and Bauhaus influence can be noticed as a faint vapor in this aural air to speak it in goth-speak, the crunch of the slightly sour guitar, the plodd of the (genius) bass line and the all-in slouch of the lethargic vocalist and the cracked-everyday electronics elevates this dirge into an 18 carat DIY-cruncher.

65. Quite Ridiculous Nonsense -Identity Crisis (No Label USA 1984) Most ace industrial wank of that rare late 70's variety. Wildly entertaining experiments in four track flatulence and transistor radio static.

66. Pervers/Deutscher Abschaum split 7" (Suff Productions Germany 1984) The Godhead. Reminds me of Teddy and the Fratgirls or the Foams in the sense that one gets the notion that these must have been fun gals to hang out with or date. The timeless splendor of the arty urban misfit girl: Her goofy charm and no-holds-barred enthusiasm for all that she found weird, interesting or sexually appetizing. A toast to the art school weirdo outcast girls of the world: May they forever paint their room black or read Hermann Hesse to you in bed! The music is wild, out of control amateuristic slop goes from Electric Eels fuzzed out haterock to drumkits thrown down the stairs to minimal teen-angst and then back. Beautiful stuff. Got this in trade from Thurston Snore for some boring free jazz records back in the day. What a chump!

67. The Prats -Disco Pope (Rough Trade UK 1979) 15-year old Scottish schoolboy punks seething with rage over the demon disco. Early Downliners Sect-style one chord R&B shuffle complete with the drum breaks that made God decide not to spare humanity. Don't miss it!

68. Plast -EP (Stranded Rekords Swe 1979) Four song EP of the finest in teenage punks attempting to embrace the confusion in their head from listening to TG, Cabaret Voltaire and Pere Ubu. An ungodly racket where the hostility of the chosen sounds meets the cozy ineptitude of the random noises. Plenty of short-wave noises and the crappiest of synths. Utterly charming.

9. Raincoats -Fairytale in the Supermarket (Rough Trade UK 1979) All enthusiasm/zero chops Ubu-esque DIY-charm from these stunning ladies. This is the best of their many records. Some kinda CD anthology that I can't find right now was released in the USA on the basis of Kurt Cobain being a big fan.

70. Tone Deaf and the Idiots -Why Does Politics Turn Men Into Toads? (Blue Angel UK 1979) Tone Deaf and the Idiots how do I love thee. This flexi is taken from their debut album Catastrophe Rock which still stands alongside the Damian & the Criterions "Avant Garde", Alvaro's Drinking My Own Sperm and Kräldjursanstalten's Voodoo Boogie as peerless monuments of original thought as far as late 70's underground albums are concerned. Catastrophe rock indeed. This is what "Music from the Big Pink" would've sounded like if it had been performed by the Portsmouth Sinfonia.

71. Desperate Bicycles -Grief Is Very Private (Refill UK 1980) One of the mighty Bicycles more introspective and subtle moments. Their entire recorded output is well worth hearing, and the range of emotions they paint from their palate quite astounding.

72. Door and the Window -I Like the Sound (NB Records UK 1979) One of many brilliant anti-music art school rants by the grand old daddies of the very genre. They like sound, they don't like the Pop Group, they like noise (um yeah!), they don't like butter The list goes on and I can't say that I reached any enlightenment as such by the end of this demented scratchy noise-fumble. But the journey sure was great.

73. Slugfuckers -Instant Classic (PRS Australia 1979) Homosexuals-y whiteguy funk/noise fracture that Liquid Liquid would've been pretty stoked about. Screeching scrape and dumb jokey asides. Who could ask for anything more?

74. Happy Cadavers -Nothing New (Undefined Records UK 1982) Punk/wave slop from the Midwest ? kind of aims for the Stranglers but hits Small Wonder Records. Charming stuff. Give me a fake English accent any day.

75. The Reflections - 4 Countries (Cherry Red UK 1981) Coulda been by the Desperate Bicycles this: stop/start gurgling plodding slop with most excellent Mark P. whining on top. Patented Karl Blake crumble-o-rific drumming not to mention the ambience added by the illustrious Nag of Door and the Window celebrity status. The Reflections album is well worthy of your grease as well as it is more of the same DIY-gunk but with a more contempo Recommended Records-type sound. [Messthetics #1]

76. Reacta -Stop the World (Battery Operated Records UK 1979) Another one that demands the Desperate Bicycles as cultural cookie cutter ? A beautiful ramble with the edgy guitars of Hilton Bomber-Thought Criminals.[Messthetics Greatest Hits]

77. Crash Action Winners - Hurricane Fighter Plane (Sonic International UK 1979) Somewhere in this mess of static and filtered mud are the chord-change(s) of "Hurricane Fighter Plane". The sleeve hints at the band being American, the sounds point straight in the direction of an English middle class art school, and the record cover furthermore defines them as a bunch of record collectors to boot. Not only is a Roky Erickson tune given the same crap-o-riffic sonic treatment, but the shoddy crumb-bum picture sleeve showcases record covers by the Seeds, the 13th Floor Elevators, Russ Meyer and Question Mark and the Mysterians displayed in tasteful collage form. Messthetics #104

78. The Plastic Mechanical Pig -Book Brains (IX Recording Company Japan 1981) Tricky one here, Ricky and Paul, the two guys on the cover of the PMP 45, look like a couple of student teachers and the record sounds like a couple of student teachers recorded a Raisinets/Half Japanese hybrid on a primitive 4 track. Charming record this, with two folky DIY-punk cuts, but why on earth was it released in Japan?

79. V/A - Mell Square Musick EP (Yaw Records UK 1979) I've listened to this record a good dozen times or so, and my jaw still drops. Frenzied homemade punk where the energy could light up a medium-size town. Similar to the Tandstickorshocks, Seems Twice or Red Cross "Born Innocent" LP in its instinctive disregard for notes, chords and melody, the Accused or the 021 are more than deserving of particularly exquisite golden wings in the halls of the Valhalla of Amateurism. I bow my head. [Cracked Actor Messthetics #7; Accused and 021 - Messthetics #103]

80. Tandstickorshocks - Allan Vogalan (King Kong Records Holland 1980) The Dutch Puritan Guitars right here, it is almost spooky how similar the sound of the two bands is. Spinning these 45's makes me wonder if this music somehow managed to sidestep rock & roll and the black music tradition as a core influence. There is something about the Tandstickorshocks which at the same time manages to remind me of Schoenberg, microtonal composers and Irish tin-whistle folk music. This is, needless to say, evidence that I should get out more often, but also that these slices of true-life counterculture juvenilia are not isolated from a cultural context, but embracers of it. Even if it did take a couple of decades for these records to be collected in some kind of organized manner. The kids in Tandstickorshocls must have been aware of Wire and the Young Marble Giants, but the minimal primitive music they create is original in the same manner as the artists on Pat Conte's "Secret Museum of Mankind" compilations.

81. Foams - Paint Me (Pet Me Quick Records USA 1981) A classic of sorts. Frenzied, inept live recordings by this all-girl Austin Texas punk band. The only way that I can explain the similarities to the Slits or the Raincoats are that gals sure have a different way of looking at things, or at least playing drums. Great smutty lyrics and barky art-school vox too.

82. SST -Clutch On the Ward (Tidal Wave Records USA 1977) Super-inept hippie punk/DIY from California with lotsa early punk scenesters name-checked on the sleeve. Ted Falconi pre-Flipper on guitar.

83. The Simple Approach to Newtown Products EP (NTP Records UK 1980) My approach was to pay the inflated price the dealer was asking and happily walk home with this great record. 4 songs, four bands: Crimedesk are toilet-recorded DIY-slop, Basic Unit must be the most amateuristic goth band I've ever heard, Beat Necessity showcase only the finest in tuneless death-dirge with off-key howling and Story So Far is an awesome Joy Division/Factory Records attempt, but with no discernable musical talent. Needless to say, the whole EP is as charming as the day is long.

