#i was watching a stream of the game outriders and looked it up

[shadow13dickpistons]

I cannot express how tired I am of sci-fi where the "twist" is, "Everything was beautiful, and then HUMANS RUINED IT!"

You're not unique for taking the darkest possible view of humanity. I'm going to find a way to write something very sci-fi hopepunk just to put my middle finger up to this.

#i was watching a stream of the game outriders and looked it up #twist humanity sucks #oh gee what a novel approach humanity has never -checks notes- #created or healed or done anything for the collective good of others apparently #YOUR CYNICISM IS BORING IT IS NOT MATURE AND EDGY LIKE YOU THINK IT IS

[apompkwrites]

reader impact || first meetings: adventurer edition

series masterlist characters: amber, bennett genre: fluff summary: a game has been released entitled genshin impact, consisting of otherworldly abilities relying on the basic elements of nature. the game follows the story of an interdimensional traveling twin in search of their other half. along this journey, they meet different characters that live in this world. including you. notes: i decided to put these two together since i've already done one for diluc!

amber's playthrough -

amber's more of an outdoorsy type of person but that doesn't stop her from streaming!

she likes doing camping streams where she just camps out in her backyard and shows her chat what she would normally do. and the occasional cooking stream to show how you can make good foods healthy <33

she has a little bunny that she shows on stream sometimes :))

there'll be some days where she just sits at home talking to chat about her day while playing with her little baron bunny.

she plays games occasionally, but their mainly adventure type ones that mimic the lifestyle she holds.

like minecraft, rust, any survival game really.

she's still very energetic so any stream of hers is just bustling with excitement.

she'd probably host some streams where she teaches basic survival techniques?? idk man i don't go out much AIHSDASHLDKJ--

anyway anyway, she got a bunch of requests asking her to play genshin ofc.

i mean?? cute game, cute models, cute characters, and aDVENTURE.

i feel like she'd go with the male traveler solely because it isn't very practical to go exploring/adventuring in a dress?? like girl's over here genuinely thinking about real life scenarios.

anyway she's sitting there after finding dvalin's corrupted tear and the cutscene plays.

she's there vibing with chat and her little bunny by her side because of course they'll be sitting there while she plays.

"hey you! stop right there!"

"aCK!"

please she screeched when you yelled at her--

and then she squealed when jumped in front of her character.

pLEASE

the camera showing off your cute little headband mimicking animal ears makes her melt.

and then you jump from the little cliff and you have to stumble to regain your balance?!?!??!

PLEASE YOU'RE SO CUTE

"may the anemo god protect you, stranger! i am (name), outrider for the knights of favonius."

catch her copying your little salute.

"they're so cute!!!!"

she will point out the animal ears constantly.

and then your vision has a cute little ribbon at the end of it!!!!!!

"just! just! just look at them!!"

and then you join her party officially!!!

please she switches to you automatically--

she'll just jump around for a few minutes to watch all your accessories bounce around.

and she can just tell that your story would be a delight to read about.

when paimon mentions her mc's missing sibling, you sound so soft and caring and just aGH.

and then she gets to try out your elemental skill and it's the aNIMAL THAT YOUR CHARACTER'S HEADBAND IS BASED OFF OF!!!

if it's a bunny she would definitely find a matching headband she can wear when she plays :00

her chat's usually a really sweet place to vibe and hang out but of course, there's gonna be those kinda people.

she catches wind of some people badmouthing you and calling you the worst character in the game >:((

she's not too keen on banning people for their opinions so instead...

"hey, guys, can we just have fun with this game? if you don't like how i'm playing you can always just?? leave??"

please girl's fuming inside but she's trying her hardest to be nice about it >:((

back to you <3

she'd get another pet that matches yours and name it after you or your elemental skill.

she'd find ways to copy your outfit too ngl--

she'd definitely cook your signature dish!!

gotta make it all cute for you <3

bennett's playthrough -

ah yes, our unlucky baby boy bennett <3

like amber, he really loves adventures!!

he's still pretty unlucky for some reason???

idk man he's just vibing and his bad luck says too bad,,,

he's kind of a baby streamer if you catch my drift?

like he's new to everything so he's just trying to figure it out.

he used to be in a streamer house but... yeah.

we don't like them anyway, it's fine.

unlike in the game, bennett's bad luck didn't bring the other members harm, it was just... little inconveniences i guess.

but he left so now he's all on his own!

he's kinda inexperienced in all of this but he's trying his best!

for now he's sticking to gaming because that's a majority of what he knows.

lots of survival games!!!

and, sadly, luck-based games.

his chat just wants to see if his luck impacts games!!

and it does,,,

luckily they request genshin, which has the best of both worlds.

bennett's got all of the adventuring and his chat gets to see his misfortune in action.

sadly you don't appear in the main archon quests so bennett actually goes a long while not knowing who you are :((

veterans of the game, however, know exactly who you are >:))

first, they'd help show you off by posting links to your splash art in his chat.

bennett, being the baby he is, just clicks on the links without a second thought.

and he's in aWE!!!

LOOK AT YOU!!! LOOK AT HOW COOL YOU ARE!!

"woahh!! who are they? can i meet them soon?"

cri

they tell him he has to roll for you and he's sad, but only for a bit!

at least you're not an exclusive character because if he were, he thinks he'd have no chance at getting you :((

but he can get you whenever!

anyway, one stream he's rolling because he's stocked up a bunch of primogems (which took a long time) and he's like might as well use them up now.

he gets a lot of weapons :(((

he's basically dedicated his whole team to c6ing his characters he has now because he "knows" he won't get a good character.

luckily the pity systems exist so he gets the occasional four star <33

so he thinks it's another character he already has, so he's very prepared to get another constellation in.

he's looking through the trash weapons and then splash art appears!

"wait... i recognize that--"

IT'S YOU.

HE WASN'T EXPECTING IT BUT IT'S YOU!!!!

"THEY'RE HERE! THEY'RE REALLY HERE!!"

his chats hyping him up as he's running around his room because they love him <33

please i love this boy with a passion.

he'll put you in his team automatically with all of his c5/6 characters asdhaklsf

he doesn't even care you get everything and anything he owns in the game <3

"this is your team! it's really cool! i'm (name), leader of (name)'s adventure team! is there... do you think we could team up? i-it could even be just once!"

"they're staying on my team forever."

he loves you so much.

not just because you're a cool character but because he can relate to you--

anyway, he goes to your voicelines because that's the only time he can actually hear you fully :((

he's genuinely excited to learn about your story.

and then he learns that you have extremely bad luck too???!?!?!?

please y'all can be unlucky together!!

would that cancel out or just make you more unlucky??

huh.

he gets all sad when he hears you talking bad about yourself so he's here to reassure you (even if you're a fictional character).

#genshin impact amber #genshin impact amber x reader #genshin amber #genshin amber x reader #amber x reader #genshin impact #genshin impact x reader #genshin x reader #genshin impact headcanons #genshin impact imagines #genshin impact scenarios #genshin impact fluff #genshin impact bennett #genshin impact bennett x reader #genshin bennett #genshin bennett x reader #bennett x reader #reader impact

[samatedeansbroccoli]

My Chaotic Introduction to Call of Duty

Funny story: I've never played a COD game. I don't have the computer to do so without burning myself or running out of space. My introduction to COD came primarily through Call of Duty: Mobile and a bit of MW 19, since both came out the same month.

So here's a few moments I have on my trip to catching up on 17 years of COD.

As a heads up, some of my thoughts might raise your ire at my stupidity.

Also, when I say "I learned who ____ was" I mean as in I knew them only by how they looked and their name.

Let’s start at the beginning: it was a dark and stormy night…

Before CODM came out...

•I could recite the whole Russian Roulette scene from BO1 even though I didn't know what was going on.

•I had seen "The Only Easy Day... Was Yesterday", "No Russian", "All Ghillied Up", and the concert parody scene at the end of BO2 at least once.

•I knew who Ghost was because I watched a 12-minute video of TheGamingRevolution pushing Ghost to the checkpoint to try and keep him alive.

CODM came out Oct. 1st 2019...

For context, I didn't actually play the game on opening day. I knew COD had been around for years and was too intimidated to play it because I didn't think I'd enjoy it if I was overwhelmed with information I wouldn't understand.

And then, a week later, I got really, really mad at PUBG Mobile one day and downloaded CODM.

And that's my origin story.

•The majority of the CODM operators are their Blackout version. If that’s not enough to say "oh god this is probably the worst introduction to start with" you’re entirely right.

•ALSO, there is absolutely no regard to the different universes in CODM. Everything and everyone is smashed into one. This is important because it's very confusing.

•*sees Spec Ops 3 Operator* Omg he's cute.

MW 19 came out, Oct. 25, 2019...

•I watched a streamer reaction video of the end cutscene of MW 19. No idea what was going on, but "All these streamers are getting excited over these characters so I will too! Also that guy has a nice voice (Price) and that lady is hot (Laswall)."

•I learned who Farah was because I caught part of Chocotaco's stream. He was playing MW 19 once and Farah was being tortured.

•I watched the first mission of MW 19, and went "who's this random guy talking? I thought the main character was Farah? And why is his name Echo 3-1? That's a weird name. Is he a robot or something?"

•I watched an interview with Barry Sloane and called Price the "Barry Sloane guy."

•I watched MW 19’s "Clean House" mission a lot. It told me the baby was invincible.

It went downhill from here...

•David and Alex Mason are two fronting icons of CODM along with Ghost and Phantom from Infinite Warfare. I knew the Masons were related, but I didn’t know how. It was either David was Alex's father, they were brothers, or David was Alex's uncle. I settled on David being Alex's father because his CODM/Blackout operator was better looking than Alex's to me.

•“I can’t wait to find out more about David “Prophet” Wilkes!” *wiki has next to nothing* “Oh—”

•One of the F2P rewards from playing the Zombies mode was a tank dispensary operator. And I was like “huh, what’s a tank dispensary? Are those the guys that replace the shells in the canon of a tank? I’ll look it up later.

Three months later, I realized it said Tank Dempsey.

•And then I went ahead and read a bunch of RiDe fics on Ao3.

•I didn't know what Richthofen looked like so I imagined him to look like WWI Ace pilot Manfred von Richthofen (The Red Baron).

•First female character added to CODM was Alessandra "Les" Castillo (aka Outrider). No really cared because the community was busy simping for Mara and I was sad she wasn’t Farah.

•I took a picture of the CODM loading screen and labelled them to try and learn who was who. Note that the one that says “Outrider” is actually Soap.

•When CODM had zombies mode, I drew a ray gun from the musical box once. I had seen a teammate use it and get a lot of points so I thought it might be good.

Sike, I hated it. I didn't like the sound it made, it was ugly, and the blue stuff was weird. So at the end of the round when there was only one zombie wandering aimlessly and everyone was collecting stuff, I threw the ray gun away in favor of an AR. My teammate just happened to pass by and saw me get rid of it. They looked at it, then looked at me, then picked it up and dropped their shotgun. And being a shotgun fan, I took the shotgun happily.

I never drew another ray gun.

Warzone came out, Mar.10, 2020...

•I finally learned who Price was because he was an operator (along with Ghost and Soap) you could get through a code if you played Warzone. And all the tryhards were a Soap, Ghost, or Price. I could never remember Soap’s name, however, except for his last name because of a skin set called MacTavish.

•*an Easter egg in CODM* "Oh look, a little TV with numbers on it! I'll bet it's ASCII!!"

•I finally remembered who Soap was from the "You didn't juju on that beat" meme.

April-September 2020...

CODM’s eSport tryouts ran during this time, so I joined a group of people on Discord in hopes of making a team to win $1M and got smacked in the face with references I didn’t get yet.

•"Look at this cute, dorky Cowboy Ghost!"

•"Who's Nikito? His design is boring.”

•Until the voice lines were updated, all CODM operators had the same four default voices: three American accented and one Scottish. Tank Dempsey had a Scottish voice until they fixed the voices to sound like their actual characters. Let's just say I was not prepared for Dempsey's real voice...

•There was a Makarov event, parody of Operation Kingfish: The Hunt For Makarov, but I couldn't care less because it was a boring event (I just thought the Makarov operator was hot). I genuinely forgot who Makarov was until I saw a CODM meme video in March 2021

•MW 19's OST became my favorite COD OST to listen to... because it was the only COD OST I listened to.

•"Ooh! A Russian operator! Lev Kra... Kracker...? Kravelhoe...? Kraskinsky...? Whatever, I'm just calling him Lev."

•"Why are there so many Ghosts? Like, why do people like him so much?"

•"This Naomi girl (Manta Ray, COD Online) is hot. I'll bet she's in one of the really well-known games!"

•*listening to CODZ voicelines* "They're so... angry?"

CODM's 1st Year Anniversary, Oct. 2020...

•"Tf is gunsmith?"

•"Tf is this Reznov guy?"

•"Tf is an armor plate?"

•"Wait, the in-game music isn't original?" (it's all from BO2's OST)

•"There's more than one COD universe???"

•"Wait so that means Farah isn't even friends with that hot guy with good hair?" (David Mason)

•WW2's OST replaced MW 19's OST as my favorite.

•If you played the beta for BOCW, you got a code for an Adler operator. A friend gave me the code because they know I play CODM and they don't play. So that's how I learned of Adler. I spent a good portion of my time trying to pet his hair through the screen with my finger.

•*not realizing Adler has his own voice* "Bruh why is Adler's voice so... ROBOTIC??"

BOCW came out, Nov. 13, 2020...

For context, BOCW was the first campaign I fully watched. I did not know what day it was coming out until TheRadBrad began posting videos.

•Before: "Adler is cool!"

•After: "Adler is not cool! Sims is cool tho! The rest of them... eh idk who they are."

•"Bald guy (Hudson) has a nice voice."

•“Wow BOCW had a lot of shooting” *watches BO1 later* “Oh—”

•I watched all TheActMan COD reviews even though I didn't understand them. The only thing I remember from them was "He was my best friend!" from IW and "Train go boom" from BO3.

For more context, CODM has these comics that still disregard the three universes as well as time periods. Ex. Tank Dempsey works with Ghost. I didn't realize this, however.

•*watching WAW* "Ohhhh so Reznov went back in time in the CODM comics?? And he's basically reciting WAW?"

•*watching BO1* "Oh look, it's the Russian Roulette scene!"

•"Ohhhhh Mason and Woods are actually important to the COD story."

•*watching COD 1 (2003)* "Wait so... where's Price and Soap and Ghost?"

2021...

•*watching BO2* "Bruh this David kid is annoying af—oh my god, he's not a kid anymore."

•"Wait he's back to a kid... what???"

•"Menendez is evil. I don't like him." Yeah, that aged well.

•CODM has all the BO3 weapons in it, most of them being the meta, so of course I recognized every gun sound in the game. Probably why I liked BO3 quite easily.

•"Player's voice is H O T!!" *proceeds to watch the same two cutscenes where his voice cracks on repeat*

•*watching COD 4* "I take back what I said about a lot of shooting in BO1."

•"EVERYONE'S SAYING ZAKHAEV'S NAME WRONG!!!"

•"Wait the All Ghillied Up was in COD 4?"

•*watching BO4 cutscenes* "PROPHETTT!!!!! :D — wait, that's it? There's no more of him? :( "

•"All the CODM operator skills come from BO4? So that's the game responsible for me ragequitting because I keep blowing myself up with the war machine?"

•*watching MW2* Ramirez gives me Artyom (Metro 2033) vibes with how much he's being asked for.

•BO3's OST replaced WW2's OST as my favorite.

•"Wonderful wunderfizz! Everybody needs a little revive!!"

•"Zombies story!! Awwe Primis and Ultimis are drinking together! Awww they're all dead."

•*watching BO: Declassified* "Do I even know what's going on? Where's Menendez?"

•*watching anything new with COD* "What tf is going on right now?"

And yeah, that's it so far! Let me know if you found any of these entertaining.

#call of duty #i am a certified dumbass

[fierypen37]

Victory is in Your Veins: Chapter 8

Chapter 8

 Day One Hundred and Sixty-Three: The Dragon Queen

 In the dimness, Daenerys could see in Rakharo’s face that her plan would not work. Her bloodrider mopped the sweat from his brow and accepted the waterskin Irri offered.

“They draw water from a stream, khaleesi. It will not work,” he said. Daenerys bit back a groan of frustration, thumping her head back down on her bedroll. Not a breath of wind tonight, instead the air hung thick and oppressive. Sweat trickled down between her shoulder blades, beneath her breasts. Irri had found a buckthorn grove not far from their small campsite. If powdered and smuggled into their drinking water, the poison would dissolve their bowels. A feigned curse would be enough to warn away any further attacks on the local Lhazareen. It took some convincing for her bloodriders to consider the plan at all. It was considered a poor victory should they succeed.

Daenerys exhaled a sharp breath, peering up at the overcast night sky. Their Lhazareen guide found an enclosed cave in the jagged stone of the Painted Hills. She called them ‘mother-nests.’ By Daenerys’ reckoning, the Hills were similar to the Mother of Mountains for the Lamb Men. In the three days since arriving at the Painted Hills, she and her small council had tested first one plan, then another. Kovarro plucked the spitted pheasant roasting over their smoky campfire and poked it, testing the cook. Licking the grease from his fingers, he set it back in its place.

“There is no other way, then. I have to confront the riders directly,” she said. The fire was reflected in Rakharo’s black eyes, his face settling into a stern mien.

“I cannot allow it, as blood of your blood. Khal Lanno is a skilled rider. He or his men will cut you down.”

“You will not risk yourself for these--” Irri began, then broke off at Daenerys’ weary placating gesture. Gods, she was tired of quelling squabbles between them.

“It must be done. Scout the valley tomorrow. I go to summon my children,” Daenerys said, rising and wiggling through the narrow passage to the plains.

On the ridge overlooking the Painted Hills, the plains slept silent around her. The stillness was unnerving after a fortnight buffeted by unceasing wind. Daenerys looked up the clear open sky, dazzled by the stars. In her books, she learned the Westerosi names for the constellations, often drawn in different patterns than what she’d learned in Essos. She found the Moonmaid, and the Ice Dragon. Daenerys screwed her eyes tight shut, casting her senses out and up. Searching, waiting. There! A faint tug, a glimmer.

“Drogon,” she said aloud. The leathery flap of his wings, the strive of his muscles. A breeze teased her face. Opening her eyes, she found Drogon gliding down to land at her feet. Flying and hunting on the plains nourished him. While no larger, he looked more muscular, sturdier. Drogon made a low clicking sound, dragon love-words. Daenerys sat cross-legged and Drogon crawled onto her lap.

“Hello, my darling. I shall need you and your brothers’ help tomorrow,” she said. His claws fisted in her tunic, but as with their play, he never gripped too hard to break the skin. Daenerys stroked her hands down the smooth scales of his neck, his flanks, his wings. Drogon hummed rhythmically, almost a purr, arching his back into her touch. Daenerys met the amber-red of his eyes, and sought that inner stillness. The glimmer was there, pulsing like the heart of a flame. Drogon. Tense with focus, Daenerys sought to touch the wavering glimmer. Drogon, she thought. A beckoning, of thought of welcome. Her hand on his side felt the rise and fall of his breath, synced with hers. It was working! It was—The focus wavered, dissipated like fog. Daenerys slumped, trembling from the effort. Drogon shook himself, butting his head against her chin. She blew out a sigh.

“That’s progress. We’ll have to make do.”

 Day One Hundred and Sixty-Four

 Irri shook her awake after what felt like scant heartbeats of sleep. Long into the night, the group of them etched out a plan. Rakharo and Kovarro would sneak into the Dothraki camp below, drink and game with the riders. Find a way to untie the strings of horses. Irri and their Lhazareen guide would cause as much mischief as they could: cut tent supports, loose captive herds, stoke cookfires. Sow chaos so they may reap destruction.

“Do not endanger yourselves. Hear me? I will not have you harmed,” Daenerys said to each of them sternly. Irri embraced her with whispered promises. Kovarro tugged Daenerys’ braid playfully. Rakharo cupped her chin and held her gaze, all his characteristic good-nature mellowed into seriousness.

“I swore to protect you. I intend to do so from this day until the day you sit on that Iron Chair,” he said. Tears filled her eyes, touched by their loyalty, by the risk they took for her sake. She swallowed them. A khaleesi could not weep.

“You do me honor, blood of my blood,” she said, her voice firm and even.

Daenerys stood alone with the sun kissing her shoulders, buffeted by the winds of the plains as she watched them pick their way down the canyon. Nervous energy tingled in her hands, her belly. A glance overhead found the clear placid blue of the sky. No sign of Drogon, Rhaegal, or Viserion. They will come. I must trust them.

She shouldered her pack and set off. Her path was narrow and rocky. More than once, she skittered down the switchbacks on her bottom along with a small avalanche of reddish pebbles. Don’t look down, the shepherdess had warned.

“Wise advice,” Daenerys muttered to herself. Dizzying empty air waited for her if her careful concentration broke.

At last, she was on solid even ground. Daenerys craned her head, taking in the steep walls of red-brown stone with a window of blue sky above. She licked her lips, tasting dust and sweat. The heat of exertion was quickly cooling, and she shivered in the deep shade. Daenerys groped in her pack for her waterskin. She rationed a sip. It might take them all day to goad the riders. Daenerys peered through a crack in the stone. Her position was in a slot canyon at the north end of the valley, too small for a horse to ride through. Should the plan fail, it would be where she would hide until her bloodriders could smuggle her away. What remained unspoken was that if they failed, if they were unable to tame the khalasar, then on foot, they could not outrun them. And Dothraki were grassland hunters since the beginning of time. If they did not win, then only death waited for them.

She could see the camp in the distance. Daenerys sat at her post, leaning against her pack, torn between nervousness and boredom as the sun climbed in the sky. Thoughts buzzed around her head, as annoying as stinging midges. Gods. This was madness. How had she agreed to this? Disaster or success lay on a knife’s edge. If Khal Lanno’s men caught them, Rakharo and Kovarro’s deaths would be prolonged and gruesome. Worse still if Irri and their guide were caught. The shepherdess had been wise enough to leave her crook and shawl behind, but what would she do if they were caught? Without a guide, the Lhazareen plains would swallow her whole.

A fine vibration drew her from her worries. Horses! She crept from her hiding place and onto the dry yellow knee-high grasses of the valley floor. Daenerys shaded her eyes, squinting into the distance. In the camp, there was a confused scrum of movement. Men and horses running this way and that, her bloodriders’ work, with any hope. Dark plumes of smoke danced in the wind. Irri and the shepherdess had succeeded.

“Please win free safely,” she whispered.

Stir the khalasar up like upsetting an anthill, lather them up into a confused mess. In that, they had accomplished their goal. She waited, alone on the plain as the sun beat down. Sweat trickled down her back beneath the weight of her braid. Despite the heat, Daenerys felt cold as the horsemen seethed.

She knew the instant an outrider saw her. His ululating shriek cut through the air. Daenerys marshalled her courage, though nausea roiled in her belly. Another rider took up the call and with startling swiftness, the scrum became a charge. Dozens of mounted warriors galloping toward her. The ground shuddered beneath her feet at the thunder of hooves. Fear slicked her skin with cold sweat. Should she run? Should she dart away in case they sent an arrow after her? Instead, she shouted with all her strength: “Drogon! Rhaegal! Viserion!”  

She screwed her eyes shut, shutting out the terror, the approaching riders. Groping through the dark, she sought the faraway glow of Drogon. The thunder rumbled louder; the shrieks shred her ears. Drogon! Drogon! DROGON!

It wasn’t a glimmer but a blaze, like the bleeding star that streaked across the sky.

Daenerys opened her eyes.

“Dracarys!”

A stream of black fire scorched the earth between her and the approaching riders. Drogon shrieked. Rhaegal’s green fire and Viserion’s white soon joined his, engulfing two horsemen. The dried grasses caught and the fire spread, mellowing from dragonfire into a milder orange. Horses shied and bolted in terror, despite the lash of their rider’s whips. Daenerys watched as several horses fell in their haste to flee, crushing their riders beneath their weight. The shrill screams of broken horses filled her ears. One rider was able to goad his mount through the fire toward her, but Drogon descended, claws and fangs shredding his face to a bloody mess.

“Dracarys! Dracarys!”

Rhaegal and Viserion swooped and darted through the air, burning at her command.

Their battle cries had sharpened to cries of pain and yes, even fear as dragons danced above them. The colors of their fire twined together. Daenerys walked through the blaze unharmed, scanning the plain for her own riders.        

“Khaleesi!” Kovarro’s voice broke through the roar of the fire, and the din of the chaos. Thank the gods. He pulled his twitchy, blowing mount to a halt. Lather dripped from the rein-line on its thick neck, the lolling brown eye watched her fearfully.

“The others?” Daenerys asked, as Kovarro hauled her up behind him.

“Rakharo headed north with the other two. Come khaleesi! We ride!” The horse lunged forward, away from the fire.

“Māzigon, trēsi issa!” {Come, my sons!}

They galloped off, leaving Khal Lanno’s men to burn.    

 ~

 Day Two Hundred and Eight: The White Wolf

 By his reckoning, he and the Summer Islander were roughly the same age. Tall and slender with a soft crown of springy black hair and eyes as golden as a shadowcat’s. She wore a leather collar, so she was a slave as he was. Not a worshipper, judging by her huddled posture, and yet no stranger to harsh treatment, judging by her watchful eyes. Had Morrgys really thrown an innocent into his cell and expected him to rape her? You are a wolf. You did what a wolf would do. No, he was a man. A man of the North, a man of honor. Jon went to one knee in a liquid-smooth motion.

“What’s your name?” he asked gently.

“This one’s name is Missandei,” she whispered.

“Missandei. They call me Zokla timpa, but my name is—Jon. Jon Snow.” For a long, unsettling moment, Jon tried to think of who he had last spoken to in such a calm, polite way. Or had shared his name, other than to Morrgys. He couldn’t remember. Something inside him quaked at the thought. Had he forgotten gentleness and kindness? He would find it for this girl. She would know no violence from him. Her posture relaxed slightly, though still wary.

“Jon Snow? A westerner?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“Your Valyrian is terrible. Like a drunkard with a burned tongue. This one can speak Common,” she said, switching languages mid-sentence. Even her accent is lovely. Jon chuckled low in his throat at her apt description of his Valyrian.

“I didn’t have a good teacher,” he answered in Common. It felt good to speak familiar words. Valyrian often sat heavy on his tongue, garbled and confusing. Jon poured hippocras in his sole cup and offered it to her. At her narrow look, Jon took a gulp. The sweet and spice slid down his throat thick as honey.

“Hippocras. A bit sweet for my taste, but a slave gets little choice,” he said. Missandei accepted the cup and drained it thirstily. Jon snagged the flagon to refill it. No food, really. Naught but a heel of bread and a paring of cheese, scarcely more than a rind. Jon offered it to his guest, in addition to the last of his roughspun blankets. Even in the heat of Volantis, the bowels of a slave’s quarters could be chilly before the sun rose.

“Thank you,” she said, tucking the blanket around her shoulders.

“You’re welcome.”

An awkward silence fell between them. Jon waved off her offer to share the remaining bread.

“What did you do for your master to punish you so?” Jon asked after a moment.  

“This one—I—ran from my master.” Jon’s eyebrows rose to his hairline. Slaves were executed for as much. Morrgys, a native of Astapor, droned on and on about the infamous Walk of Punishment, where slaves were flogged and crucified as a warning against disobedience.

“Escape?” he asked, incredulous. Missandei gave him a narrow look.

“No. I . . . I thought I saw my brother in the crowd. I ran after him.”

“Oh. Did you find him?” Missandei dropped her gaze to the cup held between her hands.

“It—it wasn’t him,” she said. Jon nodded.

“I think the master sent you to me as a reward. For errm--” He broke off, raking his hand through his hair. Missandei saved him embarrassment.

“The pleasures of the flesh. Yes, this one knows.” Ghosts of old pain hid behind the words, Jon heard the echo of them. He risked laying a hand on her arm. She flinched, watching him with those wise golden eyes.

“I won’t harm you, I swear it. Though when the guard returns, we need to playact a bit.”

“I understand.” Awkward silence fell between them. Even in the best of circumstances, Jon had little skill with words. Robb was the one with the pretty manners, and Arya made friends with stableboys and lord’s daughters alike with ease.  

“It is said there are no slaves in Westeros,” Missandei said, chewing on the heel of bread. Not by that name, though the smallfolk are treated poorly.

“There are not. I was captured.” Missandei nodded in sympathy. Golden eyes watched him.

“This one has heard tell of you, Jon Snow. Whispers from other slaves. You defy your master.” The thought pleased him.

“I defy my master?”

“In Myr, you did not kill a boy in the arena, though it earned you punishment. Before that, in Pentos, you slew a villain who raped children.”

“How did—”

“Slaves are notorious gossips. What else is there to do?” Missandei said, with the barest hint of a smile. Jon returned the gesture.

“The Pentoshi was a brute and a coward, he deserved what he got. Earned me a week in The Pit,” he said. Missandei gave a discreet shudder. Masters apparently had similar punishments for house slaves. Jon slouched against the stone wall. An idea germinated in his mind. Perhaps his status as a defiant pit fighter could foment something. There were two slaves to every free man in Volantis. He’d heard Morbo muttering of a slave rebellion savagely silenced somewhere farther East.

“Could you . . . pass on my regards, and tell them to await my next fight?” Missandei’s mouth thinned into a frown. There was wariness in her posture, but he could see the gleam of a certain defiant hope in her eyes. Silence stretched on as she considered. He did not blame her for taking time to think. Masters would punish dissenters by the harshest means conceivable.

“This one will do so. Do you--”

The scrape of hobnailed sandals alerted him. He stood, quivering, like Ghost catching a scent. Getting closer. The guard was coming to collect Missandei.

“Follow my lead,” he hissed. Jon knelt and braced himself over her beneath the blanket. Missandei hissed, stiff and resisting.

“It’s farce, my friend. I swore I would not hurt you,” he whispered. Jon clamped a hand over her mouth, rocking against her in a pantomime of rape. He dribbled hippocras on her beneath the blanket. A sticky red stain on her thighs and grubby linen of dress. For her part, Missandei wasn’t still. She thrashed and clawed at him, snarling and hissing like a cat. She nearly kneed him in the stones. As the guard rounded the corner, Jon pinched her inner arm, hard. Missandei squealed.

“Enough, Zokla timpa!” the guard said, loosing the whip coiled around his chest while another unlocked the door. Jon growled and rolled off her. Missandei could have been a mummer in another life. The way she clutched the wet tails of her gown and screamed and sobbed would put any other player to shame. As one guard led her away, she caught his eye and winked. Jon leaned back against the cell wall, breathing deeply as if from exertion. A warm feeling bubbled in his chest. I think I made a friend.      

“Send my master my thanks,” Jon wheezed.

The next day, the Twins oversaw the slaves in day-to-day training. Manacled hand and foot, Jon lifted lead weights to strengthen his muscles. He gripped the iron weight and curled his arm up. The day was unmercifully hot, the air a choking, humid kiss. Sweat made his linen tunic cling to him. It itched and tickled as droplets meandered down his body. Irritably, he had tied his hair up away from his face.

“Slow. Controlled,” the trainer said, watching his form with gimlet eyes. In the training yard, the slave masters were cautious. It should be an easy place to provoke rebellion, but guards were thick and well-armed. Slaves only faced one another in the yard under the eye of their trainer.

Morrgys approached him, surrounded by the usual gaggle of bodyguards and serving slaves. One held a silken shade over the master’s head to shield him from the harsh Volantene sun. Morbo stood beside him, stiff and at attention. A cut beneath his left eye was a naught but a black scab now. His hair fell in a gleaming black fringe to his chin. Jon had learned Dothraki cut their braids when defeated in combat. Another loss then. The Dothraki was right be nervous. The slave masters did not tolerate failure. Morrgys had that gleam in his eye, of avarice, of cruelty. Jon knew before he spoke that he would be in arena again soon.

“Zokla timpa, you look fit.” Jon blew out a breath as he finished the set, easing the heavy weight down. His fingers ached, the burn slowly receding from his muscles.

“Yes, Master,” he said simply. If there was one thing he’d learned about Morrgys, it was that he loved the sound of his own voice.

“That slave girl was inconsolable, Kraznys mo Nakloz says.” Jon said nothing.

“Good boy. It was reward and punishment both.” The thought of Missandei suffering woke the red rage that slumbered inside him. Fucking worm.

“Master,” Jon said in Common so as not to stumble over Valyrian, “the girl is wasted as a body slave. She is intelligent. She could better serve her master as a translator, she speaks many.” Morrgys let out a bark of harsh laughter.

“How do you know this, Wolf?”

“She cursed me in several different tongues,” Jon said. The lie would bolster their fiction, and perhaps make Missandei’s life a modicum easier. Morrgys chuckled again, but he could see the idea turning in mind.  

“Good. Good. You will fight in the arena tomorrow. A special match ordered by the triarchs.”

“Tycho,” Jon said with a nod.

“Tycho, and more. An elimination games.”

Jon’s stomach fell to his toes. Much like a tournament, elimination games saw groups whittled down to a single winner. The only difference was, there was no rest in between. To win, he had to kill all the others before he succumbed to exhaustion. It would be his hardest test yet.

#fp37fic #jonerys fanfiction #victory is in your veins #Gladiator!Jon #Queen!Daenerys

[nev3rfound]

look after him, please: b.b

brief summary: dating bucky and being peters older sister. 

requested? by @sara29392  word count: 1.2K warnings: infinity war spoilers

please be easy on me - some of the details might not be right as I haven’t seen IW since it came out as I’m slowly rewatching everything before endgame. 

“Wait, no. No, no.” Peter continues to shake his head in disbelief, refusing to accept this as I stand next to Bucky. 

With Bucky’s metal arm around my waist, Peter just stares completely and utterly dumbfounded. “Pete, it’s not that big of a deal.” I tell him as I smile up at Bucky, seeing that warm smile. 

“What planet are you on, Y/n?” Peter retorts, crossing his arms across his chest as he leans on the edge of the sofa. “He’s Bucky!” Lifting his arm up and motioning to Bucky I watch as his hold on me loosens. “I, I was trying to set you up with Steve.” 

Bucky lets out a short laugh and I try to conceal my smile as my brother stares at me with an irritated expression. “Oh, Peter.” I sigh as I walk over to him and sling my arm around his shoulder. “I’m sure he’ll grow on you.” Standing up I motion for him to follow me. “We’ll just go for a walk, James.” I tell Bucky and I can see Peter pulling a face as we walk past.

Once out of sight Peter stops me, mouthing ‘James’ to me and I simply smile.

 “What, you really thought Bucky was his birth name?” I question and Peter merely shrugs his shoulders. “What’s the worry about him Peter?” 

Peter lets out a sigh as we head towards the lift. “I don’t want to see you hurt.” He quietly states as his shoulders hunch forward. “I’ve seen him in action, clips of what he did to Mr Starks parents.” 

His eyes soften as we walk into the lift, knowing he can speak in confidence for a few minutes without any other ears on us. 

“He had no remorse, nothing, Y/n.” He reiterates his point and I keep a straight face before nodding. 

“I know.” I simply say, much to Peters surprise. “I know about everything. I know he wasn’t Bucky then. He was brainwashed, forced to be that person. And now Bucky is learning to feel again, Pete. I want him to feel comfortable around my family, especially since I’ve only got you and May.” 

The doors open and we walk onto the roof, the breeze rising through my hair as I tug on my jumper sleeves. “I just don’t want to see you hurt, sis.” Peter speaks up and I smile to him before bringing him into a hug. “You’re the only Parker I’ve got.” He mumbles into my hair as I pull away. 

We stand still for a few minutes, watching as Steve and Sam start running laps, Bucky close behind them. “You going to go easier on him now?” I ask as I watch Bucky’s muscles move effortlessly, his hair tied back. 

“Nope.” Peter states before letting out a laugh. “But that’s my job as your brother.” He pats my back before turning around, heading back into the compound whilst I sit down and see Bucky pause. 

He turns his head up and waves to me. I give him a thumbs up and he continues running. Just like that, it’s going to be alright. At least, I hope. 

*

It was going to end it, at least that was what we all hoped. 

We all listened, heard what was going to happen. I’d only seen Peter yesterday, laughing with him, Bucky and Aunt May over pizza as Bucky listened to our childhood stories. They weren’t something I found easy to talk about so he listened with full content, his bright blue eyes unable to leave mine like the smile on his face. 

Yet, that all feels like a lifetime ago. Here we are, in Wakanda ready to fight. 

Clenching my fists I glance over to Bucky as he smiles softly at me, mouthing the three words I’ve only heard verbally a few times. I mouth it back, knowing we might not make it out of this. 

The thought of not making it home for Peter breaks my heart. It drives me further into doing this, fighting so he can have a future. He might also be an Avenger, but I don’t want him in this battle, he has so much to live for, so much potential. 

Standing at the front of the border we position our guns, firing them the second they begin to appear. I can hear yells as I watch the lasers leave the gun and I lose my footing. 

I feel his arm support me, holding me up as his face is solid having lost all love. Except in his eyes, he is still in there. 

We start running on command and I fall behind, but I can see him chasing after Steve and T’Challa. I watch as I see the barrier open and all hell commences around us. 

