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Turns Out Being a Super Hero Is Actually Really Gay! - Chapter 5

Hey kiddos, I’m back! Your main bitch here has NOT been in the best mental health as of late :) My boss at my current job is driving me up a wall and I may need to find a new one since he might not be able to pay me for the hours I do, my depression is kicking my ass, and my dog was going to have puppies but then had a miscarriage and it turns out she can never have puppies again or risk dying next time. Soooo yeah, I’m probably not okay, but that’s okay because we are back with another chapter of your fav spiderbois! Again, huge thanks to @sugarglider9603 and @ask-spiderverse-virgil for their wonderful au! Also shout out to @khadij-al-kubra for helping me appropriately write Logan and his family! They gave me some awesome advice and insight into Muslim culture and you should totally check out their blog and read their Thomas In Wonderland fan fic, it’s super cute! Anyways, now with that out of the way please ENJOY!!!!

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The boys collapsed on to the couch in Thomas’s living room in one heaping pile of uncoordinated limbs and groans. They were absolutely exhausted, aching joints and sore muscles which they were careful to move slowly. Thomas, meanwhile, leaned over the back of the couch, suit still intact but mask off, smiling amusingly at the tired teens.

“So, third day of training went well,” Thomas snickered, the boys groaned in response causing the older man to laugh again “yeah, you’ll get use to it eventually. Just because your muscles are stronger doesn’t mean they aren’t prone to getting tired when worked out.”

“I take back every nice thing I said about you,” Virgil murmured, face down across the couch “you are the absolute worst and I’d rather take Ms. Green’s Saturday day classes.”

“I ache all over.” Patton whined.

“The body takes about a week or so to get used to routine work out,” Logan groaned out “but as you do you adjust it so that you don’t get used to it and extend your bodies limit. But even so this training fucking sucks!”

“Agreed,” Roman grunted “I have so many regrets.”

“Toughen up boys, you all wanted to be super heroes,” Thomas tutted “besides, we haven’t even gotten to the hard parts yet.”

“The worst!” Virgil hissed “Terrible mentor! Zero out of ten!”

Thomas chuckled, “If it helps, you all are doing great. I’m really proud off all the effort and hard work you’ve been putting into this. Now, weather that’ll stay throughout the entirety of your training is to be determined but I have faith in you all.”

The boys stayed quiet for a long while, faces flushed red though it wasn’t from the intense work out they just had, mostly. They’ve all been doing their damnedest to show how serious they were about becoming heroes, wanting to prove to Thomas and everyone else that they weren’t messing around. And even if it’s only been a short while it was nice to know that Thomas had faith in them and wanted to see them succeed. It was pretty fucking sweet to know that your hero and now mentor had your back.

“Yeah, yeah, don’t get too sappy, you still suck.” Virgil grumbled, but the blush on his cheeks plus the smile he kept trying to hide told a different tale.

“Oh well, if I’m the worse them I guess you guys wouldn’t be interested in any of the ‘after work out’ sandwiches I made,” Thomas said innocently, turning to walk towards the kitchen “plus, a banana and strawberry milkshake but it’s probably not that great cause, you know, I’m the worst and all.”

The boys were silent once more before suddenly jumping off the couch and racing after Thomas towards the kitchen.

“Best teacher! Twelve out of ten gold stars!” Virgil called out.

“I’m not all that achey!” Patton said, a slight wince in his step.

“Well really the body shouldn’t ever get used to a work out too much,” Logan informed “and the routines you’ve set up for us will really balance out our bodies.”

“Best decision of my life! Absolutely, no regrets!” Roman cheered.

---

The boys lazed around in the kitchen, chatting as they ate their mountain of sandwiches and delicious milkshakes and Thomas couldn’t help but feel kind of domestic. He didn’t usually have much company besides Joan and Talyn and even then, he was sometimes too busy to properly hang out with them. But they understood, even before they found out about him being Rainbow Weaver Joan and Talyn were always supporting him and Thomas will forever be grateful for that. But there was just something about having a room full of people, chatting and laughing, with a mutual understanding of each other’s situation that made Thomas feel…less alone.

‘Welcome to parenthood fucker!’ A voice in Thomas’s head, that suspiciously sounded a lot like Joan, cackled.

“Shush.” Thomas mumbled quietly as he shook his head to silence the voice before returning to the conversation at hand.

“The whole movie is basically a promotion on Stockholm syndrome!” Virgil exclaimed.

“She stayed on her own accord so she could save her father!” Roman shot back “Plus he did let her go after she went into the forbidden room only SAVE her when she was in danger! She could have left after he passed out but no, she went back again WILLINGLY to nurse him back to health!”

Roman and Virgil had been arguing about the story line of various Disney movies for the better part of an hour now. Thomas, Logan, and Patton sat as the audience, occasionally throwing in their own opinions but staying out of it for the most part. Even if the debate seemed intense it kind of looked like the two were having fun in their own strange way. Currently they were discussing the elements of Beauty and the Beast.

“Yeah, because it’s either get mauled to death and freeze in the woods or be trapped in solitude!” Virgil quipped “She just chose the better half of a bad situation that would provide her with food and shelter!”

“But they fell in love!” Roman cried.

“Yes, because a prisoner falling in love with their capture is totally healthy and cool if you add bunch of dancing silverware!” Virgil snarked.

“Ugh! You are impossible!” Roman groaned “How is it you claim to like Disney but have all this bad to say about it?”

“Because it’s literally the whole reason I like it in the first place,” Virgil snorted “there are so many dark elements to it that people over look. Especially if you read the original fairy tales that inspired them.”

“You just want to make everything dark and edgy,” Roman grumbled “not everything has to have a dark side.”

“Everything does have a dark side, Sir Sing-A-Lot.” Virgil smirked.

“Ha, I like that nickname and I’m gunna use it!” Roman huffed.

“Not that it isn’t great that you two are getting along,” Logan said sarcastically, finishing his milkshake and grabbing another sandwich “but me and Virgil got to get going or we’ll be late for dinner and I would rather not endure my mother’s wrath.”

“Oh shit, that’s today?” Virgil asked as he began to pack his stuff.

“What’s today?” Patton asked curiously.

“My brother is coming over for dinner,” Logan replied dryly “we haven’t seen him in a while.”

“You don’t seem too excited.” Thomas said.

“It’s not that I’m not excited to see him after so long it’s just…” Logan paused, fidgeting over uncomfortable feel of emotion running through his brain, wondering if he should even bother discussing this any further. Eventually, he chose not to, “Nothing, it’s just, you know, tired from all the training and…stuff.”

Thomas knew there was something more to the whole situation, as did Patton and Roman, but out of politeness nobody said anything. They instead looked to Virgil to see if he could clue them in on something, they were missing but the purple clad teen only shrugged and shook his head. So, they were quick to change the subject.

“What are the rest of you doing this evening?” Thomas asked.

“My brother Alex said he was gunna take me and Georgie, my other brother, out somewhere,” Patton sighed, rolling his eyes “that’s usually code for he wants to impress a girl by showing what a ‘cool and caring’ brother he is and will fail miserably. But hey, I’m not gunna look a gift horse in the mouth, usually he takes us to cool places.”

“My mom and sister are working late again so I have to pick up and babysit the twins,” Roman replied before suddenly remembering something and turned to Virgil “Virgil what are you doing?”

Virgil paused, giving Roman an odd look, “Uh, besides dinner at the Quinn’s, nothing much afterwards. Why?”

“Good, because you need to come over so we can finish up that stupid essay due on Monday and I can’t have you over on Sunday because we have church and a baby shower to go to.” Roman said as he casually munched on another sandwich.

“Shit, that’s still a thing,” Virgil groaned, looking to Logan for help “have you even started on that?”

“Oh yes, me and Patton finished it recently.” Logan replied coolly.

“We video chatted since me and Lo had other stuff to attend to and couldn’t come over to each other’s houses.” Patton added.

“That’s why you flaked out on movie night yesterday,” Roman said in a moment of realization before pouting “you chose a study date with your boyfriend over me?”

Logan choked on the sandwich he was still munching on whole Patton squeaked and flushed a dark red. Virgil snickered as he went over to pat Logan’s back until he stopped coughing while Patton blubbered and waved his hands around, shrieking how “it’s not like that Roman, you know that! We just- we study a-and – we aren’t, uh…” Logan was soon to join in once he got the proper amount of air in his lungs, face just and red and sputtering just as embarrassed.

Thomas bit back a laugh while Roman and Virgil, the little shits, out right smirked in that smug way all best friends do when they see each other suffering. It was painfully obvious that Logan and Patton a “thing” for each other but were just too shy and awkward to acknowledge it. It was easy to push their buttons and was also extremely entertaining to watch. Still, Thomas was merciful and kindly decided to redirect the subject again.

“Well, while you kids enjoy your evening plans, I’ll be out on patrol,” Thomas said, stretching out a bit “so if you need to contact me and I’m a little slow to respond you’ll know why.”

“Might pass by that ally way again while patrolling?” Virgil asked innocently, though the devious smirk on his face was a dead giveaway “You know, just to make sure there’s no one in danger?”

“Yeah, like a certain cute barista?” Roman snickered.

Thomas’s cheeks colored pink and he regretted his previous act of mercy because those little vipers turn head so fast it’s as if they planed it. “You know we could just spend a whole day doing laps next training day?”

“We could, but that still wouldn’t erase the fact that you’re too gay to function around attractive males.” Logan smirked.

“Aw, but wouldn’t it be cute if they went out on a date?” Patton gushed, his comment was genuine but that didn’t make Thomas any less flustered. “You should try and talk to him, like for reals. Maybe ask him out on a cute little coffee date?”

“I am like flashing back to so many Coffee Shop Au fics it’s not even funny,” Virgil laughed breathlessly “anyway, Roman, text me your address and I’ll swing by after dinner. See ya gays later.”

“Don’t you mean guys?” Patton asked.

“I know what I said.” Virgil replied as he and Logan made their way out of the kitchen.

Roman shrugged, “He isn’t wrong though.”

---

They arrived at their apartment building in record time, Vigil having informed his parents before hand that he’d be at Logan’s for dinner before heading out to Roman’s to finish up the essay. Though at the moment neither of them were in any hurry to get to where they were going, taking a dramatically long time climbing up the stairs instead of taking the elevator.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to tag along with you and Morgan after dinner?” Virgil asked for the tenth time that day “I really, really don’t mind flaking out on Roman.”

“As much as I would like that you really do need to finish your essay,” Logan sighed “it counts as a major grade for your science class.”

It wasn’t that Logan’s brother was a bad guy, on the contrary he was actually really cool and easy to talk too, but the constant comparisons made between them by their parents made Logan kind of resent him, just a little. Don’t get him wrong, Logan loved his older brother and wouldn’t mind spending more time with him but as of late the closer Logan got to graduation the more his parents…“pushed” him to follow in his brother’s footsteps. He couldn’t even mention about applying for colleges around them because then they’d go into a spiral about all the colleges Morgan got excepted to at his age and how he should apply for those and go for this program that Morgan did and maybe he could study abroad like Morgan did. It’s not like they did it on purpose, Logan knew his parents loved him and were proud of him, they only wanted what’s best for him so that he could succeed and gain opportunities that they couldn’t when they were young. But sometimes it just…got a bit much.

“Come on, let me procrastinate,” Virgil whined, though it was more to make Logan laugh then being serious “I don’t want to spend my whole afternoon with Roman.”

“It’s not my fault the teachers chose him as a partner for you,” Logan chuckled “at least he’s willing to do work and not slack off like others. Plus, better him then Dolion.”

“Mmh, true,” Virgil grumbled “but stiiiill! The only reason you’re not complaining is because you got to be all buddy-buddy with Patton and make heart eyes at him all day.”

As expected, Logan was a blushing, sputtering mess, “I-it’s not like that!”

Vigil continued to tease his best friend all the way up until their destination, then everything got tense again. Logan took a deep breath, slowly letting it out as he went over the most likely scenarios that would happen during dinner, none of them were good. But Logan just had to get through dinner then an awkward night out with his brother and after he could just sulk in his room the rest of the night. His train of thought was broken by a gentle hand squeezing his own and he turned to find Virgil smiling at him sympathetically.

“I got your back if that means anything?” Virgil shrugged.

Logan gave him a tiny, appreciative smile, “It means everything.”

“Great,” Virgil turned towards the awaiting door in front of them “let’s face Hades together.”

“You know, Hades wasn’t an evil god,” Logan began to explain “he was just god of the Underworld and-”

“You know what I mean.” Virgil scoffed as he opened the door to Logan’s apartment.

Inside, Mr. and Mrs. Quinn were in the living room enthusiastically entertaining their special guest of the evening, Morgan Quinn. Looks wise, Morgan and Logan looked pretty similar, tall lanky build, neat trimmed hair, and thick square glasses. Personality wise, they couldn’t be more different, Logan was always the more serious of the two while Morgan tended to be the more goofy, social butterfly. Despite being polar opposites, they got along pretty great, Morgan was the one that introduced Logan to his love of space and it was that mutual love that formed an incredible bond between them. They’d always go up to the roof and look at the stars through their telescope, read up on NASA’s latest discoveries and plans, or just binge watch a bunch of space documentaries. But lately, Logan’s been looking at the stars less, it’s been moths since he’s looked into what NASA’s been up too, and he’s kind of been avoiding space documentaries all together if he’s honest.

“Lolo!” Morgan exclaimed excitedly as he rushed to hug his brother “Salaam alekum!”

“Waalekum salaam,” Logan replied, a small smile appearing on his face despite his internal conflict “welcome home.”

“Geez, you sprouted up like a bean stalk,” Morgan laughed as he pulled back to look over his little brother “what are Ummi and Babá feeding you?”

“All required nutrition regiments,” Logan quipped “though I can only assume your stunted growth is due to the college dietary restrictions of coffee and instant noodles.”

“Quit exposing me,” Morgan chided playfully before turning to Virgil with his arms open wide for a hug “Virge, salaam alekum!”

“Waalekum salaam,” Virgil replied, tentatively accepting the hug though Morgan knew he wasn’t one for physical affection so he didn’t linger long “how you’ve been?”

“I’ve been great, tired but great,” Morgan chuckled “and you still haven’t grown? I though Ummi was stuffing you down with the same thing she’s been feeding Logan?”

“Gunna take a lot more then forced self-care to make me into a functioning human being.” Virgil smirked.

“Speaking of eating,” Mrs. Quinn cut through the chatter as she made her way to the kitchen “I made your favorite Morgan, kufta and rice. Shall we eat now?”

“Please,” Morgan half begged “I’m a starving college student.”

They family plus Virgil gathered around the table, filling their plates with the lamb meat balls, rice and side salad put in place. It was all pleasantries at first, catching up on each other’s lives and reminiscing on the past and how it compared to the present. It was nice, laughter and chatter filled the room as other’s ate to think of more conversation topics.

Then Mrs. Quinn asked, “How has your internship been at Oscorps?”

And so it began.

“Oh, it’s been amazing,” Morgan gushed “I’ve been learning so much about bioengineering and genetic research. There’s been so many advances made in the medical field and it’s just fascinating to see the behind the scenes of everything.”

“You know, Logan and Virgil went on a field trip to Oscorps this week,” Mr. Quinn said, unknown to him that Logan’s eye began to twitch waiting for the inevitable “I would have hoped they’d see you there in action.”

“Oh no, I’m usually in the back with the researchers,” Morgan explained before looking to his brother “but if you would have texted me earlier, I could have given you and Virge a secret tour of the latest project we’ve been working on. It’s awesome, you would have loved it Lo.”

“I, um…” Logan began, fiddling with the food on his plate.

“Logan, I thought we told you to call your brother and ask about the internship requirements?” Mrs. Quinn asked.

“I forgot.” Logan said lamely.

“Babá you can’t afford to be forgetting these things,” Mr. Quinn scolded gently “you have to build up a good college resume and a company like Oscorps will get you accepted into any school you want.”

“Yeah, I know.” Logan mumbled, having stopped eating all together and was now just staring at his plate.

“Well, he’s still just a junior in high school,” Morgan cut in before more could be said by either of his parents “an internship like this is not easy to come by. Some people are on a waiting list for years and even then, they might not get accepted.”

“But didn’t they offer you a position when you were in high school?” Mrs. Quinn asked “Surely if Logan took an extra class or two, he could have one too.”

“What they offered me was an errand boy that made print outs and got coffee,” Morgan explained, secretly watching as the tension in his brother’s shoulders relaxed just a bit “they’re not gunna let a high schooler into a research lab no matter how smart he is. Maybe once he hits college but even then, he could get a much better offer from somewhere else. I hear the robotic engineering program in Carnegie and Brown are real buddy-buddy with Stark Industries.”

Logan smiled, just a little, tentative and quiet, “Really?”

“I don’t know,” Mrs. Quinn butted in, and just like that the tension in Logan’s shoulders returned “Stark Industries is sketchy at best, especially with all that Avengers mumbo-jumbo going on. Besides, wouldn’t a job in the medical field be more secure financial wise? All I ever see that Tony Stark do on the news is make new toys for him to play with and destroy the city.”

“Saving the world from an alien invasion and government corruption,” Morgan explained “pretty sure that’s kind of important Ummi.”

Mrs. Quinn shrugged, “I guess so.”

“But what about that whole mess with the Avengers?” Mr. Quinn asked “Or whatever’s going on there? There’s always some kind of conflict with them.”

“It’s been cleared up now,” Morgan informed them “plus I hear Stark Industries are partnering up with a famed research facility in Wakanda. They’re supposed to have technological advances years beyond us. I’m sure Logan will be snatched up in an instant.”

Mr. and Mrs. Quinn seemed sort of swayed but they surely still had more questions and probing statements to say. Thankfully, Morgan was quick to jump in and change the conversation. “So Logan, Ummi and Babá were telling me how you, Virge and some friends made a club together, how’s that been going?”

Not a topic Logan wished to discuss in great detail but he’d chose that over the previous one. “Uh, great, we’ve been making excellent progress.”