84. Hörförståelse -Förläst Jävel (CTR Sweden 1980) Demented art skronk of drums, bass and crap keyboards featuring out of tune vocals regurgitating about someone being an over-educated bastard. Perfect, really. A must for fans of primitive shit music.

85. What To Wear - Casual But Smart EP (Basic and Typical Records UK 1980 (?)) Inspired stumble as an attempt to play dub, The Homosexuals can do it ? These guys can't. I don't know if this given failure brought about something new, but this record is a very listenable stab at atmosphere by a DIY band with limited budget and equipment. The flip also contains a couple of amazing speed-pop DIY-rambles. [ Messthetics #104]

86. Contact -Future (Object Music UK 1979) An avantfied klutz by a band who probably wanted to be Tubeway Army one thinks as one gazes upon the sleeve. They move from sloppy pro-rock attempts to full-on art-noise to excellent DIY jingle and jangle. One of many excellent items on the Object label. [ Messthetics #106 and Messthetics #7]

87. Good Missionaries -Deranged in Hastings (Unnormality Records UK 1979) A great stop/start hiccup with the patented GM/ATV tinny guitars and peripheral production. What makes this stand out is that barely concealed aggression, like a slow fuse or something.

88. The Potent Human EP (L'Aventure Records UK 1980) I maintain, and not only because of my middle class lifestyle, that the Bathroom Renovations is the greatest band name in the history of rock. This EP is a four out of four winner. Brilliant DIY fumble from The Mekon (no relation), The Liggers , The Spurtz and the ultra-wah-wah power of the Bathroom Renovations. Let me type that again: Bathroom Renovations. [Liggers: Messthetics #106]

89. Disco Zombies -Here Comes the Buts (Dining Out Records UK 1980) This is my favorite of their three spectacular singles. Thw thuick brogue of an accent blends in a most interesting way with the crappy guitar and dull throb of the melody line or the voluptous Steve Severin-style bass line.

90. Record Players -Double C Side EP (Wreckord Records UK 1978) The Record Players came from Kent, which mustered a bit of a mod scene a couple years later, but otherwise wasn't much of a factor in the punk (or DIY) world. Here they've mustered up an anti-MOR rant with a chorus that comes off kind of, eh, MOR-sounding. Imagine the classic DIY trashing, bashing and gnashing, but with one big ol' chorus, and the most obvious bridge you'll ever hear. "Ignore Us" on the flip is self-defeatist art that'll piss all over any Magnetic Fields as far as smug self-hatred goes. "It's just one thing you gotta do if you want to move along, ignore the music and ignore this song ? Ignore us and we might go away". How about that. [Messthetics #1]

91. Boys and Girls Come Out and Play EP (Boys and Girls Records UK 1980) Might be a grade school project this one, and not an art school project. Bands like the Human Cabbages, The Profile and The Famous Five are very young sounding. The fragile beauty of these tunes remind me of the UK Voice of the People anthologies of field recordings of folk songs. The purity, private nature of the songs and homemade-ness makes for a truly intimate, moving listening experience. The people on this record should be proud of this slice of juvenalia 20-odd years later.[Profile -Messthetics #103 -also a Human Cabbages song]

92. False Idols -Ego Wino (Old Knew Wave Records UK 1980) Paul Morotta's unknown English nephews. This could be a Poli Styrene Jass Band outtake. Great, spazzy DIY with jazzy chording and great, supressed aggression.

93. Bandage -Republik (Bandage Records Sweden 1978) Seems as if the average age of the band members is 16 or so, and that the mere existence of this record points to the purest and most blissfully unaware state of do it yourself: Some kids in a suburb of Stockholm getting turned on by punk rock and the notion of releasing their own record. The four songs are all fuzzed out riff rock, not unlike say, the Crucified EP, but the poor quality of recording, sound separation, levels and what have you is why the record is mentioned on this list. Not that any of that was done on purpose, mind you, for any DIY-ethic of sorts. Necessity and gratification and all that good stuff.

94. 49 Americans -Big Value (NB Records UK 1979) Another hidden Fuck Off Records release? The 49 Americans certainly moved in the same circles, and furthermore share plenty of aesthetic choices with Danny and the Dressmakers or the Instant Automatons. This record consists of 14 short blasts of fuzz punk meets art wank and is absolutely brilliant.

95. Gods Gift -925 (New Market Records UK 1979) Three tuneless tunes of the finest in fuzzed-out death-dirge DIY-slop. Kilslug jamming with the Door and the Window.[Messthetics #106]

96. Mud Hutters -Declaration EP (Defensive Records UK 1979) Mud Hutters ? Information EP (Dead Good Records UK 1979) Truly original band this. Somewhere in a Heartwork Records/Rock In Opposition neighborhood, but with a real Safe As Milk-crunch. There are psych elements on both these records, moments of blistering punk rock, and a generous infusion of the Desperate Bicycles (or Thought Criminals) ethics and esthetics. Fantastic records, and mandatory listening for any fan of the underground music of the late 70's era. Unfortunately, their subsequent album isn't great. By that time the band got Gang of Four damage.[ Messthetics #106: a track from their first EP is on Messthetics Greatest Hits]

97. Horrible Nurds -Consuming Passion (Half Wombat Records UK 1980) Oddly enough, this record sounds a hell of a lot like early Problem (Sweden) on the a-side, with the b-side being Tim Rose backed by ATV in a fantastic art-rock/DIY howler In that lost art form kind of way.

98. Reptile Ranch -Animal Noises EP (Z Block Records UK 1980) Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 (one of the most under-rated bands of the last 15 years says I and ponder an upcoming UT article) are here channeled way before they even were formed by some UK art school kids. Fantastic Beefheart-y R.I.O-hybrid DIY. Passionate, crude and obnoxious, sending this record to the top shelf of any record room! [Messthetics Greatest Hits]

99. Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle - EP (Zick Zack Records Germany 1980) Ace generic DIY/punk that could've been at home on an early Rough Trade 45.

100. The Rutto - Ei Paluuta (Ikbals Records Finland 1983) Figured I'd seal the circle with this one: A record as stupendous as "Medium Was Tedium" and as prominently throwing all the weight of the DIY-aesthetic on us, the listeners. The Rutto seem to be your 1983 run-of-the-mill small town punk rockers, and this 45 is generic, frantic buzzsaw guitar 2-chord punk. The magic with this one, however, is that in between the choca-blocks of teen nihilism is a noticeable sense of wonder and joi de vivre oozing thru' the grooves, or maybe I am just getting old and sentimental. Thanks for reading.

[five-wow]

10.01 thoughts (or basically a rambly recap, very spoilery, with a lot of caps lock abuse) under the cut!!! :D

JERRY’S BEEN SHOT. that’s not actually a surprise at this point in any way, but oh gosh, poor guy. “it hurts more than i thought it would.” oh no. :c

i’m confused though - grover’s there calling an ambulance, jerry is bleeding, steve is keeping pressure on the wound, but where’s danny? clutching his heart out of frame? OH WAIT he could be arresting ezra hassan, i suppose?

on screen: 2 weeks later. jfdkfjdk they resolved that cliffhanger in like, under thirty seconds.

love jerry’s longer curly hair! REALLY LOVE that jerry and junior are playing battleship, omg.

jerry thought about HIS DND BUDDIES WHEN HE GOT SHOT. i love him. (i’m also both worried about his mental health and glad they’re showing him actually feeling some repercussions from getting shot, aside from the flesh wound.)

tani and junior!!! are going to the opera!!! wonderful, i’m into it.

AH. here we have steve on his date, omfg. it all looks so pretty - the background, the restaurant, the date, steve. REALLY AWKWARD conversation though, fjdkfd. steve’s been hanging with danny too much - as soon as someone asks “what are you thinking” he just opens up his heart.

“it’s just crazy, you know. things that happen at work.” FDJKFDJF i’m glad he’s seeing that AFTER NINE YEARS.

DANNY CALLS. i’ve seen the clips that were drifting around tumblr, so i knew it was going to happen, but still. DANNY CALLS. IN THE MIDDLE OF STEVE’S DATE.

