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brwnicons · 2 years

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Hawks x reader

♧ @shadowhuntresso : I wanna help out an fellow writer! So I request (if you are okay with it) a little challange

Can u make Hawks with a female reader who save's his ass from getting nearly killed. What power y/n has is in your hand as well as the Szenario.

Thanks ^^

☆ Thanks you so much for the request! <3 Although I've been making only icons here I wanted to write too, and this was the push I needed! It's my first time writing for someone and English is not my first language so please be kind.

Btw I made the reader as neutral as possible because it made me uncomfortable, and the danger hawks is in isn't very serious, hope you don't mind it and that you enjoy it anyway! 💛

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-> Summary: Tonight you've got plans with hawks, and no villain ruin them

-> Warning / Triggers: none, just a bit of violence from a badass reader 👀

Pease tell me if you find any mistake

Today had been a very busy day as a teacher at the UA, a day full of little-pretentious-hero-beginners who kept screaming and destroying everything, believing it was a display of their power. Basically, an exhausting day.

When your working day was over, you took advantage of the fact that your boyfriend Hawks still had left a few hours to return home and decided to stop by your favorite cafeteria for a couple of snacks. You two planned to spend the night together just relaxing and putting aside your life as professional heroes. A hot bath, a massage, maybe watch a movie, a cold drink while looking at the city lights and finally ending the day cuddling under a soft blanket till you both fall asleep in each others arms.

You took the snacks and paid, got in your car and started daydreaming about the plans you had with your partner. You drove for a few minutes when suddenly you thought you saw the characteristic red of the wings of your favorite birdman in the sky, along with a black mass that couldn't be distinguished well.

Then, impromptuly, a red flash caught your attention and you looked at the ground to see what it was about

"What the-" you looked around, noticing those things everywhere.

In fact, feathers

And they were, specifically, RED feathers

The ground of the street was full of scattered feathers: by the streetlights, the curbs, the facades and windows ... There were so many that he had lost that you were sure that he wouldn't have long flight time if he lost any more.

Irritated, you braked hard, got out of the car and ran through the crowded people to the scene. You climbed fastly a nearly building and activated your quirk, determined to save your favorite hero.

The villain was trying to bite hawks or to throw him to the ground, so you caught the attention of the strange entity by starting to shout insults and threats of all kinds about what you could do to them and how pathetic they were. Certainly, it didn't take much efford to offend the villain, who swooped down on you determined to kill you, like a cat who sees a laser on a wall. You heard Hawks call out your name, but he was no longer in a position to defend you nor himself.

As Hawks tried to land on the street without falling, you managed to dodge the villain with a quick movement, but now YOU were his target. You prepared for the fight, it had to end quickly because no mass was going to ruin your plans with your boyfriend.

Hawks landed among the crowd and looked with a mixture of pride and concern at the scene before him. He knew his partner was badass, but y/n always managed to impress him.

You fighted for a a couple of minutes when you noticed what seemed to be the weak point of your enemy. Without stopping to think about it too much, you accumulated all the energy you could and launched a strong attack against them, completely disintegrating your adversary.

You sighed in relief and looked down on the dust, once alive, before you.

You went down to see Hawks, who was waiting for you completely plucked but with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face. You saw that he wasn't hurt and decided to mess with him a little.

"Since when can't you beat a weakling like this? Look at all the mess you made" You asked dramatically with false astonishment as you picked up an abandoned red feather from the floor.

"Please" he laughed "I also have to let you show off from time to time. After all, what would The Number 2 Hero do without his faithful minion?"

You rolled your eyes at the nickname. While you both walked to your car, he ran a hand over your shoulders affectionately

"Well, I guess our plan is... still on, right?" You said after a moment of silence, gently stroking the few remaining feathers through the opening of his coat.

He smiled and kissed your forehead tenderly.

"Of course, darling"

#bnha fanfic #hawks x you #hawks x male reader #hawks x reader #takami keigo #takami keigo x y/n #takami keigo x reader #takami keigo x you #keigo x me #keigo x male reader #keigo x you #keigo takami x y/n #keigo takami x reader #keigo takami x you #bnha x male reader #bnha x reader

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youvebeenlivingfictional · 3 years

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The Long Con Part Nine

Previous Part | Masterlist | Next Part Pairing: Marcus Pike x Reader Rating: T Notes: I hope y’all had a good week! 💕 Warnings: Cursing, fluff, me pretending that I know literally anything about art history or art forgery— again. Summary: You wound up spending much of the day holed up in Marcus’ room, sitting at his desk with the numerous print-outs, a marker, a notebook, and his laptop.

You offered to help Marcus with the wedding errands that needed to be done, but he could see how distracted you were by the print-outs he’d been able to get of the x-rays and craquelure of Leda and the Swan. He shook his head, nodding to where you’d already set up shop at his desk. “Don’t worry about wedding stuff today,” He reassured, smiling. Then he tipped your head up for a quick peck and left.

You wound up spending much of the day holed up in Marcus’ room, sitting at his desk with the numerous print-outs, a marker, a notebook, and his laptop. You looked for comparisons between the x-rays of the Mona Lisa, Da Vinci’s sketches of Leda, and the other reproductions that you were more familiar with. Jill actually had to come up and draw you out of the room by taking Marcus’ laptop charging cord hostage.

When Marcus returned that evening, he found you folding programs with laser focus.

“Having fun?” He teased, settling down beside you on the floor. You were leaning back against the couch, as you had when you and Marcus had been putting the favors together.

“Mhm,” You hummed lightly, peering down at the program and lining up the corners of the paper before smoothing down the middle. Marcus picked up an unfolded program, beginning to fold them as you did.

“How were um-- Errands, how’d they… You know?” You asked absently. “They were fine. Tuxes have been acquired, venue’s got the final headcount, seating chart and favors, photographer’s got the shot list.” “Has Marnie called the hotel they’re staying at and found out if there was an upgrade available?” You glanced at Marcus, “Might be able to get something if she mentions it’s her wedding weekend.” Marcus’ brows rose. “I don’t think she has, but I’ll find out.” “Should probably check in with wherever the rehearsal dinner is being held, too,” You added, turning back to the programs. ��I’ll keep that in mind...Are you okay?” Marcus asked as you dropped another folded program atop the pile. “Mhm.” “Hey,” Marcus reached out, setting his hand on your arm. You glanced over at him. “S’wrong?” “You seem a little tense,” He scooched closer, thigh pressing against yours, “I can take over program folding,” He added. “She’s mad at me,” Jill called from the kitchen. “I am not mad!” You called back. “What happened?” Marcus frowned, glancing between the two of you. Jill came into the living room, leaning over the back of the couch and peering down at the two of you. “I made her come out from hunching over those photos that you printed out this morning,” She told Marcus as you pointedly folded another program. Busted. “How long were you in there?” Marcus asked, rubbing his hand over the back of your neck gently. “Since you left. I only got the damn cord away from her half an hour ago,” Jill answered, pushing off of the couch, “Speakin’a which, you hungry, Marky?” You snickered, muttering, “Marky.” “No thanks, mom.” “What about you, honey?” “No thank you, Jill,” You glanced back, offering her a smile before dropping another program atop the pile. Marcus watched her go before he leaned a little closer. “Were you able to work anything out?” He asked, picking up another page. “Nothing substantive,” You grumbled, folding the page and setting it aside. Marcus set his on the pile before he drew you into his chest. You pouted a little, slouching against him as you reached for the next page. “You know I’ve got the team working on this, too, right? And the team working out of the Louvre.” “I know,” You mumbled. “So relax,” Marcus murmured, turning his head and pressing a kiss to your temple. “I’m incredibly relaxed. I’m also very focused on folding these programs.” “Sweetheart, programs do not need to be that perfect.”

“Agree to disagree.” You felt Marcus’ fingers tuck under your chin and turn your head to look at him. You paused in your folding, blinking up at him. “You sure you’re alright?” He asked gently. You were not— but what was one more lie in this house? “Yeah,” You murmured before you leaned up, taking a chance and pecking Marcus’ lips. You felt him smile as he cupped your cheek, keeping you close as he deepened the kiss. You sighed, relaxing a little more and resting a hand on his thigh. As the kiss broke, you rested your head against his neck, closing your eyes as Marcus rubbed his hand over your shoulder. “...Feel better?” He asked quietly. “I think so.” “I can do that anytime,” He added after a moment, and you smiled, pressing your face into the crook of his neck. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

-- “You still doing that?” Marcus asked. “Hm?” You glanced back at him, catching sight of him in his pajamas. Jill had relinquished the laptop cord shortly after dinner, and Marcus had freed you of program-folding duty. “What...Time is it?” You asked, frowning. “It’s a little after midnight,” Marcus walked over to stand behind you, bracing his hands on the back of your chair and looking over your work, “You comin’ to bed?” You knew that you should— it had been a long day (after Jill had finally ceded the charging cord), and you were a bit tired. “Uh… N--No, not yet—” “C’mon,” Marcus murmured, leaning down and wrapping his arms around your shoulders, “You need to get some sleep.” “I know, I’m gonna, I just— I think I’m really close to something here,” You admitted, looking up at Marcus, “I wanna chase it down. I’ll take it into the living room so the light doesn’t keep you up,” You added, starting to gather up some of the materials. “If you’re sure,” Marcus conceded softly, “But get some sleep, huh?” “I will.” “Promise?” You glanced up at Marcus, smiling. “Promise.” He nodded, leaning in and pressing a kiss to your forehead before heading to bed.

You leaned away from the markups on the coffee table, dropping your marker with a shaky hand.

You’d made a call to where she’d been sent, and found out she had had her sentence shortened. She’d been out for nearly three years— she’d missed parole; there was a warrant out for her arrest. You hadn’t wanted to believe it was her work, you hadn’t, but you’d found the messages she always left. One was in the x-rayed under layers of the wreath of flowers around the swan’s neck: ‘Dominus ad ludere’. And then, another x-rayed layer, within one of the grey layers of the painting, near the darkened fold of the swan’s wing: ‘Ad opus domini’. The master at play, the master at work. The lettering was small, difficult to spot, but you knew that handwriting, and you knew exactly where to look. You couldn’t help the sick, twisting feeling in your stomach as you picked up your phone. You grabbed your notebook where you’d jotted down your notes on the sketches and brushstrokes, the notes that she’d left behind, and you hurried out to the porch. You sat on the porch swing, peering out into the dark and settling your notebook on your lap. You tucked the phone against your ear, listening as it rang. “Special Agent Melinda Yuen,” Came the answer when the phone was picked up. You were fond of Marcus’ colleague; aside from Marcus, she was who you’d worked the closest with. “Hi, Mel, it’s me,” You said quietly, glancing toward the door. “Hey, professor! How ya been?” “Fine,” You smiled a little at her question, “You?” “I’m alright. If you’re calling looking for Marcus—” “No, I… I wanted to talk to you. Marcus sent me some of the stuff from that da Vinci picked up in Orléans. I took a look at it, it’s definitely not authentic.” “You got notes?” “You have a pen? I’m going to tell you exactly where to look.” You listed off the points and layers that you were able to identify, as well as the suspect for her to look into. Melinda went quiet on the other end for a moment. “Professor, isn’t that your grandm—” “Yes,” You answered hurriedly, “It is.” “...Shit.” “My feelings exactly— Look, Mel, I’ve gotta ask you a favor.” “Sure.” “Don’t...Don’t tell Marcus who called this in until he’s back in D.C.” “Why not?” “Just, please?” You pleaded softly, glancing toward the door. “...I don’t know, professor—” “I’m not asking you to keep it from him forever, just-- Couple’a days.”

“Alright,” Melinda sighed softly, before, “How do you know when he’ll be back, anyway?” “Oh, he uh— mentioned he was going to his sister’s wedding. I don’t wanna ruin his weekend, you know. Figured if I got you on the first ring on this number he must be down there, ‘specially with this big of a case in the office,” You fibbed quickly. “You figure correctly,” Melinda chuckled, “I’ll get these notes over to the team. Night, professor.” “Night, Mel, and thanks.” “Hey, thank you.” You lowered your phone, hanging it up and peering out over the backyard again. You sighed softly, pushing the swing back and forth with one foot. “Can’t sleep?” You jumped at the sound of the question, huffing a shaky laugh at the sight of Marnie. “No,” You confirmed, “What about you?” “Nope,” Marnie sighed, walking over to sit beside you, “I was working on my vows.” “Big speech-writing day in the Pike household,” You teased. “That Marcus’?” Marnie nodded to your notebook. “O-Oh! No. Some uh… Stuff on that painting. Inconsistencies, little things,” You set the notebook down between the two of them, giving Marnie the option to pick it up. She left it be, giving you a little bit of relief in what had been a mostly hellish day. “Think it’s serious?” You shrugged, “Could be inconsequential.” You were already lying to Marnie so much, what was one more? Though, frankly, it made you feel a little crummy. You were growing very fond of Marcus’ family. They were warm, and welcoming. You’d always imagined having a family like them. “You and Marcus seem good, you know?” Marnie said, nudging your shoulder with hers, “I mean...Happy.” You smiled, lowering your eyes. “Your brother is... amazing. All of you are, I mean— I don’t know any family that would open their home to someone they don’t know for a night, let alone an entire week. And your mom— the way she pulled me out of Marcus’ room earlier,” The two of you chuckled, “Well. I’ve appreciated everything since I’ve been here, how kind you all have been.” “Oh,” Marnie reached out, patting your hand lightly, “We’re happy to. ‘Sides, Marcus is clearly smitten with you.” Your stomach churned with unease as you peered down at your hands. Marcus was a better actor than he gave himself credit for. You knew you’d make a liar out of him. “Makes two of us,” You mumbled. Damn, but that was the truth. Tag list: @hufflepuffing-all-day-long ; @spideysimpossiblegirl ; @blueeyesatnight ; @elen-aranel ; @yespolkadotkitty ; @artsymaddie ; @phoenixhalliwell ; @lunaserenade ; @winniedaboo ; @empress-palpat1ne ; @randomness501 ; @nutmeg-20 ; @leonieb ; @the-feckless-wonder ; @lou-la-lou ; @captain-jebi ; @supernaturalgirl ; @naturenebula21 ; @evelynseventyr ; @giselatropicana ; @heatherbel ; @marydjarin ; @annathewitch ; @absurdthirst ; @hnt-escape ; @writingletterstothefire ; @misswriter ; @bison-writes ; @xx-small-town-witch-xx ; @ajeff855 ; @hellovanessax ; @drinkingwhileblogging ; @strawberryperegrine ; @a-court-of-feysand-and-elorcan

#The Long Con #Marcus Pike x You #Marcus Pike x Reader #Marcus Pike/Reader #Marcus Pike/You #Marcus Pike fic #Marcus Pike imagine

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wolfstar-supremacy-innit · 3 years

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"Tell who?"- Part 3

Remus smiled into his pillow. Why’s he so cute? He felt something rustle under his stomach. Reaching under himself, he pulled out a wrinkled piece of parchment. His resolutions list. Remus flipped onto his back and squinted at the letters. Warmth was pooling in his chest. Something is missing here. He patted the bed in search for his quill and ink, then wrote:

5. Fuck this I wanna tell him I love him

The paper slipped to the floor as Remus’ arms gave out and he drifted into an instantaneous, profound sleep.

Alternatively:

The Marauders are in their 6th year at Hogwarts, it's New Year's Eve and Remus writes a New Year's resolutions list. Sirius finds it the next day. The story is written from Remus' point of view. It's wolfstar and lighthearted. Kinda inspired by this fanfic.

This is part 3 of the story. I will be posting the other parts separately here and also the full fic on ao3 (I will link everything when it's done, check this post for that in some time). Warnings: underage drinking and smoking, mentions of anxiety disorder.

Part 1 Part 2

Enjoy <3

I’m such an idiot. I’m an idiot. Why didn’t I lie?! Why didn’t I disprove it? This was it. This was the end of the world. He knew Sirius wouldn’t react terribly badly. He wouldn’t express disgust or resentment, not after Remus confided in him about how sensitive he was on the question of his own sexuality. But it would be painfully awkward. Their connection would never be the same; it couldn’t. Remus dreaded losing his best friend. But it was done. Sirius’ best friend was James anyway. Remus buried his face in his hands as tears stung his eyes. He settled into his new hideout and slept there for the night. He couldn’t bear to face Sirius.

In the morning, Remus made an effort to arrive to Charms class as late as possible, right as Flitwick was commencing his lesson. He slid into the chair at the end of their usual table, next to James. Sirius was on the other end. “Where were you, mate? You scared us,” James whispered. Peter was gazing at Remus over his shoulder.

Remus cleared his throat. “Sorry, fell asleep in my spot,” he said. In his peripheral vision, Sirius was leaning far on the table, trying to catch his attention. But Remus took it upon himself to laser focus on the lesson, his nose buried so deep into his notes, it was nearly touching the parchment.

After the class, he bolted again. He just couldn’t face him. He couldn’t. He returned to his hiding place and waited out his free period and most of lunch. He had to repeat his breathing exercises more than ever. Suddenly, Remus paused. Determination was rising in his chest. Then he forced himself to pull it together. It wasn’t like Remus to run away from his problems. If being a werewolf had taught him anything, it was that neglecting and avoiding your issues doesn’t make them vanish. Makes them worse, even. Also, Remus didn’t have a lot. He had his parents, music, books, magic, and he had his friends. There wasn’t much he prised more than his friendships with James, Sirius and Peter. Sirius knowing about his crush was thoroughly embarrassing, yes, but it wasn’t worth completely losing his friends. Plus, he was due for a shower. So Remus took a few more deep breaths, dusted himself off, and headed for the dorm. When he got there, nobody was inside. He took his sweet time in the shower, allowing the warm water to drain out more of his nervous energy. I can handle this.

When Remus got out, Sirius was there, lying on his stomach, doing homework. He looked up. Remus put on a brave face and said: “Hi.” Sirius’ worried expression was exchanged with a slightly more relaxed one. “Hi.” Remus sat on his own bed looking in Sirius’ general direction, but not quite at him, cleared his throat, and said: “Um, sorry I bolted. That was childish.”

“That’s alright,” Sirius replied in the tiniest voice. It was very unlike his usual loud, assertive self.

Remus wanted the bed to swallow him whole, but he pushed through. “We don’t have to talk about the... thing. Or acknowledge it. It’s not a big deal, really.” A lie. But it needed to be done. Sirius didn’t say anything. Remus was certain he didn't know what to say. Reaching into his bag, Remus retrieved his Charms textbook and started on his own homework. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Sirius still looking at him for another minute, then he went back to work. The silence was agonising and tense, but Remus had known it would be. They would just have to persevere. After a while, Sirius asked: “Hey, could you help me with this? It’s Arithmancy. I procrastinated, and now I have to hand it in in half an hour.” Remus snorted. Their next class was Arithmancy, and only he and Sirius took it. So, Sirius was choosing to act like nothing happened. That was okay with Remus. “Sure.”

Only, as it happens, Sirius didn’t ignore it. Throughout the next week, he started acting a little peculiar. He was still loud and fooling around, but he would also hold doors for Remus, for example. If anyone knew Sirius, they knew doors were either held for him, or he would just swing them open and let them slam behind him into the next person’s face. Even James noticed it and asked him if he had brain damage. Also, a couple times at meals, Sirius would scoot his seat closer to Remus’, making their arms brush while they ate. The first time it happened, Remus blushed so profusely, he could see giant pink splotches splattered all over his neck and cheeks in his reflection in one of the large silver bowls on the table. Sirius stopped calling him ‘mate’ too. Occasionally, he’d ask for help with his homework, even though he clearly didn’t need it. It all made Remus want to shoot himself in the face with a hex. It seemed like Sirius was pitying him, and he despised it. It was somehow worse than Sirius being awkward and distant around him.

January’s full moon fell on the 25th, and Remus’ transformation didn’t go particularly smoothly. It was likely one of the worst ones out of all those he spent with his friends as animagi. He was fairly confident it was because of the whole Sirius thing. Just because he decided to deal with it didn’t mean it wasn’t taking its toll. Remus was stressed all the time. Not just because of Sirius, of course, but that was a key factor. When he woke up in the hospital wing the following morning, his friends were there. James rambled on enthusiastically about an upcoming Quidditch match. Remus didn’t really comprehend half of it, but still tried to nod at appropriate times. Peter piped in once in a while to agree with James or add something. Sirius, however, was completely silent the whole visit. About an hour later, Madam Pomfrey chased James, Sirius and Peter out, but Remus didn’t mind too much. He was knackered. He drifted off to sleep before the boys were even out the door.

Later that day, at dusk, Remus sat in his hospital bed reading a muggle novel when Sirius popped in. Or rather sneaked in. He was alone this time. “Had a free period. Thought you might want some company,” he explained. Elation started brewing in Remus’ stomach.

“Oh, brilliant, thanks.”

“What are you up to, then?” Sirius sat on the bed.

Remus lifted his book. “Reading. Not much to do here, really.”

“Sweet. Will you read to me?”

“What?”

Sirius smiled. “Will you read out loud for me?” He turned around, plopped on the bed face-up with his boots propped up on the railing at the foot of the bed. He tucked his hands behind his head, half lying on Remus’ legs.

“Oh, okay.” Heat sneaked up Remus’ neck. He read to Sirius until it was almost time for him to leave for his next class.

“Transfiguration next. Think I’m gonna gouge out my eyes if we don’t move on from teacup to gerbil.”

“Yeah, yeah, we get it. You mastered it two lessons ago.” Remus rolled his eyes, smiling. Sirius let out a soft laugh.

“Moony...” He was now sitting on the bed next to Remus. “I feel like this is my fault.” He reached out and gently touched the bandage on Remus’ arm. Sirius was referring to Remus’ beat-up state.

“What? Of course not. Why would you think that?”

“Well, because of the... You know... I mean, you’re upset and-“ Remus’ heartbeat picked up swiftly. They hadn’t so much as mentioned the crush since that day in the dorm.

“I’m not upset. Really. I just have a lot on my mind.” He searched his brain for something more to say to make Sirius feel better. It wasn’t his fault at all. It was Remus’ for letting this bother him so much. “It’s not you.”

“You sure?” His eyes were so sad; it was painful.

“Yes, Sirius, really. It’s not you, okay?”

“Okay.” After a pause, Sirius continued: “Oh, I almost forgot. Brought you something.” He smiled, finally. After rummaging in his bag, Sirius emerged with a stack of chocolate bars and dropped them into Remus’ lap. They were Remus’ favourite. Warmth fluttered across his chest. Sirius had to have ordered these from Honeydukes. Now it was Remus’ time to smile.

“Oh, brilliant! Thanks, Sirius.”

“No problem. Right. I better clear off, then. I can’t handle another detention with Minnie for something as stupid as being late.”

“Right. See you in the dorm then.”

“See ya, Moony. Oh, loved the reading. We should definitely do that again!” Then he walked out the door. Remus’ cheeks flamed crimson. He sank deep into the covers, yanking them over his head. He’s gonna be the death of me.

