Keep Living with Me
Requested Here!
Pairing: Tim Bradford x Andersen!cop!reader (r's mom is Captain Zoe Andersen)
Summary: You fell in love with Tim Bradford quickly, and he receives your mother's blessing to propose. After you watch your mother's murder, his plans are thrown off and he gives you a place to heal.
Warnings: spoilers for ep 1x16 "Greenlight," parental death (Captain Zoe Andersen), grief, panic attacks, nightmares. comfort at the end! not proofread
Word Count: 4.6k+ words
Picture from Pinterest
“Good mornin’,” Wade greets as he enters roll call. “Before we get started let’s give a warm welcome to our newest Andersen. Welcome, all the way from Chicago! I know your mom is here so we’re all too scared to give you any grief, but I hope LA treats you well.”
“Thank you, sir,” you reply, nodding to the officers beside you.
“Andersen?” Tim whispers.
“Captain Andersen’s daughter,” Bishop answers. “She was working her way toward detective in Chicago but transferred a few weeks ago. Wanted to be closer to her mom, from what I’ve heard.”
“Meaning that if you want to lay some Bradford charm on her, you’d have to answer to your boss,” Angela adds.
“Cute,” Tim replies, giving Angela a fake smile.
“You said it.”
✯✯✯✯✯
“Officer Bradford,” you call, jogging to catch up to him. “I just wanted to say thanks for the assist back there. I don’t know how that second guy got past me, but I’m sorry for not paying attention.”
“It happens,” Tim offers with a shrug. “And it’s my job to have your back.”
“Doesn’t mean you don’t deserve some thanks every once in a while. I’ll let you get back to your rookie, but, seriously, thank you.”
“No problem.”
Tim doesn’t know exactly when it happened, but at some point, after you arrived in Los Angeles, he got attached to you. Now, he keeps an eye out for you and shows you a side of himself that very few people are lucky enough to meet.
Calling your name, Tim beckons you back to his side. “Let me buy you dinner? As a thanks?” he asks, squeezing his hands together nervously.
“Why would you be thanking me? You saved me,” you remind him.
“Just-“
“I’d love to. But I’m paying,” you answer, smiling before walking away again.
“Doubtful,” he murmurs to himself before returning to his shop.
✯✯✯✯✯
Two weeks after your first date with Tim, you smile at him over your shoulder in roll call. You haven’t told anyone about your feelings, and Tim is just as happy to keep your relationship private for now – that’s something he made clear from the beginning, private not secret.
“Bradford, Andersen, the captain wants to see you,” Wade says as he enters the room. Neither you nor Tim move until he adds, “I think that means now.”
Once the door is closed behind you, you promise, “I didn’t tell her.”
“Relax,” Tim demands. “It’s probably not about us.”
He opens the door to your mother’s office, and she points for both of you to sit. Pulling your hands into your lap, you fiddle as she looks at a paper on the desk before her.
“Care to explain?” she asks.
“Explain what, ma’am?” you reply.
“You’re in here as my daughter, though I’m not thrilled to learn you and another officer are dating without my prior knowledge.”
You look at Tim, but he seems content observing this confrontation.
“Mom, I-“
“It better be a good reason,” she interrupts. “Because it’s been weeks since Tim asked me if it was allowed.”
Looking over at Tim, your mouth gapes before you accuse, “You told her!”
“I had to,” he answers. “I wasn’t dealing with her wrath, as captain or your mother.”
“So, you’re not mad?”
“Why would I be?” your mom asks. “You chose the best of them.”
“Thank you, ma’am,” Tim says happily.
“Don’t think that makes you infallible,” your mother threatens. “I have a gun and I can fire you, and what I choose to do depends entirely on you.”
Tim nods severely, and they both chuckle when you release a relieved sigh.
“Congratulations,” your mom tells you. “I’m glad you’re happy, and I’ll see you both at dinner on Friday?”
Tim leads you out of the office, and you ask, “What’s Friday?”
“Probably a chance for everyone who loves you to threaten me.”
“Sounds fun.”
Tim reaches out for you, but you turn away quickly.
“You told my mother without telling me. No hugs for you until Friday.”
Smirking, Tim replies, “Yeah, you try holding out that long.”