Fighting with all I have I work through the sea of Outriders. I can feel myself burning, but I scream and yell as I kill more and more of them. I know he’s close by looking out for me. At this point, it’s all about teamwork more than anything. 

Above me, Banner flies over in the large Iron Man suit and as I lift my knife up a wave of lightning strikes the ground, causing them to all fall. 

Allowing myself to breathe I turn to Bucky who wears an equally confused expression on his face. “What’s happening?” I yell over to him as he runs towards me. 

He stands by my side, eyeing the cuts that are now covering my face. We both watch as Thor descends with Groot and Rocket. 

I smile briefly, but I know it’s far from over. “Come on,” Bucky mutters, tugging on my arm as Thor walks towards all of us. 

*

The fight continues as Hela ascends with vengeance on her mind. 

“Y/n!” Bucky yells as I turn to see him, he shoots an Outrider running towards me. “Go help Wanda!” 

Without needing to be told twice I fight my way through before Wanda unleashes her powers, causing everything to stop. 

I continue towards her, hearing Bucky’s words echoing in my mind. “Wanda, where’s Vision?” 

*

I saw it from afar, Steve couldn’t do it. 

Wanda held Visions limp body and I knew it was over. 

We’d all lost. It was game over. 

And then I heard it, the single click. 

“Y/n!” Hearing him yell my name I turn with tears in my eyes, running towards him. 

As I get closer I can see it happening, “NO!” I scream as I force my legs to go faster, fear rising in his eyes as I help him as he collapses. “I’m here,” I mumble as I place my hand on his cheek. 

His arm rises, placing his palm over mine. He opens his mouth to speak, but he’s disappearing. “Bucky?” I cry as he turns into a pile of dust in my hands and on my lap. “Bucky!” My sobs become louder as the dust falls through my fingers, lying in the blades of grass discolouring the vibrant green a dull black.

Turning around I see Steve walk towards me with pain in his blue eyes. “They’re gone.” He says clearly with no emotion in his tone. “Half the population. Gone.” 

Standing up I feel a wave of guilt cross my body, my heart already broken continues to shatter. 

Tears continue to stream down my face as I open my mouth, but no words form. “Y/n?” Steve asks as he walks closer, placing his hand on my shoulder. “What is it?” 

Lifting my head up I shake my head, “Peter.” 

#oooh #hope you liked it #thank you for the request #bucky barnes #bucky #bucky x reader #bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes imagines #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x y/n #peter parker #peter parker x reader #peter parker x yn #peter parker imagine #peter parker imagines #avengers imagine #avengers imagines #avengers au #avengers writing #avengers x reader #marvel imagine #marvel imagines #marvel writing #marvel

[thumbscrewgaming]

E3 2019 Rundown with links

Electronic Arts E3 2019

Nothing too new for EA, but they did lay out a straight forward list of the games headlining their event; basically all their larger titles. It is a few hours to sit through all of the round tables, so I’d suggest just watching what you want. a.k.a. Star Wars.

Star Wars JEDI: Fallen Order

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8939aURV9Dc

APEX Legends

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCYB1BeDv1w&list=PLnQa3snKdrQrreMf9T6rfwvXTXUBkTxMi

Battlefield V

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9W0RGXmFtc

FIFA 20

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9E4HMgh7ZsE

Madden 20

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMjoohwe1OQ

The Sims 4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-LuNtzpvQM

Watch the whole thing here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isvyP3Bu2rc

Microsoft E3 2019

What a packed presentation of games with showings of Japanese games, hardware, Halo, and Cyberpunk 2077. The Halo trailer didn’t provide much other than humanity is kind of fucked and Cortana will obviously be coming back. Cyberpunk got the John Wick treatment and I didn’t expect it to be such a dark game. Project Scarlett means nothing to me as I still feel that my Xbox One S is doing fine and I’m pretty sure I can’t even see in 8K. 12 minutes looked really interesting, and I kind of want to play as a deer in Way to the Woods.

Xbox Project Scarlett revealed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ktN4bycj9s

Halo: Infinite will launch with Project Scarlett

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtgzKBrU1GY

Cyberpunk 2077

A new story trailer presented by Keanu Reeves, and yeah he’s in the game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwZByksfC4s

Ori and the Will of the Wisps

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2reK8k8nwBc

Bleeding Edge

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpU8kyX6ae0&list=PL0il2l-B_WwbC7xCGoHoOoNSfpMxMHjm7&index=9&t=0s

12 Minutes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDgxXMK1r-E&list=PL0il2l-B_WwbC7xCGoHoOoNSfpMxMHjm7&index=31

Microsoft Flight Simulator

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReDDgFfWlS4&list=PL0il2l-B_WwbC7xCGoHoOoNSfpMxMHjm7&index=15

Wasteland 3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCXdCjpBVA8&list=PL0il2l-B_WwbC7xCGoHoOoNSfpMxMHjm7&index=17

Dying Light 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNeslTb7n7E&list=PL0il2l-B_WwbC7xCGoHoOoNSfpMxMHjm7&index=20

Crossfire X

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lq-wlu2pwdw&list=PL0il2l-B_WwbC7xCGoHoOoNSfpMxMHjm7&index=23

Elden Ring

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eco_7d94iU&list=PL0il2l-B_WwbC7xCGoHoOoNSfpMxMHjm7&index=26&t=0s

Spiritfarer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_zC84nMWSQ&list=PL0il2l-B_WwbC7xCGoHoOoNSfpMxMHjm7&index=28

Way to the Woods

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDgxXMK1r-E&list=PL0il2l-B_WwbC7xCGoHoOoNSfpMxMHjm7&index=31

Blair Witch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdTB4YNvOps&list=PL0il2l-B_WwbC7xCGoHoOoNSfpMxMHjm7&index=26

A few other games in the presentation:

Gears 5 – no gameplay shown

Forza Horizon 4 Lego Speed Champions

Age of Empires II

The Legend of Wright

Riverbond

The Outer Worlds

Tales of Arise

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot

Minecraft: Dungeons

Battletoads

Watch the whole thing here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1Ad09MNdMg

Bethesda E3 2019

They go into a rough patch as 76 did not get the best of receptions, but they address it. My brother plays 76, so he should be psyched for the new update that brings in NPCs. Nothing new was said about the new standalone Fallout or Elder Scrolls games.DOOM grabbed the spotlight and ran with it most of the time. #GhostWireTokyo and #Deathloop both sound pretty awesome.   

Fallout 76

Fallout 76 has a big update coming October 2019

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2XdwS4lcZM

Nuclear Winter is the latest addition to the battle royal formula.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4NbPbkNUbc

Ghost Wire: Tokyo

Spooky? Supernatural evil? Conspiracies? A bow! Hell Yeah!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qrXLQqHkJk

The Elder Scrolls

     No new words on the standalone Elder Scrolls games.

     Online - A few DLC’s are announced

     Legends - New stuff announced

Commander Keen

A new-ish IP for mobile. The game’s title apparently comes from another game made by ID Software from the 90’s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14ZD9_tLwgA

Rage 2

New Rise of the Ghosts DLC announced

Wolfenstein

Youngblood is coming out July 26th

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6K_ZzMWTTo

Deathloop

A new IP from the makers of Dishonored, and it looks pretty fucking awesome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXv5IDp8y74

ORION

A software solution that helps developers stream games better.

DOOM: Eternal

The game releases on November 22.

Battlemode is the new DOOM multiplayer mode.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HOClc6Svg4

Ubisoft E3 2019

They come out strong with the leaked Watch Dogs: Legion. (I feel everything is god damn leaked lately.) Legion presents a world in which there are no NPCs. NPCs have now become APCs or All Player Characters. It’s a crazy idea that I hope pays off. Legion still looks like it will take the ‘angry teenager’ approached to the storyline, but I hope there is some depth to it. We didn’t get any new gameplay from Ghost Recon during the conference, but I’m sure new videos will pop up during the week. God and Monsters looks like a wannabe Zelda and Roller Champions looks like a play on Rocket League.

Watch Dogs: Legion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbokXaPTk38

               Legion 101

               https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crubKIFUytQ

Ghost Recon: Breakpoint

               https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASfUcaVTOpI

The Division 2 Year 1 update

               https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th-qvZwoc4w

Roller Champions

               https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PYfi7DqJZ8&list=PLpwyzkZha0Z5PNI4c8qm53vPufElg0PX9

Gods and Monsters

               https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Egzb6_HCqQw&list=PLpwyzkZha0Z5Ouc4jhTCLvAwa1WzyQ56N

Watch the whole thing here:

The press conference starts at 1:10:00.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKbKx2JHQ8s

 Square Enix E3 2019

There was lots of Final Fantasy. A decent amount of time was given to the Final Fantasy VII remake. Rightly so, it’s been one of their most highly anticipated games. The demoed presented a mix of real time and selection based combat. Final Fantasy VIX: Shadowbringers had a lengthy trailer that looked dark and dirty. A Final Fantasy VIII remaster was announced, and Square Enix is also releasing all of the Final Fantasy soundtracks. Outriders is announced, it’s a drop in, drop out shooter that involves monster killing. The biggest surprise was an Avengers AAA action game in a new story with new faces. We only got a trailer, but it looked pretty good.

Other games:

The Last Remnant: Remastered

Dragon Quest Builders 2

Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age

Battalion: 1944: Eastern Front

Kingdom Hearts 3 DLC

Dying Light 2

Romancing Saya 3

Life is Strange 2

Oninaki

Watch the whole thing here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4fW5Exwzak

Nintendo E3 2019

How the hell does Nintendo end up with a guy named Bowser? That is some black magic stuff right there. Though Doug Bowser came off a little stiff the games he helped announce did not. Luigi’s Mansion 3 was a great surprise. I’m always exciting for Zelda content and we got two with Link’s Awakening and a teaser for Breath of the Wild 2.

Luigi’s Mansion 3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEq2JCIspvs

The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHwhTv-LdPY

Animal Crossing: New Horizons

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEh3MPy4GAU

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fr1Z07AV00

Empire of Sin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OT0UydyFD_s

The Sinking City

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAeoEIeLg_A

Watch the whole thing here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zr9eAtwcYlo&list=PL2JiZAV5BmDWVDUiOFUFpOAL5Sn0eIOWB&index=38&t=0s

Many of these title will no doubt have more to show during the week, so keep up to date on their respective developers and publishers to see more.

And as always

Game til it hurts!

#E3 #Be3 #EA #ElectronicArts #Xbox #projectscarlett #Halo #rundown #DOOM #Bethesda #Cyberpunk2077 #Avengers #Watch Dogs #Legion #squareenix #ubisoft #ghostrecon #PS4

[ihaveonlymydreams]

Every now and then I come back to this opening of a story that I wrote some years ago and that I can hopefully return to writing soon now that I’m almost finished dissertating. I don’t really know anything about it except that it’s about a bandit with social anxiety who calls himself Stardust and a wordmage named Emiliana with a smartaleck magic book. I would love some feedback on it! 

Stardust adjusted his white mask with some care, checking his reflection in the perfectly polished surface of the dress saber he never used. He wore it more for the sake of fashion than for combat - a bandit was not a duelist, no matter what popular tales said. What the saber's feelings were, on the loss of dignity incurred by being relegated to the status of a lady's hand mirror, had not occurred either to Stardust or to his winged partner, who chose this moment to snort emphatically and stamp one heavy feathered hoof.

“You wouldn't have me rob the king's skyway without looking my best, would you, Silence?” Stardust protested, tugging the leather straps tight after making sure that the eyebrow ridges overshadowed his eyes, hiding their peculiar shade of blue. The mask fitted to his face as if it had been molded there, leaving only his eyes, mouth, and chin uncovered. The short white stubble on his face and the shaggy white pelt of his hair, combined with the subtle shapes and wrinkles of the mask, gave him the impression of being a good twenty years older than he was.

Silence, true to his name, said nothing, but tossed his pale mane scornfully and whinnied. Little shivers ran across his golden coat as he stretched his wings, nearly knocking Stardust off his feet with a gust of wind.

“Keep your feathers on!” the bandit exclaimed, sheathing his saber. “I'm coming.”

He double checked the pistols in his holsters, adjusted the bandoliers over both shoulders, and fitted both parts of his long rifle into their straps on Silence's saddle. He slipped into the leather harness that strapped around his chest and waist, making certain that the long ropes attaching him to Silence were secure and would bear his weight. Finally, he double-checked the short-barreled derringers in their waterproof sheaths at the top of his thigh-high boots. That bit of tech had cost him a good part of his savings, but it had been worth every cent.

Stardust vaulted easily up onto his companion's back and gathered the reins, taking one last fond look around him as he always did. His nest was the result of fifteen years' work, careful planning and execution, bargaining and haggling, having the right contacts and buying nothing that he and Silence could not carry themselves: soft carpets on the ground, walls of bookshelves, tapestries covering the cave's original stone walls, and gentle glowlamps that drew their power from nothing but the faint gleams of daylight that streamed down during the day, from the one and only entrance high above their heads. Several steel-bound chests held most of his profits, built as solidly as the other few pieces of furniture he had acquired. A hay-strewn nook on the other side of the cave was the only proof of non-human habitation—otherwise the room might have belonged in any of the world's finest castles. Stardust gave a little sigh of satisfaction and imagined the fine carved mantelpiece that he'd had an eye on recently, fitting neatly into the area between his favorite chair and his bed. If his contact had been right about today's transaction, he should have more than enough gold to buy it without having to dip into his emergency funds.

“Let's go make some money,” he told Silence, and slid his feet into the stirrups that connected to the wing harness. A sharp tug down with his heels told the pegasus to rise, and with one powerful downsweep of wings they were airborne, climbing almost vertically towards the narrow crack in the stone high above them. It seemed barely wide enough for Silence's wingspan, but he soared through without so much as brushing the sides of the crevice, then banked to avoid the pines that clung stubbornly to the bare jagged rocks. Weaving deftly through them, he stayed low to the ground until it fell away under them in a sheer cliff and he shot out, like some vast golden bird catching the reflection of the light, into a panorama that never failed to make Stardust catch his breath.

The vast sheer peaks of the Pillars stretched out beneath them, unutterably high and crowned with green, shooting up from the clouds as if some giant's towers, older than the ages, crumbled into disarray, had taken on the patina of nature but somehow had failed to hide their long-forgotten purpose. The rising sun shot out over the mists in rays of diffuse golden light, silhouetting the high narrow shapes, making of the cloud-cover a foaming white sea. Stardust knew that the clouds rarely, if ever, parted, and wondered again how far below them was the real sea—whether he would even be able to see the white tops of its waves, or the undulating shadows of the serpents under its blue skin. He knew they were too high for birds or wyverns here, in the thin bracing air that few creatures could breathe easily. He'd had to spend his first profits on a very discrete, very expensive corpmage who had increased his lung capacity and his blood's ability to carry oxygen. Now he could breathe easier in the high altitudes than on the sea level, so it was with some regret that he pointed his toes and gave Silence the signal to dip below the cloud surface.

This was Silence's native environment. In the gray-white world, his plumage almost disappeared, and the pale gold of his coat dimmed nearly to gray without the light to reflect it. Strands of mist swept away from his quiet velvet wings, which made him inaudible as well as invisible. He was little more than a cloud within a cloud, and Stardust, dressed all in white leather, was hardly a shadow on his back.

He didn't attempt to guide his companion's flight, apart from pointing him in the right general direction. Fingers of rock rose as pale shadows within the mist almost as they passed, and Silence banked between them as effortlessly as if he could see, his chest rising and falling under Stardust's knees as he sent out his inaudible calls. His ears flicked back and forth in a constant pattern, catching the echoes that bounced back to him, alerting him of obstacles ahead.

Stardust timed a half hour on his silver pocket watch and waited until he knew they had emerged from the wildest section of the Pillars. The peaks that rose on the outskirts were shorter, more suitable to human habitation, and the skies above them tended to be clearer. He pulled his telescope from a pocket—another expensive techmage modification—and sighted through it, lowering the lever on the side that activated the long-range sonar. After a noticeable pause, the shadowy image of a castle resolved to his right. They had come out nearly where he had predicted, over the skyroute that led from Castle Condor, on his right, to the more densely populated city of Tristan's Peak, about half a day's flight to the south. Few people traveled here, Castle Condor not being the most hospitable of locations due to the cold northern seas that surrounded it and the thick stone walls that protected it against the long winters. But it was a good place to store your treasure, if you wanted it safe from prying eyes and greedy hands. Stardust had never stormed the castle, and he did not mean to do so now. Skyway robbery was his game.

They shadowed the skyroute from above, barely out of sight in the cloud-cover, until Stardust caught the shadowy image of a carriage coming towards them.

“At last, praise the six wings of the archangel,” he muttered in Silence's ear. “I was starting to get cold up here.”

Silence snorted softly and plunged forward and up. They banked sharply and dropped down through the clouds, coming out silent and and precise behind the carriage.

At first Stardust was convinced he had the wrong travelers. A v-wing of merely five wyverns carried the square vehicle beneath them, their powerful muscular bodies barely straining at the weight suspended by powerful steel cords. There were no outriders, only one driver perched on the head wyvern. Stardust sighed, flipped the lever on his telescope back up, and peered through it at the insignia on the driver's livery: a condor in flight, surmounted by two stars.

“Well, this is the right one, after all,” he told Silence. “Maybe they think to disarm suspicion by transporting the treasure this way. Fools,” he judged, and leaned forward, unhooking his long rifle from beside his legs and fitting the parts together as he pointed his toes down.

Silence flapped his great wings once and then glided swiftly down, pulling back with quick but quiet wingstrokes just before dropping into the empty space inside the v-wing. The wyverns shied away, all but the first, whose rider went stiff as the barrel of Stardust's rifle touched the back of his neck.

“Pull out your weapons and drop them, if you don't want a bullet in your neck,” Stardust warned in a low growl.

The unfortunate man nodded frantically and pulled out his regulation shotgun, tossing it down. It fell a long way, and the splash was both invisible and inaudible. He gulped.

“If you try anything at all, my pegasus will pick you off your wyvern and send you down to join it, understand?” Stardust growled. The driver nodded again, putting his open hands up in the air. He didn't move a muscle when Stardust removed the rifle and slung it loosely by the saddle.

“I'll be back,” he told Silence, and launched himself off into the open air, his gloved hands sliding over the ropes that smoothly unspooled from the saddle. His aim was precise—a few feet directly above the carriage, his hands closed over the ropes. He twisted upward, executing a perfect flip before landing on both feet, knees slightly bent.

The carriage was large enough to hold several of him. A quick glance over the side showed him a simple windowed door, unlocked. Stardust paused for a moment—something was not right—but he had no time to wait and no choice but to continue. He swung down on one rope, twisted the handle, and swung into the carriage as the door opened.

He was greeted by a very female gasp.

Oh, not a person! was Stardust's first thought, followed quickly by, a woman?

He looked around him. He was standing in a passenger carriage, clearly built for comfort, with two plush seats, built into beautiful wooden cabinets for storing luggage, with clear glass windows on all four sides, and even patterned carpet on the floor. One of the seats was empty. The other contained a woman of indeterminate age, with untidily braided dark hair that was escaping in wild curls in all directions, and a pair of keen gray eyes enhanced by large spectacles. Those eyes were currently examining him, with a great deal of curiosity and very little fear.

“Are you a bandit?” she asked.

Obviously, lady, Stardust said inside his head. Why else would I be wearing a mask and dropping from the sky?

Outwardly, he choked slightly on the beginning of a word, gave it up as a bad job, and drew one of his pistols with a sigh. He hated holding people up, if only because it was human interaction, of a kind, and their eyes always made him self-conscious.

“T - Treasure,” he managed to say without stumbling too much over the word, and waved his pistol gently in her direction, trying not to meet her eyes.

“Surely you don't intend to threaten me with an uncocked pistol?” she asked, folding her hands primly over the book in her lap.

Stardust groaned inwardly. Now you decide to be perceptive. He cocked the pistol a little more aggressively than necessary, and pointed it in her general direction again.

“I'm sorry to have to say this, after you've gone to all the trouble,” said his irritatingly calm victim, “but I don't actually have any treasure. Other than a few books, some second-rate gowns, and myself, you're not going to find anything in here. You're welcome to search if you don't believe me.”

He was forced to meet her eyes. She looked completely harmless, and more to the point, entirely sincere—with a piercingly direct gaze that reminded him forcibly of an owl. On a sudden impulse, he uncocked the pistol again, holstered it, and then reached out to pull the too-large spectacles off her nose. She squinted, her eyes growing vague, and her face came into focus—a fairly young woman, too old to be marriageable but too young to be a spinster. Not exceptionally pretty, with a slightly crooked nose and a too-square chin, but her mouth was well-shaped. Something in her looks nagged at him, like the ghost of a memory trying to resurface, but he couldn't grasp it.

Then he heard the high-pitched scream of the gryphons, and his eyes shifted to the window behind her. There they were, mere dots in the sky, but he knew from experience that they would take minutes to arrive. He turned to look beside him, behind him—they were coming from all directions.

Either someone had set him up, or this girl was far more valuable than she seemed. He dropped the spectacles, fumbled for his telescope, and almost lost it out of the open door he had entered. Yes, he could see their livery—no bandits these, but King's Riders, in the flashy scarlet and gold that stood out against blue sky for all to see.

Stardust whistled for Silence and began to curse, quietly and fluently, as he put the telescope back into its pouch. He consigned his contact, the King's Riders, and the inhabitant of the carriage to the lords of every one of the seven flaming hells and their torturers. There must have been at least fifteen gryphons—a full wing. Why?

Silence swooped down past the door, and Stardust flung himself after, catching the saddle as the pegasus swung upward and began to climb. The sudden movement shook loose his rifle, and he cursed again as it fell past him into oblivion. There went the only chance he had of picking off the enemy before they closed on him. His feet couldn't find the stirrups, but that hardly mattered now—both of them had trained for this particular, if unlikely, eventuality, and Silence would simply do what any pegasus might, confronted by gryphons: climb. His huge wingbeats felt slow, too slow, as the Riders began to close in and up, stretched almost flat on their mounts. If there had been less of them, Stardust might have chosen to fight—gryphons were lighter-boned and frailer than pegasi, and their beaks and talons would make little immediate impression on Silence's tough hide—but in a flock, they were deadly because of their speed. Only one hope—to fly out of their altitude range and lose them in the cloud-cover.

“Climb, Silence,” Stardust entreated, and began to pray rather than curse. Surely at least one of the seven archangels would be willing to help him!

Then the Riders came into shooting range. He could almost reach up and touch the cloud-cover when the first shot hit him in the right shoulder. Long-range rifles were tricky to use in flight; they must have reached their highest altitude and stopped to hover in place.

“Almost there, boy,” he whispered, trying to ignore the pain and the blood that was beginning to ooze out onto his white coat.

Silence faltered, his left wing suddenly blooming red. For the space of a long wingbeat he held his course; then the wing crumpled, hanging useless. One of the Riders, either too lucky or too skilled, had shattered the joint with a single shot. Silence fell, twisting under Stardust as he corkscrewed, beating his one good wing in vain. The gryphons waited, circling. They'd swoop in and pluck him off as they fell, leaving the pegasus to strike the water too far below.

Stardust gritted his teeth. “Dive!” he barked, pulling himself up. As Silence obeyed, pulling in his wings and dropping like a stone, the bandit leaped off the saddle, his feet springboarding off the pegasus' back. He rose straight in the air, ropes unfurling beneath him as he pulled his pistols and cocked them in one smooth movement. They were close enough now, and they hadn't expected an attack. He shot two of them off their mounts, recocked, and shot again. They swooped in to grab him, regardless of the casualties, but the ropes had run their course, and he was jerked swiftly and painfully down. The empty talons closed over his head.

He had no time—the air was getting choked out of him as he was dragged down by Silence's swift descent, but he shot again and again. Six shots per pistol, and every one of them counted. The gryphons were scattering, disorganized, trying to save their riders, when he finally dropped the guns into their holsters and pulled the ropes on his harness. The parachute blossomed up behind him, and he cried out in sudden pain as he jerked to a stop, the harness around his torso tightening.

For a moment he thought the magic would fail and he would be crushed to a pulp. He had never actually tried carrying Silence before. Although the techmage had assured him the harness would carry well over a thousand pounds, they'd only ever used it for treasure before—and a thousand pounds of treasure was not something that you found every day. Stardust grunted in pain as the reinforced straps pressed into his chest and shoulders, nearly crushing his ribs. But the pressure did not increase—it remained constant, painful but bearably so. He peered down at Silence, hanging twenty yards below him, saw his good wing move, and breathed a careful sigh of relief. The other half of the harness had held too.

The parachute's open canopy obscured his view of the sky, though here and there gryphons were darting off, some with double loads, others riderless. Just in case, Stardust pulled one pistol out and started to reload it, ignoring the hot pain in his shoulder. There had to be some Riders left unwounded, and they were notoriously persistent, just like their fierce mounts. He knew he was right when he heard the whizz of a bullet over his head.

“Where are you?” he muttered, craning his neck. He felt singularly helpless, floating in the air with a thousand-pound weight hanging under him. If the Rider was smart, he'd be keeping his position behind Stardust's back and trying to pick him off with the rifle.

A second bullet struck him in the left leg, below the knee. He was right—the shot came from behind him. The next one would probably strike much closer to his heart. If only he could see behind him—then he almost laughed. The little-used saber came swiftly out of his sheath, and with a quick twist of his bleeding arm he found the enemy's reflection. The Rider was closing in, waiting until he was within pistol range, rather than waste a long shot on what he believed to be a helpless man. Stardust waited a long moment, until the saber showed him the rifle moving down, taking aim.

Then with one swift movement of his left hand, he flipped the pistol's muzzle over his shoulder and fired. The saber showed him the Rider as he slumped backwards over the saddle, dropping the rifle from lifeless fingers. The gryphon screamed, a sharp, defiant sound, and Stardust fired again, hating himself for it but knowing there was little choice. Most gryphons attacked in packs, but they would attack singly if the prey was helpless; he had to prove himself capable of fighting back. The gryphon screamed again, but this time in pain.

A moment later the sky was clear. He had to check in all directions, but no one seemed to be following him any longer. Stardust sheathed his sword, holstered his pistol, and breathed a short prayer of thanks to whichever archangel had decided to protect him. The wind changed, and below them the blue sea grew closer and closer, dotted with tiny islands. Now they had only to survive falling in the water and being attacked by sea-serpents.

Life is good, Stardust reminded himself. We're going to stay alive.

#Ria's writing #my fiction #Stardust Bandit #It doesn't really have a title yet

[mikegranich87]

The Morning After: Crypto heist hacker returns all $610 million they stole

It’s the weirdest cryptocurrency heist so far. On Monday, Poly Network, a cryptocurrency finance platform, was hacked by “Mr. White Hat” who exploited a vulnerability in its code to steal $610 million in Ethereum, Shiba Inu and other cryptocurrencies. The company now says it has recovered all the money it lost in the theft.

Less than a day after stealing the digital currencies, the hacker started returning millions saying they were “ready to surrender.” They subsequently locked more than $200 million in assets in an account that required passwords from both them and Poly Network. They said they would only provide their password once everyone was “ready.” At that point, Poly Network offered the hacker a $500,000 reward — a fraction of what they had stolen.

It’s not entirely clear why the hacker surrendered, but it may have been difficult to cash out the millions. The hacker says they were trying to contribute to the security of Poly Network. Maybe they just didn’t want to get caught. Poly will breathe a sigh of relief as will those that were doing their crypto trading through the platform.

— Mat Smith

A Razer mouse can bypass Windows security just by being plugged in

The company says it's fixing the flaw.

Security researcher Jon Hat posted on Twitter that after plugging in a Razer mouse or dongle, Windows Update will download the Razer installer executable and run it with SYSTEM privileges. It also lets you access the Windows file explorer and Powershell with "elevated" privileges, which means nefarious types could install harmful software — if they can get to your USB ports.

Since this vulnerability requires someone plugging in a mouse, it's not nearly as dangerous as a remote attack, but it's still not great for Razer. The company's security team said it’s working on a fix. 

Continue reading.

Finally, the ‘Stardew Valley’ esports tournament is a thing

Farm, mine and fish your way to glory on Labor Day weekend.

ConcernedApe

Esports is most commonly associated with high-octane competitive games, usually with guns. That’s not the vibe in Stardew Valley, where you literally tend to crops. It’s more agrarian, less aggro.

But soon, some of the world's finest Stardew Valley players will face off for thousands of dollars. Creator Eric Barone said the first official Stardew Valley Cup event will take place on September 4th. “It’s a competition of skill, knowledge and teamwork, with a prize pool of over $40k.”

More than 100 challenges have been created for competitors to tackle, with four teams of four players each having three hours to complete as many of the tasks as they can. Best start sharpening that hoe.

Continue reading.

NASA’s latest video from Mars looks like ‘Dune’

A new video from the Curiosity rover is here.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory released a breathtaking panorama of the inside of the Gale Crater, as snapped by the Curiosity Rover. It shows off where the rover has been and where it’s going. Apparently, on a clear day when there’s no dust in the air, you can see up to 20 miles away.

Continue reading.

PayPal brings its cryptocurrency trading feature to the UK

Even in small units.

PayPal is bringing the ability to buy, hold and sell cryptocurrencies across to the other side of the pond, the better part of a year after it launched in the US. In a statement, the company said that UK-based users would be able to buy, hold and sell Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash via their PayPal account. The company adds that users can buy as little as £1 of cryptocurrency, and while there are no fees to hold the currency, users will have to pay transaction and currency conversion fees. And hey, it’s not Poly.

Continue reading.

'Twelve Minutes' ruins a compelling game concept

I’ve been waiting a while for this, too. 

Annapurna Interactive

Twelve Minutes managed to hook several Engadget editors when it was revealed back in 2015. Even before it gained an all-star cast including Daisy Ridley, James McAvoy and Willem Dafoe, the pitch was easy to understand: a time loop point-and-click adventure. I made a note to keep an eye on the title, and Devindra Hardawar, who reviewed the game, did the same.

Unfortunately, the need to push the story in any — most! — directions leads to some grim choices by the player, and what Devindra calls “mind-numbingly dumb” twists. Tell us how you really feel.

Continue reading.

Apple employees are organizing to push for 'real change' at the company

“We’ve exhausted all internal avenues,” the group says.

A group of current and former Apple employees are calling on colleagues to publicly share stories of discrimination, harassment and retaliation at the company. The collective has started a Twitter account called Apple Workers.

"For too long, Apple has evaded public scrutiny," the group says on its website. "When we press for accountability and redress to the persistent injustices we witness or experience in our workplace, we are faced with a pattern of isolation, degradation and gaslighting." In August, the company put Ashley Gjøvik, a senior engineering program manager, on paid administrative leave. Apple hasn’t yet commented.

Continue reading.

The best streaming gear for students

It’s not just laptops and keyboards.

Being a student is hard, but just because you’re holed up in a dorm room doesn’t mean you should settle for mediocre entertainment. Our updated Student Buyer’s Guide has everything you could possibly need to upgrade from mindlessly watching Netflix on your laptop. That includes deals for TVs, audio gear and the best streaming devices.

Continue reading.

Take a first look at the live-action ‘Cowboy Bebop’

It’s coming November 19th.

Netflix

Netflix's live-action adaptation of classic anime Cowboy Bebop has been a long time coming, and the show finally has a release date. The 10-episode first season will start streaming on November 19th. There’s still no trailer, but we get some stills of the iconic crew, played by John Cho (Spike Spiegel), Mustafa Shakir (Jet Black) and Daniella Pineda (Faye Valentine). There’s a corgi, too.

Continue reading.

Virgin Orbit plans to go public

It’ll go on the Nasdaq exchange to fund its space satellite project.

Mike Blake / Reuters

Virgin Orbit, the less glamorous half of Virgin’s space adventures, has announced plans to go public on the Nasdaq stock exchange through a special purpose acquisitions company (SPAC) merger. The deal with NextGen Acquisition Corp. II values Virgin Orbit at $3.2 billion.

The combined company is expected to pull in up to $483 million in cash when the deal closes, and it plans to scale up its rocket manufacturing. The first spaceflight company to go public through a SPAC, and the company that really kicked off the SPAC trend was Virgin Galactic back in 2019, which sought to fund its tourist trips to space. Yeah, the more exciting facet of space companies.

Continue reading.

The biggest stories you might have missed

The best laptops for college students

'Outriders' is perfectly average, making it ideal for Xbox Game Pass

Teardown shows the Playdate won't suffer from controller drift like the Switch

Rare commemorative Game & Watch handheld sells for $9,100 at auction

T-Mobile is giving customers a free year of Apple TV+

Data leak exposed 38 million records, including COVID-19 vaccination statuses

The OnePlus Buds Pro feature smart ANC and a white-noise mode

from Mike Granich https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-crypto-heist-hacker-returns-all-610-million-they-stole-111630131.html?src=rss

[your-dietician]

Best extended 4th of July tech sales 2021

New Post has been published on https://tattlepress.com/lifestyle/best-extended-4th-of-july-tech-sales-2021/

Best extended 4th of July tech sales 2021

Yahoo Life has received compensation to create this article, and receives commission from purchases made via links on this page. Pricing and availability are subject to change.

Grab yourself a tech toy; these extended 4th of July tech sales are popping! (Photo: Yahoo Life)

The 4th of July weekend might be over, but its tech sales still remain. That’s right! It’s time to save big on all manner of electronics. Thanks to mid-year release cycles and post-Prime Day overstock, post-July 4th is one of the best moments to shop for all things tech and the sales are still deep.

Whether you’ve had your eye on a new big-screen TV, a cushy pair of premium headphones or a starter set of smart home devices, this post-holiday weekend represents a window of opportunity. The price drops are epic! 

To save you time, we’ve gathered the very best still-alive 4th of July tech deals from Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, Lowe’s and more. You’ll find products ranging from small (hello, AirPods) to large (70-inch 4K Samsung TV, anyone?) at amazing discounts.

Snap up the best extended 4th of July tech sales below:

Best 4K-TV sales

A massive Samsung 70-inch 4K TV for just $680? Yes, please! (Photo: Best Buy)

Still on sale for $700 (was $750), this Samsung 70-inch Class 7 Series LED 4K Ultra HD Smart TV has a massive 70-inch display with full 4K Ultra HD resolution; vivid, bright colors and deep, dark black levels. That exceptional picture quality supports HDR (High Dynamic Range) movies and TV shows for the best 4K viewing experience around. And shoppers say this 4K TV is great for families.

“…The whole family loves it, especially my husband,” raved a delighted five-star Best Buy reviewer. “He is so glad we got this! Both him and our son love gaming on this nice sized TV. My daughter and I enjoy watching our shows. We are all pleased to say the least!…”

It’s also Wi-Fi-enabled with smart home support for Alexa, Google Assistant and Samsung’s Bixby. Video-streaming capability is also baked into this cake. Translation: You won’t have to buy a separate device to watch Netflix, YouTube, HBO Max, Apple TV+, Hulu, Peacock, Paramount+, Disney+ and much, much more. You’re ready to start binge-watching as soon as you turn it on.

Story continues

Check out more 4th of July 4K-TV sales below:

Toshiba 43-inch 43C350KU C350 Series LED 4K Ultra HD Smart Fire TV, $320 (was $370), amazon.com

Insignia 55-inch NS-55F301NA22 F30 Series LED 4K Ultra HD Smart Fire TV, $400 (was $500), amazon.com

Sony 55-inch Class X80J Series LED 4K Ultra HD Smart Google TV, $750 (was $950), bestbuy.com

LG 65-inch Class 4K Ultra HD NanoCell Smart TV, $997 (was $1,200), walmart.com

LG 65-inch Class CX Series OLED 4K Ultra HD Smart webOS TV, $1,900 (was $2,200), bestbuy.com

Sony 65-inch Class X80J Series LED 4K Ultra HD Smart Google TV, $900 (was $1,150), bestbuy.com

Best home audio sales

Get these Beats beauties for half price right now! (Photo: Walmart)

On sale for $149 (was $300) for post-4th of July, the Beats Solo Pro Headphones sync to just about any smartphone or laptop via Bluetooth, delivering rich audio and heart-thumping bass. Super sleek, the pro-level headphones come in Gray and Ivory. They’re noise-canceling, so you can block out just about all background and ambient noise to enjoy your favorite music and podcasts.

“These beats are so pretty. They sound amazing and definitely block out background noise,” raved a savvy Walmart shopper. “They charge and are compatible with iPhones….” 

The Beats have up to 40 hours of battery life per charge, so you don’t have to be tethered to an outlet all day long. They pump out a solid stream of music with top-notch audio for nearly two days — impressive, considering that most wireless headphones tap out after about 30 hours.

Check out more home audio sales below:

Bietrun Wireless Bluetooth Earbuds, $26 (was $130), walmart.com

Beats Flex Wireless Earbuds, $39 (was $50), amazon.com

Apple AirPods (wireless charging case), $160 (was $199), amazon.com

Apple AirPods Max, $490 (was $549), amazon.com

Philips Wireless In-Ear Headphones, $30 (was $60), walmart.com

Beats Solo3 Wireless On-Ear Headphones, $120 (was $200), amazon.com

Samsung Galaxy Buds+, $100 (was $150), bestbuy.com

Meidong Bluetooth Noise-Canceling Over-Ear Headphones, $35 (was $70), walmart.com

Best smartphone and tablet sales

An iPad with 40,000+ five star reviews, for less than $300? Is this for real? (Photo: Amazon)

On sale for $299 (was $329), the latest entry-level iPad model (32GB/Wi-Fi model) has the same impressive 10.2-inch display, quick Touch ID fingerprint sensor and 3GB of memory as the last version, but it features a speedier processor. You’ll notice — and appreciate — the speed with any videos, web sites or games. (For the tech savvy, the speed comes from Apple’s A12 Bionic chip). To say this thing is popular is an understatement: It has a ridiculous 40,000+ five-star reviews!