***

After that visit at the hospital, another strange thing started happening. On several occasions, Remus caught Sirius staring at him, then quickly looking away when their eyes connected. In class, at meals, in the common room as the four of them sat in front of the fireplace doing homework. It made Remus very nervous and a little confused. Furthermore, with James’ upcoming match, Sirius and Remus found themselves alone more often than not. James either had practice or was in the library going over tactics for his team, and Peter loved tagging along. When Sirius and Remus were alone in the dorm, Sirius would usually suggest that Remus read to him. At first, they were in their respective beds, but then Sirius started sneaking onto Remus’ bed as he read. It made Remus’ heart thump every time, because Sirius Black in his bed, well. That was a sight to see. He would lounge on his back, one ankle over the other, hands behind his head, eyes shut, and listen. He never fell asleep. Occasionally, he would laugh or comment on an interesting segment.

One of those times, both of them were on Remus’ bed as Remus read “A Stranger in a Strange Land” by Robert A. Heinlein. Sirius liked the muggle books. He was in his usual disposition, with half of his hair loosely and messily pulled back with a hair tie. Remus adored that look on Sirius. He was sitting cross-legged in level with Sirius’ hips, with the book sprawled onto his lap.

��Hey, got a cig,” Sirius asked as Remus was turning the page.

“Yep.” He used Accio to fetch his rolling equipment from his bedside table, placed the contents on the rizla and performed his spell. It rolled smoothly, the tobacco and filter tucked tightly into the paper. He’d been practising.

“Hey, that’s one thing off your resolutions list,” Sirius said, smiling as he accepted the cigarette. Their fingers touched.

“Well, technically, it’s two, isn’t it...,” Remus trailed off, clearing his throat. Christ, why did I say that?! He could already feel the blood rushing in his ears. Maybe Sirius wouldn’t get the reference... But Sirius pushed himself onto his elbows and peered at him. Remus pretended to pack up his cigarette equipment with intense concentration. Sirius sat all the way up and leaned so close, Remus could feel his breath. Nervousness sparked off goosebumps all over Remus’ skin. He swallowed thickly. Sirius smelled of mint and expensive shampoo. “Moony,” he said, and Remus finally turned to face him. Their noses were less than two centimetres apart. Remus’ heart was hammering against his ribs.

Sirius glanced at his lips, then slowly leaned in and closed the distance. Remus fluttered his eyes shut as adrenaline set his insides ablaze. The kiss was warm and gentle. “Sirius..,” Remus started, but the other boy just connected their lips again, this time kissing him more eagerly, and Remus just gave over. Sirius was letting him know this wasn’t charity; he really wanted it. He licked into Remus’ mouth delicately, grasping the back of his neck to pull him closer. Remus had never had a real tongue kiss before, but Sirius was leading him, and it all came naturally. Without warning, he felt tears burning behind his closed eyes. Remus had never, not even for a moment, let himself get caught up in the idea of Sirius liking him back. He knew rejection would shatter his soul, and he couldn’t let himself be torn apart by his own fantasies. But it wasn’t a fantasy anymore, and Remus was overwhelmed with the relief of letting go. Of finally allowing himself to crave what he'd been pushing down for months. His favourite person wanting him back. He entwined his fingers into Sirius’ hair and kissed him back intensely. They were both breathing heavily, then Sirius placed his other palm on Remus’ upper thigh. A tingling sensation shot up his lower back as he inhaled a long breath through his nose. Sirius was remarkably skilled, Remus noted.

Remus lost all sense of time. He didn’t know how long they kissed, it simultaneously felt like minutes and hours. Suddenly, they leapt apart as steps and chatter echoed on the stairs leading to the dorm. Sirius stood up and hurriedly smoothed down his hair. Remus wiped his lips with the back of his hand and frantically covered his lap with the covers. He was tight in his trousers. Christ. He wondered whether Sirius noticed as the heat blazed his cheeks. Peter and James trudged into the room, still talking.

“Alright lads,” James said, sauntered to his bed and started taking off his Quidditch robes.

Sirius cleared his throat, then said: “Uh, yeah. Brilliant.” His voice came out lower that usual.

"Bloody amazing practice today!"

“Oh, you guys Should have seen them! I could barely keep track of the Quaffle! Ravenclaw hasn’t got a chance,” Peter prattled on, but Remus couldn’t focus. His brain was whirring a thousand miles a minute. Holy shit, was the only coherent sentence his mind could congregate. He could still feel the the ghost of Sirius’ kiss on his lips.

Minutes later, Sirius returned to his usual banter and mucking about with James. If something different was going on inside his head, it didn’t show. A sudden arrow of disappointment and yearning shot through Remus’ chest. Was this just a one-off? His excitement dwindled for a moment, but when he glanced over to Sirius again, he was already looking at him. They smiled at each other. It didn’t matter anyway. Remus felt like this kiss could power his brain for all eternity. It had been like something straight out of a dream.

Part 4 will probably take me a little longer, given that I basically had the first 3 parts drafted when I posted the first one. Also 4 will probs be the last one. Hope you like it so far! :) <3

Part 1 Part 2

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lizardkingeliot · 3 years

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So, do those of you currently reading time cast a spell on you (but you won’t forget me) remember that scene in chapter 4 where Quentin shows up for his tutoring session and Eliot says he wants to go to the edge of the campus and manipulate the magic of the wards so they can fly? You know... this one:

Only they never end up making it there because they start bickering the second they leave the library? Well, in the rough draft of this chapter I initially had this scene... ending very differently. And they also weren’t going to fly, they were going to... well. I think I’ll just let y’all read it for yourselves lmao. I think I talked about this a bit on twitter when I was working on the chapter so if it sounds familiar that’s probably why. ANYWAY. I have a ton of deleted scenes from this fic, most of which will never see the light of day, but I woke up this morning with the urge to share at least part of this one so... I guess that’s what I’m going to do.

This is super rough and unedited and honestly not up to my usual standards, but... you know. Rough drafts tend to be that way. It’s also all over the place in terms of tone and where they were at this point in the fic lmao. This might be bordering on crack honestly. Which is why I just scrapped the whole thing and went a different route in the final draft. Anyway. Shutting up now. This is about 2k words so I’m putting most of it under a cut...

—

Trudging across campus two paces behind Eliot, Quentin was stricken by the overwhelming feeling that he was trapped inside a dream. The eerie, quiet campus, lit only by the waning moon and a few dots of light spilling from the various student houses. He looked back over his shoulder, spotting the Cottage in the distance, the dim orange glow of the front bay window swimming in his vision like a boat lost at sea.

As they approached the outer edge of the grounds, Quentin could feel the magic of the wards, buzzing on the air like insects. Bone-deep reverberations, strains of music swelling from within. He’d never been out this far before. The line where Brakebills ended and the real world began. Where there was nothing but the boat house and the wind. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end. He breathed in deep, the scent of the Hudson rushing nearby filling his senses as Eliot came to a sudden halt in the dark.

“Here,” Eliot said. Quentin could only just barely make out the shape of his elegant fingers pointing just ahead. “Can you feel the energy? I guess the Naturalists come out here sometimes and use it to light their bongs.” He laughed, a sound that warmed Quentin underneath his jacket at once. “And occasionally singe their own eyebrows off in the process.”

Quentin looked back. They’d come out to a place that the light from the Cottage couldn’t reach. Eliot formed an orb between his hands and pinned it overhead, a grapefruit sized pendant of magic swaying gently in the breeze. He stepped into Quentin’s personal space, giving him the once over. Head-to-toe and back again, settling at last on Quentin’s eyes.

“So,” he said with a smirk. “Cavaleri Animation. My memory of the First Year curriculum is a little hazy, but they’ve dazzled you all with that one already, yes? Turning your marbles into little glass animals, you know the one.”

Quentin nodded. “Yeah, um… but Alice was the only one who could actually get hers to work.”

Swift and warm as a pulse, Eliot’s hand curled around the nape of Quentin’s neck. Heat spreading down the column of his spine like a flame catching a wick. Thumb teasing over burning flesh. Eliot’s lips ghosted over his ear, not quite touching. Still, Quentin swore he could feel his smile. “Well,” he said, soft and dark, “I’m here now. And you’re going to do it. And it’s going to work.”

Quentin’s hand was bunching up the back of Eliot’s cardigan. He didn’t know when that had happened. The hum of the magic was making him dizzy. For a moment, it was impossible to breathe. His body a tight line of tension and desire. Eliot pulled away and Quentin released his hold, staggering a little as he tried to regain some semblance of control.

“Um, okay…” Quentin ran a hand through his hair in a half-hearted attempt at centering himself. “Why, uh—why do we have to do that here? We could have just done that spell in the library.”

“Because,” Eliot said with a tip of his head, “I have a theory.”

“A theory?” Quentin frowned. “You brought me out here for a theory?”

“More of a hypothesis really,” Eliot said with a wave of his hand. “But I think it’s going to work.”

“Great,” Quentin said with an exasperated sigh. “Dicking around with unstable magic in the middle of the night. What could possibly go wrong.”

“Look, it’s going to be fun,” Eliot said with that casual little air of his. “And we probably won’t explode even if I’m wrong. So we really don’t have very much to lose.”

“Okay, I’m—” Quentin threw his hands up. “For fuck’s sake, El, can you just tell me what we’re actually doing out here?”

“We,” Eliot said very slowly, reaching inside his cardigan, pulling a sliver of magenta colored glass out of the pocket of his vest, and looking through it, “are going to tap into all that crazy energy and make your little glass marble friend into a very big animal friend and take it for a spin.” He passed the sliver of glass over to Quentin. “Take a look.”

Quentin stared at Eliot for a very long time before relenting. “You’re actually a crazy person, you know that?”

“I think you mean certified sorcerer genius, but I’ll take it.” He gestured with a nod of his head. “Go on. It’s balls to the wall out here. So much energy we could power a fucking nuclear reactor and I doubt Henry would notice.”

Quentin looked through the glass, moving it from one eye over to the other. At first, it was impossible to make sense of what he was actually seeing. A latticework of stars. Billions of them it seemed, all bumping up against one another in a wild, cosmic dance. A galaxy of intersecting lines and patchwork patterns shimmering like the wings of a dragonfly. And every now and then, a spark. Popping off into the dark like fingers desperate for the night. Quentin handed the glass back to Eliot with a shake of his head.

“I don’t think this is a good idea.”

“Don’t be boring, Quentin,” Eliot said. It made Quentin’s chest ache with its normalcy. Like their past couldn’t touch them out here. Like out here with their bad ideas and their wild magic, maybe they could have some hope to start again. “But maybe… maybe don’t make anything that wants to bite our heads off.”

“Okay, so…” Quentin sighed with his whole chest. “To recap: you want to steal unstable magic from the wards of the school where we’re both currently students to make a giant glass animal that hopefully doesn’t swallow us whole so we can… take it for a ride?”

“Yes,” Eliot said, like it was the most obviously brilliant thing in the world. “Don’t make that face with your face. Tell me you’ve never wanted to ride a rhinoceros.”

“We are not riding a rhinoceros, Eliot. Absolutely not.”

“Well, okay…” Eliot’s hand on his nape again. Heat, fire, a five alarm blaze encircling his neck like a collar. “If you could ride on any animal, real or imaginary—”

“The Cozy Horse,” Quentin said without thinking, heart pounding like hoofbeats trapped inside his chest. “Um… it’s from the Fillory books, uh…”

Eliot laughed softly. “Okay.” His hand slid down to Quentin’s shoulder, gripping it possessively. “Tell me about... the Cozy Horse.”

“Um…” Quentin squeezed his eyes shut, took a breath, shook his head. Eliot’s hand was stroking up and down the expanse of his upper arm and shoulder, making everything go all fuzzy in his brain. “It’s just, uh… it’s this horse that Jane rode on. It’s, uh… really tall. Like a hundred feet. Like a clydesdale on steroids.”

“You won’t ride a rhinoceros but you’re perfectly fine with a horse that’s a hundred feet tall?”

Quentin turned his face upward, trapping himself in Eliot’s gaze. Sinking, flying, falling. Close enough to kiss if he only went up on his toes a little. Tucked inside the safety of his warmth. Quentin wanted to burn, to melt into a puddle at Eliot’s feet and slosh around like muck. “I…” Quentin swallowed. “I don’t think the Cozy Horse would hurt us. It’s basically a giant stuffed animal.”

Eliot grinned, gazing down at Quentin for a long beat before pulling away. “Okay then,” he said, taking a few steps down the path under their feet. “Show me Cozy Horse.”

Quentin reached into his pocket, knelt down, set the marble on the path. “I don’t understand how I’m supposed to… harness the magic of the wards.”

Eliot made a circle with his thumb and forefinger, peering through it with one eye. “Just leave that part to me,” he said absently. “Go on. Make your horse. And don’t say you can’t do it. We both know that you can.”

Quentin gazed up the long line of Eliot’s body. Eliot was fully focused on the wards. The sound of night, the crackle of magic. Quentin shivered under his jacket. His hands hovered over the marble, focusing his energy on prepping the glass for transformation with Dempsey's Silent Thermogenesis. Once molten, the marble could be manipulated into almost any shape he could imagine. For the Cozy Horse, Quentin didn’t have much to go on but the memory of a single illustration, and a few lines from The Wandering Dune, but he figured it would probably be simple enough. How hard could it be to imagine a draft horse the size of something straight out of the Cretaceous period?

Quentin twisted the glass under his fingers, so fully focused on his task he almost didn’t notice when Eliot began to move. When, suddenly, through the loop of Eliot’s fingers, a beam of sharp, frenzied magic began to focus on the animal he had half-formed with laser precision.

“You might wanna hurry,” Eliot said. “I don’t know how long I can hold this here.”

Quentin scowled in his direction, looping a bit of the molten glass into the shape of a tail. “You’re shit at communicating, you know that,” he spit, letting the gentle rage rising in his belly fuel his magic. “I thought cooperative magic was supposed to be, I don’t know… cooperative?”

Legs, hooves, the gentle slope of a hulking animal’s back. The wispy tendrils of a mane. Eliot was saying something that might have been a warning. Quentin was too focused on his creation to parse a single one of his words. The magic of the wards cracked like lightning. He could feel it in his hands. Quickly, almost as an afterthought, Quentin gave the beast that had come to life beneath his fingers a shimmering loop around the back of the neck that might have passed for reins if he squinted.

A single hoofbeat on the soft ground. The beam of magic stuttering through Eliot’s fingers died away, and he let out a tremendous sigh.

“Okay so... “ Quentin frowned, eyes flitting from the tiny glass horse up to Eliot’s face. “I don’t think this is going to—”

A flash, a pop, a tremendous wave of heat knocking the air from his lungs. Quentin shoved his body backward off the path and into the grass just as Eliot was running over. Kneeling down, using himself as a makeshift shield as he pushed Quentin further back away from the molten monstrosity shifting and morphing and doubling, tripling, quadrupling in size. A deep rumble, the tinkling of glass. Quentin peered over Eliot’s shoulder, his eyes moving up, up, up, trying to take in what it was he was actually seeing.

The glass horse shook out its mane, rearing up on its hind legs and down again with an earth-trembling thud. The distance from the ground to its shoulder must have been twenty feet. It had no eyes and no mouth, but Quentin swore he could feel its glassy stare boring into him. The light of the orb dangling overhead passed right through the center of its body. For a long moment, everything went perfectly still.

And then Eliot started to laugh. “Holy shit,” he said, his eyes wide as dinner plates when he turned his face to Quentin. “That is a big fucking horse.”

A laugh sputtered out from between Quentin’s lips. “Yeah, um… yeah. Fuck. It really is.”

Eliot’s body pressed right up against Quentin’s body when he turned, and leaned in, so close they were almost kissing. A pulse of heat passed between them. Quentin felt it in his chest like a second heart. “So,” Eliot said, a hand curling around Quentin’s cheek for a fleeting moment before pulling away. “You wanna take her for a spin?”

Quentin felt absolutely out of his mind. Hazy, his body a liminal space. “Yeah,” he said with a short, stuttering burst of laughter. “Yeah, why the fuck not.”

Unreality set in hard as they stood and cautiously approached. Up close, they might as well have been gazing upward at the hulking glass back of a dinosaur. The haphazard reins Quentin had created looped around the beast’s neck like a string of fairy lights.

“Um…” Quentin laughed, tucking a tuft of hair behind his ear. “How the fuck are we even going to get on this thing?”

Eliot took his hand suddenly, threading their blood-warm fingers together. “Oh, Q,” he said with a full-faced grin, “we’re gonna fucking fly.”

#the magicians #queliot #otp: proof of concept #myfic #*margo hanson voice* that's not tonally consistent with the fic

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thepaperpanda · 3 years

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~WHEN THE PARTICLE OF GOD PERMEATES YOU~ || Part II

P̵̪̃ȁ̸̩ȓ̸̜ẗ̶͇́ ̴̓͜1̷̺̽

Summary: Without the past you can't understand the present. You meet Higgs Monaghan on your way. Will he help you find out about your past or will he try to use you for his own purposes?

Warnings: None

Words: 3299

Authors: Cass & Rouge

Days had been passing, and the situation remained unchanged.

You were lurking throughout the camp trying to be as productive as it was only possible, however you didn't have many occasions to help in anything as the others were pushing you aside. You weren't surprised though; you were a newcomer, without a purpose or any special skills, and you quickly became Higgs' favourite, which most of his men didn't approve.

Sometimes, it's enough to survive another day, right?, you'd been thinking to yourself.

"Would you look at that? Our little star is doing nothing as always. Why don't you go and be useful? Sucking Higgs off ain't enough here," one of men said grabbing your shoulder. "Why is he even keeping you here?"

Meanwhile Higgs was away, sitting in his bunker. He was trying to come up with some logical theory of how you ended up where you did. How could this happen that you just woken up with no past? “I’ve got breaking news and it’s about you fucking off of me,” you showed your middle finger to the group of men, and in return your gained few chuckles and some more rambunctious comments. When Higgs was gone, they were making a lot of fun of you, always; you hated every minute in the camp without Man in The Golden Mask.

Meantime, Higgs hummed, studding the map and trying to find the place you could come out from. Bridges was the closest point but it made no fucking seans for them to just leave you out there to die.

After a few more minutes Higgs shrugged. "Ah, fuck it. Time to check upon my kittycat." And with that he was back in the camp as he teleported. After stretching his back he called you. "Y/N! Where is my favourite girl hiding?" You were almost outside the camp, sitting at one of the largest rocks, taking notes and sketching the mountains located on the north. You tried to escape from all of the mean glances and comments. “Hey, you,” one of the guards pointed his laser gun at you. “Higgs is seeking you in the camp. Move your ass to him.” With a loud sigh escaping your lips you closed the sketchbook and pinned your hair in a ponytail. While walking back to the camp, you were thinking about your purpose, it was pretty frustrating that you didn’t remember anything even after such a long period of time.

Higgs waited with hands crossed on his chest. He gave you a wicked smile as soon as he noticed you approaching. “Ah! Here is my lady with no past. I was getting fucking worried you are gone."

“Me? Gone? I have nowhere to go,” you replied to him with disarming honesty. “Good to see you, you’ve been gone for a longer while...,” you hesitated after saying this as you knew he’ll assume you missed him. Thanks Beach he didn’t realize yet it was all true.

"My cute deflowered sweetheart missed me," Higgs chuckled softly with a wide smile, showing the line of white teeth. "I missed you too and I was away, indeed. I’ve been thinking from where you came and I may have an idea."

Hearing his words you tilted your head aside a little. “Tell me?,” you asked.

"Well, my little, sexy kitten might be Bridges' property. Am not sure yet but I sure will find out!," He said loudly and shrugged. "I even have an idea how I will do it."

While you were listening to his words, your thoughts drifted in some unknown way and when you gathered your attention, you gave him a brief nod. “I see.” A deep sigh left your parted lips as you glared up at him. “Hey, I’ve been wondering whether there's something I can do around the camp, I hate how others are making fun of me and the fact that my only purpose here is to warm your cock up,” you rubbed your temples. “I can do anything, bring packages, clean, whatever.”

He chuckled at your question. It was simply stupid. "You are here to be by my side. To be a good girl," Higgs said, gently touching your cheek. "Tell me who bothered you and I will take care of this." A shiver ran along your spine as he touched your cheek; his tenderness was light like a touch of butterfly wings yet his fingers seemed to burn marks on your face. “Forget about it,” you asked him quickly as you dared to put your palm on top of his.

Higgs laughed and grabbed your waist, pulling you as close as possible. "Listen I know you might have a soft heart but it's all about the example. So? Which of those fuckers did it?," He asked again.

You licked your lips and bit the lower one as you got stressed. “If you truly care for me, leave it. I can handle as I don’t care,” you asked him once again while wrapping arms around his chest and nuzzling your head to him.

He squezzed your waist and smiled. "Kitten. You forgot who I am. No one dares to hurt what's mine, even with stupid insults," Higgs summed up and gently pushed you aside to walk to the group of terrorits. He smiled softly looking at others. "Okay! Listen up, fuckers. Which one of you was brave enough to throw stupid words at my girl?"

“Oh my God,” you whispered under your breath as you realized what was happening. You followed him quickly and stood by his side, swallowing hardly while your sight slipped over all the gathered men.

“It was me,” one of them stepped ahead from the group, keeping his head produly up. “Listen, Higgs, we all know that you’re the most powerful of us but it’s fucking rude to be the only one who gets laid and who’s allowed to have a girl around. Most of us don’t like her presence as all she does is lurking around, no purpose, no skills,” the guy continued to speak. “Would be better if you sent her away or killed her. No one needs her around, except you. You’re not better than any of us.”

Higgs hummed listening to the complaints. Then he walked in the line, from left to right with his hands placed behind his back. "If I can be honest. She is more worthy than any of you here but…," he said slowly, rubbing his chin, "But you, bastards, you all are fucking lucky. IT'S YOUR LUCKY FUCKING DAY! Because instead of killing you all and leaving your bodies at Bridges doorsteps, I will fix what you all are complaining about," Higgs announced and looked at you.

You frowned a little at his words.

“So? Will you send her away?,” the man asked, his eyes and you.

Higgs wrapped his arm around your shoulder, pulling your tightly to his side.

"Oh, Y/N, Y/N... You see, these men here are mad at me because I gave you no duties," he let out a loud sigh, petting your hair. "So, from now on, this lovely lady here is my second in command! You insult her - you insult me and trust me fellas, you don't wanna do that. Thank you for the attention, get back to your fucking duties!," Higgs snorted at the men, kissing your cheek, and then walked away like nothing ever happened.

You almost fainted when he claimed you for his deputy. You felt the piercing glances of his men on you and you already knew it would bring even more troubles. After a second of thinking, you ran after him. “Higgs, I don’t think it’s a good idea, I have like… I mean… I’m not as charismatic as you, I can’t command people,” you tugged on his sleeve to stop him from walking. “They already hate me, now it will escalate,” you shook your head. “Let’s face the truth, I’m no one, I have no idea how to… You know.”