“And what of the other guys in your group?” Morgan asked, genuinely curious “How are they like?”

“They’re…great,” Logan chuckled awkwardly “just two classmates from our school, Patton and Roman, we all head a group project together and we got discussing on some issues and of course one thing led to another.”

“Yeah, they’re pretty cool,” Virgil added “and we’re getting…stuff and things done. It’s small but nice.”

“That’s good,” Morgan smiled “I hope to meet these new friends someday, I’m getting kind of tired of just Virgil at our house all the time.”

“You know we all thought the same thing with you,” Virgil rolled his eyes but gave an easy smirked “thank god you left for college.”

Morgan laughed, “Geez, Virge, tell me how you really feel. Also, I heard you guys were being sponsored by Thomas Sanders, unless Ummi and Babá got the name mixed up?”

“Yeah, we didn’t believe it either at first,” Logan chuckled nervously, him and Virgil sharing a knowing look “but the school district recommended him and he accepted so it was only logical of us to accept as well.”

“How hard did you and Virgil fan girl? Be honest.” Morgan teased.

Logan pouted (though he’d deny it till his dying day) and promptly returned to his dinner, “Suddenly, I don’t remember the details.”

“It’s like it never even happened,” Virgil added dramatically “Thomas Sanders who? What club?”

“Aw, come on guys!” Morgan chuckled, playfully shoving his brother’s shoulder “I’m only kidding…mildly, though seriously how hard did you fan girl? Cause I’m pretty sure Virge has a fan about him that’s just as big as Rainbow Weaver.”

“You know what, go back to your internship and shove your head in a toxic waste tank,” Virgil quipped with flushed cheeks “nobody wanted you here anyway.”

“Hey, you never know, I might gain powers like Rainbow Weaver,” Morgan smirked triumphantly “then I’ll be the one meeting him.”

Logan smirked mysteriously, “Doubtful.”

---

Roman had just finished cleaning the last of the dishes when a buzz was heard throughout the apartment. He was quick to wipe his hands as he moved pasted the kitchen table where the twins were doing homework, ruffling Marco’s hair in the process. The younger gave off an annoyed whine as he swatted his older brother’s hand away who chuckled to himself as he reached the buzzer box and pressed the call button.

“Who is it?” Roman asked.

“It’s Virgil, buzz me in.” The voice responded.

“Sure, give me a minute,” Roman replied, pressing another button before heading off towards his room to retrieve his backpack and set up in the living room. He did not for the life of him trust the twins by themselves, little demons could get into loads of trouble the second you look away from them.

“Who’s that?” Jenni asked, inspecting over her macaroni art project.

“A…friend?” Roman said tentatively “We’re gunna do homework, that’s all you need to know so keep the noise down to a minimum when you guys are done, okay?”

“Is it Patton?” Marco asked excitingly, he always liked when Patton came over, Patton usually spoiled the two with homemade treats.

“No, it’s not Patton.” Roman said, rummaging through his back for the notes Logan gave him.

“Then who is he?” Jenni asked, curiosity finally pulling her away from her glittery macaroni art disaster. Roman groaned at the thought of having to clean that up later.

“Just, uh, guy from a club I’m in,” Roman explained begrudgingly “we have to do a project together, that’s all.”

“Why didn’t you pick Patton as your partner?” Marco asked, half disappointed he would be getting sweets but also curious as to who this new person was.

“Because the teacher chose them for us.” Roman responded bluntly.

“Why?” Jenni asked.

“Because the school system is a dumb-dumb.” Roman said tiredly.

“Why?” Marco asked.

“Why are you guys so invested in this?” Roman snapped, he didn’t mean to but he was already on edge as it was. Virgil and him had a rocky relationship as it was, they were co-workers at best after the whole spider power thing, but even so he had no idea where he stood with him. He knew exactly where he stood with everybody else; Patton was his best friend, Thomas was his mentor and Logan was a nuisance though still fun to poke at. Virgil was just a wild card, sometimes they got along and sometimes they didn’t, it was a weird line they walked and Roman had no idea what step was the wrong step and which one was the right.

“Is he your boyfriend?” Jenni sang, Marco giggling beside her as Roman’s face lit up in red hot flames. “Absolutely not!”

---

Vigil found himself once more taking his time climbing up the stairs when there was a perfectly functioning elevator. The realization of what he was doing and where he was going finally hit him after seeing Morgan and Logan out after dinner. He was going to Roman Marigold’s apartment, Roman Marigold, quite possibly the most annoying human being in the entire school next to Dolion.

It’s not that Roman seemed like a bad guy, he was actually pretty decent when his giant ego was in check and wasn’t jumping off buildings unexpectedly. But for some reason he just got under Virgil’s skin and knew what buttons to press to get a reaction out of him. Though he had no ide if he was doing it to be mean or it was just this weird thing between them. When Roman fought with Logan you always kind of got this vibe that they…not liked each other though it seems like they had mutual respect. But when he and Roman fought it varied on what the situation was, sometimes it could be Disney banters, playful bickering, full on heated debates, or just poking insults. It was weird and Virgil had no idea what to do with it.

He finally reached the door and just as he was about to knock, he heard giggling and a high pitch screech. “Absolutely not!”

Maybe this was bad time, he should probably go back, Virgil didn’t want to be caught in the middle of any family disputes if this was what it was. But he didn’t move to leave, nor did he move to knock again, he just stood there frozen in perpetual confusion and panic, listening to the conversation beyond the door.

Tiny voices sang in a jumpy school yard tune, “Roman’s got a boyfriend! Roman’s got a boyfriend!”

“I do not!” Came the embarrassed reply that Virgil could only guess was Roman.

Virgil clasped a hand over his mouth so as to repress the giggle threatening to slip. It was absolutely hilarious to hear the pristine ego maniac that is Roman Marigold get flustered and loss his cool due to, what sounded like, a bunch of little kids taunting him. Even so it wasn’t very appropriate of him to be eavesdropping on people’s conversations, no matter how hilarious or ridiculous they may seem, so he made quick work of knocking on the door.

It opened almost immediately, a red cheeked Roman staring intently at him, “Oh, you’re here.”

“Yeah, I buzzed you like five minutes ago, remember?” Virgil smirked “We’re you talking to someone?”

“No! No, just…you know,” The flamboyant teen made a vague gesture with his hands “things?”

“Things?” Virgil echoed with an odd look.

Roman nodded and it was suddenly quiet for a long time. Virgil awkwardly standing in the hallway while Roman fidgeted against the door frame, both staring intently at each other without blinking. Finally, a cough from behind Roman snapped them both out of their stupor. They turned to find two smirking children peeking out from behind the living room couch, no doubt Roman’s siblings, they were practically mini carbon copies.

Roman glared at them while Virgil gave a shy wave before asking, “Can I come in now?”

“Oh, uh, yeah.” Roman stuttered, quickly stepping aside to let Virgil in.

---

Morgan had gotten them tickets to the planetarium viewing of Dark Universe at the American Museum of National History as well as general passes for the rest of the museum. Logan was admittingly excited to go, it’s been a long time since he’s been to a planetarium especially one as grand as the Hayden Planetarium. But on the other hand, the awkward silence between Logan and his brother during the entire taxi ride here was very heavy and uncomfortable. Not that Morgan wasn’t trying to make conversation it’s just that Logan was snubbing them out as quickly as he was thinking them.

Dinner with other people was one thing, an outing by themselves was another. There weren’t other people to buffer out the awkward when things got slow or stale. They use to go on outings together all the time, talking endlessly for hours and hour far into the night, discussing the universe, life, and anything else they could think of. But that was then, this was now, and as of now they haven’t hung out properly in a long time plus Logan’s parents weren’t really helping him warm up to the whole situation. Regardless if Morgan was able to diverge the conversation near the end or not there was still that…tension.

“So…have you ever seen Dark Universe before?” Morgan asked as the lazily walked inside the building, the display of planets across the outside of the planetarium quiet distracting. There were two entrance into the museum, at the front where the famed t-rex statue was displayed and the back where the Earth and Science exhibits were.

“They were going to take us last year for a school field trip but the bus broke down and we missed the showing.” Logan shrugged, looking around at all the displays of planets, stars and solar systems.

“Ah, well that means it’ll be a first viewing for both of us,” Morgan said cheerily, dramatically raising a fist in the air “a bonding experience we shall never forget!”

Logan raised an eyebrow at his brother’s weird display who in turn shyly put his hand down, “Uh, anyway, how’s life? How’s school? How’s that club you got going?”

“It’s fine,” Logan said simply “everything is functioning as it should, it’s only the beginning of the first semester so nothing much has happened. Well, except for…a complication.”

“Yeah, mom and dad told me what happened,” Morgan sighed, a bitter sneer on his face “I still can’t believe there’s jerks like that out there.”

“Indeed,” Logan nodded “but it’s nothing to get worked up over, it’s not like it was the root of the whole ordeal. I was merely…defending a friend from certain public humiliation.”

“Who were they anyway?” Morgan asked before clarifying “The friend you helped out, are they in that club you made?”

“Uh, yes,” Logan said bashfully, a light pink dusking his cheeks “his name is – Patton?”

Logan froze in his tracks, his brother taking a second to notice, because there near a display of Halley’s comet was Patton Foster. He was wearing a stunning high waist space print skirt, black leggings, a soft looking baby blue crop top sweater, and black boots. He also wore sparkly silver star droop earrings and a matching moon neckless, as well as glittery silver clips in his hair. Patton had yet to notice Logan staring, too enraptured in reading over the little facts beside the display, and the genus will forever be grateful for that.

“Who’s that?” Morgan asked, snapping Logan out of his daze.

“Uh, no one,” Logan said much too quickly “l-let’s take a short cut another direction, I think I saw a map that showed the way.”

Morgan smirked deviously, “They don’t look like no one, you obviously know their name.”

Logan was screwed.

“H-he’s just a friend from school, I don’t want to bother him,” Logan sputtered nervously “let’s just go somewhere else so we won’t disturb his evening.”

“Hey, there’s no harm in saying hi,” Morgan chuckled, grabbing onto his brother’s arm so he wouldn’t scurry way “plus, he’s looking this way already.”

“What?” Logan squeaked.

True to his word, Patton had seen them and was now waving at them with that big, bright, beautiful smile of his. Morgan, the devil, waved back just as enthusiastically as he dragged Logan along with him because he’s was half certain Logan was frozen stiff. As they got closer Patton seemingly decided to meet them half way, bright eyed and springy as ever.

“Hey Lo, I didn’t think I’d see you here,” Patton smiled, he looked to Morgan curiously “is this your brother?”

“So, he does talk about me,” Morgan joked and Logan died “all good things I hope.”

Patton giggled, a pleasant bell to Logan’s ears, “Only in passing conversation but being that your brothers I can only assume you’re just as smart and amazing as he is.”

Morgan smiled big and wide, leaning down near Logan in an exaggerated whisper, “I like him, keep him around.”

Logan wasn’t a violent man by nature but annoying sibling could just so easily get under your skin and drive you to murder. “What brings you to the museum Patton? It was my assumption you were on an outing with your brothers.”

Patton pouted, blowing out a huff of air, “Yeah, Alex went to flirt with receptionist lady and Georgie left to drag him back. Alex won a raffle at work and won tickets to this show at the planetarium called Dark Universe. I’m honestly kind of nervous, I don’t really know what it’s about and the title doesn’t seem too pleasant.”

“No need to worry Patton,” Logan assured “it’s simply a documentary displaying the wonders of our universe while providing commentary. Nothing scary or abnormal, I promise.”

“Oh good,” Patton sighed in relief “I was worried that-”

“Ahk, Georgie! Put me down!”

“Stop behaving like a child and I’ll think about it. Where’s Patton?”

“I think he’s over there? Hey! Hey, Pat! Yhoohoo! We’re over here!”

Patton’s face morphed into something between embarrassment and annoyance as he reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose. He seemed to be actively avoiding making eye contact with the two squabbling giants heading towards them. They looked to be the perfect size for professional football players or basketball players or both, point is they were huge compared to petite Patton who landed just under Logan’s nose. Then again, Logan was pretty tall though not as tall as those two…where were they?

---

Out of all the places and times to run into Logan outside of school and/or hero training this would have been the perfect place but it was simply just the WORST time. Patton didn’t mind evenings out with his brothers, he liked spending time with them and the outings were usually fun. Their antics, specifically Alex being troubling making dork while Georgie forcefully drags him out of trouble and Patton watches helplessly by the sidelines, were amusing at best but annoying most of the time.

Don’t get Patton wrong, he loved his brothers with all his heart but sometimes they (*cough*Alex*cough*) had no shame what-so-ever. Great for Georgie who wasn’t afraid of a few staring eyes when pulling his brothers out of trouble, not great for Alex who is such a drama queen he makes Roman look tame. Outing with his brothers were not meant to be witnessed by anyone but the strangers of Manhattan who they’ll never see again, NOT cute boys that Patton kind of sort of had a crush on.

Patton gave Logan and his brother his best smile, though it was very obviously forced, “Excuse me.”

He quickly whizzed around to face his brothers, forced smile still displayed on his face, “I heard you the first time Alex, everyone could.”

Alex, who was hazardously draped over Georgie’s shoulder like a sack of flour, simply pouted as he wiggled out of his elder brother’s grip, “Just making sure, you seemed distracted. Who’re the nerds?”

Georgie smacked Alex across the head, “Be polite.”

“Ow, geez,” Alex whined, rubbing his sore skull “you can kill someone with those hands Georgie. Like in that movie Green House!”

“Green Mile.” Georgie corrected cooly.

Alex snapped his fingers, “That’s the one, anyway, back to the nerds.” Another smack “Ow, hey! I didn’t mean it, it was a joke! See they ain’t bothered!”

Patton took a deep and steady breath as he turned back to the Quinn brothers with an embarrassed smile, “Logan, Morgan, these are my older brothers: Georgie and Alex. Georgie and Alex, this is my friend Logan and his older brother, Morgan. They came to watch the space show too.”

Georgie nodded while Alex gave a false salute, “Sup.”

“How do you do?” Logan said politely as he and his brother stuck out their hands to shake.

Georgie was quick to shake both their hands as was Alex but he paused when he got to Logan, leaning down to intensely stare at him. Patton wanted to scream, truly he did, but that would just let Alex figure everything out that much quicker as well as cause a scene.

“Logan, huh,” Alex hummed as he leaned forward and Logan visibly gulped as he leaned back “where have I heard that name before? I know you ain’t related to that Paul guy from YouTube because you actually look respectable.”

Patton slapped a hand over his face, “Oh my god…”

“He’s one of the boys in the club Pat’s help make.” Georgie said helpfully, not at all fazed by his brother’s borderline interrogation on poor Logan.

“Oh yeah,” Alex nodded, finally letting go of Logan’s hand and giving him proper personal space “you guys made that, uh…what’s the politically correct term for this? I don’t wanna offend anyone.”

“To late.” Patton mumbled grimly.

“LGBTQ+ Youth Group.” Georgie provided.

“Jesus that’s a mouth full,” Alex sighed before pondering once more “nah, but other then that I swear I heard Patton mention that name before just…can’t remember.”

Patton sighed in relief, Thank god!

“Wait I know!” Alex exclaimed.

Shit!

Alex became giddy with excitement, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes that just spelled doom for Patton. “He’s that bo – mmhf!”

Georgie was swift yet casual as he slapped a large hand over Alex’s mouth and began to drag him away, “The show is starting soon, we should grab seats together.”

Internally Patton was crying, Georgie was a saint and he definitely deserved a special cake baked in his honor. Externally Patton sighed tiredly once more, giving Logan and Morgan an apologetic smile. “Sorry about them, well, mainly Alex. He’s…a lot sometimes.”

Morgan shrugged, “Brothers, what can you do about them? This guy was a terror when he was younger, he would use his diapers as – oof!” Morgan groaned in pain as Logan elbowed him in the stomach, eyes shut in annoyance and left brow twitching.

Patton giggled, glad not to be the only one being teased by his older brothers, “Older brothers huh?”

“Quite unfortunate are we, huh?” Logan chuckled breathlessly.

“Seriously, what are mom and dad feeding you? I almost puked my guts out!” Morgan wheezed.

---

This was a terrible idea! This was a terrible, awful idea! Why did Thomas think this was a good idea? Why was he even listening to Patton’s advice, he was pretty sure the kid was mostly joking? But here her was at that same damn alley way, in civilian clothes, looking across the street into a familiar little coffee shop with a familiar red headed barista taking down orders behind the register. Thomas groaned, scrubbing his heads over his face, he looked like a fucking stalker, seriously!

He had convinced himself to take a quick brake before heading out on patrol again, maybe grab a cup of coffee to wake him up a bit. It wasn’t his fault the shop just so happened to be near by and hey if that cute guy just so happened to be working there at this time it wasn’t like a big deal. It wasn’t like he knew who Thomas was so he could just be casual, order a coffee, strike up a conversation, nothing big. But now he was here across the street and he saw the guy smile and laugh at something his co-worker said and Thomas just got weak in the knees.

“Why am I here?” Thomas groaned, leaning back against the grimy alley wall “I don’t even know his name! All I know is that he can’t seem to stay out of trouble!”

He looked back into the coffee shop, it seemed to be a slow day, only three or so customs lounging around in the sitting area as cute red head wiped down the counter. Okay, so the good news was there wasn’t much people so Thomas didn’t have to rush when he inevitably stuttered out his order. Bad news was he still had to muster up the courage to go in and talk to him and that was never gunna happen.

It was then he noticed a shady looking guy walk past him and across the street, his hood flipped up and shoulders scrunched in. He looked like the typical grumpy New Yorker that only seemed threatening but Thomas is spidy sense told him otherwise. Plus, he was definitely not hiding that gun, which was tucked in the back of his jeans like some stupid idiot wanna-be gang member, very well.

Thomas was quick to sprint across the street without the hoodlum seeing him, just beating him to the door by a moment. Thomas swung the door open at about half strength smacking the criminal right in the face. An audible crack was heard sending the criminal falling backwards with a bloody nose and maybe a minor concussion. Thomas made sure to ham up his clumsy civilian act.