“i think it’s best,” steve says, about taking a phone call from danny while he’s in the middle of a first date with a really pretty woman who seems very kind about his total awkwardness, oh BOY

the WAY danny says “hi” just already has me in stitches. i die. and then steve’s “dude! i don’t know.” he sounds so frustrated! poor guy.

“words are kinda just, they’re falling out of my mouth, i don’t know why.” OH STEVE. also: that’s 80% of all fic in which steve finally confesses his feelings to danny ever. thank you, canon, for giving us a steve who is canonically prone to this.

“do you have any game at all?” danny asks, of steve, WHO HE IS CALLING IN THE MIDDLE OF A DATE. the co-dependency here is HIGH and it’s probably unhealthy but i’m enjoying it a lot, truly.

okay so, steve says “you’ve called twice, we haven’t even ordered!” and then DANNY SAYS “if you answered my texts, i wouldn’t have to call” and that’s just ALL SO BAD. they are TERRIBLE together and that woman should probably run far away.

danny! way to build up steve’s confidence on this date by telling him his thing is awkward and messing things up, holy shit.

I’M SCREAMING. “that was danny. who i love. very much.” I AM YELLING. YES. GOOD. PREMIUM CONTENT.

just. i love “i love you”s, okay. i love them. we got one (1) in s9 at the end of 9.01, but we’re off to a good start now in 10.01, with steve telling his frigging date that he loves danny, oh my.

IT GOT WORSE. i paused like, in the middle of steve’s sentence, and then as soon as i hit play the date said “sounds like my ex” and steve says “you know, it’s funny that you say that, because it’s kind of like a marriage” and uh, hello steve, i made a gifset about that the day before yesterday, thank you for giving me an update, but also just. wtf. wtf holy shit

i. i just. this is supposedly steve on a date with a woman being all heterosexual, but it’s really an extremely mcdanno scene, like ten times more than i was prepared for, wow.

real talk though, i’m almost certain this relationship isn’t going anywhere, but this woman seems really cool!!! i love her so far.

tani is actually enjoying the opera and junior seems to be paying more attention to her than the stage and i have no idea if this is actually an officially official date between them or if they’re still “just friends”, but it’s all so cute. and then, of course, some anonymous guy shows up with a sketchy briefcase that’s inevitably going to contain weapons, but oh well, it was nice for how long it lasted.

a slightly updated intro!!! katrina law is already in it (which i like) and the new group shot is kind of crowded but really nice, but fjdkfdjkdf they chose a really awkward moment where adam is supposedly typing something on the tech table but he’s REALLY OBVIOUSLY just randomly tapping his fingers on it. that’s going to haunt me. oh dear show runners, why.

danny... says steve was blowing his date, as they arrive on the crime scene that junior and tani found, and steve says he has a second date and danny goes “you got a second date?” incredulously and almost dismayed and that just really sounds like he WANTED steve to blow it. what is this, danny, setting steve up with a pretty woman from steve’s school to test him? see if he’ll say no and fall in your arms instead, and when he doesn’t, you’re disappointed?

even the lighting in this random stairwell gun fight chase scene is kind of pretty! the blue and red? i like it.

oh NO, steve, you’re not even ten minutes into a new season and you’re chasing some suicidally parcouring bad guy across roof tops and into a jump that’s REALLY going to give danny a heart attack, jesus.

fdjkfd danny telling steve that ten years ago he would’ve made that jump? telling him he’s forty? i’m not sure if that’s kind of mean or really good, but it might be both.

plot stuff happens, but i keep getting distracted by all the grey in steve’s beard and his new, longer hair. it’s good.

i like quinn’s introduction!!! i really do, more than i’d expected. and honestly, that déjà vu thing lenkov was talking about is very faint to me, to the point where it’s mostly just there because danny says it out loud in the text and then forcibly makes it so. they’re not in steve’s garage, it’s the wrong car they’re standing next to, there are three people instead of two and there’s no “one, two, three” and showing badges, but steve yeets his badge over the windshield of the car in quinn’s direction. the similarity isn’t that strong.

danny going “i gotta follow him” about steve and “i don’t know [shrugs]” about where they’re going is beautiful.

i’m about halfway through the episode now and steve and danny have spent SO MUCH time together and it’s really good but also has me slightly worried that they’re pushing all the steve&danny content for the entire season in one episode, omg. it’s good, though. i’m happy for now.

adam is still doing yakuza stuff. i get it, because it’s the one big thing they’ve given his character, but i do get kind of tired of it. he’s supposedly out, but every time they need it for plot reasons, he still has connections somewhere that are willing to help him for whatever reason.

and then quinn shows up and pulls a gun on adam, fjdkfd. listen, i know i said i was getting tired of him doing the yakuza thing over and over, but shooting him would be a little drastic.

danny: “this is good, we’re chasing a monster truck. that’s totally normal, right?” how is it that NOW they’re both suddenly realizing their lives are kind of crazy? they weren’t crazy before, guys? guys??

HAH, the guy in the truck drives over a dozen cars. that’s ridiculous, but a lot of fun, omg.

danny, when he finds tani and quinn in the same room at hq: “oh good, you two have met.” YES. MY SENTIMENTS. except i’m perhaps a little more exuberant about it. TWO MAIN FEMALE CHARACTERS IN ONE SCENE YES GOOD I LIKE THIS. we haven’t had this since... season 4, maybe? when catherine was briefly part of the team?

oh SHIT. danny: “are you sure you’re not related to steve in any way?” okay SO. we’re all assuming quinn is steve’s new love interest, but quinn being steve’s secret half sister somehow? also nonsense, but nonsense i’d like. and i mean, they need to keep the mcgarrett family drama alive somehow, so this could be fun.

quinn: “can’t this thing go any faster? [steve looks at her weird] what?” steve: “nothing. just never had that complaint before.” that is a LIE. i know for a fact that that’s a lie, because i have a stupid amount of knowledge of h50 of the top of my head and one of the things i know is that in 8.01 tani pops up between steve and danny while she’s in the backseat of the camaro and ALSO asks if it doesn’t go any faster. i know what they’re going for here, setting quinn and steve up as equals, and i like what they’re trying to tell us about quinn as a character in theory but come on, if you’re trying to convince us steve is all impressed by this woman that you might be setting him up with romantically, at least do some continuity fact checking on your own show, guys.

anyway! i do like that it’s canon that all women in five-0 think the camaro isn’t fast enough. get wrecked, steve and danny, HA.

when steve said to the bad guy “my friend lou here is going to put some handcuffs on you” i thought at first that he said “liu”, as in quinn’s last name, and oh man, first they had tani and junior’s last names as rey and reigns, which was close enough, but now they have lou and liu, gosh.

!!! this talk between steve and quinn in front of kamekona’s?? i LIKE IT. A LOT. we get to know a little more about quinn and steve genuinely does treat her as an equal and a capable colleague and there’s nothing especially romantic about this, which is good this early on even if they’re doing that later because i do feel like it could possibly work but right now it would just be really weird and very forced and i’m just really relieved that’s the dynamic they’re going for. this, this is good.

OH BOY. “we’re breaking up with you, danny” steve says. i... wow.

FAIR THOUGH. it’s probably a REALLY GOOD idea of steve to maybe involve danny a little less in his dating life if he wants to, well, actually have one that’s viable for life, but oh GOSH. danny going “you can’t cut me out” when steve tells him this? danny is just. so interested in steve’s romantic life, damn.

tani: “mom and dad are fighting again.” fdjkfdjk YES. this time it’s not even junior saying this to eddie behind steve and danny’s back, it’s just tani saying it out loud to the entire group and nobody says anything about it so uhhh that’s accepted fact then, within the team. GOOD.

ohhhh jerry is leaving. also not a real surprise and it’s probably kind of good that the team doesn’t endlessly keep growing if quinn joins this season, but ahh, i’m sad, anyway.