“I love it! It’s fast and easy to use plus it’s super affordable compared to the other models,” wrote a satisfied Amazon shopper. “The display is beautiful and picture quality is great…It’s like I have a mini laptop everywhere I go. Perfect for students, the screen quality is amazing and the battery lasts all day long.”

Check out more smartphone and tablet sales below:

Apple iPad Air (10.9-inch, Wi-Fi, 256GB), $699 (was $749), amazon.com

Core Innovations 7-inch, $54 (was $70), bhphotovideo.com

onn. 8-inch Tablet Pro, $79 (was $99), walmart.com

Samsung Galaxy A11 (Net10), $99 (was $149), walmart.com

Lenovo Tab M10 Plus, $160 (was $200), bestbuy.com

Best video game sales

Save 60 percent on super-popular games. (Photo: Amazon)

On sale for $20 (down from $50), BioShock: The Collection features all three games in the popular franchise: Bioshock Remastered, Bioshock 2 and Bioshock Infinite. These fun-tastic games explore futuristic science fiction worlds underwater and above the clouds.

“One of the best video game trilogies of modern gaming,” raved a delighted gamer. “All three games play and look fantastic, and 2k has done a great job with the attention to detail with all of them. I’ve had zero performance issues.”

Check out more video game sales below:

Luna Gaming Controller, $56 (was $70), amazon.com

NBA 2K21 (Xbox Series X), $20 (was $70), amazon.com

Mafia: Definitive Edition (PS4), $20 (was $40), amazon.com

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (PS4), $15 (was $40), amazon.com

The Sims 4 (Xbox One), $5 (was $50), cdkeys.com

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege (Xbox One), $13 (was $35), cdkeys.com

Minecraft (Xbox One), $10 (was $30), cdkeys.com

Outriders: Day One Edition (PS4), $40 (was $60), walmart.com

Microsoft Xbox Series S 512GB with Xbox Game Pass and Accessories, $636 (was $700), qvc.com

Grand Theft Auto V: Premium Edition (PS4), $20 (was $60), walmart.com

Madden NFL 21 (Xbox One), $20 (was $60), walmart.com

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (Xbox One), $30 (was $60), walmart.com

The Pillars of The Earth (PS4), $29 (was $45), walmart.com

Crash Team Racing: Nitro Fueled (PS4), $34 (was $40), walmart.com

PlayStation Plus Membership (12 months), $39 (was $60), cdkeys.com

Playstation Plus Membership (three months), $20 (was $25), cdkeys.com

Best smart-home sales

Start building the smart home of your dreams today, with this discounted bundle. (Photo: Lowe’s)

For this extended 4th of July sale, Lowe’s is giving you a chance to score the Google Nest Mini (second generation) and GE Smart Plug for just $40 (was $60).

The next-gen Nest Mini packs the Google Assistant into a sleek design with really great sound. Enjoy crisp vocals and balanced bass while you stream songs from Spotify, YouTube Music, SiriusXM, Pandora, Apple Music and more. Want a smart home? Now’s the time! If you have a phone in your pocket and a Wi-Fi network at home, you’re well on your way to building a smart home.

Plus, the bundle includes the GE Smart Plug (a $15 value), which can easily pair with the Google Nest Mini. Simply plug into a wall outlet, then plug in anything — a lamp, a TV or even a coffeemaker.

Then connect the plug to your Wi-Fi network and use your phone to sync to the Google Home app (for Android smartphones and Apple iPhones). That’s it! Now you can control just about anything in your home with your phone or just the sound of your voice via the Google Assistant. Fun!

“I am amazed at how much sound can come out of this little bitty device,” raved a delighted five-star Lowe’s reviewer. “The ease of setting this little unit up via Wi-Fi was a breeze. All I have done so far was talk to the device and it does what I ask with the weather even popping up on occasion which is what I was looking at. I like the fact that it sync to my devices with the calendar update with the busy schedule I have…I would recommend this little device for not only sound, but also ease of use. It can make your life simple and up-to-date if you carry a busy workload. Set a reminder and it will remind you even with a little music.”

Check out more smart-home sales below:

TP-Link N300 WiFi Extender (TL-WA855RE), $17 (was $30), amazon.com

Google Nest Mini, $35 (was $49), lowes.com

Google Nest Learning Smart Thermostat, $199 (was $249), lowes.com

Google Nest Hello, $149 (was $229), lowes.com

Lenovo Smart Clock Essential, $30 (was $50), lowes.com

Brookstone PhotoShare Digital Picture Frame, $110 (was $130), lowes.com

Moen 7594BL Arbor One-Handle Pulldown Kitchen Faucet, $289 (was $500), amazon.com

Honeywell RLV4300A1005 5-2 Day Programmable Thermostat (renewed), $10 (was $35), eBay.com

Google Nest Cam Indoor Security Camera, $130 (was $200), walmart.com

Defender Ultra HD 4K Wired Outdoor Security System (1TB), $260 (was $450), walmart.com

Monoprice Wireless Smart Outdoor Dual Socket, $25 (was $38), target.com

XODO Smart Wi-Fi HD Video Doorbell, $90 (was $150), walmart.com

DHcamera Wired Spotlight Cam HD Security Camera, $150 (was $230), walmart.com

Garmin Vivosport Fitness Tracker (renewed), $70 (was $200), eBay.com

Kamep Wireless Wi-Fi Video Doorbell Camera, $75 with on-page coupon (was $90), amazon.com

Best home-office sales

Sleek, thin, and convertible (lapop to tablet), this Samsung Chromebook Plus V2 is $180 off. (Photo: Amazon)

For extended 4th of July sales, the slick Samsung Chromebook Plus V2 convertible laptop is just $370 — that’s 33 percent off.

Incredibly thin, the Samsung Chromebook is actually more than just a laptop. It has a brilliant 12.2-inch HD touchscreen display (at 1900×1200 resolution) and flexible 360-degree hinge, so it can rotate to any angle for use as a tablet.

“I wanted both a tablet and a computer. I love that you can download apps and use them for both the computer and the tablet form,” reported a five-star fan. “The stylus makes using Lightroom and other creative apps a breeze. Being able to use the cloud is a must because the storage would fill up pretty quickly…The large screen is also good for editing photos, drawing, and taking notes. Startup, web browsing, and apps are quick. The battery life is really great for everyday use…”

Check out more home-office sales below:

Cloud Massage Shiatsu Foot Massager Machine, $250 with on-page coupon (was $350), amazon.com

Renpho Neck Shoulder Massager, $30 with on-page coupon (was $50), amazon.com

Vybe Percussion Massage Gun, $150 with on-page coupon (was $200), amazon.com

DamKee Massage Gun, $56 with on-page coupon (was $110), amazon.com

WorkEZ Rise Aluminum Laptop Stand, $30 (was $33), qvc.com

Samsung 27-inch Smart Monitor, $300 (was $329), qvc.com

HP OfficeJet Pro 8035e All-in-One Printer, $220 (was $249), qvc.com

Asus Chromebook C223, $265 (was $340), hsn.com

Bell & Howell Adjustable Laptop Desk, $32 (was $50), hsn.com

Embassy NanoShred 8-Sheet Paper Shredder, $100 (was $124), hsn.com

OttLite Wireless Charging Desk Lamp, $35 (was $61), hsn.com

Apple MacBook Pro (mid-2020), $1,099 (was $1,299), bhphotovideo.com

Microsoft Surface Pro 5 (renewed), $540 (was $800), eBay.com

Ousgar 47-inch White Desk, $100 (was $266), walmart.com

Hemu Fashion Bamboo Laptop Lap Tray, $38 (was $80), walmart.com

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[timschaffer]

It’s been a good 6 months with these new systems and here’s my long inevitable rant on them.

Ok so I beat Demon Souls and Astrobot soon after the system releasing and it’s been just me playing PS4 games since on the PS5. The frame rate/resolution does improve on some titles but it’s not many as it pretty much has a be a game where it was unlocked so it has room to fill either/both, which Xbox does the same but the difference being PS5 with 47 titles(found a good list googling) and Xbox actually with Hundreds of titles.

Than we have 120fps games and PS5 is at 11 where Xbox is at 45. I’m super into 120 frames but I get it’s not for everyone and not many even have a 120hertz TV. For me, it’s a HUGE plus though. I’ve been messing with Titanfall 2’s 120fps boost and man is it a game changer. Nioh, a PS4/PS5 exclusive also got 120 frames and it for sure makes the game. Another one that would be unexpected for most is New Super Lucky’s Tale. A good platformer at 120fps is so much fun!!

PS5 does has the cool haptic feedback and strong pressure sensitive triggers. I wouldn’t use them competitively but for single player games it does add an extra layer of immersion that I liked. It is starting to get old and I been recently just turning it off. It’s much more impressive than the Switch Joycon’s HD rumble but with both of them you just get over it after a few months. With Tony Hawk’s remake I had to turn them off as it was dramatically messing up my combo game as triggers are super important when you need to do a reverb to keep a combo going and it doesn’t register because you have to be so quick with it and any pressure you have to add only makes it harder to pull off.

Game Selection

Both currently are in the same boat of not much new for the systems to play. Demon Souls does give the edge to PS5.

Ratchet and Clank and Horizon will be out this year, Ratchet getting very close now :) , but that’s about it. And Xbox has Halo coming.

Now 2022 and beyond Xbox now has 32 studios under their belt where 2 years ago they were at like 12. And Sony with PS1,2,3,and 4 has always had stellar first party titles so it should be the same with them, about 2 huge blockbusters a year. IF Microsoft can have these studios come out huge hitters than we could see a shift in who has more AAA big hitters, 10/10 games.

Huge win for Xbox with back compatibility

Xbox has where you can play OG Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Xbox Series titles. For me this is one of my favorites as for some examples...

I been playing Lost Odessey the last few days because of the new game the same people made, Fantasian, which has become an instant masterpiece for me so I wanted to go back to their last game and sure enough it’s as good as JRPGs can possibly be. Also playing an original Xbox title that is 20 years old, Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic.

So having these games run so smoothly (as the original for sure had issues) and it be in 4K is just wildly cool!

Breathing fresh new life into older games is so nice :)

Game Pass - The best friend of gaming

Pay $10 a month and have access to a great selection of hundreds of games!

Some highlights

Destiny 2 + All Expansions

The Outer Worlds

Halo Master Chief Collection

MLB The Show

Ori and the Will of the Wisps

Outriders

Doom Eternal

Skyrim w/ Mod Support

Monster Hunter World

Slay the Spire

Hollow Knight

Yakuza Series

Grand Theft Auto V

Tetris Effect : Connected

Hellblade

Dishonored 1+2

Nier Automata

Dead Cells

Microsoft Flight Simulator

No Man’s Sky

Anyone could find at least 10 games they’d want and instead of paying 300 dollars for those 10 games (trying to take sales and older release dates into consideration instead of just saying $600 if all new titles), you could pay $120 a year or $10 a month and have more than you could ever want.

I been playing Outriders a ton and only because of Game Pass. I played the demo(beta) and I was very meh on it, but the more I play it as I didn’t have to buy it and it was just sitting there the more I realized that if you just ignore the horrible story segments and just play the game, it’s has an amazing gameplay loop and mechanics!

There has been many examples for me where I played it because it was on Game Pass and ending up finding something great I wouldn’t have known otherwise.

Plus than you have games you for sure would have bought and spent hundreds/thousands obtaining these games and now you don’t have to.

The Bigger Picture

You have a gaming PC, a smartphone/tablet, a cheap laptop with a browser... as long as you have access to a web browser or Google Play/App Store you can now stream Xbox games on these devices. And unlike other streaming services, you can also download these games to devices powerful enough to run them.

Got a gaming PC and a smartphone? Got an Xbox and a tablet? Install it on your PC/Xbox and than continue your game with your smartphone/tablet on the go. Everything is tied to your account when it comes to game purchases, subscriptions, and save files. Being able to jump to any device and not only play but continue your progress is ... well living in the future. We’re finally there, something we thought was only possible in dreams.

Media Optics

Sony has had major mishaps and here is a good video breaking it all down in a few minutes.

https://youtu.be/u6lzBl9kUf0

If you are unable to watch or just not wanting to watch some key take aways are this

-PlayStation has a few big hitters on the way but Microsoft has far more things in the works and if they become successful games Sony is going to be in a big losing position. Sony can release 1 or 2 great games a year but it won’t be enough.

-Sony’s competitor is investing, is excited, they have interesting personalities and they go in podcast and they do live streams. And they’re far more active on Twitter. They interact with their fans. “And Their studios don’t sound like fucking robots, and they don’t have the State of Play girl voice over and that’s it” “They aren’t stuck to a PlayStation blog post, where they can’t say a bad thing about anything they make”

-“You’re not going to be able to get by in a Game Pass ecosystem in 18 months, the way you would be now, unless you have something to compete. And if your not going to compete on the subscription level, than you need to have repeatable AA and AAA. More 2nd party and 3rd party exclusives”

-“I’m nervous, I been covering PlayStation (since early PS3 days), I been playing PlayStation since the beginning. If you not a little worried right now, I think you should be”

-“It doesn’t feel exciting right now. I turn on my PlayStation 5 and I just like, eh. Like it doesn’t even feel like they are trying to draw me in.” Sony has a very assertive and very active competitor, and PlayStation isn’t doing that right now

-In other dark moments of PlayStations history they had a strong Identity and a lot of games, they weren’t always great but they were trying. Now all they want to focus on is the few huge blockbusters. Meanwhile Xbox is making moves not only for tons of big exclusives to follow but this great and exciting Game Pass movement and being constantly active with their fans and bring big updates to their games and other companies games for their platform.

“PlayStation isn’t offering much to be excited for.” “I turn on the PlayStation 5 and I don’t see anything to be excited for to play” “I keep saying I don’t feel like you need a PS5” “I also wish they would talk to us. You can’t announced something huge like PS3 and Vita stores closing deep in a forum post people have to randomly come across” “You sold us a dev kit and than canceled the console’s store the next month”. Thank god they later go back on it.

Xbox has been having big and fun announcements at least once a week

Just today they added 12 more games with 120FPS boost enabled and another going from 30 to 60..

2 days ago they made it where you can play free to play games and join party chat without having to pay for an Xbox online subscription.

3 days ago they made it where iOS and web browsers can now access Game Pass

So what is PS5 Currently offering its competitor doesn’t have?

Demon Souls

Controllers with Adaptive Triggers and Haptic feedback

PS4 exclusives

So what does Xbox Series X|S offer that it’s competitor doesn’t have

Game Pass

Account saves and instant gameplay access across PC, Android, Apple, Web Browser

Quick Resume

(Queue up to 6 games to be able to switch back n forth between without the software having to close)

“Auto HDR” on games without native HDR support

91 Xbox Series vs 11 PS5 120fps games

VRR support

(Variable refresh rate)

Playing games off external storage solutions

Having Access to 4 generations of games dating back to 2001 with higher resolution and resolved frame rate dips.

1440p support and being able to select your resolution and hertz you want to run.

Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One Exclusives

The Future

PS5 “must have” games for future we know of

Final Fantasy XVI

Ratchet and Clank A Rift Apart

Horizon 2

God of War 2

Forspoken

5 big games in the next 2 years’ish.

Xbox “must have” games for future we know of

Scorn

Halo Infinite

Starfield*

Elder Scrolls VI*

Hellblade 2

2 this year, 1 next year, 2 maybe exclusives as with * they haven’t said if they will be exclusive or not.

Xbox will be at E3 and Sony will not so there is a possibility we do see all the game announcements from the 32 studios Microsoft has under their belt now but yes going off only what we know at the moment PlayStation’s intermediate future looks brighter. I do think it’s safe to assume that at least 3 more games could be huge coming from Microsoft and we just aren’t aware of it yet.

Of what we do know, I’d say neither is enough for someone to buy a system based of the exclusives we are aware of yet (with the exception being Elder Scrolls VI for millions, just not me) but more of the promise of what’s to come.

I am a HUGE Final Fantasy fan so for me XVI is enough for me to own a PS5.

[storiesof2018]

{Partners in the Storm}

Completed: July 12th 2020

An infectious mantra of the vindictive scourge of New Asgard had calamitously seized him into gluttonous-possessive dregs of Vanaheim conjury; the prevalent valiance—the invincible—thunderous fusion of his warrior—Asier spirit became exceedingly cleaved apart in rapid succession of a hoggish thrall; a nauseous stench raunchily enwreathed over discarded packets of super-size-emptied Cheetos, pizza boxes and KFC buckets of grease-fried drumsticks as implosive hunger accelerated in a heart-wrenching tenfold.

It was a vacuous slop-heap worthy of gourmand Asgardian hog, bowls of iced Coors beer scuzzily adorned over the stone mantle of his crackling hearth; the murkier ambiance reekingly contrasted his unabated torrents of heart-arresting depression within the Nordic environs of Tønsberg—a Misgardian fjord anchorage of western coastline fishing.

Drunkenly Thor had painfully deafened out the apparitional—grievous volumes of his unendurable-plaguing- failure that was staked down the battle-razed Wakandian grasslands as the prophetic harvesting of mortal souls devastatingly scythed the cosmic branches of Yggdrasill with the Nidavellir forged Infinity Gaunlet.

The barbaric general of the Black Order--slayer of Xandar-Proxima Midnight denizen commanded monstrous symbiote ranks of Outriders who berserkly claw through kinetic barriers that were sonically pulsing out of Mount Bashenga-a hellish diversion of mobilized carnage. When Thor arrived with his cybernetically-altered friend Sweet Rabbit and animoprhic Tree by the dimensional-prismatic salvos of Bi-Frost, he had driven his reckoning of merciless vengeance on the slaughterous planet-massacring titian who cataclysmically purged out the refuge cruiser vessels of his Asgardian people-his family. He craved the rancid blood Thano's grotesque head to victoriously drip over his battle-ax Stormbreaker...The blindness of his banked grief careened the ferocity his murderous precision-he missed.

He was on the hairbreadth of a knife-edge of victory-the empyreal vitality of his beloved father-Odin- viscerally pulsed infinite reckoning. In that gracing -controlled fusion, he ferally propelled Stormbreaker into the carnage-reaping dreadnoughts' armored chest with the rampageous momentum of unwarrantable heartache that he stowed for the stout-hearted sentinel of All-fathers Heimdall and his prankish-weasely- brother Loki; only to hear defeat suffocatingly paralyze him in those fissionable—detonative seconds of a titanic-incendiary unity of the Soul Stone. In that earth-breaking snap of his purplish hulking fingers, Thanos had devastatingly conducted his apocalyptic-genocidal holocaust of eradicating humanity into astral remnants of ashy mulch to herald a paradisal rebirth.

' Y-You should've gone for the head...'

After those unprecedented five years of detachedly wallowing in his unstinted grief, Thor was pursuingly beckoned to fight with the Avengers, using the subatomic paradoxes of quantum dimension to engage a Kronos heist-a downsized flashpoint race of seizing all the Infinity Stones with salvaged Pym Particles—a suicidal mission to bridge an unvanquished reality—hope. Everyone who 'blipped' out of existence was resurrected out the celestial dawn of the Soul Realm. The high detriment of their callback victory was unforgivingly staked with an insurmountable price of losing his dearest friends: Tony Stark and the fiery Natasha Romanoff.

Returning to his earthen throne of New Asgard, Thor was severed from his rebellious-brawly- joviality; he chasmically surrendered to the grievous-pathetic reality of being an obese shut-in, listlessly reveling on imported kegs of Scottish ale and Netflix streaming collections of the Hobbit trilogy and Dreamwork animated films- he was hopelessly reaching the breaking point of chubbily being a languorous-indignant hog: ogre.

He was being piggishly induced with a distractive horde of his fattening snacks when the exquisite- viperous maiden of Nordic witchery- Amora; who played a deceptive charade against him, nefariously using Jane's fair maidenly visage to enticingly breach his desolated solace with her sirenical-vengeful tactics of punishingly fouling him into a lovesick thrall, maniacally conceiving a quenchless entity of gorging-bestial impulse that suffused his veins—ushering hunger mania to ignite a revamped onrush of beefier pudginess over his muscled Asier flesh.

Roaringly, in tactless precision, with his grungy blonde tresses shaggily weaved into leonine dreadlocks, grouchily, Thor dug the chubbier flesh of his hand through a bag of Doritos as his bulbously fattish mass was saggily braced against frayed cushions of his sectional couch, his isolated hovel became a domain of junk-food indulgence and Playstation4 video games with the rivalrous basement gamemaster- Noobmaster.

At the moment Thor was engagingly viewing his favorite Midgardian cartoon of a humorous portrayal of Vikings-How to Train Your Dragon-he cherished the scenes with obsidian scaled bat-winged dragon: Toothless. A magnificent beast of skydiving ferocity that was spawned out from Muspelheim, who explosively blasted out electrified salvos of voltaic firebolts. "By Odin, now that's my kind of dragon..." he slurred in bearish pitch, huffishly easing up a brewskie can, as broken-off cheezies disgustingly jutted out the grizzly swatch of his mussed-thickening beard."Friend Barnes, come watch this very cool drake unleash my power..."

Bucky sat at the edge of the kitchen island as he stared at the series of text messages Steve and Selina had sent to him. 'Please don't let Thor out of your sight, Buck.' 'Don't get stir crazy, handsome. I'll keep in touch.' The brunette released an audible sigh as he ran a hand through his thick dark tresses, wondering how he got roped into playing babysitter to a depressed thunder god with an eating-disorder inside this bedraggled house. He should be out there in the field, helping Steve and Selina chase down this evil witch that had been causing the Avengers trouble the past few months. But since Steve had more experience with this Enchantress, he had to take point, and he also needed backup-enter Selina, who under no circumstances had the patience to play babysitter to Thor's antics.

So that left Bucky to look after Lebowski as the Avengers had come to joke about Thor. Bucky thought he looked more like an out-of-shape Mufasa who spent too much time playing video-games. Hearing Thor call him, Bucky sighed as he pocketed his phone, feeling his stomach grumble with hunger. "Yeah, I'm comin'." He made his way into the living room, kicking a few empty bottles of alcohol before finding a seat near to the snack-table. "You're the King of Asgard, Thor. Doesn't that afford you some kind of butler?" Bucky asked pointedly as he dusted crumbs off the sofa before sitting down.

Nonchalantly easing back against a cushion, with sluggish intent, against a deep-throated belch; Thor clumsily reached out his sheathed-cloth hand towards a bowl of chilled beer on a cluttered table as he registered Bucky's derisive pitch scathingly fringed in his gravelly Brooklyn drawl, his electric-cerulean irises fleetingly glanced at the charcoal-gray vibranium of Bucky's cybernetic arm, Wakandian gold skeins mechanically embellished the bionic plating, that readily poised into tensing fist, dragging a warred grip over his denim-clad knee.

The sniper Avenger-White Wolf- had returned from his latest recon stint with military-honed Sam Wilson, with the 'greenlight' order of CIA Agent Everette Ross, fully-decked with a tactical arsenal, they destabilized the underground installations of rogue HYDRA and traitorous Jarbai guerrilla alliances with the seamier -notorious EKO Scorpion commander of Sokovian Armed Forces- Zemo within the graffiti borders of a dystopian crime den: Madripoor.

The governmental sterilization of the World Council had marked the Avengers as verminous deviants-'loose cannon' fugitives to the Accords. The valorous mantle of freedom-home-grounded idealism was more than a cheat-face sham worn on a recruited patriotic soldier named John Walker-U.S. Agent.

Grumbling under breath in a hearty timbre, muzzily, Thor yanked on the metallic ring of his clutched beer can, thirstily relishing the fizzed noise as his heavy-lidded gaze dazedly fixed on the athletic solidity of tauter ridges of heavy-corded muscle that athletically delineated underneath Bucky's tactical slim-fit bomber jacket. Every fluid shift of bulkier -enhanced resilience was predatorily edged with a flex of bestial readiness- intimidation. James Barnes was an invincible-legendary warrior that hailed from Brooklyn; who had been mercilessly stripped by HYDRA demons from his soldiery valor."I-I don't need a Midgardian servent called...ugh- a but-butler..." He admonished, belchingly." My stout friend Volstagg kept these massive Dwarfish hogs to clean such grand messes..."

If he had seen a pot-bellied hog wobble its way into the living room, Bucky wouldn't have been the least bit surprised. Thor was a pitch-perfect example of a modern-day Viking living in a lazy squalor. Not that he would say that to him of course. He thought the world of Thor who had been an invaluable ally and friend to the Avengers. He respected him and thought he was a fun guy to hang around with, but his state of living over the past few years made Bucky feel as if some form of intervention was necessary if someone were only physically up to the task of taking on a grumpy/grieving thunder god.

"Did he also eat three boxes of extra cheese with jalapenos and a whole quart of Coors?" Bucky remarked in a state of bewilderment as he fished through the empty pizza boxes for any leftovers. There was an entire keg of beer beside the couch that made Bucky wonder if Thor simply chugged the entire thing due to the lack of cups surrounding him. His stomach groaned again just as Thor barked with laughter as he watched his movie.

Attuned to his impassive-standoffish bunkmate's amplified barrages of rigged hunger, smirkily, emitting a full-bellied chuckle, haphazardly the Asgardian shifted the protrusive-tubbier flabbiness of his blubbery girth in lumpish succession. "Hold on, friend Barnes, I'll get you a box..." he snorted, woozily, grabbing an unopened box of S'mores pop tarts with a rampant stretch of his fleshier arm. Stacked on a threadbare ottoman was an excessive horde of imported pop-tarts in flavorous variety that was evident to his draconic gorging.

Broodingly to his vexatious chagrin that wouldn't detract his menace-honed poise, Bucky drove the razored steeliness of his grayish-aquamarine irises down at the generous box appetizingly landing on his tauten-cords of athletic sculpt of his thigh. Clenching the stubbled heaviness of his dimpled jaw, graven ruggedness of his boyish features cuttingly delineated underneath unkempt wolfish chestnut tresses shaggily ghosted over his furrowed brow that raptly tensed into a dumbfounded pinch as he consciously flexed his bionic hand in reluctant tenor over the boxed pop-tarts. "Here...Have a go with these boxed delights first..." Thor demandingly grunted, in huffier pitch. "I have many revels to share..."

Bucky stared at the box of proffered treats with hesitation. He prided himself on maintaining a good fit regimen. True he had the super-soldier serum in his blood that helped him to burn calories faster than a normal human could, but he still felt as if he could be picking up a bad habit if he were to start now. But as he looked at the jovial look on Thor's face, Bucky knew it would be rude to refuse this nice gesture from him. Besides he could also do 50 push-ups to burn whatever calories he consumed. "Of that, I have no doubt. But thanks." Bucky took the box of S'mores pop tarts and popped open the box, settling in further into his seat to watch the movie.

"Didn't take you for an animation guy. Did Jane show you these movies?" Bucky hoped he wasn't touching a sore subject with the thunderer as he felt generally curious to know how taught Thor much about modern pop-culture and entertainment.

An errant blear of stowed anguish mistily gleamed in Thor's stormier cobalt irises as he crestfallenly hefted up a beer can-liquid anesthetic to desperately deaden out a concussive pulse of soul-consuming heartache; after the reddish tentacles of vaporous Aether-the Reality Stone- had possessively effused in Jane's veins during the galactic convergence of Yggdrasill's transcendental-wormhole gateways of the Nine Realms, he became detached from his Jane's quirky-gorgeous presence, her pixieish smile that dazzlingly grew alight when he stared into her brownish-amber irises, stoking up girlish curiosity -incarnate virginal grace of true Asgardian maiden.

He desired to return to her-to fully surrender his warrior's heart -to foster the inventive name of Donald Blake and ignite a new reality on mortal ground. Sniffily, Thor did his utmost to choke back a throat sob, feigning indignance he gulped down a breathless swig, crushingly denting the emptied can with flexion of his reined strength. "I rather you do not mention her name..." he urged out, bluntly."We had a mutual dumbing when the mechanical demon Ultron was sired by Stark ..."

Too many regrets led the way to self-destructive instincts, Bucky knew. Thor's grief stemmed not just from the loss of friends and family, but also from broken relationships that he probably, until now, didn't fully appreciate. Or probably couldn't. No one ever said the life of a thunder god/Avenger was an easy one that offered spare time for dating. He knew it wasn't his place to question Thor and bringing up Jane would be a sore spot, but he also knew that Thor's unresolved issues were what made him an easy target for this Enchantress that was gunning for him. "Some things happen for a reason, Thor. I won't bring her up if that's what you want, but I wouldn't be much of a friend if I didn't tell you there are healthier ways to deal with this."

Bucky left it at that as he opened the box of pop-tarts and pulled out a wrapper. Thor maintained this glum look on his face as he reached for another can of beer. Bucky wasn't sure if he was reflecting on what he just told him or if the Asgardian was simply too absorbed in his own perpetual grief that he was just blocking out everything that turned into noise. Bucky bit into the pop-tart with a small bite; tentative and testing. His tongue immediately watered and his taste buds burst with unimagined flavor. "Hey these are pretty good," he said, taking a much larger bite this time, and then another.

Unbeknownst that an inchanted- rhapsodical-tenor of the Dwarven curse was chimerically suffusive through his veins in the burgeoning divergence of chastened throes that grappled him into a stuporous vigil; Bucky noncommittally chewed on a chocolatey piece with a blatant quirk tugging at his shapely-wide lips, the sugared gooeyness of marshmallow had stickily clung over his cleft-dimpled chin as he aggressively tore open a fresh packet.

Against the porcine deviance of his burgeoning thrall, gruntingly, akin to a debauched hog, Bucky wolfed down the entire box stuffily in one hand-full. "Relish in these delights, my friend," Thor chuckled jocundly, as he gazed at emptied wrappers clinging messily to Bucky's denim-clad thighs. "More rounds to come..."

Bucky was too absorbed in the rich chocolatey taste that had assaulted his taste-buds to give Thor's words another thought. These pop-tarts tasted too good. How did dessert snacks come so far? Was there another box around here? What else had he been missing out on? He had to buy more. More! More! A trickle of drool escaped his opened mouth as he chewed and he let it trickle down his stubbled chin unimpeded. His blue eyes were fogged by a cloud of gluttonous hunger that had been awakened with a single bite. "Roouuu aaahht ooorre?!" He asked through a mouthful of sugary delight. His lips were caked with melted frosting and crumbs had trickled into his neatly trimmed beard.

To his utter dismay, the box of pop-tarts was empty and his feet were carrying him towards the snack table in search of something equally delicious to consume. "C'mon, Thor. Where's your secret godly stash?" Bucky said absently after swallowing down the entire mouthful he had stuffed into his mouth.

A rampageous fervency of hoggish abandon-mania- had effusively clashed over Bucky's warred restraint with no avail; stomping his tactical boots with sniper-honed precision menacingly fringed with headlong momentum, clunkily he sashayed paces, advancing back into the pig-sty of a kitchen.

Grunting against -throaty drags of heavier breath, he poised his bionic hand with mechanized readiness to blindingly swipe off an untouched pepperoni and cheese Bronx-style pizza that he recalled Steve leaving on the obstructive countertop. "Friend Barnes, do not touch what has already been claimed..." Thor belted out, thunderously, detecting a portentous revelation being serpentinely conducted by Amora's soul-damning spell cast veined within his infective stash as Bucky with a telltale play of boyish cockiness, toothily quirked up his shapely-bow lips into a rascally smirk. "You are not acting like yourself..."

It was like his nose had taken on a life of its own as it carried Bucky into the kitchen where he furiously searched for something sweet to engulf in his taste buds. His thick dark tresses were a disheveled curtain of strands across his temple that he paid no mind, too consumed with the intoxicating allure of a mouth-watering pastry he could smell inside of the fridge. His metallic hand yanked open the door and his blue eyes were wide and hypnotized by the sight of a strawberry cake with whipped cream pasted on its edge. The white static in his ears deafened Thor's booming protest from the living room when he pulled the cake out from the fridge and unceremoniously planted his mouth into its sweet expanse.

"Mmhhmhm!" He released an uncharacteristic sound that was too animalistic for a human to make as he indulged his rapidly increasing appetite with large messy bites that left clumps of pastry spilling onto his chest. Unbeknownst to Bucky, something primal and sinister had taken control of him. His human mind howled with anguish at the back of his thoughts, telling himself to stop. He could feel someone grabbing him, wrestling the plate of cake away from his grip which triggered an onset of visceral aggression. "Graaahh!" Bucky snarled throwing his weight against the blonde doofus in front of him who held his sugary treat.

The two heavyweights collided like titanic forces, stumbling across the kitchen in grappling holds in an explosive mess that sent plates, tables and dishes spilling across the floor as if struck by a tidal wave. Bucky grunted and heaved with delirious eyes as he pulled on Thor's hair, trying desperately to grab the plate. Thor's teeth clamped onto Bucky's hand, only to howl in pain when he realized he bit the wrong appendage that was too metallic for his liking.

"Argh...!" Thor yelled out boomingly, as his gums numbingly pinched with throbbing strain against the cold vibranium scraping against his incisors, a crescendoing rush of eruptive fierceness, vertiginously emitted a guttural roar, he bodily gut-rammed Bucky with unstoppable linebacker tackle, hulkingly fueling a bull-rush into the granite island. Gnashing his teeth against panty breaths, snarlingly, thrust his cybernetic arm, Bucky delivered a vicious haymaker of breathless-mechanized ferocity that robotically scythed the deadlier precision of a straight-arm chokehold over the bulging swatch Thor's beardy throat on immobilizing accord.

"Y-You're distracting me from that lightning dragon ..." Feverishly with aggressive-seething- reaction, Thor bashed his head bruisingly against Bucky's forehead with skull-breaking- 'knockout' momentum, as he alarmingly registered a heavier—globby tubbiness ballooningly sheathed over bracketed ridges of taut-edged muscles swelling increasingly underneath Bucky's leather jacket in bulbous tenor: he was fattening up.

The cake he had been attempting to retrieve had long since slipped off from its platter, staining the floor in thick discarded clumps. A normal human would've lamented the waste of such a tasty treat now soil by germs and bacteria upon the floor, but Bucky's mind was too engrossed by, too consumed by gluttony that he felt no care as he lunged for the floor, wobbling on all fours to claim his prize. But something felt wrong. The cold hard slap of reality struck him with a jolt of agony lancing up his back. A strangled gasp escaped him and he fell haphazardly onto his side. "T-Thor…" he groaned, barely able to see the blonde through his blurry vision. His subconscious collapsed from exhaustion and his waking thoughts crept over, making him realize what was happening. The overwhelming aches in his body, the suffocating scent of sugar, and the sight of thick patches of dark fur sprouting from his skin.

"T-Thor, what's happenin-NGGHH GAAAH!" Pain had become a malevolent entity that attacked him from head-to-toe in an onslaught so sudden, he couldn't control the spasming of his body. His voice transitioned into a deep guttural squeal that shook the walls of the kitchen, the sound of clothes tearing was an unending chorus that joined.

A bilious-mordant reek of hoggish sweat had vomitously wafted off his sweat-glazed flesh that meltingly sloughed into doughier pudge flabbily over rubberized muscle; arching his back in convulsive torque of a jackknifing momentum, corded-litheness of his muscled thighs rampantly bridged against chunkier-horrified traction as bone-cleaving onslaughts gruelingly atrophied him into dregs of morphic submission. "Urgh...What the hell..."

Raggedly, Bucky choked out quivery—oinking breaths in heaving staccatos as his leather bomber jacket tatteredly shredded over the globby pudginess of his outstretched mid-drift as tauter washboard ridges that were hunkily bracketed with graven- cut thews of his gladiator-defined muscles bloatedly fused into a protrusive rotundity that globosely swelled into a bulging girth. Rigid veins that cuttingly threaded his muscled arm dissolved under skeins of chestnut fur."Hr-Argh..." he gutturally railed out in distressed pitch, as the jutted extension of his tusk-like incisors grislily pierced his deforming underlip that hung agape with a bloodied stretch as dragging heaves of throat-belching oinks became thrashingly coupled with voiceless havoc.

Blearily against a fevered rush, Bucky grimacingly eased his cake-smeared hand off the floor, as unkempt wolfish tresses grungily webbed askew over hawkish-edged contours of his pudgier stubble jaw, the feverous heat of his deadened grayish-aquamarines irises blanked owlishly wide as he mortifyingly gazed at the smooth-virile- length of his fingers bone-splittingly dwarfed into varicose—furrier blobs of mutative flesh, puffily swelling in bubbled unison over cleaved bone—pig hooves.