“Oh gosh man! I’m so, so sorry!” Thomas gasped, helping the man up right with the intention of sneaking a hand around to disarm the gun “Are you alright?”

“Do I fucking look alright you stupid idiot!” The man snapped, much to distracted with the pain of his face to notice the faint clicking noises behind him. Talyn had shown Thomas how to dismantle a gun with one hand their freshman year of college, he doesn’t know why they know that but he’s thankful for it because it makes his job so much easier.

“Sorry dude, can I do anything to help?” Thomas asked in an artificially sweet voice.

“No, fuck off!” The man growled, quick to turn head with his tail between his legs, embarrassed by job never done.

Thomas watched him leave down the alley way, depositing the bullet clip he swiped into a nearby trash bin before heading inside. He noticed the speckles of blood on the glass door as he entered and grimaced with guilt. Once fully through Thomas finally noticed that the red head was staring at him and it dawned on him that he probably witnessed the whole ordeal and though he was a clumsy oaf.

“Uh, sorry about the door,” Thomas said, rubbing a hand behind his neck “If you got some paper towels, I’ll, uh, clean it up for you guys if you want?”

The red head’s eyes were wide with shock, steel blue eyes piercing into Thomas is soul, “That guy was gunna mug us.”

Thomas sputtered in response, “Uh, he – um…”

“I saw him across the street openly stalking the café all day today,” The red head scoffed “he wasn’t really subtle about it. He was probably waiting for us to wind down for the night.”

“Wait,” Thomas squinted suspiciously “if you knew he was gunna rob the place why didn’t you call the police?”

The red head rolled his eyes, “We did, but to them he wasn’t doing anything wrong until now. Stupid cops…” He smiled charmingly “but you came down here pretty quick and practically bashed his skull in. What are you, some sort of vigilante?”

“N-no!” Thomas gulped “I-it’s just I…I saw his gun and I couldn’t just stand there!”

“Well, you could have gotten yourself hurt too.” The red head countered.

Thomas gave a breathless chuckle, “Trust me, I’m not as defenseless as most people think I am.”

The red head giggled, placing his chin to the palm of his hand, “Oh yeah?”

“If it helps, I disarmed his gun before anything?” Thomas said bashfully, fiddling with the sleeves of his jacket.

The red head’s eyes went wide again, “What, did you do it with one hand?”

“Yeah?” Thomas said hesitantly, this guy was way more observant then Thomas previously thought “If you wanna check, the gun clip is still in the trash bin.”

The red head laughed joyously, a beautiful melody to Thomas is ears, “You really are something! So, what can I get my hero tonight? On the house of course.”

“Oh no, I don’t want to bother-” Thomas began only to get cut off by another joyful laugh “Bother all you want, you just saved my ass from being mugged.”

“It was no trouble,” Thomas shrugged, a goofy smile surely on his face “it-it really wasn’t a big deal.”

“Well it was a big deal to me, practically saved my life,” The red head smiled, grabbing a large cup and a sharpie “so what’s your name Tiger?”

Thomas’s stomach filled with a million butterflies at the mention of the familiar nickname before clearing his extremely dry throat, “Uh…Thomas…Sanders.”

The red head paused a moment, sharpie delicately poised over the edge of the coffee cup as he chewed over his bottom lip in thought. A ghost of a smile formed across his face, that seemed very familiar now that Thomas thought about it, giving out a breathless laugh. “Thomas Sanders, huh?”

“Uh, yeah?” Thomas knew that he got recognized often but by fans but it was usually by his face not by his name. Not to sound vain or anything but a lot of times he didn’t need to tell people who he was for them to recognize him. But this guy didn’t seem like he was a fan…still, he looked vaguely familiar.

“Well, I’m MJ, in case you didn’t notice.” He pointed to the name tag on his chest that Thomas was now just recognizing because he was too gay to look at anything else but this guys cute face.

“What does that stand for?” Thomas asked curiously.

He paused again before that same smile returned to his face, “Matthew Jones…Watson.”

“Matthew Jones Watson,” Thomas said aloud, rolling the words of his tongue as if testing out how they sound in his voice “MJ…I like it.”

And obviously that was a stupid thing to say aloud because it made him sound like some sort of weirdo who goes around judging names. But MJ giggled, light and airy, with a smile that could light up all of Manhattan. “Thanks…I’m glad.”

Tags: (sorry if it doesn’t work, Tumblr is stupid)

@immortaldystopia @metaphoricalpluto2 @ultimate-queen-of-fandoms2 @misunderstood-shadow @fairytailtwists @0callmevirge0 @blenderkit17 @galaxy-lilies-main @lumi-1 @paint-in-flames @i-have-n0-idea-what-im-d0ing @superwholocked-for-life @generalfandomfabulousness @oakskull@scarletnoiryt @softnic @asiagotea3890 @enteryourfandomhere @saltwithrandomfandoms @ninjago2020 @average-human @hecksupremeart @teepee-honesty @perfectly-precautiously-gay @a-weirdo-with-a-computer @itsashtronomy @khadij-al-kubra @maryjanewolf @icequeenoriginal @ocs-and-chapters @lilyfond @palepanfandomtrash @always-in-a-fandom @boxofsushi

#thomas sanders #sanders sides #sanders side fic #logan sanders #patton sanders #roman sanders #virgil sanders #logicality #prinxiety #spiderverse au #tobashiarg!

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hi-i-love-u-bitch · 5 years

Text

Turns Out Being a Super Hero Is Actually Really Gay! - Chapter 3

I am so, so sorry this is late guys! A lot of things have been going on and I wasn’t able to finish the chapter on time yesterday. But it’s here now and I hope you like it. As always I would like to thank the lovely @sugarglider9603 and @ask-spiderverse-virgil for there lovely AU for without it I would not have the inspiration to write this. ENJOY!!!

Master Post

Beginning

Next Chapter

So, after the group of teens were done freaking out because “holy shit, Thomas Sanders, top YouTube celebrity, is THE Rainbow Weaver!” Thomas decided to take them to a small but cozy pizza place down town. He bought them six boxes of pizza, hot wings, fries, onion rings, ice cream shakes and a few other goodies, much to the teens protests and insistence that they could pay for themselves. Thomas assured them that it was fine but that still didn’t stop them from arguing that it wasn’t. He payed no mind to their comments as he payed for the food and lead them towards the back of the restaurant where a large circular booth resided, big enough to fit them all.

As Thomas watched these teens…these children scarf down their food like they hadn’t eaten a day in their lives he couldn’t help but worry. He knew exactly how scary it must be for them to suddenly gain strange new powers and not know what to do with them. But the difference between them was that Thomas got his powers near the middle of his senior year of high school and these kids were still…sophomores? Junior? Either way, they were still much to young to be worrying about powers and weird things like that. Unlike them Thomas didn’t have much of a “social life” in high school and college so being Rainbow Weaver was a good distraction from that but these kids…he doubt they were the same.

They had come searching for him for help and honestly Thomas was totally willing to give them whatever help they needed. He just didn’t know what? He wasn’t a teacher, he was a chemical engineering and theater major that did YouTube videos and super heroing on the side. I mean, if they needed help controlling their powers Thomas would to the best, he could to teach them but if they wanted to become super heroes…

“Are you okay, Mr. Sanders?” Thomas looked up to see four pairs of curious eyes looking at him, still munching away at their meal. He was pretty sure it was the stoic looking kid that asked him this, Logan he believed his name was.

“Hmm, yeah,” Thomas said, shaking his head “yeah, why do you ask?”

“You kind of have this…” The loud kid, Roman if he was remembering correctly, gestured towards him “…face, like you’ve just kind of walked into your doom.”

Thomas saw how the groups shoulders slumped, the mood severely brought down by that statement and he really didn’t want to see these boys in anymore distressed then they already were.

“Oh, no, no, uh, I was just…thinking you know,” Thomas sighed, rubbing his face tiredly “like, how is it that Oscorp can screw up twice and let a multimillion-dollar mutant spider escape…again! Like, they’re supposed to be a bunch of geniuses, right? But they’re letting this happen again and god only knows how much more powerful that little spider is. I was lucky enough to have accidently stepped on mine and killed it but it seems that little guy you got there is a bit smarter.”

“Indeed,” Logan perked up “from what I was able to study and pick up from its distorted speech pattern, it seems to know what it’s doing. It was trying to kill us as it saw us as a potential threat, which is why the venom dosage increased with each victim, but it unknowingly mutated our DNA. To say it was disappointed that I woke up the next morning is…an understatement.”

“It likes me though.” The gloomy kid, Virgil he recalled, stated smugly.

Logan rolled his eyes, “Yes, well you did help it escape out your window so of course it sees you as some sort of ally.”

“Are we just going to skip over the fact that it TRIED to kill us?” Roman said worriedly.

“Yes, because I don’t wanna think about it,” The cutesy kid, Patton, whined childishly but there was a glint of fear in his eyes “and for the record tell that creepy crawly death dealer that I don’t like it either!”

“It’s nothing personal Patton,” Virgil assured “consciously or not it’s just a defense mechanism all spiders have when they’re scared.”

“I don’t care,” Patton cried “I still don’t want it anywhere near me!”

Thomas watched as they continued to argue and bicker, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips and the bitter taste of dread at the pit of his stomach. These were kids, teenagers really but still kids none the less, still full of life and wonder. He couldn’t burden them with the life of a hero. All the worry and sleepless nights and existential dread that came along with the job would definitely snuff out whatever innocence these boys had left. But he couldn’t just leave them to their own devices, they needed guidance on how to navigate their new-found powers. He’d be willing to do that, only that, nothing else. His job was dangerous as it was and he didn’t need to drag these kids into it, especially if they still don’t yet know how to control their powers.

“So, I’ve been thinking,” Thomas said, finally interrupting the boys’ argument “I can help you guys out, well, I can try. I’ll help you guys understand what you’re going through and how to control your powers better, though I’m not sure if we’re exactly the same in that regard. Again, I have no idea what advances Oscorp has made in genetic splicing. You all could have totally different powers then what I’m used to.”

“We have all the basic functions,” Logan explained helpfully “though only Virgil and Roman can make webbing and I assume you can’t hear at the frequency we have; thus, you can’t hear the spider talking.”

“You would be correct in that assumption,” Thomas nodded “though, I mean, sometimes I can sense where they are and how they’re feeling but that’s about it. Nothing too crazy. Anything else?”

“None that we know of,” Roman shrugged “we’ve just been sticking to things all day and seeing weird colors radiating off each other like fireworks and this weird buzzing in the back of our head that keeps telling us somethings happening.”

“Yeah, that would be your spidy sense.” Thomas said.

The boys tilted their heads like some sort of adorable, confused puppy, “Spidy sense?”

“It’s a thing that I have and you guys have that makes us a LOT more aware of our surroundings,” Thomas explained “how do you think I’m able to attack, dodge, and shoot things without even looking at them?”

“Oh, you mean precognition,” Logan said “like the crab spider.”

“Sort of,” Thomas said “think of it as a sort of alarm clock that goes off every time dangers near.”

“Oh great, just what I need in my life,” Virgil said sarcastically “even more anxiety.”

“Yeah, that’s gunna be a tough one for you to handle bud,” Thomas said sympathetically “given that you have anxiety it’ll feel like one and the same but I’ll teach you a few tricks to help tell the difference.”

Virgil gave him a shy appreciative smile and Thomas all but melted as the kid mumbled, “Th-thanks…that would…help a lot actually.”

No Sanders! Do not get attached to these kids! Do not!

“So, um, what are we gunna do now?” Patton piped up shyly “Are you gunna teach us to be super heroes?”

“Do we get to be your sidekicks?” Roman asked excitedly, practically bouncing in his seat.

Thomas bit the inside of his cheek anxiously, “Um, well, I’ll teach you guys how to control your powers and understand yourselves better and everything but I don’t think-”

“Obviously, we would have to train a significant amount before even considering becoming his sidekicks.” Logan stated plainly.

“I know that Einstein,” Roman huffed “I’m just asking!”

“Wait, if we’re gunna do this are we gunna have to make our own costumes or something?” Virgil asked “Because I don’t know if I’m willing to put in that much effort.”

“Ooo, Roman and I can help you guys if you want,” Patton offered “I’m good at sewing and Roman sometimes helps out the costume department at the drama club.”

“Thank you, Patton, but I don’t think we should be thinking about costumes until after we’ve completed our training.” Logan said.

“Boo you whore,” Roman grumbled “you’re no fun.”

“You are not super heroes!” Thomas said firmly causing the table to go quiet, all four boys staring at him with a mixture of confusion and disappointment. He sighed, “Look, guys, my job as Rainbow Weaver, it’s not a game. It’s dangerous and tiring and…is the biggest responsibility you could ever ask for.”

The boys fidgeted in their seats, having now realized they were sort of jumping to conclusions and not seeing the reality of the situation. Thomas continued on, “You guys are just kids, you’re still in high school, you’re still growing, you still have a life! I don’t want you guys to leave that behind. Being a super hero may seem cool and glamorous but it’s a lot of work and sometimes…” There was a look of pain that flashed across Thomas is eyes, too quick for the boys to properly evaluate “…sometimes you won’t be able to save everyone. This is a job where you can’t afford to make mistakes because they have dire consequences. For you, the people around you, their families, everyone, they’re all affected. And no one will give you the benefit of the doubt because you’re a hero and it’s your job to protect them.”

It was silent for a moment then Roman asked, quiet and unsure, “If it’s such a burden then…why did you become a hero?”

The look of pain and regret returned to Thomas is eyes as he ran an anxious hand across his salt and pepper brown hair, “To become a better person then what I once was.”

“What does that mean?” Virgil asked bravely but still quite gentle.

“Sometimes,” Thomas began carefully “things happen and…people get hurt and then you have no choice but to take responsibility for that.” No one pressed him any further but it seemed Thomas still had more to say, “You guys have an opportunity to…live a normal life. I had that opportunity but the choices I made forced me to abandon it and I regret it so much. But I knew it was something to be done and because of it I did end up helping a lot of people but…also hurting a lot of people as well.”

Finally, Thomas looked back up at them, a strong determined look in his eyes, “I don’t want you guys going through the same experiences as I did. I want you boys to live your lives as normally as possible. Go out, make friends, date, have parties, worry about exams…live a life. Because if you choose to go down this path this will be your only life, do you understand?”

It was quiet again, this time much longer and this time it was Logan who chose to brake it, “No offence, Mr. Sanders, we understand completely what you’re trying to tell us but what else do you expect us to do with these abilities?”

Thomas sighed tiredly, “Look, kid-”

“No, we get it,” Logan continued “well, at least, I know I do. I can not speak for us all but I understand how big of a responsibility this is. But do you really expect us to go about our lives normally as we did before? How are we supposed to live “normally” when we know that we are anything but? How are we going to go our whole lives doing nothing and letting our powers sit dormant when we can feel it itching beneath our skin? Honestly, could you have done that?”

Thomas thought a moment, flashing back to when he first got his powers and how everything felt jittery and loud. How he had trouble sitting still and had been restless for days. Then he became Rainbow Weaver and everything changed, it was difficult yes but it really helped get out a lot of that nervous, restless energy he had inside him. He felt he was using his powers correctly and not just sitting there while his head buzzed like an angry hornets’ nest. When he first got his powers, he knew he needed to do SOMETHING with them but he didn’t know what. That lead to a lot of trouble be even then after he knew that he still couldn’t just sit there.

“I’ll admit that I would have been restless and miserable my entire life if I hadn’t become Rainbow Weaver,” Thomas answered honestly “however, I think I still would of chosen to do so instead of taking on the mask.”

“Do you really hate being Rainbow Weaver that much?” Virgil asked. He looked…hurt? Disappointed? Thomas wasn’t quite sure but he knew for sure that he didn’t like it.

“I don’t hate being Rainbow Weaver,” Thomas said, looking out the window next to their booth “it’s just…after a couple of years it kind of takes a toll on you. I’m just a tired, grumpy old man, nothing special.”

More silence, the boys quietly mulling over the conversation, fidgeting with that same restless energy mentioned earlier and then…

“You’re special to me.”

Thomas looked back to see Roman staring back at him with a pout and a gentle yet fiery look in his eyes. “You may not think yourself special as a person but to me, be it Thomas Sanders or Rainbow Weaver, you’ve brought…just a little bit more joy into my life. And maybe it’s not a lot to someone like you but it’s a lot to me. So…if I could be able to do that for someone, even if it’s just one person, I’d be over the moon.

“I understand your concern and you’re absolutely right, this is not a game. But Logan is, dare I say it, right, we can’t just sit around letting these powers fester inside us. What are we supposed to do with our selves for the rest of our lives? Can’t go back to being normal when we know for damn sure we’re not and I don’t know about the rest of you but I want to do more with my life. Especially now that I can!”

Thomas sighed once more, rubbing a hand over his face and hair, “You gotta understand kid, this isn’t like the comic books. The dangers and hardships are real and once you’re in there is no going back.”

“And I accept that,” Roman replied firmly “I accept all of it and everything and…if I live to regret it then oh well. But I know that I’ll regret it more knowing I had the power to do something but instead chose to do nothing. In the end it’s my choice and nobody else is.”

Well, I’m not sure about the whole super hero thing,” Virgil pipped up “but…I do feel like I should be doing something with these powers. I’ve taught my self to play it safe and keep quiet my whole life but now…now I wanna do something more. I don’t want to just sit here letting the world pass me by anymore I want…I want to do something spontaneous and brave.

“A-and I know this isn’t some sort of hobby you pick up like dancing or painting or something,” Virgil said quickly “but I feel like…it’s something I need to do. Something I have to do. Do you get what I’m saying?”

“I…” Thomas wanted to say yes, yes, he understood everything that they were saying because it was what drove him to be Rainbow Weaver in the first place. But he also wanted to lie and say no, just so he can protect these kids from the horrors that awaited them down the hero’s path.