✯✯✯✯✯
✯✯✯✯✯
✯✯ 1 Year Later ✯✯
“I’ll be back in a few,” Tim tells you, kissing your forehead.
“Where are you going?” you ask, looking up at him from your spot on his couch.
“To get your favorite breakfast,” he answers. “Because I love you.”
“Be careful. I love you.”
After a year of dating, you and Tim easily acknowledge the depth of your feelings for one another. He makes you feel important, loved, and like the center of his world. It was easy to fall in love with Tim, yet every moment spent with him makes you happier.
While you wait on his couch, Tim heads to your favorite café. Fiddling with the box in his pocket, he smiles as he thinks of you. You’ve gotten to know him so well you have become practically impossible to surprise. (At least since he first told you he loved you, holding you close under a starry sky in the California desert.) This, though, should be the best surprise yet.
The bell over the door chimes as Tim enters, and he quickly finds the woman he’s here to meet.
“Good morning, Captain Andersen,” he greets, sitting across from her. She looks at him until he amends, “Sorry, Zoe.”
“It’s been a year, Tim, you’re going to have to get used to it at some point,” she teases.
“I will. I actually asked you to meet me here because I have a question about my future with your daughter.”
Zoe’s smile grows, sure that she knows where this is going. Tim removes the velvet box from his pocket and slides it across the table.
“I want to propose, ask your daughter to spend the rest of her life with me, but I refuse to do that without your permission. So, Zoe, my question is, will you allow me to marry your daughter? I can’t bring her half as much happiness as she brings me, but I will love her until my dying breath.”
“Tim,” Zoe begins, pressing the ring box back into his hand. “I would love to have you as a son-in-law; of course, you can marry my daughter. And if your proposal is anything like that, I can’t imagine her saying anything other than yes.”
“Is she going to cry?”
“Most likely,” Zoe answers with a laugh. “But you should get going before she gets suspicious.”
Tim stands with Zoe, pulling her into a hug as he thanks her. She reminds him that the family is having dinner together on Friday, and his standing invitation still stands.
“We’ll be there,” Tim promises. “And I’ll let you know when I pick a date.”
✯✯✯✯✯
Tim knocks on Zoe’s door a week later, entering her office and closing the door behind him.
“I’m proposing this weekend,” he tells her, smiling as he thinks of you.
“Take it easy this week, then. You want everything to be perfect,” Zoe reminds him.
“Yes, ma’am.”
✯✯✯✯✯
“Are you okay?” you ask Tim. “You’ve been… different.”
“I’m great,” he promises. “Just ready for the weekend.”
You nod, unconvinced by his brush-off answer. Trusting Tim is easy, so you know he will tell you when he’s ready. As the day progresses, with IA reversals, celebrities, and an attempt on Nolan’s life, you’re not sure you and Tim will be able to talk about whatever bothers him.
✯✯✯✯✯
When you hear about the shots fired and the greenlight on Nolan, you don’t hesitate to meet your mother at the scene. Not telling Tim yourself wasn’t a conscious decision, simply the result of your adrenaline surging and concern for your fellow officers. Lucy is talking to Nolan as you approach, walking behind your mother, and you notice Tim standing to the side, sending him a concerned look.
“According to intelligence, you’ve bee greenlit by Southern Front,” Captain Andersen – no longer acting like your mother – announces.
“How’s a rookie get greenlit before me? I gotta step up my game,” Tim adds.
“It’s not a badge of honor, Bradford,” you reply, giving him a stern look.
“I was kidding,” he promises, his full attention on you.
Listening to the facts and learning why Nolan is being targeted, you know that finding the gang in a city as big as LA will be next to impossible. As your mom and Nolan leave, you rush to catch up with them.
“I’m coming with,” you announce.
“Officer Andersen, no,” your mom argues.
“I have more gang experience, I assisted in countless cases in Chicago. You need to let me help.”
Shaking her head, your mother gestures for you to join them. You know you’ll get yelled at, lectured, and, if you’re lucky, encounter the wrath of a concerned mother rather than an undermined captain when you get home later.
✯✯✯✯✯
“K-9 unit already swept the property,” Zoe says as she leads you and Nolan into his place.
“Uh, no, Ben left for New York yesterday. So, what’s happening here?” he replies.