Higgs effortlessly picked you up. "If they will, then they will meet the friendly BTs. You are working with me now. Don't worry, I will handle everything."

To support yourself from falling, you instinctively wrapped legs around his hips and nuzzled to his chest. “Thank you, Higgs. You’re doing so much to me when I did so less in return. I have no idea how some people can call you a terrorist or a bad guy. I wish they could spend at least one day around you and I bet they’d agree with me on the fact you’re not only a great, fearless leader but also a charming, caring man.”

Higgs laughed. "I nuked two towns. I want to end the fucking world. No one else but you would like me, dear," he summed up before placing a soft kiss to your rosy lips.

When the evening came, Higgs was positive about his idea. He had to get into Bridges place and dig through their documents. If you’ve ever been one of them, your documents should be there.

"How do I look, my sexy second in command?," Higgs asked, presenting himself wrapped in an old Bridges uniform. "Let's not foeget about the fucking crown," he joked putting the Bridges hat on.

You two were in Higgs' tent. You were laying on your side on his cot resting head on your hand. "You look fucking handsome, as always," you informed him. "This uniform hugs your ass nicely though," you didn't stop yourself from adding. "Are you sure you won't be to assist you? I'm going to be sad while you'll be gone," you slowly sat on the cot.

" I will do it myself. This can't be hard, there is only one lady as sweet as you. I will find it quickly and before you’ll count to ten - I am going to be fucking back," Higgs said improving the belt. "After that, I will fuck you so hard that the whole camp will hear the second in commend screaming under the leader."

A soft chuckle of yours escaped your mouth as the reaction for his statement. "After your return, I'll just take care of you, make sure you eat and drink and later we will cuddle," you told him while getting up. "And if you'll be a good boy, I'll think of a prize." You walked to him and wrapped your arms around him. "Promise me you'll be careful and won't let them catch you."

"Sweetheart. I feel so fucking hurt right now! I thought you have more faith in me," Higgs chuckled and squeezed your cheek playfully. "Don't make your sweet little face worried about it. They will never get me."

When he vanished you circled his tent a few times before taking a seat in the corner, just like you did the first day when he found you in the cave.

Getting inside was a child's play. Who would mind a porter wandering the corridors? Of course fucking no one.

The archives were a mix of papers and computer data. Going through the second thing was easy, yet your face didn't flash on any document, and it was fine.

Maybe he was wrong. Maybe you weren't Bridges. That would be a fucking relief.

After an hour of digging through papers, Higgs was sitting on the floor with legs crossed. He was reading through one of the folders when the ones he read previously were scattered around him like snow.

The door to the archive slides open and Samuel Bridges stepped in; he had to pick some folders up to deliver them to Lake Knot City. He became suspicious when he spotted a mess and folders laying on the floor. As he stepped further into the long room, he found even more documents scattered everywhere. "You. Who are ya and what are ya doing here?," He asked, his tone cold as he spotted a man sitting in the middle of the room.

Higgs didn't raise his eyes until he was done with the folder he was holding in palms, after reading through it he simply threw it over his shoulder.

"Ah! Sammy boy! It's nice to see you again, sorry but I don't have time for a chit chat. I am looking for something," he shrugged, taking another folder into his hands.

Sam cringed at the sound of the voice, too familiar. It couldn’t be a coincidence. "Higgs? What the fuck?," He asked in disbelief as he walked closer to the other man. "How did you... Ah, right. You jumped through the Beach," Sam replied himself. "Leave it," he pulled the folder out of Higgs' hands.

"You are a smart boy, ain't ya?," He laughed and in another folder he saw your photo.

"BINGO! Here you are, sweetheart!" Higgs said loudly and jumped back to his feet. "Tell me, Sammy boy, do you know anything about a particular porter? Her name is Y/N?"

Sam blinked, he was getting more confused with every second. "What's your problem, Higgs, have you fallen in love? Ah, right, it's hard to make connections when you don't have a heart," Sam grinned wryly at the other man. "Even if I know, I won't tell you, that's not your business since the day you and the tide has turned. Give it back," Sam yanked the hat off Higgs' head.

Higgs laughed and rolled his eyes, tucking your folder under his suit to make sure Sam won't get it. "Well! To your surprise I fell in love. Just like you. Well! But you’re not in love anymore. I bet that wife of yours was beautiful…," He mocked walking around Sam. "But she was blind for taking a chance on ya."

Sam reacted instantly with aiming his first at Higgs' cheek. "Apologize, you useless fucker, and give me the fucking folder back."

Higgs only laughed at the reaction. "Wife and unborn child. Such a shame, maybe that is why you are so sad and grumpy, and developed this phobia of yours," Higgs laughed playfully. "You know what? I like you, you can keep the cap. I have few from the old, good days. It was nice to see you again, Sammy boi!," Higgs licked the tip of Sam's nose before disappearing.

Sam tried to grab Higgs by his Bridges uniform but he didn't manage. Cursing under his breath he quickly left the archive without picking the folder he came there for; he had to inform Deadman about the situation.

You were dreaming about some crazy ass things like dolphins trying to pull you under water when Higgs returned. You were still sitting in the corner of his tent, knees pulled under your chin, your arms wrapped around them as you were rolled in a ball.

Before entering the tent, Higgs took a brief look at the info about you gathered in the folder he stole. He wasn't sure what to think. After entering the tent he looked at you and chuckled quietly, getting on your level by crouching. Higgs brushed hair off of your forehead and placed a kiss there. "Ding ding, ding! Honey, I am home. Where is my promised dinner?"

You jolted in place, your muscles twitched and you almost screamed. You opened eyes and for a brief second they were getting used to the light of the lamp. When you saw him crouching next to you, you knelt and wrapped arms around his neck, pulling him into the tight hug. "Higgs! I dreamt they got you! I was so... Scared! You're back! Holy Beach, I was so scared." As you were hugging him he could easily feel the beat of your racing heart, even though your suit. "Let me bring you something. I tried to get you pizza but... I failed."

Higgs hugged you tightly, holding you with both arms. "Well, maybe it's because you slept on the floor. I didn't get these fancy pillows and blankets for nothing," he chuckled, rubbing your back. "It's okay, sugar. I will make Sam deliver us some. Look what I got," he said proudly, showing you the folder.

You shivered. "Is this... Is this mine?," You asked him as you sat on the floor. "Who am I then?," You made puppy eyes and looked right into his.

"You are a porter apparently. Ex now, technically. Good one," Higgs summed up. “Y/N. Working for Bridges for 5 years. Fast and careful with her deliveries, open for contacts with clients as well as fellow porters. Went missing in action. Y/N delivered the assigned package yet never made it back to any of the existing facilities. There were no voidouts that could mean her death. No body nor evidences were ever found. Investigation in that case brought nothing, so Y/N is presumed dead but there's still a slight chance of her being still alive. Signed by: Director Die-Hardman," Higgs ended reading the last note in your folder.

You nodded. "So... They're not looking for me... So, in this situation... I can be whoever I want because I think they wouldn't let me get back..."

"It's not that you are kicked out. I bet that as soon as you would get to any of their places, they would take care of you. They think you are dead but with a possibility of return," he explained. "Y/N? I need to ask you something."

You looked at him like a kid would look at the parent. "Yes?"

"Is this a hoax? I walked into Bridges without problem and then? I get fucking Sam Bridges into the archive. My people were doing their job and you come out of nowhere. You don't know who you are yet you cling to me so suddenly," he said with a frown. "Is this a trap? Did they send you to get inside? To get to me?"

You lowered your head. "Even if they did, I don't remember. I told you many times, I have no idea how I found myself outside, all alone, only with a backpack. I'm clingy because... I...," You started blushing so you got up to take a seat on his cot. "You showed me affection, you offered me your generosity, hospitality... You were kind when no one else was. You took care of me and kinda taught me how to survive in this shit."

Higgs joined you on the coat. "You promise me that the note, and your lack of memory isn't just a way to get to me?"

"I cross my heart," you assured him with a serious tone. "I don't care what you have done and why do they want to get to you but God's my witness I won't tell anyone about you." The fact he even could think about you being a spy hurt you much but you kept a straight face.

"I am sorry for accusing you for anything," Higgs whispered into your ear before pulling you on his lap. “Ya know, gotta be careful about some certain things.”

You nuzzled to the crook of his neck. "It's okay, I understand, I would be suspicious too if I were you."

Higgs smiled, playing with your hair. "My little porter," he said with a smile. "Only mine."

You inhaled his scent, the sweet mix of a masculine musk and warmth of his skin. You placed a kiss to his bearded cheek and brushed your against his shortly after. Your arms wrapped around his chest. "Thank you for all you've done to me, for keeping me safe."

"And I will keep on keeping you safe. Not a single fucking Bridges will ever lie a finger on you again. You will stay with me till the end of the world we know," Higgs said, squeezing you tightly.

A sad sigh escaped your lips. "Till the end."

#higgs monaghan #higgs monaghan x reader #higgs monaghan fic #death stranding #higgs monaghan fiction #death stranding fic #homo demens #reader insert #writers on tumblr #man in the golden mask #the particle of god that permeates all existence

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meggie-stardust · 3 years

Text

GUNDAM WING - REWATCH - 39 - 40

39. Trowa’s Return to the Battlefield

I was today years old when I admitted that Trowa is my fave character

Even in AC195, they use the tried and true coffee cup method to see if a T-Rex is coming

When Zechs is depressed he drinks and takes off his mask. Remember that Wild Turkey ad?

My name is CANS. They’re not even trying to pronounce that correctly.

I don’t remember Quinze being so bleh and nasally

Duke Dermail: The Rebels are rebelling, like rebells do and it’s annoying

Was Treize a dictator? Is that what we’re calling it?

Woah, has gone full on WyNOINa. Get it, guys?? GET IT?!

Amnesia Trowa is so soft. Look at his smile. And his body language.

Noin: I remember your names. Watch as I casually drop them into conversation.

Duo: Don’t go getting me angry, not if you value your life.

Evil attracts evil. Duo is great. I want him to lean into that dark side even more. Like the dark side then immediately laughing is just so amazing

What is Hilde’s niche exactly, Duo? Doing your grocery shopping? Wearing a baret?

This guy from White Fang straight up looks like a different animation style, like he’s from a different Gundam series

Noin: Good thing I was part of all these organizations so I can recap all this backstory of who took over who and why

Trowa: I think I remember how to pilot a mobile suit, so I’ll just give it a test run in a real battle and see how it goes

Was that just Duo floating by asleep?

Quatre’s backhand is a little rusty. Been a while since those tennis lessons

How does Trowa run out of bullets in a laser gun? Gotta stay on brand.

WHAT AN ENTRANCE DUO, Deathscythe Hell is the best

RYTHEM EMOTION AGAIN

Duo: Saving the guy who blew up Deathscythe in the fist place, not that I hold a grudge

Trowa asking if Duo was his friend is wild. I mean, Trowa saw Duo like 3 days ago… It’s weird he doesn’t remember that?

Heero: Relena I’m going to kill you — SHOTS! SHOTS! SHOTS!

40. A New Leader

We may have killed off Tubarov 2 episodes ago, but he won’t really die

Howard info dumping is just funny

Howard: White Fang is the least groovy of all the terrorist organizations out there

Libra is still under construction? Do you think that the contractors knew what they were getting into when they took the job working on the White Fang base? (I haven’t made this Clerks reference yet).

Howard: That reminds me, Zechs never came home. He’s gonna be so grounded! No mobile suits for 2 whole weeks!

A gundam! SHOTS! SHOTS! SHOTS!

Heero: Relena, I know you can’t hear me, but I am still going to tell you everything you’re doing wrong

Hey Relena, maybe don’t daydream during important cabinet meetings

Duke Dermail: These are simplistic ideas… I mean, he’s not wrong

Duke Dermail hasn’t coup’d in a while. He’s getting restless

All Noin wanted to do was go line dancing and drink so beers, and be a cool lesbian aunt.

Howard: Hey, Duo, it’s your cool Parrot Head uncle. Wanna come hangout and smoke out in the garage on my groovy spaceship?

I know that I generally chat with my granddaughter when making important political decisions

Dorothy is so thirsty for Relena, it’s not even funny

Rando OZ guy: What is 05 doing? Why doesn’t he agree with everything we are doing without us talking to him at all

Heero, look at you in disguise, ready to just fuck up this assassination

That being said, Heero is making that uniform work

We did it, we destroyed the Gundam. BUT DID YOU???

The Gundams are now fighting for Earth?? Is that true Zechs? Or were they just protecting your sister??

Who is that guy in the shadows? Who else has long blonde hair?

They were just dolls, but they were destroyed so meaninglessly. Tubarov would have loved Wufei

Heero, killing her at the public counsel. I mean, this is the worst assassination plan ever. You are so bad at this.

Why are you so bad at this

Noin: God, Trowa, why can’t you remember where you left Heavyarms

Howard: I’m super important guys, I helped build the Tallgeese. I even came up with the name.

Duke Dermail: I picked a bad day to stop being a dictator. I picked a bad day to go to space. I picked a bad day to not get blown up.

Heero where did your actual gun go? See you space Cowboy

And a final shot of Treize to remind us he’s here and rad.

Thoughts:

I can’t believe we are almost done with the series, but the final act players are all finally in place with the proper introduction of White Fang and Zechs taking his position as the head. And I know how the last two episodes go, but I don’t remember much about the seven episodes between now and then, only small details.

It’s also really bold to introduce White Fang this late in the series. The show spent so long world building and establishing characters and organizations during the first 1/4 of the show, and to throw in a new element this late in the game is crazy. We’ll see if they get the same amount of attention as the rest...

I had to revisit my what characters know who’s name spreadsheets during these episodes. Once the series is done, I’ll post that for everyone to see. It’s wild.

What I think I remember for the next episode(s):

DO WE FINALLY GET RYTHEM EMOTION?! MY BODY IS READY. Since we didn’t get Trowa’s memory back, that should probably happen soon, and I think we get to see Treize and Une come back into the scene soon...

#gundam wing rewatch 2020 #gundam wing #gundam memes #trowa's return to the battlefield #a new leader

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gold-eyes-vengeful-heart · 3 years

Text

White vs Blue

((Runya fights the Diamond Weapon.

Spoilers for the Diamond Weapon part of the questline (5.5 stuff)! Also real big warning for Runya being a colossal asshole and Blue being very angry and yelling about Gaius’ war crimes.))

===

The Diamond Weapon soared out through the deck of clouds ahead of them, and Runya gunned Blue towards it, completely ignoring the startled shouts of the Ironworks men and Sorin and Baelsar in the process. He far outstripped the pace of the heavily-burdened G-Warriors, though the barrage from them had arrived ahead of him...and did absolutely nothing.

Of course it did nothing. That was a Weapon. Had they really expected that to work?

He sent Blue twisting to the side as those shoulder lasers lanced towards him, though even that wasn’t quite fast enough--one nicked the edge of Blue’s wing and the blue Weapon’s thoughts shot through with pain and anger that he had even been hit.

{badbadbadbad--}

“Yes, that was very naughty.” Runya didn’t even so much as slow the two of them down as they barrelled at the Diamond Weapon; his eyes flashed gold as his own mind pointedly melded further into his own Weapon’s, and this time the shower of lasers he simply ducked Blue under, missing the attack entirely and firing back with the aetherial cannon in Blue’s mouth.

{Something’s wrong.} Blue was still focused, at least--Runya would have been quite displeased if he hadn’t been--but he finally gave ‘voice’ to his unease, and Runya didn’t have to ask to know what he meant.

Something was off about it, wasn’t there?

“Runya!” Sorin’s voice crackled in his right ear, which automatically swiveled to follow it (highly disorienting when his subconscious was half-convinced he was a giant flying Weapon at the moment). “Fall back! We’re going to capture it!”

This still seemed like a damned fool’s errand.

“Runya.”

He was half-tempted to simply ignore them. He, after all, genuinely did not care what happened to that stupid girl and her stupid siblings.

“Runya, answer me.”

But...there was Sorin, and so he just snorted in a fit of fine ill-temper and pulled back on the controls, sending Blue arcing up into the sky and letting the two G-Warriors sail by underneath him.

{Hmmmm.}

“Yes, you’re as dubious about this as I am.” He slowed Blue and deliberately dropped him back a bit, and as the Diamond Weapon tried to follow, it zipped between the two G-Warriors...and got caught right in the capture field they generated instead. “Though it did at least stop it for a few moments. Better than I thought it would go.”

The Diamond Weapon’s craggy features split into a hellish roar, and it struggled mightily against the sparking barrier.

{...Runya-friend.} The cautious remark lapped around his ankles. {It talks.}

At first, Runya wasn’t terribly put off by that. “So do you. And I believe all your siblings do too--”

{It is someone.}

Runya sighed again, watching the Diamond Weapon rage against the capture field with increasing savagery. “And so are you? I’m afraid I don’t get what you’re getting at.”

{It has a person-brain!}

Ah.

Runya blinked, rapidly, almost kicked entirely back into his own mind by the surprise.

“...Beg your pardon?”

{It’s...yelling about ‘Allie’?} Blue didn’t even sound certain. {It wants to save her.}

And then it all clicked in Runya’s mind. He interrupted, before Blue could go any further. “Well, I can only presume that was her one brother that wasn’t dead. How...very Merceus of the VIIth Legion.”

Blue’s tail lashed behind him and his wings shivered at the thought, though. {Nonono. Don’t want it. Don’t want to fight.}

Oh, now was really not the time, and Runya’s grip tightened warningly on the controls. “Ah ah ah, it’s a bit late for that.” That barrier was shivering and sparking uncontrollably under the onslaught, and he even had to tweak Blue’s flight path down a bit to dodge a rogue laser. “We’re not running, dear.”

{It doesn’t wanna fight for the Empire. It just wants to be left alone--}

“Blue. Blue...dearest Blue.” The panic and reluctance of the Weapon crystallized around his thoughts and he knew very well he had to convince his own machine to do what he wanted, and he didn’t have very long. Either Blue would run or the Diamond Weapon would burst out of that energy rapidly failing to contain it. “If it really does have one of those boys’ minds in it, he’s likely gone completely mad by now. And there’s no getting him out of there. There’s no getting someone like that back to normal.”

His voice dropped lower until it was almost a growl. “I would know. It’s what they did to Angerona.”

A hint of sadness plinked through the heavy weight of Blue’s hesitation.

“I know you must think it’s cruel to destroy it,” Runya continued, his eyes narrowing and his mind prodding more firmly into Blue’s, “but consider: it would never truly ‘leave everyone alone’, and it would even be a mercy to simply slay him.” Not something he entirely believed, but enough so that it wouldn’t immediately get him caught. (All he wanted to see was those idiots dead, at this point. All that mattered was that it got them out of his way, and taught Baelsar a lesson into the bargain.) “He isn’t like you. His mind was ripped out of its socket and crammed into a death machine, and I very much doubt he’s going to suddenly stop being a death machine just because he blew up the VIIth Legion’s base. You have logic. You have rationality, and you can be spoken with.”

The Diamond Weapon’s chest cannon freed itself, and an ominous glow built in its depths.

“He wouldn’t be fighting his own daddy if he was something that could be saved.”

Blue dropped a bit more, level with the Diamond Weapon, as it hurled invectives at him and snarled that it would keep Allie safe like a mindless drone--even as Baelsar’s voice continued to crackle over the communications link, begging him to stop.

“They failed to shoot him down, and they failed to catch him. So we can and should just kill him.”

The blast carved a notch through the barrier field and the Diamond Weapon shed its armor in a burst of aether, loosing a strange creature of all metal and lanky legs and spikes and a gaping maw that screamed defiance at Runya and Blue, using a pool of aether like a springboard.

“So, Blue. Kill him.”

The Diamond Weapon collided with them in a rending screech of metal, and the weight of an entire extra machine drove Blue back down into the roiling stormclouds below, down towards the fields of Werlyt...out of sight.

Sorin panted as he ran, crossing rain-sodden farmland and still wielding his sword.

They had to be around here somewhere.

“Runya!”

He really doubted that the Miqo’te in question could actually hear him, but he tried anyway, without thinking twice about it. He tried in vain to dash the rain from his eyes, but it worked for only moments, and he was left squinting through the downpour to no avail.

“Runya...” He spoke more softly that time, taking more careful steps, lest he dash right past a sign of where Runya and Blue and the Diamond Weapon had gone. He gnawed at his lip a moment, and for just a moment worried not just about Runya, but about Baelsar--

(The Imperial had yelled at him to just go when the VIIth’s Legatus came charging in, and yes the man was responsible for many an atrocity but he wouldn’t wish death on someone who could at least be open to learning from their mistakes--he was friends with Runya for Twelve’s sake, he was no stranger to the concept!)

--but he was still alone and his furred ears swiveled but were overwhelmed with nothing but the raging rainfall...though...

Wait.

He frowned and his brow furrowed, and his right ear swiveled just moments before his head turned to follow it. Those were not natural noises. Heavy thuds, like--

A shadow loomed up out of the rain, limping slowly.

Sorin bristled and brought his sword to bear, though his muscles ached on him after so much running.

The footsteps thumped into wet earth, accompanied by the hiss of hydraulics and the chattering of loose metal.

For a moment, it looked as if the dark silhouette had the Diamond Weapon’s head and his breath hitched, though he quickly shifted to a stronger stance as it advanced.

And then Blue dropped the severed chunk of the Weapon’s corpse just yalms from his feet, his eyes lighting the rain-soaked gloom in red.

Runya-friend had been very pleased that he had killed the other Weapon. And when Runya-friend’s thoughts had turned towards crushing people, to attacking the little dragon-lady that had fallen out of the bad-weapon’s cockpit, he had knocked Runya out--he knew quite well now how to activate the failsafe that was installed into the Miqo’te, and though he hesitated to use it, he would do it if he had to and he very much had to.

He hadn’t wanted to kill it. He was convinced he had to, but he didn’t want to, and even if he had made it very dead and pulled its head off so it couldn’t hurt people anymore, he didn’t like it, and even the relief in Sorin-friend’s expression and in the thoughts radiating off of him didn’t do much to un-sour Blue’s mood.

(That he was in a significant amount of pain, even with the crystallized parts keeping him from bleeding out, didn’t help.)

(But more importantly, he didn’t want to do that.)

“You defeated him?”

He could dimly hear Sorin-friend through the vortex of his own thoughts, and he just shrugged, though it left part of the armor on his left forearm sparking and sending terrible warning signals to his head.

{bad-weapon is gone.} The tone of his ‘voice’ put a frown on Sorin-friend’s face but he was too tired to care much. Too sad. {bad-weapon-pilot is back there. Runya-friend wanted to kill her.}

And Sorin-friend looked so alarmed that he was quick to carry on. {But didn’t want to. Made Runya-friend stop and go to sleep.}

“I...good job, then.” Sorin-friend closed his eyes. “I’m sorry he did that to you, he really needs to learn to not be like that--”

“Allie?!”