“Plus,” Patton added “you look like you could use the help. It must be difficult looking after an entire city alone. And since we all have powers now, we can make the work a whole lot easier for you in return for you helping us control our powers.”

“Indeed,” Logan said, readjusting his fake glasses “crime rate will surely go down in numbers with five on the team. It will give you time to have optimal rest between shifts as well as pursue what ever other hobbies you previously could not do. It’s a solid business proposition for all of us, we get the proper training we need to control our new-found abilities and you have a more balanced out schedule for both your vigilante duties and personal life.”

Thomas looked over these kids, determination in their eyes and fire in their bellies, ready to take on the weight of the world for him. They were stubborn and foolish and so not ready for anything yet to come…but it would be very hypocritical of Thomas to deny them this path. Plus, he wasn’t their parent, it wasn’t like he could completely tell them what to do. All he could do was warn them of what was ahead and hope to whatever god above they take his advice. Thomas sighed again, then he groaned, then he banged his head against the table because these kids were so stubborn, exactly like him, and it was all just so frustrating. He looked back up at them, face squished against the table as four pairs of worried eyes stared at him, he probably looked insane. He probably was insane but was too deep in shit to actually be affected by anything now.

“Fine.” Thomas said, he was so going to regret this.

“Fine what?” Roman asked.

Thomas made a vague gesture with his hand, “Fine, I’ll…teach you and train you guys and, if you really want, I’ll…consider letting you help me out a bit.”

“Really?” Logan said, somewhat excitedly, like a child on Christmas.

If this were not such a serious matter Thomas would of laughed, “But nothing to dangerous, just…common things, purse muggers, corner store robberies, assaulters, jay walkers, all that jazz.”

“Hey, that’s good enough for me.” Virgil said, a small excited smile growing on this face.

“Me too!” Patton exclaimed.

“I second that motion.” Logan added.

“Epic!” Roman cheered.

“But!” Thomas interrupted “You guys are still minors and in high school so you all are under my rule, got it? You do exactly as I say when I say it.”

They all nodded enthusiastically, still jittery with excitement as Thomas continued to give out instructions, “This is a dangerous job and I want you all trained first and for most. So, we aren’t gunna be going out on patrol anytime soon, get that into your head right now. Secondly, it is imperative you keep all of this a secret, everything we do can not only put you at risk but your families and friends.”

“Luckily, I don’t have any friends.” Virgil half joked.

Logan rolled his eyes, “Gee, thanks.”

“Thirdly,” Thomas cut in, his expression growing dark and serious “if you guys are going to do this, you have to be willing to put everything you have into this. No short cuts, no half assed effort, no walking away. It’s all or nothing, got it?”

“Got it.” They echoed, just as serious and determined as Thomas feared they’d be.

“Alright,” Thomas huffed, leaning back to stretch “let’s finish up here and then we have to go somewhere.”

“Where?” Patton asked curiously.

“There are a few people I want you to meet.” Thomas smirked mysteriously.

---

Thomas had been worried at first, it was very suspicious for a grown adult man to take for underaged teenagers to his house. It gave off the wrong impression to people and made him look like a creep. But what else could he do but make sure the boys were safe and comfortable, assuring them that nothing bad would happen even though when he said it out loud it still sounded mildly disturbing. Like sure, he was Rainbow Weaver, but he was still a stranger to these boys and he did not want to scare them off when they had no where else to turn to for help.

Thankfully the boys understood Thomas is worry and were careful to not crowed around too much to make it seem weird. When they got to his neighborhood Roman commented that the two-story brownstone townhouse Thomas lived in looked like the house from Stuart Little. Thomas paused a moment, tilting his head back to get a good look at his house before chuckling and reluctantly agreeing that, “Yeah, you’re kind of right.”

Inside, the house was spacious and neat, band, concert, musical and play posters hung on the wall alongside pictures of Thomas and his friends and family. There were lots of colors, figurines from movies and shows, potted plants on shelves, tables and corners, and just and overall warm atmosphere.

“Whoa, your house is really neat-o!” Patton exclaimed, excitingly looking over one of the potted plants filled with sweet peas.

Thomas smiled bashfully, “Oh, thanks, I-”

“You went to a My Chemical Romance concert?!” Virgil gasped softly as he stared at one of the hung-up posters “And you got it signed?!”

“Yeah,” Thomas nodded “me and Joan went-”

“You went to see Hamilton!” Roman squealed, looking up at another poster “And you got it signed by Lin Manuel Mirandas!”

“Yes and-”

“Do you have the entire anthology of Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle’s work?” Logan asked excitedly, he ran his finger over the books of the bookshelf and plucked out The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.

“Not entirely but-”

“Oh my gosh!” Patton squealed, running over to the living room towards the shelf filled with pop vinyl’s “You have a bunch of Winnie the Pooh pops! And Steven Universe! I love that show!”

“I heard Steven Universe!” Roman exclaimed, rushing in behind his friend.

“Where?” Virgil chimed in, not to far behind with Logan tailing along, nose deep in a Sherlock Holmes book.

“You have a record player!” Roman gasped, quickly kneeling to look through Thomas is record box “What types of records do you have?”

“Oh, David Bowie!” Patton smiled as he pulled out a record.

“Cool, the Beatles White Album!” Virgil grinned.

“Isn’t that the one that Charles Manson was obsessed over?” Roman asked.

“It’s still a good album.” Virgil and Thomas said at the same time. They blinked at each other in surprise before dissolving into a fit of giggles. It was all a little more chaotic then what Thomas was expecting but it wasn’t unwelcome. Thomas didn’t usually have many people over except for Joan and Talyn so it was…nice hearing the house so full of laughter.

Speaking of Joan and Talyn…

“Thomas? Is that you?” A voice from down the hall made it’s way closer and closer to the living room where it was revealed to belong to a lanky, scraggily looking person in an orange beanie. “Talyn and I just finished-”

They paused, looking over the scene carefully as the boys all froze like deer caught in headlights. They scanned over each teen one by one before making direct eye contact with Thomas and carefully asking: “What the hell is going on?”

“Joan, uh,” Thomas flubbered in place, caught way off guard “look, hears the thing, uh, they have what I have.”

“That isn’t making any of this look any better Thomas!” Joan exclaimed, frustrated.

“Uh…”

“We have spider powers!” Roman butted in, shooting a web at a nearby picture frame causing it to fall and brake “Sorry!”

“God damn it Roman!” Virgil shrieked “Be careful, this isn’t your house!”

“Oh please,” Roman huffed “as if you weren’t just going through his vinyl collection not five seconds ago. And without permission might I add.”

“You did so as well,” Logan rebutted “so it’s kind of hypocritical of you to make that statement.”

“Right back at you!” Roman shot back, gesturing to the book in Logan’s hands.

The bespectacled man flushed with embarrassment, setting the book down on a nearby table as Virgil bounced back up, “Well, he’s not the one that broke something!”

“Come on guys, please no fighting.” Patton begged but it fell on deaf ears and soon the room was filled with loud arguing. Joan and Thomas observed the chaos unfold silently, contemplating what their best course of action should be. Wait it out? Get involved?

“What’s going on?” Another voice chimed in and the room went silent once more, turning to find a short person with orange and black hair. Joan pointed to Thomas who merely shrugged sheepishly and said: “Talyn, you’re never gunna believe this.”

---

They head down towards Thomas is basement (which still sounds super fucking creepy) and find that it has been transformed into pretty sizable high-tech lab. If Logan had been excited by the books that Thomas owned, he was over the moon by all the gadgets and text books he had down there. He kept asking question after question about how everything worked and what did this do and what did that do? Thomas found the whole thing very amusing, like watching a little kid at a candy store.

“Did you all make all this stuff?” Logan asked excitedly.

“Well, it was mainly Joan and Talyn.” Thomas said.

“Don’t sell yourself short man,” Joan scolded lightly, patting their friend on the back “you did a lot of the designing and schematics. Not your fault you had to be out saving everybody.”

“Stay still please,” Talyn ordered gently, seating Logan on a near by chair next to Patton, Roman, and Virgil who had a few suction cup wires stuck to their foreheads, necks, chests, and arms. “The scanning process will go a lot faster if we’re able to draw blood from you and use is as a sort of blue print to navigate your body. Is that okay?”

The boys looked at each other tentatively before all nodding in agreement. As Talyn got a few petri dishes and micro slides ready Joan had taken the spider from Logan’s backpack and transferred it into a small containment unit that was hooked up to the large motherboard computer. Thomas watched anxiously from the sideline as his friends scurried around to get everything ready.

“So, what are you gunna do to us?” Virgil asked nervously as Talyn carefully wiped down one of his fingers with rubbing alcohol.

“Well, we took a sample from the spider and scanning it right now to see what’s been mixed in to it,” Talyn explained as they took a clean syringe needle and pricked his finger with it dropping blood into the petri dish and micro slid before bandaging it up. It hadn’t even hurt. “Then we’re gunna use your DNA to see what’s been transformed as well as to easily scan your vitals.”

“Why are you doing that?” Patton asked as he watched them move on to Roman.

“Well for one, to make sure your mutation is stable,” Joan chimed in helpfully “and to also see what other abilities you guys may have. Keep in mind you guys may or may not have other abilities within you that will take a bit of time to, uh, activate.”

“What happens if our mutation isn’t stable?” Roman asked, rubbing his bandage finger.

The adults were quiet for a moment which of course did not sit well with the teens one bit. Talyn gently smiled at them, wrapping up Patton’s finger before finally moving on to Logan. “Don’t worry about it, it’s most likely not going to happen. You boys seem pretty stable from what we’ve observed.”

“That’s not ominous at all.” Virgil said sarcastically.

“Starting scan,” Joan announced once Talyn was finish getting their sample from Logan. They typed away quickly at the computer as a long beam of blue light scanned the quartet up and down and a light tingly sensation was felt where the suction cups were attached. The boys didn’t move once, much to fearful they might accidently mess up the scanning process, Virgil didn’t even want to breath.

Finally, after a few seconds, there was an audible beep and the blue lights shut off. Virgil, along with the other three, let out a loud sigh, shoulders still a bit tense but not as much as when the scanning was happening. Thomas quickly walked over towards them to make sure they were okay.

“You guys good?” He asked.

“We’re okie dokie,” Patton giggled nervously “just, uh, a bit frazzled.”

“I think I’m stuck to my chair.” Virgil admitted bashfully, his hands had been gripping the sides of the stool and Thomas could now see that he was physically trying to pull them off.

“Hey, hey, hey, you’re gunna hurt yourself,” Thomas cooed softly “just breath, in for four…hold for seven…out for eight. Good job, keep it up.”

Once he was able to calm Virgil down enough and get him unstuck, he looked to the others to make sure they were okay too. As Patton said earlier, he was a bit frazzled but ultimately okay, Roman was a bit jittery but seemed to be calming down as he followed Virgil’s breathing technique. Logan was just fine and was once again talking and asking a dozen questions about what just happened and how it worked and what did they find and etcetera, etcetera.

“Good news, your mutation is stable,” Joan announced and there was an obvious sigh of relief from both Thomas and the boys “we have found some interesting data though. This poor little spider has been spliced through hell and back. It’s practically a new species on it’s own, way different then the first generation that bit Thomas.”

“How so?” Logan asked, intrigued.

“Well, for one it has a few functions not typically normal for a spider,” Talyn said, looking through a few graphs on their tablet “it’s been extremely enhanced and mutated over and over again. Like if they were copying the same piece of paper again and again. It just all stacks up into this…it can barely be called a spider, I honestly don’t know what it is.”

“Well, it still looks like a creepy crawly spider to me.” Patton pouted.

“Looks are one thing, the function of it is another,” Joan said thoughtfully, pressing a few buttons and gesturing towards the containment unit the spider was in “watch this.”

The boys and Thomas looked towards the chamber and watched the spider scuttle around as the soft buzz of electricity filled its tank then it disappeared. Their eyes widened as they did a double take to make sure that really happened and the spider really wasn’t there anymore.

“Where’d it go?” Roman asked.

“It’s still there,” Joan said, typing once more and the tank was soon glossed over in Infrared light. There they saw the spider, still inside, scuttling around its tank as if nothing has changed. “Besides invisibility it seems to have other super abilities as well. We can’t for sure name all of them but I’ve got a few here listed out and ready for testing.”

“Sit back boys, Thomas move out of the way, please,” Talyn ordered gently “this’ll tingle a little.”

They typed something out on their tablet and the boys felt a slight tingle of electricity move throughout their bodies. It didn’t hurt and it didn’t last long so the boys were left confused as to what happened. Until they looked to Virgil.

“Virgil?” Logan called out, looking around the lab when he saw that his friend was no longer seated on the stool “Where’d you go?”

“I’m right here.” A disembodied voice said.

Patton screamed, jumping out of his chair and on to Roman’s lap, “There’s a ghost!”

“What?”

“V-Virgil, is that you?” Roman asked, holding Patton close.

“Yeah, what are you guys looking at?” The voice demanded.

“We aren’t looking at anything, we’re looking for you.” Logan said.

“But I’m right-” There was a sudden pause then a shriek of fear “I can’t see my-my hands or my feet or my anything!”

Thomas quickly turned to Joan and Talyn when he heard the panic rise in Virgil’s voice, “Whatever you did, stop it now!”

Talyn nodded, quickly typing on their tablet and another small tingle of electricity was sent out. Virgil reappeared slowly, arms hugging around his waist as he curled into himself and eyes squeezed shut. Thomas was by his side in an instant, gently coxing him back to reality, “Hey, its okay, you’re okay. Breath for me, please.”

Virgil took a breath and peeked out from one eye before looking down and sighing with relief when he was able to see himself again. He looked back up to Thomas with fearful eyes, “W-what was that?”

“I’m not sure,” Thomas admitted before looking over and firmly pining his two friends with a look “what did you guys do?”

They gave an apologetic smile as Joan leaped to explain what happened, “Well, we sent the same small electric pulse we used on the spider towards your brain to see if you would have the same effects. Obviously, it did and obviously we should have prepared you guys a bit more in advance. We’re sorry.”

“Yeah, that’s our bad.” Talyn added.

Thomas sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, “Guys, we talked about this, please give substantial warning BEFORE the experiment happens. Not everyone is super geniuses like you two and know exactly what’s going to happen.”

“I take it this has happened before?” Logan stated, having now gotten up to be by Virgil’s side, a hand placed gently on his friends back rubbing soothing circles.

“Yeah,” Thomas admitted “but usually it’s with me on the receiving end. I’m used to it by now but of course you guys aren’t so…” He gave his friends a pointed look “warning next time.”

“Next time?” Virgil squeaked.

“Oh, you don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Thomas assured quickly “we can do this another day. I know today has been really stressful for you boys already so I understand if you guys want to go home already and get some rest.”

“No, no, I’m fine,” Virgil said quickly “really, just…you know, a little freaked out. Might as well get it over with now so we won’t have to worry about it later.”

“Are you sure?” Logan asked, his hand still remained in contact with Virgil’s back.

“Don’t push yourself too hard,” Roman added “mental health is just as important as physical health you know.”

“Yeah kiddo, if it’s gunna be too much for you we rather just wait for a bit to cool down.” Patton said sweetly.

Virgil cheeks flushed a light pink, head ducking down so that his bangs cover his eyes, “I’m fine, really. Th-thanks for checking up though. But, like, what about you guys? How do you guys feel about all this…experimenting stuff?”

“Yeah, I want to make sure you boys are all comfortable with all of this,” Thomas said firmly “if anything crosses a line or you want to stop, tell us okay?”

“I’m good.” Roman nodded.

“I am as well.” Logan confirmed, sitting back down.

“Me too.” Patton chimed in as he climbed off of Roman’s lap.

“I’ll be fine.” Virgil murmured.

“Excellent,” Joan said excitingly turning back to the computer “the next set of tests will be of a similar fashion. We’ll send a wave of electronic pules to your brain’s nervous system and see if we can get a reaction.”

“Remember, if you guys get uncomfortable or need us to stop don’t be afraid to tell us, okay?” Talyn added.

With one last nod of confirmation Joan said, “Let us begin.”

---

“Roman can you sing a note for me?” Talyn asked.

Roman gave her a look of confusion, “You want me to sing? I mean, not that I won’t do it but why?”

“With this test we seem to only be getting a reaction from your brain so I want to see if the ability we’ve unlocked is active,” Talyn explained “but make sure to face the wall over there, please.”

“Uh, okay,” Roman said, shifting in his seat towards the directed area “can I ask what ability this is?”

“Sonic sound waves,” Joan said casually “we all might want to take a step back just in case.”

Thomas and the other three stepped behind Roman who in turn rolled his eyes before focusing on the task at hand. All he had to do was sing a note, but like what note? How high? How loud? How would this even work? Roman sighed, shrugged, and decided to just riff Ariel’s theme.

“Ah, ah, ah! Ah, ah, ah!”

The room shook and shuttered like an earthquake. Everyone covered their ears from be beautiful yet ear piercingly loud tune that shook the entire building. The wall which Roman was facing when he sang had shook so violently there was a large crack that ripped down the middle of it.

Roman was quick to cover his mouth, eyes wide at the destruction he’s caused, “Oh dear…”

“Yeah, I think we should have that dormant for now until he learns how to control it.” Thomas suggested, trying to settle the ringing in his ear.

“We can’t exactly turn their powers on or off,” Joan explained “these are just electric pulses that activate their powers for them artificially. On their own we don’t know when these powers will pop up or how they’ll be able to activate them. It could take days, months, even years.”

“I just hope it doesn’t come out during the play this winter.” Roman moaned.

---

“This one is simple,” Joan said as they walked over towards a light switch on a wall “it shows that each of you have some variation of night vision, though I’m not sure how strong it is. I’m gunna turn off the light and you guys tell me what you see, okay?”

Four nods of agreement were seen and Joan finally flipped the switch. Nothing happened, well, at least for Logan. He looked around confused, was the light switch broken? Everything still looked the same to him.

“What do you see?” Talyn asked, they stared straight ahead at nothing and Logan wondered why that was.

“You still haven’t turned off the light.” Logan stated obviously.