“The DA approved a VARDA alarm. It bypasses 911, sends a red alert to all the cops in the area.”
“So, what’s next?”
“That’s up to you.”
“I mean, I can’t just go to work, right? I’d be endangering everyone who came within five feet of me.”
“Being a cop is being at risk.”
“You’re saying I should just report for duty, act like nothing happened?”
“I think we tell the criminals what to do, not the other way around.”
“No matter the consequences?”
“No matter the consequences. But, look, it’s up to you. No one is gonna judge you either way.”
“Yeah, right.”
“Nolan, this isn’t about bravery. You have a family. Any cop who’s ever worn a badge understands that. It seems the system is up and armed. We have a unit parked out front. Try to get some sleep.”
“I’ll stay,” you offer. “And I’m sure West and Chen are on their way.”
“You call me if anything happens,” your mom demands. “And make sure West and Chen know that, too.”
✯✯✯✯✯
The next day, when you and Nolan enter the station, Tim gives Nolan a nod of approval. The rest of the officers break into a round of applause, and Tim’s eyes move to yours.
“You need to be careful,” Tim mouths.
“I promise,” you reply silently. “I love you.”
“I love you.”
✯✯✯✯✯
Riding in the backseat of the shop, you listen to your mom and Nolan while thinking about Tim. Being careful has always been a priority, but knowing that you risk not going home to the man you love puts everything into perspective.
The radio comes on as dispatch announces, “7-Adam-15, possible 459 in progress, 1936 Kristol Lane.”
“7-Adam-15, show us responding,” Nolan responds. “I hate this. Feels like everyone’s fighting my battle for me.”
“City still needs policing,” your mom points out.
An engine revs behind you, and you glance out of the back window, quickly noticing the nondescript van behind you. “Uh, mom?”
She nods once, removing her gun from its holster as the van moves into the lane beside the shop. You and Nolan similarly prepare to defend yourselves. The van sits beside the shop momentarily before turning onto another road.
“Uh, that was…” Nolan begins.
“Exilirating,” your mom finishes.
“I was gonna say ‘terrifying.’”
“What if we meet in the middle and say ‘dangerous,’” you recommend.
“That’s a good choice too.”
“7-Adam-15, go to channel 2 for Sergeant Grey.”
“Andersen,” Zoe calls after switching to the proper channel.
“It worked,” Wade says. “Midas forced Cole to lift the greenlight.”
“I guess you are back to being just another rookie,” Zoe tells Nolan as he takes a deep breath.
“But maybe keep your guard up for a few more days,” you suggest. “Just because there’s no greenlight doesn’t mean you’re safe.”
“Does this mean this little partnership is over?” Nolan asks.
“We got a burglary call to take,” Zoe answers with a smile.
✯✯✯✯✯
Following your mom and Nolan into the open door of the burglary location, you take the left side as your mother goes straight, and Nolan goes right. Nolan turns off a radio before a flashbang is thrown into the room. You cover your ears and move toward an assailant before he throws you onto the floor, taking advantage of your disorientation as another man sticks a cattle prod to Nolan’s chest. You’re unsure where your mother is, but as your eyes close, you hope she proves she’s always been the best cop in your family.
✯✯✯✯✯
You regain consciousness first, but the men don’t seem to care about you as they watch Nolan. Handcuffed to wooden chairs with your backs to the pool, you don’t have many options to break free, so you can only hope that your fellow officers have noticed how much time has passed since you radioed a code 6 upon arrival.
Nolan groans as he wakes, and you can’t warn him to stay quiet before he’s noticed.
“Look who’s awake,” Cole says as he turns toward Nolan, holding up the electrical prod. “Packs quite a kick, doesn’t it? It’s got four times the voltage as LAPD uses. Could probably cook the eyeball right out of your skull.”
Leaning back, Nolan replies, “Look, look, I did not intend to disrespect Astrid, okay? Or you, okay? And I would be happy to apologize.”
“Too late for that now. Only way this ends is with you dead.”
Your mom chuckles, and your head snaps toward her as she continues, “Yeah, I, uh, I’d heard that you were dumb, but it is shocking to see it in person.”
“Dumb?” Cole repeats.
“Dumb,” you say with your mother.
“Who lured you into an ambush with a false surrender?”