GROUP HUG. i love EVERY SINGLE THING ABOUT THIS.

oh gooood, somebody put a bomb in the champ box in steve’s garage. that’s harsh.

final thoughts: i LIKED THIS. very much!!! i’m relieved about that, tbh, because at least i’m happy about the start of the season, which seems like a good sign, haha. i love quinn so far, there was REALLY GREAT mcdanno stuff in this, i love that steve is dating again, tani and junior seem to be dating, jerry is fairly healthy and happy - all around lots of good stuff.

i do kind of think that cliffhanger from last season got extremely little attention (we didn’t even see ezra hassan get arrested, and what happened to her kid? where was danny? idk it was weirdly short and quick), but it’s still possible they’re coming back to that in a later episode, idk.

#h50 #10.01 #h50 spoilers #episode rambles

[darks-ink]

Disinterred CH.15

Chapter 15: Clean It Up

And Amity Park… Amity Park was used to dealing with the unusual. The impossible. The non-existent. So, really. Having a ghost and a clone of said ghost testify for the crimes of another ghost… It wasn’t that far out of there.

(Tumblr hates links and I want this to appear in the tags so… for author notes/full fic summary/links to the other chapters/mirror links to AO3 and FFnet, click here)

“We need to talk to detective Payton.”

The woman behind the desk quirked an eyebrow at him, then glanced at the group behind him. “If you have a crime to report, you can speak to whichever officer is available.”

“It’s more complicated than that,” Danny insisted. “It involves a case he was working on.”

She opened her mouth again, clearly intending to shoo him away. Jazz cut her off, however. “It’s really important, please. Can you just contact him and tell him that the Fentons want to talk with him.”

The lady glared at them shortly, but complied. The call involved a brief back-and-forth, but once Payton had heard the words “Fenton” and “case” he seemed to have made up his mind.

Sighing, the woman at the desk put the phone down again. “He’ll be here in a few moments.”

“Thank you.” Danny grinned, just a little too pleased with the small victory. Hey, he would take whatever he got right now. Any distraction from the upcoming conversation was more than welcome.

When Payton appeared he looked more than a little resigned at the sight of their group of teenagers. “I thought that the Fentons wanted to talk to me?”

“We’re temporary stand-ins for his parents,” Sam said with a shrug. “They’re… occupied.”

Payton sighed but, to his credit, didn’t otherwise react. He simply led the four of them to an empty room so they could talk.

“What is this about, then? Because I’m guessing that the ‘case’ you wanted to talk about is yours?”

“Yeah,” Danny confirmed with a nod. “We… We kind of left our some details.”

“You are aware that it’s illegal to lie to the police?” Payton crossed his arms, a mild glare send towards the teens.

“We didn’t lie!” Sam exclaimed, throwing out her hands. “We just didn’t tell the entire truth.”

“Is that so?” Payton didn’t look particularly convinced. Danny didn’t really blame him. In fact, he kind of felt bad for the officer. His involvement in the case certainly made it a lot harder than it had any right to be. Ghosts, in general, made work for the police difficult.

“When we talked about my… ghostly nature,” Danny started hesitantly, “we implied that my… more ghostly appearance was just a one time thing. It’s not.”

Payton nodded, now looking slightly more believing. “Is this related to your glowing green eyes during the confrontation with your parents?”

“Uh, yeah. I can trigger the whole transformation on command, but the glowing eyes happens for all sorts of reasons. Usually when I’m using my powers or when I’m experiencing really strong emotions.” Danny shrugged. “I kind of… use my more ‘ghostly’ form as a disguise of sorts, so people don’t recognize me.”

“But what would you need a disguise for?” Payton squinted at him, suspicion clear on his face. “Nothing illegal, I hope?”

Danny snorted in response, leaning back in his chair. “Hardly,” he said, before tapping into his powers to make his eyes glow on purpose. “Come on, it can’t be that hard to figure out.”

Payton scrutinized him for a few long moments, eyes gliding over him. Then the man sat forward, arms resting on the table. “You’re saying that you are Phantom? Well, that certainly explains why you laughed when I said that if Phantom thought you were okay, it was probably safe to trust that judgment.”

“What can I say, ghost hunting runs in the family.” Danny smirked, a rather Phantom-like expression, to drive the point home.

The detective continued to eye him, then sighed. “You do realize that this isn't going to change the decisions we made last meeting, right?”

“Yeah,” Danny agreed with a shrug. “I mean, I guess I’ll try for college but if I can’t get in I’ll just work for my parents. I’m already following their footsteps as Phantom anyway, might as well give inventing a shot too.”

Then his expression fell again. “But to get back to the original topic… I’m not just telling this for fun. It’s a secret for a reason.”

“Yes, I suppose it is,” Payton agreed, sitting back again. “What is it then?”

Danny frowning, running through his options. Apparently he took too long, because Jazz spoke up. “He’s not the only one. Not the only one with a human and ghost appearance, I mean.”

“And you’re telling me this because… you don’t think they deserve their secret if you didn’t get to keep yours?” Payton queried, cocking an eyebrow at him.

“No,” Danny bit out. “I’m telling you because he’s a jackass who uses his powers for bad purposes!” The vivid green light from his eyes flickered on the desk in front of him, but he ignored it. “He hurts people, he manipulates people! And he has gone too far!”

“And who is he, then?” Payton seemed genuinely intrigued. Apparently Danny’s rant had convinced him to at least play along.

“In human form or ghost form?” Tucker piped up. “Because he looks drastically different and he has no problem flaunting that fact.”

“In his ghost form he calls himself Plasmius.” Sam crossed her arms. “But the public usually calls him the Wisconsin Ghost, I believe.”

“The blue skinned vampire ghost?” Payton frowned. “I’ve heard of him, yes. Known to cause problems, picks fights with… Phantom.” The last word he said more quietly, realization of Phantom really being a 16 year old apparently striking him.

“That’s him,” Danny confirmed. “His human form is also well-known. Old family friend of my parents, current mayor of the town…”

Payton grunted. “You’re saying that the Vlad Masters is a ghost like you?”

“How do you think he won the election?” Jazz questioned with a scoff. “He didn’t stand a chance until he overshadowed most of the voters.”

“And that’s just one of many sketchy things he has done with his powers.” Tucker’s jaw visibly tightened at the thought of everything the man had done. Of what he had tried to do to him. Danny was glad for friends like these. “Stealing money, overshadowing business rivals to take over their companies, attempted murder of Jack Fenton…”

“Kidnapping Maddie Fenton, twice. Kidnapping Danny at least that often, including trapping him in ghost-proof bindings and electrocuting him,” Sam continued. “Sending potentially dangerous ghosts to Amity Park, in the hopes to either kill Jack or hurt Danny.”

“And that’s not even to mention that he tried to clone me,” Danny joined in. Then with a grimace, he added, “And emotionally abusing the one clone that survived. Well, as far as a ghost can survive, of course.”

Payton blinked, apparently stunned by the information overload. Then the last part processed, and he frowned. “He cloned you?”

“Not very successfully, but yes.” Danny shrugged, a faux casual air about him. “She didn’t quite come out right, and she wasn’t stable. But she’s with my parents now, and we managed to save her.”

“Which is also why they’re not here,” Tucker explained, leaning on Danny’s shoulder. “Hence Sam and I as the replacement parents.”

Payton remained quiet for a few moments. Then he sighed. “You are aware of how bat-shit insane this sounds?”

“Welcome to my life,” Danny said with a snort. “Or, well, you know what I mean.”

“We can’t just take your word for all of this,” Payton insisted. “It sounds… Well, it sounds too bizarre to come up with, but that doesn’t mean that it’s true.”

“And we can provide you with whatever proof you need.” Sam glowered at him. “We just need your assurance that you’re gonna look into it, and that you’ll do your best to arrest Vlad.”

Payton sighed, looking like he was very much regretting his involvement in this case. Again. “Of course. That’s literally my job, miss Manson. Although I do wonder how you expect us to arrest and contain a ghost.”

“Inventions to restrict his powers exist,” Tucker supplied. “You can probably move to arrest him the normal way, since he won’t be expecting you to know. Use some ghost-proof cuffs and you’ll have him before he realizes.”

“Fine. It’s a deal. I’ll need all evidence you have of his crimes, including witness reports,” Payton instructed, looking like he was trying to get back in control of the situation.