That voice. Blue knew that voice, even if he had only heard it from behind a big horned mask before.

Baelsar came to a screeching halt at the sight of the Diamond Weapon’s severed head, jaws gaping wide in its demise, no signs of life (mechanical or otherwise) in its eyes; his gaze snapped quickly to Blue, still standing some distance away.

Blue was tired and Blue was hurt and Blue was very not happy at all to see him here again. The same man that had given Legatus Merceus the space and the people and the money to hurt him and make him like this when even the empire of thousands of years ago hadn’t done anything half as bad to him as that.

He charged with a snarl of anger, and though Sorin-friend stood in his way, he didn’t have to--Blue wasn’t going to stomp Baelsar even if he might have before meeting the two Miqo’te, and he stomped to a halt just short of them. Given the sheer height Blue had, he had to bend and that hurt a particularly ugly injury in his right leg and sent more warnings screeching into his head, but the dam had broken and the flood was in full force and that anger was not going to be stopped by hurt. Enhanced by it, maybe.

And still, Baelsar had the boldness to stay where he was, and even managed to hiss out a question in the face of an angry IXth Legion Weapon.

“Where is Allie?!”

{Alive. Sleeping.} Blue’s answer remained blunt and disinterested, in the face of the sudden aggravation he felt. {You should go away.}

“Why--”

But the question provoked another growl. {You know why you should GO AWAY.} The last two words, rattling into Baelsar’s mind at greater volume, made the man flinch but he still didn’t move.

“...You were the IXth Legion’s, weren’t you?”

Did he not remember, did he not did he not did he not--

Blue suddenly roared then, and the noise and air blew both Baelsar and Sorin-friend flat; the latter clamped his hands over his now-flat ears, but Blue was beyond reason and his thoughts tidal-wave-crashed over everything in range.

{YOU. HURT. ME.} The roar died away like a receding rocket, but the (undamaged) plates at his neck bristled and his tail lashed, even though that created some sparks and painful jolts. {You hurt Sorin-friend! You hurt Runya-friend!}

“I had nothing to do with--”

{You let the bad men have rooms and money and more men!}

Baelsar went very quiet. Blue went on, storming past any of Baelsar’s more subtle thoughts (and Sorin-friend trying to get him to stop).

{Runya-friend and Sorin friend told me about your bad men. And the little ones you made bad men so you could have more people to hurt people with.} He did overhear Sorin-friend thinking about the leader-little-one (Fordola?) that he had fought, and angrily prodded it into Baelsar’s head too. {And the way your bad men hurt people. Made them monsters. Made them hurt forever. You let your bad men do that.}

Baelsar swallowed hard as Blue leaned in so close that his breath steamed out in clouds around him.

{Your fault. YOUR. FAULT.} Blue hissed out loud. {You didn’t care. You don’t. Not enough. You only care about being hurt, not not hurting anyone else.}

And though Baelsar closed his eyes, as if expecting death, Blue just straightened back up and turned, tail swishing through the air some yalms over Baelsar’s head. {No. I won’t.} He flared his wings tentatively, and then a bit more strongly. {Runya-friend and I are going home.}

Before any of them could protest, Blue stumbled into a shambling run, and his thrusters flared to life and propelled him into the air, wings straining but holding to keep him up in the sky. And the sheeting curtains of rain closed up behind him.

#; writing #5.5 spoilers #Sorin at the end going REALLY YOU COULDN'T TAKE /ME/ WITH YOU #anyway yeah hi anyone following my main will know #i've been ranting about some things today #and that spite has fueled me to finally finish this damn thing omg

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randomfandomz · 4 years

Text

GET READY FOR A LOT OF HUSK HEADCANNONS

Im not sorry–

Depressed as f*ck so he doesnt have the modivation to take care of himself

He drinks mainly to forget, and to releive stress

Not only that but he H A T E S water(not as much as Baxter does, but he still avoids it like the plauge)

He never showers until he absolutely has to

Like his fur is always matted and alchohol scented

And he thinks licking himself clean like non-demon cats do is absolutely out of the question, it is gross and undignified, he doesnt want to lick himself and water makes his fur feel heavy and cold and he w i l l argue with you about this

He hates having fur. He just hates it. Its hard to take care of and things get stuck in it, it gets caught in things and just hhhh h h h H H - NO

Will straight up refuse to shower until Charlie makes him

Everyone in the hotel knows about shower day

The day when they make Husk take a shower because e w g r o s s o l d m a n -

Baxter somewhat sympathizes with him about his hatred of water

Not like he actually shows it or does anything to help him though- because 1) Bax really doesnt give a flying f*ck, he just wants to do science and this doesnt concern science so he couldnt care less, and 2) He doesnt wanna speak up because s o c i a l a n x i e t y . S o c i a l i n t e r a c t i o n ? N o t h a n k y o u .

Hes literally a cat, so he hates water with a burning passion

Husk's self image is kinda... ehhhhhh- I mean, its not like he really is that bad looking, if anything he looks pretty damn cool, but he honestly finds himself pretty unattractive. "The fur and wings d o n t h e l p "

Doesnt care if you call him old unless youre trying to be offensive; Hes proud of his age and experience

Even though he acts like an old man(well, he kinda is, but-) hes actually younger than Baxter, Mimzy, Alastor, Angel, and Nifty

Only Vaggie and Crymini are younger than him

When Husk first arrived at the hotel he didnt really wanna interact with anyone; New places kind of stress him out, so it took a long time for him to adjust and not snap at every little thing

Dont get me wrong, hes still a pissy alchoholic^tm, but the anger is less serious/genuine and more just because thats how he is

Husk fought in the vietnam war, and he attempted(and failed) suicide multiple times after the war until he was eventually beaten to death outside of a bar

He turned to alchoholism and gambling as a coping mechanism

Husk suffers from PTSD(Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder), along with the obvious alchoholism and gambling addiction

He is very salty/sad that he's a war vet but died in a bar fight, and wouldn't be remembered for his fighting but rather for being beaten to death in a bar while trying to drink away the feelings he had about not being welcomed home because of the way the media portrayed him and his fellow soldiers that fought in Vietnam

Upon learning that Husk is a vietnam war vet(he mentioned it while drunk off his ass- more than usual) one patron who attended the hotel for a short time told him "Welcome home doc!". Husk was surprised, as he had come to terms with the idea that he would never be thanked or welcomed for his services, but he did make sure to be maybe a bit less pissy to that particular guest. He will never forget them. It meant more to him than he would like to admit.

((I can't really think of a better reason as to why Husk would bring it up, but having seen one or two instances of someone saying "welcome home" to Vietnam war vets, I really wanted to add this. The "Welcome home doc" thing was me referencing a specific instance of this ive seen. Im so sorry if I'm wrongly portraying this in anyway, I tried to do enough research first before typing this part out, but I just wanted to point out that I tried my best to be respectful while talking about the subject.))

Moving on- L A S E R P O I N T E R S

One time Angel was just casually messing around with a laser pointer, out of boredom or something

HUSK'S RESPONSE WAS IMMEDIATE

HE WILL CHASE THAT RED DOT TO THE ENDS OF THE GODDAMN EARTH

"That DAMN RED DOT where the FUCK did iT gO!?"

He HATES that he does this, but he really cannot help it

Being a cat demon, and being Husk, his hunt and kill instinct is through the roof(hunt and kill instinct is why cats chase laser pointers btw)

Was VERY pissy for the next few weeks after this incident

Husk will purr involuntarily whenever someone pets him or strokes his fur

He WILL murder anyone who attempts to pet him or make him purr without consent(*COUGH COUGH* ANGEL *COUGH*)

Same goes for the wings DO NOT TOUCH THE WINGS, JUST DONT-

In his room, Husk's bed is literally a mound of blankets and pillows inside a box

Even he needs to get warm and comfortable after a long day

He never lets anyone in his room

Like n e v e r

Angel snuck in one night- Husk's half asleep drunken a*s shoved him out and yelled at him, waking up practically all the hotel staff and a few guests

In his defense, Angel, upon seeing the sleeping Husk, scratched behind his ears. Husk started to purr, but then snapped to somewhat conciousness, and realized what the f*ck was going on-

Yes, Husk is v e r y defensive

Give him a compliment? He wont accept it under any circumstances. He will probably be flustered and claim that the other is either lying or just kissing up to him

"You know you dont have to kiss my a*s to ask me something, right? The fuck do you want?"

Charlie honestly finds his reaction to compliments very sad

Has a kind of "well ya didnt need to point it out" attitude towards insults

Alastor insults him with the worst names in the book? He accepts it and couldnt give less f*cks

Even if its someone either than Alastor insulting him, usually even if he acts offended and p*ssed off, somewhere in his mind he just accepts it

Usually Alastor is the one insulting him, but in a "best friend rights" kind of way

He likes being creative when it comes to colorful language

"Look out to my sea of f*cks, and see how it is barren"

Doesnt have a "soft spot" for kids like Angel, but doesnt mind lessening the swearing a bit and doing a few magic tricks for the occasional child that somehow found their way to the hotel

He HISSES

If Husk is hissing at you you better f*ckin rUN-

He usually refrains from hissing- its part of him rebelling against his cat-like nature, but if he is openly hissing at you it means he is at his wits-end and is honestly P * S S E D .

sERIOUSLY, F*CKING R U N -

Crymini has a blog documenting all the cat-like things Husk does, and she sometimes does the classic "THIS IS A HUSK IN ITS NATURAL HABITAT" or "LETS SEE HOW THE KITTY REACTS TO THIS NEXT THING" bit, and Husk honestly finds it insulting as f*ck

Crymini pranked Husk with a cucumber(you know how cats on the internet are terrified of them) and Husk was actually scared of it, and he ran up a f*cking tree and wouldnt come down for a solid hour, partly put of legitimate fear, and partly out of spite from seeing the slightly guilty look on Crymini's face after the first 20 minutes of him hiding up there

Being a cat demon, alchohol is actually slightly toxic to him, and he is prone to alchohol poisoning. He usually drinks beer, which has low ammount of ethanol(5-7%)[ethanol is what makes alchohol so toxic to cats]

Baxter has a spray bottle to use on Husk if he is being particularly stubborn or bothersome. Charlie sometimes uses her own spray bottle for similar purposes, but she usually says something like "Bad kitty! No!" Along with it to tease him. Husk finds it humiliating and hates when his fur is wet, so surprisingly the spray bottle thing usually works.

He is demi-panromantic and asexual

H A T E S being touched, like under any circumstances

"The last time I voluntarily made physical contact with another being was in 1970 and it was while I was loosing a bar fight. It was also the day I was beaten to death and setenced to hell."

Bonus:

Angel: Hey kitty~! Wanna cuddle~?

Husk: The last time I voluntarily made physical contact with another being was in 1970 and it was while I was loosing a bar fight.

Angel: Oh really? *snickers* And how'd that work out for ya'?

Husk: Well, it was also the day I was beaten to death and put in hell. So I dunno. You tell me.

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ghostgetter · 4 years

Text

hi idea i want to write but am too lazy to compile:

there needs to be a klance canon divergent au of lance idk, being manipulated by druid magic or possibly (and i like this idea better) post-undercover mission instructed by shiro and getting caught, trying to escape in his ship (not Blue) and it crashing and a galra leader blowing it up and Lotor (who, since i have watched one episode, is Bad To Me) finds him near-death after being begrudgingly ordered to kill him, but with n o m e m o r y of anything - he thinks his name is Tailor until Lotor comes to the conclusion by galaxy rumors that his name is Lance - and is thus coined a ~*~*~perfect right-hand man~*~*~, a perfect soldier, who has all the muscle memory of an excellent pilot and shooter but no recollection of his home or his family or his life or his friends, so nothing to hold him back from getting the job done.

And Lotor takes him under his wing to not exactly work with the galra (because he’s a prince damn it he has earned his place to take control of what he can and will not be ordered by shitty galra lieutenants) but still do Bad Things. He’s got Acxa and others and essentially overthrow governments for their team, collecting weapons and information and money and the like (but Lotor is sending most of this to Zarkon for control blah blah complications whatever)

Meanwhile the team is like, totally distraught. Nearly fallen apart. They have a funeral for Lance because they have no reason to think he’s alive. Keith, who had a fleeting moment with Lance a few days prior, who had developed feelings for him, blames Shiro for his death. Hunk’s furious with the team in general and demands they go home. Pidge is immensely sad and stops sleeping because she lost another brother figure. Shiro doesn’t blame Keith for being angry and agrees this is his fault. Keith’s being extra-“let’s throw my life on the line every mission who gives a shit anymore” until he and Shiro have a Serious Talk. Allura is reluctant but forces herself to attach to Blue, whom is also relectant (they later find out it’s cus Lance Is Alive and Blue Wants Her Paladin).

Anyway Kolivan, leader of the BOM, who Keith has been occassionally working under for more missions to kill himself in, comes to the castle of lions with news about the galra a few months after Lance’s death. He requests their help with stopping a side group of galra who don’t seem to be directly working with Zarkon but are on the map in a massive way and causing havoc and know team voltron wanna be involved. Allura is automatically in but Hunk is so fucking done he wants to go home. He wants to go to Cuba and see Mrs McClain and apologize and cry about their son. And then Kolivan pulls out a tablet that reveals a hologram of Lance.

Lance, in a bright purple uniform, a scar from his temple to his brow, hoisting a galra-styled rifle and perched on a futuristic building, aiming below, clearly unaware of his photo being taken. Alive.

And Keith snatches the tablet from Kolivan “when was this taken?”

“Three days ago.”

Anyway so Team Voltron and BOM team up immediately to get Lance but BOM’s goal is Lotor and the other galra Keith and Hunk (and Shiro, who is still very guilty) are all “we’re getting Lance and regrouping fuck this.” They end up on a planet untouched by Zarkon but in near chaos cus of Lotor’s team, and the BOM are chasing some of the galra in their ships, losing em, and team voltron are also in ships (not the lions), and Keith’s chasing Lotor but then his ship gets slammed into and it’s Lance, he just knows, so he has Shiro and Kolivan continue after Lotor while he chases Lance. He shoots out a cable that catches onto Lance’s ship and forces it to (roughly) land and he runs out of his ship to get Lance, who’s stumbling out

and Keith calls out to him and Lance shoots him.

Keith is able to dodge it enough so it grazes him but Lance quickly shoots at the cable attached to his ship to get it off and runs back in before escaping.

And in his sheer disbelief of what just happened, he hears on the coms that Lotor also escaped, and Hunk and Pidge’s ship crashed, and this was a fucking mess, and Lance looked right at him and just shot him, what the hell -

Anyway lots of heists and chasing and Keith has Pidge catch wind of Lance at an underground hover cycle race on a planet with lots of crime (Lance had ditched Lotor and his team for some air as things were getting Tense between him and Lotor, who was usually very on top of Lance in a protective, possessive way that was kinda creepy but also not necessarily Bad, unlike now where Lotor is being possessive and gross and Lance was starting to question things because Blue was trying to communicate with him through quintessence as the Castle Ship kinda hovered nearer and nearer and Allura was trying to expand it???? idk i don’t watch this show does this make sense lmao) and Keith heads off there alone and sees him in his natural habitat and it’s almost like???? he was the same person? It’s post race and he rips off his helmet, cocky and smirking at an alien that he just beat. mouthing off to him and shooting finger guns at the crowd and winking and Keith’s heart soothes because shit, it’s Lance.

And Lance is getting ready to leave - he’s collected his winnings and such and he’s pulling out and Keith drives up to him and takes his helmet off and Lance double takes. And is like “um, hello?”

And Keith has, no idea, maybe it’s the cocky smirk he saw, but he revs his engine and says: “I hear you’re pretty good at racing around here.”

Lance laughs, sudden startlement pushed aside by amusement. “I’d say I’m the best pilot they’ve seen.”

“Wanna test that theory?”

And Lance is confused because like, he shot this guy? “Do you have a death wish or something, man?”

“Maybe,” Keith smirks. “I just wanna race.”

Lance blinks once, twice, then scoffs. Turns forward, “Fine. Your funeral.”

“This’ll be fun,” Keith turns forward as well. “Lance and Keith, neck and neck, remember?”

And Lance looks at him, because no, what the fuck? No he doesn’t.

Anyway they race through the city streets. It is indeed: Lance and Keith, Neck and Neck. Lance comes to the conclusion that this Keith is immensely fucking good at racing. But so is Lance, who bypasses him on a few turns, of course until they start getting tailed by the city’s law enforcement. And Keith, who’s fucking crazy, is able to turn his bike around and force them to crash, and then pass Lance in reverse, and take the lead.

And win.

And Lance is pissed but he takes this loss and pulls out into an open field and Keith and him bicker a bit about the race and Keith criticizes him but also “but you got better with the accelerating. You just break too much on turns. You do that when you pilot, too.”

“I’m confused. So you know how I pilot, now?”

“Yeah, I know how you pilot. I know you.”

“No, you don’t,” Lance argues. “You don’t know me.”

“You’re a pilot, you’re good with a gun -”

“Everyone knows that,” Lance cuts in. “Everyone on this planet knows that. I made a name for myself here. That doesn’t mean you know anything about me—”

“I know you’re from Cuba, on Earth.” Keith argues back. “I know you have a large family. I know you love the ocean, and that you miss rain.”

Lance is quiet, then, “I don’t remember rain.”

“Maybe not. But I can help you remember it.”

And at this point they’ve gotten closer and they’re talking and Lance asks where he got the scar on his face “if you know me so well” and Keith tells him the story, breezing over their moment and tells him about Shiro, and fighting the galra, and that Lance is a paladin of -

And in comes Lotor, his ship coming in from above and landing, him and another Galra, and call out to Lance, in a calm, orderly fashion and Keith and Lance both freeze. Lotor tells Lance to meet at the randezvous point and Lance hesitates until Lotor repeats himself, and Lance sighs, looks at Keith and salutes him, and gets on his hoverbike with one last look before driving off to get to the ship he docked and fly off.

And then Lotor and Keith face off. Not fighty but more argumentative. And Lotor expresses just how much control he has over Lance, who’s so flighty lately since Voltron got involved and it’s agitating, and Lotor offers information on inside Galra war plans in exchange for Keith and his team to back off.

“And Lance?”

Lotor eyes him. “He stays.”

“Then no.”

And Keith takes out his sword because he’s honestly had it with Lotor and then he sees Lotor brought more than just one Galra, but another humanoid-alien, who comes out aiming a laser at Keith. And then bam bam Hunk appears from Yellow, who he took down to follow after Keith because fuck you, Lance is his best friend he wants him back, canon bayard loaded and trained on Lotor.

Anyway no harm comes from it and then after a battle happens with the Lions and Lance being forced to eject from the warship with a few others and join the fight and Lance is Not Feeling This (he feels super connected to Blue and Lotor is on his ass about Keith and Lance Does Not Remember fuck off). Keith sees this and has Red get close to Lance, with Shiro and everyone yelling at him, and he propells to Lance’s ship outta the jaw of Red and has Red back outta the line of fire, and somehow blah blah, gets into Lance’s ship. And Lance is like ?????? but then immediately sees that Lotor is aiming a canon at them and they’re gonna blow up and they do, until Red comes in and snatches them up. Keith is unconscious. Lance is confused. He sees Team Voltron on the vid cam and doesn’t know what’s happening. He tries to explain what Lotor’s doing and that Keith got knocked out with the blast and he’s so confused and why is the yellow guy crying, what’s going on, until Allura tries to get Lance to pilot Red, and Lance argues with her a bit while settling Keith in what looks like a seconadry pilot chair that miraculously popped up. And then Lance, like, hears this Lion-thing? Speaking to him??? And he pilots Red and Lotor escapes and they go back to the castle of Lions, get Keith into a pod, and everyone hugs Lance, who still doesn’t???? Understand????

Anyway. Long story short. He re-meets the team. Joins the fight. Pilots Blue again, who he confesses to have been hearing in some sorta abyss for the last month. Has a heart to heart with Shiro. Cries with Hunk. Re-falls for Keith. Big battle. He gets his memory back later. The end.

#klance #how do i add a read more on here anymore fucj

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jellyfishpoptart · 4 years

Text

➴➵Pacta Sunt Servanda➴➵

Summary: A plucky pilot finds herself in over her head

Word count:

Pairing: Mandalorian x Ex-Mandalorian OC (Mando isn’t in this chapter just yet)

Warnings: Minor gore? Me fumbling through pilot jargon.

Word Count: 3,481

A/N: This my first time sharing I hope you guys enjoy! Please if you have any feedback please drop a message anon or not! I should have part two up tomorrow!

➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶➴

Five years ago

The hangar bay was louder than it had ever been, It was almost electrifying for Kinsei as she knelt in front of her X-Wing adjusting the Atmospheric thrusters that helped make her ship faster than most. Her quick thinking skills and her great piloting made her a favorite amongst the Generals who left her in charge of her own squadron in the war as Commander Kinsei Tsokara. They were given their next mission by Admiral Kandula Mynt to take over enemy territory in the Outer Rim Territories.

It bordered wild space anything could happen out there Kinsei felt anxious to get into her ship but she couldn’t let her men see it. She shut the panel where the newly aligned Atmospheric Thrusters were then found a rag to clean the dark grease on her hands. She pulled her black leather jacket over her orange jumpsuit. It was her lucky jacket passed down from her father Endric. There was a faded blue Alliance Starbird on the front left pocket. He had worn it through all of his smuggling runs throughout the galaxies it was special to her.

“Gold Leader! I’ve been looking for you!” Shouted Rohan Port he was one of the pilots under her command, she looked up with a small smile as he drew closer. While she never admitted it aloud she considered him to be her second. He held something behind his back it sparked her interest but not enough to ask him about it.

She turned to the Astromech droid that was nestled before the cockpit, “R4 run one last diagnostic check for me.” The droid chirped in response as the first group of X-wing from the Red Squadron left the hangar. Her fingers made quick work braiding her long black hair. She tucked the braided ponytail in her jacket so it wouldn’t bother her during the mission.

Rohan put one hand on her shoulder as he revealed the surprise. It was her white piloting helmet that had been polished beyond recognition. The pair of gold Alliance Starbirds on the front almost sparkled from the amount of detailing he had put in. “I was hoping after today’s run you could show me a few tricks. I wanna be able to pilot like you do someday. ” He smiled wide he was younger than she, he was still full of so much hope and wonder she missed that feeling. The war against the Imperials was sucking the life out of her.

The war seemed to continue dragging with no end in sight. She had been fighting alongside her father long before she could ever fly. It had all started with a very young Kinsei helping Endric and his husband Rham hide the blasters in the ship to smuggle them back to the rebels. She ran off at nineteen after losing her mother Ca'tra to the beginnings of the war.

Following in the footsteps of Endric, Ca'tra, and Rham as she became a member of the Resistance, working her way up from a mechanic first then a pilot. Now at twenty-three she was the first female Commander X-wing pilot, the journey was difficult it left her withered on the inside but she kept fighting.