“Does your father know that it was false? Huh, junior? I can’t imagine that revelation’s gonna go too well, huh?”
“I think it’ll go fine.”
“Oh, he’s dubmer that I thought. What’s my rank?”
“What?”
“Her rank, idiot,” you interject. “You should be able to tell by her uniform.”
“Who cares?”
“I have a feeling you will.”
“You put a hit out on a rookie,” your mom adds. “But two bars and a badge that says ‘Captain’? You’ve just crossed a line that anybody with half a brain would run screaming from. A line that even your father might whack you for crossing. Understood? So, let me tell you how this is gonna go. You and your little goonies are gonna-“
Cole lunges forward, pressing the prod against her. You pull against your restraints as she yells in pain.
“Hey! Cole! No!” Nolan yells. “Hurt me! Right? I’m the one you want hurt, right? Killing me, that’s trouble you can handle, okay? But not her. You need to let her go.”
“Do you think I’m dumb, too?”
“No.”
Cole looks back and forth between Nolan and your mother. When he moves toward her, you and Nolan yell, “No!” but can’t stop him from kicking her chair into the pool.
“No! No! No!” Nolan chants, fighting the handcuffs.
While you pull as hard as you can, attempting to break free, you begin tipping your chair back toward the water.
“If the line’s already been crossed, then there’s no going back. Which means non of you are walking out of here. As long as your bodies never turn up, the murder can’t be pinned on me,” Cole says.
Twisting in your chair, moving onto two chair legs, you watch your mother struggle underwater through blurry eyes, your vision affected by your tears.
“No, you’re wrong,” Nolan answers before offering to make a video apologizing to Astrid. “Just get her out first. Right now,” he adds after Cole agrees.
“No, you got to make the video first. Come one!”
“Nolan!” you grunt, hoping he makes this quick.
Turning back to look at the pool, you think your mother’s arm is free, and as she swims to the surface, pulling one of Cole’s “goonies” into the water, Nolan tips his chair to tackle Cole to the ground. You move toward the other man, unconcerned, when he points a gun at you. Headbutting him once you’re on the ground, you flinch when a gunshot sounds in the pool.
“No, no, no,” you repeat lowly, turning toward the water’s edge.
Your mom raises over the edge, shooting the man standing above you.
“Mom, no!” you warn as Cole reaches for his gun.
You and Nolan struggle against the cuffs, and when a bullet hits your mom’s neck, time seems to slow down. She presses a hand to the wound before she lowers back into the water.
“No!” you scream, your voice cracking with emotion. “No, no, stay up!”
“No, Cap-“ Nolan calls.
“Mom!”
Nolan breaks his chair and dives into the pool as you watch helplessly.
“Come on,” Nolan repeats, beginning chest compressions.
“Nolan,” you whisper, sobbing against the wet concrete beneath you. “It’s too late.”
✯✯✯✯✯
Nolan tells you to stay still while he breaks your chair, but with your attention on your mom, that should be the least of his concerns. He frees you, pulling one end of the handcuffs away from the chair so you can move.
“I’m so sorry,” he whispers.
“It- it isn’t your fault.”
You begin crying again, looking at the bloody water as you kick the pieces of the chair away from you. Releasing a pained yell, you move to your knees, sitting beside your mom as sirens approach.
Nolan is beside you, unmoving, until Wade places a hand on his shoulder. Tim rushes to your side, kneeling beside you as he pulls you up.
“It was Cole,” Nolan says.
Tim leads you away from the pool as the coroner moves your mom into a flag-covered coffin. As you follow the procession through the line of officers, you stop beside Tim, waiting for his nod before you continue.
After the coroner leaves and Wade dismisses everyone with instructions to find Cade, you avoid looking at Tim. You can’t fall apart until you catch her killer.
✯✯✯✯✯
When you walk into roll call the following morning, Bishop offers you her seat, and you gladly take the place beside Tim. He slides the black strap over your badge before taking your hand under the table. You stay behind the roadblock, letting Nolan and Tim approach Cole to make the arrest. Once he is in cuffs and in the back of a shop, you holster your weapon and keep your eyes on Tim.
He rushes to you, pulling you into his arms, holding you close as you cling to him.
“I’m sorry,” Tim says against your hair. “Do you want to go with them?”