Danny nodded, then pulled out his phone. “I’ll call the Red Huntress. She was one of the people Vlad manipulated, and he straight-up tried to hire her to catch the clone when she escaped.”

Looking he was going to regret asking, Payton nonetheless asked. “I thought the Red Huntress didn’t like Phantom? Or ghosts in general?”

“Misunderstanding,” Danny explained, waving Payton’s concern off with his hand. “We got everything figured out, and she knows of both my identities.”

“Of course,” Payton groaned. “And I’m guessing you know who she is, then?”

“We all do.” Sam grinned at the clearly overworked detective.

The detective only groaned, but didn’t say anything. Danny figured he had a pretty good idea of what the agent was feeling like.

But it was for a good cause.

It took a few days to gather all the evidence the police required. The witness reports alone took a considerable chunk of time, considering the sheer amount of people in Amity Park alone that knew about Vlad’s shady business. Aside from the Fentons (all five of them) and Sam and Tucker, Valerie also had to be included.

And sadly, that was easier said than done, as she needed to reveal her identity for the report to count. After all, a judge wouldn’t just accept the statement of a masked vigilante that no one knew.

Thankfully she trusted Danny’s judgment (and, of course, the judgments of his friends and Jazz) and allowed Payton and his team to know. They were… less than pleased to discover that she, too, was a teenager.

Knowing that it had been Vlad who pushed her into ghost hunting in the first place… Well, that eased their moods a little. Besides, she and Phantom now worked together – and they trusted Danny to keep the people of Amity safe. From ghosts, at least. Human crime… Well, that was their job.

Additionally, there was some trouble with Dani’s witness reports. Law wasn’t exactly made with cloning in mind. Legally, Danielle Fenton didn’t exist.

But then, neither did ghosts.

And Amity Park… Amity Park was used to dealing with the unusual. The impossible. The non-existent.

So, really. Having a ghost and a clone of said ghost testify for the crimes of another ghost… It wasn’t that far out of there.

Most of the people involved who knew enough about the case to know that three of the people involved were ghosts… Well, they were just glad that the ghosts were solving their issues like normal people. Instead of, you know, blasting each other to bits on the streets.

When Danny first heard people mention it, it had been some of the other officers of Payton’s team. People who knew he was a ghost, but who hadn’t been told about his Phantom alter-ego. He immediately thought back of all the times he and Vlad had brawled and burst into laughter.

The officers looked at him like he had gone crazy, eyebrows raised. Between giggles, Danny managed to explain himself. “You- You really don’t know the half of it.”

That hadn’t really explained anything to the cops, but Payton coaxed them back to work before they could question Danny. The detective attempted to glare the boy into behaving himself, but failed once more. Now that he knew what the boy had faced off against, he wasn’t surprised.

Finally enough evidence had been gathered. The cops set out, armed with anti-ghost weaponry and ghost-proof cuffs. A cell had been prepared beforehand, covered by a ghost shield provided by FentonWorks. A special one, they assured, which would hold even the most powerful and skilled of ghosts.

Payton double-checked his gear. Then he gave the start signal, allowing his officers to pour into the mansion.

Within minutes the team returned, guiding Vlad Masters in their middle. The man was dressed, as always, in an impeccable suit. He frowned at Payton when his guides stopped him in front of the detective.

“Sir, with all due respect, but what on Earth is happening here?”

Payton offered the man a lopsided smile. Then in one swift movement he cuffed Vlad’s wrists together, preventing his escape.

“Vlad Masters, also known as Vlad Plasmius, you are under arrest for… Well, for a lot of crimes.” His smile grew a little wider, a little more genuine. “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can be used against you in court.”

Vlad’s eyes widened, his gaze shifting between his bound wrists and the police officers surrounding them. Payton ignored him, continuing with his whole rights speech.

“Wait, no,” Vlad pleaded. “You must be mistaken- I have never heard of a name like ‘Plasmius’ before.”

“Save it for court.” Payton shoved the man forward, towards the van that would transport him. Several officers, all armed with ectoplasmic weaponry, would ride with him. The cuffs should prevent him from using his powers to escape, but better safe than sorry.

Then he turned towards the rest of the officers still waiting. He inclined his head towards the mansion that stood before them, looming in the approaching dark.

“Well then, let’s see how many sketchy things we can find in here. Sources say that he has an underground lab hidden, like some kind of supervillain.” He grinned at the crowd of police. “First one to find and enter it without disturbing actual evidence gets a reward.”

He clapped his hands together. “Ready, set. Go!”

And then the officers were off, leaving Payton to observe. The boy had been right. Arresting Vlad had been easy, as the man hadn’t expected them in the slightest.

How clever he thought himself. What a sham.

The Summer vacation hadn’t done much to calm Casper High’s rumor mill. The turbulent arrest of ex-mayor Vlad Masters right after the start of said vacation had spurred on all rumors. Not much was known about it, but that didn’t stop the teenagers. They whittled away, discovered the smallest details. Any slip-ups were gladly accepted and brought into the rumors.

So it wasn’t much of a surprise that they discovered that Danny Fenton had been involved as well. Not as a perpetrator, oh no.

As a victim.

Which, of course, combined well with the previous rumors of him being a ghost. It didn’t take long for the first theories to emerge, suggesting that Vlad was his killer. That he had played a critical role in the death of Danny Fenton.

And so when the school year started, against all odds… The rumors hadn’t died off. Quite the opposite. Even more people than before believed that the boy, now in his final year of school, was a ghost.

So they kept their eyes open for his arrival.

Eventually, their wait was rewarded. The doors of the school opened, and in the opening he stood.

Lanky, with unbrushed but shiny black hair. Icy blue eyes that, ironically, sparkled with life. A surprisingly healthy gloss to his pale skin. A playful but kind smile on his face. For once, he looked well-rested. No bags under his eyes.

Perhaps… Perhaps Vlad Masters really had been responsible for his death. Perhaps Danny Fenton could finally rest easy, knowing that the man was finally arrested.

His outfit was much like the usual.

The girl he had his arm wrapped around… much less so.

She, unlike Danny, looked uncertain. Shaky. A red beanie sat perched on her head, but messy black hair still spilled out of it.

Her eyes, blue as the skies, glanced around the entrance hall with vigor. She looked guarded, like she was expecting someone to suddenly attack her.

She had her hands stuck in the pockets of her oversized blue hoodie. A crease in her brow suggested, however, that said hands were clenched into fists.

Standing right next to Danny Fenton, it was very very clear that she looked almost exactly like him. A little younger, perhaps, but undeniably identical.

The crowd parted the let the two through. But they remained nearby, hovering around the two. Waiting. Watching.

In the end, it was Dash Baxter who decided that he’d had enough. He stepped forward, breaking from the line and into the circle of personal space that had been granted to Danny and his… whoever she was.

“Hey Fenton,” he bit, stressing the last name of the ghostly teen. “Who’s this?”

“Oh hey Dash,” Danny greeted as he turned to face the other boy. He pulled the girl next to him a little closer to his side, drawing a displeased hiss from her. “This is Danielle, or Dani.”

“With an i,” the girl muttered under her breath, barely audible.

“Okaaay.” Dash frowned, looking between the two. “That still didn’t answer my question of who she is.”

“Oh, right.” Danny flapped his free hand. “She’s my dead sister.”

Dash froze up, and sharp intakes of breath could be heard from everywhere in the crowd. “She’s your what?”

“My dead sister,” Danny repeated, finally releasing the girl to reach towards his locker. Then he looked over his shoulder at the crowd and grinned.

And stuck his arm right through the still closed locker door.

“Funny how that works, huh?” he said, with his arm still waving through his locker. He looked like was searching for something without being able to see it.

Dani, meanwhile, seemed to have gotten over her nerves. She leaned back against the lockers, standing right next to Danny. She was still eyeing the crowd, however, a little warily.

Soft mutters could be heard from the crowd, but no one had a real response. Sure, everyone had been convinced that Danny was a ghost. Hell, Dash had even seen the boy go intangible before.