Bracing deformed servos of his cybernetic arm over the blubbery chubbiness of his ballooned-out stomach, against white-hot upheavals of stark panic, jerkily Bucky reared his enlarging head back against vertiginous—dredged agony, wrenchingly pinching his eyelids shut as the masculine sculpt of his taut nose inflatingly elongated in a fleshier—wedged-like length of a hideous porcine snout: he was riding on the divested fringe of sorcerous—hoggish infancy. "Der'mo..." he grunted with coupled seethes of Russian cadence, thrashing on his back frantically against the bone-cripplingly pressure that immobilized his rivaled momentum against hammering-punches of contractive throbs racking blobbily over the swollen expanse of his furred girth as he vented out a full-throated snort, distressingly. "Arghh..."

His mass had both expanded and shrunk into a ball of pudgy fur upon the kitchen floor. The world grew bigger as he grew smaller, unmade from the inside out as he became entangled in a mess of torn clothes and discarded food. Bucky couldn't hear his own voice anymore despite his urging cries to Thor for help. His face ached as if his nose had been pulled out from his skull. A piggish squeal ripped from his new snout that protruded from his head. His beady blue eyes were floored with panic as his thumping hands turned into hooves. The blonde Avenger could only look on in muted shock as one of his newest friends was subjected to the cruel sorcery of the Vanaheim witch who had cursed him. Bucky Barnes was no more-all that remained in front of him was a disgruntled and distressed Dwarven Hog.

"THOR! What happened to me?!" Bucky cried out as he began to run in circles.

The beastlier resonance of the enchanted sniper hog's snorting utterance ragingly caromed through his odorous shack; harnessing the massive burliness of his Asgardian strength that countered with a breakneck rush of Bucky's stoked adrenaline, reactively Thor hefted up a cleared-off platter bracing it smudgily over his paunchy chest as Bucky's protruding tusks were dauntingly angled to lance into the Asgardian's exposed flesh.

Grunting out a long-drawn breath of grogginess, in defensive cadence, the grayish-chestnut furred Dwarvish boar ferally poised his bugly head, the stormier heat of his razored-sapphire irises piercingly slit as he readily grounded his fatter mass to deliver battle-ramming force into fleshiness of Thor's muscled calf. Huffing out a vehement snort, Bucky draggingly waddled his languorous paces on stubbed hooves."I see it's this has become a good challenge for us, friend Barnes..." Thor chuckled, in gregarious cadence, towing an unopened bag of spicy Cheetos a breadth from the chubbily rotund Brooklyn hog's fore-hoof that welded with silvery flecks of defective vibrainum-alloy. "I do relish a challenge that I easily can win..."

The insurmountable weight of his predicament was a load Bucky desperately wanted to discard. Questions of how and why ran through his mind in a ceaseless loop until he remembered what Thor was enduring because of that evil witch. She didn't just curse Thor, she tainted all the food that he touched. Bucky released a deep and abysmal wail that was a myriad of rage and remorse. He shouldn't have eaten that pop-tart. He knew that if he compromised his regime that he would regret but now he was feeling it in spades. "No. No. NO. NO!" He squealed, battle-charging towards the fat Asgardian King and ramming his tusks into the platter he thought he could use to shield him.

"Damn it, Thor! You knew this would happen!" This knowledge inspired only feelings of anger and frustration towards the big blonde doofus in front of him that tempted him to eat those snacks, and made him become this fat disgusting hog.

Brandishing his vestigial ferocity against the unyielding hog's bludgeoning momentum that ferociously equaled a bilgesnipe-a monstrous reptilian triceratops-like beast with curved antlers. With a quirk smug nonchalance tugged at his bristled lips, unflinchingly Thor clutched onto the shaggier thatch of chestnut bushily adorning over Bucky's humped back, in that apparent moment of stilted trust, he stoppingly reined down the ensorcelled boar's aggressive, nasally snorts that lividly gusted over his flabbier hand with a painstaking flex of his controlled strength.

"The Enchantress...Is just the worst for traitorous conjury on Midgardians..."Thor grumped under breath, sorrily."She was in the great company of my mother until the witchy maiden practiced the forbidden sorcery of Nidavellir turning Einherjar soldiers who defended Asgard into..." He feigned a terse grimace, as Bucky scathingly glared at him with knifing intensity. "Stout-bellied... urgh..hogs like you, friend Barnes..."

Seconds passed as Bucky found himself unable to wrestle his way out of Thor's godly strength that hadn't diminished a bit despite his weight-gain. Bucky's turmoil was like a burning fire that slowly began to dim until his rage was replaced by fatigue. It felt as if he had been running a marathon and was only now coming to a breathless stop. His stamina felt drained and he wanted to do nothing more but to lay down and sleep. Why? Why did he feel this sudden urge to just lay down and do nothing? Why did his stomach groan as if he hadn't eaten a thing? Bucky groaned as he digested Thor's words and their implications.

"Story of my life…Always being someone's weapon." He grumbled. He was only ever used as such. By his own country, KGB, Hydra and now some Asgardian witch who had a bone to pick with Thor and the Avengers. When Thor realized that he was calm enough, the Asgardian released him and Bucky fell onto his backside, gloomy and exhausted. "This isn't what I signed up for," he groaned as he looked down at his hooves, stained with strawberry frosting. "There's gotta be a way out of this Thor?"

The deep-timbered huskiness of Bucky's murmurous drawl agonizingly conveyed soul-gripping rawness of underlying disgust, angling his pudgy furred snout against a ghoulish—sulfuric miasma of carrion reek eerily sailing over them. With his ears floppily drooped over his fuzzier cheeks, the sniper-hog jumpily reeled back on his stubby-cloven hooves, vigilantly detecting a proximal-tenebrous breach of a celestial pulse encroaching vaporously around them.

Stuntedly in an intrusive wake, Bucky tensed against phantom throbs racked bristlingly over his muckier, bedraggled fur as vitreous Nordic sigils of crimson-telestic - aster fierily branded wooden floorboards in demonic fruition of incanted acerous stalactites- a paralytic mantra of Amora's execrable noxious witchery had barraged around them.

'Forbli i kongens skalor ...(Remain in your king's squalor...)'

"W-What the hell is that..." Bucky grunted starchily in dumbfounded pitch, flashing his silvery-aquamarine irises with rapt confusion at the nacreous-runic glyphs consumingly veined the over floor, incinerating emptied pop-tart boxes. "That can't be good..." He scrunched up the overlapping pudge of his jowelly snout, against gruffer quip of breathy snarkiness, downcastly. "Hell, what's next M' gonna pop out some wings like a Valkyrie horse..."

The urge to sate his growing appetite had been an overwhelming constant for Thor the past number of days. Amora's enchantment against him was more than just an act of petty vengeance for spurning her in the past; it was also a surgical strike against the hierarchy of New Asgard. Brunhillde had gone off-world to seek out Sif and her other sisters among the stars, leaving Thor in charge-and vulnerable. Thor would've been content to endure this familiar punishment to amuse himself.

But as he watched Barnes suffer the under the same spell, being turned to a disgruntled hog before his eyes, Thor ignored the hunger cravings and listened to the unmistakable roars of unwelcome guests coming to his home. "You may need them, James. For I fear this is a threat that cannot be simply outrun." Thor mused. At that moment, the front doors in the foyer were struck viciously by an oppressive weight outside causing a visible dent to be seen from inside. Twin vicious growls breached the silence, sending chills of anticipation down the spines of both Thor and Bucky.

Tilting the pudgier heftiness of his furred snout with repugnant ease, arrestingly Bucky sniffed a whiff of miasmatic reek smellily ghosting underneath the shack's wooden door against earthshaking vibrations monstrously ricocheting feral momentum from their unwanted-destructive-company. "Great..." he seethed out a throated grunt, ploddingly shifting on his stubbed hooves with clunky traction, as his floppy ears twitched up, Bucky registered a snarling cadence of bloodthirsty rabidness; they were unquestioningly being hunted.

Clamorously in demonic mania, the door hinges bent against the undeterred barreling force that propelled outside in stomach-curling tempo, as the periphery of Bucky's sniper-vision heatedly caught a glimpse of two massively-ghostlier Asgardian wolves-hog reapers- gouging their jutted incisor fangs tearingly into splintered wooden planks in vicious succession. Every vicious rush of their predatory-wolven- agility was raptorially sired to abandon visages of mercy in their kill-zone. "Well, M guessin' the big bad wolf is huffin' at your door, Thor..." Bucky quipped, stuffily, and fixed his aquamarine depths beadily on Nidavellir forged battle-ax-Stormbreaker propped against hearthstone. "Now might be a good time to use your...uh... thunder ax?"

"Hmm? Oh yes." Thor realized, snapping from his initial daydream then lazily held his hand out. He appeared neither concerned about the wolves' moments away from breaking down his door, nor the telltale signs of animal fur that were also beginning to slowly sprout like watered grass, from his skin pores. It was a familiar itch-an irritation that he'd endured in his past-time, and he knew that Amora's curse would not spare him for much longer. "Now might also be a good time for you to practice your trotting, Friend James. I will give you the head-start while I teach these beasts some manners."

Bolstering the rotundity of his obese mass, against the instinctive - adrenalized tenor racking over his shaggier chestnut fur; underneath of denim that sheathed over his flabbier backside, warding off suffusive disgust, Bucky pinched his eyelids shut as the wiggly burst of a corkscrew tail uglily twitching out—he was fully an oinking blubbered-ball. "Damnit ..." he grunted in vexatious breaths, throatily, stomping a fore-hoof in evident disgust, as he glowered at the beckoning flex of Thor's outstretched hand blurringly thrust up to clutch the hailing ax- Stormbreaker. "M' not leavin'..." A railing snort vented out of him; he wouldn't become a defective-balloon-ass tub of hoggish flab. Pivoting on his stubbed hooves with heavier footing, clumsily he torqued back the sagginess of his protrusive underbelly, aggressively jutting his snout up. "Give me somethin' to hit..."

The moment he said those words, Bucky wished he could take them back. The door to the front of the apartment suddenly came crashing down in a roaring explosion of wooden splinters. Two gargantuan shapes lunged through at the same time, breaking apart the door-frame as their colossal weight crumbled the structure like paper. Beastial roars shook the interior, causing the glass cups to shatter and the dwarven pig to squeal in shock. These weren't wolves. They were enormous hellbeasts that looked like they crawled from the pits of hell. Their dark charcoal fur made them look pitch as shadows. Their glowing red eyes were wide with malice, and their grueling chops dripped with hunger.

Thor released a war-cry as he swung the hammer-edge of his axe against the first beast to charge at him, smacking it through the kitchen wall in a shower of debris and crackles of electricity. "Graaaggh! Have at thee!" Thor kicked a chair, sending it skidding across the floor towards the second wolf who lunged up high to avoid the object, which left it wide open for Thor to swing the blade-edged of his axe towards its neck. Blood and viscera sprayed across the kitchen and the beast howled its death-wails. Thor snarled as he pried his weapon free from the dead-carcass, face stained with its blood.

"Down, James!" Thor cried out as the wolf he sent crashing through the wall, reemerged with its predatory gaze set on the hog close-by.

Suppressing a neasous onrush of unrelenting viciousness malignantly straddling him against the fridge's door; thrashingly in a defensive variance, Bucky gnashed his tusk against the immobilizing pressure of the draconic wolf's power-slamming-bulkier weight that crushingly forced him to emit a guttural squeal as he rampantly thumped his fore-hooves with side kidney punches only to feel the wolf's fanged incisors graze agonizing intent of a deadlier assault viscidly over the doughy globbiness of his blood-dampened back. "Grah..."

Fostering onto vestigial dregs of his enhanced resilience, snarlingly in combative tempo, Bucky launched his bulgy form with plow-driving steam, unerringly angling his tusks down, in wonky rapidity of a half-somersault, he punchily bowled underneath the Asgardian wolf's exposed girth, as he arced back onto his hooves, bodily jackknifing up his bestial opponent against a logged wall. "P-Pick on someone your own size..." he drawled out gratingly in heaving grunts, drilling his tusks slashingly deeper as he gut-hooked into the bloodstained muscle with gouging precision, not faltering in his blinded momentum. "M not done yet..."

The wolf thrashed and howled as the tusks dug into its abdomen and spewed its blood onto the floor and Bucky's back. Bleeding like a...stuck pig, courtesy of a pig. Thor ignored the irony of this as he marched forward. The beast had stopped moving as it went limp. Thor seized its head and snapped its neck just to be certain. He shoved the dead-weight off of Bucky's back and released a shudder of discomfort. It had been weeks since he exerted himself in this fashion, and while Thor would've ordinarily enjoyed the feeling of battle, the increase in adrenaline made the Enchantress' spell easier to race through his body like a poison.

Amora knew of his proclivities for battle and debauchery and made them into deadly ingredients to fuel his peril. He grimaced and fell back against the wall. His enormous gut hung from the bottom of his shirt. At one point he was a vain man who prided himself on his handsome looks to appease Asgards finest maidens. He no care for how far he drifted from the physical specimen he once was. But now he couldn't ignore the stabbing feeling of dread that entered his abdomen. "T-There will be more of them, James. We are no longer safe here," he groaned.

"Yeah, I kinda figured that..." Bucky grunted, huffily, narrowing the pudgy length of his snout as he strenuously attempted to drag his metallic fore-hoof over the smeared trek of bloodied drool. "Oh c'mon...Tamping down a guttural resonance of rubbery oinks, that was scathingly underlying his chagrined exhaustion, groggily he waddled against the drooping strain of his barrel-sized girth closer to the slump-faced Asgardian-Thunderer with apparent measures of enforced caution in his molasses-paced advances while Thor rumbled out a slobbish belch, unmovingly at his puckered snout. "Urgh..."

The jowelly folds of his porcine snout rapted with teeming disgust, as the lascivious potency of the viperish witch's demented-nidorous conjury became sordidly obstructive against boozy fumes enwreathing the chubbier fleshiness that blobbily sheathed over bohemian Thor's ogre-sized belly, furrier blondish swatch damningly fringed over his lubberly navel: soon they would soon mirror blimped-out hoggish visages. They needed to locate a rendezvous point within the forestial proximity to stealthily dodge another hunting party of a wolven blood-storm. "We gotta move fast..." Bucky urged, pressingly, flashing the glacial smokiness of his beadier irises unwaveringly at hiking backpack that he omitted on the kitchen's countertop."Use that to carry the stuff we need...Don't even think about packin' those damn pop-tarts..."

"I did not tell you to eat the entire box," Thor said, releasing a dry chuckle as he pulled himself up to stand straight on his feet. The world spun on its axis and the Asgardian groaned as his head throbbed with an intense migraine. The result of too much mead and no doubt his slow physical transformation into the rotund beast that Amora intended for him. "Besides given our present predicament, I doubt sugary snacks will agree with us." At that his stomach groaned an affirmative to which Thor held his sagging stomach with one hand and picked up the backpack with the other, stuffing it with various fruits and bottles of water that he had, until now, never thought to consume.

"For what its worth, Friend James, I am sorry you have to endure my peril alongside me." His apology must've surprised him as Bucky cocked his head and then shook it. They both started with anticipation once they heard another howl in the distance. Right it was time to go. "Come. I know somewhere we can go." Thor kicked open the backdoor and let the cool night air wash over both him and Bucky as they made their way out into the night of New Asgard. The town was mostly asleep, and Thor and Bucky had to wonder just how Steve and Selina were doing on their end.

'Whatever it takes...'

It was a symphonious anthem that had unitedly resonated on the obliterated grounds of the Avenger's Compound as mechanical-galactic leviathans thunderously haloed a doomsday reckoning over the collapsing edge of assembled mortality; fusion cannoned salvos barraged in rapid succession from monolith Accuser warships, harrowingly conducting a hurricanic pandemonium of ear-splitting-slaughterous carnage. Staggering exhaustingly on bulldozed slabs of cement and smoldering hulls of the dismantled QuinJets, like a bloodied sentinel-defender of enduring humanity, Steve had voluntarily challenged a tyrannosaurus-scale deathmatch with the behemothic Mad-Titian- or what Tony snarkily deemed him as- the cinematic planet-consuming villain of a 1980's animated series: Unicron.

Bracing the vibrainum shard of his broken shield over his bruised forearm, adamantly Steve harnessed every heart-surging fiber of his soldiery valor-determination as injurious bone-crushing assaults of monstrous power-dives chokingly robbed his breath. Nothing derailed his full-measured paces of chivalrous traction as Outrider hordes rabidly swarmed out grounded obelisk-like hive ships to macabrely gorge on his teammates-family.

With the hulk-sized gauntlet that was enhanced with the comic-fused ingots, the ragtag Avengers had one 'skin of teeth' chance to end Thano's prophetic soul-massacring apocalypse before humanity was atomically exterminated by the Infinity snap; with the sling-ring portals wheeling in astral unison that Steven Strange conducted with a play of illusionist deception: Bucky, Sam, T'challa, Shuri, Wanda, and Groot trudged out of the vacuous-celestial elysian of the Soul Realm, as they mightily assembled with salvaged echoes of valiance-as the odds were rigged against them. He owed his best girl-Tasha-one last dance.

Like stampeding quarterbacks the Avengers cleared the homefront battleground, as the proton galactic defender-Captain Carol Danvers propelled her supersonic momentum, torpedoing warship vessels into junker heaps. She was a starlight beacon of mortal invincibility-jet-fuel surged through her veins.

When Doctor Strange gestured his scar-marred finger commandingly to Tony, everything went into flatline numbness of white-noise as the hot-red armored gauntlet of Iron Man anguishedly thrust up with sacrificial ease-as he direly became a conductor of scything celestial-gamma energies of the Infinity Stones; purging Thanos into cindery remnants of phantom mulch that heralded their victorious daybreak; the immeasurable loss of his -friend-punishingly sledgehammered against Steve's torn heart: he couldn't shake it off.

After the lakeside gathering as mourning Pepper Potts embracingly hugged little Morgan on the dock, tearily gazing at the small raft adorned with petaled ivory roses that wreathed over the cherished keepsake arc-rector- the heart of Tony Stark-sailing away from their reach. Carrying out the bargaining promise that Banner made to the Ancient One in 2012, Steve had finished the time-heist mission, using the quantum tunnel dimensions as he navigated through subatomic bridges-wormholes of reserved time in a light-speed acceleration that imploded with Pym Particles; he was a delivery-boy.

As Steve reached the final dropoff point of Vormir's snowy dolmens, he engaged an unfathomed audience with a demonic chimera that was ghoulishly cloaked in vaporous tatters, hiding wraith-like contours of a jutted crimson skeletal visage-the Red Skull- who became a phantom stone-keeper when the Space Stone banished him out of reality. For seven decades, he accepted the trial of condemningly being a modernized Charon-ferryman, ushering beckoned souls into astral vistas of eternity.

The Red Skull had reactively accepted back the Soul Stone, in return for payment, allowed Steve to glance down into the infinite void as he achingly harbored onto the unbearable-contractive apparitions that eternally pulsed a visceraous-tragic frequency of expandable heartbeats over the mountainous edge; Steve tried his damndest not to gaze down at the bloodied smears were grimily painted on granite dais carved with runic mezzotints of Yggdrasil; gut-wrenching evidence of harvested souls offered to the celestial ether. Traces of Natasha's sacrificed blood hauntingly outlined where she had readily swan-dived after her suicidal backflip off the cliff-out of Clint's desperate grip. 'Let me go...'

Against the celestial auroras of explosively converged with the incendiary voltage of quantum lightning over the obelisk-dolmens etched with fanatical-spookish- glyphs that revealed the Soul Stone was a harvesting sentient entity that galvanically suffused wielding hosts to usher felled souls into bridged transatlantic—crossways of the Elysium Planes—a tradeoff payment with no retractions of that irrevocable cost.

He couldn't bring her back, or infinitely offer his soul in exchange to gain a warrant of Natasha's resurrection as he reluctantly gazed with a naked trek of anguished tears into the cosmic etherealness of vacuously stole her away; surrendering his wartime GI tag dogs that were engraved for a hellbent Brooklyn kid in the snowy gales to reverently grace the phantom memory of her against knifing rush of denotive heartache. 'We won, Nat...' he murmured against choked-off sobs, onrushing feverish surges of pent-up wetness blearily dampened over the fringe of his lashes—he couldn't look down as the final seconds of his Pym time-watch subatomically propelled him back into the quantum dimension. 'We won...'

Clutching onto his timeworn compass with tightfisted strain, guardedly in measured reserve, in dismal ease, warringly Steve braced the enhanced bulkiness of his sculpted back against one of the Quin-Jet's hydraulic pole as the ramp painstakingly descended over forested terrain of southwestward Norway, sconces from lampposts mounted on a stone bridge flickered hazily over iron spires of castellated environs gothically adorned a Neo-Renaissance castle-the Romanesque marble stronghold that Enchantress-Amora- had covetously staked her invidious reign.

Evicting another onslaught of unbidden heartache that crescendoed in tenfold that he rode out; being disconnected from his chivalrous-Brooklyn kid- bravado felt inexorably dormant as knifing pulse dragging over his battle-torn heart. On the grounds of war, the victorious-irretrievable cost of salvation-new dawn was casualties; he lost Tony and his best girl-Tasha- to the last stand of their Endgame mission. Nothing would change that soul-demolishing reality.

With steeled impassiveness vigilantly brandished over hard-edged planes of his angular-boyish features, tactfully against a combative flex of his stowed determination, Steve adjusted the leather-buckled straps of his legendary patriotic shield over his Kevlar-garbed forearm. Blonde-golden tresses featherily hung over his temples, roguishly intensifying his Adonis -honed virility, that hunkily contrasted with his dark navy-blue Strike uniform.

As unfeigned soldiery valor ricocheting in his tensed veins, the First Avenger tautly pressed his sensuous-chiseled lips in a half-grimace, cementing his battle-readied stance as the steeliness of his turquoise- azure irises piercingly roved over the forested grounds of Amora's caliginous domain. Everything felt penetratively close to vest; the Vanaheim temptress-viper- had graspingly marked down his burly friend-Thor into her perfidious-morbific crosshairs of a fattening scourge that perpetually overhauled Asgardian indulgences in unquenchable-rapine- tenfold. He needed to impede Thor's piggish junk-food binge."Look sharp..." he cautioned in a deep-timbre drawl, sonorously."I get the feelin' Amora won't go down easy..."

He was met with silence. The only noises to be heard were the crickets chirping into the night. The blonde glanced over his shoulder to search for his partner for this mission. He found her still seated in the c***-pit of the Quinjet; strapped in and deeply immersed with her phone. The impatient tapping of her finger against the screen told him that she was waiting for a message. Steve released a troubled sigh, not at all bothered by the fact Selina was distracted but more to do with the wistful longing that came by the absence of his traditional partner these past several years.

"Hey." He called out to her from the entry-ramp. "Everything okay?"

Brandishing an impassive charade of distractive nonchalance, grudgingly, with distractive ease, Selina had arced her stiletto-heeled boots unerringly over the co-pilot's chair armrest-she was riding shotgun. Hearing the brotherly cadence stoically fringed in his low-pitched Brooklyn drawl, inadvertently, against the offhand rapt of cool vehemence clenching in the delicate contours of her jaw, Selina feverishly clutched her iPhone, as she unblinkingly gazed at the ''decrypted' message LD screen-countermeasures of tactical infiltration were subtlely employed.

After receiving a 'tip-off' location-blackspot from a Stark network grid surveillance AI drone E.D.I.T.H, that alertly detected a high-level occultic-arcane threat generating within the mountain borders of Norway, they had stealthily engaged mystical recon within shadow-zone proximity. Asgardian vendettas were destructively unstable in avalanche-like effect, burying everyone into a cataclysmal-slaughterous crossfire—the Enchantress was a malefic, devouring siren incarnate of carnal thirst—who played the smokescreen charade of Jane Foster to bewitchingly violate Thor's frayed-out heart, only to chasten him into fattening oblivion.

The Eldritch hardware-accessories that Doctor Stephen Strange had delivered them were activated by a Tibetian-Kamar-Taj -incantation that composedly weaved fiery veins of astral energy into a mystical barrier of protection. "Just figuring out how to play with Tricks wordgame," she deadpanned in a sassier undertone, bluntly, as the tigerish decadence of her brandy irises vixenishly epitomized against the bordering slits of her sleek domino mask. "I think Bucky might leave a few dents in Thor's slop-heap if we don't curb this down..." she rasped, jauntily, with collective flexion of her lithe hand, she holstered a 9mm Glock on her neoprene-clad thigh while Steve adamantly took point. "You ready to have some fun knocking on this Asgardian hag's door, Soldier boy...?"

Steve shrugged with a small smile tugging at his lips. "So long as it's fun we can handle." He watched as she sat in deep thought with her deactivated phone still in hand. "He'll be all right. Believe me, Bucky's handled a lot worse than looking after Thor." He knew Selina didn't need any kind of reassurance, but it felt like the right thing to say-if not for her benefit than his own. "Let's try and make this quick."

He held his hand out, beckoning her to follow him down the ramp. He watched her hesitate as she put away her phone. She was still worried, Steve knew. From what he knew about their relationship, Bucky and Selina rarely if ever worked so far apart without communication. This was a stealth and incursion mission, one that Steve hoped they were prepared for as he held the magical dampener that Bruce and Shuri made. Hopefully, it would work on the Asgardian sorceress and they could safely capture her.

With a sardonic quirk playing over the pillowed lushness of her voluminous lips, curvaceously, as she utilized her feline-honed momentum of sashaying accord, coolly Selina descended the ramp, the silky glossiness of her waterfall-straight mahogany tresses entrancingly cascaded over the svelte fineness that athletically toned her neoprene-garbed shoulders, despite, she preferred a measured extent of personal space, Selina had grounded herself tensely at his soldiery—virtuous side; their dynamical caliber was blindsided—overrated trust was viscerally akin to mechanized precision of a scalpel and hammer: an incarnate tactical reliance nakedly fueled by an electrified—addictive dosage of high-octane shunting in their veins.

Emitting a breathy scoff, as her full-bow lips quirked, deviantly, Selina glanced at his alloy-vibrainum shield readily braced over corded flesh of his muscled forearm as she unnervingly feigned an eye-roll. "I think you need more effective toys to play here, Rogers, tossing your frisbee isn't going to work..." she rebuffed in a coquettish undertone, banteringly, with a thievish swipe of her gloved hand, deftly she palmed a Kimoyo -taser- bead that Wakanda's spunky impish fashionista Princess Shuri had virtuosically designed with a kinetic destabilizing pulse as Okavango tribal sigils electrified in sync with purplish amethyst--a pocket accessory for a girl to never dance without. "Lucky for you I always bring a backup piece..."

Steve offered a gracious smile with a bemused quirk of his head. "Not really my style, but I guess we can't afford to be choosy here." He said as he accepted the taser bead and fixed it to his belt. His style of combat had evolved since the days he only wielded a shield and pistol into combat. The modern world offered too many variables and opponents that meant to be Captain America, he had to take things up a notice.

From wielding a magnetic shield, to a mystical hammer, Steve figured a taser was the least outlandish thing he could carry.

"Bucky always said you were resourceful in a fight-adaptable." He commended the domino-masked brunette who eyed him thoughtfully.

"Playing safe is never my style for kicks, Rogers..." Selina retorted back, coyly, as she bolstered herself with controlled poise at the bottom of the ramp. Not wavering his battle-ready stance, the heavier tautness of graven-ridged muscles flexed bulkily underneath his tactical Strike uniform-a resilient-invincible solidity edged over his enhanced flesh as Steve reservedly clenched the broad-set of his jaw; impelled by a gut-sense resonating through his veins, he gleamingly flashed the stormier intensity of his azureous irises piercingly at the obstructive bridge —something wasn't right.

In a balletic variance of her reactive grace, felinely Selina mid-crouched low on the sleekness her neoprene-clad haunches, as instinctive strain tellingly became invested in the conscious drag of her lithe fingers over gnarled roots snarking out of the ground. She was precariously aware that Asgard's viperous bane had deceptively rigged them onto a sorcerous powderkeg; obsidian sentinels of Gothicesque twined stallions were eerily mounted on the bridge passageway as verdigris sigils of astral heat tectonically pulsed over the razed stone in detonative fruition.

Involuntarily her kittenish nose scrunched against the morbific stench of putrefying flesh odiously wafting out of the stagnant-corpse-infested bog that luridly captured the backlit sconces of ghoulish torchlight—carrion hordes of desiccated Nordic-Viking- warriors macabrely adorned with crescent-edged Breið-øx axes deathlily clutched in their leathery skeletal hands. "Yeah, this place is kinda spooky..." she gritted, threadily, and with her unerring trajectory of dead-straight precision, she pitched the activated Kimoyo bead, without faltered deterrence of his back-catcher agility, Steve had openly caught the Wakandian gadgetry as tremorous—paranoic vibrations of earth-quaking force ruptured cacophonously underneath the Quinjet: a seismic wakeup call for Amora's zombified legion. "We need to stay at this level of ground..."

Steve held his balance but was just as concerned by the seismic activity as Selina when it felt as if something evil was ready to erupt from the Earth. The First Avenger held his shield in one hand and the kimoyo bead in the other. "Stay sharp, stay close." He cautioned as they began to move across the landscape. The cover of trees kept them veiled from the moonlight, but at the same time made their trek all the more hazardous. "Take point," Steve called once the path became too pitch dark for him to see. The Gothamite activated her night-vision goggles and spied the path ahead. The gnarly trees were like teeth protruding from the ground into the skies. But in the distance, the Enchantress' fortress glowed like a spire of unholy magic.

That she had her fortress erected so close to New Asgard would've been as strange as Baron Zemo renting an apartment across the street from the Avengers Compound. Steve repressed a shudder as a gust of howling wind moved down his back. He ignored the unsettling feeling that he and Selina had walked into a horror movie of some kind. But the fact that they could hear no birds nor crickets said that something was off out here. "Selina?" He called worriedly as she came to a stop. "What is it?"

In fleeting reaction, haltingly Selina felt the apparitional 'white-noise' pulse over the forested warren, a banshee frequency demonically amplified in a manic tempo; crimson incandescence of astral heat veined nocuously over skeletal deformities of hollowed-sockets —dismembered bones of exsiccated flesh thrashed jerkily around the helmeted-Viking denizens in possessive rabidness; mobilizing cavalcade of death-walkers screechingly converged onto the bridge in defensive succession—answering the stygian hail of infinite battle.

With a thievish flex of her gloved hand, blindingly Selina unholstered onto her Glock, undeviatingly aiming point-blank at tarred-maggoty corpses that ghoulishly ascended out of the boggy trenches. "Tell me, Soldier boy, are you afraid of ghosts..." she bantered, snarkily as cold vaporous rust knifed scrapingly down her throat. Whirlingly with a balletic rush of her poised footing, Selina tactfully crouched onto her razor-edged heels; rapidly slotting out a full cartridge with a staccato hailstorm as she punched back trigger shots as resin mucus-like ooze from blow-off skulls dropped gloopily over the alloy rim of his shield. "We need to crash this witch's party... Fast."

Steve smirked despite himself. "Let me guess, Bucky?" Steve queried with a knowing look. In the darkness, he imagined Selina was giving him a puzzled look over her shoulder. "He loves Ghostbusters."Sometimes he thought he could hear him humming the song in the shower. He didn't get to dwell long on the funny memory when his enhanced hearing began to pickup the telltale groans of death coming towards them.

If it weren't for a marathon of Night of the Living Dead movies with Sam Wilson, Steve would've been mildly confused by the sounds. Instead, he was now clutching his shield and the kimoyo bead with a vice-like grip in anticipation. So this is what Selina meant. "How many are there?" Steve asked. His eyes glared into the darkness. He thought he saw a glint of moonlight reflecting off of metal. A twig snapped closeby and the Avenger didn't hesitate to throw his shield. It buzzed like a saw through the air, cutting down a ghoulish monstrosity in half. The shield returned to his hand in time for him to smash in the head of a second one.

What alarmed him wasn't the fact he had just killed an undead zombie. It was the sight of decaying flesh and empty eyes staring into nothing. Those clothing worn were modern humans-New Asgardians. "This is not good."

As the patriotic shield metallically boomeranged into Steve's readied clutch, with unwarrantable ease of her incredulous traction, fringing her paces a breadth from the skeletal Asgardian remains; dragging out a terse breath, Selina flipped her sleek cat-eared googles up and fixed her brandy irises stiltedly down at the swampy -ghostlier mist creepily arcing over the deflated heap of soiled garments-an exorcised soul. "This is a really cheap trick to play against Thor..." she rasped, grittily, as the clothing meltingly dissolved back into the ground-a soul-numbing revelation that Amora was a reaping siren, collecting traumatized Asgardian strays into her mutative- orcish legions. "We need to figure out this damn hag's angle..."

Steve didn't pause as he smashed, kicked and punched his way through the rapidly growing throng of undead Asgardians that were now beginning to surround him and Selina. Their battle had moved them from out of the woods and into the open field. The cloud coverage caused a clap of thunder to boom in the skies. If Thor wasn't in such an isolated state, Steve would've taken the noise as backup. But they were on their own on this. Strange had left with Wanda to settle a threat in a different dimension, Bruce was helping Tony in his coma, Carol was off-world, Rhodey and Sam were injured from Amora's last attack. Steve and Selina found themselves back-to-back, moving as one as they unleashed a flurry of attacks.

Kicks were landed, bullet-casings were spent. The smell of decay was suffocating just as the groans of death were deafening. Steve didn't stop and didn't relent as he raised his hand, calling for his last resort to aid him. He felt the kinetic pull as the magic of Mjolnir responded to him and flew out from the quinjet. Like a star shining in the darkness he could see the enchanted hammer closing in towards him, feel its power singing with anticipation to reach his hand. His hopes were obstructed when a green-sorcerous field of energy engulfed the hammer like a bubble, causing it to fall like dead-weight to the ground. A familiar and sinister laugh descended on them as the undead horde came to a stop.

Steve and Selina panted for breath, focused and still ready for a fight. The horde still surrounded them, trapping them, allowing their master to come forward.

"This is an unwelcomed surprise, dear Captain..." A throatier huskiness of a feminine undertone of malevolence rasped smokily underneath a vampiresque hooded cloak, with ceremonious prowess, serpentinely the conjuring-galactic blight of Vanaheim advanced passed her Élivágar ghoulish ranks in cobra-like haughtiness of queen entity; eroded war-axes berserkly thrust up in reverent—inchanted unison as verdurous stalactites of tenebrious heat veined twistily over jutted out bones welded into chainmail armor.

Arcing the delicate litheness of her Nerco-gauntleted hand, sneerily, with sensuous ease, Amora distractively pulled down the darkish hood, as rope-braided platinum-blonde whorls disheveledly cascaded over the cool seraphic fineness that wickedly contrasted with her exquisite witchy features as the vitriolic intensity of her grayish-teal irises malignantly glinted with demented thirst at the vibrainium shield-a Midgardian trophy she covetously desired. "The Odin spawn has gluttonously deigned himself to become a grieving hostage of his utmost failures..." she hissed in envenomed pitch, raveningly. "A new reign of power will conquer over the desolated vermin of Asgard once I cut the loose ends..."

With a guileful charade quirking hypnotically over the cherry lushness of her voluminous lips, carnally Amora radiated a decadent-aphrodisiac fragrancy that was headily penetrative to damningly breach masculine arousal, Selina detected the intrusive reek as the odious stink ghosted fervidly over her kittenish nose with seductive-tactile precision of viperish inducement—a siren's coaxing of bewitchery to exponentially drag Steve into her amorous-morphic thralls. On breakneck accord, urgently Selina gripped the Kelvar material delineated tauter-muscle cords of his forearm, knowing that he was on the septic-compromised fringe of Amora's demented-viperous play of chimerical havoc.

"I do relish severing your wretched humanity into a craven existence..." she taunted against waspish breaths, poutily, gazing at the plushier firmness of Steve's chiseled lips ardently set into a half-grimace, evident to his disarmed resolve. "You really think coming here will purge that drunken Odinson's piteous curse, when another dear friend of yours, Captain, fatteningly bloats out his grunting defeat..."

"Bucky…" Steve and Selina share an uneasy look between each other at that, feeling dread encompass them. Their entire focus had been on saving Thor that they hadn't stopped to consider any potential contingencies the Enchantress would have in place if they tried to intervene in the Asgardian's decadent state. They had left Bucky in charge of Thor's care. That meant… "What did you do?!" Steve demanded hotly. His greater inclination was to be diplomatic in the face of hostilities but he knew this was one woman that wouldn't be bargained with. She wanted Thor to suffer and would have no qualms about making his friends pay the same price. Steve gripped his shield tight while Amora smirked at his clear agitation. "What did you do to him?!"

Sneeringly with a painstaking steadiness of her extended palm, witchily Amora beckoned astral fusion of verdigris energy, indulgently fashioning vapory tendrils into a lucent orb that she hefted up stoppingly to the fiercer gleam of Steve's oceanic azure irises; sweat-damp blond tresses fringed his bruised temples, with vigilant tact of his steeled focus, he unwaveringly gazed into candescent auras merging into a Nordic glyph of 'playback' memory. "If you wish to see your beloved Sergent Barnes's shackled visage all you have to do is peek, dear Captain..." Amora coaxingly rasped, gliding her fingers over the astral luminescence of the vitreous jade bauble.

Suppressedly against rampageous viciousness, gnashing her teeth, breathlessly Selina angled her Glock to deliver instant kill-shot, as her gloved finger shakily grazed over the hammer trigger-lock."It seems the handsome fool blindingly reveled into the gluttonous flavor of my curse..."