“Brown nosing your boss is no way to get a head, Port. But I’ll think about it.” She smiled back accepting the helmet while playfully punching his arm. “We’re heading out soon let the others know which coordinates we’re going to.” She added as she put on the helmet then she climbed into the cockpit listening for R4’s final diagnostic test. She wasn’t surprised when everything came back to normal. She was a thorough mechanic everything always had to be perfect each and every time. She climbed into the cockpit the glass above closed her in she strapped in while looking over the array of blinking controls before her.

She shut her eyes while holding on to the ring on her necklace it was made of weathered Beskar, a sign it had been passed down within Ca'tra’s family for many years. She remembered her mother telling her it was passed down from her grandmother who had died as a fierce warrior.

“I need you to look out for me today.” She whispered in soft Mando'a her native tongue Ca'tra was a Mandalorian warrior just like Kinsei’s fathers, she had told Kinsei stories of their ancestors who were strong brave and how important it was to keep their culture alive after the great purge.

She was being raised to be a Mandalorian warrior however she never finished her training due to the war. It meant she was a great shame to her people, a coward by most definitions it was a bitter existence to swallow. She had lost her way long ago when she removed her helmet for her own safety. After the great purge most Mandalorians went into hiding and for her that meant hiding in plain sight.

Her eyes opened as R4 steadied the ship toward open space she put her helmet on, “This is Gold Leader heading out. Let’s blow those TIEs out of the sky boys!” She said as she leaned the controls forward accelerating into open space. Her stomach always dropped once she was amongst the stars, it was home for her she spent a good portion of her life in space and yet she still found herself in awe being surrounded by stars. From behind six other ships followed her lead in a V formation.

It didn’t take long for the TIE fighters to present themselves only twenty minutes had passed on their way to the rendezvous point, she heard them before she saw them swarming on either side of them. “Watch each other’s backs I have a bad feeling about this!” She exclaimed as she began firing her lasers while dodging returning fire the communications line was full of expletives as her men fought off the TIE fighters. With a fiery explosion she took down one then another, she spun the ship around to provide backup for the remaining of her men.

She dodged incoming photon lasers while spinning the ship launching her own series of laser blasts back, Kinsei steadied herself as another TIE exploded its pieces landing in the asteroid belt beneath them. A counted six more approaching after the rest of the Gold squadron defeated the first wave. She was confident her team could do this all day. It’s what she loved about them since her first few months leading them she hadn’t lost a single person from enemy fire.

“Commander behind you!” Yelled Rohan though the communications interface he shot his lasers a few times trying to hit the TIE fighter behind her. The TIE fighter pilot dodged them while returning fire. It was all too fast Kinsei jerked forward feeling her left engines had been taken out. The screen before her began to flash red indicating a multi system failure. Her chest felt tight as she tried to think of a way out of this she was spinning out making her way into the asteroid belt. “Take care of each other, you hear me! Rohan Port it’s up to you to finish our mission!” She yelled as she dodged an asteroid the last thing any pilot wanted was to die in open space. To feel the freezing vacuum of space while the air gets ripped from your lungs it was worse than just dying.

She switched off communications not wanting anyone to hear her struggle her way through the asteroid belt. It was a dangerous only suicidal pilots would willingly enter one. “R4 disengage find your way back to the ship you’re too valuable for me to lose out here!” She pressed her hand to the glass on the other side R4 let out a series of sad beeps as he engaged his rocket thrusters flying back the way they had come. He held all of her battle formations and secrets of the rebellion she died out here there would be no one to defend the astromech droid. It was finally hitting her that she was going to die alone with her body smashed on as asteroid.

She wiped her eyes with gloved hands as she continued to spin out she pulled on the controls steering her way through. She narrowly missed a large boulder. It cracked the glass she could feel the cold hiss of space sucking out the oxygen from the cockpit. The emergency alarm continued droning on, and she found it hard to ignore between that and the flashing lights were getting hard to ignore.

“Kriff, it’s always something.” She muttered while fumbling for her life support mask still keeping one hand on the controls. She didn’t want to die not alone, not like this more than anything Kinsei was a stubborn she wasn’t going to sit back and let death take her. She raced through the asteroid belt she spotted a green planet she knew all she had to do was get close enough and she’d be pulled into the planet’s gravitational pull.

Kinsei killed her engines her stomach flipped as she was caught in the lull of space. It felt suffocating for her to be coasting like this knowing at any moment an enemy could kill her. Above she spotted the asteroid belt was full of debris of ships who hadn’t made it. To keep herself calm she stared at the planet as the gravitational pull sucked her in she let out a sharp gasp as she fell through the atmosphere the sides of the ship catching flame she was going too fast. The sounds of the X-Wing trembling against the pressure there were parts of the ship that had become loose she watched as screws and bolts became loose.

She took deep and even breaths even as her tears fell, she felt her ears pop under the pressure. The glass shattered above her raining all around her she was screaming as she continued falling at an alarming speed. Kinsei felt as if her lungs would burst if she was falling any faster. A splash of green came into her field of vision, she was on the planet all she had to do was somehow stop. Upon switching the controls she realized the ship was dead. It took on too much damage feeling defeated, she pounded her fists into the control panel letting out a frustrated noise as she did so. At least if she died going this fast she wouldn’t suffer.

Her thoughts were suddenly taken over by reminders of her past, the smell of her mother’s perfume, the sound of her fathers’ joined laughter, and lastly the place where she felt most at home the Rebel base on where she had lived. She imagined herself drinking in the barracks after another victory just like old times.

She threw her arms up instinctively as she felt thin tree branches swatting at her body and helmet, Kinsei couldn’t see the base of the mountain the left side of the ship exploded upon impact the smell of fuel was strong in the air as it stained her skin and flight suit. She felt her body get hot all of a sudden as she felt bones crack and twist her head whipped and crashed against the main controls. The rest of the ship wedged itself between the mountain and the base of an old tree. She lost consciousness not too long after hitting her head against the control panel blood dripped from her nose as her body went limp.

Hours had passed it was near sunrise when she awoke to the sound of ringing in her ears. Kinsei felt the burning in her body. She was certain she had broken her left leg, left arm, and most likely her collarbone. But she was alive even if she was in agony, she screamed for help until her throat felt raw as while she unbuckled herself pulling herself up out of the ruins of what was left of the cockpit. Her teeth grit so tight she thought he might lose a molar or two. Using her good arm she hoisted herself over the edge of the cockpit, it had become wet from a small storm that had passed while she had been unconscious.

She fell into damp grass onto her left side she thought she’d pass out from the pain shooting up and throughout her body. Kinsei turned her head as she vomited. With great strain she reached for a blaster flare all rebel pilots wore on their hip, she pinned the blaster handle underneath her as leverage while she tried to insert the flare with her good arm.

The edges of her vision were clouded she found herself fading in and out of consciousness again. All she could feel was pain radiating through her body, it was a hot angry pain that vibrated every time she took a deep breath. She guessed she had broken a rib or a few judging by the tenderness in her chest.

This planet was much quieter than the ones she had been accustomed to there were no ships constantly docking, for a moment she wondered if it was even populated. Her ship burning up in the night sky would have attracted some kind of attention. Kinsei turned her head and she could see her bone had not only broken through the skin but had also broken through the fabric of her flight suit. She heard footsteps through the damp grass she propped herself up on her good elbow she shouted for help as she dropped the blaster flare, “Please help me I’m injured!” She had begun crying again once she saw a pair of women beginning to run towards her.

The younger one was much taller she guessed around five nine with wild red curls that fell beyond her shoulders her round face was dotted with freckles she dropped to her knees at Kinsei’s side. She had been holding what she recognized as a medical bag, “What are you waiting for Echo? She’s suffering!” Yelled the older woman who she assumed was the young woman’s mother, her hair was longer with a more muted copper color it was tied out of her face. Echo pulled a large syringe from the bag she had been carrying, there was an off white liquid she removed the cap bringing the needle to Kinsei’s arm.

Kinsei’s eyes went wide as she shoved herself away straining her body, stars danced before her eyes as the viscous pain radiated through her. “No! Ow! Get the kriff away from me!” She stopped the moment she put weight on her fractured ulna Kinsei let a hiss escape her lips as she stopped struggling. She felt the ulna rubbing up against the inside of her leather jacket, it pulsed angrily she dropped her head in defeat with nowhere else to go.

“This is going to make the pain stop, you’re going to be fine. I promise.” Said Echo as she removed Kinsei’s right arm out of the jacket injecting the full liquid into Kinsei’s arm her head fell back feeling a chill run through her body. It flowed through her veins like ice water but it soothed her pain. “Can you tell me your name and your home planet?” She said while flashing a penlight in Kinsei’s eyes through the broken visor of her helmet.

“My name is Kinsei Tsokara and I was born on Mandalore.” She stated while swatting the light away it was making her feel nauseous. Kinsei felt a great peace in her body as she looked around a smile formed on her lips. “What the hell did you give me?” Kinsei asked while she rolled on her good side so that she could force herself to sit up right up against a tree she removed her helmet tossing it in the wreckage of her ship.

“It’s a blend of things but mostly Senoti sap. It should stop the bleeding and if you’re lucky prevent an infection.” Echo cut through the leg of Kinsei’s flight suit inspecting the exposed femur above her knee. With her leg exposed she could see she had broken some bones in her shin as well judging by the swelling. “This doesn’t look so good kid.” Said Echo’s mother whose name she found out was Chaska, she straightened the leg Kinsei felt bone run up against one another it was a terrible grinding feeling. Chaska made a splint to keep her leg straight while Echo carefully slid Kinsei’s broken arm out of the sleeve of her jacket draping it across the young pilot’s lap. Echo inspected her collarbone noticing the left side was raised.

Kinsei’s eyebrows shot up watching the look on Chaska’s face it was concerned while she studied her leg, “What do you mean it doesn’t look good?” Kinsei was certain she knew what Chaska meant but she didn’t want to believe it. She hung her head in deep thought tuning out Chaska’s explanation. She caught the jist of ‘I’ll do everything I can.’ Before Chaska turned walking back the way they came. Echo fashioned another sprint for her arm then fished around in her medical bag for a sling.

“Try not to worry my mom is really good at what she does.” said Echo while putting Kinsei’s arm in a sling she thanked her as she helped her stand putting all of her weight onto her right side. Kinsei leaned down reaching for her jacket inspecting it for damage. She was surprised to find a small bit of blood on the inside. “Do you have access to Bacta here? I’d heal faster that way. Also where the hell am I?” She asked as Echo leaned close enough for her to feel the medic’s soft exhale against her skin.

“You crash landed on Shosa, it’s a podunk planet no one cares about that’s why the Separatists left us alone. We don’t have access to Bacta, it’s too expensive. Don’t move you’re gonna hear loud pop.” Echo placed her warm hands on Kinsei’s cheeks her thumbs along the sides of her nose using pressure to reset the curve in Kinsei’s nose.

A loud crack rang throughout her ears Kinsei took in a sharp breath, “I’m so glad I couldn’t feel that.” She said noticing Chaska doubling back on a speeder with a wide flat board attached to the back. Echo helped Kinsei stand while supporting her from the left side around her middle.

With speeder backing up close to them Echo helped her on to the board strapping her in around the chest and waist, “We’re gonna take of you don’t worry.” She said while keeping a reassuring hand on her shoulder before removing it and taking a seat behind her mother. Kinsei kept her eyes open as the speeder raced through the pine trees of Shosa, she marvelled at the tall mountains that almost surrounded a small village.

She could hear the sounds of domesticated sheep bleating as they strayed from the main village over to a cottage over a lake. It was something out of a fable its thatched roof overgrown with thick green ivy that claimed most of the exterior of the home. It was made of smooth blue stones that had been weathered over the years, surrounded by a meadow of wildflowers. Further back she noticed a large barn and a pen that surrounded it. Kinsei could see the sheep feeding, she smiled she had never seen anything like them before. It took her mind off of how mangled her body was and the very real fear of losing her leg.

Chaska unstrapped her from the board helping her stand she dragged her leg trying to keep the weight off. She could feel the pressure of the bone moving as she entered inside she set her coat down on a chair as she took a look around. It was charming there were photos and knickknacks all over it, everything had worn lived in feeling but that’s what made it feel like home. “So I’m guessing you two are the closest thing to a hospital here on Shosa.” Said Kinsei to fill the silence as Chaska led her down a hall to a white room in the middle was a wide metal table she swallowed her eyes went wide as she stared at the varying medical supplies.

“You’re going to be fine Miss. Tsokara don’t worry.” Echo helped Kinsei up onto the table using a pair of scissors to cut through the fabric of her flight suit around her arm . Chaska came up with a mask she put on over Kinsei’s face. She laid down her eyes trained on the ceiling tears of anxiety flowing down her cheeks. Echo inserted the tip into her arm her eyes rolled back into her head as her vision tunneled out.

#the mandalorian #mando x reader #din djarin x reader #dyn jarren x oc #mando x oc #din djarin x oc #im sorry about the formatting google docs is so much better #star wars oc #star wars imagine #star wars imagines

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snappedsky · 4 years

Text

Fanatics Adventures in Space Part 26

Finally, the Battalion returns home. Previous! Next!

Return

“I repeat: arrival to Earth in T-minus 20.”

The announcement rings out across the ship as the Battalion scramble around their room, excitedly packing everything up.

“I can’t believe it’s finally over,” Squee says.

“I know,” Dib agrees, “it went so fast.”

“Or not fast enough,” Gaz argues.

“It’s gonna be so good to be home again,” Pepito smiles, “I miss my mom.”

“I miss my own room,” Devi grunts.

“Same,” Johnny adds.

“It was fun though,” Tenna grins, “y’know, for the most part.” “I wouldn’t call it fun,” Zim grunts, “but…it is good to be back.”

The door opens and Kio walks in. “Make sure you don’t forget anything because you likely won’t get it back.”

Once everyone has packed up their stuff, they leave together and head through the ship to the cargo hold. Along the way, they run into Skoodge, Gir, Minimoose, and Shmoopy.

“It took me a while to find them,” Skoodge says as he holds onto Gir and Minimoose.

“I can’t believe you guys are finally leaving,” Shmoopy sighs, “I’m…gonna miss you.” “Aww, we’ll miss you too, Shmoopy,” Pepito coos.

“But we can always talk through Zim’s computer,” Dib points out.

“Yeah,” Shmoopy smiles.

Everyone chatters excitedly about what they’re gonna do when they’re home or what happened during their adventure. It all seems to be wrapping up so nicely. But as they near the cargo hold, the ship lurches, like it stopped suddenly, and everyone stumbles to regain their balance.

“What was that?” Kio asks suspiciously. They all share a look before racing for the bridge.

“What’s going on-oh no.”

They skid to a stop, their faces dropping from fear and concern as they enter and see the Irken Armada outside, all hovering around the Massive.

“They beat us here,” Zim growls.

The Resisty cower around their consoles, barely able to look through the front display. They all jump when a ringing sounds from Lard Nar’s seat.

“They’re hailing us!” he squeals.

“Answer!” Zim orders as he marches forward.

The Tallest appear on screen, grinning smugly. He glowers at them.

“Did you really think you could escape us?” Purple scoffs.

“You guys really have been chasing us this whole time?” Pepito snaps, “don’t you have like an empire to run or something?”

“Dealing with you is more important,” Red growls.

“Wow. That’d be flattering if it wasn’t so terrifying,” Dib comments.

“Here’s what’s gonna happen,” Red says, “either you turn yourselves in peacefully or we destroy you and your precious dirt planet too.”

“What’s stopping you from destroying the Earth if we do surrender?” Squee asks sceptically.

“Nothin,” Purple shrugs.

“Yeah, we could totally do that. And we probably will,” Red nods, “anyway, make your choice.”

“Neither!” Zim barks, “you’ll destroy the Earth over my lifeless husk!”

“I mean, that is the plan,” Purple points out.

“And I won’t let that happen,” Zim declares, “Nar, hang up on them!”

He does so and the screen closes on the Tallests’ annoyed faces.

“Well, we’re dead,” Gaz grunts.

“Not yet we’re not!” Zim booms as he faces his team. “Here’s the plan. I’m gonna go out on an escape pod and keep them distracted. While I’m doing that, the Battalion will sneak onto the Massive and shut them down. And Kio, you get the Resisty out of here.”

“What?” she exclaims, “we can’t just leave you.”

“You’ve done enough already,” he insists, “and if the armada attacks, you won’t survive. You have to stay alive so you can keep resisting.” “He’s right, Kio,” Nar agrees, “the ship won’t be able to withstand a direct attack from the armada. We’re no good to anyone as space dust.” Kio hangs her head but nods. “Okay.” “Good. Everyone know what they have to do?” Zim asks.

“Yes,” the Battalion nods.

“Then let’s do it.” The Battalion races out of the room, Kio and Shmoopy close behind, while Zim heads to the escape shuttle.

“Zim,” Nar says, catching his attention before he can enter. “Take this,” he says, handing him an oval-ish device with a flat bottom and a big button on top.

“What is it?” Zim asks.

“A power amplifier, able to increase the power of all technology within its vicinity,” he explains, “including your PAK. Just in case. Good luck.”

“Yes. You too.”

Zim tucks the device under his arm and climbs into the shuttle.

Meanwhile, Kio and Dib lead the rest of the group through the ship. Along the way, Dib, Gaz, Pepito, and Squee quickly change into their space suits while Skoodge gives Johnny, Devi, and Tenna their own vacuum bubbles.

“Really didn’t want to be putting this on again so soon,” Gaz grumbles as she tugs at the material of her suit.

“Hey, how are we getting to the Massive anyway?” Devi asks.

“We’ll be taking our new ship,” Dib replies, smiling excitedly.

“Ooh, are we finally gonna see it?” Pepito asks.

“You would’ve seen it now regardless,” he says, “it’s how we were gonna get to Earth; a sort of ‘maiden voyage’.”

They hurry into the cargo hold. It’s filled mostly with large, metal boxes with alien writing on them. But the middle of the room has obviously been converted into their own little garage. Spare parts of varying sizes and multiple tools surround the project Zim, Dib, and Kio have been working on the last six months.

“Behold,” Dib says dramatically, “the Epic.” The plain black cruiser Rory gifted is near unrecognizable. It looks much more similar to an Earth sports car with four tires with chrome rims, chrome bumpers, side view mirrors, pink LED headlights and brake lights, and a pink racing stripe along both sides and two going up the hood. Along with the hatch-like doors on the driving and passenger sides, there are now two regular car doors for the backseat and a hatch door on the back. Inside is pretty much the same, but now with a leather bench backseat and a center console complete with cup holders for the front and back and seatbelts.

“Wow, it looks awesome!” Squee chimes while the others nod agreeably.

“Why’s it a car?” Johnny asks.

“It can change from a car to a ship,” Dib replies, “this way I can have my own car and I don’t have to borrow my dad’s all the time.” “No time for long goodbyes, I’m afraid,” Kio says as she reads from her tablet. “Zim’s shuttle just left so we have to as well.” She grabs Dib and Gaz’s shoulder and squeezes them into Pepito and Squee, pulling them all into a group hug. “Be safe.”

“Yeah,” Dib smiles.

“You too,” Squee adds.

Kio looks up at Johnny, Devi, Tenna, and Skoodge. “You guys too.” “Thanks,” Tenna chirps while Devi smiles and waves and Nny nods.

“WAAAAAHHHH! I’LL MISS YOUUUUUU!” Gir wails as he squeezes Shmoopy’s head.

“I’ll miss you too, Gir,” she smiles and kneels in front of Skoodge. “Help me please.” “Come on, Gir,” Skoodge says as he peels him and tucks him under his arm. “We have to save our home.” “We’ll call you when we’re back on Earth,” Pepito promises as everyone climbs into the Epic, Dib driving, Pepito on shotgun, Squee, Gaz, and Johnny in the backseat, and Devi, Tenna, and Skoodge- with Gir and Minimoose- in the very back.

“We’ll be waiting,” Kio smiles softly as she and Shmoopy wave goodbye.

“Okay. Everyone buckle up,” Dib orders and fires up the engine. When the hatch of the cargo hold is open, he pushes forward on the yoke and the Epic drives through the room and out the door, stopping abruptly as it hits zero gravity and floating.

“Uh, Dib?” Pepito questions.

“Hang on,” Dib says and pushes a button on the top of the yoke. Immediately, the car starts rumbling as the wheels fold up into the undercarriage and four rocket thrusters extend out the back. They light up and the ship rockets away. The force shoves Dib, Pepito, Gaz, Squee, and Johnny into their seats as they exclaim excitedly, while completely knocking over Devi, Tenna, and Skoodge in the back.

Devi groans as she grabs the backseat and pulls herself up. “Remind me how we got this raw end of the deal.”

“Someone had to get it,” Nny points out, grinning.

“Approaching the Massive,” Dib announces as they slow down and near the appropriately named ship.

“Won’t they see us?” Squee asks nervously.

“The Epic has cloaking,” he replies, “as long as Zim keeps them distracted, no one will see us coming.” They all watch through the windows as Zim’s little escape shuttle flies by the Armada and faces the Massive. After putting on a vacuum bubble, he pops the hatch and stands up.

Inside the bridge of the Massive, the Tallest eat a bag of chips as they watch him on the display.

“What is he doing?” Red scoffs.

“Tallest!” Zim screams, “if you wanna destroy the Earth, you’ll have to destroy me first!”

“Uh, yeah,” Purple snorts, “that’s the plan. Fire up the Planet Exploder.”

As the Epic pulls up alongside the Massive and Skoodge starts cutting an entrance into the hull, the giant laser gun extends out of the underside and aims at Zim. “That’s not good!” Tenna exclaims as it fires. They whip around and watch as the laser flies right for Zim, shouting in fear.

Zim activates the power amplifier and creates a shield with his spider legs. Immediately, he feels a flare up of power in his PAK and his shield triples in size. When the laser hits, the force nearly knocks him back, but he stands strong and holds back the laser.

“WHAT!” the Tallest exclaim, throwing their chip bags in bewilderment.

“He’s holding it back…” Dib breathes, just as stunned as the rest of the Battalion.

“Amazing,” Kio sighs as she and the rest of the Resisty watch from their ship. “But I guess that’s Zim for you. Now let’s get out of here. Hyper drive!”

The Resisty ship disappears without any of the Irken Armada noticing.

Zim growls with exertion as he holds back the continuous laser, his legs in danger of buckling. His PAK may be more powerful, but he’s not sure how much longer his body can handle this.

“He needs help,” Pepito observes as everyone jumps from the Epic to the Massive. “I’m gonna help Zim! You guys stick to the plan!”

“Pepito!” Squee exclaims as he spreads his wings and takes off, landing behind Zim.

“Pep…” Zim painfully grunts in surprise.

“I got your back,” Pepito says as he lifts his hands, placing them against Zim’s force field and creating one of his own. They mix together, creating a black and pink shield of magic and science. Zim immediately feels some of the exertion let off and it’s almost a relief.