Joan, who was also looking into the nothingness, pulled a face of confusion before breaking out into a large grin, “Logan, we just switched them off.”

“No, you haven’t,” Logan argued “I mean you used the light switch but they’re still….on.” He looked up to the florescent lights above him that were now dark and it suddenly dawned on him “I have night vision…”

“I think I do too,” Virgil piped up, squinting around the room “but when you turned off the light everything just kind of got dim.”

“Yeah, me too.” Patton chimed in.

“It all turned black and white for me,” Roman said “like, I can see everything fine but it’s all just shades of gray.”

“Excellent,” Joan smiled, flicking the light switch back on “it seems like Logan has the better night vision out of everyone. Roman’s vision is probably more what the spider would see normally and Patton and Virgil’s are about the same as Thomas.”

“Why do you think that is?” Logan asked curiously “We all got bit by the same spider so you would assume we would all be the same ability wise.”

“You’re all different,” Talyn said obviously “if you were the same person then maybe you’d have similar reactions but depending on your DNA your bodies will react to the venom differently. Plus, you did theorize that with each victim the spider used more and more venom so that can also be an important factor.”

Logan nodded thoughtfully, “I guess so.”

---

“We’re gunna do a quick test on just you Patton,” Talyn said as they tied a blindfold over Patton’s eyes “we’ve been picking up some strange brainwaves coming from you and we want to if we’re right.”

“Uh, okay,” Patton said tentatively, squirming in his seat “is it something bad?”

“No, no nothing bad,” Talyn assured “it’s just we’ve noticed that you seemed to be a very empathetic person and we want to see if that has been enhanced in anyway with your mutation.”

“Oh, well, what are we gunna do then?” Patton asked.

“Well, we’ve given everybody a note card of a certain feeling and they’re gunna try to emulate that feeling,” Joan explained as they passed out the note cards “your job is to guess what that feeling is.”

“How am I gunna do that?” Patton asked, head turning to try and track Joan’s voice.

“How ever you deem it necessary,” Joan said “I’ve known some people to sense thing through auras and given your ‘spidy sense’ that could be the case. But sometimes physical contact is needed to truly pick up what the other person is feeling.”

“Mmh, okay,” Patton said “but why the blindfold?”

“Eye contact and facial features can sometimes give away what a person’s feeling very easily,” Talyn chimed in “so this a ‘no cheating’ blindfold.”

“Oooh, sorry, I’m dumb.” Patton giggled.

“You are NOT dumb, Patton!” Roman said firmly, arms crossed stubbornly and glaring at his best friend even though Patton couldn’t see him.

Patton smiled passively, “Whatever you say, Ro.”

“I will punch you in the name of friendship!” Roman declared dramatically.

The group laughed at the two friends’ antics before quickly settling into silence as Joan lined them up in front of Patton with them going first. Patton fidgeted nervously as Joan stood in front him, he could tell someone was there but he just couldn’t read them properly. Shyly, Patton extended both his hands out, palms up, and Joan silently replied by carefully setting their own hands over his.

“I feel…curious,” Patton hummed “like, I have a lot of questions, well, they have a lot of question. I have questions too but that’s not me feeling question…wait can you feel question? Oh, it’s changing. They’re amused but also satisfied that they’re questions have been answered. Is that right?”

“Yes, it is.” Joan chuckled, letting go of Patton’s hands.

“Oh, Joan,” Patton said surprised “I didn’t know you’d be participating too. I don’t have to guess names, right? I don’t think I can do that.”

“No, just feelings.” They assured, stepping away and letting the next person go up.

Virgil carefully stepped up, looking down at his note card before stuffing it in his pocket. He just stood there a moment, staring down at Patton’s extended hands before carefully reaching out to grab them. Patton hummed curiously, soft warm hands squeezing Virgil’s gently.

“They’re kind of nervous,” Patton stated “they really don’t know what they should be doing right now. Aw, don’t be nervous, you’re doing great. Oh, they’re relaxing a little, that’s good. Glad I could lend a hand.”

Virgil snorted, Logan groaned in the background and everybody else chuckled. Patton giggled delightfully, “See, they think I’m funny! Did I do good?”

“Doing great Patton,” Joan assured “Next please.”

Virgil stepped out of the way for Thomas to move forward. The older man was hesitant at first but ultimately sighed, handing his note card off to Joan before grabbing hold of Patton’s hands. Immediately, Patton’s smiling face morphed into a melancholy frown, brow knitting together as if in immense pain.

“Oh they’re…i-it feels…sad,” Patton whimpered, voice cracked and watery “b-but it’s not a normal sad it’s like…like they lost someone precious to them.”

The others watch on with amazement and worry as tears began to stream down Patton’s face, “They’re in a lot of pain but…they also feel empty and cold. N-now they feel guilty, oh don’t feel guilty! I’m fine, really it’s just…can I give you a hug?”

Thomas looked down at Patton’s tear stained face, fear and guilt clawing at his chest for causing so much destress to such a sweet kid. Taking a breath to calm himself Thomas stepped forward and engulfed the teen in a big hug. Patton was quick to wrap his arms tightly around Thomas’s waist as if he was trying to physically mend all of Thomas is broken pieces back together. Warmth bloomed in Thomas’s chest at the sweet gesture and he couldn’t help but squeeze a little tighter and hold on a bit longer. The room was calm and quiet, no one wanting to disturb the gentle moment being had between the two.

“I know it’s hard but…I promise we’ll get through it eventually.” Patton murmured gently into his chest.

They final let go after a long while and Thomas sheepishly side stepped away while Patton wiped away the tears from under his blindfold. Roman was about to step forward but Talyn held him back to take his place, seeing that Roman’s note card also had an extreme emotion they figured Patton could use a bit of an emotional cool down. Gently, Talyn grabbed onto Patton’s hands, rubbing soothing circles over his fingers.

“They’re very clam,” Patton sniffed, taking in a breath then slowly letting it out “it’s gentle and nice, very soothing. Like, aloe being put over a burn mark…that’s weird analogy, I’m sorry.”

Talyn huffed out a laugh, “I think it’s suitable.”

“Oh, Talyn, you’re here too,” Patton smiled “did I get it right?”

“Mmh,” Talyn nodded before realizing Patton couldn’t see them “yeah, you did. We can stop now if you want, we have plenty of date.”

“No, I wanna finish,” Patton said determined “I’m fine to continue.”

“You sure?” Talyn asked carefully.

Patton nodded, “Yes, I’m sure.”

“Okay, next person.” Talyn stepped aside and let Roman take their place. Roman handed them his note card before firmly taking Patton’s hands in his. Patton pouted, his brow scrunched up in annoyance.

“I feel…angry,” Patton said “well, maybe not ‘angry’ angry but like…kind of annoyed, maybe a little more frustrated. Also, a tad bit worried. Geez, what’s got you so riled up?”

“Because my best friend thinks he’s dumb but he’s not and I love him very much!” Roman grumbled, stomping his foot childishly “Also you were crying earlier and I don’t like seeing you sad.”

“Aw, Ro-Ro,” Patton giggled, pulling Roman in for a hug “I love you too, sorry for making you worry.”

“It’s not your fault Peaches,” Roman murmured, burying his face into Patton’s hair “but to quote you: ‘if you keep talking bad about yourself, I will physically fight you!’”

The friends giggled, holding each other for a little while longer until Roman finally “forgave” Patton and moved out of the way for the last person. Logan fidgeted nervously, quite unlike his usual calm and cool self, frowning down at the note card in his hand, “Happy” it read. Logan was pretty sure that Virgil switched out their note cards if the smug face he had was anything to go by. He glared at his best friend before handing off the note card and stepping in front of Patton, who extended his hands readily.

Logan gulped nervously, no that was not the right emotion to be having right now. Happy, he had to be happy. Think happy thoughts…what kind of happy thoughts? His mother’s homed cooked Mansaf…his first telescope his brother got him on his 7th birthday…the first time his father took him to the aquarium and the jelly fish looked like stars…the time Virgil fell down the stairs…Logan huffed a small laugh on that last one.

Carefully, Logan lifted his hands and hovered them a few inches above Patton’s own. He gulped again, face red hot and all eyes (minus Patton’s) were on him, waiting. Why was he nervous? Why couldn’t he move? Why were his hands suddenly so sweaty? This was just an experiment, it was not big deal!

“Um, are you still there?” Patton asked, confused as to why it was taking so long.

“Give them a minute,” Joan said helpfully, but the knowing smirk on his and everybody else is face wasn’t helpful at all. At least not for Logan.

“Oh, okay, take your time.” Patton said soothingly, a soft smile painting his face. Patton always had a nice smile, it made everything feel lighter. Logan was quick to stop that train of thought and immediately dropped his hands onto Patton’s.

Patton hummed quietly, his hands were soft and warm, short and fat compared to Logan’s cold, clammy, spindly fingers. They were so different and yet they felt completely natural together. It was a completely absurd and illogical thought to say the least but it was a common thought process Logan had whenever he was around the bright sunshine of a human being known as Patton Foster.

Patton smiled, a pretty blush spreading across his cheeks, “It’s really warm and fluttery.”

‘Fuck, fuck, fuck!’ Logan thought to himself ‘Abort mission! Abort mission!’

But he was frozen in place as Patton continued to explain, “Like a thousand butterflies in my stomach but I also want to throw up at the same time. Not in a bad way though. They’re a bit nervous too but also kind of excited. They’re in love!”

Logan choked on his own spit and he heard Virgil and Roman in the background quietly snickering to themselves. He threw them a glare to shut up before turning back to remove his hands but found that Patton still held them firmly in his own. Turns out he wasn’t done yet.

“They’re embarrassed now,” He said tentatively “was I not supposed to say that? Sorry, I got excited. You’re love is a very nice feeling and whoever that lucky person is to receive it I hope they know how wonderfully blessed they are.”

Logan was pretty sure his face was on fire now, he’s surprised that the smoke alarm hadn’t started beeping. Or maybe it has but he just couldn’t hear it over the beating of his own heart in his ears and Roman and Virgil’s annoying laughter. Logan cleared his throat, shaking his thoughts out of his head before carefully removing his hands from Patton’s gentle hold and rejoining the group.

“Did I get it right?” Patton asked.

“Uh, it wasn’t what was written on the note card but I think you still got it right,” Joan chuckled as they went to remove Patton’s blindfold as well as the suction cups on his head and neck “I think that’s enough testing for today. It’s getting late and you kids should probably start getting home.”

“Should we come back tomorrow?” Patton asked, blinking his eyes to adjust to the light.

“Only if you want to,” Thomas butted in before either Joan or Talyn could answer “and only if you guys are not busy. Remember, you still have school and a life to attend to.”

“Don’t remind me,” Roman whined “I still gotta finish my homework when I get home.”

“That’s ironic since we told our parents we were in a study group.” Logan said.

“What time is it anyway?” Virgil asked, stretching out his arms.

Talyn looked down at their watch, “’Bout to be eight thirty.”

“Eight thirty!” The boys exclaimed, panic rising in their eyes as they scrambled to pack their things.

“Aw, man my mom’s gunna kill for missing dinner!” Patton shrieked.

“You’re mom? Have you met my mom?” Roman voice cracked “She still thinks I’m sick and wanted me to stay home!”

“Thanks for everything Mr. Sanders, uh, we’ll come by tomorrow if we aren’t grounded.” Virgil said in a rush as they all raced up stairs.

“Pleasure meeting all of you!” Logan called out as he dashed out the basement door with his friends. The door slammed shut and there was a rumble of feet running across the hall before they heard the front door open and slam shut too.

“Nice kids.” Joan said after a moment of silence.

“Don’t get too attached to them,” Thomas warned as he walked over to the containment unit where the little spider was still scuttling around in “this all has to be taken seriously and professionally. These kids have no idea what going on to them or what they’ve just gotten themselves into so we have to there to guide them.”

“Mmh, are you telling us that or yourself?” Talyn smirked.

Thomas sputtered uselessly, “I-I…wh-what are you talking about?”

“Don’t think we don’t see how you interact with those kids,” Talyn chuckled “all maternal and such.”

“I’m not – it’s not…I don’t do that…” Thomas said meekly, but even he was starting to doubt that “I mean, they’re just kids and I know what it’s like going through what they’re going through. God knows I would have liked a bit of guidance. And they’re also younger then what I was when I first got my powers, we have to keep a careful eye on them.”

“I have a theory,” Joan announced dramatically “that by the end of the week they’ll have you wrapped around their little fingers.”

“Yeah right,” Thomas grumbled “I don’t know if you’ve noticed but I’m not really ‘hip’ with the kids.”

“You’re right, I should give you the benefit of the doubt,” Joan said solemnly “one and a half weeks it is.”

Talyn and Joan laughed while Thomas groaned but it wasn’t because he was frustrated but because he knew Joan was probably right.

Tag:

@immortaldystopia @metaphoricalpluto2 @ultimate-queen-of-fandoms2 @misunderstood-shadow @fairytailtwists @0callmevirge0 @blenderkit17 @galaxy-lilies-main @lumi-1 @paint-in-flames

#thomas sanders #sanders sides #sander sides fanfiction #patton sanders #logan sanders #virgil sanders #roman sanders #logicality #prinxiety #spiderverse au #tobashiarg!

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cchellacat · 5 years

Text

Finding A Different Way (The Checkout Part 2)

Love All The Marvel Ships Challenge

Day Twenty-Three ~ Having A Lazy Day

Part 2 of The Checkout

New York 2030

The last defenders stood in the ruins of Stark Tower waiting. They were hoping for someone. Someone that might help them reverse the terrible tragedy that had befallen the planet.

Sam Wilson sat against a crumbling fountain that had once been part of the lobby. He was lost. He’d been lost for a long time. The family that had once formed between the Avengers in this same place had cracked and crumbled. He was the only one left. The others were all long dead. He could pinpoint to the fucking hour the moment it had all went wrong. A single senseless tragedy which had domino-ed and left the Earth vulnerable, without it’s best heroes when they had been needed most. It had all hinged on just one woman, one life, that once gone had caused a chain of events to unfold which had doomed them all.

“We know it worked before, that there was another future, one that ended almost as badly as this. It was averted in the same way we want to avert this.”

Sam listened with half an ear as Professor Xavier explained the plan to Jemma Simmons.

“And there is no one else who we might send back? No one?”

“There is no one left with a healing factor strong enough to withstand the forces which will need to be exerted to send a person back far enough. Added to that, Logan has done this before, he has the best chance of succeeding.”

“How do you know he will agree?”

“He lost something precious to him in all of this. He’ll agree.”

“If you knew that this was possible… I don’t understand why you did not try this plan sooner.”

Kitty Pride stepped forward, her chin lifted defiantly.

“It took me while to develop the power, I had no idea how to do it, or that I could do it. The Professor and Logan were the only ones who knew of the possibility.”

Xavier placed a placating hand on the woman’s arm.

“When I saw how bad things were getting, I informed Kitty of the previous timeline and she started training her power in earnest, attempting to develop the ability again. We were only successful a year ago. Since then Kitty has successfully sent people consciousness back in time on a number of occasions. The longest we managed to establish was a month, but it killed the person we sent back before they could alter the timeline.”

“So, we need this, Wolverine, to make it work. Exactly how did you loose contact with him?”

Sam squirmed. He remembered intimately why the man had taken off and he didn’t blame him, not a bit.

“It was my fault.”

“Mr Wilson, it was not your fault, I assure, Logan did not blame you for what happened.”

“I blame myself Professor, it was on me. I was the one leading that mission. I was the one who screwed up. I should have died then.”

“Rogue’s death was not your fault. She did what any team mate would do for another. She was a brave woman and more then capable of looking after herself. I knew her well, she wouldn’t want the weight of her death on you.”

“Maybe, but it is. She came back for me, she saved my life and then she went back into that place and sacrificed herself to give us time to get away. I don’t blame Logan for leaving, if it had been my wife that got killed like that, I would have shot the asshole who messed up myself.”

“Shut the fuck up. I don’t blame you Wilson, I never did. Just couldn’t stick around, not with her gone, I needed time.”

Wolverine stalked over the rubble towards them, a tired looking Danny Rand following him closely.

“Logan.”

“Chuck, good to see you.”

The two men embraced.

“Well, this all looks depressingly familiar.”

“The end of the world?”

Logan sighed.

“Where are we doing this? The city’s crawling with Skrulls.”

Sam stood and pulled out an old key card.

“This place has been abandoned for years, looted repeatedly. But there was a sub-basement never on the plans. Stark always was a paranoid son of a bitch. Rhodes gave this to me before he died. Told me it was a safe place if we ever needed a bunker. I figured we can hole up there, we should be good for week at least, if the Skrulls don’t get wind of it.”

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Logan sometimes wonders what he did to end up in these situations. Twice he’s watched as the world crumbled to nothing around him. Twice he’s watched the woman he loved either be taken from him or killed. This time he was not going to fuck it up. He was going to fix this. But first he had to understand where it had all started. Which meant talking to Wilson. He’d told the truth earlier, he didn’t blame Wilson for Marie’s death, the woman was stubborn like mule. There was no one gutsier, and more bull headed that he had met in his life, than his Marie, his Rogue. It’s a little ironic he thinks, that the woman he has to save now is one who, from all accounts from Wilson, was just as stubborn and gutsy.

“It was January 21st 2018 our girl goes to buy some milk and some kid hopped up on crystal meth holds up the grocery store. A civvie decides to try and interfere and tackles the kid, gun goes off and when the smoke clears Darcy’s on the floor dead. That was the beginning of the end.”

“One girl’s death caused the Avengers to implode? What happened next?”