A glowing light emanated from within the Orb as if it took on a life of its own. Clouds of magic circulated from within and images fluttered past. Steve and Selina could see Thor and Bucky inside of Thor's house. They were talking in the living room until Thor handed Bucky a box of pop-tarts. Bucky didn't just eat one, he ate the entire box like a starving pig, making a mess of himself. What happened then was a nightmarish symphony of events that saw Thor and Bucky grappling each other in the kitchen over a piece of cake until Bucky began to change before their very eyes.

"Oh no..." Steve voiced with a sorrowful look. Selina's expression was stone-cold empty but the pain in her eyes was unmistakable as she kept her mask in place. The vision of events culminated with Thor and now a pig-Bucky fighting off pair of wolves inside of the kitchen until the beasts were killed. Once the images had ended, Steve and Selina couldn't tear their gazes away from a hypnotic concentration of energy building up from within the orb. It grew brighter and stronger until it burst like a shockwave, hitting both Steve and Selina, sending them falling to the ground.

A vertiginous onslaught dizzily grappled her into deadened submission; circlet glyphs of Amora's Nordic incantation eldritchly ravined over the ground, chasing her warred heartbeat in an exhaustive-vomitous rush as whitish salvos of incandescent energy flaringly careened through Selina like a depth-charge shockwave-an eruptive anesthetic that searingly assailed her bone-deep in paralytic succession. Each pulse agonizingly surged an implosive -accelerated numbness as onrushing barrages of her charmingly hunky sniper-wolf becoming an oinking tub of blubbery-piggish flab had suffocatingly exorcised her resistance in heart-knifing tenor-the parasitical-invidious magery of Amora's venomous thirst amplified in slumberous-cursive deviance of unbidden surrender. 'No..."

Motionless like collapsing marionette of granite, Selina was bruisingly dragged onto the svelte planes of her back as jutted tentacles of gnarled roots slithery bracketed over the delicate contours of her wrists—everything deafened out against the infective fusion entombing her. Blurringly, in a cottony haze, her lashes damply flitted as virescent skeins of morphically fused over ridged bulkiness of Steve's mid-drift, as he chokingly railed out a throated-voiceless screech against torpedoing force that slammed him against a diseased tree with back-breaking momentum. "S-Soldier boy..." she gurgled threadily, disheveled length of her mahogany tresses slickly webbed askew over the feverous, elfin curvatures of her delicate jaw as she desperately thrust her gloved hand with notched-up strain, reaching for him. "Steve..."

"I-I can't-GAAAH!" Steve couldn't contain the cry of agony that breached his lips. He gnashed his teeth and groaned through a hailstorm of sorcerous torture. The Enchantress' magic permeated his body, his bones, his cells, and began their heinous work of undoing the man from the inside out-transforming him into a creature to suit her will. His shield fell from his grip, his trembling posture brought him to his knees as he struggled to fight through the spasms that controlled him, and face the evil woman that was doing this to them. Selina couldn't move. It was as if her entire body had been shut down and she lost all feeling to her limbs.

The tension in the air was morbid in the seconds that followed. Steve's entire body caved in on itself as if he were imploding from within. Gazing at his gloved hands he watched as they slipped off his rapidly decreasing mass. His face and neck itched as if he had a colony of bugs invading his skin. But in reality, it was patches of bird feathers sprouting from his skin. His blue eyes closed, accepting the inevitable of what was happening as he built a mental wall around himself, taught to him by Doctor Strange, to protect the one avenue of himself that was more important than his body: his mind-his soul.

Within moments, Captain America had vanished in a mass of crumpled clothes and equipment. His tactical vest flayed on the ground as something else reemerged, squawking and thrashing to escape the prison of garments that kept him confined.

Temperstously heralding a butcherous—cyclonic valance of her earthen- corpse armada, Amora crouched a breadth at the discarded vibrainum shield with vulturous poise, hungrily Amora glided a possessive tracery of gauntleted palm over the alloy star insignia without a deterrence of hesitation, manically the rapturous heat of her ophidian depths gazed at remnants of navy blue Kevlar sheathed over feathery checkered wings of silvery-ivory as raptor-talons rampantly gouged into clumps of dirt in blinded traction, screechingly in a throat-piercing cadence, the Avenger hawk lurched joltingly on his curvaceous girth, as the steely-bluish plumage of his silken tufts ethereally delineated the virile litheness of his ensorcelled—passerine form. Jutting the sleekness of his golden-curved beak, Steve uttered, in a squawking hitch raspily. "T-Thor's gonna stop you..."

"It seems your valiant warrior beauty has been stunted into a craven form that is befitting for you, dear Captain..." Hearing the monstrous grunting of her orcish, skeletal denizens, Amora virulently glanced at the malachite-ebon Necro spears—demonic instruments forged out of the chasmal—tenebrious veins of Helheim being arced up, as torn black Einherjar pennons grotesquely ribboned over corroded poles gripped in the skeletal clutches of her resurrected breed of wraithlike 'carnage-reapers' that nightmarishly spewed out of her sorcerous cauldron; as the maggot-ridden phalanxes were staggeringly advancing out of her forested warren in a rabid fusion of murderous barbarity-a death march.

Underneath warped helms, reddish embers fierily crescented within jutted-edges of hollowed eye sockets—a soulless bloodlust that wouldn't be contained. "Now I'll leave you to lament in the skies," Amora gestured to his feathered wings, sadistically. "...while I bring forth my carrion legion to fully deliver my reckoning of mortal harvest over New Asgard..."

"Leave em' alone..." Against a hawkish screech in his raw-pitched timbre, Steve urgently conveyed his unbreakable measure of Brooklyn valiance in the wake of a cabalistic-hellish mantra of phantom starved battle-cries that dissonantly crescendoed in a demonic ambiance like terror knells; latent skeletal heaps of desecrated Einherjar warriors of Odin jerkily convulsed as matrix infusions of celestial-psionic energy of tapped out of Nastrond-the Shore of Corpses- electrifyingly melded greenish heat into the detached-gutted bones that creepily spider-clawed to become realigned with iron-forged limbs for Amora's slaughterous-apocalyptic conquest of mortal butchery.

Half-exhausted by the divested strain, joltingly defiant tension grounded him, Steve reactively braced his feathered wings into a taut arc over svelter curves of his lithe girth as he gaspingly felt the hammering momentum of a ghoul's armored foot, bodily propel a blinded assault of careening ferocity into his feathery back with merciless-breakneck traction. The bone-knifing spasms of racked anguish exceedingly caught his stunned heartbeat as incendiary throbs of white-heat blearily robbed his vision-it was a death blow. "No..."

This wasn't how he imagined himself finally fading away. Death wasn't something he feared for as long as he'd been a soldier in life. But this wasn't the end he envisioned for himself. The agony of defeat only hurt him by the thought of having failed. Failed the mission, his country, his friends, his family. Steve Rogers tried to cling to whatever avenue of hope that he could muster to safeguard him into the next life. His one comfort was a life-giving allure of cool teal eyes that often used to smile at him with warmth. His thumping heart swelled before it began to steady. He could distinctly feel tears trailing down his now feathery cheeks as he closed his eyes and welcomed the dark embrace.

'See you in a minute…Natasha.'

{Flashback}

Surgically bred to exist as a Soviet marionette of weaponized seduction, Natasha had utilized the identity of being a loose cannon deviant-fugitive as the blotches creed of the Accords denoted a firestorm of inevitable -rigged-betrayal against the Avengers, just one matchstick throw of deception had cleared the decks against governmental protocols of sterilization, dissecting out warrants of liberty- justice into the relevance of 'high rolling industry of lucrative degeneracy.

Everything was staked down by militaristic-seditious paragons of ironfisted authority erased margins of error off the chessboard-they were vermined selloffs. Reality had double-clutch into maximum overdrive when Steve rejected branding his freedom-soldiery valor- on a warranted contract that was designed by the World Council. By the upheaval deadlock tensions of hard-core Brooklyn defiance, voluntary he became a nomadic resistance operative; discarding the 'A' insignia off his threadbare uniform-never looking back.

'I'm not the only one who needs to look over their shoulder...'

For painstaking months of harboring onto encrypted arsenals of SHIELD contingency safeguards to evade Interpol surveillance -beating dodge with a Clean Slate algorithmic hardware that was covertly delivered to her by an unknown Gotham alliance of Selina Kyle-calibrated devices of preservation, Natasha had remained in the shadow zones, marked as a rogue insurgent after traitorous-egotistic- back-stabber- Tony Stark betrayingly sold her out to Thunderbolt Ross.

Using her intentive tradecraft of furtive espionage, she went back to a harbor point in Budapest, smoking out her fostered sister of the Red Room: Yelena Belova-she trudged into a warzone as the mutative legacy of the Widow operatives evolved into combative-disposable ranks of tactical-balletic supremacy, programmed to leave bloodied silhouettes in the chastened wake of reactivation.

Her Russian family reunion ended at a grievous- deceitful cost when a genetically-enhanced viper strike penetrated her compromised heart. She went blindly deep into the macabre crosshairs, damnably resurrecting ghosts of the past-only to lose everything because of the conditioned measures of heart-driven restraint, she had evicted charitable tenets of Siberian mercy, and inexplicably hesitated to pull back on the trigger-that visceral dynamic that was promisingly salvaged became cleaved apart when Yelena was retired; to give her a redeeming chance to run-live.

Within the slummy-humid ambiance of a rumpy safe house in Atlanta, Georgia gripping onto the plastic mold of a half-emptied lime flavored Gatorade bottle, impassively, with stark tension riding through her veins; standing on fractured ground Natasha detachedly isolated herself from the installations of a dispatched rabble of SHIELD agents-corrupted enforcers that pegged her down for profitable bounty.

Now, she was on a tipping point of the knife-edge-fostering to the synthetic relevance of normalcy; she couldn't invent new spycraft devices of her convenient incarnations; everything was jeopardized-even her trust bracket with Fury. Easing down the bottle onto a makeshift table; faint electric sconces of light burnished her unkempt copper-auburn whorls as she was ravishingly garbed in a black camisole that was curvaceously fitted snug over the bustier curves of her voluptuous breasts, shiveringly Natasha registered a galvanic pulse of rivalrous -indescribable anticipation: she had a visitor.

There was a soft brush of movement coming from the kitchen that would've been almost impossible to detect if she hadn't been standing in total silence. It could've been construed as something as ordinary as a rodent moving through the walls. But then she saw a tall shadow creeping across the wall and knew that her instincts were as sharp as ever. Before she could draw her pistol from its holster, the intruder stepped clear into the room and she had frozen in bewilderment to see who it was. Then again, given how much he'd learned about her over the past few years she shouldn't have been so surprised.

"There was a spare key under the swan statue on the porch step." Steve said as he rested his tall broad form back against the wall, hands stuffed into his pockets. "Didn't think you'd mind if I let myself in." His blue eyes flicked up to meet her teal concentrated orbs that were boring into his soft expression. His handsomely cut features weren't the clean-shaven presentation of Steve Rogers, Captain America. Instead, they were the bearded residue of an exiled wanderer. He was dressed in a dark pair of blue jeans, black sneakers and a black overcoat with the collars drawn up against his neck. Not the kind of clothing you'd expect from America's golden-boy who was a public figure. Exiled had changed more than just his appearance, it also made him look as hollow as the subaquatic prison-the Raft- he sprung their friends from.

A high-voltage surge of dredged-up awareness evocatively rushed through her veins-her revving instincts were being sidetracked as she headily registered the addictive vetiver mintiness of Gucci aftershave, a distinct virile scent ardently igniting up a feverous abandon. The graven-angular planes of his boyish- chiseled features were hawkishly edged with untamed virility-a rugged fierceness as his tousled golden-blonde tresses unkemptly clung askew over his dirt-scuffed cheekbones: he appeared emotionally blunted.

Pillowing the cool suppleness of her silken cheek against her denim-clad knee, with an evident play of guarded nonchalance, Natasha unerringly fixed her grayish-teal irises in the direction her makeshift kitchen. "If you looking to raid out my fridge, the best I can offer is a peanut-butter sandwich..." A jaunty quirk half-tugged over the voluminous lushness of her lips, as she coaxed with a smokier huskiness in her undertone, brusquely gazing the hunkier solidity of his Brooklyn-Adonis corded bulk imposingly delineated underneath the cloaking length of his black long coat. Placatingly, as his cool azure depths fixed observant intensity on her stockpile of peanut butter jars and loaf Wonder bread, setting his broader jaw into a firm clench, Steve measured the intrusive breach of his driven advances with chaste precision towards her blackout proximity. "Not that I will, since you didn't knock, Rogers..."

"Had a bite on the way over if you could count beef jerky as lunch." He responded with his own brand of wit with a small smile to accompany it. Being out in public wasn't something he could risk these days when his face was plastered all over the news. As a wanted fugitive, the days of eating at cafes and diners were gone and now he would have to settle for quick stops for snacks at the local gas stations. If this reality unsettled him, he didn't let it show. "But I didn't come here looking for food. I came to find you." He said, suddenly serious as he leaned off the wall and crossed his arms. "You've been on the news, Nat. Ross almost got to you…" He was worried when he saw the broadcasts all the way from Wakanda. He had been hesitant to leave until that image of Natasha surrounded by guns burned into his consciousness.

"Things got complicated..." Natasha murmured edgily, the harshness of her grated pitch was underlying her a fallback of phantom betrayal; nothing would suppress her unwarranted failure; not when she was downplayed by the ability-replicating leach who harbored a photographic-combative arsenal, lethally becoming a mirrored 'knockoff' opponent. He was geared up like a demonic Power-Ranger, stealing all tactical endurance-fight versatility that he nightmarishly imitated from her teammates-the Avengers.

Staring at the greenish tactical vest that her baby sister-Yelena had worn for their point-break mission to end the final rebirth- evolution on the Widow-markers, Natasha felt achingly paralyzed by a traitorous onslaught of soul-crippling heartbreak. "In this terrible business, there's no guarantee to beat the dodge..." Quashing down a knifed sting of remorse, edgily she gnawed on her underlip. "I had to finish something close to home... Dig up my old ghosts...Only to make new ones. "

"Some fights can't be avoided." Steve agreed with a somber look. Hiding the past never changed the fact it would always be there ready to catch up to you. There was no use in ignoring it, doing so would only make things harder for you and those you cared about. If he had known that then, maybe...maybe he and Tony wouldn't have gone to war with each other. "But it doesn't mean they need to be fought alone." Something in his expression must've given him away as he noticed Natasha's inquisitive eyebrow raised at him. "I got them out of the Raft. All of em. Bucky he…" He swallowed a lump of emotion that had suddenly built up in his throat, threatening to seize his strength of will and cause him to expend a torrent of emotion down his cheeks. "He's gone back under. Doesn't trust himself anymore than the whole world does right now."

As Steve dragged out a heavier breath against his sonorous timbre, Natasha understood the fractionable ground he crossed, the soul-damaging reality of Bucky tragically plunging into the icy gorge of Swiss Alps, Steve had indefatigably tethered himself to a perpetual crusade to avenge his best friend; only to agonizingly discover that James Buchanan Barnes was remade by the operational-enhanced butchery conducted by the obsessive-sadistic insanity of the HYDRA parasitoid Armin Zola; hee endured cerebral PSTD deterioration of electrical anesthetizing of the lobotomic mind-sweeps of the dentist chair, that had punishingly violated him to become an unhinged-mechanized amnesic.

The dossier file NO 17 unveiled extreme details about the mangled flesh of his left was surgically amputated for a HYDRA cybernetic implant of titanium bionic alloy and electro psychiatric conditioning that gruelingly mutated Bucky into the robotized ghost operative of Russia's endless winter-the Winter Soldier. For seven decades of being unthawed out a cryogenic pod of liquid nitrogen; murderously he existed as hybrid sniper-wraith, a reactivated Siberian phantasm for termination. Within the Novgorod dormitories of the Red Room Academy, James was chemically sterilized-training her virginal classmates-little ballerinas- under the brutish command of the maniacal warren General Vasily Karpov.

'I have no place in this world.'

Against pessimistic tension of contagious vulnerability that resonated behind the stage light, little Natalia became his elite protegé of combative kata supremacy -Система-, every balletic evade was invigoratingly dynamical-addictive, they harnessed elemental mastery-a gladiatorial ruthless that defiled operative compliance. Trysts of juvenile affection became vitiated when she felt the scalpel blade cut her deep-purging out her womanhood-humanity to finally evolve her into a 'corrected' instrument of venomous seduction.

When she awoke from the removal procedure, Natasha felt the woven stitches painfully brand her forever into the septic reality of a deadened heartbeat. She remembered when James had deftly carried her defective-comatose form bridal-style out of the paralytic whiteness of the operating room-never leaving her side. "If T'challa knows Barnes's is worth a risk of saving..." A nostalgic quirk tugged over her full lips, coolly. "...then I guess HYDRA didn't fully erase him..."

"There's an old saying, 'you can't keep a kid from Brooklyn down' when the going gets tough." He smiled as he felt a touch of nostalgia. "These days though its hard to know what we're fighting for when the lines are blurred. I thought that by standing up to the Accords we were protecting not just the world, but each other… But now...now I feel like we're all alone out here." He sighed with a downcast look.

There was a part of him that longed for the simpler times when the world wasn't such a chaotic mess of politics, ideals, and intergalactic threats that loomed on the horizon. He might've been lost with his place in the world but he felt at peace with it. The modern world he had found a place in it as Captain America. The shield of liberty who would always find a new battle to face. He wasn't at peace, but he wasn't lost. Not with those surrounding him that he called friends and family. The pinnacle of which was the woman in front of him who not only uplifted him in his moments of sorrow but helped him to steer his course moving forward. "I...missed you, Nat."

The valid reverence of his Brooklyn timbre reached her compromisingly deep, stoking up an intimate demand of unspoken-forbidden desire; nothing would be leashed down against the headier rush of long-denied havoc; there was no flirtatious play of bantering snarkiness, she couldn't break for distance as his roughened-tip fingers cherishingly dragged feathery ministrations of a tactile-dexterous caress of errant grace over the daintier contours of her lithe knuckles. "Steve..."

It was reckless surrender against the hell storms of their betrayal -they were no longer SHIELD operatives-Avengers, just directionless fugitives who daringly made their own symphony of resistance-they needed this grounded moment. "Don't say anything unless you mean it,.." she murmured hushedly, against gritted breaths, each shift of whisper-soft pressure ardently echoed a sensuous fervency against her pulse in a wonderous-naked accord. Under the curly fringe of her lashes, on volatile reaction, she entrancedly gazed at the plushier sculpt of his chiseled lips, beckoning with a sheen of virile heat that became cravingly addictive."We've played this game of affection before, haven't we...?"

He knew he had begun to cross a line that had been toed between them for the past several years. Steve wasn't very good at flirting with women. Not in the way that Bucky and Tony were, so confident and playful in their banter they could charm even the most reserved of individuals. Steve was direct if not subtle in his intentions as most honest men were in his past-time. But there was always something about Natasha that brought out a side of him he never knew existed. A bolder sense of confidence that made him feel fearless. His blue eyes that were once so quiet were now speaking loudly the words he wanted to share with her for so long. "It was never a game to me." He said as his digits caressed the her palm, beckoning her to come closer to him. "And I think you know me well enough to know how I've always felt about you, Nat." His eyes gazed deeply into hers, lost in the sea of bluish-green that were mesmerizing and made him ache inside. They were so beautiful and captivating, he could feel himself easily getting lost in her enchanting stare that affected him in a way no other woman before had. Not even Peggy.

Her rosebud lips parted and he felt her warm breath flutter and send tingles across his skin. Her expression was torn in a way that he was familiar with. The line between friendship and romance was slowly being erased as they drifted closer. "Tell me to stop, and I will." He said to her, eyes genuine but hopeful. "Tell me you don't feel the same, and I'll believe you..."

"Alright, since I do owe you a good answer..." Disarmingly against the visceral-hungered command, she gazed into the smoldering coolness of his oceanic azureous depths as the kneaded flexion of his smooth-calloused fingers adoringly echoed tentative-featherlike steadiness, a novel-masculine heat that arrestingly invested with each unfeigned shift of cherishing reverence. A blinding need that outpaced against her warred heartbeat—abandoned urgency of rhapsodic ecstasy—a glorious mania—she knew it was damn real.

The heated contrast of the bulkier stretch of well-defined muscle underneath his shirt tautly aligned with svelter cushiness of her aching breasts, Natasha breathtakingly felt the unbeatable vitality of Captain America; the steeled bands of his enhanced-invincible solidity became her anchoring strength. It was an undeniable-exhilarative promise that fervidly coupled in the fiercer tempo of his reined arousal, their faces were so close, as the arrowing drift of his nose shadowily grazed over her temple, so achingly tentative in feathered succession. Under the long fringe of his eyelashes, a glacial blueness of his silvery-turquoise irises became seraphically vitreous-gleaming with a tempestuous intensity of the Aegean sea; her infinite reality of uncharted paradise.

Unhurriedly, she felt the clamping pressure of his larger palms bracket over the delectable lushness of her denim-clad curves in rhythmic unison, with driven momentum, Steve backed her against the wall, as she dragged out a feverish breath. "I think we both need this..." Natasha coaxed, huskily against the bristled planes of his thickened jaw that starkly rasped over the alabaster flesh of her beard-pricked cheek; as rakish golden-blonde sweltry tangled with her fiery copper tresses. Heart-poundingly an exquisite floodtide of answering heat readily contrasted as the firmer grip of his shifting fingers dizzyingly tugged at her flimsy camisole straps with raging urgency, as his muscled forearm braced over the sleek planes of her back, arching the flush swell of her ampler breasts with a definite-sweeter cadence of headier euphoria against heavier corded rigidity of denser muscle brawnily sheathing his garbed chest. "No holding back, Rogers..."

Without an instinctive deterrence volition, groaningly Steve angled his sensuously-chiseled lips with a surging rush of irresistible wet heat, decadently fusing with the aphrodisiacal cherry of her voluminous lips. They engaged hungered duel of rampant pressure shudderingly careened them on into panting drags of mirrored-intimate release, the flavorous throb of their melded lips hotly deepened under the crushing pressure of headier rawness; everything cindered as the reverent gentleness of his palm cradled over the delicate contours of her jaw with sensual tacks of his razed sanity-he was reaching for her through the riotous eruption of breathless heat-a dynamite nova, trapped flamingly between them.

"Y'know we probably needed this break..." he drawled in throatier heaves, breathily against her kiss-swollen lips, as she blindingly clutched the bunches of his shirt with a sirenic litheness invested with each flexing-possessive knead of her fingers, urging him to dare beyond the symphonic- gloried rhythm of their bone-liquifying communion.

A fever-burned trek of wetness errantly glided off his bristled cheeks, unabashedly Steve drew out a guttural moan that was breathly caught between the bruising stretch of their opened-mouthed kisses, devouringly increasing ardent -breathless- ferocity that was steamily incendiary; he supped on the passion-heated lush of her swelled lips, edging her into their mindless-dizzier oblivion. The subtle graze of his thumb featherily brushed the underside of her feverish jaw, anchoring her into his virile heat, as he bitingly tugged on her jutted underlip with breakneck traction; every seared thrust of his plush lips viscerally countered with tenors of her soul-deep awareness-nothing was held back as they surrendered to high-octane maelstroms of untempered ecstasy that stole the world away. "Just live again, Steve..."

To live again meant to return to a place where he was happiest in life. The blissful memory he kept himself enclosed within a sanctuary where his friend, his partner, and great love Natasha Romanov would embrace him was what kept him going. It gave him the strength and will to see through the agony that awaited him in the real world where he couldn't find her beside him. He felt the memory slipping away as the darkness was disturbed a pale sickly light. A salvo of verdigris energy that was anything but benign in its intentions as it jerked him back into a choking fit of discomfort. His eyes snapped open and a strangled gasp for air rattled through his body.

His feathery body… Questions swarmed through his subconscious. Who was he dreaming about? Why was he entangled in a pile of human clothing? Why couldn't he flap his wings? He tried to wring himself from his prison of clothing before his hawkish eyes landed on the blonde human peering into him with a hypnotic stare. No. This was no human woman. This was someone much more. Her beauty was spellbinding just as the luminous field of green energy that sulfurously encompassed her body. Understanding passed through him as the feathery hawk squawked and bowed his head obediently. "Mistress…" he cawked. "How do I serve you?"

Malevolently, Amora relished the craven docility that gratingly edged in the Avenger-hawk's low-pitched timbre; a stuporous intimacy had been conceived, as the valorous tension that rode through every tauten-edged muscle of warrior-honed solidity was doused into a pathetic vessel enchantingly sheathed in bluish-silvery feathers. With demented swiftness, as her ashen lips quirked evilly into a vampirish sneer, Amora beseechingly, outstretched her gauntleted arm, sconces of moonlight gothically exposed the intricate viridian sigil of Helheim.

"Come to me..." Amora gestured her newest-feathered captive to latch his clawed-talons over her wrist as skeletal-walkers twitchingly advanced in battlemented legions of necro-craft weaponry towards her destination of sanguineous conquest-warpath. "You shall prevail over the Midgardian heights, my beautiful Captain," she commanded, spitefully."By the morphic designs of my scourge, you will find me that gluttonous spawn of Odin..."

Amora's voice was like a magnet drawing him towards a state of immobility. A prison where he was helpless to do nothing but obey her. His mind was resisted despite the fact his body was betraying him. "Fight it…Fight it...Steve." The enchanted hawk flapped his wings and trembled as the pull became ever more intense, sending waves of agony through his head until he could take no more and cawed loudly into the night. It was like the walls he erected to protect his mind were being bulldozed to the ground, leaving him at the mercy of his oppressor. The hawk blearily searched and allowed his eyes to roam his surroundings, trying desperately to ignore the evil woman's viperish nails that petting the back of his neck with sharp strokes.

Not too far from him the score of undead ghouls still surrounded him like a pack of wounded predators eager to feast. That was when his eyes landed on a strange but alarming sight. The crumpled mess of empty neoprene garb where a familiar pair of kimoyo beads lay along with a domino mask. Ivory feathers flapped in the pale moonlight as a small dark shape shifted, giving light to a beak and beady eyes. A second passed, maybe two, but it was enough time for reality to once again lay a cruel fact upon the hawk as he stared upon the enchanted swan. "Selina…"

A vertiginous pulse mephitically suffused in a rampant- nauseous wake; as the Brooklyn drawl of Steve's exhausted timbre brushingly graced a tentative-brotherly caress of telltale urgency over the lithe svelteness of her deadened form. Blurrily, Selina warded off arrestive onrushes of knifing contractions; lithely dragging her mahogany-tipped ivory feathered wing in blinded precision, slumberous grogginess feverishly overlapped her vision as she deftly gripped onto shreds of tactical neoprene that restrictedly encompassed over her lady-bird form. Involuntary, with a conscious variance of her tempered mobility, Selina eased the delicate-sleekier curvatures of her feathered head queasily off the putrid rancidly of clumped dirt."S-Steve..." she murmured against threaded breaths, raspily. "Ooh..."

"I got you," the feathery hawk reached out his talon-feathers to try and gently steady the swan on her webbed feet. The world spun and they held tight not to fall into a spiraling daze of dizziness. But the waking reality they were facing didn't change the irrefutable fact that they weren't human. Not any more. The Enchantress had done the very thing she had sworn to do to Thor, and perhaps Bucky. "Stay with me," he trilled beneath his beak. He could feel the Vanaheim witch's shadow looming over them and knew that whatever control she had over them was about to be exerted. "Just play along, we'll get out of this." He urged the swan.

As Steve's lengthy feathered wing chastely ghosted pacifying heat over the svelte lankiness of her elongated neck; against the cursive raid hear-splitting of her morphic deviance, gawkily on her black-webbed feet, involuntarily the Venetian swan braced the fringe of her mahogany-tipped wings over the roughened bark of a tree, voluptuous-feathery- exquisiteness of her ravishingly-enchanted sylphlike form unstintingly eased with balletic traction of her wonkier footing, as her autumn-brandy irises mistily gleamed with the naked rawness of evicted alarm. "S-Soldier boy..." she rasped out voiceless heaves, and distressingly gazed at Avenger-hawk's lithe contours strikingly adorned with bluish-slivery feathers that virilely contrasted with streaks of blonde-he was adamantly gorgeous for a patriotic bird. "Can't say I'm liking your new look..." she bantered with a, flintier pitch, sultrily, nothing detracted her brazen play of deadpanned snarkiness. "I guess we did rattle the witch's cage, huh?"

Before Steve could respond he was blasted by a field of green sorcery that ensnared him like a noose. He didn't struggle this time, finding he had almost no strength left to resist the Enchantress' wrath as she levitated him off the ground and held him directly in front of her. Her green eyes, beautiful but vicious, smiled at him as she clicked her tongue, ready to command him.

"You will not defy me, dear Captain..." Flexing her gauntleted wrist, vitriolically, against a raving hiss, with kneading ministrations, Amora brushed her index finger in a possessive succession over Steve's curved beak, as telekinetic pulses of verdigris skeins of energy bone-grippingly infused his tuffed feathers, the predatory steeliness of his azure orbs blanked owlishly with astral heat of her resolve incarnate as he flappingly thrashed his wings. "Embrace the shackled dregs of your wretched form," Waspishly, she cast a sidelong glance at the snowy feathered lady-bird uneasily nesting on her ripped tactical garb."...or I will destroy James Barnes's adoring swan maiden without a flit of consequence..."

Her threat breached his defiance and Steve felt himself brought even lower to a point he could find no means of fighting back. The evil woman wasn't just powerful but also cunning in her way of manipulation. Steve was never a man willing to sacrifice the lives of those he fought with and cared for. He would be the one willing to lay down on the wire and let the others climb over him. Selina didn't sign up for this. Neither did Bucky. But as he watched the creature that was Selina discreetly begin to waddle her way towards the woods, he knew that sometimes the path to victory meant temporary defeat.

The swan was a symbol of purity to the world and one that a deadly hawk would dutifully protect, even if it meant taking the fall. Gazing into the Enchantress' eyes, Steve found his resolve to hoped to God that he was making the right decision. "All right...You got me." The mental barriers he used to protect himself shattered like glass in that instance, and the Enchantress' raw power consumed his mind, causing him to let out an ear-splitting screech into the night skies.

Harnessing the furtive collectiveness of her inventive precision, thievingly Selina reached for her iPhone, conveniently the electronic device was still intact as she briskly hefted up her feathery wing, gliding the length of her ivory skeins with virtuosic delicateness over the phone's tinier keyboard; every hazardous-dicey- second felt atomically rigged against insatiable-ghoulish mayhem concussively encompassing the forested warren, she couldn't allow the grief-stricken Asgardian newcomers to become demonically harvested for Amora's zombified death-walkers. "This better work..." she gritted thinly, sending an'urgent text' message to Wanda's dialing number as she gazed at the Avenger-hawk soaring upwards as he propelled out his wingspan like jet-rushing warbird above her. "Bring the heat, Wands..."

As the brackish stench of Norwegian sea refreshingly sailed from the darkened cliffside, mossed-sheathed henges of the ancestral Viking tribes bordered the craggy edge, dolmens engraved with the runic- circular sigils of the Bi-Frost. It was a transcendental-gateway that branched from the cosmic veins of Yggdrasil, a conductor that Odin had electrifyingly utilized when he descended to Midgard during the Bronze Age of Scandinavian warcraft-now historic sentinels of Viking lore-forgotten -hellacious emergence of mortal strife that vented on the carrion-razed grounds of bloodshed.

Carrying the incarnate mantle of his beloved father wouldn't valiantly define Thor's sired-thunderous- reign of being a true son of Odin, all traitorous errors-deception- that conceived his bloodline needed to be staunched out: for good.

Clutching onto the knotted-Groot arm- handle of Stormbreaker with a voltaic flex of his pudgier cloth-sheathed hand, broodily Thor registered lament knells of Nordic ambiance -orchestral requiems to grant worthy passage for the befallen souls of Asgard to the gloriously majestic halls of Valhalla (Valhöll)-where the victorious-noble-hearted slain of Asier journey into vales of eternity after crossing the rivers of Fólkvangr-the banks of his mother's reign.

Countless lives of his displaced people were tragically cleaved apart when the merciless alien executioners- the Black Order had bloodthirstily massacred Asgardian refugees on the transport ark vessel that Loki had stolen from the freakish-crazed Grandmaster during Korg's gladiator ranks uprising—by the vaticinal helm of the 'crab-sack' Mad-Titian, who impaled a genocidal pandemonium of traumatic-butcherous devastation within the decimated transport ship, all to obtain the energy cube-Tesseract- because of Loki's insidious-damnable play of sabotaging trickery. He defeatedly lost his brother under the skull-crushing grip of Thanos's colossal deliverance of neck-breaking mercy.

"The sun will shine on us again, brother...'

Grunting raggedly, as Bucky stubbily trotted down the hillside notches of eroded stone, as his warred resistance became numbingly deadened against the catatonic-fattening divergence of unabated hunger throes; he churningly felt the morphic bloatedness of Amora's penetrative-abdominous witchery was exponentially outstretching the protrusive rotundity of his girth into squishier flab—nothing availed.

"Grah...I kinda feel like a furry marshmallow," Bucky quipped snarkily, as fissionable onrushes of his untrammeled appetite crescendoed in a stuporous wake as the nectareous sugariness of juicy plums had arrestingly revamped his gluttonous impulse piggily ravage the backpack of rations strapped .

Jutting the furred length of his tusked- snout, Bucky demandingly nudged against Thor's booted calf, against the unalterable strain of his tactless aggression, he gnawed ornerily at threadbare leather, biting the ratty material with harsher tugs. "C'mon Thor..." he grunted in raspier timbre, snobbishly."Quit hoggin' everything to yourself..."

"This is where my father said Asgard is not a place but people..." Thor sniffed in a grumblier resonance, sullenly, digging his pudgy sheathed hand into the backpack, rummaging for another beer can. "Odin vanished into dust specks because Loki stripped his Asier power and banished him before I had a chance to save him ...Everyone I loved is gone, for some twisted miracle, I endure because that's what failures do..."

Unkemptily tresses of shaggier brunette errantly clung over his puckering snout, as he glaringly drove the grayish-sapphire of his unwavering irises at the bedraggled Asgardian ZZ Top, lifting a crushed beer can sloppily to his bristly -swelled lips with glugged moan. "Y'alight Thor..." the sniper boar drawled, throatily in murmurous grunt, quashing down an oinking breath, as he sniffed telltale wetness-angst dampening greasily over Thor's grizzled beard. "Hell, you gotta stop blamin' yourself for what happened..." he treaded, gromlessly in croaky pitch, twitching his furred snout. "What M' try'na to say... uh...we can't let this damn weight gain put us on the ropes..."

A sarcastic chuckle had fluttered past Thor's wet lips that were awashed with the repugnant taste of alcohol. "I don't suffer needlessly, Friend James." He said with a frazzled voice that sounded as if he were half-asleep. "Have you never stopped to think perhaps we are suffering the price of our past misdeeds? Our failures?" His empty expression never left as he stared at a wet splotch in the ground that was revealed by the rivulets of blood on the leaves. As he listened to the hog grunt in apparent confusion, the bloated Asgardian shrugged as he sank back against a tree and slowly slid to the ground. "I've seen the same pain in your eyes-the same remorse of killing so many, and failing so many. How are we not guitless?" He said with a broken voice, so unlike the boastful proud warrior that could inspire legions, but rather like a withered soul close to leaving its empty shell.

Trying his damnedest to ground his bulbous mass, grimacingly Bucky hoofed a brewskie can with sluggish precision towards a stone marker, every collapsible second of undeterred restraint had consumingly saddled him into porcine dregs as his grayish-aquamarine irises dismally gazed at the crestfallen Asgardian Thunderer's flabbier hand indifferently slipping into a frayed satchel that was loosely strapped underneath lumpish pudge of his globbed-up swelled paunch-clutching an irresistible jumbo-sized Kit-Kat bar; his furred snout raptly pinched into a taunted scrunch. "Yeah, it's a question that kinda pops in my head," he quipped in throatier pitch, dryly. "Guess a kid from Brooklyn never quits..."

With a cautious wabble, innately Bucky hankered down on his chubbier backside near the massiveness of Thor's bulked-Aesir solidity, emitting a half-exhausted grunt. "I know bad things are gonna keep happenin' to guys us.." he admitted ruefully, angling his snout down with heart-racking ease. Thor was the heir of Odin-a true champion of Asgard, not a mechanical-enhanced' Siberian beast machine', surgically condemned to a traumatic -lobotomized penance of guilt-riddled amnesia.

While in a catatonic-bloodstained drift as HYDRA's muzzled ghost sniper operative, he did unforgivable horrors of HYDRA killswitch terminations. Every choked-off scream distorted into an electrical-mechanized frequency of radio static. "You're not damaged goods, Thor, hell, not like me...I've done things you can't shake off..." he grunted with a contemptuous scrunch, despairingly. "If anyone deserves this damn strike-out...It's gotta be me."

A remorseful Thor looked at the hog beside him in a new curious light as he realized his speech was becoming further from human and yet he understood him still all the same. The All-Speak of course afforded him such a blessing, but the Asgardian knew enough to realize that he understood the hog because as the seconds ticked by he was succumbing to the same fate as him. He knew his words of despair had inadvertently caused his friend emotional pain by reminding him of unwilling sins from the past. Thor leaned towards him with a hand raised. "James, you cann-aauggh!"