But this was undeniable proof. And it was a lot less feeble than a whiffed punch by a jock.

Finally Dash got his thoughts back in order, though. “So why’s she here now?”

“Well,” Danny hummed as he finally pulled his arm out of the locker again. Held in his hand were several books for school. “You guys all knew I was a ghost anyway, so she didn’t have to hide anymore.”

He turned back to face his once-bully with a lopsided grin on his face. Then he shrugged. “Besides, where else is a ghost going to get an education?”

#danny phantom #phanfic #dp fanfic #dp fanfiction #phanfiction #dark writes #disinterred #the last chapter! ooh #i'm drafting this on Tumblr AO3 and FFnet beforehand so i can post from mobile tomorrow #so if something screws up i blame it on that

[antoine-roquentin]

Just hours after the British police dragged the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange out of the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, the police in Ecuador made an arrest they suggested was related and involved the nation’s security.

But in the days since, the arrest has drawn a wave of protest from human rights activists and digital security advocates who say there is no evidence yet of a crime — only that of guilt by association.

The man arrested, Ola Bini, a Swedish cybersecurity expert and digital privacy advocate, was detained April 11 on charges that he had attacked computer systems in the country.

As evidence, prosecutors pointed to the laptops, iPads, iPods, encrypted USB sticks and credit cards they found when they searched Mr. Bini’s home and possessions. They noted that Mr. Bini traveled often and had spent more than $230,000 in internet services over the past five years.

Ecuador’s officials particularly cited Mr. Bini’s contacts with Mr. Assange, who faces extradition to the United States on charges of conspiring to hack an American government computer to obtain national security information.

Last week, President Lenin Moreno of Ecuador said that Mr. Bini was one of “many hackers” who had visited Mr. Assange at the country’s embassy in London, where the WikiLeaks founder had sought refuge. “Probably to receive instructions,” Mr. Moreno added.

But as news of the detention has spread, human rights and digital security advocates have begun to question the grounds for the detention, arguing that Mr. Bini, 36, worked to prevent illegal access to private information.

Amnesty International and Article 19, an organization that defends free speech, have raised concerns about the arrest.

Mr. Bini “is a highly respected expert in digital security and cryptography and is recognized for major contributions in the field,” Article 19 said in a statement. David Kaye, the United Nations’ special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, said that nothing revealed so far connects Mr. Bini to any crime.

Danny O’Brien, the international director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said Mr. Bini’s work had helped build a safer internet. The evidence that Ecuadorean authorities presented was simply “the sort of equipment you have when you work in those sort of projects,” he said.

“People contributing their free time to protect internet users have their skills and their lifestyle used against them,” Mr. O’Brien said, a point of recurring concern among human rights advocates.

Mr. Bini was arrested at the international airport in Quito, Ecuador’s capital, on his way to Japan to take part in a martial arts program, said his girlfriend, Sofia Celi. Later, government officials went on television to applaud the arrest — and mention his visits to Mr. Assange.

The minister of interior, María Paula Romo, said the government was trying to prevent Ecuador from turning into a center for digital “espionage and piracy.” Ms. Romo said she could not comment on the evidence against Mr. Bini, but she, too, noted that he had visited Mr. Assange at the Ecuadorean Embassy “at least a dozen times.”

Mr. Bini’s lawyers say the detention is unlawful. They say he was denied access to lawyers for 17 hours, was not informed of the charges against him, and was not offered a translator, as required by local laws. His lawyers said they have been harassed and threatened by the police.

Mr. Bini, who was not granted bail, will remain in custody for 90 days while Ecuadorean prosecutors build a case against him.

#massive anti-leak crackdown

[bartsugsy]

Ooh someone else who's not against Aaron crying more. That seems to no longer in en vogue 😂 I just want more Aaron full stop at this point. It feels like he's been underused so much recently (almost 2 years actually lol). Maybe not in stats but in terms of how it feels and actual storylines that last over a period of time. I miss him. Let him be rude to people in the cafe even idc. It's a given that I always want more Robron too ofc. Comedy/angst/casual village interaction for them both please!

i think that (imo) (or at least from my personal perspective as a viewer) 

(and as a preface, i don’t mean to compare robert and aaron in a rob vs aaron way - it’s more that robert is a very easy character to use here in order to demonstrate my point in this post about aaron, because they share so much screentime/storylines together)

robert is a character that they enjoy using in a way that a lot of other characters don’t get used or can’t be used quite so freely - they like putting him up against big dogs and making sure he’s got some sort of scheme in motion lmao, just because that’s sort of core to who he is, in a way

he’s probably very fun to write for and/or plot for in that way, because he’s a fucking lunatic and also gets to be kind of quippy and terrible 

(and i will… fucking eat my hat if they haven’t set this graham plot in motion to ensure that both the kings and robert are in kim’s general orbit once she comes back to the show, just bc why wouldn’t they)

so robert usually has some sort of insane scheme happening - or before that, last year, we obviously had him involved with lachlan and rebecca, because of his ties to the whites and who knows maybe he’ll be tied back to lachlan again

but this has just sort of meant that he’s always had a couple of different stories happening at once lmao

it’s a rare day that the show doesn’t have robert doing something, even if he’s not being used very heavily

aaron on the other hand gets thrown into liv-related plots, or dingle plots maybe (but not very often) - stuff that’s really a lot smaller and kind of involves him doing the same thing over and over again lmao. i think he’s going to appear in jacob’s plot again at some point soon (potentially without liv???)? 

but beyond that, he’s really just in the robron stuff

and if the robron stuff happens to be more robert-centric, then i feel like it makes sense that it might feel aaron-lite

plus they just don’t really use him in the same fun ways that they use robert

(and honestly!! not many characters do!! possibly bc it’s just fun to watch robert be terrible lmao, in much the same way it is nicola or charity or cain) 

(again this isn’t supposed to be rob vs aaron bc i love how they use robert on this show lmao)

(but they also should use aaron in fun things too bc we deserve it)

(and i hope the robron/jimmy stuff this week is good bc i miss aaron doing crime things)

so he had a super quiet 2018, relatively speaking - mostly he was just supporting other things that were going on at the time with liv and robert and that’s cool and good and all characters should have a supporting period in soaps etc

but now it’s his time again we’ve done our waiting

!!!!

and maybe bc he’s largely been very valuable as a presence but in a supporting function, it feels like he’s been a lot more underused than he actually has? just because he hasn’t really had anything that focused on him as a character since early 2018?

but also now the billy thing is happening

and i feel like (and i think maybe ppl might agree) we really haven’t had aaron say enough about his side of the story yet

and that’s fine, because he actually seems at the moment to be trying to act like everything is totally cool (even though he’s concerned about literally leaving the house)

he’s just like lOL robert drop it!! 

bc robert immediately got himself arrested, i guess, so maybe aaron isn’t quite prepared to let robert know exactly what’s going on in his little head, because he’s worried about what robert will do

which is clearly valid

but that doesn’t mean that something somewhere shouldn’t give that ultimately makes aaron have to tell robert (or someone!!!!) (uh preferably robert)

I GUESS THIS LONG FUCKIN USELESS POST IS JUST ME SAYING

that i want the aaron/billy situation to be an actual storyline for aaron

and an actual storyline for billy/ellis/jessie

which i assume it will be

but it’s still such early days so it’s sort of impossible to say how it will play out at the moment

but i hope like fuck that they

dont drop it

develop it into something interesting that gives aaron some focus

gives aaron a story that’s sad bc danny’s good at sad scenes and i enjoy them lmao

also ryan is good at sad dramatic stuff and sad dramatic robron stuff is good and like

give us more of that as a part of this

i know who i am

more robron angst!

let billy go after robert and have aaron get mad!!!! 