Meanwhile, Dib, Gaz, Squee, Johnny, Devi, Tenna, Skoodge, Gir, and Minimoose have safely transferred over to the Massive. The corridor they’re in is empty but they can hear frantic Irken voices in the distance.

“Skoodge, how do we get to the bridge?” Dib asks.

“See those signs?” Skoodge replies as he points to signs with Irken writing next to arrows pointing in either direction down the corridor. “The big letters are pointing to the bridge.” “Good,” Dib nods and points at him, Devi, Tenna, and Johnny. “You guys go to the power room and shut down the Massive. We’ll go confront the Tallest. Gir, Minimoose, you come with us.” “Woo!” Gir cheers and lands on Dib’s head.

“I’m coming too,” Johnny declares.

“You should go with Devi and Tenna in case they run into trouble,” Squee argues and smiles softly. “We’ll be fine.”

Nny is hesitant but complies. “Fine.” “Meet back here when the Massive is shut down,” Dib orders and the two groups split up.

Dib, Gaz, and Squee with Gir, Minimoose, and Shmee race through the corridors, following the signs to the bridge. They pass by ship engineers, too surprised to respond, but don’t run into any trouble until they near the bridge. Three armed guards are blocking the door. They lift their laser rifles at the sight of the kids.

“I got this,” Dib says and raises his gloved hand. He fires a blast which blows through the guards and the door.

Everyone in the bridge is surprised by the explosion and whip around.

“Ugh, what now?” Red groans.

“Tallest!” Dib barks, “turn off your Planet Exploder and leave our galaxy now!”

“Mmmmm nah,” Purple replies.

“Then we have no choice but to destroy your ship.”

“Ha!” Red scoffs, “what makes you think-?”

“Gir, destroy!” Dib orders.

“Yay!” he cheers and immediately throws himself through the wall.

“Hey!” Purple exclaims.

Gaz lifts her Warhammer of Swine and smashes a nearby console while Squee drives his knives through another.

“Hey!” Red snaps.

The engineers band together, ready to fight back, but Dib blasts them away with his glove while Minimoose fires a blast of his own through another wall.

“HEY!” the Tallest shout.

“That’s it,” Red snarls as two metal tentacles extend from his PAK. Purple does the same and they float up higher, their appendages raised menacingly.

The Battalion stand side by side, ready to fight back.

Meanwhile Skoodge leads Johnny, Devi, and Tenna to the opposite end of the ship, where the power core is. It’s a lot more heavily guarded than last time and they run into guards every few seconds. But Johnny tears through them without even breaking his stride.

“Here it is!” Skoodge exclaims and opens the door. They’re immediately greeted by a group of over twenty armed guards and immediately jump out of the way of the lasers.

“Guess they’re a little bit more protective,” Tenna comments.

“We don’t have time for this,” Skoodge growls, “stay back, guys.” He jumps back into the doorway, his spider legs extending, and fires a massive laser into the room, immediately destroying all the guards. Johnny, Devi, and Tenna poke their heads around the corner to make sure it’s safe.

“Wow, nice one,” Johnny comments.

“So same deal as before?” Devi asks.

“Pretty much,” Skoodge replies as he enters the room. “But this time I’m gonna make sure to do more damage. Hold off any guards.” “You got it,” Johnny nods and lifts his knives as Skoodge starts firing lasers.

Back in the bridge, the Battalion is holding their own against the Tallest. Red flings a sharp, metal tentacle at Dib who narrowly dodges then blasts it to pieces. Purple tries to do the same to Gaz, but she smashes the appendage into the floor. Before either the Tallest can attack again, Squee uses his rocket wheelies to zip around to their backs where he and Shmee grab their antennae. They both freeze up, their PAK appendages going limp for a second.

“Now, Minimoose!” Squee barks.

The little moose charges up a blast. Squee and Shmee get out of the way just as he fires, blasting the Tallest point-blank.

The Battalion pant as they meet up and wait for the dust to clear. Before it does, Squee feels a chill shoot up his spine.

“Watch out!” he cries just as a dozen metal appendages shoot out of the dust. The kids barely dodge, getting cuts and scrapes all over their body as the limbs stab through the wall behind them.

The look up as the Tallest rise out of the dust, some burns and tears on their cloaks but otherwise unharmed. The two groups glare at each other.

Before anyone can throw another attack, the ship suddenly lurches. As everyone stumbles to regain their balance, the lights go out and emergency lighting switches on.

“No!” Red barks and looks outside. The Planet Exploder has stopped firing and Zim and Pepito are still standing, exhausted but alive. They both collapse into the shuttle.

“They did it,” Dib smiles.

Red and Purple are both furious as they glare at the kids.

“You’re gonna pay for this,” Red snarls.

“We’ve heard that before,” Gaz grunts, rolling her eyes.

“Sorry, but it’s time for us to split,” Squee says as he draws a Flashy Bomb from his bag. He activates it and tosses it at the Tallest. It goes off, surrounding them in a blinding white light.

“Augh, my eyes!” Purple cries as they cover their faces, and the Battalion slips out of the room.

They race through the Massive and arrive back at the Epic at the same time as Skoodge, Johnny, Devi, and Tenna.

“Nice work, guys,” Dib comments, “now let’s get out of here.”

They all jump back over to their ship and take off towards Zim’s shuttle. They pull up alongside it and peek inside. Zim and Pepito are sprawled out on the seat, sweating and panting but conscious.

“Need a lift?” Gaz asks. They both chuckle weakly.

Everyone helps Zim and Pepito inside and lies them down in the back. Then they take off for Earth.

As they start to near the atmosphere, a bulb on the dashboard starts flashing and beeping.

“Oh, we’re getting a call,” Dib says and presses a button. A holographic screen appears over the dash, displaying the Tallest, their eyes squinty and teary.

“Found you, you little-ah! The screen hurts my eyes!” Purple cries as he turns away, rubbing his eyes.

“This isn’t over! This isn’t a victory for you!” Red barks.

“Really? Cause it sure feels like one,” Squee grins and Dib and Gaz nod agreeably.

“We’ll be back!” Red snaps, “you can’t stop us! We’re the most powerful force in the galaxy! We’ll destroy you and your little mud ball planet too! You can’t stop us-!”

The transmission cuts out when Zim’s spider legs stabs the dashboard. Everyone looks back at him with surprise.

“Sorry,” he grunts, rubbing his head. “I can’t stand listening to them right now.”

“Lookee lookee!” Gir exclaims, pointing behind them. Everyone watches as the Irken Armada flies away, towing the powerless Massive and they all cheer and high five victoriously.

“Nice work, team,” Zim says, “now let’s go home.”

Dib flies the Epic to Earth. They break through the atmosphere with relative ease and arrive at their city within a few minutes. One by one, he drops everyone off by their homes- Devi and Tenna first, who trudge into their building and immediately collapse in Devi’s apartment.

Johnny and Squee are next. Colton races out of his house and greets them almost immediately, grabbing Squee in a tight hug while Johnny lumbers up their house. When he opens the door, Granny Cammie is sitting on the couch with Nugget. Both happily perk up and he smiles softly.

Next up is Pepito. He drags his feet up to his front door and lets himself in, feeling like he could collapse any second. But when he hears his mom happily call his name, he feels just enough strength come back to give her a big hug.

Dib drops himself and Gaz off next and lets Skoodge take over, deciding to leave the Epic at Zim’s house for now. They enter their house and start to head upstairs to their rooms, when they run into their dad in the kitchen. He exclaims joyously and they smile as he brings them into a tight hug.

Finally, Skoodge parks the Epic outside Zim’s house. Gir cheers excitedly as he flies across the yard closely followed by Skoodge and Minimoose while Zim uses his spider legs to carry his tired body up to the door. They enter and he smiles as the house lights up.

“Welcome home, Master.”

#invader zim #invader zim fanfiction #johnny the homicidal maniac #johnny the homicidal maniac fanfiction #iz jthm crossover #my art #my ocs

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purkinje-effect · 4 years

Text

The Anatomy of Melancholy, 54

Table of Contents. Second Instar, Chapter 21. Go to previous. Go to next. TW: Surveillance, drugging, lascivious behavior, heavy inebriation. Giving toasts and getting toasted.

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Outside the rowhouse, ‘Choly mounted Angel, but between the rigidity of his orthotics and the weight of the uniform fabric, he struggled to sustain the jockey-esque crouch he had used to ride the Mister Handy. He knew he’d need to modify they way he rode Angel in order to be able to ride it.

“We’re visiting the storage hangar before we go see Olivia.”

A Mister Gutsy intercepted them before they got to the door.

“State your intent,” Green-One barked. “This is not the destination that’s been requested of you.”

“We wanted to stock up before we left,” ‘Choly began, dismounting with some difficulty. Angel handed him his cane, which he took appreciatively. “Do you... happen to have any straps? I’d take a fistful of uniform belts, if that’s all you’ve got.”

Sticks had decided, after the argument at the rowhouse, that he’d keep his mouth shut for the rest of their time on base, if he could help it. This decision, however, did not prevent a wide range of facial expressions. To the request, the ghoul cocked his head to one side.

“Request to enter the storage hangar has been confirmed,” the Gutsy replied after a minute of floating idly. “Come in, gentlemen.”

Although 'Choly disliked the awareness that she could communicate wirelessly with her network of robots, he, Angel, and Sticks all followed regardless. As the rolling hangar door peeled fully open, the Gutsy sped off into the uniforms section of the hangar, returning with its pincer full of various leather, fiber, and metal.

“I have five belts, as well as lengths of rope and chain, if they’d be of use, Colonel. I take it these are for better affixing what your Handy’s traveling with?”

“No, well, yes. It is carrying me. I’ll take all three things, if that’s all right. So I can figure out what will work best.” It handed over the things readily.

“Will you need any materiel stock?” it pressed gruffly. “I’m instructed to ask if it’s the real reason you came here first.”

“We came here for the belts,” Angel started before anyone else could reply, let alone explain why ‘Choly had wanted to come to the hangar first. “But if you could top me off on fusion cells, that would be truly divine, G-1.”

“Of course, Handy Angel.”

As G-1 worked, Sticks eyed the incendiary laser attachment customization Olivia had done for Angel.

“I could use a fresh tank for my flamer,” the ghoul requested, to deflect G-1 from its tinkering.

“We always try to keep another tank handy for the next time you pop on base, Sticks. Just have to leave the low tank with Deenwood.”

The ghoul shrugged explicitly, setting the flamer on the ground where G-1 could do as asked. Between the physical exertion and soup of charged emotions, ‘Choly’s head had begun swimming hours ago and had yet to stop.

“--And anything else for you, Colonel? Or will the ropes and such suffice?”

“--Oh!” He jerked back to reality with an unpalatable high-brow squint to shove down his mental state. “I don’t-- Actually. If you’ve got ammunition on hand for Sticks, you’ve likely got something for me as well. What variety of Syringer darts might you have?”

“Variety, we do not have, Sir, but we most certainly have darts for your Syringer. Pax darts don’t come free, mind you. They’re not standard military issue.”

The chemist nearly blurted out incredulity that the flamer was considered such, but he recalled the flamethrowing Assaultrons that chased him and Angel onto base. He dry swallowed and nodded as his face tightened, motioning to Angel to gain access to its storage compartment. He rifled in the false bottom, his wallet in many ways.

“You still accept the American dollar, don’t you? Silly of me to ask such an obvious question, but--”

“--Caps only,” it snipped, showing its first impatience with him.

He straightened in an instant with a thin smile and a cap-stuffed paper sack in hand. He disliked affirmation that caps were, in fact, a common currency these days.

“Say no more. How many for a case?”

“Three-hundred fifty, Sir.”

Any color left in his face washed out, but he grinned and simply handed over the bag without counting. In its pincer it scaled out the value of what it had been given. Its programming sounded off in the affirmative, and it left to the aisles and returned with the requested ammunition. The bag of caps had vanished in the shuffle.

“Here are three cases, plus two. You forfeited a little over a thousand, so that should be to your liking.”

‘Choly warmed to the exchange once the ammo cases fell into his hands. He gave G-1 a genuine smile, and nodded, then used the strap-snaps to affix them to the harness under his coat. The loose darts went into one of the incomplete cases already threaded onto his person.

G-1 escorted them to the R&D building personally, but vanished once they had entered. They came to Wing IV to find the heavily encrypted door already open, and Liv on a desk sprawled out atop a recumbent Helen. The ghoul general didn’t wholly unglue from her mate or tidy herself when she realized they had company, but she did sit up. Disheveled and incredibly drunk, she grinned broadly with heavy lids, patting to either side of her to suggest her guests take a seat.

“Oh, yes, please, thank you,” ‘Choly wheezed out without hesitation, slouching back in the office chair.

Sticks did not follow in kind, and crossed his arms to listen.

“So good to see you both again,” she murmured. “I hope your visit to the hangar was benefih-shul.”

“Very.” ‘Choly glanced to Sticks for a cue what more to say, but gleaned nothing.

“The case on that one desk over there is the X-Cell-Root Voire’s requested. There’s enough Furriers partaking in the conflict, that I didn’t have enough inhalers on hand. So! I used ampuoles instead.” She couldn’t keep one hand from wandering the inside of Helen’s thigh while she spoke. “It’s been mixed with adjuice-- advu-- adjuvant. Adjuvant! It’ll last longer. Ideally, long enough to carry over into shepherding maneuvers. My Eyebots scouted the past two days. The Back Central Rust Devils are holed up in the Robert House Charter School.”

The red-headed ghoul kissed the Assaultron on the breastplate, unable to resist another moment without her tongue against its chassis, then stood to retrieve the flare gun from atop the aforementioned enameled metal pharmaceutical case.

“‘Choly, you’re to instruct the Furriers to herd the Back Central Devils off school property and out onto the South Common. Sticks, you’re to use this flare gun so I know everything’s in position for my Sentries to fire. If you don’t wanna get hit, don’t fire unless you’re on the other side of the river.”

“We wouldn’t want to get hit with Rad-I-Canned, now, would we?” Seeing her so inebriated disenchanted ‘Choly, and he couldn’t read whether this was celebratory or as a consequence of stress.

She gave him a dopey smile as she sat again, in Helen’s lap.

“I forgot just how well you clean up, ‘Choly. It suits you.”

“I noticed you did more than edit the RFID in my ribbon rack... What exactly does this ribbon suggest?” He pointed to it.

“Oh, silly, that’s not a new ribbon. Your memory must not be too sharp. Certainly a new concept, though! Much like the addition of stars shows count of things other ribbons signify, I applied a star to your Meritorious Service bar. Consider it simple gratitude for having attended active duty two separate occasions. Though, it will be your first time having attended the battlefront proper, hm?”

She laughed, bubbling into pointed mocking as she sank comfortably across Helen and ran an arm behind the Assaultron’s neck.

“It didn’t have to be civil war for it to be bad and you know it. It was worse here than the front line every day of the Battle of Anchorage.” He gnashed his teeth at her, desperately shoving down anger as he eyed her. Deeply unbecoming of a commanding officer. “Have I missed the wedding?”

“Wedding?” Olivia glanced up to Helen, brow raised. “Don’t we seem already long-since wed?” Sweetly, she kissed the front side of Helen’s skull-plate.

“Olivia has a point,” Helen seconded. “Though my programming predates our meeting, I feel as though I were manufactured just to be hers.”

“And I’m yours,” Olivia beamed.

“And did she--” ‘Choly flinched in recognition, his brain processing what he was saying as he said it. His eyes widened as his volume escalated. “...Take your name or keep her own?” He waved a finger at his commanding officer indistinctly. “You... your offer to wipe Angel’s imprint matrix. That’s not the only way to achieve the same results and you know that.”

“Liquor’s even quicker,” she slurred through another bolt of cognac. She got up again, to pull two more glasses from the makeshift wet bar by the storage closet. “Gentlemen! Join me in a toas-scht.”

A Mister Handy that had idled in the far corner came to her, and with unspoken instruction it mulled the glasses and iced them. She then filled them with cognac. It stirred them and brought them to ‘Choly and Sticks. The ghoul broker’s tension didn’t go unnoticed, but he didn’t interrupt the ritual. ‘Choly didn’t object, either, but the offer of spirits certainly dulled his anger.

“To the success-sh of Deenwood! And to Voire, and their bi-shen-tennial alliance with the base! We’ll stamp out the Devils once and for all.”

Olivia raised her glass, and they followed suit. Once the glasses clinked together, Sticks wrenched ‘Choly’s from him and knocked it back in three swallows. ‘Choly staggered back. Olivia choked on her own drink in incredulity. ‘Choly immediately understood Sticks suspected it was drugged as usual.

“It’s just Daytripper, isn’t it!” The chemist nearly hissed in exasperation.

Furious and fed up, he tried to grab Sticks’s glass for himself. To get it away from ‘Choly, he drank that one too, and set down the glasses on the next nearest desk to catch his breath. When he turned around again, ‘Choly slapped him in the face, but he didn’t budge otherwise.

Olivia stared softly at ‘Choly, nearly sobered.

“Just what exactly do you think I do to the drinks I offer friends?”

“You think of either of us as friends?” Sticks choked out, terse. “Could have fooled me.”

“Well, you two are sher-tainly more than friends,” she quipped, poorly concealing her hurt. “We don’t we all just lay bare some honesty while we’re at it?”

“It wasn’t Daytripper, was it.” ‘Choly began to melt apart mentally, finally forefront with what had been chewing steadily away at him since the argument at the rowhouse. “What did you do to him. All the years you had him here on base, what did you DO to him? It all comes so easily for you, doesn’t it!?”

“He told you I experimented on him?” She laughed, elated again. “Who do you think helped me perfect the Daytripper formula? Most chems aren’t potent enough to work on ghouls. Nerves are deadened, chem receptors broken, by the mutations and keloidal scarring. There’s no short supply of ferals in Lowell, but they’re not viable to test charisma. I needed a shub-ject of like physiology. The day he could convince me to let him out was the day I knew I had it right.”

“...And the artificial hand?” he asked, carefully sitting back down.

“Serves him much better than the Pipboy did, if you ask me.”

The chemist slouched into a stupor, between how bad he ached, and how mentally frayed he grew. He failed to shove down trembling.

“So it really wasn’t Daytripper, then,” Sticks began at last. “And you were testing me. To see that I’d step in, and keep ‘Choly from taking whatever you gave him. If it was meant for me, it had to have been Klutz.”

“It was meant for you, and it was Magnetizer. I did expect you to drink it, but I didn’t expect you to drink both of them. Have fun overdosing, Hawthorne.” Ignoring the dread in Sticks’s eyes, she instead concerned herself with Angel. “You sure are traveling heavy, Angel, dear. Aren’t you bogged down with all that?”

“--I want to be as prepared as possible on site at Voire,” ‘Choly interjected dumbly. “I’d be remiss to have left something behind, only to end up needing it.”

Sticks disliked the transparency, but let it go unaddressed when Liv shrugged off any tension she could read on the chemist or the other ghoul.

“You always were one to be over-prepared. Mm mmh.” She clicked her tongue.

“We’re going to get going before we lose anymore daylight,” Sticks blurted out in pointed impatience.

“Oh, don’t let me stop you,” she pouted, slinking against her Assaultron again. “Blow it out for anyone but me, Sticks. The faster the two of us can regain our privacy, the better. Isn’t that right, Helen?”

“Affirmative, Tiger. Please leave.”

Angel grabbed the case and carried it behind itself as they exited. On their way off base, the trio all felt like Deenwood’s every eye was upon them, as though every robot set to ensure these potential defectors followed through with their announced intentions. Once off base, the whole perimeter came to life, complete with locking mechanisms, rotating warning lights, and a low bleating siren.

“Deenwood Compound will fully enter DEFCON One in sixty seconds,” the robotic speakers announced. “After this time, approach by any entity, personnel or not, will be met with lethal force.” It would repeat this announcement for the next minute, but the trio did not wait around to observe the final stages of lockdown.

Once they were two blocks away, ‘Choly stopped them so he could catch his breath.

“Guess you were right,” the chemist wheezed, sweating. He remembered the straps he’d shoved into Angel’s storage, and he requested them. Without them in the storage compartment, Angel could fit the Voire crate inside. “About Liv locking us out.”

“We’ll get back on base,” Sticks said, distracted. “We just have to do it on her terms now. What are those straps for, anyway?”

“I’m having trouble, crouching on top of Angel, in this uniform.” He continued speaking as he could, while he worked, in stuttered phrases. Angel helped him string the twist of straps through its car door handles. “I figured, some kind of reins might work better, than the handles. These reinforced gloves, make it easier, to grip things.” He hooked them all together into a loop, then mounted the foot pegs and steadied himself upright with this latest fixture to Angel’s body. “This works much better. Almost like jewelry for you, hm, Angel?”

“It’s for more than simple decoration, Mister Carey. Ha-ha!”

Silence followed as they made their way North through the residential Highlands. Sticks led them a different way than how ‘Choly and Angel had come the first time, but while they passed more housing this way, they encountered no ferals. They ended up again on the street that became Rourke Bridge, but before they got to the bridge itself, Sticks fumbled with the flamer and sniveled, only to snort-chuckle when he picked it back up with some difficulty. ‘Choly wasn’t sure whether to say anything, certain the chem had begun to take effect.

“Should I ask what Magnetizer is? Or what it does?”

“Magnetizer is like Daytripper, but dialed up. All the way up. The mood enhancement is more potent, but the side effects are, too. My muscle power and stamina are both gonna be shit for a few hours.”

“Guess it’s a good thing we’ve planned to unload the majority of our stuff at your place, then.”

“You’re not going to like me once it takes full effect.” Sticks choked up his grip on the flamer, but still didn’t look to ‘Choly. “Fuck, actually-- you of all people might.”

Words eluded ‘Choly, and he stewed on his worries. Sticks pressed on across the bridge, weaving carefully between the weather-rotted vehicles congesting the way.

“...Why did you drink it, without knowing what it was? If you thought it was anything at all?”

“I was confident I knew what it was. And I didn’t want her to poison you.”

“--Why drink it, if you thought it was poison? Couldn’t you have just... poured it out on the floor or something?”

“We don’t always make the most rational decisions when someone’s life might be on the line.”

“Are you... glad it wasn’t poison, at least?”

“That much Magnetizer would have killed a lightweight like you, that’s for sure.”

Silence overwhelmed the trio again, and they crossed the bridge without further comment. By the time they were on solid ground again, ‘Choly hemmed.

“...You had the feeling, too, right, that we were being watched on base?”

“Yeah. Definitely. Why?”

“Do you still feel it?”

“I want to be wrong, but honestly? Yes.”

“I didn’t want to mention it,” Angel agrees sheepishly. “I still don’t trust my sensors, I’m afraid.”

“What is it?” ‘Choly asked his Handy.

“Something robotic, I believe.”

“Fuck-me-in-the-mouth, she tailed us.”