Shaking your head, you move toward Tim’s shop, and Lucy nods as she finds another ride back to the station.
“I- I don’t know what I’m supposed to do without her, Tim,” you say when you’re alone.
“The hurt never goes away, but it lessens,” Tim promises. “And I’m right here.”
✯✯✯✯✯
Somehow, you manage to get through the funeral without falling apart. The moment you prepare to go home, to begin a life without her, that changes. You freeze on the sidewalk, looking back to the headstone.
“C’mon,” Tim murmurs as he approaches you. “You’re not staying alone tonight.”
“I can’t do this, Tim.”
“Yes, you can. Look at me. She loved you, and she wanted you to live and love, and do what you wanted to do. Do not let that monster take your life, too.”
Tim cups your cheeks, kissing your forehead as you nod.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. It- I can’t imagine what you’re going through, but you’re not alone, okay?”
“I know,” you whisper. “Thank you.”
✯✯✯✯✯
Tim holds you against his chest until you fall asleep, but you don’t get much rest before a nightmare wakes you. Slipping out of Tim’s arms, you walk into his backyard and close the door behind you. Sitting on his deck, you feel like you’re back in Cole’s yard, frozen and unable to do anything more than scream. Why didn’t you take action like Nolan? Get the gun somehow before Cole got away from Nolan? … Why didn’t you save your mother?
Pressing your hand against your mouth, you attempt to silence your cries, but you should have realized that Tim would notice the moment you left his side. He closes the patio door softly, sitting beside you.
“Can I come closer?” he asks softly.
You shake your head quickly, and your thoughts spiral. So many things could have been done differently, and maybe this is a sign that you should have never come to Los Angeles, never have become a cop and that you are the reason she is dead.
“Hey, hey, hey,” Tim calls, demanding your attention as he grabs your hand. “Breathe. Breathe with me.”
As Tim grounds you, you crawl toward him, letting him hold you as you fall apart in his arms. Crying into his chest, you eventually fall asleep again, and Tim whispers a promise that he will always be here for you.
✯✯✯✯✯
The first few weeks are the hardest as reality sets in, and you relive the moment. Tim never leaves your side, though, offering a hand to hold, a shoulder to cry on, or a reminder that you are not to blame. As the time between tears grows longer and you can look at pictures of her and smile, you decide you’re ready to return to work.
“Are you sure? If you need more time, that is completely understandable,” Tim replies.
“I’m sure. You told me not to let Cole take my life, and I’m ready to start living again.”
“Still room for me?” Tim asks with a smile.
“Loads of room for you,” you promise, leaning against him.
“Then I’ll be by your side the whole time.”
So, when you walk into work three months later, you assume that Tim is responsible for the round of applause and the “Welcome Back” banner hanging in the bullpen. You and Tim are both surprised by how easily you return to the station, smiling as you greet your friends and able to walk past your mom’s office with nothing more than a sad smile.
✯✯✯✯✯
After practically moving into Tim’s house after the funeral, you know where everything is. So, when he spills a drink while watching the game, unable to draw his eyes from the screen, he asks you to get him some dry clothes.
“Sure thing,” you reply, smiling at him.
Tim yells when his team scores, and you shake your head in loving amusement as you enter his closet. Moving a small basket to get a shirt from behind it, you accidentally knock something onto the floor. When you stand after picking it up, you realize that it’s a jewelry box. Opening it, you see the one thing you didn’t expect.
In the other room, one of the teams calls a time-out, and commercials begin playing. Tim realizes that you’ve been in the bedroom for a while, so he stands, stretching as he sets out to check on you.
“Did you fall into a-“ he begins, freezing when he sees you staring at the engagement ring.
“Sorry,” you say, snapping out of your shocked stupor as you close the box and put the ring back. “I knocked it off and didn’t think, uh, here’s a clean shirt.”
Tim grabs your hands rather than the shirt, stopping you before you can walk around him.
“I’ve had it for a while,” Tim explains. “I just- I could never find the right time to ask.”
Wiping a tear from your cheek, you press the shirt against Tim’s chest and ask, “Can you get dressed, please?”
“For what?”
“I need a hug, but you’re really wet.”
Tim laughs, changing right beside you before pulling you toward the bed. He rolls onto his side, looking at your face as you reach for him.
“What about the game?” you whisper.