i’ve got ideas @ ed writers hit me up

like, i’m totally fine/thoroughly enjoying robert trying to casually ruin billy’s life at the moment in an attempt to get rid of him and again, it works because aaron literally is acting like everything is fine, even to robert (for the most part)

i just hope it’s leading to more emotional stuff and aaron explaining what’s happening in his head and what happened

and more aaron/billy scenes honestly lmao

for the #drama

at the moment everything that’s happening is very shallow/face value stuff and the show really hasn’t started delving into the dynamics between any of the characters yet

there are so many depths for them to mine here

they’ve just started to bring up billy and jessie’s feelings about billy’s dad, which is a good start 

but i need more yk

this shit is heavy and we deserve heavy angsty tear-filled aaron scenes to go with it

the show should work up to those imo thanks

like… it’s all promising stuff though? and i’m always chill about waiting for shit to go down, if it feels like there’s space for shit to go down.

i just hope they follow through and write it well and don’t just drop the story

and then i hope they take it somewhere interesting

until then i’ll just enjoy robert being a lunatic on aaron’s behalf and aaron very quietly trying (and frankly failing) to deal with his trauma 

#answering anons #this is...... this is why i've never written a concise thing in my life #shit like this #spoilers #Anonymous #long post

[the-penny-dreadfuls]

Daniel Croteau was only thirteen years old when he was murdered on April 14th, 1972. He came from a large Catholic family, and was the youngest of seven children. His family described him to be a “Huck Finn” type of boy; always finding himself in some sort of adventure. He was known to hitchhike around town, which lead the teen to make some questionable friends. Daniel, or Danny to family and friends, was also a kind child. He regularly helped out his elderly neighbors whenever he could by running errands and cleaning up their yards. He did this all without accepting pay. Danny was a part of the Boy Scouts, and served as an altar boy for the St. Catherine of Siena Church in Springfield, Massachusetts, just like his four older brothers. On the last day of his life, Daniel said goodbye to his mother, Bernice Croteau, somewhere around 3 P.M. and 4 P.M. before going out to play with some friends. The hours of that Friday evening passed by with was no sign of Daniel. At 2 A.M. his parents called the police to report their young son missing.

Daniel was found at 8:25 A.M. by a fisherman at the Chicopee River. The boy’s lifeless body had been left face down in the waters, underneath the Robinson Bridge. He had been bludgeoned to death. Investigators believed that a stone had been used to crush the back of Daniel’s skull, and thought it was likely done person who was left handed. The autopsy report would show that Daniel was drunk at the time of his death with his blood alcohol content nearly double the level what would be considered legally intoxicated. Before heading to the police station, Carl Croteau, the victim’s father, he made a stop at the Church’s rectory to see a close family friend, Father Richard Lavigne, and inform him of Daniel’s murder.

From the moment they moved into town, Father Lavigne pushed himself into the Croteau family’s lives. He was incredibly charismatic, and a favorite amongst parishioners. When times became tough, he would bring families extra good to help them get by. On the surface Father Lavigne seemed like a genuinely nice guy. However, parishioners and the police started to note of his odd behavior. It became a common occurrence for Father Lavigne to host sleep-overs for the altar boys at his parents' Chicopee home. Daniel, as well as his four older brothers, was among the children invited over. Many of the kids would return to their homes the next morning suffering from a hang-over. Earlier that April Daniel had attended one of those sleep-overs. He had dressed up for the evening, even wearing a tie and a herringbone jacket. Daniel told his mother that he planned to meet up Father Lavigne. Later that evening Lavigne called Carl Croteau to ask for permission for the boy to stay the night. When Daniel returned home the following morning he was very ill, and vomited several times throughout the day.

Just as he had inserted himself into the Croteau family’s lives, Father Lavigne placed himself in the aftermath of Daniel’s death. He insisted that he should be the one to identify the boy’s body, telling Carl that he would like to save him the horror of seeing his son in such a state. When Bernice’s sister, Betty, flew in for the funeral, the priest was the one to pick her up from the airport. On the ride to the Croteau’s home he told her that Daniel had badly mutilated, and insisted that she should convince his parents to have a closed casket funeral. It would not be until sometime later that the Croteaus would learn Lavigne had lied to them, as the only injuries to the boy were on the back of his head, and there had been no need to have the casket closed. Daniel’s parents believed Lavigne lied because he could not bear the guilt of having to look at what he had done.

It did not take long for investigators to also hone their sights on the priest too. On the day after Daniel’s body was discovered, Father Lavigne was at the crime scene, walking along the river bank. Lieutenant Edmund Radwanski found it to be unsettling, and scheduled an interview with Lavigne. During the interview, the priest gave several conflicting statements about his relationship with Daniel Croteau.. He claimed that he did not know the boy very well, and they were rarely ever together alone. The Croteau family had known Father Lavigne for years, and had many photographs of him and Daniel together. Joe, Daniel’s brother, said that Lavigne would often take them fishing at the river where the body was found. There was also audio Daniel had recorded before his death where he said that he planned to give the priest a gift. Lieutenant Radwanski noted that during the interview Lavigne asked two suspicious questions related to the case. Lavigne questioned the Lieutenant about tire-track prints found at the crime scene. He tried to sway attention away from the evidence, saying that the river was a popular hangout, thus making it difficult to identify which tracks belonged to the killer. Lavigne also asked that if a stone had been used to kill Daniel would it still have blood on it if it was thrown into the river. Investigators also learned that Lavigne was left-handed, just as they suspected the killer to be.

The police attempted to search St. Mary's rectory so they could retrieve and examine the clothes Father Lavigne wore the night of Daniel’s murder. They were not allowed in by any of the other priests, and found it difficult to obtain a search warrant due to their apparent lack of evidence. Some believe the police were met with reluctance, because then district attorney, Matthew J. Ryan Jr. was good friends with Bishop Christopher Weldon, who presided over the Springfield diocese.

On May 4th, 1972 Father Lavigne took a polygraph test, which had been arrange by the diocesan lawyers. When asked whether or not he had anything to do with the murder, or knew any information on it, Lavigne answered no to every question. After the test, the examiner stated, "Due to these erratic and inconsistent responses on this subject's polygraph records, the examiner is unable to render a definite opinion as to the subject's truthfulness." A few days later the dioceses sent Lavigne to Chicago, where he took another polygraph test. He passed, and the dioceses allowed him continue his work in the parish, without any restrictions. If the dioceses was ever asked about Father Lavigne’s involvement in the Daniel Croteau case, they would only refer to his polygraph results as proof of his innocence.

In 1991 Lavigne was arrested for sexually assaulting five boys. More victims would come forward with their own harrowing stories of abuse at the hands of the priest. Daniel’s brothers were amongst them. Despite pleading guilty to two of the counts against him, Lavigne would never spend any time in jail. The judge presiding over the case refused to send him to prison, citing that the chargers were overblown. The Springfield dioceses removed him from being an active priest, but Lavigne continued to be supported by the Church with a monthly $1,030 check. He was put on the Massachusetts sex offender registry, listed at level three and likely to offend again.

Investigators had found two different blood types at the crime scene. They were sent in for forensic testing, but the results came back as inconclusive. Several other men were interviewed for the boy’s murder, including the leader of his Boy Scout troop and a produce manager from a local supermarket that Daniel had befriended. Father Lavigne was named the only official subject, but he was never charged in the murder. He never again spoke to the Croteau family after the funeral, because he felt the investigation against him would make it difficult. He could sense a strong bitterness towards him from the family. This was an obvious truth. The Croteaus tore up all photographs of Daniel and Lavigne together, and for years after the murder Bernice suffered from horrific nightmares of Lavigne killing her son. In many of the dreams Bernice would be attacking Father Lavigne with every ounce of her strength, desperately screaming as she tried to save Daniel. Each dream ended the same. “Then I woke up,” Bernice said, “and there was nothing there. I was crying. I was calling out for Danny. And there was nothing there. Nothing."

Forty-six years have passed since Daniel Croteau was murdered, and the case remains unsolved.

#Daniel Croteau #true crime #tcoriginal #unsolved murder #unsolved crime #Father Richard Lavigne

[amarabliss]

Eia Au, Eia 'Oe ~ Here I am, here you are - 3 (Steve McGarrett/Twin and Danny Williams/Reader)

Just a things begin to return to normal again after Steve’s arrest and escape, Steve’s twin sister comes walking into their lives McGarrett style dropping an emotional bomb. Danny is intrigued finding it hard to resist that McGarrett charm, finding it irresistible in ways he never thought possible…

Part One Part Two

You leaned back in the chair with your eyes shut feeling the cold sensation flowing up your arm from the chemo treatment. It was the first one of the many that was going to happen.