An Eyebot rattled through, with a prerecorded script on loop. Anytime a specific name or noun came up, a different quality of voice and recording interrupted with it. The spherical hovering robot, with a grill plate guarding its front and a myriad of antennae jutting backwards off it, did not seem bothered at all that it had an audience, and announced its information readily and repeatedly without a care. ‘Choly unclenched when he realized it was just an Eyebot, but Sticks remained poised, watching.

“RobCo Industries. A household and industrial power-House since 2042! Are you looking for a rewarding career in computer technologies? RobCo Towers is now hiring for a variety of positions specializing in data processing! Apply--”

The ghoul lost his composure and let loose with the flamer, immolating the robot. It turned hostile, and got off a single unaimed laser shot in their direction before it crashed to the shore sand. Its speaker crackled and sputtered, and at first the three of them thought the sound an indicator how quickly the robot was melting, but then a third voice came through.

“--Olivia, it doesn’t have to end like this--”

The trio jerked back when the Eyebot exploded.

‘Choly started to yell at Sticks for having destroyed it, but the ghoul cut him off.

“--I haven’t seen a robot Pawtucketville side in decades. Can’t be a coincidence. And it didn’t come from Deenwood, that’s for damn sure.”

‘Choly’s face slacked. “...The Devils. They know we’re mobile.”

“No, they think The General’s mobile. I guarantee you, she’s about to get some very surprised unannounced visitors. I don’t think the DEFCON One was for us.”

The chemist dismounted, to walk the remainder of the way to the Sampas parlor. He didn’t like what Sticks was insinuating the Eyebot signified.

“...She dressed me up as a high ranking officer to decoy the Devils’ surveillance. They think I’m her. They think no one’s home. Am I really that disposable to her--”

“--Ideally, she’ll have knocked out most of their robotic assets before we have to deal with ‘em. Stressful as it sounds, it’s bought us a little time for me to let this stuff wear off before we get to Voire. Let’s get inside, hm?” Sticks thumbed at the parlor expectantly. Once he had the security mechanisms disarmed, he held the door open for the Handy and its owner. “Angel, get in there so we can unload ya. We’ve got some time to kill, and a lot to get done today.”

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#fallout 4 #fallout fanfic #fo4 #fo4 fanfic #sole survivor #fallout #the anatomy of melancholy #melancholy #sticks #olivia francis #ghoul oc #mister handy #mister gutsy #angel #we have one more detour before we see how messy voire can get

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afewmarvelousthoughts · 5 years

Text

Truth Pt. 5

Master List: @afewmarvelousthoughtsadmin

Request: What’s up sug! sorry you’re struggling right now but I’ve come to help you If you could bring this to light for me I’d absolutely love for YOU TO DO JT So basically Bucky X Enhanced reader who are fuckin enemies. Hate each other to every last fiber of their beings bc Bucky is rude and she calls him out on it. AnywHs, they get drunk, truth or dare (go crZy baby) and LOTS LF dirty talk if u wanna do smut but if u don’t then buck taking care of her while she’s drunk cause she admitted her feelings

Pairing: Bucky X Reader (Enhanced)

Summary: Since The Avengers gave you a home the only blight has been Bucky Barnes, a ghost from your past that you can’t seem to shake. It makes you hate him. The feeling, it seems, is mutual. But… a simple game reveals that maybe things aren’t quite so simple. (Post Winter Soldier AU)

Warnings: Physical violence, (non-major) character death, blood

A/N: First fic of 2019!!! WOO! And it’s a fucking doozy... I’ve never written a battle like this before so it was certainly an adventure. I hope it reads well.

This damn fucking story. How did I get here?! I feel like I’ve been hijacked and held for ransom. But... I like it...? I’m also enjoying really working some of the other Avengers into this.

Anyway I hope you’re enjoying the ride this enemies to lovers thing is taking us all on!

Tags are open!

@mywinterwolf @disagreetoagree @peachthatdrinkslemonade @breezy1415 @wonderlandmind4 @handplucked @piensa-bonito @midnightdream83 @buckysstar

Four days later Tony’s voice pipes up while you’re making your first cup of coffee.

“Hey Sparky,” his somewhat endearing nickname for you, “we got a job to do. Meet in the briefing room in an hour.”

“You got it, boss.”

Perfect. A mission was exactly what you needed to get your mind off of everything. Sure he’d be there but your focus would be on the task at hand not what happened between you. Plus it would feel good to fuck some Hydra agents up.

Sam barrels into you on your way to the briefing room, “Where the hell you been, girl?”

You shrug, “Around.”

He huffs, “We need to work on that move soon. Stark thinks he’s got the wings just right so they can deflect your energy and not freak out.”

“Oh, nice! So you can be my own personal jetpack!”

“I was thinking you’d be my laser gun, but to each their own.”

“I should really get my finger gun skills up to par then.” You hold your hands up in the quintessential finger gun style and make points of light glow at the tips of your middle and index fingers.

“If you could get on that immediately it would be great,” Sam laughs, “and be sure to make the ‘pew pew’ noise as you shoot those assholes down.” Continuing down the hall you both proceed to make shooting noises at the other laughing at your ridiculousness.

Before getting to the door you pause and enact a dramatic battle ending. Someone sighs audibly behind you. Bucky, er Barnes, whatever, stands, hands shoved in his pockets looking truly put upon by your display.

“Man, how is it you can ruin a good time without saying a damn word?” Sam grumbles at him.

“It’s a gift,” Bucky responds dryly.

You put a hand on Sam’s arm, “Come on, we’ll finish our battle when the geriatric isn’t around.” Casting Bucky a sidelong glance you head inside and take your usual spot.

Hovering above the table is an image of a low non-nondescript building in an industrial area, a live feed from one of Tony’s stealth drones, schematics, and personnel info. On the table, are pastries. You grab a cronut and pass another down to Nat who sits to your right.

Tony sighs before beginning, that was never a particularly good sign. “So this place,” he makes the static image fill the viewing area, “came on our radar a couple of months ago. Natasha and Clint tried to do some recon but came up pretty cold.”

“Yeah,” Nat pipes up, “there’s obviously set personnel there, shipments coming in of what seem to be medical supplies, but other than that it seems pretty neutral.”

“Where is it?” Sam asks.

“Just outside of Chicago,” Steve replies. “Mainly an industrial region but there are suburbs not far away.” Suburbs meant civilians. Sam runs a hand over his face.

“Either of you, know anything about this one?” Tony points to you and Bucky. For a second you hold one another’s stare, a tingle inches up your spine.

“I don’t,” you answer tearing your eyes away. “The medical shipments could mean something but it could also just be a way station for them. They had plenty of those.”

“Are we sure it’s Hydra?” Bucky asks not directly answering Tony’s question.

“I’m assuming you don’t know anything about this one either, Manchurian Candidate?” Bucky nods.

“We’re sure,” Clint says. “We found reference to it in the Hydra files from S.H.I.E.L.D. but no information other than the location.” That was pretty standard.

You sigh, “Schematics?” There had been some kind of blueprint on the screen a minute ago.

Tony flicks his hand bringing it up, “Barely. I have the actual blueprint of the building but the draw on the power grid here implies there’s more than what we’re seeing.” He pushes the map to the side and brings up the live feed, “I’ve been scanning it for 24 hours to see if I can get a read but there’s something blocking it that I can’t get past.”

He moves his hands to bring everything up in equal measure for you all to study. Once Tony thinks enough time has passed he speaks, “So, what do we think? Go in with what we have or sit on it?” He’s asking the room but looking at Steve, the two of them being the unofficial leaders here.

“If we sit on it there is a chance people could get hurt and if we go in there’s the same chance. I don’t like going in practically blind but I don’t know that we can risk letting any Hydra base we find fester for long.” Steve says, nods of agreement from around the table from everyone but Bucky. “Maybe we take a small team, ground ops.” That meant you, him, Bucky, and Natasha. Great.

“I’m ok with that, it’s too close to residences for my comfort,” Bruce says, relief visible. He would have gone if asked but he’s so happy to not have to.

“I’m happy to hang back for backup if needed,” Sam says. Steve nods.

“If you think that’s the best call. We will all be close by in case. Except for you Banner,” Tony gives him a reassuring nod.

“Let’s suit up then,” Steve says and with that, you all disperse.

[Bucky]

The jet lands a few miles away from the targeted location and you all load up into an armored van. In the close quarters, he swears he can smell your shampoo, something with vanilla. It makes him think of burying his face in your neck. Not the time, Buck. He thinks to himself.

Other than the exchange this morning he hadn’t seen you save for that glimpse in the gym. Neither of you had exchanged a word still and were actively avoiding the other. However, as Sam drives over a particularly rough patch of road, sending the four of you jostling a bit your eyes meet and he swears they sparkle just a touch in the near black of the van.

He doesn’t like this mission. Not one bit. Steve told him he was being paranoid. This would likely be like most of the others, a partially deserted base with a handful of people, easy enough to take out. Something ate at him though. He just wished he knew what it was or that he had a few days to work it out…

The van stops. If everything was going according to plan Sam was walking around to open the doors from inside a deserted warehouse a couple of blocks away. As they open Bucky braces himself, already prepared for things to go south. It’s just Sam though, exactly where they were supposed to be.

Steve senses his tension and gives his shoulder a squeeze.

“Come on Ms. Daisy, we don’t have all fuckin’ day,” Sam jabs. Bucky hops out, on alert and the three of you follow. Sam gets in the back where you all were, hitting a button that makes the cabin come to life with Stark tech. “I’ll be your eye in the sky. Go get ‘em.”

Outside the building, you all pause, waiting for the all clear from Sam, once given you stalk inside. It’s quiet, very quiet. A generic two-story industrial workspace opens before you, housing some kind of metalworking machinery, and offices toward the back.

Sam’s voice comes in quietly over the coms, “I’m not reading any life signs besides y’all in the building right now.” That wasn’t right because they knew five men had come in earlier and you hadn’t seen them leave.

You crouch down and lay your hands on the ground, light pulsing around your fingers. Nodding you say, “There’s something under us. I can feel the heat.”

“Think you can blow the power?” Steve asks you.

“Not without blowing the whole block out,” you respond.

Bucky can’t shut up, “That’s a bad call.” He gives Steve a steady stare. “It’ll immediately alert them of our presence.”

“Got a better plan?” Steve asks.

“Yeah, we leave.”

“No dice,” Nat says as she whips out a gun and shoots two guards heading down the stairs by the offices. Shit.

“Blow it,” Steve says looking at you. Bucky shakes his head but you ignore him. Laying your hands on the ground they start to glow, pulling in kinetic energy before you send a low pulse that blasts every electrical circuit in range.

A siren can be heard from underground, “What the hell did I say?” Bucky growls running and taking out the few others coming down.

Steve barrels ahead toward the offices, you hot on his heels, no doubt assuming an access point is somewhere back there. A minute later him and Natasha catch up to you. Things are quiet again, save for the low wail of the siren.

Natasha ducks into an office, “Here,” she hisses. As she hits a button the desk moves to reveal stair access. This had to be an old facility, Bucky hadn’t seen something so rudimentary in decades.

Slowly you all descend. Steve at the front, shield up. Bucky right behind him, as always. Then Nat and you bringing up the rear. At the bottom of the stairs, there’s no one, no rushing guards or panicked drones. Just a long hallway extending to the left and right flooded with red light and that maddening sound. As if to say told you so Steve glances back at Bucky a small smile on his lips.

As soon as four agents come barreling toward them Bucky makes a mental note to slap Steve upside the head, with his left hand, the next time the opportunity presents itself.

[Reader]

When you see the agents shooting down the hallway you groan internally. Something told you this was going to be a shit show and these guys were just the opening act.

“Get down!” you say loud enough for your team to hear and shoot a concentrated bar of energy toward the assailants. It was… gruesome. You were used to it. But hopefully, the sight of their comrades mangled smoking bodies would deter anyone from coming from that direction.

“Split,” Steve orders. Automatically you and Natasha head the direction of the agents you took out, effortlessly avoiding the gore.

There’s a lot of electricity being used here. What you had knocked out was only a fraction. You can feel the whirring of maybe a hundred or more heavy duty generators under the building, and it’s hot, oven hot. This is great for you because it gives you plenty of ammo, knowing this she lets you take the lead.

The slightest sound of footsteps greet your ears and a small grunt comes from Nat. You spin on your heels. There’s a woman with her arms around Natasha’s neck. She’s… muzzled. Shit. An asset, not an agent. Nat and you have a system though. Spinning around, acting as though she’s trying to free herself she puts the asset in your line. Laying your hand on her head you put her down, quickly, painlessly.

When she falls Natasha notices the muzzle. Her eyes find yours, the silent, You good, passing between you. You nod and keep going. Hoping this was a one-off.

Silence, still, save for the siren. The presence of the generators is bothering you. Everything is lit by that red emergency light. But those things were running something.

The floor plan seems to be a loop because you hear the boys scuffling just to your right as the hallway opens to a large open space. Papers are scattered, drawers tumped over, desks on their side people left here fast.

“Sam,” you ask into the com. Nothing but static. Fuck. There was definitely something here blocking the signal.

Steve and Bucky round the corner. Immediately you seek out Bucky’s eyes but you don’t have to see them to get the answer to your question. In his left hand is a muzzle, blood dripping from it to the floor.

Goddamnit. These were the worst kind of fights, taking out your own. And there was never any way to tell without prior intel who was a Hydra devotee and who had been taken against their will. The only reason Steve pulled you instead of killing you was the intel they had on you from Bucky and a bit from the Hydra files to corroborate.

You swallow the bile in your throat, fighting the phantom feeling on the muzzle over your face, and keep going. Focus on the mission. Clear the facility. That was your job.

“I don’t think there’s anyone left,” Natasha says behind you. Desperately you want her to be right but you know she’s not. Those generators.

“Let’s be sure,” Steve says slowly stalking forward as Bucky tosses the muzzle to the ground. When your eyes meet he doesn’t really see you. That’s fine.

There’s a glass partition after the empty open office space. Doors leading further underground. Power licks up your arms, hot and throbbing. This is where the generators are pumping uninterrupted electricity you realize as you enter what appears to be a medical site. A memory tickles the back of your brain.

Bucky and Steve are at the front, methodically swiveling into each small room, opening each curtain, you and Natasha poised to take out anything or anyone that may emerge. Another open space is ahead. Your mouth goes dry. You hiss in a sound and something like a whining growl comes from Bucky.

A chair.

Every muscle in your body tenses. A hot burning throb lashes up your spine. You can see the plates in Bucky’s arm shift up and down again and again in response to the panic.

This was an Asset Facility. This was a place where they tore people apart and stitched them back together in Hydra’s image. It was in places like this you and Bucky had been made or rather... unmade… You just didn’t think there were any in the states… Stupid assumption. So far, though, all the team had found were R&D facilities, way stations, and holding sites. Not hell mouths like this.

Steve approaches the chair, he knows what it is even if he hadn’t seen one in person. “Don’t,” Bucky grinds out. You’re thankful for it. Seeing someone approach it fills you with a dread you can’t name. Steve looks back at his best friend and you can see the horror, anger, and worry blend on his face.

The sound of a large metal lock echoes over the now distant wail of the siren. Everyone is frozen for a second… And that second is everything.

A strangely familiar bolt of heat shoots your direction. It’s not accurate buzzing and pulsing random bits of energy rather than a knife blade like yours. Bucky pulls Steve down and you grab Natasha. It slams into the steel wall behind you and a groaning sound resonates.

Looking up you see someone, head shorn, muzzled but in a hospital gown. They’re bone thin, dirty, head twitching, chair marks fresh on their face. All across their body are white tendrils of light glowing. Holy. Fucking. Shit.

You can’t think, can’t move, can only see this person and know they feel like they’re inside of a lightning storm, you know they feel like their atoms are being torn apart bit by bit and they can’t stop it or contain it. They can’t even scream out in pain for fucks sake.

Natasha takes a shot but the asset dodges. You come back to yourself then and hurl Nat away as you catch a ball of energy thrown at her. It throbs then snakes its way into your body, burning, through you as you absorb it.

You scream in pain but raise to your feet. Steve attempts to throw his shield at them and instead takes a messy lash of hot energy across the chest. This asset is fast, even if their release is crude.

“Steve!” Bucky bellows and catches him. You look back to the asset keeping their distance and see them pulse bright and hot all over. Fuck. Bucky sees it too and literally throws Steve at you while rushing for the shield.

You catch him, he’s conscious, though he’s going to be feeling this for at least a week. “Get them the fuck out of here, Y/N!” Roaring Bucky charges the asset and you realize he is just trying to hold them off, give you all enough time before they blow. Shit.

“No!” Steve yells as you drag him along. You do as Bucky says and get them to the entrance of the med ward when you hear a loud crackle. Bucky roars. Steve looks at you, not Captain America at this moment but a scared kid horrified he’s going to lose the only family he has left.

“Take him,” you say. Natasha nods holding Steve’s arm over her shoulder. “Do not stop. Get to the van. Get as far away as you can. Don’t wait for us. Go!” You spin on your heels and bolt back the way you came.

They’re too close to one another for you to take a shot. The asset is on Bucky, an inhuman noise coming from behind the muzzle. God, this was you at some point. Some wraith with only one goal in mind. Kill the target.

You let loose a blast of energy next to them and the asset’s focus shoots to you. Now that you’re a little closer you can see them more clearly, a woman, her skin bubbling and burned, body unable to contain this force that lived within you both.

Bucky moves under her and her focus shoots back to the easier of the two targets present. Another sound comes from her and he throws her back, using the shield for leverage. She slams against the wall. Bucky looks at you, his expression murderous.

There isn’t any time to waste. You see the pulse of light before he does. In an instant you’re in front of him, catching more of that undisciplined energy. It sears its way into you as you try to wrangle it but you hold in your scream, not wanting Steve or Nat to somehow hear and come back.

She’s suffering, this woman before you. A part of you wishes you could save her, help her, but you know the only way to ease her pain is release. With that thought, you direct her own energy back at her blasting a neat five-inch hole straight through her heart. The energy in her body pulses but dissipates as she collapses to the ground eyes seeing nothing, body feeling no more pain. Something in you goes dark when she does.

You know Bucky is ok enough to not need immediate attention if any, so you run the direction the asset came needing to know that there wasn’t another. He calls your name but you ignore him. No one was going to suffer like that anymore on your watch. There are only two cells, sensibly most Asset Facilities only worked on one or two projects at a time.

One cell is open, clearly, the one the woman had come from. The other is locked but you fry the old lock and pry it open. The sight inside is gruesome, a body, charred beyond recognition. They had burned out in here alone. You slam the door shut and stride back the way you came.

He’s kneeling over the woman, taking her muzzle off. Slowly, almost delicately he closes her eyes.

“We’re clear,” you bark and keep heading out. You pause, turn, and send a burning bolt of power, hot enough to melt some of the metal and render it useless straight to the chair.

“What the fuck!” He was far enough from it to not be hurt, not far enough to not be startled. You say nothing.

As soon as you emerge in the above ground space you hear the com signal open. “We’re clear,” you say again.

“Thank god,” Tony’s voice responds. They’ve pulled up outside the building. Exactly what you told them not to do. You burn a bit with annoyance.

As you exit Bucky spins you around. “What the fuck did I say?!” He’s in your face screaming, feeling so much more emotion than you right now you almost envy him. “I said get them out,” he gestures to Steve and Natasha.

“We’re out Bucky don’t-“

“I wasn’t talking to you Rodgers,” Bucky’s tone is icy as he cuts him off.

Rather than respond you let the heat build up under his hands. Hotter and hotter until he hisses pulling the flesh one away, the metal staying put for a moment until it’s glowing red. No one moves and he finally let's go.

You grab him by the neck, spinning him a bit and forcing him down on the ground, straddling him the way she had. It takes an instant. There’s the rustle of bodies around you but you hold up your left arm, lashing tendrils of light curl around it in warning.

“Next time,” you hiss your breath making clouds in the cooling air around you, “I’ll just fucking let you die.” You release him.

When you stand everyone is staring at you. Unsure, afraid. Good. He was right. They needed to remember what kind of monsters were among them.

#bucky x reader #bucky #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes #the winter soldier #the winter solider x reader #avengers au

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makeste · 5 years

Text

BnHA Chapter 188: Hard Knocks Path to Redemption

Previously on BnHA: The Todoroki kids sans Shouto (and Dabi lulz) visited their mom at the hospital and awkwardly discussed Endeavor officially becoming the #1 hero. Shouto’s older brother Natsuo wasn’t happy about it, saying that the world doesn’t know about “what he did” and how he treated his family. But interestingly, Rei came to his defense, saying that things were more complex than that. She said she doesn’t know what’s going on in his heart, “but he hasn’t left us behind.” We then cut to Endeavor’s fight with the High Tide Noumu, which basically consisted of Endeavor hovering for a few seconds with his flames, and then getting very violently flung through a building. Like, he was basically used as a human laser saw to cut the top of this high rise clean off. A bunch of people nearly fell to their deaths, but thankfully Hawks saved them all with his ridiculously OP Mighty Wings quirk. Speaking of Hawks, idk but it sure is some shifty bullshit that Your Highness Noumu just happened to attack him and Endeavor in this building right when they were having a chitchat about Noumus. Something is definitely up you guys.

Today on BnHA: Endeavor continues to battle the High Heaven Noumu and pulls off some impressive feats, such as dicing a falling building into tiny pieces with his flames so that the spectators below don’t get crushed. Unfortunately these techniques come at a price, and he finds himself beginning to struggle due to the heat building up in his body. Meanwhile the High Hopes Noumu remains mostly unfazed, even dispatching a bunch of disgusting slimy clone things to wreak some havoc and distract Hawks and the other pros on the scene so that they can’t assist. Realizing he has no choice but to Go For It, Endeavor powers up his flames and hits the Noumu with massive flame attack: Prominence Burn. Unfortunately the Noumu anticipates his actions and is able to avoid being completely disintegrated. He regenerates, and then brutally slashes/stabs Endeavor in the most ironic spots possible -- his torso (nearly the same place where All Might was wounded by AFO), and his left eye (don’t think I have to explain this one lol). It’s all very violent, and probably not the sort of thing you’d want your child to witness on live television -- oh hey there Shouto. Didn’t see you there. Uh... well, shit.

(As always, all comments not marked with an ETA are my unspoiled reactions from my first readthrough of this chapter. I’ve read up through chapter 209 now, so any ETAs will reflect that.)

interesting title!