“We were all worried about Barnes, Steve most of all. Darcy was seven months pregnant when she died, they were expecting a girl. Barnes was over the fuckin moon, man, you shoulda seen it. The guy couldn’t stop smiling he was such a proud papa to be. He didn’t give a shit about all the teasing he got for it either.” Sam snorted. “Barnes was so happy and in love… I ain’t never seena guy so damn crazy ‘bout a girl before. You gotta understand, I knew him before he met her. A grumpier son of a bitch I have never met. He was the Winter Soldier, the ghost story, the bogyman that had spies and agents the word over pissing their pants at the mere mention of him. But for her? He woulda done anything she asked, done anything to make her happy. She gave him a reason to really live again, to get past the things he’d been through, the things he did for Hydra. She gave him his soul back, she took it with her when she died. Barnes disappeared after making the funeral arrangements. He turned up again a few days later, just in time for the funeral, said he’d had to get a few things in order. We didn’t question it too much, the guys wife and child were dead, everyone grieves in their own way…”

Sam stops, he hates thinking about it, but it’s worse talking it through, the things that came next….

“He wouldn’t leave the grave side after. Told us all to go. Said he’d be going home soon, not to worry about him. I made Steve leave him, figured he wanted a little time to say goodbye, you know?..”

Logan nods, he understands where Sam was coming from. Grief was a tricky thing, everyone was different. It was respectful to allow others the chance to do what they needed to make it through.

“We got back to the car, but Steve insisted there was something wrong, wanted to wait but we all convinced him to go home. I didn’t know how right he was. None of did. The next day… The next day, cops showed up at the Tower. Barnes had blown his brains out on top of Darcy’s grave. Took a fucking gun and put it to his head and pulled the trigger.”

“So, the girl dies, Barnes kill’s himself… that’s what caused…” Logan actually stops then, unsure how to put it.

“Captain America to go on a murder spree? Yeah. Steve went off the deep end. Blamed himself for not stopping him. Blamed that junkie kid for what happened. You know what happened next… Steve want after the kid in Juvie and killed him, but not before getting the name of the guy he bought the gun from and every fucking dealer he’d ever bought a bag from. He went underground after that, it was a fuckin slaughter, he took down the Kingpin’s whole organisation and then went after The Hand. Every fucking tie he could find, that had some indirect responsibility in what led to Barnes’ death… He wouldn’t stop. He wouldn’t listen to anyone. Stark refused to bring him in, said he’d tried it once and he wasn’t doing it again, said he’d have done it himself if Roger’s hadn’t. Stark was a wreck too. Not that we realised, till it was too late…”

Logan scowled, now this part was where he’d always been a little lost. No one ever explained why Stark went off the reservation.

“Why did Stark do what he did? We’ve never been able to figure out why… some thought he’d just finally cracked after the stress and PTSD and alcoholism… but I always wondered. It seemed more personal than that, but as far as I know there wasn’t much love lost between him and Barnes or Rogers.”

Sam shook his head. The man wasn’t wrong. Steve and Barnes and Stark had had an uneasy truce. But it had been getting better. It had been getting better ever since Darcy had announced she was pregnant. In retrospect that had made sense, but at the time he had never connected the two together.

“After the task force went after Rogers and killed him Stark took up where he left off. He built another Iron Legion, this time it wasn’t for disaster relief, it was to go after every criminal in America with a gun, permit or not. He had this AI he built run an algorithm based on the one Zola created for Project Insight. Instead of identifying potential targets based on a threat to Hydra he had it identify every person who was likely to pick up a gun and kill someone in the future. He went Minority Report on us and we didn’t see it coming. It took us three years to identify where the AI’s severs were and blow it to kingdom come. In that time the Iron Legion went on a murder spree across the States. First it took out the criminals with guns, then it went after the criminals that didn’t have guns, then it went after any adult likely to use the gun they had to kill someone. That last three months before we shut it down…. Well you know it went after any kid that the AI flagged as a future murderer. The youngest was a 13 year old boy in Chicago. When Natasha finally found Stark, he was sitting drinking with a gun in his hand. He told her then, why he’d done it. He said it was so no one else had to suffer the loss of a daughter and granddaughter the way he had. Turns out Darcy was his. He’d never told her, hadn’t known how to tell her. Biggest regret of his life, not being there for her growing up. But when he found out about her, he’d offered Foster the position at SI hoping Darcy would tag along. She did, and he spend six years getting to know her, growing to love her. I knew the two of them were close, Darcy adored Stark, the two of them got each other, same snark, same irreverence, same fucking sense of humour. We should have seen that too. She looked just like his mother. He had been trying to find a way to tell her before she died and then that chance was gone for him. A chance to be her father, a chance to be a grandfather. After Stark confessed to Nat he did the same thing Barnes did. Bruce and Nat took off, we never saw either of them again. Thor and Jane went to New Asguard and Clint went back to Iowa. Vision and Wanda left Earth with Thor and Jane, decided to go see the universe. And then there was one.”

Logan winced. It was a clusterfuck of a story. All that death and tragedy because of one girl’s death. All because some stupid kid went to rob a store.

“Tell me about the day it happened.”

“Barnes was at the Upstate facility that week. He left on the Monday morning, he was coming back Wednesday night. Darcy popped out to the sore Wednesday morning, early hours, Jarvis said she couldn’t sleep. It wasn’t anything she hadn’t done a million times before. It was the same store she always went to, the one on the corner of East 42nd and Lexington. According to the incident report the kid entered the store at 3:54 am. Paramedics and police were called at 4:03am. Darcy was pronounced dead at the scene at 4:12am. Barnes turned up at 5:17am. Her body had already been moved when he got there. If you’re goin’ to go back, you have stop Darcy leaving the tower or stop Barnes from goin’ Upstate, he never woulda let her go off at night on her own, he was an over protective mother hen. If you’re too late, you have to get to the store before she dies and stop that damn kid. And if you can’t manage that you have to find some way of talking Barnes out of killing himself and Tony out of building that program.”

Logan nods. He’s already worked out what he’ll have to do. He was going to fix this for all of them. Without the Avengers there to help defend Earth the Skrull had overrun them easily. Having Stark and Rogers together was imperative, the two had been masterful strategists and leaders. There wasn’t a plan or an enemy they couldn’t out think or outgun when it was called for. With the Avengers together, the invasion would have been stopped before it even started.

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January 20th 2018 Avengers Upstate Facility New York.

Bucky had just finished up with the baby agents target practice when he became aware of the sensation of being watched. It made him twitchy. A cursory glance around the periphery didn’t reveal anything right away. He continued to check his gun, chambered a round flicked on the safety and holstered it. He knew there was someone there. His gut was telling him it wasn’t a threat, but he didn’t like the feeling, it made his spine crawl.

“Whoever’s there better come out or I’m coming after you.” He called out.

“Well, you’re skills of observation are just as good as they were back in Vienna.” A rough voice chuckled as a man materialized from the edge of the tree line. He was stalky and solid, hair rising in peaks at either side of his head. There was a pause as he processed the familiar voice and face.

“Jesue Christ, Howlett? James Howlett?”

He didn’t think it was possible to be anymore surprised. He hadn’t seen the other man in over seventy years, hadn’t thought it possible that there was anyone else out there like him and Steve.

“I go by Logan now, or Wolverine if you prefer.”

“How the hell are you still alive and looking….”

“Young? I don’t age very much kid, never have. I’ve got a century on you.”

“Why are you here? Now?”

“Why else? I’m here to save the world.”

Bucky frowned weighing up the veracity of the statement. He’d known James Howlett for a handful of months back in ’44. He’d been a reliable soldier, a good leader for his own team of commandos and had been helpful back then. Brave, willing to do the right thing. He hadn’t thought much of the man’s brother Victor, that guy had been a few sandwiches short of a picnic. The name Wolverine was one he had heard more recently. The name of one of the X-Men. Mutants that had been taking up some of the burden of dealing with both super-villains and alien threats.

“I guess you better come in then.”

Logan nodded and the two men made their way into the facility. Bucky signaled with his com to have Jarvis gather the others.

Once inside and settled, Stark and Steve and the others all gathered up, Logan started his story. A story of a world gone wrong, a timeline that ended with Earth overrun and most of them dead.

“Okay, so this isn’t going to happen for years, why come back to this time, specifically?”

It was Stark that asked, he’d seen something or noticed something in the story Logan told that was rattling him.

“That’s the bit that’s most delicate. I don’t want any of you going off the deep end. There’s time to avert the turning point. The event that cause the Avengers to be gone when the Skrulls came. It changed you, twisted you up inside. You weren’t taken out by enemies, you self-destructed, went mad, or left, some of you regarded as monsters before then end.”

“And one thing caused all that?”

Bucky asked, unable to comprehend what could have caused such a drastic change. Logan meets his eyes, regret and sorrow in them and Bucky’s gut churns. Dread feeling like a lead weight settling inside him.

“One death. One senseless, pointless death that never should have happened.”

Stark and Bucky are now tense while the others seem lost. It’s Stark’s voice, cold and devoid of emotion that speaks first.

“When?”

Both he and Bucky stand. Bucky doesn’t bother to spare a glance at the other man. He’s known for months now that Darcy was his daughter. No other death would have the impact Logan was suggesting. He knew exactly how it would go. How could he not? Just thinking about losing her, her and the baby…. He’d be right behind her, it wouldn’t matter to him what happened after, only that he wasn’t there to live in a world without her.

“How?”

It’s Bucky demanding an answer now. If he can stop it… He won’t go till he knows how to stop it.

“Early hours of tomorrow morning at a store on the corner of East 42nd and Lexington. A robbery goes wrong, she dies, her and the baby.”

He and Stark are out the door at the same time. It’s only noon, there’s plenty of time to stop it but neither of them is going to be comfortable till they see her, make sure she’s still alive and there and not… he can’t think about it.

Stark brings his car up in the drive and they both get in. They might not be friends, but in this one thing they will always be allies.

“She needs a protection detail.”

“I know, I should have organised one for her months ago but…”

“She hates a fuss and she’d have dug her heels in. She can’t say no to both of us.” Stark tells him with a hard tone. He won’t brook any argument from her now. Not when they had come so close to losing her.

“You have to tell her the truth.”

He knows it will be difficult for Stark, but Darcy will be happy about it when she gets over the shock. She genuinely loves Stark, he’s her favourite Avenger even if she’d never admit it.

“I know, I was planning to, just have to readjust my timeline.” He agrees. “we can’t tell her about this, not now.”

“No.” Bucky nods, there’s no way he’ll let any of them tell her about this. She doesn’t need to know how close it came, not till after their kid is born.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Darcy is laying out some baby clothes and snipping off the tags, ready to be washed when she hears the door open.

“Doll, I’m back, you here?”

“In here babe.” She calls back.

He finds her in the nursery sitting in the rocking chair, a pile of clothes on her lap. She smiles brightly at him and he restrains himself from reaching out and pulling her into his arms.

“You’re back early?”

“Yeah, we finished up early, thought I’d surprise you.”

Darcy’s brow puckers, there’s something not right, he looks…. She can’t quite put a finger on it but it’s odd.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m good Doll, just missed you.” He comes over, bracing himself on the arms of the chair as he leans over to press a kiss to her forehead.

Darcy shrugs off the strange feeling, the shiver that runs down her spine.

“What do you say we get away for a few days? One last vacation before the little bug is born?”

“I thought you couldn’t get any time off?”

“Change in the schedule, managed to swing the long weekend. We leave tonight come back on Sunday, what do you think?”

Darcy laughed. “And just where are we going at such short notice?”

“Tony offered the house in Malibu, what do you think? Sun, sand, lay by the pool?”

“Right now?”

“Pack a bag, we can be flying there in an hour.”

Darcy shrugs. Sure, why the hell not. It’s not like they’re likely to get a chance like this again for a while. She puts the clothes to one side, letting Bucky help her up.

An hour later they’re on a jet, Bucky not trusting anyone but himself to fly them there.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

January 21st 2018 3:57am

Darcy wakes with a scream, heart pounding with fright. Bucky is out of the bed, searching for danger before she can catch her breath quick enough to tell him she’s fine.

“It’s okay, it was just a bad dream.”

“Darcy…” he crawls into the bed, arms wrapped round her hard, rocking her with him as he buries his face in her hair breathing her in.

She clings to him, unable to stop the tears from falling. She can’t remember the dream exactly, just that something awful had happened, something that had left her scared and lonely and full of grief.

Eventually she calms and he feels secure enough to grab a glass of water for her. Darcy grabs a tissue from the night stand and wipes her eyes, taking the water gratefully when he comes back.

“You alright Darcy?”

“I’m fine, just… I feel like something really bad happened and…. I don’t know, it was just a dream, it wasn’t real.”

“You’re safe Darcy-Doll, I promise, nothing bad is ever going to happen to you. I won’t let it.”

She lets him snuggle her back into his arms and she tries to fall asleep. Neither of them seem to manage and after a while she gives up.

“I can’t sleep. I’m going to be a wreck tomorrow.”

Bucky sighs, stroking her back gently.

“Why don’t we get up then? I’ll make you something to eat, we’ll watch some Netflix on the couch, we can nap the day away tomorrow if you get tired, just laze about, not worry about keeping a schedule.”

“A lazy day sounds good, lie out by the pool and do nothing but soak up some sun and cuddle.”

“Sounds perfect Darce. Come on, I’ll make you some waffles and tea.”

She kisses him softly.

“Have I told you how much I love you?”

“Every day Doll, almost as often as I tell you.”

He kisses her back and then pulls her up with him.

“Let’s get this lazy day started.”

@randomlittleimp

@captain-rogers-beard

#love all the marvel ships #love all the marvel ships challenge #wintershock #darcy/bucky #bucky/darcy

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labeteenmoi · 6 years

Text

Alpha II part 6

Read the previous chapters from here (if you have some time to kill) & part 7

Pairing : Donald Pierce x OC

Warning : some violence

Summary : riding in car with boy

Tags : @prettieparker86, @lainey-lane, @crazyfreckledginger

Gifs : credit to @reveriegifs and @cirunia for their beautiful creations

Note : it's been so long since the last chapter, sorry for the wait! For your information, the movie Logan happens in year 2029 approximately, and this story happens maybe just a little before. Anyway, it can be useful if you like little détails. Hope you'll enjoy. (part 7 is almost ready ;) ).

The tests seem satisfactory to him. Reading the latest results on the way to his office inspires Dr. Rice new steps in experiments on current subjects. Eyes on the tablet he holds in his hand, he stops when an unexpected presence appears on the edge of his vision as he enters his room.

"Mr. Pierce?" he asks, tilting his head in surprise. "I thought you were on a mission. Unless ..."

"Dr. Rice ..." Pierce says hurriedly, looking up, hands behind his back. "We have tracked down the last fugitives."

"All right, all right," Rice says, skirting Pierce, raising his eyebrows as he sits down, taking a quick glance at the documents on his desk; almost all reports about the beast. "And what can I do for you?"

"This has arrived for you," Pierce answers, popping up a cardboard folder full of documents from behind his back, which he filed in front of Rice, trying to support his gaze, "the lab ..."

"Yes thanks." cuts Rice, clasping his hands on the pile of documents. "Anything else, Mr. Pierce?" he questions with a falsely detached air.

After a brief silence of hesitation, Pierce asks "Progress with the new subject?" Rice leaves the question in suspense for a moment, while a vague smirk is formed on his face, and gives Pierce a conciliatory look, a sign that he suspected the reason for the visit.

"Sara, do you mean?"

"Sara? You gave her a name?" Pierce asks, sincerely stunned.

"No, Mr. Pierce, that's her name." Rice opens a drawer and pulls out a new cardboard folder, more worn than those scattered on his desk, opens it and hands it to Pierce. "A newborn was left at the door of St. Mary's Church in San Antonio on February 27, 2004. He was entrusted to St. Joseph's Orphanage and named Sara." He summarizes.

"Female, Hispanic type, yellow eyes and teeth like little fangs, ..." Pierce reads before closing the file and handing it to the doctor, nodding his head knowingly.

"Sara then, her lack of reaction to the mention of this name suggests to me that she has deliberately overshadowed this part of her life, which is admirable since she spent the first fourteen years of her life there" says Rice resting the file from where he had taken it.

"Our little wild thing has spent more than ten years in the woods?" Pierce notices, trying to contain his astonishment behind a contemptuous smile.

"She's exceptional, very promising. I might need you soon, though." Rice says, getting up.

Pierce freezes, fearing to ask the reason for this request given the nature of the tests Rice routinely did to his subjects, and responds with a perplexed frown.

"You are her trigger, Mr. Pierce, and her catalyst. The mere mention of your name won't soon be enough to trigger her transformation. And things should soon accelerate."

Rice waves toward the door without waiting for an answer, meaning it was time for his visitor to leave. The enigmatic expression on his face had not escaped Pierce who, once in the corridor that leads him to the exit of Transingen, hastens with a sigh to remove the document slipped on his back under the belt to put it in the inside pocket of his jacket.

The purring that envelops her body soothes her and, most of all, the smell. It warms and reassures her. It is a little diffuse, musky, sometimes supplanted by the smell of oil which, once dissipated, leaves it the entire place.

It had been weeks since she had felt so good, that she had not felt her own body, her weight, her warmth, her presence. No doubt it was a new product, a new test to define her limits. She had never begged, never even spoken. He had cracked it a couple of times, though. She had felt her reason collapse and her body burn from within, as if all the rage of the world was consuming her, and when she opened her eyes, everything was devastated, broken and lacerated, and he smiled. And yet, he continued, this doctor, this monster. The more she resisted, the more he seemed to take pleasure in what he was doing to her, the samples and other analyzes, the external stimuli and the methods of restraint, of confinement sometimes.

He was trying to reach another stage, the one where she would be nothing more than sheer fury, gaunt, but she had no idea how to do that, she had no control over that state. She just wanted everything to stop.

So, if it is a new method, she welcomes him with open arms, as long as it makes her feel so serene.

After weeks of alternating drowsiness, daze, sleeps without dreams and brutal awakenings, her mind is exhausted. She does not understand where the soft heat that warms her skin at times comes from, or the whirlpools that rock it. She hardly realizes that she is dreaming now, and in her dream she sees Pierce. He turns his back on her, his silhouette against the dazzling light. He drives, his bare arm stretched out in front of him, his mechanical hand holding the steering wheel, and he looks at her. His blond hair is plated back and his blue eyes are indecipherable behind sunglasses. But he smiles. Not the grimace he makes when he threatens her, that sneer-smirking smile, but the one who reassures her, sincere, and that makes all her fears disappear. She dreams that this sleep never stops.