“Who needs a game when I have you?”
“Well, if you’re not using the tv,” you begin, trailing off.
Tim sighs, kissing your cheek as he reaches over you for the remote. He turns on your favorite movie, inviting you to lay against his chest as you cuddle against him.
“Yes,” you say a few minutes later.
“Yes what?” Tim asks, looking down at you.
You pause the movie, rolling toward Tim to look up at him as you lay your chin against his chest. “If you proposed, I would say yes. No matter when or where.”
Tim smiles, and you decide to watch him rather than the movie.
Considering what his proposal may be like, you whisper, “I wish my mom was here.”
“A few months ago, I left to get breakfast, and then I was acting different the rest of the week. Do you remember that?” Tim asks. You nod, and he continues, “I went to see your mom that day. I showed her the ring and asked for her permission to propose. She told me that I had her blessing and she’d love to have me as a son-in-law.”
Tim smiles as he remembers Zoe's excitement after learning about his plans.
“I was going to propose the weekend that – that she died.”
“She loved you,” you remind him as he brushes his thumbs over your cheeks.
“And I love you.”
✯✯✯✯✯
“Get dressed,” Tim whispers in your ear as the movie ends.
“What?”
“Put clothes on. Unless you want to go to dinner wearing that,” Tim replies, gesturing to your well-loved pajamas. “Not that you don’t look beautiful, of course.”
“Move,” you mumble, pushing past him to reach the dresser he emptied for you after the funeral.
As he drives you to dinner, you watch Tim’s profile, feeling like the luckiest, most loved woman ever. He stops at a park, exiting beside a tree covered in fairy lights. Walking to the passenger door, he takes your hand and helps you out of the truck.
“Tim, what is this?” you ask.
“Something I should’ve done before,” he begins, kneeling. He looks into your eyes, reflecting the lights above you as he speaks. When you say yes, crying just as Zoe said you would, Tim stands, pulling you into his arms before sliding the ring onto your finger.
✯✯✯✯✯
“Hi,” you greet, lowering to sit in the grass. You look at the sparkling ring on your finger and smile. “Tim proposed. I- I wouldn’t have seen it coming if I hadn’t found it in the closet.”
The wind blows, wrapping around you like a comforting hug.
“He told me that he went to see you and you gave him your blessing. I know you loved him, and you knew how much I loved him, but… sometimes I feel like I don’t deserve him. He singlehandedly held me together after that day with Cole. And I don’t want to receive more than I give.” Leaning toward the headstone, you read your mother’s name and ask, “What do I do to show him I love him?”
“He knows,” Tim answers, approaching with flowers. “May I join?”
You smile, inviting Tim to sit with you at your mother’s grave. He lays the flowers against her headstone before wrapping his arm around your shoulder.
“What are we talking about?” he asks.
“Us.”
“That’s my favorite topic.”
As you fall back into conversation with your mom, and Tim joins you, you feel like your mom is sitting across from you. With her love and Tim’s, plus all the love you have to give, you know you will be okay. Great even, you think as you lean against Tim, and the sun glints off the ring on your left hand.
253 notes
·
View notes
Reluctant War AU Part 3
Part 1 Part 2
More of the brain worm that has taken me over, gonna probably post it to Ao3 here before too long. Already got another part started and so many ideas for additional stuff, someone please send help I've been consumed by this thing lol
Sorry if Waller seems out of character, outside of fandom I'm mostly familiar with her through Justice League the animated show & Justice League: Unlimited and her vibe there has always struck me as "deeply incredibly unlikable character that also kind of has a point but also has done so much fucked up shit in the name of her goals that you don't really care about her point anymore." So you know, complicated lol. If she's completely unrecognizable let me know, but I'm hoping she feels at least somewhat like Waller.
Forgot to say this in the last update, but still feel free to use all this as an overly long prompt if yall want. Literally anything I throw out to the void should be treated as a prompt lol If there's anything at all interesting to you in any of this nonsense go for it <3 <3 <3
---
Amanda Waller was someone who did what needed to be done.
Ruthless, heartless, vicious, cruel.
She’d been called it all. Wore the words thrown as insults as a badges of pride and valor. Because at the end of the day, when it came to the problems she was given to face, the issues she was meant to solve, those words meant she’d done what others had been too squeamish or cowardly to do. Life was a never ending slog of trolley problems and she the only one unshakable enough to pull the levers that needed pulling.