I wonder which of his four kids this is referring to? ngl I’ve been missing the U.A. kids for these past couple chapters so it would be nice to get Shouto back in here

holy shittttt

thiiiiiiiis is bad. that is some serious destruction. not something they can just shrug their shoulders about later, especially in BnHA where damage like this actually has lasting consequences

lol some other heroes are watching from a distance and they’re all “did Endeavor just Vidalia Chop Wizard that whole fucking building”

meanwhile Hawks is tumbling to safety on a nearby rooftop

and he’s referring here to Endeavor’s opening line in the chapter, “I’ll dice you up and burn you until there’s nothing left”

(ETA: in addition to being the first reluctant hero in the series, Hawks is also the quippiest we’ve had by far. Hawks is all your dialogue polished up by a Marvel screenwriting team or what)

I appreciate Hawks’s efforts at combat banter, but all I keep thinking is that those pieces actually did look remarkably neat and uniform, and that it wouldn’t kill him to show a little appreciation for what was honest to god one of the most insane quirk feats we’ve seen to date

also, looking at this picture more closely, my disbelief is gonna need a little more suspending, because I honestly don’t feel like either of them should currently be able to fly the way they’re doing lol. Hawks’s wings are in a pretty sorry state at the moment

and here comes High Treason Noumu back at them again, and he’s grumbling “bird...” like he’s all pissy at Hawks

lol what is this

what the hell is this quirk. does he shoot air gun fists or something. and this other guy has all of his fingers fucking disconnected for no apparent reason. like, what the hell is that even gonna do besides gross people out

(ETA: and isn’t this Tokage’s quirk as well. getting lazy are we Horikoshi)

now High Score Noumu is doing something disturbing oh god

ffffffffff WHAT IS THIS. WHY DO WE HAVE TO LOOK AT A CLOSE UP OF IT

Endeavor’s hitting it with another fire blast. thanks man

and now he’s doing a mental tally of the thing’s quirks

and don’t forget “can fucking talk.” not to mention what I still think is the most intriguing one of all, “has Kurogiri’s fucking face”

oh and I guess this is a new one

fucking gross ew fuck sick gross ugh!! why are they so gooey sob

I don’t really understand what’s going on but Endeavor seems to have it all figured out, so here

okay so he wants to fight strong opponents like Endeavor so he made some disgusting clones to deal with the small fries I guess

-- hold up. that muscle amplification quirk... that looks and sounds a whole lot like Muscular’s, though

is it just coincidence? that this Noumu just so happens to be so strikingly similar to not one but two captured villains previously associated with the League?? just what in the hell is going on here dammit

meanwhile, as Endeavor observed, the Noumus that emerged from his body look completely different and appear to be just your everyday run-of-the-mill Noumus

just a little grosser is all

Hawks is swooping down and taking them out without much effort. looks like he’s gotten most of his feathers back too

he’s telling everyone to keep evacuating

and he says that to be frank, power struggles aren’t his “forte”

so he’s acknowledging that he doesn’t have the All Might Factor, so to speak? that even though he’s strong and popular, he’s not at that level of always beating the big bads no matter what?

you know, that actually makes some sense. I can maybe understand a little better just why he was bothering Endeavor so much. that is, if it weren’t for the fact that I STILL DON’T TRUST YOU, HAWKS, YOU SUSPICIOUS LITTLE SERAPH

High Speed Noumu is asking Endeavor if he’s done shooting those red hot little slice-and-dice death rays

oh snap this thing really is smart

it’s not just talking and thinking, it’s fucking analyzing. there’s some real brainpower at work in this thing

now Endeavor is talking about his quirk, and I’m just gonna post the panel because like hell am I gonna try to summarize this

he was thinking this a few panels earlier, too. that he’s got a lot of heat built up now

and now he’s thinking about Rei and his kids with their ice powers

fuck me but every single time I start wanting to root for Endeavor he’s gotta go and remind us of this, though

also!? fourth kid alert!?? and this kid seems to have white hair just like all the others, and seems to be younger than Natsuo in this shot. which would seem to go against the prevailing theory? explain yourself, manga

(ETA: lol and I got an ask about this just today. I gotta give this some thought. but I still think it’s Dabi! maybe Endeavor is just confused about what his non-Shouto children looks like because he spent so much time ignoring them all!)

so now Highlander Noumu is making a crazy face and extending his arms or muscle fibers or whatever the fuck these things are again, and saying he wants to test out his new power on Endeavor

shiiiiiit this does not look good

this doesn’t seem like the kind of move he can maintain for very long given what he was saying earlier

he’s shouting at the Noumu that he’ll incinerate him until there’s nothing left, and his regeneration won’t be enough

well this has worked before, to be fair. back in Hosu

but why do I get the feeling that isn’t going to be the case this time, though

lollllll

is this the literal translation. is there some other meaning of “prominence” other than “famous and well-known” that I’m not thinking of. I guess it can also mean “something that sticks out a lot”, but I don’t see how that would apply to this attack

basically, to me this reads as “Endeavor’s I-Wanna-Be-Famous Big Fire Attack”

and damned if that just doesn’t say it all, though

he’s thinking back to what he said at the JP Hero Billboard thing. “just watch me”

and that he won’t disgrace himself by failing here

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh shit

HE WAS SO CLOSE

THIS THING IS REALLY FUCKING HARDCORE OMG

OH MY GOD

you’re telling me that Endeavor’s attack actually worked, but that he wasn’t able to disintegrate the whole Noumu because HE FUCKING RIPPED HIS OWN FUCKING HEAD OFF AND FRISBEE-D IT TO SAFETY AHEAD OF TIME!?

OH SHIT

goddamn -- fucking --

DAMMIT. COME ON ENDEAVOR. DON’T FUCKING DIE, DUDE. FUCKING GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER AND BEAT THIS HIGH FIVE NOUMU ALREADY, THE WORLD NEEDS YOU

ARE YOU SERIOUS

ARE YOU TELLING ME THE TWO OF THEM JUST HAPPENED TO BE WATCHING?? ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS, SHIT

YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

motherfucker oh shit you guysssss

(ETA: how does he even still have that eye though)

you guys. oh shit. this is so bad. you don’t understand

shit. because let me tell you, the very first thing that ran through my head was that he’s going to look so much hotter now and fuck, you guys. I KNOW THAT’S NOT WHAT I’M SUPPOSED TO BE THINKING RIGHT NOW. BUT I CAN’T HELP IT. noooo what the hell is wrong with me I feel like slapping myself lmao

I fucking started laughing in real life at my own absurd reaction. I am ruining the mood of this chapter so damn fast

nooooooo

the parallels, though. oh shit. the same eye

and did Shouto’s quirk activate just now?? are those flames on his left side? oh shit

okay I need to get myself under control. fucking stop this now. stop thinking about how much hotter Endeavor is going to be with a big ol’ slashy scar along the left side of his face. and maybe an eyepatch. oh god. no, stop

(ETA: I really thought there was going to be an eyepatch. how does he still have that eye)

and now we’re cutting back to U.A. and Aizawa is gently telling Eri he’s gonna take her back to his room and I can’t you guys. first Endeavor losing his fucking eye and now Aizawa being a loving, protective parent on two counts, because LOOK WHAT HE SAYS RIGHT AFTER

now All Might is gripping at his stomach wound nooooo

seems like every big hero has That Moment, huh

oh fuckkkkk

fuuuuuck, Endeavor. going for that hard knocks path to redemption, huh

but I fucking can’t, though, because I just keep picturing Horikoshi’s creative process. like, you fucking troll, though. goes and creates the worst character of all time (not literally, I’m just being dramatic here just let me have this) and does his absolute fucking best to make him as terrible as possible, and then challenges himself to redeem him nonetheless. “how can I make readers actually feel sympathy for Todoroki fucking Enji in spite of everything? oh I know I’ll take away everything he ever wanted and make him finally start to realize what was really important and have him finally start trying to be a better husband and father. and then I’ll fucking murder him”

and like, I really need to stop laughing at this chapter, though. I’m ruining it, I know. if it helps, it’s not mirthful laughter though! the best way I can describe it is “haunted house laughter.” like, this is how I react when I’m walking through any sort of haunted attraction, and I’m really tense and excited and on edge. my weird natural response is usually to start laughing, possibly as my brain’s way of psyching myself up to be brave and reminding myself that it’s not real and they’re only actors. I feel like that, for some reason. and I don’t know why, but it’s actually a very positive thing, because this is the first time in quite a while that I’ve gotten this excited about the manga, actually

so I’m sorry, Endeavor. I’m not laughing at you, I’m laughing because OH SHIT THIS IS GETTING GOOD and I’m really loving it. and also because Horikoshi has got some serious balls

(ETA: and because this is Kamino all over again. and I was fucking pumped. angst!! stakes!! tension!! there was just a ton of adrenaline all of a sudden and I didn’t really know what to do with it so my brain was like “well then let’s just do something really weird!”)

anyway, so we’re cutting back to Shouto and U.A., where Shouto is watching his dad die on live television

aaaaaand that’s the chapter end

my god. this went from “eh” to “epic” in like .06 seconds. is this the fight that anon was talking about a while back? because this was pretty damn good, I gotta say. fucking damn

#bnha #boku no hero academia #hawks #endeavor #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #makeste reads bnha #I was gonna say something about it being unrealistic that everyone just happened to be watching tv at this exact time #but then I thought well maybe they got a news alert sent to their phones or something #and if that's the case that means shouto probably got the same news alert #so of course he came down to see what was going on #and damn though because that's a really brutal way of finding out that your dad is about to be murdered on live television #I hope everyone gave shouto some hugs after all this because the poor kid got put through the wringer

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pixelgrotto · 5 years

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The horrific Resident Evil playthrough, interlude three

I just finished watching all of the Resident Evil movies I could get my hands on. When I told people I was doing this as the last part of my great year-long playthrough, they all let out groans and said something along the lines of, “Ugh, don’t you wanna end on a good note?” Undaunted by these words and fueled by my ability to tolerate crappy cinema, I moved forward, courageously making it through nine of these suckers...which, to be fair, ranged from surprisingly enjoyable to just as terrible as everyone warned me about.

Before I begin, it’s important to note that we’re dealing with two separate film series here. There’s director Paul W.S. Anderson’s Resident Evil Hollywood films, which are the ones that most people know about. Then there are three Japanese-made CG movies that are canon and co-exist alongside the stories of the games. The Anderson movies are...mostly ass. The Japanese ones are okay.

Let us start with the ass first.

Resident Evil - The first RE film came out in 2002, which means that what little CG it has is laughably dated and it’s refreshingly small-scale when compared to its sequels. The movie’s a fan fiction remix of some themes from Resident Evil 1, except with none of the characters from the games present. Instead, we have Paul W.S. Anderson’s wife Milla Jovovich taking center stage as Alice, the former head of Umbrella security in a secret base called the Hive that goes to hell when some dude tries to steal viruses. The entirety of the action takes place in the Hive, and we get a surprisingly tiny number of monsters, with just your garden variety zombies, a few Cerberus and a single Licker showing up. Even though she does run up a wall and kick a Cerberus in the face, Alice is at her most realistic here (she turns into a dual wielding mutant with the ability to make the camera go into slow-motion whenever she wants in all the other films), there’s a nifty laser grid scene that all the sequels keep referencing when they want you to feel nostalgic, and the Hive’s sentient AI, the Red Queen, is compelling enough that Capcom eventually stuck her in Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles. Aside from this movie being full of British actors who do REALLY awful American accents, sounding like they all have mouths full of sausages, Paul W.S. Anderson’s first take on Resident Evil is probably the most watchable one he made.

Resident Evil: Apocalypse - Okay, this one is watchable too, but in more of a popcorn-munching “lol, this shit is dumb” way. It steals the general plot of Resident Evils 2 and 3, with Raccoon City getting infected, but ups the cheese by a hundred. Alice is now a thirteen-year-old boy’s version of a BADAZZ woman, with lots of guns and a bare midriff, and she teams up with Jill Valentine, who resembles her game self in looks but not exactly in personality. Together, they’ve gotta escape Raccoon City along with Carlos Oliveira, who is possibly the only character from the games who is done a great service in these Anderson movies, which make him much more likable even if they couldn’t find an actual Hispanic actor to portray him and had to settle for an Israeli instead. Oh, and Nemesis shows up, because one of the dudes from the first movie who accompanied Alice into the Hive gets experimented on and turned into what honestly looks like someone’s Halloween costume. The writers commit a cardinal sin at the end of the flick by humanizing him, having him suddenly remember his TRUE SELF and help the good guys, but aside from that screw-up I admit that I had a goofy grin on my face throughout several parts of this movie. After Nemesis blows up the Raccoon City station and murmurs his one line of dialogue- “STARRRRRSSSS” - I even kinda felt like clapping. So yeah, Apocalpyse is idiotic fun.

Resident Evil: Extinction - Here’s where the movies stop being mildly entertaining and become varying degrees of either “meh” or just plain bad. Extinction’s biggest problem is that it makes the weird decision of having the entire PLANET be wiped nearly completely clean by Umbrella’s virus, giving the franchise the most generic setting imaginable for a zombie flick - a post-apocalyptic world. And even though this film features Claire Redfield and actually has Alice fight a Tyrant that looks the part, I feel that by turning the environment into Mad Max the filmmakers missed the entire point of the franchise. Resident Evil isn’t really about a “what if” scenario with mankind dying and zombies taking over the world. Instead, it’s about how humanity manages to cope in a time where zombies are used by corporations for terrorism purposes - hence the franchise’s “bio-organic weapon” catch-phrase for its creatures. It’s about how brave people live on in an era that just happens to feature biopunk monsters as a deadly fact of life. It’s about the evil that resides within a world that is pretty shitty, but hasn’t completely gone to shit. By turning the whole planet into the same ol’ zombie playground that we see in most popular fiction starring these workman-like horror tropes, Extinction - which probably thought it was upping the stakes - instead just feels sorta dull, and anyone who views the film today is probably going to see it as a weaker version of The Walking Dead. Oh, and it ends with Alice discovering clones of herself, which will only serve to screw with the loose continuity of these movies as they go on.

Resident Evil: Afterlife - This one starts with Alice’s clones raiding the Umbrella facility in Tokyo, and the whole sequence - which feels like it should be the finale - is reduced to a few minutes of special effects in the beginning. (This is foreshadowing for the next two films, which both end with hints of giant, climatic battles that mostly happen off-screen, if at all.) The first thing that I noticed when watching this was how slow-mo kicked in every five minutes and how the camera seemed to linger on bullets, and I eventually remembered that this film was released during Hollywood’s obsession with 3D during the early 2010s. This explains Afterlife’s IN-YOUR-FACE-IN-THREE-DIMENSIONS action scenes, which are initially pretty in a music video sort of way but become overdone and tiresome as the movie goes on, kinda like a Zack Snyder film. (I place Paul W.S. Anderson in the same “style over substance” category of director as both Zack Snyder and Michael Bay, by the way.) Anyway, Afterlife deals with Alice teaming up with more survivors to try to find a secret ship haven free of zombies. Along the way she runs into Chris Redfield, who looks more like a janitor than the jacked BSAA agent that he is in the games, and Chris and Claire Redfield have a quick sibling reunion and fight Wesker in a scene with choreography shamelessly stolen from Resident Evil 5. It’s pandering fan service and sort of diverting, but ultimately none of it matters. Chris disappears after this movie and is never seen again, and Afterlife is more interesting as a specimen of 2010 3D excess than it is as an actual narrative.

Resident Evil: Retribution - Retribution amps the pandering fan service that Afterlife dabbled in to new levels. Ada Wong is here, played by Li Bingbing but dubbed by her original voice actress, Sally Cahill, probably because Li’s English isn’t that great. Leon Kennedy and Barry frickin’ Burton show up, both looking pretty much like their in-game counterparts. Even Michelle Rodriguez and a few other faces from Paul W.S. Anderson’s first Resident Evil flick make an appearance, thanks to the fact that this movie has clones up the wazoo and uses them to handwave away any series inconsistencies you could think of. So you’re got fan service for the people who like the games and fan service for the folks who liked the first movie, and on top of it all the film has the extreme 3D that its predecessor possessed and a buttload of battles because it all takes place in a giant Umbrella simulation facility full of stuff that can easily be wrecked. By now the plot to these things has gotten more scrambled than my eggs in the morning, but I will say that thanks to its inclusion of classic characters, Retribution is more or less tolerable. There’s even a bit of characterization this time around, thanks to a little hearing-impaired clone girl who Alice takes under her wing and begins to care for, and the movie ends on an okay cliffhanger in a Washington DC under siege, promising epic things to come in the next movie. Unfortunately... Resident Evil: The Final Chapter - I really did not enjoy The Final Chapter for a myriad of reasons. First of all, the Washington battle promised at the end of Retribution never happens. Instead, we fast forward to several months later, when Alice is (big surprise) the only survivor, and EVERYONE she was with in the last flick - Ada, Leon, the little deaf girl - is gone and never mentioned ever again. Wesker, who Alice was working with in Retribution, is back to being a bad guy for poorly explained reasons. Another bad scientist dude that Alice killed in Extinction also returns for even worse reasons, because supposedly Alice only offed his clone three movies ago. But wait, this “real” bad scientist dude is also revealed to be a clone as the TRUE bad scientist dude shows up in the movie’s last act! AND THE ULTIMATE TWIST (look away now if you actually care about spoilers) is that Alice is HERSELF a clone of the original daughter of the Umbrella corporation’s founder who died of a degenerative disease and served as the basis for the Red Queen AI. The idiotic thing is that this daughter was said to be the progeny of Dr. Charles Ashford in Resident Evil: Apocalypse, but this movie retcons her to be the spawn of Dr. James Marcus. The Final Chapter, in fact, screws with continuity to a degree I have rarely seen before in a long-running film franchise. Yeah, the framework tying this series together got weird as soon as clones were introduced, but previously it seemed that Paul W.S. Anderson at least cared about his own messy fan fiction. Here? It’s like he forgot what he’d spent the last 15 years building up to and ended on one sloppy fart. If this weren’t bad enough, The Final Chapter is edited in that god awful “shaky cam, lots of fast cuts” way that I hate. In fact, I counted something like twenty cuts in a scene of a few seconds when Alice is attacked by a creature, which means that this film won’t just baffle you with its disregard for continuity - it’ll give you a headache too.

Resident Evil: Degeneration - After watching an array of live-action flicks that took random Resident Evil threads and mashed them together with the elegance of a splattered turd, it did feel good to switch things up and move to the CG movies that were actually put out by Capcom. This 2008 offering takes place in between Resident Evils 4 and 5, stars Claire Redfield and Leon Kennedy, and deals with a virus breakout in an airport and some of the pharmaceutical company backstabbing that occurred in the aftermath of Umbrella’s destruction. It’s all stuff that feels like it could have come from a lesser gaiden game - perhaps in the same vein as the first Revelations title - and it kinda gives off that “so-so anime movie” vibe, especially because the dubbing always sounds a tad off. Nevertheless, Degeneration’s still a breath of fresh air compared to the Anderson series, and there’s a nice gag where Claire’s searching for a weapon in the airport, someone hands her a physical umbrella, and she looks at it and is like, “Hm, didn’t see this coming.” (Lollerskates.) The main issue I have with Degeneration is how “plasticky” everyone looks - it’s hard to realize how far computer animation has advanced in the last decade until you look at Degeneration’s stiff visuals and compare them to the other CG films. Also, Leon’s characterization is terrible. He’s meant to be a super serious badass, I guess, but he mostly just looks like someone rammed a Samurai Edge up his sphincter. I prefer my Leon Kennedy to be the “Don’t worry Ashley, I’m comin’ for ya!” version from Resident Evil 4, or at least a dude with a little sass to him. The guy in Degeneration is about as interesting as a board. Resident Evil: Damnation - Damnation is a noticeable step above Degeneration, both in computer animation, which really got better from 2008 to 2012, and in all-around presentation. The dubbing’s still somewhat wonky with that same anime movie vibe, but the characterization is on point, and Leon, who’s taking center stage once more, is just like his RE6 self. Speaking of RE6, this movie channels that game’s themes of international terrorism with a plot that involves rebels in a made-up Eastern European country using Lickers and Las Plagas in an effort to fight for their freedom, only to learn that lo and behold, the nefarious female president who’s seized control of their nation has her own B.O.W.s - in the form of Tyrants - at her disposal. Leon’s caught in the middle of this mess and ends up befriending some of the rebels, and Ada Wong’s also infiltrated the country to manipulate the president. Ada and Leon’s interactions are as insubstantial as they’ve been in pretty much every game that isn’t the recent RE2make, but we do get a cool fight between Ada and the president, who for some reason knows substantial knife fu. There’s an even better battle between Tyrants and Lickers in a city hall square, and Leon gets throw against pillars, regularly takes hits that would kill a normal person and pilots a tank alongside one of the rebels who looks a lot like Chris Redfield but isn’t Chris Redfield. This dude serves as the film’s sympathetic character - a guy torn from his peaceful existence thanks to political wrangling and is tricked into using B.O.W.s to try to achieve a brighter future. It ends with the fella severely injured but learning how to live and move forward in a world infected with nefarious bioweapons, which is the very theme that the Anderson flicks ditched around movie number three. So good work for side-stepping previous failures and recognizing what Resident Evil is all about, Damnation.

Resident Evil: Vendetta - If Degeneration’s a so-so anime movie, and Damnation a good anime movie, then Vendetta is just a good movie in general, with no “anime” distinction needed. The dubbing’s finally pretty decent, for one, and the story takes place in between RE6 and RE7, teaming Leon and Chris Redfield up with - HOLY CRAP - Rebecca Chambers, who’s been AWOL since Resident Evil Zero. They’ve gotta stop an arms dealer from bio-nuking New York and doing nasty things to Rebecca, who resembles his dead wife, and along the way Leon pilots a motorcycle on the freeway with his feet while shooting at Cerebrus with his hands. Nearly all of the movie’s considerable action segments are punctuated with rapid fire John Wick-style gunplay, and it works. It’s like the folks who made this film realized that the coolest part of Resident Evil 6 was the point where Leon and Chris point their guns at each other for a few seconds before deciding that they need to put their differences aside and cooperate, and even though you could conceivably fault Vendetta for leaning heavily towards the “action” side of Resident Evil rather than the “horror” side, it’s a well-paced film that finally gives us a substantial interaction between two series mainstays beyond the one minute they shared with each other in RE6. Also, people are still posting GIFs from Vendetta’s action sequences all across Tumblr and forums whenever arguments break out over whether Chris or Leon is TEH COoLER Resident Evil protagonist, so Capcom obviously did something right. If we get another computer animated film, I imagine it’ll lean more heavily towards horror since that’s where the series has gone recently...but hopefully the path of improvement that we’ve seen from Degeneration to Damnation to Vendetta won’t be broken.

And with that, whew, I’m done with RE movies, at least until the rumored Hollywood reboot that’s supposedly drawing inspiration from Resident Evil 7 comes out. (It can’t be worse than The Final Chapter, I suppose.) I can’t say that my friends were wrong when they warned me that half of these would be shite, but I also can’t say that I ended on a bad note, because Vendetta was pretty good.

After all this, my grand playthrough and consumption of all Resident Evil media is about to finish Next post I make will be a last look at the franchise as a whole...and what a year’s worth of zombie headshots taught me. All screencaps taken by me.

#pixel grotto #video games #now playing #resident evil #biohazard

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