But she does not dream. Her blood, still saturated with tranquilizers and other drug cocktails that she has been given all this time, is struggling to regenerate, to purify itself. They have been driving for hours, the day has come after dark, and the sun is warming her face when, by chance, the angle of the vehicle allows it's rays to make their way inside the vehicle, right up to the bench in the back where she is lying, dressed in clothes she does not know, her wrists caught in a black plastic handcuff.

She does not move, for a long time. She is not sure she can trust what she sees or feels. Yet it is the smell of Pierce that fills the cabin and reassures her, beyond all reason. This is his voice that she recognizes in his punctuated mumblings when he hums what looks like a song, without leaving the road. But she waits.

The vehicle stops and the engine stops running. Looking back, Pierce checks that the beast is still asleep and then gets off the vehicle. On his return, it is only by closing the door that he stealthily sees two angry yellow eyes in the rearview mirror. He would want to turn around to check that he did not dream but two arms come out of the back and fall back on his neck, pressing his head against the headrest and clasping his neck between wrists attached.

"Hey, slept well baby?" Pierce launches, as happily as the pressure on his neck allows.

The beast hesitates; her mind still confused does not know where to start.

"If you want something, just ask, baby, I just made provisions" he continues without hesitation.

Pierce tries to meet her eyes in the rearview mirror, clumsily dropping his glasses. The beast displays an anxious look, looking for something to hang on beyond the empty, dusty parking lot in front of them. He knows that by confronting her right in the eyes he has more chances to get back on top. No doubt she knows that too, so she keeps her eyes off his face.

"Where ..." she stammers, her voice hoarse, "Where are we?"

"Everything is fine baby, calm down." Pierce grabs her wrists flexibly but does not hold them, trying to calm her down. "We crossed the border, we are on the American side."

"What ?! Why..., where are you taking me?" she gasps, visibly disoriented.

"In a safe place, everything is fine now, I got you out of the lab ..."

"Are you gonna finish the job, you didn't have time to do last time?" she cuts with a pressure on his throat.

"Come on, I'm not going to hurt you, baby ..."

"It's already done, asshole." She spits furiously, pulling again.

She’s really hurting, suffocating like him. Her instinct orders her to eliminate this threat for her survival, but all the cells of her body are yearning for him. She missed him so much that she sometimes felt a physical pain, as if oxygen was running out.

His body is stretched in his seat. Clenching his jaw and his grip on the wrists of the beast, he shouts: "STOP!"

At first petrified, her mind panicking like every time he raises his voice, her anger still picks up on her "You loved what you saw, that atrocious thing that killed your men? It was worth it, right?!" she hisses with bitterness.

"It's not what you think ..."

The situation was getting complicated. The warmth and tension of Pierce's neck against the skin of her arms, his scent intensifying as she tightened her grip and as the temperature in the cockpit increased, the perspiration beading on his mustache and temples, his pulse quickening every second and his hands holding her. Everything could overwhelm her at any moment. And why didn't he stop it? She had felt it the first time he had mastered her, his artificial hand could break her bones like little wood if he wanted to.

"I saved you, you hear me?! They were going to kill you, if I did nothing they would have killed you!"

Determination in his voice seems too sincere to be feigned. He can see from her lost gaze again that he has created doubt, that she tries to keep control but has difficulty in gathering her ideas.

He betrayed you, she repeats to herself constantly to remember why she does that, why he deserves it, why she must be furious with him. And yet, if there was not this seat between them, if his eyes met hers, she knows she could not stand up to him. She hates herself for the weakness he has revealed in her. She adds that to all the good reasons to blame him.

"But ... you left ..." she breathes in an insecure voice.

"Looking for my things! I didn't know they would arrive so soon ..."

"SHUT UP, that's one of your fucking tricks again!" The beast suddenly tightens her grip on Pierce's throat and bangs her forehead against the headrest, hiding her face from the sight of Pierce, not knowing very well if it is to hide the tears that fill her eyes, or to hide the sight of him suffocating.

"No ..." he tries to pronounce, out of breath from his crushed trachea, "I promise you ... I ... will put you away ... even ... from me ..."

#Donald Pierce #donald pierce imagine #Logan #Logan Imagine #logan movie #Boyd Holbrook #boyd holbrook imagine #Donald pierce x invented character #X-men #x-men imagine #fanfiction #Alpha

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empress-of-snark · 7 years

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Zoo Thoughts - “The Barrier”

AKA: “Your Fault” from Into the Woods, except 40 minutes long.

Seriously, I’ve had enough of the blame game. I hate how it’s become Jackson vs. Jamie at this point and everyone else has to pick sides. There’s also a Civil War reference here somewhere…

At first I thought Mitch’s decision to redirect all the power to the St. Louis beacon was stupid and irrational, but then Jackson started yelling at him and since I’ve had enough of Jackson yelling at people, I rushed to Mitch’s defense. Because it really was the smartest decision. The beacons (which look just like Pokemon Go gyms, btw) were placed in heavily-populated areas for maximum destruction and, as far as we know, no other country had a stronghold like the barrier that could’ve withstood that kind of attack. So really, this was probably their best option.

Now, whether or not it was smart to send Clementine away considering what happened to her/the baby/Logan…. well, that’s another story.

While we’re on the topic—Jackson, you said (and I quote): “I tried more than anyone to put Abigail down!” The lie detector determined that this was a LIE. Literally, you tried to save Abigail’s life on multiple occasions and locked Jamie up in her own damn plane for trying to kill her (for which you never apologized or even appeared to regret), so don’t you come into my house and say that you really tried to stop her because you didn’t.

Also, if you had told me a year ago that I would actually be genuinely sad to see Logan die??? I would’ve been offended. But here we are. Here we all are. R.I.P., Logan. In the end, you weren’t as much of a jerk as you could’ve been. (Look, I’m not saying Clem should name the baby after him since he died protecting them, I’m just saying she should at least consider it.)

Flashing back several episodes here for a slightly outdated point: I honestly don’t blame Jamie for accepting Logan’s help in raising Clementine, if only just for a few years. Yes, at the time I didn’t like him and didn’t want him anywhere near those girls, but from what it sounds like, Jamie didn’t have anyone else. And considering she was still suffering from PTSD, trying to raise the child of the man she loved (who just died), why wouldn’t she take all the help she can get??

And I like Uncle!Logan bonding with Clementine, okay? Sue me.

Anyway, back to the actual episode, sorry.

Speaking of Jamie, what did she even like… do? In this episode, I mean? Did she serve any purpose whatsoever? Like, I appreciate the support she was giving Mitch and all, but literally I don’t think she contributed to the plot at all aside from being a hand for him to hold, which is super annoying, tbh.

But I did like the support! I loved that long pause after she left before she just turned right around and was like “Actually?? I need to stay here and make sure you don’t do something stupid again!!” and Mitch is just like “Yeah, good call.”

Loved the Celebratory Hug, but…. I felt like the kiss might’ve been a little out-of-place. Don’t get me wrong, I always love seeing the OTP kiss! But, after all that happened in the last few episodes, it felt like they were just sweeping it all under the rug and pretending like everything’s fine when it’s really not. I appreciate that they’re putting aside their relationship problems to focus on saving the world and all, but I think they need to have some serious talks before jumping back into a relationship rn.

At least they’re both alive! And together! That’s rare for a season finale!

And even though I’m still royally pissed off at Jackson, I guess I’m also glad he ain’t dead.

(I know it’s a bit late to complain about this, but I really wish they had actually tried to make anyone look ten years older this season. Jamie looks a bit older with the haircut, and I understand Mitch possibly not aging much due to the tank, but Jackson still looks like 30 and definitely not old enough to be Sam/Conner’s father. They could’ve at least used a little makeup to age him.)

Things I Expected to See in this Episode but Didn’t:

-Literally anything to do with the biodrive that’s still in Mitch’s brain. Is that whole death vs amnesia ultimatum ever gonna make a reappearance??

-An explanation as to how Abigail was dead for an entire episode but then suddenly wasn’t anymore.

-A freaking name for the baby, good lord, this is getting ridiculous.

-Mitch or Jamie actually verbally admitting that they love each other (but again, they’ve still got to talk some things through so maybe it’s too soon for that).

-ISAAC. I’m really sad that we haven’t gotten to see him in like four episodes. I know he’s okay, but I want to see his sunshine-y face!

Anyway, good finale overall!! Great (if slightly overdramatic) cliffhanger!

#RenewZoo

#this may be my last zoo thoughts ever but i'm trying not to think about that #zoo cbs #zoo thoughts #now to get back to my actual life

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mitchbeck · 5 years

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CANTLON: WOLF PACK EDGE TORONTO ON LATE GOAL

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - Brandon Halverson made 43 saves and Tim Gettinger’s late goal allowed the Hartford Wolf Pack to pull out a 3-2 win over the visiting Toronto Marlies before an announced crowd of 1,548. The Wolf Pack record improves to 21-25-3-3 (48 points). They are still in last place in the Atlantic Division and nine points behind the idle Lehigh Valley Phantoms. They are off until Saturday night when they travel to Bridgeport to play the Sound Tigers. Toronto's record drops to 25-17-5-3 (59 points) and they hold on to third place in the North Division. The Marlies will play in Providence against the Bruins on Friday. For just the sixth time this season, the Wolf Pack won when the game was tied after two periods on Gettinger's goal. Ryan Lindgren’s left point shot hit some bodies and came right to Gettinger. With a perfect screen from Steve Fogarty, Gettinger amazingly got his tenth of the season making it 3-2, a lead they would hold onto. “We got the puck in deep and Lindy got the shot from the point. It was tipped in front and just turned around and shot it, plus I had the traffic in front and that was a big win for us,” Gettinger, who had a game-high six shots, said. The line of Fogarty, Gettinger and Ryan Gropp have been playing very well of late. “We’ve been able to keep them together for the last few games and they have been reliable defensively in addition to their offense. They did a really good job at getting pucks into the offensive zone with good net-front presence taking away the goalie’s eyes. Tim did a good job using his reach to get to loose pucks like he did there.” Pack Head Coach Keith McCambridge said. Fogarty picked two points of the line’s five for the game. “Every time Steven goes over the boards he plays the right way. We have seen him develop over the past three seasons from a one-dimensional defensive-type forward to a well-rounded player who plays a 200-foot game,” McCambridge said of Fogarty. They gained a lot of third-period ice time but they lost Ville Meskanen with an undisclosed injury in the third period. The Marlies picked up right where they left off in the first and Brandon Halverson kept the Marlies off the board. The Marlies' Griffen Molino had two chances on the same shift. The first was a snapshot that Halverson made a right pad save on. Molino was able to retrieve the rebound of his shot and curl back into the zone with another snapshot. Halverson deflected it away with his blocker. The veteran right-wing, Richard Clune, was all alone one in front and made a great redirect of a shot. Halverson made a glove save on it at 4:02. “They're a good team. I was able to make good saves and guys also were down blocking some shots too and we were able to hold them off,” remarked Halverson. He earned the number two star of the game and his head coach was enthusiastic about his play. “He was composed in net tonight. He made key saves at key moments. When guys came down on him point blank, he out waited them.” Halverson’s teammates appreciated his play. “The last three games he has played great. Tonight, every time we had a breakdown in the zone, he was there. He battled all night and kept us in the game,” remarked Gettinger. The Pack saw defenseman Chris Bigras suffer a potentially serious injury in the right wing corner of the Wolf Pack defensive zone. He had a hold of a Marlies players stick and went to kick the puck and either he stepped on the puck or caught a rut in the ice as he turned and collapsed in a heap on the ice. Bigras valiantly tried to rise three times, but to no avail. He was clearly favoring his right leg/knee and was taken off to the locker room by team staff at 4:52. The Wolf Pack's offensive forays were few and far between. Gettinger had a good rush up the left-wing but his shot was stopped and that was it...just one shot with no second or third chances. Vinni Lettieri won a rare one-on-one battle for the Pack and had his shot from ten feet out stopped. At 12:09, Fogarty found himself fifteen feet out, but his one shot was stopped. The Marlies kept pressing Michael Carcone and had a huge chance coming off the right wing side, but Halverson denied his bid then seconds later, Pierre Engvall was on the same side and motored his 6’5 frame past Sean Day. Engvall, a left-handed shot, snapped his thirteenth goal past a sprawling Halverson at 16:37 making it a 2-1 game. The Wolf Pack got a gift and made it count to even the game at two late in the second period. Gettinger was able to take the puck away from former QU Bobcat, Tanner MacMaster, a center ice head-on two-on-none with Fogarty slipped him a pass on the left-wing and didn’t miss the shorthanded chance beating Hutchison at 18:21 for his twelfth goal of the season. “I was right there and got the puck and looked up and saws Fogs on a breakaway, so I sent him the puck and it was a great move and helped us going into the third period tied.” The Toronto Marlies, one of the AHL’s best teams, got on the scoreboard first on the power play. Defenseman, Calle Rosen, was almost dead center at the blue line and took a drop pass on the left wing from Dmytro Timashov and fired a 50 foot slapper. The shot sailed past a partially screened Halverson making his third straight start at 4:40 for his sixth of the season. The Wolf Pack answered back on the very next shift, just 16 seconds later. Lettieri, returned for the third time this season, raced down the right-wing boards with Connor Brickley charging to the net, but the sharp angle pass went past Marlies netminder, Michael Hutchison, to the far side. The goal was Lettieri’s thirteenth of the season to even the game at one. “We didn’t like the first goal we gave up, but Vinni comes right back and we've been doing that a bit more lately. We battled hard all night,” said Gettinger. The remainder of the period was all Marlies as they launched 18 shots on goal. Among Halverson's 17 stops, were one to Vincent LoVerde from the left point, and Timashov and then Gabriel Gagne from the right wing. The Wolf Pack had just six shots of which two came from Lettieri's stick while the other came from Matt Beleskey at 13:08 from the left wing and Lettieri with 2:55 to go in the period off the rush dead center. SCRATCHES: Brandon Crawley (Healthy) Dawson Leedahl (Healthy) Ty Ronning (Just reassigned from Maine) Shawn St. Amant (Healthy) Rob O’Gara (Lower body, Week-to-Week) LINES: Fogarty-Gettinger-Gropp Holland-Beleskey-Meskanen Andersson-Lettieri-Brickley Fontaine-O’Donnell-Butler Gilmour-Lindgren Bigras-Hajak Tolkinen-Day NOTES: With the injury to Bigras, its looks likely Matt Petgrave, who was reassigned back to Brampton (ECHL), will likely be recalled. With Meskanen’s injury, depending on the severity, the team has several extra forwards to shoulder tap and insert in the lineup. Among the Toronto scratches were ex-Pack and leading Marlies scorer, Chris Mueller, and Mason Marchment, the son of ex-Hartford Whaler, Bryan Marchment. The Wolf Pack have the AHL’s third worst GAA at 182 behind Ontario and Stockton of the Pacific Division. The attendance of 1,548 was the fifth worst recorded in franchise history. Of the 36 under crowds of 2,000, a total of 23 have come during the Global/Spectra management run. It CLEARLY looked like there were far less than a 1,000 actual live bodies. The Wolf Pack lost goalie Marek Mazanec to a trade yesterday as the Rangers sent him to the Vancouver Canucks for a seventh round draft pick in 2020. Mazanec played in twenty games, the same this season, as Dustin Tokarski, while amassing a record of 8-7-4, and a .903 save percentage and a 3.01 GAA. The trade from Vancouver’s perspective according to the Vancouver Province was to deal with a current short term issue of injuries in goal and lack of experience. For Mazanec, it wasn’t an easy way to Anaheim from Hartford. With an EU passport, the Czech Republic native would have his work visa transferred to a Canadian team from a US based team. So Mazanec had to first go to Vancouver to present himself to Canadian immigration before he could go to Anaheim as the Canucks start a three game road trip. Ex-Pack, TJ Hensick, signed a SPC (standard player contract) deal with the San Jose Barracuda (AHL) from the Toledo Walleye (ECHL) where he was the ECHL league point getter with 58 points in 47 games. Henrik Samuelsson, the second son to former Whaler, New York Ranger, Wolf Pack and Avon Old Farms player and coach, Ulf Samuelsson, was reassigned from Rockford Ice Hogs (AHL) to the Idaho Steelheads (ECHL). Logan Roe (Kent Prep) was assigned to the Manitoba Moose from the Florida Everblades (ECHL). He’ll need to do some clothes shopping since it was minus-9 Fahrenheit (minus-23 Celsius) in Winnipeg yesterday. Providence received a pair of players from the Manchester Monarchs (ECHL) both with CT connections. Former Yale Bulldog Michael Doherty and Nic Pierog (Canterbury Prep). That helps with the loss of Karson Kuhlman to recall to Boston. Read the full article

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kansascityhappenings · 5 years

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Blues fans celebrate in Kansas City as team reaches first Stanley Cup Final since 1970

ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Blues are marching into the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in decades.

Pretty sweet moment for Vladimir Tarasenko and Co.

David Perron had a goal and an assist, Jordan Binnington picked up his franchise-record 12th playoff win and the Blues eliminated the San Jose Sharks with a 5-1 win in Game 6 of the Western Conference final Tuesday night.

Tarasenko, Brayden Schenn and Tyler Bozak also scored for St. Louis, which will face the Boston Bruins for the championship. Ivan Barbashev got an empty-netter with 2:15 left, Ryan O’Reilly had three assists and Binnington stopped 25 shots.

“We always believed we could do this,” said Tarasenko, who had a point in every game of the series. “But it’s still an unbelievable feeling.”

St. Louis won three consecutive games to advance to the franchise’s first Cup Final since 1970. That series also pitted the Blues against the Bruins.

Game 1 is Monday night in Boston.

Laura Branigan’s “Gloria” blared over the speakers at the Blues’ home arena after the latest victory on an improbable run from last in the NHL Jan. 3 to one of the last two teams standing. The turnaround came after Craig Berube replaced Mike Yeo as coach in November and Binnington took over as the starting goaltender in January.