Your phone pinged, and you reached into your pocket pulling it out. You laughed a little at the picture of Grace that showed up when you opened it. She was wearing a bright tutu, a tux bowtie, holding a spoon, and a deck of cards up with a big smile.

Thanks for watching her the other day, now she wants to be a magician.

You thought back to a few days ago when you met Steve for lunch. You smiled taking in another fork full of a shrimp platter, “When you said food truck I thought you were crazy.”

“Kamekona, knows his shrimp.” Steve smiled watching you scarf it down, “Sis, it’s not going anywhere…no one is going to take it from you.”

“It has been so long since I had good food.” You looked at him winking, “And I would like to enjoy my taste buds. I hear that is a result of chemo is your taste goes pretty south…among other changes that I’ll need to adjust for my diet.”

“So, the doctor called then?” Steve asked as he wiped his hands on a napkin.

“Yep…I will be starting next week.” You pushed a shrimp around.

“Okay. When’s the appointment?” Steve leaned in watching you make a face before shaking your head, “What? I want to be there.”

“It’s on a Monday and you will be called into work.” You pointed your fork at him, “I appreciate it, but you’re too much of a hero to not go to work.”

“Don’t feed his ego.” You looked over your shoulder at Danny walking up big smile on his face as a little girl ran over to Steve, “He’s already reckless enough, I don’t need him thinking he needs to wear a cape.”

You laughed a little as he took a seat next to you as Steve hugged the little girl tightly, “Well you know McGarrett’s don’t know how to keep feet on the ground Detective Williams.”

“Please call me Danny.” He smiled at you and pointed at the little girl tugging on Steve’s arm, “And that is my daughter Grace.”

You looked over at her and smiled, “Hi Grace. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Hi…” She said shyly before retreating behind Steve a little.

“Grace, this is Y/N…She’s Uncle Steve’s sister.” Danny told her.

“Yeah, Grace, this is my twin.” Steve smiled at her.

“She is?” He nodded as she came back out a little, “But…I thought twins were supposed to look the same…”

“That’s identical twins, baby.” Danny told her with a smile. You looked at him dropping your fork a little as he started to explain that there were two types of twins. His eyes just twinkled as he talked to his daughter and it was absolutely endearing.

“Oh, cool!” Grace smiled at you, “Are you a cop too?”

“Uh, no, I am not.” You told her as she became less shy, “But I’m like Uncle Steve and I used to be in the military. I’m taking some time off.”

“Like a vacation?” She asked you.

You nodded, “Exactly, just like a vacation.”

“Cool.” She smiled at you again as both Steve’s and Danny’s phone went off at the same time. Grace’s smile slowly vanished as she started to look toward the ground.

You knew how she felt, but probably not as deeply. Steve stood up slowly glancing at Danny as he hung up waving Grace over, “Monkey…”

“We were supposed to hang out today…” She started to tear up.

Danny frowned pulling her into a tight hug. He looked so hurt and disappointed, “I know, I know baby…I’m gonna call your mom, and the next time you have a half day we’ll try again.”

“But I was supposed to spend the night…we were supposed to have breakfast at Petey’s…” Big crocodile tears went down her face.

“Hey, hey, no tears…” He wiped her face, “no tears…I’ll make it up to you I promise.”

“I could watch her.” You told him as Steve made a noise. You pointed at him, “Don’t…I used to watch Mary all the time and she actually liked me. Besides, I’m sure Grace and I can find something fun to do and then you can pick her up later from our house and still have a sleep over.”

“Dad, can we?” Grace looked at him with those big eyes and you came up behind her pouting as you put your chin on her shoulder.

He couldn’t help but smile before shaking his head, “Well I mean…if you don’t mind. I don’t want to impose.”

“Danny, my plans were to have lunch with my brother and sit on a beach…this is way more fun and magical.” You waved your hands in front of Grace’s face a few times before snapping your fingers making a purple flower bud appear in between your fingers.

Danny smiled as Grace took it amazed at the trick. You told her to ask Steve to get you some lunch before he left, and you looked at Danny a big smiled on your face. He put his hands together in a prayer stance, “Thank you. I owe you.”

“It’s nothing.” You waved your hand at him dismissing it, “Little girls need their dads…if I can help you spend time with her and see a smile. Totally worth it.”

“Well I guarantee, you will see her smile if you keep pulling magic tricks like that one.” He told you pointing at the flower bud in your hand.

“Maybe it’s not her smile I want to see.” You smirked at him as his eyes got wide with surprise. He smiled at you letting out small laugh before looking to the ground, “I should probably get your phone number for safety reasons, is there anything she shouldn’t do?”

Ever since that day he’d sent you a text. Something related to Grace, but then you went back and forth with pleasantries and something witty usually. It was nice to have a connection outside of the house.

She looks like a pro. Do I see a sparkly suit in your future as an assistant?

Danny let out a laugh making Steve glance at him as he started to text again, “What are you so chipper about?”

“Uh…” Danny cleared his throat, “nothing…just a friend sent a text.”

“Friend?” Steve looked at him before he smirked, “Danny, you don’t have friends.”

“Hey, I have lots of friends.” Danny turned to him shaking his head.

“Whatever…” Steve rolled his eyes as Danny’s phone pinged again. Steve watched him open it and get a big smile on his face, “Okay seriously, who is it? A girl? Is it the-the museum lady? Or what?”

“It’s a friend.” Danny told him again.

“Is it a girl?” Steve prodded more.

“Why do you need to know!?” Danny turned to him his voice rising slightly.

Steve shook his head looking back at the road, “I just…you never talk about your friends…and I could only imagine that you would be this giggly if it was a girl.”

“Fine…yes it’s a girl.” Danny rolled his eyes.

“That you’re interested in.” Steve smirked glancing at him as his partners ears got a little red, “Oh…wow…what about uh…Dr. Asano?”

“Oh my god…” Danny shook his head, “I don’t know…but she is just a friend and Gabby…we’re taking things slowly.”

“What’s her name?” Danny kept silent, “Come on…is she from the island? Maybe I know her.”

“I don’t need to tell you everything.” Danny told him tensely, “I do have a private life.”

“Oh…okay.” Steve glanced at him again before falling silent again.

“…how’s your sister?” Danny finally asked him, “She went in for her first treatment, right?”

Steve started to nod a little, “Yeah, she’s gonna call me when it’s done. I might have to go pick her up, but more than likely she’ll call a cab and be stubborn.”

“Oh, you mean like you?” It was Danny’s turn to smirk at him.

“Ha ha, so funny.” Steve rolled his eyes before pulling into the crime scene parking as he let out a sigh, “You know I’m really worried though.”

Danny watched Steve put a hand over his heart for a moment, “I’m sure everything’s going to be fine. Chemo…I’ve heard it works really well.”

“Yeah, but Danny…” Steve looked at him worried, “It’s not a natural forming cancer…it was induced by a chemical…overseas…in some dirty lab…”

“Steve, it’s not that simple…” Danny put a hand on his arm, “She seems like a strong person…I mean she is living with you so she’s gotta be.”

Steve glared at him a little before Danny went on, “But seriously, Steve, from what little I’ve interacted with her she seems upfront. She’ll let you know when she needs help. Until then let’s get our job done so you can go get her.”

#Eia Au Eia 'Oe ~ Here I am here you are #here i am here you are #steve mcgarrett #steve mcgarrett imagine #steve mcgarrett sister #steve mcgarrett/sister #steve mcgarrett twin #steve mcgarrett/twin #danno #danno/reader #Danny Williams #Danny Williams reader #danny williams/reader #hawaii 5 0 #hawaii five o #Hawaii Five-0 #hawaii 5-0 #hawaii five 0 #H50 #h50 imagine #h5o #h5o imagine #grace williams