It was as if he had been pierced by a knife in the darkness. The jolt of agony that ripped through his body was unseen, dark, and cold. The bloated Asgardian king tumbled over onto his side with a hand held against his massive gut. His bluish-gray eyes were wide with his lips pressed tight into a harsh grimace. It spoke volumes of the discomfort surging throughout his body that he wouldn't abate. "I-I can't without it any longer." He groaned, spasming as his flesh became enveloped in patches of fur spreading like wildfire across his body. The hog in front of him oinked and looked on in distress.

A tremulous aura of voltaic heat pulsed flashingly over the furrier pudginess of Thor's fisting hand, as the bladed Uru edges of his Stormbreaker ax, became disarmingly cemented into the ground. In gut-lurching reaction, Bucky wobbled back, as rampant pants of oinkish cadence snortingly vented out of his upturned nostrils, as the floored rawness of his beadier aqueous depths trepidatiously narrowed at the bloodied-mutative extensions of Thor's jutted incisors freakishly crooking out of his quivery underlip with bone-splintering traction. Nakedly, a possessive barrage of sorcerous anguish forced his globous rotundity into deadweight, the strained material of his lounge pants tearingly ripped as excessive-lardier mounds of glozing flesh became alarmingly pinkish as skeins of blonde fur hedged over his muscled thighs.

Underneath the ratty muss of Thor's straggly braided dreadlocks, the rounded flesh of his ears floppily widened into a beastly length of the morphic accord, groaning out pained breaths raggedly, in vertiginous-uncontrollable tempo, he anchored the fleshier bands that melded his bulgy forearms with heavier momentum as phalange bones of his deforming hands split into an engorged mass that irrevocably fused into a bloodied obsidian hoof. Convulsively in blinded distress, the hulkish Asgardian warrior-king flailed spasmodically within his rumped garments against the ballooning wake of porcine obesity as the sagged of bearded jaw grossly fused with blondish-gray fur —emitting out snorty -guttural heaves, Bucky urgently nudged his tusked snout into cushiony globbiness of Thor's blimped-out girth. "You gotta fight this...Damnit." he grunted, pressingly."C-Can't let her win..."

"D-Damn you, Amora…" A disgruntled curse spewed past his drenched lips that spewed saliva onto the floor. A heaving lurch rattled his rotund mass as he struggled to right himself. Instead, the blondish furry pig released a choking roar and emptied the contents of his stomach all over the ground in a violent spasm. "Aarrgggghh...What was that- that I ate?" Thor mumbled. He felt considerably lighter and more focused. This wasn't his first foray into the realm of transformation, but he couldn't recall it being this unpleasant in the past. He listened to the groan of disgust coming from his porky companion and flashed him a friendly smile. "Ready for another adventure, my new friend?" He waddled forwards bumped his mass against Bucky's shoulder in what would've been the human equivalent of a pat on the back.

Emitting a derisive grunt, with an onerous scrunched wrinkling his tusked snout, Bucky uttered out 'ooph' as he backslid wobbly on his stubbed hooves against the burlier Asgardian hog's affable momentum flabbily ramming into the humped blobbiness of his tensing shoulders. Keeping himself poised with tactical impassiveness, he became attuned to forested dissonance of nocturnal denizens that ravenously marked their paunchy-hoggish forms into a kill-zone. His floppy-spaded ears twitched on a defensive accord with a cautious tilt of his snout. "Yeah...Okay we gotta make sure that we're not really..." He oinked moodily, with a droolier breath globbing over his puckered underlip, and shifted his aquamarine depths towards a notched dolmen shadowing the cliffside-they needed to hide fast."... being followed, cause I get the feelin' those attack dogs are gonna us on helluva of a run..."

"Verily. Amora won't rest until she has us strung up and ripped apart by her ghouls." Thor added which did nothing to soothe Bucky's increasing anxiety over their situation. For his part, Thor only appeared as bothered as if his favorite shoes had been stained. The Asgardian boar was of course larger than Bucky in both stature and mass. His natural height and weight had apparently transitioned over to his new form which meant he was not an entirely helpless hog waiting to be gutted. But it also meant couldn't be as stealthy and would make it much easier for their pursuers to catch on to. As Thor waddled between the trees with Bucky beside him, they found it harder to make their way through the darkness that seemed to stretch for miles until they stopped dead when a screech pierced the night skies.

A galvanic pulse of visceral urgency had electrifyingly imploded over towering pines, as whitish auras of moonlight ethereally flashed over a hawk-like silhouette that predatorily sailed above them with vigilant precision; it was definitely a raptor-hawk. Stretching out his flesh-gouging talons to deliver a lashing strike, the feathered intruder screechingly readied for a dive-bomb sweep, his vitreous-azure orbs widened into a soulless back as he slashingly delivered his attack over the chubbiest boar's furred rump, viciously thrashing his dagger-edged wings in fiercer-blinding succession. "Y-You're not gonna run..."

Thor released a gut-wrenching squeal that before none would expect to draw from the Asgardian Avenger. The knife-digging excruciating pain of talons ripping into his furry flesh sent licks of white-hot agony through his body that couldn't be ignored. The stinging pain was like a scolded burn that pulsed and took on a life of its own as the hog grunted and heaved, throwing himself back into the shadow of the trees while Bucky did the same. "Stay out of sight," Thor groaned, shuddering as the pain slowly began to subside but leaving him feeling shaken by the suddenness of it. What the hell had just attacked him? That was no ordinary hawk.

Unkemptily, as his shaggier chestnut tresses strayed over the jowly pudge of his tusked snout, banking down his tenacious-hellbent spirit, with combative tack, Bucky enforced his wobbling pace a breadth underneath a canopy of pined branches as he reacted to the sky-diving aggressiveness that swoopingly over them; a whipsawed assault of raptor-like talons cuttingly dragged bloodied treks over furred lumpish of globbiness of Thor's exposed back."Damnit..." A half-drawn grunt scathingly rented out of the Brooklyn hog, as he furrowed the overlapping flab of his brow into a concentrative pinch, and lowered his blobbier rotundity into a mid-crouch on his cloven-hooves, as jacked-off awareness exceedingly drove the razored coolness of his sniper vision unblinkingly up at the high perch, gazing at their winged attacker-a bluish feathered hawk- latched over a gnarly branch. "There-" he jutted out his snout against a full-throated grunt, breathlessly. "We gotta knock him off..."

"Aye. Leave that to me," Thor took in deep panting breaths, his mind suddenly far from the thought of a warm comfortable couch and a box of pop-tarts and now diving into the thick of confrontation. Literally. His rotund heavy mass was dragged and thrown from its hiding spot as he charged into the trunk of the tree. He threw his waist rather than his head, the heaviest part of his body that could withstand a club. His weight smashed against the trunk of the tree, causing its branches to groan and snap. "Hyraah!" He cried as he did it a second time, harder than the last. The cawing of the hawk pierced the skies as the winged predator lost grip of his perch and fell between the branches, trapped as he tumbled down to the ground.

A strobing onslaught of phosphorus white blindingly racked through him, numbingly akin to high-voltage of a kimoyo taser; against a careening headrush, the Avenger-hawk screeched out deafening pitch, arcing the sharpened-edges of his bluish-gray wings to instinctively shield the graven litheness of his feathery girth. "Argh...T-Thor-" he choked out stammeringly in Brooklyn timbre, losing defensive grip on his dagger-edged talons, backstroking his wings he thuddingly collapsed on his back. "G-Get out of here...They're comin' fast..."

"...Steve?" Thor and Bucky exchanged a mutual look in their disconcertion. It couldn't be. Had they imagined his voice? Part of them hoped that they had; holding onto the hope that Steve and Selina hadn't suffered the same fates as them. The bird-hawk's feathers were a distinct indigo blue with flecks of azure. His eyes didn't reveal dilated pupils but a distinct awareness-a familiarity that was undoubtedly human. "Damn." Thor cursed with dismay. "I suppose the mission did go off as planned?"

"Y-You gotta run. Both of you," Steve cawed before he suddenly swiped at the startled hog with his wing, causing a gust of soil to swash into Thor's face. "C-Can't fight her...for long," the Avenger-hawk's talons dug into the earth, trying desperately to keep himself rooted and not surrender to the urge to pierce the pig's throat with his beak. "B-Buck...Selina, she…"

"Steve, my friend..." Tamping down a heart-knifing throb at the alarming revelation at his shield-tossing-teammate-friend- was morphically downsized into a predatory bird, Thor curbed down the unwarrantable tenor of onrushing defeat that was skyrocketing into detonative acceleration as reality became tectonically fissionable like he was trudging on depth charges; an empyreal convergence of psionic aster eldritchly scythed over the Bi-Frost dolmen henges—the earthen conductors of the Nine Realms—the deistic vitality of the All-fathers. "We must stop Amora's madness..." Thor grunted, boomingly, as he stomped his chunkier forehoof with hammering momentum over the hawk's thrashing wing. His cerulean depths grew fiercer alight with turbulent intensity as bluish-white of voltaic heat stormily pulsed as he gazed at his Titian-slayer battle-ax. "We need to fight together..."

Bating out a tremulous breath as she registered distressing screeches emanating out of Steve's beak, daintily Selina waddled out of the shadowed underbrush; the cool satiny pearlescence of her milky-white feathers ethereally contoured against the sleekier-fineness of her curvaceous girth, making her appear like an untouchable sirenic incarnate against the radiance of moonlight that burnished over the svelte arc of her mahogany-fringed wings. Involuntarily with practiced variances of her balletic graces, she twirlingly pivoted on her webbed-feet; her dark irises captured vaporous glyphs energy merging with the dolmens-a beacon point to lure the zombied swarm at their proximity-they were the fresh appetizers. With a brusque snap of her beak, she quipped under breath, snarkily. "This is better a good thrill...'

Slung lankily over the delicate curves of her graceful neck, knotted scraps of neoprene concealed the salvaged arsenal of Wakandian kimoyo beads; the skeletal Élivágar cavalcade was hellishly swarming their advance as she caught the vomitous reek of decayed-wormy flesh stinkily assailing over the northward forest."The spooky party is coming fast, boys..." Selina prompted in threadier pitch, raspily, as the clangourous volumes of corpse-worn armor deafeningly amplified in rabid-berserk succession. They pegged in a warzone.

Incredulously, Selina flashed her dark-brandy irises at the heart-devastatingly sight of two obesely blimp-out hogs; the furrier grayish-chestnut boar dumbfoundedly stretched his jowelly underlip agape, hitching out nasally snorts. "James..." Against the mirrored cadence of irrevocable-stunned- breathlessness, with ephemeral coolness of her feathery wing, Selina achingly caressed a phantom brush of visceral-sensuous reverence over a shagged thatch of wolfish brunette fur that grungily draped over the chubbier folds of his tusked-snout.

"Don't say anything..." she coaxed, breathily, edging her delicate beak shiveringly over the bulging flab of his sagging cheek with nameless urgency as she tearily gazed into mesmeric frostiness of his aquamarine irises-gliding the headier silkiness of her curved feathers kittenishly over his swelled underlip, even behind the fattish grossness of his beastlier-hoggish form, undeniably she reached for him."Well, you do make an exception for an oinking chubb-ball..."

The sudden appearance of the ivory-feathered swan caused Bucky's mind to ground to a halt as he entered total shock. If the appearance of the hell-diving hawk turning out to be his best friend wasn't alarming enough, the presence of the mesmerizing swan speaking to him with the voice of the woman he loves pushed things over the edge. "Selina?!" He was equal parts amazed but also saddened by what his kitten had endured. This chaotic mess had delivered one tragedy after the other to him and his teammates but now that they were together, even as transformed animals, Bucky couldn't help but feel mildly reassured. He took in the swan as she waddled forwards towards him, pausing near a shrub of bushes where the moonlight offered a clear view.

Even in the dim-night, he could see trace amounts of her in the swan's stature as she c*** her head at him. He couldn't help but release an amused grunt. "Its a good look on you, darlin'." In an attempt to lighten the mood, his countenance turned playful. "Does this mean you'll be layin' some eggs soon? I mean, it has been a few days since we…" He let that comment hang in the air for her to grasp, and he half wondered what sort of sassy comeback she'd deliver to him in her new form.

"Better play down a different card on that, handsome..." Selina retorted against a laconic breath, snarkily and with a blithe quirk of her beak, utilizing distractive-ambivalent coolness of her lithe poise, vehemently, she played deviant nonchalance as the gravelly suaveness of his oinking timbre became arrestingly evident to Bucky's toothily smirk that conveyed piggish-boyish- dorkiness as he unabashedly snorted out a throaty chuckle. Dazedly, on his cloven-hooves, feigning a heavier wobble, angling his furred snout Bucky headily nudged a chaste tracery of amorous pressure over her wing—just enough to feel her with virile sweetness; the contrast addicted her as every moist graze of his snout nakedly invested a tangible-cherishing reverence of over her ivory feathers. Giving him a sardonic glare of tigerish- brandy, Selina teasingly whirled around on her webbed feet with a subtle vixenish sashay that unnervingly flitted her tail feathers. "Careful, Barnes, I might enjoy keeping you guessing..."

"I'm rather good at this guessing you speak of..." The rotundest of the ensorcelled-warrior- hogs interjected in gruffer pitch jocosely, easing his brawlier weight off the Avenger-hawk's slacken wing; Thor gruntingly shifted his vitric- cerulean depths at the infuriated-bodacious-swan maiden who pointedly knifed him with a dead-straight glare of her rapt disgust, as he smugly gestured a forehoof intently at the neoprene sash that readily adorned over the busty curves of her feathered girth."I like feisty lady-bird of yours, friend James, she can gladly join us the battle..."

"Knowing her, I'd say she's a few steps ahead of us, Thor." Bucky impishly praised her with a knowing glint in his blue eyes. Those who underestimated a cat and tried to cage them were met with claws when they least expected it. Before he could continue with his line of thought, the group became alert to the snarling noises of undead drudgery encroaching on them.

"Unfortunately, so are they." Steve cawed with a painful grimace as he hid his head between his wings. The telltale sliver of sorcery creeping up his spine was like a knife being dragged upon his skin, warning him that his oppressor wasn't quite through trying to reign him back in. "We-We can't stay out in the open like this," he flapped his wings furiously, perching himself up on a rock to get a good view of the 100 or so undead Asgardians that were trudging towards them.

He knew their chances of defeating a score of monsters like this was small if not impossible in their current state. But he knew there were different ways to fight and outsmart the enemy.

As the miasmal fumes of carrion flesh stinkingly assailed over their exposed proximity, Selina quickly unknotted her neoprene sash, revealing her Wakandian arsenal. "Yeah, it's not much to beat the dodge with boys..." she quipped under breath, ruefully, and with painstaking ease of unhampered reaction, she grazed her feathered wing shiftily over the vibranium EMP bead, activating a nano pulse wave as the nsibidi sigils glowed bluish amethyst in sonic fruition."We need to keep these worm-fests distracted from reaching Tubby's new home..."

"You know I love it when you come prepared to a fight, darlin', but I'm not so sure its gonna be as easy as that for us." Bucky sighed with a pitch of anxiety creeping into his bones. His hoggish form gave him something of a sixth sense when it came to observing the world around him. He could hear as far as the wind blew, and what he was hearing was the gnashing snarls of ravenous hunger that begged to be sated. Those ghouls were undead and hunting them down, and something told him they weren't in the mood for birds on the menu. Thor for his part didn't appear too bothered which probably meant he was too used to these sort of scenarios involving monsters. 'Well good for you, blondie.' Bucky thought with a touch of annoyance. "We need a plan of attack. Steve?" Bucky asked their new eyes and ears in the sky who seemed to be in deep thought.

"Enchantress wants us to feel helpless into what she made us. Wants us to give up and become chow or her puppet on strings; prove to the world that we're all muscle and no spirit. I say we prove her wrong." The hawk snaps his gaze to his friends, an elusive swan, a headstrong pig, and a reckless boar. They had their strengths and weaknesses, but together they could prove to be a devastating combo, and maybe-just maybe, they could aggravate Amora enough to get her out into the open.

"Someone needs to play the hag's mark of interest..." Selina murmured cunningly, gesturing a wing intently on readied accord at the blondish furred-dumpier Asgardian boar who sloppily munched on pieces of granola bar that he undoubtingly snagged out the raided backpack. "Time to work up your fast charm, Tubby..." Gritting against sardonic breaths, she angled her taut beak with a fleering smirk, challengingly. "Or maybe you should roll on your back for a belly rub..."

Thor released an uncharacteristic snort that the others weren't sure was a chuckle or a scoff as he finished chowing down his snack. Bucky half-wondered where he was keeping these granola bars he seemed to be pulling out of thin-air. Steve shook his head at their candor and began to flap his wings to gain altitude. "Just don't get killed out there. Your best weapon is to evade and distract. Bucky and I will draw as many of Enchantress' bogies away from the city. Thor we need you to draw her out into the open. And when she is...that's your cue, Selina." Steve could feel the unease rolling off of Bucky's shoulders at the thought of Selina putting herself so close to that witch's wrath.

But as a swan, she had the best chance of all of them at getting close to Amora. Once Steve flapped away into the skies, Bucky hesitated a moment to follow after him as he shifted his dismal gaze to the ivory-feathered swan. "You gonna be all right, darlin'?" He asked worriedly.

Despite they were on the conjured fringe of butcherous throes of a nightmarish warzone, smirkingly as Selina heard the pudgy sniper-hog's murmurous drawl edged with suaver a timbre, in a naked-headier contrast of unabandoned precision invested with the feather-light pressure of her wing, she caressed his drizzly snout in reverent tempo; she pillowed her tinier head against cushy flab of his cheek, stoking up an implosive rush of breakneck adrenaline. "Don't worry about me, handsome..." she urged, bluntly, as he grunted in fervent strain, cravingly riding out another duel of heartbeats with her. "Besides when do I ever get caught..."

"Never before, so don't start now." He murmured against her slender neck. He immersed himself in their intimate proximity, and the comfort it brought him to know that no matter what forms they were in, they were together. But as he listened to Thor's anxious grumbling while the snarling undead drew closer, Bucky knew that they couldn't stay this way for too long. "See you soon, kitten." With that, Bucky watched her flap away to carry out her role in this plan. Thor meanwhile released a deep grunt as he stepped out into the clearing to face the oncoming horde.

In an undeterred measure of teeming seconds, verdigris salvos of telestic energy blindingly lanced through forested darkness; cacophonous banshee-like screeches of demonic rabidness emanated out berserker unison 'army of one' as greenish-acid sigils veined over mottled skeletal flesh underneath gnarled layers of black chainmail as the Élivágar ranks ghostily mobilized to battle-charge their first wave of terror assault on the seaside ridge. Helmed deformities of jutted cheekbones lolled on iron-armored shoulders erratically, as hollowed-out visages of Odin's slain-honorable warriors who defended the citadels of Asgard had tragically become the Enchantress's wraith slayers-vessels of her conquesting-massacring butchery as their leathery fingers thrust up warped edges of Nerco spears, hailing to usher tides of slaughterous carnage. "T-This can't be..." Thor grunted breathlessly, staring at the disgraced fallen.

In the midst of Thor's sorrow over his fallen brethren, a cinder-furred hog and a blonde hawk charge towards the ghoulish horde by land and air. The cold night air nipped at them with the roaring wind smothered by the monstrous groans carried by the horde. They numbered in over two dozen, men and women charged with building a new settlement on the outskirts of New Asgard until Amora's deathly magic sucked away their life-force and then reanimated them as lifeless constructs. They were spread out to cover more ground on the barren fields, which made it easier for the hog and the hawk to run through them.

Bucky suppressed the knife-digging fear that came with the anticipation of being tackled and ripped to pieces as he charged through the numerous walking undead, stealing their focus as they gnashed their teeth and snarled at him in pursuit. Others were unprepared for the bird of prey swooping down on massive wings only to dig its talons into their eyesockets and scrape the dead flesh from their withered faces. Aerial combat was something Steve never felt comfortable at, preferring to keep his feet on the ground, but as he dived, attacked and retreated he found himself falling into an easy pattern that enabled him to carry out their diversion.

"Whoa!" Bucky squealed as he saw three undead prepared to block his path as they converged on his location. He didn't need to turn around to know that he was being surrounded. Acting on sheer adrenaline, the hog continued his break-neck pace and barreled right through the calves of a construct, causing its limbs to tear completely by the sheer force of his charge. Bucky ignored the gruesome feeling that wafted through him and continued on his path. He looked upwards to see Steve circling the horde, cawing at them in loud piercing volume. "We got em', Steve!" Bucky grunted as he realized the horde had their entire focus on both him and Steve and not on Thor and Selina.

With a serpentine variance of her encroaching pace, bedizened in her emerald cloaked garment, as the intricate winged-curved headpiece aesthetically fused over the sleekness of her cheekbones, skeins of viridian-Nordic- runes etched hypnotically giving her an ophidian visage of a tyrannic cobra; Amora haughtily sidestepped discarded remnants of chainmail armor melded with sloughed bones that dissolvingly glozed with tarry resin that viscidly seeped into mud-dampened earth; gripping onto the leather-buckled straps of Captain America's vibrainum shield, tauntingly Amora upped her seized Midgardian trophy as the alloy deflected off whitish scones of moonlight as her steel-grayish irises covetously became fixed on Nidavellir forged ax-Stormbreaker- a harvester weapon of mortal cleansing.

"It seems you have lost your worthiness as that fattened Dwarven vessel conceived by my will, Odinson..." A viperish sneer wickedly tempered over the voluminous swell of her ashen lips, as she glared at the porkier blondish-furred hog, who slouchily dragged the bulbous expanse of his protrusive underbelly over emptied Élivágar helmets. "By your continuous failures..." Vauntingly, Amora gestured her lithe fingers over skeletal dregs of carious flesh. "You have damned those wretched souls of your craven realm to become gutted out by my Twilight legion..."

The hollowness of the abyss he felt within himself and made Thor feel lifeless for the past few years. Ever since he lost his home, his lover, his friends, his family...his brother. He had tried to fill that void by indulging in gluttony and discord. But the pain never abated. If anything, his string of failures had seemed to become a constant as he found himself without the will to raise himself up from his pit of squalor and self-pity. That was until a fateful meeting with his mother-compassionate Friggia-across time and space and set him back on a path towards resurgence. The way back to fighting strength was a path to becoming worthy again-worthy of the thunder, of becoming king of Asgard.

"Failed?" He huffed with a deep snorting breath. "Perhaps I did once, allowing my rage to blind me to my duty. Of being decisive as my father taught me to. But I am not Odin, Amora. Nor am I any longer the Thor you would charm with honeyed words and love potions. I am an Avenger." The boar stomped his hooves, grunting with such ferocity, the ground shook as a clap of thunder roared in the heavens, unsettling the Vanaheim sorceress. "And If I must die to save what remains of my brethren, so be it. But I won't be going it alone!"

Dredging up his thunderous ferocity that jacked through his bulgy flab, ragingly on his cloven-hooves, with an immense onrush of his full-strength resilience of battle-honed gnarl, bearishly Thor propelled his unstoppable momentum into headlong-charge of apparent ramming, heftily angling the jutted curves of his tusks with flesh-gouging precision into her ironclad calf. Animalistic hostility was notching-up as the blondish grizzly hog snorted in ragged-guttural abandoned.

Not wavering in her grounded footing, cobra-quick readiness, Amora slithery caught his reckless trajectory of defensive intent, evading his bull-rushing pace. "If you dare to strike me down, Odinson your wretched friends will serve to feed my legion..."Amora fumed, seethingly, gazing at the voltaic embers of his whitish-cobalt irises become searingly electrified-the uncontainable-untamed vitality of Asgard -lightning of the Nine Realms was infinitely converging through him.

Bracing against the heavier gusts of Thor's hoof-stomping momentum, as her platinum-blonde tresses whip-lashed over her tensing jaw, venomously, Amora flexed a gauntleted hand with conducting prowess-orchestrating her rhapsodic symphony of blood-smeared mayhem. "Perhaps you must endure a graver reality of true defeat when I snuff out the heart of valor you have anchored onto ..." she hissed out with crazier pitch, ravingly, gazing at the hellbent sniper-hog aggressively punctured a bonier torso of a zombied Élivágar soldier with screwdriver precision of his tusked snout, blackish-oozier sludge of glopping leathery flesh pulpily hung over crimped armor. "Or should I chasten, dear James, further into his gluttonous oblivion...?"

Gliding over the battlemented corpse-infested warren, stealthily against exhilarative rushes that surged over her ivory wings, become a white silhouette of ethereal radiance against nocturnal contrasts of shadow cuttingly Selina flapped with diving graces in an instinctive succession of weightless momentum, keeping her black-webbed feet tucked under the silken velvetiness of her tail feathers as involuntarily she registered tremulous quakes that ratcheted ground-deep, vaporous tentacles of Eldritch-mephitic energy had cyclonically morphed into obsidian-verdurous Nerco spires that deafeningly jutted out with bursting force creating an obstructive bulwark, that chased her exposed flight path."I guess it's gonna be a hard play..." she quipped, breathily, narrowing her dark irises calculatingly at Thor's derailed position. "Great..."

Thor felt the power of the thunder surging throughout his boarish body, engulfing him with the might of a thousand storms. But without the physical strength of his Asgardian body to channel his power, he was like an electric eel aimlessly moving about in the hopes of striking his oppressor. Amora was cunning, swift and knew him well enough to anticipate his maneuvers. He did not expect to defeat her on his own.

With her focus squarely concentrated on himself, it left her blind to all that surrounded her such as the ivory swan diving towards her for an attack. Only to his dismay, he watched as the Enchantress proved herself more attentive than he had given her credit for as she maneuvered and struck Selina with a compulsion spell, causing the swan to drop the beads held by her beak and to wander listlessly off. An evil cackle wafted from Amora's emerald painted lips, mocking their efforts to subdue her.

"Enough, Amora! This is between you and I!" Thor stomped his hooves into the ground with such anger it caused a bolt of lightning to strike a tree, setting a fire into the night. The cawing of a hawk breached the chaos as Steve circled the field and made a desperate dive to retrieve the kimono beads that Selina had dropped. But Enchantress' eyes followed him with a gleam of malice.

Against the feverish periphery of her vision, scowlingly Amora gazed at the Avenger-hawk razoring the length his wingspan over barren heaps of smoldering armor; she hefted up the shield, white forks of electrified heat discharged in atmospheric succession as cosmic energy of Yggdrasill galvanically impaled branches through anvil-sized of thunderheads dauntingly looming over the Northern horizon. Carnally with unslaked vulturous thirst, she flashed Thor a viperish sneer as implosive seismic tremors became a distraction in the damning wake of her sorcerous mantra that balefully resonated in commenting tenor, as reddish-astral- glyphs of a destroyer incantation demonically arced over her flexing hand. 'La krigerånden gi etter for dødelig nederlag ...(Let his warrior spirit yield to grounds of mortal defeat...)"

"NO!" Thor released a chilling squeal as arcs of nefarious sorcery shot towards the hawk with the precision of a lance cutting through the air. The hawk had no time to react before he was struck mid-air with the burning grip of eldritch magic ravaging him from the inside out. A strangled cry ripped from his beak, as he spun in concentric circles like a smoking turbine. Time ground to a halt as the second hog watched in muted horror as the hawk that was his best friend began to fall from the skies.

"STEVE!" Bucky squealed, unable to control his stride as he slid across the ground, coming to a stop beside Thor. Down the hawk fell in free-fall, giving neither movement nor sound as he plummeted into the lake where he vanished beneath the surface.

Within seconds of heart-stunned reaction, like a silvery bullet against the gleams of moonlight, irrevocably Selina dove into the darken murkiness of the disturbed lake, urgently she pushed every unbridled limit of her curvaceous form as her feathery wing throbbingly reached through drifts as she deftly scooped up the motionless hawk- that alarmingly became deadweight-she didn't let go. Breaching the surface in a desperate rush against gnarled lashes of muggy reeds, nakedly she felt a visceral tempo of dynamical -brotherly grace; a virtuous heartbeat stoppingly flat-ling against ivory contours of her feathered girth. Angling her delicate beak on the reverent accord, she cradled Steve with tentative hoist over her tremulous wings, as straying heat of feverous wetness errantly dampened his bluish feathers. "S-Steve..." she murmured in choking hitches, sobbingly, feeling no pulse edging back under her unfeigned caress. "W-We can't let this damn hag cheat us out..."

The Hawk couldn't respond with the strength to offer reassurance as he teetered on the brink between life and total darkness. He felt cold, detached from his own body despite the fact he was being uplifted from the cold murky waters that were once a mystical site for the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings that ferried their honorable deceased into the next world. Some called it Avalon, others believed it was a fjord into Valhalla itself between mighty cliffs far ahead. The moonlight streaked across the clear surface, allowing the hawk to look upon his rescuer and release a soft chirp.

"Didn't think cats could swim," Steve said with a weak sense of humor. Amora's magic still burned inside, mercilessly seeking to shutdown his body and reap his soul. "Apparently neither can eagles...She's got us on the ropes, Selina...I don't know if…"

"Hey, we're going to get everything back..." Threadily, Selina urged against gritted breaths, as her brandy irises flitted mistily down at the paralyzed hawk, he was bone-chilled slack in the bow of her silkier wings, the mesmeric vibrancy of his silvery-bluish feathers sickeningly abated, flexion echoes of his invincible-valorous spirit became suffocatingly exorcized as he forcibly strained against the contractive onslaught, thumpingly his tinier heartbeat was fading out-notch by notch.

With subtle pressure of her whisper-soft ministrations gliding over his motionless form, composedly in beckoning variance, Selina gazed at the cool azure of his hawkish orbs soullessly blacken out —the indomitable vitality of the First Avenger was being purged. Reversing direction, Selina assuaged onto definite-unwarrantable relevance of hope, readily shifting the litheness of her bustier girth with evident paddling strokes of her webbed-feet as she reacted to the urgent cadence of her votive-expandable choice, fringing depths; snorting in deep-throat heaves, the beasty sniper-hog rubberily thrashed on his stubbed hooves against Thor's obese rotundity in desperate tenor as Bucky chokingly oinked out his breathless anguish-her unabandoned readiness to save his best friend-little punk, was direly registered in hundredfold. Incandescent auras of the opalescence moonlight had gleamingly haloed over her ivory-mahogany feathers—it was a callback payoff-that would chasmically leash her down into sacrificial elysian. "Whatever it takes, remember..."

"Lina...Kitten!" Bucky released a hapless cry as he watched a brilliant light engulf the lakeside where the ivory swan had cradled the dying hawk against her bosom. It was benign in the sense it offered hope but sorrowful at its expense. It had captured the attention of Enchantress which gave the focused Thor the opening he needed to charge with a brutish grunt, barreling his weight towards the legs of the distracted sorceress, toppling her with such force it was like she'd been hit by a speeding car. Bucky was snapped back into focus, feeling a surge of emotions grip him in the face of watching his kitten vanish in a burst of light only for the shape of a man to emerge from within it.

"She did it…" Bucky oinked, torn between sorrow and gladness but feeling as if he were far removed from this fight as he charged towards the now motionless swan.

The light was unlike anything he had seen before, it made him think he had transcended the mortal plane and entered the next phase of existence. But he could still feel. He could still smell and taste the murkiness of the lake water on his lips. He felt life-he felt freedom from the invisible shackles that had been restraining him for what felt like a lifetime but it had only in fact been a couple of hours. But freedom was priceless, but the price paid for his had been too great to him. Steve Rogers collapsed onto his knees and coughed a small of puddle of water from his lungs. His blurred vision sharpened into focus as the light faded and he was left gazing down into the alarming sight of a motionless swan at his knees.

His knees. Hawks weren't supposed to have the smooth creamy surface of human skin covering bone and muscle. A trembling hand entered his line of sight and he flexed his digits, watching them respond to his will. He was back-he was human. "Selina..." He remembered the swan that had dived into the lake to save him from being swallowed whole. His bewildered features became morphed with sorrow as he laid a hand on the swan's head, tearfully stroking her feathers. "The fight never ends...Thank you." He sniffed, vowing not to let her sacrifice be in vain. His muscles coiled and he repressed a shiver once he realized he was naked. The remnants of his gear was ahead and he took long purposeful strides towards it, jaw clenched with determination. "Whatever it takes..."

Against cacophonous rabidness of the bludgeoned ferocity that bruisingly careened her into the monolithic henge with back-breaking force, ear-splittingly, Amora released a demonic screech, as her fingernails clawed in vicious traction over cindered mulch; she glared at the fattest of the Dwarven hogs' -Odinson with maniacal heat of bloodthirsty lividness, her steely-grayish irises melded into rapine lazurite as she arched her back up with vampiric momentum, as the length of her cloaked garment spookily draped over her braced arms while she clutched onto an ebon Nero-spike, tauntingly leveling the conjured armament with executing precision over the blondish swine's repulsive head. "On this crimson night, the verminous spawn of the Allfather will choke on my reckoning..." Witchily, she hissed, and relishingly drove the spike a hairbreadth from the lumpish sagginess of his furred neck."Your traitorous blood will cleanse my Helheim legion, Thor Odinson..."

Thor could see his end in sight, knowing that he had finally pushed Amora far enough that she was no longer interested in torturing him. Only the feeling of his blood coating her hands would satisfy her sadistic nature as she brandished the spike between her fingers and began to drive it low. His thoughts sped rapidly, allowing him to glimpse many faces he had come to love and mourn. But he felt peace, feeling no sense of failure to fall as a warrior and not as a pitiful hog. That was when his ears detected a buzzing pitch in the background that was as familiar to him as the friendly face it invoked.

*WHAM*

Amora cried out in shock as a cylindrical object smacked into her, causing her to stumble off of the defenseless hog and lose track of her weapon. Thor listened to the telltale sound of metal bouncing off of a hard surface before the object sailed back through the air and into the hands of it wielder. Captain America-Steven Rogers. "YES!" Thor roared with jubilation. Steve didn't relent as he stormed in on his downed foe with his shield in hand, ready for her as she climbed back onto her feet and began to conjure a projectile of magic.

"Y-You dare..." Seethingly in venomous tenor, Amora glowered at the navy-blue Kelvar of a tactical- patriotic uniform that fittingly delineated over corded bulk of graven muscle, surges of enhanced vitality rode every curve of heavier flesh as the avenging-timeless soldier adamantly poised in a mid-crouch with his vibranium shield readily braced over his forearm; like a hunkish Percus who challengingly dared to breach her grotesque domain. The hawkish virility of his chiseled features edged with fiercer sharpness as he unwaveringly grounded a stand of Brooklyn defiance. "So you lost your wings, little warbird..." she lashed out, nastily appalled by his evasive tack of resisting her possessive conjury. "Perhaps you will prevail better in a hoggish form like your dear James Barnes, to wretchedly fatten in your mindless revels while I gut out the swan maiden's worthless heart..."

"You won't be hurting anyone else tonight, Lady." Steve resisted the urge to lash out in anger at her cold taunt. His focused mind watched her movements closely, gauging her for any signs towards her next attack. Amora relied on her wit and cunning to get her opponent to lower their guard. Her horde had been effectively cut off from aiding her when Thor's lightning strike had toppled a burning tree that blocked them. She was alone and Steve wasn't. "Thor?" Steve beckoned to the hog as he climbed up on his hooves and stomped them, causing a rumble of thunder to rattle the skies.

"Aye. Let's make this quick!" With that the Asgardian hog charged, his body like an electrical conduit in motion as it sizzled off his body. The Enchantress grimaced as she opened a small rift for her to escape from while another opened nearby. Steve pitched his spear at the rift, narrowly missing the blonde sorceress as she tuck and rolled across the floor. His shield bounced just in time for Thor to catch it between his teeth and give it an extra added electrical boost-sending it on its continued trajectory towards the Avenger.

Amora engaged Steve in hand-to-hand combat; finding her physical strength to be greater than his as she broke through his boxing guard and landed a palm strike against his torso. *WHAM* She released a cry of both pain and rage as that accursed shield hit her in the back, sending a surge of electricity throughout her body that toppled her to her knees. Steve recovered from his attack and recovered his shield, bringing it upwards in a swinging arc hitting Enchantress beneath the jaw in a devastating uppercut.

"That was for Selina!" Steve hummed with a deep breath. His blue eyes were ablaze and his body burned with adrenaline. Thor charged at a downed Amora only to seize up in a strangled cry as she struck him with a paralytic spell. Steve raised his shield in time to block her assault but could feel the pressure mounting on him.

Bracketing her armored calves with vising sync, rapaciously Amora straddled herself commandingly over the athletic solidity of bulkier tautness fused with his Kevlar midriff investing carnal demand; platinum-blonde tresses sweltry webbed over her exquisite-thinned cheeks as she viciously drilled a pulse-stealing throb with her fingernail into angular contours of his broad jaw that raptly became hard-edged against her injurious-divesting assault. A raptor-like gleam of her steely irises entrancedly belied her merciless intent as the knifing pressure of her ebon-winged headpiece jutted into his bloodied cheek, delivering a waspish sting of penetrative-infectious entity of her sanguineous vengeance.