It wasn’t so simple as a matter of greater good.
Greater good was what the weak willed muttered to themselves after having feelings over doing the bare minimum. A justification used by people on all sides to do what they wanted with fractured, faulty logic thrown around like truth was a thing immutable. To assuage their guilt when they were forced to make a call they didn’t want to.
It wasn’t a matter of greater good. It was a matter of preservation. Of protection. Of digging through the filth to find the threats skittering beneath and crush them with ruthless abandon. Of facing a god and not blinking because if you did it could cost the world.
Of doing what needed to be done, no matter how underhanded or atrocious it was.
Hands dirty.
Hands red.
Hands wrapped tight around the throat of something that could threaten to destroy it all.
When the Ghost Investigation Ward had been shoved her way with it’s sucking wound of a budget, it’s bloated incompetent staff, its asinine methods she’d seen a rotted limb in need of hacking off. It hadn’t been until she’d been conducting her inspection, digging through the trash for a few pearls of effective agents she could snatch up and put to work elsewhere, that she’d truly seen what they were working on. The potential.
Potential to better arm themselves with in the forms of the strange new weapons being created.
Potential for threats far greater than anything even she had thought possible before.
The GIW as it had been when she’d first come across it was a fetid waste of time and resources. A laughing stock agency only secret because no one took them seriously enough to look. Made stupid and useless with its own conceited delusions of importance it didn’t actually have. Yet.
She went to work on it. Hacking away as she’d originally intended, but this time with a different goal in mind. She ripped out the weeds with bare, calloused hands and planted proficiency and loyalty in their place. She took over as director herself, tossing the self-aggrandizing fool that had been running the place into the ground to the dogs as the culprit for misappropriate spendings, saving the agency by tweaking things until their ballooning budget was pinned neatly onto the former director as an embezzling charge.
Then she got to work.
The Fentons were brilliant, if entirely insane. But Amanda could work with that. She’d reigned Harley Quinn in - more or less - she could do the same to the two deranged scientists that so eagerly wanted to be apart of the fight against the dead. Especially when the benefit came in the form of the inventions they threw together so easily, especially when those inventions were weapons.
It took very little to get them on board with her plans for the GIW. Keeping their focus could be a chore, at times, but she didn’t even have to really do much in the way of pressing to get them back where she wanted them. They craved knowledge and understanding nearly as much as they craved the eradication of the entities themselves. Letting them have the first look at a new subject here, free reign over a vivisection there, it took so little to fuel their fervor and keep them busy working on the projects she set for them.
Things had been going smoothly.
For a time at least.
Until Phantom.
He’d been the main focus of the previous director’s attention, the big fish he’d so desperately wanted to catch and put up on his wall. Amanda wouldn’t lie and say it wasn’t a tempting prospect, but not one she’d put above the other projects she had set in motion since taking over. No, Phantom was powerful, enough to be a real problem one day, but she could the awkward youth in the way he held himself, the inexperience in how he handled situations. She had time to get everything else in order before focusing on getting Amity Park’s would-be hero brought to heel.
And he would be brought to heel. One way or another.
Hands dirty.
Hands red.
Hands wrapped tight around the Core of a fledgling god and bending him to her will.
An artifact, old an powerful, recovered with some effort. A means of controlling specters, of chaining them to the will of the artifact’s wielder. Dangerous in the wrong hands. Dangerous in the right hands.
It was shattered, and even whole and functional Phantom was resistant to its power. But Amanda Waller prided herself in her ability to see the potential in things. It could be repaired, be made better. Even gods could be bound, be made to kneel, with the right pieces, with the right application of force.
It was just a matter of time to gather everything needed.
Phantom didn’t know he could single handedly destroy every last member of the Justice League. The baby fat, the innocent eyes, the split-second hesitations when he fought. He knew enough to be confident in fighting the usual ghosts that haunted Amity Park, but he still very much saw himself as a little fish. Maybe it was the part of him that was still Daniel Fenton, gangly teenager not quite sure what he was truly capable of yet.