Gnashing his teeth, forcibly with deadened momentum, Steve hefted up his shield, drawing out ragged heaves as he bashingly clashed his arm-driven thrust of reactive pressure against her throat as her gauntleted palm vitriolically splayed a kneading caress over graven-edged ridges of muscled flesh on wanton accord of her serpentine thirst.

At the shore of the lake, a desperate hog trots into the cold ripples in panting grunts to envelope the seemingly lifeless swan in a sorrowful embrace, spilling rivulets of tears onto her beak. "Come back to me, kitten." He cried, hoping and praying for a miracle to bestow upon them.

On the field, Amora's aggression was something Steve couldn't withstand for long as he could feel her magic begin to pour into once again. Like a knife slowly being dug into his sternum he felt as if struggling would make it much easier for her to cleave through him with her magical shards that dug their way into him. The magic poured through, reshaping his mass into the desired state of the wielder who wanted him to be as vulnerable as his friends on stubby hooves. The mass of cheeks had begun to fatten with patches of golden-blonde fur sprouting from his skin.

"I will savor watching you fatteningly burgeon into a dormant hog, Captain..." Amora raved, dementedly clamping her fingers over his leather-sheathed wrist. Keeping him arrestingly captive in her ravenous throes, she predatorily gazed into the feverish rawness of his glacial azureous irises, oblivious that reddish-magenta flares of psionic energy had telekinetically whooshed over maggoty-skeletal heaps of her subdued ranks. "You will never throw this wrenched shield again..."

"Get away from him..." Blazingly as crimson salvos grew into Eldritch beacons of hellfire, feeling a telepathic rupture pulsing from the astral bridges of Multi-verse plane; earthen barricades of Nerco spires crushingly warped against ignitable shockwaves of kinetic fusion that propelled out of the fiery sling-ring portal-dimensional gateway of occultic convergence. With pythonic swiftness, infuriatingly Amora roved a basilisk glance over her armored shoulder at the auburn-copper haired Slovakian Avenger-a 'scarlet phoenix' who had crushingly quashed the deviant-prophetic Titan-the genocidal equalizer of the Nine Realms into fused contortions of dismantled metal husks: a vengeful cradle of restraint.

Stepping over discarded skulls and ebon spears, playing off a hair-trigger deadlock of her sorcerous challenge, vixenishly Wanda grounded her laced boots near a stone dolmen, as her delicate-elfin waifish features heated bakingly under unkempt tresses draping over her Gothicsque corset, psionic auras of mutative energy fierily veined over burgundy leather of her Burlesque Victorian-steampunk jacket as her eased her wrister-sleeved arm, genetically conjuring a vapory pinkish flare as her irises glowed laser-red. "I said..." She blasted a crimson salvo blindingly into an Einherjar death-walker as skeletal flesh meltingly dissolved into sifts of cindery ash. "Get away from him...!"

"Wanda?" Steve choked out deep breaths, unable to mask his surprise. He could feel his humanity slowly creeping back to him after Enchantress' spell was interrupted by the most unexpected of saviors. He pulled himself up to his knees with his shield in tact while the Sokovian Avenger took point in front of both him and Thor, staring down the infuriated Asgardian sorceress.

"As a friend of mine would say, "you are so screwed now", Amora," Thor boasted with renewed vigor at seeing the second most powerful Avenger arrive (second after him of course, he was certainly still the strongest ever!).

Wading against a denotative fringe of her ruinous-unslaked indulgence, painstakingly in malodorous fruition, Amora shifted on her lithe haunches with a viperish rush against the blubbering-hog- flab that plumpishly stretched under the Kevlar of Steve's inflated midriff and dragged her fingernails on the deceptive tenor of a scorpion-crawl over a helmeted skull as virescent glyphs burningly etched over desiccated bones in conjuring-hellacious unison. "This foolish annoyance will, unfortunately, become a piteous vessel of my craven throes of butchered mercy..." she crackled in sadistic pitch, lashingly easing her gauntleted hand up as the possessed skull grisily catapulted with a vicious thrust of unstoppable gravity akin to a volleyed soccer ball, cannoning down at Wanda like a shell bomb. "You might have cleverly ensnared Thanos within the grips of your faulty power, but make no mistake you will fail this time,..."

With trembling hands that were now free from the shackles of dark magic, Steve picked up his shield and tightened the straps around his forearm. He felt like himself, but more importantly, he felt whole. His calculating blue eyes narrowed on the sorceress who wasn't idle in her attempt to gain the upper-hand despite being outnumbered. Her long dainty digits spiraled and conjured a myriad of emerald glyphs that he surmised was to form a defensive barrier for herself. "We can't let her defenses rebound. Thor-bring the thunder! Wanda, distract her!" Steve urged his team who looked apprehensively at him.

"And you, Captain?" Thor grunted.

"I'll keep her busy." Steve didn't wait for them to agree to his plan knowing that speed was the essence. Each moment they wasted meant their enemy could regroup or retreat. No. This needed to end now. For Bucky. For Selina. Steve charged towards Enchantress and raised his shield just in time to repel a projectile of burning energy that burst towards him from one of the glyphs he was charging through. Hot pain licked at his shoulders but he pushed through barrier after barrier using his shield until his target was in striking-range. Lunging forward, Steve kicked Amora off-balance, allowing Wanda the chances to use her hex-energy to dispel the defensive glyphs surrounding the sorceress.

Amora regained her balance by kipping up to her feet. She feinted a leg-swipe only to land a right-hook to his shoulder. And then another. It felt like being beaten with a club, but Steve reacted in time to raise his shield to block the next attack. Amora roared with pain as her fist struck the most versatile metal in the galaxy, causing spasms of pain to lance up to her shoulder.

"I can do this all day." Steve panted to the infuriated witch who glared at with a newfound hatred to rival that of Thor's.

"I will make you choke on those words," Amora seethed, lividly, her steel-grayish irises pulsed with draconic heat as the First Avenger tensely leveled his shield with controlled poise of combative defense invested with each drag of his footing, a bloodied gash revealingly smeared over his graven-contours of his dirtied cheek as the vigilant flit of his cool azure irises betrayed no deterrence of submission-he wouldn't relent. The orcish cavalcade of her wraithlike Einherjar soldiers was on the implosive breadth of unleashing their apocalypse-run over New Asgard; the miasmatic rabidness of insatiable bloodlust oozily wafted off skeletal flesh-they were bred out of the hellish-phantasmatic cauldron of her portentous witchery to slaughterously raid-out anything that echoed a detected heartbeat on their carious path.

Against vertiginous onrush of dizziness exhaustingly rode bone-deep, Steve grounded his athletic bulk, measuring each predatory-viperish tenor of her shadowed assault, reacting as skeletal fingers of unearthed denizens creepily jutted out of the sludgy ground in manic sync, twistingly clamping onto his Kevlar-padded calves to paralyzingly grapple Steve onto his knees in the accelerated dissonance of a flesh-slashing onslaught. "As much as I desire to allow your Midgardin spirit to prevail, your spirit will become an extension of my reborn army..."

Before she could renew her attack against him, Amora caught sight of the fleeing hog heading to the clearing holding out his hoof. An arc of lightning flashed in the distance and there was a brilliant light being conjured from the ground up to the skies! An impossible act of nature, unless...the Stormbreaker! The Odinson's newly forged weapon sang through the air as it came towards its intended bearer. Amora watched as Thor commanded it from afar, calling down bolts of lighting to scorch the plains where her undead horde had begun to climb over the burning log.

With a screech of rage, Amora sent a whip of eldritch magic towards the hog and ensnared his throat in her talons. Before she could snap his neck and end her vengeful crusade, she was levelled by another blast of that accursed psycho-energy from that upstart Midgardian witch!

"Its over. Surrender!" Steve yelled at Amora as she powered through Wanda's next assault. The witch's furious green eyes landed on him once more.

Harnessing cobra-quick ferocity in the nefarious cadence of her ghostlier prowess, with a geomatic circlet of verdigris energy rotating chimerically around her gauntleted wrist, in a beckoning command of sorcerous unity, thievingly Amora blazoned her veins with the astral gateways of tenebrious vistas of Helheim, rampantly infecting Steve's corded flesh with a benumbed -morphous paralytic of soul-immobilizing deviance she had morbifically conjured to amputate out his pathetic humanity into a languorous-obese vassal of boarish gluttony. "Få ham til å oppblåse sin verdige ånd ... (Make him bloat out his valorous spirit)" The Nordic utterance of her penetrative mantra condemningly assailed over her earthen warren in explosive-damnable frequency. "Let this mortal soldier carouse over the battlefield in ranks of mindless swine..."

Steve knew a cornered animal when he saw one. The unbridled desperation that emanated off of Amora meant the sorceress was through fighting for dominance she was now fighting to survive-or to escape. A reckless state of mind but also a dangerous one that spelled disaster for whomever stood in her way. That being him. She was like a live grenade about to go off. Having experience with such a scenario from so long ago, Steve knew what he had to do-and that was to jump. The emerald sorceress had opened a portal behind her just at the same time she prepared to unleash a familiar spell from her fingertips. It lanced through the air like a javelin, seeking its prey in the form of a battered soldier ready to sacrifice himself for his friends.

Gritting his teeth, the soldier raised his only defensive weapon and clung to it with such strength it caused his muscles to strain against the tight fabric of his undershirt. The projectile slammed against the shield causing a deafening gong to billow out into the field, only for the projectile to be sent back to its source. The sorceress's emerald eyes widened and she had no time to react before her own magical spell struck her down.

"No..." A breathless timbre of railing alarm rubberily deafened into a hoggish grunt, the morphic deviance of her calamitous scourge irrevocably knifed through her stunned veins, defeatedly, squealing in urgent pitch, the Enchantress convulsed in a thrashing upheaval onto her knees as her viper-like incisors bleedingly protruded over the voluminous swell of her jutted underlip; the cascading length of her platinum-blonde tresses dauntingly ebbed out of her deforming skull, evident to a droppy twitch of her floppier ears that widened in swelling-grislier tenor underneath her ebon headgear.

Within rigged seconds, Amora inflatingly felt her the suppleness voluptuous breasts fleshily meld into girthier roundness of her outstretching abdomen -like a prolific sow. Cradling her gauntleted arms frantically over the globular pudge, Amora snorted as viscid mucus gloopily out of her upturned nose that jutted in mutative deformity of a piggish snout as she uglily blimped into an ogrish mass. "You honestly believe you're still victorious, dear Captain..." she emitted a snide rasp, grudgingly, mirroring the niveous coolness of his silvered azure irises, that didn't waver. Flexing his leather-gloved hand, with apparent ease, Steve reined the blondish Asgardian hog with an unshakeable measure of passive 'stand-down' impedance against the electrical surge of high-voltage. "Your precious James Barnes and his swan vixen will endure the rest of their evanescent days as pitiable creatures..."

Steve maintained a stoic facade in the face of the sorceress' words that were meant to diminish her defeat. He gave no reply nor reaction even as Wanda came to stand beside him and the deep panting of an approaching hog came up from behind. Thor and Wanda watched with him as Amora's own magic began to undo her from the inside out; twisting and transforming the beautiful woman into an unremarkable sow no different from the animals she had forced others to become. Her whimpering cries had now transitioned into guttural squeals of distress that unnerved Steve and Wanda, but greatly satisfied Thor as he watched her roll and struggle to move in her new form.

"She was always a sour one in defeat." Thor remarked. What surprised Steve and Wanda was how much more discernible Thor's voice had suddenly become. When they both looked over towards him, the Asgardian hog was shimmering with a benign unnatural glow, no different from the one that had encompassed Steve. "Well now, this is a bit odd…" Thor murmured.

The cacophonous mantra of Eldritch tenor coupled quakingly with a nacreous surge that prismatically emanated over Bi-Frost dolmens; utilizing her sorcerous caliber, Wanda formed a mystic barrier enwreathed over the oafish Asgardian hog as whitish strobes of lightning blindingly discharged over the horizon vistas of the Norwegian coastline, boomingly heralding the apparitional-thunderous resonance of Odin's caroming voice commanded Stormbreaker to raise off the fissionable ground as recalling knells of Asier worthiness launched the Nidavellir battle-ax with skyrocketing momentum.

As electric salvos arced over the repulsive fattening sow-vaporizing her ebon Nerco-spires into smearily misted ash over the furrier sagginess of pudge of her snout, Amora belted out a huffish-voiceless squeal, only to register a hoggish cadence echo back. After receiving an expected text on her Stark-phone, involuntarily Wanda had used a Tiberian sling- ring to pull an undetected vanishing-act out of Manhatten Sanctum Santorum before Master Wong returned from his periodic tuna melt run-Steven Strange had critically instructed to read Kamar-Taj manuscript collections of Eldritch intentions-tapping into subtonic paradoxes the quantum plane. Being a mystical sentry, Wanda understood the unstable measures of her restraint-to never fully pull the pin. "Everything you took from us is now reserved back.." Wanda addressed smirkily with blunted terseness in her Slovakian timbre. "No one will fear you anymore..."

The relief of his enemy's defeat had led to an influx of surprises to the assembled heroes who watched as Thor trotted over towards Stormbreaker. His trusted weapon gleamed in the pale-moonlight, beckoning him closer to its comforting thrawl. The energy humming off its surface made the fur on his body tingle and rise on end. Thor understood what it meant and could not help but to send a silent thank you to the all-fathers and the norns. Thor brushed his snout against the bark handle that was once a limb of his friend Tree. Stormbreaker sparked and a salvo of lightning enveloped him. Instead of feeling pain, he felt relief.

From head-to-toe the vile dark sorcery was purged from his body like an evil poison. He felt himself grow and was now standing again on two feet as the strong powerful man he always was. Releasing a chuckle he could not help but run his hands over his face, finding a wise bushy beard and smooth skin. He was Thor-he was a man. He was...still fat, and very much half-n***. "I miss the spells that could restore my clothing." Thor lamented as he wrapped the torn vestments of his pants around his modest parts and offered Steve and Wanda a sheepish smile. Wanda rolled her eyes while Steve appeared both relieved and thoughtful.

"Not just you," Steve agreed. "But if you were restored, maybe…" he was almost too afraid to hope. It was familiar in a sense of desperation that once the dust settled a wrong could be made right. The lost would be found.

"What?" Thor wondered aloud as he lifted his axe over his shoulder. Instead of saying anything, Steve took off towards the shore of the lake, leaving Thor and Wanda to stand guard over the still squealing sow that was imprisoned in a cage of hex energy.

The skies were now a lighter shade of blue with dawn approaching on the horizon. Steve dashed through the trees, able to find his way easier now despite the clusters of trees and vegetation. His eyes landed on the two shapes nestled close against one another beneath a shade of trees. His feet come to a halt and he feels his breath pause within his chest as he took in the sight of a man and woman locked in a tearful embrace. They were both half-n***, covering each other by their arms circling each others backs. Her face rested against his shoulder as he stroked her hair and the small of her back.

Bucky and Selina lean back long enough to gaze into each other's eyes and then come together again in a passionate kiss. Steve recognized them immediately and had to avert his eyes with a small smirk forming across his lips. "Same ol'Buck." He muttered. He gave the couple a moment before gently clearing his throat. "I'd ask if you two are all right but something tells me you're better than that."

"Don't spoil the moment, Soldier boy..." Selina bantered out snarkily, against the implosive abandon that cravingly surged headier in the gloried tempo as she threaded her lithe fingers brushingly through the unkempt length of Bucky's wolfish chestnut tresses with quenchless urgency as he bracketed chaste pressure of his flesh-hand over the delicate contours of the underside of her jaw, featherily gracing a pulse of amorous heat that swelteringly coupled with the reverent glide of his splaying thumb-the virile strength of his evocative caresses demanded an intoxicating tracery of phantom awareness.

Each tactile drift of his intimate steadiness became a kiss-starved rapture of dueled-boneless serenity contrasting into aphrodisiacal decadence, the mesmeric smokiness of his aquamarine irises had smolderingly beckoned as the ivory skeins of her feathers vanishingly melded into cool pearlescence of her nakedness- the blobby pudginess of hoggish flab tautly dissolved into hunkier corded flesh that sculpted over graven-ridges of his muscled solidity.

The mechanized coolness of his cybernetic arm shiveringly ghosted a possessive rush over the svelte planes of her back as Bucky throatily jutted the open-mouthed stretch of his shapely-wide lips over the glossier lushness of her flushed pillowy lips that delectably cushioned against the shifting drag of his kiss-swollen lips, abandonly moaning in feverous cadence, he bruisingly thrust passion-damp heat, catching her breath with sensuous ferocity as they were floored into liquefying release-deliverance. "B-Buck..." she urged raspily, as the hot wetness of his mouth blindly surged the kiss deeper-not letting her go. "Okay...Slow it down, Barnes..."

Bucky couldn't quite explain what had come over him, but he was like a man who had just come out of the desert dying of thirst. And Selina was freshly drawn water from a well that he just couldn't get enough of. So he had kissed her, drank in her exhalations with mind-numbing relief as he basked in the feeling of her touch, of having her in his arms again. It was heady and addicting-were it not for Steve's presence nearby he had a good feeling of where things would lead to, and he had to repress the groan of annoyance that begged to be released once he and Selina parted lips. He could see the mutual frustration in her eyes and conveyed a silent message to her that spoke plainly, "Later." Once that was done, he flashed his best friend with a sardonic smile. "You always did have impeccable timing, Steve."

"So I've discovered," Steve replied with a guilty smile. Together both Bucky and Selina rise to their feet. His torn pants still fit snug around his waist and he tears off the remains of his shirt for Selina to tie around her chest as a make-shift tank top. They hold hands as they follow Steve out from the tree-line and into the open.

"Its mornin'," Bucky murmurs. They all sigh as a ray of sunlight washes over them, bathing them in a warm feeling of reassurance. The field however is still littered with dead corpses that used to be the people of New Asgard. Steve, Bucky and Selina all become crestfallen at the sight, knowing that their victory had come at a great cost. "Did we win, at least?" Bucky asked Steve who beckons them ahead. They see a surprising sight none had anticipated as Wanda uses her power to transport a visibly distressed sow through a sling-ring portal before stepping through it herself. "When did Wands get here?" Bucky asked genuinely shocked until he glanced at Selina with an inkling of suspicion. "I'm guessing we got you to thank for that, darlin'?"

Registering the suaver timbre of his gravelly drawl, kittenishly Selina quirked the fullness of her burgundy lips, unstintingly evident to the vixenish gleam of her brandy-coffee irises that held devious light, bracing her supple-toned arm with pacifying -feminine heat over muscle-cords of his tenser back as Bucky clunkily grounded traction in his warring paces-shaking off the sluggish wobbling that had bulgingly controlled his piggish momentum—only hours before. The berserk-o Vanaheim scavenger—hag was on the receiving end of her bestial-morphing conjury-a fattened prisoner of her cheated-out devices."Well, I did make a fast call, farm-boy," A deviant scrunch of her pert nose evidently conveyed with a jaunty quirk over her full lips as she purred huskily against the hard-edged ruggedness of his stubbled jaw. "Besides you know how I like to bend the angles when I play ..."

"That's my girl," Bucky kissed her brow lovingly and hugged her closer against his side. Steve watched them with a bittersweet smile across his tight lips. Despite the scope of this threat and the lives lost, he was happy to see that Bucky wouldn't have to endure the same loss as himself. Some wounds took longer to heal, but eventually, they would be made easier to live with. Shifting his gaze he watched as the only remaining member of their group made his way towards them with a swagger in his steps which made the roundness of his belly more noticeable. Still wasn't a sight any of them had grown used to when it came to the thunder god of their team.

"Everything good, Thor?" Steve asked the blonde as he came in front of them, Stormbreaker held against his shoulder.

"Ms. Maximoff will see Amora off to the Wizard Supreme where she won't be troubling us again. At least we should hope not." Thor grumbled with a weary frown across his face as his gaze spanned across the hundred dead citizens of New Asgard he had failed to protect. Men, women and children who paid the price because of a vengeful woman he had scorned. "But, I am afraid Amora made a lasting impression that won't be ever forgotten."

His melancholy must've been noticeable to his friends. Bucky of whom had stepped forward to place a hand on the blonde's shoulder and squeezed it reassuringly. "Your people will come back from this Thor. With you leading them, I know it." At Thor's confused frown, Bucky lightly jabbed his shoulder. "If there's anything I've learned about you, it's that you could be as stubborn as a pig."

"Buck…" Steve groaned with a look that said 'come on, man.'

Thor caught on immediately and released a deep hearty chuckle as he patted his heavy stomach. "Well played, James. You yourself made an entertaining ally in our quest for triumph. You should come by more often. You and I would do well as Fortnite teammates on the PS4."

Bucky looked at Thor with incredulous eyes and a lopsided grin. "You're on, Blondie." He looked down at his own heavy stomach and surprisingly didn't feel nearly as indignant about it as he would've before. "I have the stomach to keep up with you too."

As the group make their way towards the Quinjet, Thor and Bucky amicably discuss their favorite choices in entertainment and foods, leaving Steve and Selina a moment to themselves. Steve looked down at her with remorseful eyes once she realized he was staring. "Thank you for saving me," he said with a tight smile. "I'm used to someone else having my back, but you're a helluva partner."

With flit of her lashes, brandishing a visage of guarded nonchalance Selina ruefully gazed at feathery remnants of bluish-ivory tuffs that contrastingly whirled over her lithe hand against the frigidness sailing over the Northern sea- an exhilarative beckon of wonderous freedom- an elemental conquest that starvedly urged her to dare those rushing heights of implosive adrenaline.

The battle-tested grounds of her partnership wasn't expandable in their combative dynamic; infestations of lunatic-schizoid chimeras were becoming alliances with spawns of HYDRA orchestrated by Baron Zemo. The dance of mayhem wasn't over. Shifting a collective glance of her coffee irises at the Quinjet hovering over the lakefront, Selina decisively gnawed on her underlip, tellingly clutching the silken feathers as she purringly challenged, as she gazed into the hawkish intensity of his cool azureous ireses-a tempestuous-banking ferocity that wouldn't be curbed down. "Well, you do owe me a flying lesson to call it even...

Steve smiled graciously. "I like the sound of that." He always had a knack for skydiving without a parachute. Something told him the fearless Selina Kyle, like a real cat, would land on her feet without one. The thought made the Avenger feel a twinge of nostalgia but also an inkling of anticipation moving forward. He wondered how many more missions Selina Kyle, aka Catwoman, would be willing to partner up with him on in the future.

2 hours later…

The Quinjet flew in a holding pattern above the eastern shore of the Avengers Compound with the landing door open. The auto-pilot kept the bird flying high at a safe distance above the lake below, but to the two remaining occupants seated in the pilot and co-pilot's seats, they were blissfully at ease with themselves as they kicked back and enjoyed their third cup of beer, despite it only being 8am.

"You know, Thor, even for a god of thunder, 8am has to be too early for you." Bucky remarked as he sipped his drink. Thor was far too into his cup to respond as he chugged a huge pint then let loose a thick belch.

"It pays to be King, my friend, I can revel as early as the sun rises. You should do like our friends, and enjoy the splendors of our victory to their fullest." At that, they both watch as two shapes zip past the windshield of the cockpit in a free fall dive, gliding in the air like two birds soaring majestically.

"10 bucks says it's a draw." Bucky offered to which Thor gave him a flat look. "What, you can't expect me to pick favorites between them."

"Then that is not a fun wager...100 says they won't concede defeat without a rematch." Thor challenged to which Bucky chuckled and took a larger swig of his beer.

"Fine, 100." The two friends clinked their cups together, and resolved to enjoy the skydiving spectacle that was sure to invigorate their spirits after such a long hard-fought victory. Nothing felt more hopeful than the forging of new friendships and partnerships moving forward.

[tsunderin]

Squeenix Round-Up

Final Fantasy 7 Remake: Listen, I don’t really care for FF7, but if they manage to maintain what they’ve shown upon release this game’s gonna be sweet as hell. The combat system is built around real-time combat filling up two bars which then allow you to use items and spells in bullet-time. The dynamic angles on the boss battles are also incredible to watch. I’m... no longer doubting why it’s taking so long to put out. Also Tifa looks amazing THANK YOU FOR GIVING HER A SPORTS BRA AND BEING REALISTIC ABOUT THE TIDDIES.

Life Is Strange 2: It looks sad and compelling, like the first one. But with less gay probably since it’s about brothers? And psychic powers. Most importantly, there’s a puppy! (lol)

Crystal Chronicles Remasters: Fuck. Yes. I’M GOING TOPLAY THE SHIT OUT OF THIS. I can’t believe they voice acted it-- they made the top hat guy sound too hot, I’m suing. 

Octopath Traveler: A... steam port? I don’t know why this was here.

The Last Remnant Remastered: Looks cool!

Dragon Quest Builders 2: I don’t know if cooking was in the first game, but it’s sure making me want to buy this one. I love my demon partner who is definitely the demon lord and not just schmuck who lost his memory. 

Dragon Quest 11 S: Switch port. Options to play with the 3D graphics or pixeled.

Indies @ Square:

Circuit Superstars: A top-down racing game. It looks cute, but nothing wild.

Batallion 1944: It’s Counterstrike. 

Squeenix put their music on a bunch of streaming services, which is nice.

Kingdom Hearts 3: Re-Mind DLC, which I’m assuming has to do with... people getting their memories back, or exploring some past stuff.

FF14 Shadowbringers: It looks cool, but I don’t think they brought up anything mechanically new. I really think it’s charming how everyone loves Yoshi-P. It kind of makes me want to play, lol. 

Dying Light 2: Still Dying Light. Before they revealed the name I thought it was some weird interpretation of Phantom of the Opera. I remain disappointed.

Romancing Saga 3 & SaGa Scarlet Grace Ambitions: Remakes that are being localized for the first time. I’m glad--that’s really cool.

Final Fantasy War of the Visions: Based on the lore from Brave Exvius. The beginning I seriously thought it was FF: Three Houses lol. But regardless, I like the different countries. And I want to make that obviously evil priest kneel before me, ahaHAHAHA. Seeing as it’s a mobile game pulled from BE, I have serious worries about the gatcha system they’re going to implement. The rates in BE are fucking atrocious, and I can’t imagine WotV won’t be pay to win. If it’s like Tales of the Rays, I’ll accept it. But I doubt Squeenix would be that nice.

Outriders: A “dark modern shooter”. So... like... every shooter. I don’t see what sets this apart from the millions of other shooters yet. But they implied you could make your own character so I’m not writing it off yet. 

Oninaki: Destroy the lingering angered/sad spirits of those who are trying to move on. Your character apparently “prizes life above all else” despite murdering lots of things, so I feel the basic JRPG conceit of “the people in power are evil” coming up. I want to smooch a ghost though. Let me have this.

Final Fantasy 8 Remastered: Good for her~

Avengers: I... don’t like this? I don’t know, maybe it’s because I’m not a comics/Marvel/superhero person. But it feels kind of shoddy. Also maybe a hot take, but while I love all the VAs they showed off, I feel like they chose them just for name recognition and not because they fit the character. They don’t really fit the characters--they also look like an off-brand Avengers. Which I mean sure, it’s another timeline or whatever. They don’t have to look the same. But it seems like a weird choice right after this movie came out, and the models are juuust close enough to bear a resemblance. This is also the one part of the show where I felt like Squeenix put plants in the audience too. The excitement sounded... unnatural. But, free DLC and no lootboxes is a good thing. 

Final Verdict: 

#E3 #E3pocalypse '19 #Square Enix #Squeenix

[celticnoise]

CQN continues its enthralling and EXCLUSIVE extracts from Alex Gordon’s book, ‘That Season In Paradise’, which highlight the months that were the most momentous in Celtic’s proud history.

Today, evergreen keeper Ronnie Simpson, at the age of thirty-six, reveals how he prepared for the game of a lifetime, the unforgettable European Cup Final on May 25 1967 in Lisbon.

VETERAN goalkeeper Ronnie Simpson recalled the countdown to the historic game.

‘After lunch at 1pm, we were packed off to bed for two hours. I was sharing a room with John Fallon, who slept soundly. My normal practice is to doze off and read in between times and for some time I have got into the habit of reading a golf magazine. It gets my mind completely away from football as I am very interested in the sport, being a 4-handicap player at Dalmahoy. Neilly Mochan, our trainer, got us up around 3pm when we had a wash and a shave and then reported for our spot of loosening-up work.

‘The hotel guests watched us jog around and exercise and most of them took photographs. We then had steaks, which we had taken with us from Glasgow, and then boarded the bus. The six-mile journey shouldn’t have taken us any more than twenty minutes, but before very long we were trapped in the middle of the heavy traffic heading for the game.

‘We had no sooner taken our seats in the bus than the songs began – Bertie Auld, John Clark, Jimmy Johnstone and Tommy Gemmell are the boys who usually get us going. They were all in fine voice. We got the full repertoire about four times before we finally sighted the stadium. We were late.

‘Surprisingly, we got no police escort or outrider to take our bus to the stadium. Our bus driver had to fight his way through the traffic. When he realised he was making little headway and that the minutes were ticking by, he pulled the bus off the main drag and tried to get to the stadium by another route. He was promptly told he couldn’t go that way and the bus had to reverse back into the main stream of traffic.

GLORY BHOYS…Billy McNeill, Ronnie Simpson and Tommy Gemmell are ready for the biggest game of their careers.

‘We were all getting a bit keyed up now and our manager was trying to impress on the chap who had been attached to us an interpreter the importance of being at the ground well before the 5.30pm kick-off. Someone even shouted at a policeman on a motor cycle asking for assistance to get through the traffic. But the policeman remained where he was.

‘At last we got to the stadium, through the sole efforts of the bus driver, just before 5pm. As it turned out, it was probably a good thing, as it gave us less time to think about the game in the dressing room. Players, like any other group of people, are not robots. They all have their idiosyncrasies and their own thoughts on how best to prepare themselves mentally for a game.

‘Some of our boys like to walk over the ground before a game. Some, like myself, don’t like to see the ground until we run out for the game itself. And before every game, I have a cold shower, whether the weather is cold or hot.

SAFE HANDS…Ronnie Simpson comes to clutch a high ball as Billy McNeill looks on.

‘It is a habit I developed during my years with Newcastle United where some of the players there told me it was the best thing to tone you up for a game. It’s a tip I accepted and found does me a lot of good. On occasion, Billy McNeill also takes a cold shower prior to a game.

‘The dressing room accommodation was unusual. It was like two small rooms joined by a passageway in which there were showers and baths. It meant that the team had to be split, so the manager decided that the defenders – goalkeeper to left-half – should dress in one section with the forwards and reserve keeper John Fallon in the other. The doors of each room were firmly closed and no-one was allowed in. Our manager saw to that.

CHEERS AND TEARS…an emotional Ronnie Simpson at the end of the memorable triumph.

‘Inter Milan? I didn’t see them when I arrived at the stadium and I just couldn’t have cared less about them. The atmosphere was really building up now as we got ourselves stripped for action.

‘I can honestly say that the players weren’t in the least bit worried about Inter Milan. We all seemed to sense that we were going to do something in this game. We got the impression that we were going to be allowed one chance and that was it. The boys were eager to get started. They were ready.

‘The last words of Jock Stein were, “This is your one chance. Let’s try and take it.” I’ve never seen Billy McNeill or John Clark so excited.

‘We wanted to make sure of victory for Celtic and Scotland – that was what we were playing for. Not the bonus. We didn’t even know what the bonus was and at that stage none of us cared. We would have played for nothing. This is one occasion no player in his right mind would want to miss.

‘We, at Celtic Park, are never told what our bonus will be before any game. All I can say is that the bonuses are very generous and that our bonus for winning the European Cup was bigger than expected. I think this was because of the manner with which we won. Had we lost, we would still have been paid a huge bonus.

‘My first Cup-winning bonus with Newcastle United was twenty-five pounds. The European Cup bonus was a few quid more than this! It was paid exactly one week later.’

TOMORROW: Jim Craig recalls the controversial incident that handed Inter Milan the lead in Lisbon.

https://ift.tt/3e5XMdR

#CelticNoise #Celtic #CelticFC #CelticQuickNews

[fazeupmag-blog]

New Post has been published on Fazeup

New Post has been published on https://www.fazeup.tk/2019/06/android-authoritys-favourite-bulletins-from-e3-2019/

Android Authority’s favourite bulletins from E3 2019

Xbox

E3 2019 lastly got here to an in depth on Thursday. Though there weren’t any new gaming consoles on show this yr, there have been a variety of thrilling bulletins.

Whereas Android Authority primarily focuses on Android, we clearly have quite a few avid gamers right here at Android Authority. WIth that in thoughts, we thought we’d do a particular publish about our favourite bulletins at this yr’s greatest gaming convention. We’ve compiled our favourite moments (spoiler alert: none of them are cell), and listed them under.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild sequel

Unquestionably, the sport we’re most excited for right here at Android Authority is the Breath of the Wild sequel. The trailer above doesn’t give a lot away, however it seems that Ganondorf, the King of Thieves, is ready to make his return.

There’s rather a lot to be enthusiastic about right here. We now know that the sport will happen in the identical world as the unique, and there’s an actual risk that Zelda herself will lastly be a playable character.

Right here’s what the group needed to say in regards to the Breath of the Wild announcement:

With none hyperbole, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is one of the best online game I’ve ever performed. I’m not a giant gamer in order that declare may appear ridiculous to some, however a sequel to this recreation is, to me, tantamount to the discharge of The Empire Strikes Again or somebody’s favourite band getting again collectively.

I purchase each Zelda recreation as quickly as they’re launched, however this one may see me taking the entire week off work simply to play it. -C. Scott Brown

We all know nothing about it, however ZELDA! There hasn’t been a Zelda recreation I haven’t loved, apart from these s****y ones on the CD-I, however we’ll fake they by no means existed. Additionally, it has a Majora’s Masks-esque vibe, which isn’t a foul factor. -Andrew Grush

It looks like it could possibly be what Majora’s Masks was to Ocarina of Time — identical engine, identical console, darker tone, maybe a brand new overarching mechanic driving all of it. -Scott Gordon

Wait, there have been different bulletins at E3? I believed Zelda was the one one. -Chris Thomas (SoundGuys)

Cyberpunk 2077

Subsequent on our listing is CD Projekt’s Cyberpunk 2077. An already hyped recreation was taken even additional by the shocking (and breath-taking) look of Keanu Reeves on stage.

The sport was first teased means again in January 2013 (that’s earlier than the announcement of the PS4, for reference), however we lastly have a launch date. It’s scheduled for launch on April 16, 2020, which is a full 57 years forward of schedule for these protecting rating.

Right here���s what we needed to say about Cyberpunk 2077:

I’m excited as a result of Cyberpunk 2077 appears to be like unbelievable and having Keanu Reeves, who’s experiencing some type of performing rebirth, there was simply superior. -Williams Pelegrin

I simply love that complete setting from Deus Ex to Watch Canines. If somebody could make a very good open world recreation like that, I’ll be the primary in line to get it.

Including the man who performed Johnny Mnemonic and Neo is like icing on the cake. -Luka Mlinar

Xbox Challenge Scarlett

Microsoft may not have had a console on show, however they did tease their upcoming hardware underneath the code title Challenge Scarlett. It’s 4 instances as highly effective as current-gen consoles, and guarantees to all however get rid of load instances in video games. Plus, it helps ray tracing at 8K 120 FPS.

The brand new console is coming in late 2020, however this October Microsoft will start testing its cloud streaming service, Challenge xCloud. Not solely will it permit you to stream video games from the cloud, you’ll additionally be capable to stream from your individual console. Time will inform the way it stacks up in opposition to Google Stadia within the upcoming stream wars.

Learn additionally: Microsoft’s Challenge xCloud: Every part we all know up to now

Right here’s what we needed to say about Microsoft’s E3 2019 bulletins:

The glimpses that we noticed of Challenge Scarlett have been fairly thrilling. Taking consoles to 8K and 120fps plus new audio tech will make for really next-generation experiences for many who like to recreation. In fact, Sony is correct there with the PlayStation 5, too, and each are utilizing AMD hardware which is an fascinating improvement. Many tech watchers pointed at Google Stadia as the true competitor to Xbox, however there’s an extended approach to journey earlier than that occurs. -Tristan Rayner

They advised us nothing, however IT’S THE FUTURE MAN! -Andrew Grush

I’m much less enthusiastic about Challenge Scarlett and extra enthusiastic about Microsoft’s strategy. The brand new console is unquestionably one thing to stay up for, however they’re seemingly taking the strategy of getting Xbox anyplace given the power to make use of your Xbox One as a server for xCloud.

It’s a tantalizing future that Microsoft is proposing -Williams Pelegrin

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

E3 2019 featured one more Star Wars title, this time happening between the 2 trilogies. in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order you play as Cal Kestis, who’s on the run from the Empire after escaping the fallout of Order 66.

Editor’s Choose

5 of one of the best Star Wars cell video games value testing for Could the Fourth

Could the Fourth be with you! For fellow Star Wars fanatics, immediately is a little bit of a quasi-holiday. It is also the day that loads of Star Wars associated gross sales pop up. In honor of 1 …

Respawn’s title options all of the cool lightsaber and power tips you’d anticipate from a Star Wars recreation. The gameplay trailer even confirmed a KX-series droid (made well-known by the sassy Okay-2SO in Star Wars: Rogue One).