She had time before the Fenton’s son truly became an issue. Time to judge if his parents’ obsessiveness would overcome their - rather shoddy, by Amanda’s estimation - parental instincts and continue to hunt him once they knew the truth. Time to get as much out of them as she could before hand, should they falter at the idea of attacking their own son. Time for the staff to be repaired and returned to working order, to get the other items needed for the truly big fish hidden on the other side of the veil between worlds.
She had time.
Until she didn’t.
Pariah Dark had not been something she thought she’d have to account for - not yet, at least.
If he wasn’t already dead, she’d ring the Ghost King’s neck with her bare hands. His arrival had opened Phantom’s eyes to what he was capable of, of just how big of a fish he was. Worse still, Phantom’s defeat of the war mongering King changed the state of play. Phantom was no longer an impressively powerful half dead teenager.
He was King Infinite.
He was an Ancient.
He was getting on her last damn nerves.
Phantom’s rogue gallery were now firmly under the boy’s control. Still distinct nuisances around Amity Park, but no longer considered true concerns. They were loyal to their boy king, delighting in ruffling his feathers but never crossing the line into treason or attempted regicide. Which meant that the GIW was the only thing that held his attention.
Amanda took the time to send a care package to the former GIW director in his tiny, dank prison cell. As thanks for his carelessness in revealing to the entire town - both living and dead - of the agency’s existence and their intentions. Had he stuck to standard protocol, Phantom would have been none the wiser to their presence. Would have scratched his head and shrugged his shoulders at the ghost that went missing upon occasion. Would have been boredly uninterested in the people his parents had begun working with. Would have been taken by surprise when they finally came for him.
But no.
No that self-obsessed, fame chasing imbecile had to go and announce to everyone and their dead mother that the GIW existed and exactly what it was they were in Amity Park to do.
Phantom knew what they were there to do.
They could only count on his naive certainty that he could broker peace with them for so long.
Peace. As if he and his people weren’t the invading force, the monsters slipping in through the cracks between worlds, the latest threat that had to be accounted for. As if he himself hadn’t rent their world asunder himself in another world, another time. No. Peace was not something they could hash out with this baby-faced monarch with his too-big crown. Peace was the assurance of safety, security. Of control of the situation.
There could be no peace.
The higher ups were somehow surprised when Phantom took that to mean there would be war.
Amanda Waller was not.
The Fentons, as suspected, took the right side when all was revealed. Steady hands and flinty eyes as they crafted the weapons that would be needed for the coming fight. Minds even sharper in their maddened grief, hearts set on revenge for the son lost and the entity that stole his face and friends and sister in his garish pretense at humanity. They were blinded to the reality of the situation in its entirety, the potential in what their son truly was, but at the end of the day it didn’t really matter. They did what she needed them to do, they could believe whatever it was they wanted so long as they did.
By the time the boy king and his armies marched upon the Amity park facility, preparations had been put into place. The base in Amity had been stripped back to bare essentials, everything of importance moved to more secured locations.
The weapons labs.
The artifact.
The girl.
All tucked well away from the front lines where Phantom and his motley crew could not reach. Their time to be put in play would come, but not yet. First she needed to gauge what Phantom and his people were capable of, what they were willing to do in the name of what they wanted. Amity Park was a pawn well sacrificed on that front. As were the other facilities she’d left easy to find.
The problem with making children gods, with giving them crowns and calling them King and giving them armies to play with, was that they thought there should be rules. That even in the trenches tearing apart their enemies, there was a certain level of playing fair that everyone was held to. They thought there was a way the world worked, of how things should be that blinded them to more effective options even as time stretched on and desperation set in.
It was the Dead’s problem though, not hers.
She reached out to the Justice League. Sour faced, unhappy, bitterly reluctant to accept that she needed their help. Stone faced and barely containing their rage at what little they knew of the situation, they agreed to a meeting.
She didn’t let herself smile until she was well and truly alone in her office.
Greater good. A lie people told themselves. A fairytale told to children. A means of convincing the weaker willed that they had no choice, that they had a noble duty to bend to. A belief that could be wielded like a weapon if the fantasy of the idea had dug in deep enough. And there were few it had dug into so deep as the members of the Justice League.
Amanda Waller was someone who did what needed to be done.
Hands dirty.
Hands red.
Hands clenched tight on a victory long in the making.
---
Part Four
826 notes
·
View notes