Resident Star Wars fanatic Jimmy Westenberg was most excited for this one.

I’m excited for Jedi: Fallen Order as a result of it introduces considerate fight to a Star Wars recreation — it’s not simply Area Ian Gallagher mowing down enemies with a lightsaber. The fight in Heroes vs Villains in Battlefront II is somewhat too hack-and-slashy for my liking.

I’m additionally excited to see a not-annoying KX-series droid in motion. -Jimmy Westenberg

Ghostwire: Tokyo

There wasn’t a variety of large information out of Bethesda’s E3 occasion, however one recreation that acquired our consideration is Ghostwire: Tokyo. It’s the most recent spooky thriller from Tango Gameworks, which was based by Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami after leaving Capcom.

Not a lot is understood about its gameplay, however Ghostwire: Tokyo is centered across the mysterious disappearance of 1000’s (if not hundreds of thousands) of individuals, abandoning piles of empty clothes within the streets of Tokyo. Not like Resident Evil and The Evil Inside, this recreation is much less about survival and extra about motion. The trailer finishes with tagline “Don’t fear the unknown. Attack it”.

However what actually captured the hearts of the hundreds of thousands of web denizens was Ikumi Nakamura’s bubbly demeanor. Ollie Cragg says it greatest:

Bethesda held a reasonably drab convention at E3 2019 with a few brilliant spots. Doom: Everlasting appears to be like devilishly good and Deathloop has an intriguing premise, however the true spotlight for me was the reveal of Ghostwire Tokyo. Not solely does the most recent recreation from the studio headed up by Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami sound actually, actually cool — an action-adventure recreation the place you tussle with supernatural beings armed with a bow and arrow? signal me up! — however the announcement itself launched the world to its inventive director Ikumi Nakamura. Her infectious vitality and allure was a welcome breath of recent air from the limitless parade of company dudes in fits. That ultimate pose will go down in E3 folklore, and that’s why we stan Ikumi Nakamura. -Ollie Cragg

Honorable mentions

Even with out the participation of Sony, there was rather a lot to be enthusiastic about. Listed below are a number of different bulletins that caught our consideration at E3 2019.

Outriders – John Callaham is most excited in regards to the newest launch from Polish studio Folks Can Fly.

New Tremendous Smash Bros. Final characters – Dragon Quest’s Hero was the primary new character introduced, however Banjo & Kazooie actually stole the present.

Xbox Recreation Move – We’re itemizing this individually from Challenge Starlett, however who may say no to $1 for the primary month?

Closing Fantasy VII Remake – Closing Fantasy VII is among the most iconic video games of all time, so it’s solely pure that we’re pumped for the remake.

Watch Canines: Legion – Regardless of the leaks spoiling a number of the shock, the thought of enjoying as any NPC in an enormous world may make for some actually cool gameplay moments.

That’s it for our favourite bulletins of E3 2019! What have been your favorites from this yr’s occasion? Tell us within the feedback under!

Supply

#above #additional #again #ahead #already #amd #and #android #appears #apple #approach #april #audio #awesome #based #begin #below #Bethesda #choose #clothes #coming #company #complete #computers #confirmed #could #creator #different #dragon #E3

[your-dietician]

Best extended 4th of July sales at Walmart 2021

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Best extended 4th of July sales at Walmart 2021

We may receive commission from purchases made via links on this page. Pricing and availability are subject to change.

No disrespect to Thomas Jefferson, but Walmart’s here to tell you that all sales are not created equal. (Photo: Getty Images)

The past few weeks have been chockablock with sales — from Memorial Day to Prime Day to Walmart’s Days of Deals and the 4th of July, there’s been no shortage of opportunities to save a few (or many) bucks. So why stop the party now? Even though the 4th has come and gone, that doesn’t mean the sales have stopped — in fact, they’re going as strong as ever. 

Case in point? Walmart’s treasure trove of extended 4th of July sales. You can still score discounts across the board, from TVs and vacs to home goods, and plenty on the fashion and beauty front as well.

Plus, if you spend $35 or more, you’ll get free shipping. To score free shipping on all orders, plus lots more benefits including speedy delivery, sign up for Walmart+. Get a free 15-day trial here (and answering a quick three-question survey will add on an additional two weeks for a solid 30 days of use). 

Without further ado, here are the best extended 4th of July sales at Walmart. Happy shopping!

Best TV sales

Who knows what we’re looking at on that screen. We know what we’re looking at with this price tag, though — a steal! (Photo: Walmart)

On sale for $648 (was $750), the Sony 49-inch 4K Ultra HD LED TV is the latest from the legendary tech company. The massive 65-inch 4K display is vivid and detailed. Sony’s state-of-the-art Processor X1 powers this beauty for true-to-life visuals, while HDR (High Dynamic Range) settings make sure colors stay bright and black levels stay dark. And shoppers just love its massive size!

“I will never be able to watch a smaller TV again. The picture and sound are incredible,” raved a happy TV watcher. “I can’t say enough great things about this TV. It feels like I’m at the movie theater! It also automatically signs in to all my applications after I log in with my Google account, and I can talk into the remote to control the TV. Love it!”

This 4K TV includes Android TV straight from Google. This means you’ll have instant access to popular streaming apps like Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max, Hulu, YouTube, Prime Video and much more. You’ll also get a wide range of gaming apps too. What’s not to love?

Story continues

Check out more TV sales below:

Sceptre 19-inch Class HD LED TV, $70 (was $110), walmart.com

Sony 32-inch Class HD LED Smart TV, $298 (was $348), walmart.com

LG 55-inch Class 4K Ultra HD Smart OLED C1 Series TV, $1,497 (was $2,000), walmart.com

LG 65-inch Class 4K Ultra HD NanoCell Smart TV, $997 (was $1,200), walmart.com

Best headphone and earbud sales

Meet your new best buds: These Samsung Galaxys will always be there, telling you what you want to hear. (Photo: Walmart)

No shocker here: Earbud shoppers are looking for excellent audio, first and foremost. These Samsung Galaxy Buds+ — on sale for $100, a cool $50 off — offer crisp sound and punchy bass for up to an impressive 11 hours per charge (plus get an additional 11 hours with the included wireless charging case). That’s nearly a full day of use! Plus, you can get an hour of playback with a three-minute quick boost. This comes in handy when you’re about to go for a run and your buds are at zero.

Calls will sound crystal-clear thanks to three microphones (two outer and one inner) that reduce ambient background noise even if you’re in a busy location.

“…I am simply blown away by the sound quality, ease of setup and use, and fit,” shared a satisfied Walmart shopper. “I am an active person and have had zero issues with the buds slipping out or moving around in my ears while running, walking, biking, hiking or kayaking. The battery life is as advertised at normal volumes. Haven’t had any issues with Bluetooth lag or connection. The feel of the buds and case are simple and unobtrusive. They look very sleek and futuristic. I have had Bose, JBL and Sony headphones that cost more than these buds and I feel like they are a steal for the price.”

Check out more headphone and earbud sales below:

Beats Solo Pro Wireless Noise-Canceling On-Ear Headphones, $149 (was $300), walmart.com

Philips UT102 Wireless In-Ear Headphones, $30 (was $60), walmart.com

Sony WH-CH510 Wireless On-Ear Headphones, $38 (was $60), walmart.com

Bietrun Wireless Bluetooth Earbuds, $26 (was $130), walmart.com

Meidong Bluetooth Noise-Canceling Over-Ear Headphones, $35 (was $70), walmart.com

Luxmo Bluetooth Headphones, $21 (was $36), walmart.com

Jelly Comb On Ear Headphones, $17 (was $50), walmart.com

Best video-game sales

Get three games for the one super low price of $21. That’s, like…wait a minute, we’ll figure it out…7 bucks a game! (Photo: Walmart)

It’s time to join a mayhem-fueled thrill ride — at nearly 60 percent off! In Borderlands Legendary Collection for Nintendo Switch, you’re tasked with stopping the Calypso twins from getting all the bandit clans together and claiming ultimate power in the galaxy. Travel through new worlds and collect a whole boatload of gadgets along the way.

This is the Legacy Edition, which includes all three games (Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition, Borderlands 2 and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel), DLC (downloadable content) packs with new missions and stories, and more loot and power-ups. 

Shoppers love the game because it can be played just about anywhere. “Awesome to be able to play Borderlands on the go,” raved a gamer. “Also great for late night or early morning gaming when my wife is sleeping.”

Check out more video-game sales below:

Grand Theft Auto V: Premium Edition (PS4), $20 (was $60), walmart.com

No Man’s Sky (Xbox One), $20 (was $50), walmart.com

Greedfall (Xbox One), $19 (was $30), walmart.com

Star Wars: Squadrons (PS4), $21 (was $39), walmart.com

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games: Tokyo 2020 (Nintendo Switch), $40 (was $60), walmart.com

Outriders: Day One Edition (PS4), $40 (was $60), walmart.com

Madden NFL 21 (Xbox One), $20 (was $60), walmart.com

Liphom Gaming Headset, $29 (was $57), walmart.com

The Pillars of The Earth (PS4), $29 (was $41), walmart.com

Best smart-home sales

Make your “dumb” TV smart: Here’s the way to get your stream on. (Photo: Walmart)

The Roku Streaming Stick+ — on sale for $39, down from $49 — gets you access to HBO Max, Hulu, Netflix, Disney+ and more. It’s a must for older TV sets that don’t have built-in streaming, or for people who’ve grown weary of watching Schitt’s Creek or Emily in Paris on a tiny tablet, laptop or phone screen.

One of the brand’s most powerful devices, the Roku Streaming Stick+ turns any TV with an HDMI port into a smart TV. It supports Wi-Fi and wired streaming via Ethernet for a smooth and steady HD and 4K Ultra HD picture quality. Translation: You’ll notice little loading time or buffering. Thanks to HDR (High Dynamic Range), you’ll get vivid colors, inky blacks and the sharpest picture imaginable. And shoppers love that you can plug it directly into the internet. And shoppers love that you can use its included remote to control their TVs too.

“Roku is super easy to set up and cheaper than cable,” wrote a five-star Walmart shopper. “If you do not have a smart TV you will with a Roku. It is small and you will never see it since mine is behind the TV. The remote syncs with your TV so you can turn it off and on and use the volume too. Perfect!”

Check out more smart-home sales below:

Google Nest Mini (second generation), $35 (was $49), walmart.com

Xodo Smart Wi-Fi Video Doorbell Wireless Security Camera, $90 (was $150), walmart.com

Defender Ultra HD 4K Wired Outdoor Security System (1TB), $260 (was $450), walmart.com

Xodo Smart Home Security Surveillance Kit, $60 (was $80), walmart.com

Anself Wireless Burglar Alarm, $20 (was $28), walmart.com

Fymall Wi-Fi Smart Color LED Light Bulb, $11 (was $24), walmart.com

TSV Smart Plug (two-pack), $18 (was $26), walmart.com

Best home office sales

More than just a Chromebook — it’s also a tablet. It’s a Chromelet! A Tabbook! It’s your next computer, is what it is. (Photo: Walmart)

On sale for $199 (was $310), the Lenovo Chromebook Flex 3 has a brilliant HD 11.6-inch LED touch display that makes everything look great, from charts and graphs to your favorite shows to family Zooms. Count on a speedy, powerful Intel Celeron N4020 Dual Core Processor paired with 4GB of memory and 32GB of on-board storage. It even has a 360-degree hinge, so it can rotate to any angle for use as a tablet. And shoppers love the size and build quality too.

“I really like this Chromebook,” raved a savvy Walmart shopper. “It is the perfect size, and I love that they didn’t skimp on the frame — it’s made of metal and not plastic. The size is perfect for carrying it back and forth. The new operating system works way better than my older Chromebook, and it does everything I need it to do.”

Meanwhile, this Chromebook runs the latest version of ChromeOS, so you know you’ll get speedy results. And unlike Windows 10 or MacOS laptops, with long loading times and complicated app downloads, you just log in to your Gmail account via Google Chrome and you’re good to go. At the same time, this Chromebook can access and download ChromeOS and Android apps for more versatility.

Check out more home office sales below:

Lenovo Ideapad Flex 5, $399 (was $520), walmart.com

Ousgar 47-inch White Desk, $100 (was $333), walmart.com

Samsung CB4 Chromebook, $159 (was $230), walmart.com

Hemu Fashion Bamboo Laptop Lap Tray, $38 (was $80), walmart.com

Canon Pixma G4210 Wireless MegaTank All-In-One InkJet Printer, $300 (was $400), walmart.com

Gamma Ray Optics 010 Slim Vintage Computer Readers, $18 (was $25), walmart.com

Best robot-vacuum sales

Got your ION this Shark robovac? Great, but at this price you might want to do less browsing and more clicking. (Photo: Walmart)

On sale for $269 (was $394), the Shark ION Robot Vacuum RV1000 is designed to tackle all sorts of household surfaces, unlike other devices that just suck up dirt and grime and get stuck against a wall or under furniture. What good is that?

This smart little guy uses a navigation system to map the landscape of your home’s floors, so it doesn’t bump into walls, scratch up furniture or tumble down stairs. During its prodigious 90 minutes of battery life per charge, it can sweep your hardwood floors and then switch to carpets and tiles at a second’s notice. Another perk? It can also be controlled and scheduled via its smartphone app or Alexa.

“I love this shark robot vacuum,” raved a delighted shopper. “It maps out my rooms and vacuums in straight lines instead of all willy-nilly like others. We recently removed all of our carpet and put luxury vinyl tile down, we have two dogs that shed constantly, this shark robot vacuum has been a life saver.”

Check out more robot-vacuum sales below:

Mighty Rock Robot Vacuum and Mop, $73 (was $130), walmart.com

Ionvac SmartClean 2000 Robovac, $99 (was $180), walmart.com

IHome AutoVac Nova Self Empty Robot Vacuum and Mop, $299 (was $599), walmart.com

IHome AutoVac Eclipse G 2-in-1 Robot Vacuum and Mop, $179 (was $400), walmart.com

ILife V5s Pro Robot Vacuum and Mop, $135 (was $180), walmart.com

Eureka Groove 4-Way Control Robotic Vacuum, $129 (was $199), walmart.com

ILife A4s Robot Vacuum Cleaner, $119 (was $180), walmart.com

Best style sales

The ultimate wear-everywhere summery frock. (Photo: Walmart)

Before you ask: No, it’s not a typo: This gorgeous Max Studio frock is on sale for 40 bucks! It’s incredibly flattering, thanks to a lovely U-shaped neckline and a fit-and-flare silhouette that defines the waist juuust right. The tiered skirt and fluttery ruffled sleeves are flirty without going overboard. And the soft, jersey material? Feels like a dream.

“Fabric is soft and comfy, like pajamas,” a shopper shared. “Cut is flattering….The shoulder detail is super cute. It’s pretty casual, but some wedges and jewelry could probably dress it up for an office setting.”

Check out more style sales below:

Zanea Womens Polka Dot Short Sleeve Long Dress, $24 (was $48), walmart.com

Scoop Women’s Espadrille Wedge Sandal, $20 (was $35), walmart.com

Kogmo Womens Premium Cotton Full Length Leggings, $12 (was $18), walmart.com

Cate & Chloe McKenzie 18k White Gold Dangling Earrings, $20 (was $136), walmart.com

Charmo Women’s Ruffle One Piece Swimsuit, $18 (was $30), walmart.com

Avia Women’s Summer Romper, $7 (was $14), walmart.com

Nlife Women Criss Cross V Neck Sleeveless Cami Top, $17 (was $30), walmart.com

Best kitchen sales

The good news? You’ll be all out of excuses for not making that big family dinner. The bad news? You’ll be all out of excuses for not making that big family dinner. (Photo: Walmart)

This sturdy aluminum alloy cookware set comes with five must-haves: two fry pans and sauce pans, and one casserole pan, with lids. The teal color is pretty enough to leave on your stovetop even when not in use, and its BPA-free construction is compatible with all types of burners.

“I thought it was some kind of mistake when I first got these pans, because they are exactly like much more expensive sets,” a shopper shared. “They are heavy, well coated for nonstick, fantastic quality, and beautiful.”

Check out more kitchen sales below:

The Pioneer Woman Cowboy Rustic 14-Piece Forged Cutlery Knife Block Set, $39 (was $70), walmart.com

The Pioneer Woman Mazie 2-Piece Ceramic Red Rectangle Baker Set, $20 (was $25), walmart.com

Best Choice Products 16.9qt 1800W 10-in-1 Family Size Air Fryer, $130 (was $255), walmart.com

Ninja 12 Cup Programmable Coffee Brewer, $69 (was $79), walmart.com

Hamilton Beach 12 Cup Digital Automatic LCD Programmable Coffeemaker Brewer, $70 (was $105), walmart.com

Tramontina Primaware 18 Piece Non-stick Cookware Set, Steel Gray, $40 (was $50), walmart.com

Best beauty sales

No, this is not a mirage….but Image’s hydrating repair cream is as thirst-quenching for your beleaguered skin as a desert oasis. (Photo: Walmart)

If your skin is feeling absolutely parched, introduce it to this rejuvenating, hydrating cream. It’s packed with aloe and radiance-boosting Vitamin C, both of which help combat the effects of stress, fatigue, and general dullness. In short: Your skin will sing.

“Simply the best for my under-eye and sensitive skin,” a shopper declared. “It is rich but does not leave my skin greasy or clog my pores. Also I can apply generously, and this jar lasts about 6 months!”

Check out more beauty sales below:

Glycolic Acid 20% Resurfacing Pads, $25 (was $50), walmart.com

BylissPRO Nano Titanium Lightweight Ionic Hair Dryer, $65 (was $85), walmart.com

Burberry Classic Eau De Parfum, $32 (was $98), walmart.com

Image Skincare Ageless Total Eye Lift Creme, $31.50 (was $50), walmart.com

Elizabeth Arden Ceramide Capsules Daily Youth Restoring Face Serum, $65 (was $100),walmart.com

Remington Anti-Static Flat Iron, $16 (was $20), walmart.com

Artnaturals Anti-Aging Retinol, $12 (was $16), walmart.com

Conair Double Ceramic Curling Iron, $16 (was $23), walmart.com

Best mattress and bedding sales

The bestest, soundest sleeep of your life awaits…as soon as you clear off that ridiculous pile of pillows. (Photo: Walmart)

If you’ve had your mattress for longer than you can remember, it’s high time to replace it — and, lucky you, this one is on sale! It’s made with 12 inches of plush memory foam supported by coils, and it’s just the right balance between soft and firm. The only drawback? Getting out of bed in the morning is about to get a lot harder.

“I was surprised at how soft and comfy this mattress was,” a shopper reported. “I took it out of the box, and it opened right up to the 12-inch size. It is supposed to take 24 hours to expand but it expanded a lot right away. It’s super thick and so far feels very comfortable. I am surprised at how great a mattress in a box could be!”

Check out more mattress and bedding sales below:

Hatch Embroidered Stripe 7-Piece Comforter Set, $30 (was $70), walmart.com

Zeny Weighted Blanket, $47 (was $78), walmart.com

Better Homes & Gardens Flowing Floral Comforter Set, $45 (was $65), walmart.com

Mattress Topper Queen, 2-Inch Cool Swirl Gel Memory Foam Mattress Topper, Blue, $70 (was $105), walmart.com

Wenzel 70″ x 60″ Camp Quilt – Red Brick Geo Print, $18 (was $29.50), walmart.com

Best pet sales

A product that poses the question: You’re not still using those annoying, sticky-sheeted lint rollers to wage war against the scourge of pet hair, are you? (Photo: Walmart)

If you’re sick of vacuuming and lint-rolling your couch and bed, this nifty little gadget can help. It picks up pet hair like a pro, minus the sticky, hard-to-peel-off sheets. Instead, it uses a brush to grab all the fur and deposit it inside the storage compartment inside the brush. Genius! Just roll it back and forth over the spot you’re trying to clean, and voila — zero hair!

“I was shocked this works so well,” a shopper shared. “My cat is a shedding machine, and this really picks up the hair!”

Check out more pets sales below:

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Save on Sony, Beats, Samsung, Nintendo and more

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Save on Sony, Beats, Samsung, Nintendo and more

Yahoo Life has received compensation to create this article, and receives commission from purchases made via links on this page. Pricing and availability are subject to change.

Missed out on Walmart’s Deals For Days? Believe it or not, most of the sales are still active this weekend! (Photo: Getty Images)

After a week full of sales, sales and more sales, you (and your wallet) can probably use a break. However, if you realized you forgot to pick up something important, or if something you really wanted got sold out from right under you, you’re in luck.

Walmart’s having a massive weekend-long sale and the savings are just as good as they were earlier this week. We’re talking marked-down TVs, tech, vacs and more, all discounted and ready to be scooped up.

If you spend $35 or more, you’ll get free shipping. To score free shipping on all orders, plus lots more benefits including speedy delivery, sign up for Walmart+. Get a free 15-day trial here (a answering a quick three-question survey will add on an additional two weeks for a solid 30 days of use). 

Here are the best weekend sales from Walmart sale.

Best TV sales

No joke — this Sony 65-incher is over $300 off this weekend! (Photo: Walmart)

On sale for $998 (was $1,300), the Sony 65-inch 4K Ultra HD LED TV is the latest from the legendary tech company. The massive 65-inch 4K display is vivid and detailed. Sony’s state-of-the-art Processor X1 powers this beauty for true-to-life visuals, while HDR (High Dynamic Range) settings make sure colors stay bright and black levels stay dark. And shoppers just love its massive size!

“I will never be able to watch a smaller TV again. The picture and sound are incredible,” raved a happy TV watcher. “I can’t say enough great things about this TV. It feels like I’m at the movie theater! It also automatically signs in to all my applications after I log in with my Google account, and I can talk into the remote to control the TV. Love it!”

The 4K TV includes Android TV straight from Google. This means you’ll have instant access to popular streaming apps like Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max, Hulu, YouTube, Prime Video and much more. You’ll also get a wide range of gaming apps too. What’s not to love?

Story continues

Check out more TV sales below:

Sony 32-inch Class HD LED Smart TV, $298 (was $348), walmart.com

TCL 32-inch 3-Series Class HD LED Roku Smart TV, $145 (was $200), walmart.com

Sceptre 40-inch Class Full HD LED TV, $155 (was $200), walmart.com

Samsung 43-inch Class 4K Ultra HD Smart QLED TV, $898 (was $1,000), walmart.com

Samsung 50-inch Class 4K The Frame QLED Smart TV, $1,198 (was $1,700), walmart.com

TCL 50-inch Class 5-Series 4K Ultra HD QLED Roku Smart TV, $500 (was $600), walmart.com

LG 55-inch Class 4K Ultra HD Smart OLED C1 Series TV, $1,497 (was $2,000), walmart.com

Sony 55-inch Class XBR55X800H Bravia 4K Ultra HD LED Android Smart TV, $798 (was $1,000), walmart.com

LG 65-inch Class 4K Ultra HD NanoCell Smart TV, $997 (was $1,200), walmart.com

Best headphone and earbud sales

Your new best buds are now half price! (Photo: Walmart)

These Philips Wireless In-Ear Headphones are a handsome, waterproof option with a price that belies their high-performance quality: They’re on sale for just $30, down from $60. Yep, half price!

Walmart shoppers love everything about these cans: the sound, the comfy fit, the sturdy charging case. “I have had challenges finding in-ear phones that fit me well for a long time,” reported one fan. “I grabbed the chance to try these Philips Wireless In-Ear Headphones and I can say these are perfect! First off, I like the charging case, so you have power on the go when you need it. The headphones are super easy to pair both with my PC and my phone, and the sound is very good: The highs are not tinny and the bass is smooth…. Another quality product from Philips!”

What he said! You’ll never be juiceless with these Philips Wireless In-Ear Headphones — they offer up to 12 hours of playback. Impressive!

Check out more headphone and earbud sales below:

Beats Solo Pro Wireless Noise Canceling On-Ear Headphones, $149 (was $300), walmart.com

Bietrun Wireless Bluetooth Earbuds, $26 (was $130), walmart.com

Philips Bass+ BH305 Wireless Active Noise Canceling Headphones, $40 (was $120), walmart.com

JLab Audio JBuddies Studio Over-ear Kids Headphones, $15 (was $50), walmart.com

Meidong Bluetooth Noise-Canceling Over-Ear Headphones, $35 (was $70), walmart.com

Luxmo Bluetooth Headphones, $18 (was $36), walmart.com

Jelly Comb On Ear Headphones, $17 (was $50), walmart.com

JBL Live 500BT On-Ear Wireless Headphones, $60 (was $150), walmart.com

JLab Audio JBuds Air Executive True Wireless Bluetooth Earbuds, $39 (was $70), walmart.com

Best gaming sales

You haven’t seen The Last of Us! Not just a figure of speech, so snap this up! (Photo: Walmart)

The Last of Us Part II for PlayStation 4 — which is on sale for $30, or half off at Walmart — is set five years after the first game and follows Ellie and Abby’s fight to survive in a post-apocalyptic US. (Hint: The decisions made in the first game come back to haunt the characters in the second.) This is one of the best games of 2020, and it’s half off right now.

“I have played it three times,” shared a delighted gamer. “On each play-through, I found something new, which I most likely missed because of the insane attention to detail in this game. It all started to make sense after my second playthrough, and I think that The Last of Us Part II is one of the best storytelling masterpieces out there.”

Check out more gaming sales below:

Luigi’s Mansion 3 (Nintendo Switch), $40 (was $50), walmart.com

Fire Emblem: Three Houses (Nintendo Switch), $40 (was $50), walmart.com

The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (Nintendo Switch), $40 (was $60), walmart.com

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games: Tokyo 2020 (Nintendo Switch), $40 (was $60), walmart.com

Outriders: Day One Edition (PS4), $40 (was $60), walmart.com

Madden NFL 21 (Xbox One), $20 (was $60), walmart.com

Liphom Gaming Headset, $29 (was $48), walmart.com

Grand Theft Auto V: Premium Edition (PS4), $18 (was $60), walmart.com

The Pillars of The Earth (PS4), $29 (was $45), walmart.com

Best smart-home sales

Wouldn’t you like to wake up to something more lyrical, gentle or informative than a sharp, droning buzz or beep? (Photo: Walmart)

On sale for $49 (was $80), the Lenovo Smart Clock is powered with Google Assistant for seamless syncing to a smartphone. It can rouse you from your slumber with your favorite tunes, the weather, calendar reminders and events, and that podcast you love. Because, really, who couldn’t use some help getting out of bed?

“I have trouble waking up in the mornings and this alarm clock doesn’t disappoint,” raved a satisfied shopper. “I like the wake-up feature that gradually wakes you up and then gives you a morning update of the weather and all the morning news. I’m able to connect it to all my Google devices too.”

Check out more smart home sales below:

Google Nest Mini (second generation), $35 (was $49), walmart.com

Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 (44mm), $200 (was $279), walmart.com

XODO Smart Home Security Surveillance Kit, $60 (was $80), walmart.com

XODO Smart Wi-Fi Video Doorbell Wireless Security Camera, $90 (was $150), walmart.com

TSV Smart Plug (two-pack), $18 (was $26), walmart.com

Defender Ultra HD 4K Wired Outdoor Security System (1TB), $260 (was $450), walmart.com

Anself Wireless Burglar Alarm, $20 (was $28), walmart.com

Fymall Wi-Fi Smart Color LED Light Bulb, $11 (was $24), walmart.com

Best home office sales

You never know when you need a new laptop. Actually, now you do. (Photo: Walmart)

The thing about laptops? Sometimes you’re the last to know when one’s on its last legs, so it’s always wise to keep your eyes open for a replacement (or backup). On sale for $429 (was $749), this sleek and stylish Gateway Ultra Slim Notebook has a 15.6-inch Full HD LCD display at 1080p, runs Windows 10 and features a comfortable keyboard and spacious trackpad for quick and easy navigation. It’s paired with 16GB of memory and 256GB of on-board storage, and has up to 10 hours of battery life per charge. Shoppers love its built-in fingerprint reader for a super-speedy login.

“Laptop is amazing. I could not be happier with it,” raved a savvy Walmart shopper. “Super smooth interface, fantastic speed and video quality is superb — I have not had any buffering at all. The screen size is perfect and I am really loving this dark green color, very sleek and modern looking. I like that you can set a fingerprint login for extra security…Lots of storage space, fast browsing and crystal clear sound. You really cannot beat this laptop.”

Check out more home office sales below:

Lenovo Ideapad Flex 5, $399 (was $520), walmart.com

Sceptre 27-inch HD LCD Computer Monitor, $130 (was $200), walmart.com

Samsung CB4 Chromebook, $159 (was $230), walmart.com

Canon Pixma G4210 Wireless MegaTank All-In-One InkJet Printer, $300 (was $400), walmart.com

Ousgar 47-inch White Desk, $80 (was $300), walmart.com

Kuku Mobile Call Center Telephone USB Headset, $28 (was $40), walmart.com

Beyerdynamic MMX 300 2nd Gen Conference Call Headset, $268 (was $422), walmart.com

Gamma Ray Optics 010 Slim Vintage Computer Readers, $18 (was $25), walmart.com

Hemu Fashion Bamboo Laptop Lap Tray, $38 (was $80), walmart.com

Best vacuums sales

This vacuum sucks…and that’s a very good thing. Save nearly 70 percent! (Photo: Walmart)

Do you have hair-shedding pets? Do you want to keep a clean home but are just too busy during your week to make sure it stays neat and tidy? If your answer is yes, then the EcoVacs Deebot 711 Robot Vacuum Cleaner might be a good option for you. It’s on sale for a ridonculous $178 at Walmart!

The robovac makes it easy to keep your hardwood floors or carpet clean, even if you’re not at home. Just sync the vacuum to your smartphone via the Ecovacs app and let the Deebot do the rest. This vacuum uses “Smart Navi 2.0” technology to map your space, so it can keep your home free from crumbs, debris, pet hair and other icky things.

“I’m really happy with the quality and price of this vacuum,” shared a savvy Walmart shopper. “It does a solid job, follows its schedule and switches easily between thick shag rug and hardwood floors. I love that it sends you a report when it’s done and lets you know if it has an issue.”

Check out more vacuum sales below:

Bissell Pet Hair Eraser Slim Corded, $99 (was $199), walmart.com

Shark ION Robot Vacuum RV750, $148 (was $299), walmart.com

iHome AutoVac Eclipse G 2-in-1 Robot Vacuum and Mop, $179 (was $400), walmart.com

Eureka Groove 4-Way Control Robotic Vacuum, $129 (was $199), walmart.com

iHome AutoVac Nova Self Empty Robot Vacuum and Mop, $299 (was $599), walmart.com

ILife A4s Robot Vacuum Cleaner, $119 (was $180), walmart.com

Mighty Rock Robot Vacuum and Mop, $73 (was $130), walmart.com

Ionvac SmartClean 2000 Robovac, $99 (was $180), walmart.com

ILife V5s Pro Robot Vacuum and Mop, $135 (was $180), walmart.com

Best style sales

Floaty, flowy, and flamboyantly economical. Perfect for any occasion. (Photo: Walmart)

No, it’s not a typo: This gorgeous Max Studio frock is on sale for 15 bucks! It has a fit-and- flared silhouette, a tiered skirt, and fluttery ruffled sleeves. It’s made of a soft, flattering jersey material, and boasts a knee-length hem and a U-shaped neckline.

Did we mention it’s $83 off?!

“Fabric is soft and comfy, like pajamas,” a shopper shared. “Cut is flattering…The shoulder detail is super cute. It’s pretty casual, but some wedges and jewelry could probably dress it up for an office setting.”

Check out more style sales below:

Scoop Women’s Espadrille Wedge Sandal, $20 (was $35), walmart.com

Zanea Womens Polka Dot Short Sleeve Long Dress, $24 (was $48), walmart.com

KOGMO Womens Premium Cotton Full Length Leggings, $12 (was $18), walmart.com

Status by Chenault Women’s Cotton Slub Jersey with Cotton Eyelet Dress, $9.50 (was $78), walmart.com

Cate & Chloe McKenzie 18k White Gold Dangling Earrings, $18 (was $136), walmart.com

Charmo Women’s Ruffle One Piece Swimsuit, $17 (was $30), walmart.com

Best kitchen sales

Drool-worthy meals at an even more drool-worthy price. Seriously, though,don’t drool. People are eating! (Photo: Walmart)

Listen up, breakfast connoisseurs! This griddle is made for all sorts of morning delicacies: eggs, bacon, even pancakes! It’s treated with a nonstick coating and can act as a separate cooking surface for those with dietary restrictions or as an additional surface for family cookouts or side dishes. It’s so easy to clean too — just chuck it in the dishwasher.

“Really good griddle — everything I’ve cooked turned out delicious!” one shopper shared. “I put four chops on at a time, but you can fit more — just rotate them — and all I can say is…delicious!!! After use, I take a paper towel or a rag and wipe it down. My hubby and I just love it!”

Check out more kitchen sales below:

Tramontina Primaware 18 Piece Non-stick Cookware Set, Steel Gray, $40 (was $50), walmart.com

The Pioneer Woman Cowboy Rustic 14-Piece Forged Cutlery Knife Block Set, $39 (was $70), walmart.com

Chefman TurboFry Air Fryer, $74 (was $99), walmart.com

The Pioneer Woman Mazie 2-Piece Ceramic Red Rectangle Baker Set, $20 (was $25), walmart.com

Farberware 3.2 Quart Oil-Less Multi-Functional Air Fryer, $60 (was $99), walmart.com

Ninja 12 Cup Programmable Coffee Brewer, $69 (was $79), walmart.com

Best Choice Products 16.9qt 1800W 10-in-1 Family Size Air Fryer, $130 (was $255), walmart.com

Hamilton Beach 12 Cup Digital Automatic LCD Programmable Coffeemaker Brewer, $90 (was $105), walmart.com

Best beauty sales

The one mask you’ll be happy to keep wearing. (Photo: Walmart)

We can all use a little more luxury — and this mask is the perfect way to get it. It’s made with 24K gold, which is known for its anti-aging properties (think lifting and firming). Beyond helping rejuvenate your skin, it also leaves behind a beautiful golden glow.

“This mask is great,” a shopper shared. “It has a gooey consistency going on, and leaves your face super smooth and firm after. The gold color is really fun as well.”

Check out more beauty sales below:

BylissPRO Nano Titanium Lightweight Ionic Hair Dryer, $65 (was $85), walmart.com

Burberry Classic Eau De Parfum, $32 (was $98), walmart.com

Elizabeth Arden Ceramide Capsules Daily Youth Restoring Face Serum, $70 (was $100),walmart.com

Remington Anti-Static Flat Iron, $16 (was $20), walmart.com

Artnaturals Anti-Aging Retinol, $12 (was $16), walmart.com

Conair Double Ceramic Curling Iron, $12 (was $23), walmart.com

Glycolic Acid 20% Resurfacing Pads, $25 (was $50), walmart.com

IMAGE Skincare Ageless Total Eye Lift Creme, $31 (was $50), walmart.com

Best mattress and bedding sales

The stuff dreams are made of: saving $300 and getting the greatest sleep of your life. (Photo: Walmart)

If you’ve had your mattress for longer than you can remember, it’s high time to replace it — and, lucky you, this one is on sale! It’s made with 12 inches of plush memory foam supported by coils, and it’s just the right balance between soft and firm. The only drawback? Getting out of bed in the morning is about to get a lot harder.

“I was surprised at how soft and comfy this mattress was,” a shopper reported. “I took it out of the box and plastic and it opened right up to the 12-inch size. It is supposed to take 24 hours to expand but it expanded a lot right away. It’s super thick and so far feels very comfortable. I am surprised at how great a mattress in a box could be!”

Check out more mattress and bedding sales below:

Noble Linens 8-Piece Bed in a Bag Bedding Set, Twin, White, $45 (was $65), walmart.com

Mattress Topper Queen, 2-Inch Cool Swirl Gel Memory Foam Mattress Topper, Blue, $70 (was $105), walmart.com

Hatch Embroidered Stripe 7-Piece Comforter Set, $30 (was $70), walmart.com

Zeny Weighted Blanket, $47 (was $78), walmart.com

Wenzel 70″ x 60″ Camp Quilt – Red Brick Geo Print, $21 (was $29.50), walmart.com

Better Homes & Gardens Flowing Floral Comforter Set, $45 (was $65), walmart.com

Best pet sales

An unbeatable deal for the mistress of the house. That would be her. (Photo: Walmart)

It’s time to get your cat a space of her own — your couch cushions will thank you for it. This little den is perfect for small spaces and kittens. It has enough space for her to curl up and nap in, plus plenty of scratching spots and, most excitingly for her, a little ball she can attack as she pleases.

“My cats love this!” a shopper reported. “It’s great value for the price. The perch on top is small, but our cats find creative ways to utilize it…it’s a great scratcher and play station.”

Check out more pets sales below:

Oster Super Duty Dog Clippers, $35 (was $40), walmart.com

Portable Pet Dog Cat Outdoor Travel Water Bowl Bottle, $8.50 (was $11), walmart.com

Omega Paw Large Elite Self-Cleaning Litter Box, Black, $53 (was $78), walmart.com

Amgra Laser Pointer for Cats, $11 (was $16), walmart.com

Luxury Fluffy Soft Pet Bed, $15 (was $22), walmart.com

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