“We always had the talent,” said Doug Armstrong, the general manager and president of hockey operations for the Blues. “But we were finding ways to lose games instead of winning them. They turned it around and just haven’t stopping going.”

Berube gave his team credit for working its way through a coaching change and several months of disappointing play.

“We were trying to get on the right track,” Berube said. “Once we got going in January and February, I knew we had a good hockey team. Once you get into the playoffs anything can happen — and it did.”

Blues defenseman Colton Parayko said it was a matter of confidence.

“We all bought in and eventually we figured out just how good we can be,” he said. “It’s a tight-knit group. But that adversity, it made us work harder for each other.”

San Jose played without injured forwards Joe Pavelski and Tomas Hertl and defenseman Erik Karlsson. Injury attrition played a role for the Sharks, who played seven games in each of the first two rounds.

Dylan Gambrell scored his first career goal for San Jose, which lost for the first time in five elimination games this postseason. Martin Jones made 14 stops.

St. Louis grabbed control with a fast start.

Perron tipped in Sammy Blais’ shot just 92 seconds into the game. Tarasenko made it 2-0 with a well-placed wrist shot at 16:16.

Tarasenko got his eighth goal of the postseason just seven seconds after San Jose forward Barclay Goodrow was sent off for tripping.

Gambrell converted a breakaway along the right wing 6:40 into the second period. Joonas Donskoi set up the play with a long stretch pass.

Gambrell’s goal came just seconds after Jones stopped Pat Maroon from close range. It also stopped the Sharks’ scoring drought at 99 minutes, 32 seconds.

Schenn pushed the lead to 3-1 with a power-play goal 12:47 into the second. He pounced on the rebound of a shot by Alex Pietrangelo for his first goal in 14 games.

Bozak scored on a feed from Perron in the third period for a 4-1 lead.

Binnington improved to 12-7 with his second straight strong effort. He made 21 saves in a 5-0 win in Game 4 on Sunday.

The 25-year-old Binnington stopped Evander Kane on the doorstep midway through the third. He also denied Logan Couture on a breakaway later in the period.

“It’s excitement and relief,” Binnington said. “We put in all the work. It’s pretty special. The final minutes, counting down and how loud it was in the rink, it was a special moment.”

The Sharks took a 2-1 lead in the series, but were outscored 12-2 in losing the final three games.

“I think the two hardest, heaviest teams are in the final,” San Jose coach Peter DeBoer said. “There wasn’t any room out there. And when there was — Binnington made some saves.”

Couture had four of the Sharks’ 26 shots on goal.

“When you lose this opportunity and it gets snatched away from you it’s very hard to take,” Couture said. “You’ve got to get over it.”

Former Blues players Bob Plager, Brett Hull, Chris Pronger and Al MacInnis were in attendance along with numerous other former players. Plager was in tears in the locker room after the win.

NOTES: St. Louis went 0-12 in its three previous Stanley Cup appearances. … The team that scored first won all six games. … Referee Wes McCauley left in the first period with a lower-body injury. He was replaced by alternate Gord Dwyer. … St. Louis D Vince Dunn missed his third consecutive game with an upper-body injury. He took a puck to the mouth in the first period of Game 3. … St. Louis pitcher Adam Wainwright and catcher Yadier Molina attended the game after the Cardinals’ matchup with Kansas City was rained out.

from FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports https://fox4kc.com/2019/05/22/blues-fans-celebrate-in-kansas-city-as-team-reaches-first-stanley-cup-final-since-1970/

from Kansas City Happenings https://kansascityhappenings.wordpress.com/2019/05/22/blues-fans-celebrate-in-kansas-city-as-team-reaches-first-stanley-cup-final-since-1970/

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365footballorg-blog · 6 years

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Who made Rob Maclean's team of the weekend?

Sunday’s two Scottish League Cup semi-finals took precedence this weekend – not only in the headlines but in Rob Maclean’s team of the week.

St Mirren goalkeeper Craig Samson is the only man to feature from Saturday’s league fixtures. Semi-final winners Aberdeen and Celtic make up the rest of the BBC Scotland commentator’s team.

Agree with his picks or not? Comment below.

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4-2-3-1 formation; Craig Samson (St Mirren); Shay Logan (Aberdeen), Michael Devlin (Aberdeen), Filip Benkovic (Celtic), Kieran Tierney (Celtic); Lewis Ferguson (Aberdeen), Callum McGregor (Celtic); James Forrest (Celtic), Tom Rogic (Celtic), Ryan Christie (Celtic); Odsonne Edouard (Celtic).

Goalkeeper – Craig Samson

The struggling Buddies’ 2-0 defeat by St Johnstone in Perth would have been heavier had it not been for the saves of Samson. One stop in particular, when he tipped Tony Watt’s header on to the crossbar, was right out of the top drawer.

Defenders – Shay Logan, Michael Devlin, Filip Benkovic, Kieran Tierney

Shay Logan had, potentially, the toughest task on the Hampden pitch to try to deal with on-form Rangers winger Ryan Kent. Logan made a lot of well-timed tackles and helped prevent Kent becoming a big player in the game.

Former Hamilton Accies skipper Michael Devlin is a developing Don with each passing game after his long injury absence. He delivered an assured performance alongside central defensive partner Scott McKenna that meant goalkeeper Joe Lewis had only one serious save to make.

It was an emotional weekend for on-loan Leicester City centre-half Filip Benkovic and, after the helicopter crash at the King Power Stadium, home of his parent club, Benkovic dedicated Celtic’s semi-final win to the families of those who died. He also managed to turn in one of his best performances in Scottish football so far.

Kieran Tierney has set the bar high for himself with so many top performances in the past two seasons and it’s difficult for the 21-year-old left-back to always reach that level. But he showed signs at Murrayfield on Sunday that he’s getting back to his best.

Defensive midfielders – Lewis Ferguson, Callum McGregor

Lewis Ferguson has all the tools to become something special. He’s had better games than Sunday’s semi-final defeat of Rangers, but the 19-year-old produced the moment that mattered most with a thumping header for Aberdeen’s winning goal that was all about the desire to get himself on the end of Niall McGinn’s corner.

Callum McGregor dropped back to a deeper midfield role when Celtic suffered injuries on Sunday and must have made Scotland manager Alex McLeish think about deploying him in that position. There are few players in our game who use the ball better than McGregor.

Attacking midfielders – James Forrest, Tom Rogic, Ryan Christie

James Forrest is in a rich vein of form as Hearts left-back Demi Mitchell found out in Sunday’s first League Cup semi-final. When the Celtic winger scurries forward with the ball at his feet, he takes a whole lot of stopping.

It’s getting to the stage where I should cut and paste this paragraph from week to week. Tom Rogic glides through games and oozes quality. The Australian was a key player as Celtic beat Hearts emphatically in the end to reach another final.

Celtic’s lack of summer signings has offered Ryan Christie the opportunity to force his way into Brendan Rodgers’ first-team thinking. Introduced at the interval on Sunday, he won a penalty and scored the other two goals. Yes, I’m giving him the second one, which, for me, dribbled over the line.

Forward – Odsonne Edouard

There wasn’t exactly a mad scramble to claim the main striking position in my leading XI from the weekend. Odsonne Edouard is the man in possession and Celtic’s 20-year-old Frenchman did enough at Murrayfield to hold off the underwhelming challenge for that up-front role.

BBC Sport – Scottish

Who made Rob Maclean's team of the weekend? was originally published on 365 Football

#Maclean&039s #made #team #weekend

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eddycurrents · 6 years

Photo

For the week of 24 September 2018

Quick Bits:

Amazing Spider-Man #6 kicks off a new arc with art from Humberto Ramos, Victor Olazaba, and Edgar Delgado (along with a special sequence from Steve Lieber and Rachelle Rosenberg), with Nick Spencer playing up Peter’s problems with his super-villainous roommate and thereby the humour. Really quite like the art for the flashbacks.

| Published by Marvel

Beasts of Burden: Wise Dogs & Eldritch Men #2 takes a bit of a breather as the dogs try to figure out what’s going on. I love the measured pace that Evan Dorkin and Benjamin Dewey are taking to telling this story. For one you get to bask in Dewey’s beautiful art, but at the same time it’s building a bit of ominous tension. Events are still occurring, but we’re still being left in the dark as to what exactly is going on. It’s a nice mystery.

| Published by Dark Horse

Beyonders #2 is more bizarre conspiracy theory and pseudoarchaeology fun from Paul Jenkins, Wesley St. Claire, and Marshall Dillon. It’s rather entertaining to see these disparate bits of history and quasi-history come together and be twisted into this new and strange kind of adventure.

| Published by AfterShock

Bone Parish #3 sees the proverbial excrement hit the fan as the pressure gets turned up on the Winters family. The tension, action, and drama are being cranked up on high by Cullen Bunn, Jonas Scharf, Alex Guimarães, and Ed Dukeshire. Also, the art from Scharf and Guimarães is getting even more elaborate, especially in its depictions of the trips the Ash users are taking.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Cold Spots #2 is even better than the first issue, and the first issue was stunning. The story is still light on explanation and heavy on creepy atmosphere, but when the art looks like this, I’m willing to just bask in it. I love what Mark Torres is doing here with the art. He has a style that feels like a blend of early Matt Wagner, Ted McKeever, and Phil Hester and it is perfect for this kind of eerie horror. Torres and Cullen Bunn are creating something very compelling here.

| Published by Image

Cyber Force #6 begins branching out more, more explicitly building up the team, rather than just focusing on the individual origins amongst eventual team members. It’s a welcome shift in this reimagined timeline, as Bryan Hill & Matt Hawkins begin to develop the world past Cyberdata.

| Published by Image / Top Cow

Die!Die!Die! #3 may have had its physical print run pulped this week due to a printing error with the cover, but it still came out digitally. It’s more over-the-top violence and action as Robert Kirkman and Scott Gimple still seem to be trying to channel Garth Ennis’ style of action/satire. You reach a saturation point after a while, so it’s thankful that they’re developing the characters fairly well and coalescing a larger kind of plot. Also the great artwork from Chris Burnham and Nathan Fairbairn helps considerably.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Domino Annual #1 has a very loose framing sequence from Leah Williams, Michael Shelfer, and Jesus Aburtov, but it’s mostly a collection of four short stories, presenting Domino at different time periods and in different situations with different people. The only common bit is that they’re all really well done. There’s a story from Gail Simone, Victor Ibáñez, and Jay David Ramos continuing the fun from the regular series, spotlighting how Domino’s Posse came together. A reflective piece on Cable by Fabian Nicieza, Juan Gedeon, and Aburtov. A gonzo action bit trying to cheer up Colossus after he was jilted at the altar by Dennis Hopeless, Leonard Kirk, and Aburtov. And finally, a humorous, but heartfelt, showcase of some of the unlovable but loved obscure and sometimes hideous “freak” X-Men from Williams, Natacha Bustos, and Aburtov.

| Published by Marvel

Edge of Spider-Geddon #4 may be the weirdest one of these yet, featuring a world where the natures of Spider-Man and the Green Goblin have been inverted, and the world has seemingly been subjugated by Oscorp. Aaron Kuder, Will Robson, Craig Yeung, Andres Mossa, and Cory Petit give us an interesting endgame here for this world, but in doing so also potentially set up the catalyst for the entire Spider-Geddon event.

| Published by Marvel

Extermination #3 doesn’t get us any closer to understanding what’s going on with Ahab or young Cable, though in the latter’s case there seem to be hints that he’s gathering the time tossed original five X-Men to “repair” them and send them back, but that’s a guess. At the mid-point, I would have expected more crunch to the story, but that doesn’t seem to be the case here. Great art from Pepe Larraz and Marte Gracia, though.

| Published by Marvel

Faith: Dreamside #1 resumes Jody Houser’s excellent and humorous take on Faith, picking up on threads from the last series, joined this time by MJ Kim, Jordie Bellaire, and Dave Sharpe. You don’t need to have read any of the previous material (though I do recommend reading it anyway) as this does a good job of getting you up to speed of the relevant details for the story at hand.

| Published by Valiant

Fearscape #1 is a magnificent beast. Ryan O’Sullivan’s narration for the overblown, pretentious author Henry Henry is so incredibly perfect and enthralling. I know this aspiring writer, I may very well have been this aspiring writer at times. Damn good voice here. Overall, love the premise of a storyteller having to save the world, and the art is just gorgeous. Andrea Mutti and Vladimir Popov make this beautiful, especially as the art shifts to a more soft focus as the story wanders off into the Fearscape. Imagination, form, style, and structure are all at play here and it’s just wonderful.

| Published by Vault

Friendo #1 is the other debut from Vault this week, going in for a kind of contemporary sci-fi with Friendo™ glasses offering up a digital assistant tailored to you, like a more personable Siri seen through Google Glass. It’s an interesting concept, brought forward in a humorous fashion, but I get the impression that Alex Paknadel and Martin Simmonds are going for more sociopolitical commentary here. Beautiful art from Simmonds and Dee Cunniffe.

| Published by Vault

Harbinger Wars 2: Aftermath #1 is a decent epilogue to the event from Matt Kindt, Adam Pollina, Diego Rodriguez, and Dave Sharpe. Basically it checks in on all of Valiant’s heavy hitters as they put the pieces back together following the event, establishing Livewire as the world’s number one target. Very nice art from Pollina and Rodriguez.

| Published by Valiant

Hillbilly: Red-Eyed Witchery From Beyond #2 continues to be entertaining, violent, and humorous as Rondel finds himself in more precarious predicaments trying to solve what haunts the land. I really like the art from Simone Di Meo and Brennan Wagner. Di Meo’s style here reminds me a lot of James Harren’s on the first volume of Rumble and it just works incredibly well for this kind of action/horror.

| Published by Albatross Funnybooks

Infinity Wars: Iron Hammer #1 is the second of these Infinity Warps mini-series to start up and it’s really rather good. As an origin story for the Iron Hammer, you really don’t have to be reading the rest of the Infinity Wars story here, so it works well as its own thing. The mash-up here is obviously Thor and Iron Man, with Al Ewing, Ramon Rosanas, Jason Keith, and Cory Petit telling a story that expertly grafts a variation on Tony Stark’s origin into the mythological trappings of Marvel’s version of Norse Mythology.

| Published by Marvel

Jessica Jones #3 concludes the arc with Dia and Elsa Bloodstone in the first part and then has a rather runny comedy of errors in the second part set around getting ready for Danielle’s birthday party. This is great stuff. Kelly Thompson, Mattia De Iulis, Marcio Takara, Rachelle Rosenberg, and Cory Petit are doing wonderful things with this series.

| Published by Marvel

Man-Eaters #1 reunites the Mockingbird team of Chelsea Cain, Kate Niemczyk, Rachelle Rosenberg, and Joe Caramagna, along with Lia Miternique, Stella Greenvoss, and Katie Lane, to kick off this new series about menstruating women who turn into man-eating big cats. It’s...an odd premise to say the least. There are certainly layers of subtext in the story that I still need to unpack, but on a surface level this is an interesting mix of police procedural, horror, and humour. If you think Cat People, you’re probably along the right line of thought. What it does do extremely effectively, however, is utilize comics as a medium. How the pages are lain out, the differing types of content, basically just how the story is told is impressive. This is something that can only be told as a comic and it’s just a wonderful use of the medium.

| Published by Image

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #31 is not quite a fresh start, spinning out of the events of the “Shattered Grid” story-arc, but at the same time it is the start of a new Power Rangers team and creative team in Marguerite Bennett, Simone Di Meo, Alessandro Cappuccio, Walter Baiamonte, Francesco Segala, and Ed Dukeshire. Confusion, chaos, and uncertainty definitely seem to be the goals of the story, so it’s not necessarily a bad thing if you’re coming in blind. It’s also interesting to see Di Meo’s style here, somewhat different from what he’s doing with Hillbilly. Still dark, and scratchy, but I’d probably compare this more to Sean Gordon Murphy, as it’s a bit more streamlined, better suited to the brighter colours of the Rangers’ world.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Old Man Logan #48 begins the final arc for the series before it goes out in a blaze as Dead Man Logan. Great art here from Ibraim Roberson and Carlos Lopez.

| Published by Marvel

Paradise Court #3 is interesting in that we’ve reached a bit of misdirection in the story, although kind of obvious misdirection since the exposed serial killer doesn’t look a thing like the other killer we’ve seen, which raises some interesting questions about the full nature of this gated community. Also, some really nice work this issue from colourist Leonardo Paciarotti. The change of flushness of the red in Amy’s face while she’s recounting her encounter is a really nice touch.

| Published by Zenescope

Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #310 brings Chip Zdarsky’s run on the title to a close, with this single issue tale of what random people on the streets of New York City think of the threat or menace, illustrated by Zdarsky himself. It’s damn good. And a fitting end to what has been ultimately a very entertaining run.

| Published by Marvel

Regression #11 returns from the trade break with a new arc and a drastically changed status quo. Cullen Bunn has been great at setting up this insidious quality to the cult claiming Adrian for their own and that evil, disturbing nature comes to the forefront this issue.

| Published by Image

Rick and Morty vs. Dungeons & Dragons #2 continues the fun of the first issue as the family goes off to a holodeck simulation of a campaign, only to spotlight that Rick’s idea of facerolling a munchkin dungeon crawl isn’t their idea of fun. Patrick Rothfuss, Jim Zub, Troy Little, Leonardo Ito, and Robbie Robbins are delivering just the perfect crossover here.

| Published by IDW & Oni Press

Star Trek vs. Transformers #1 is the start of a limited series crossing over the Transformers with the animated series Star Trek characters, including M’Ress and Arex. The animated series was always a bit ridiculous, but fun and weird, so it fits well with incorporating the Transformers cartoon (though there do seem to be additions). Absolutely love the artwork from Philip Murphy and Priscilla Tramontano, who perfectly capture the style of the cartoons.

| Published by IDW

Stranger Things #1 begins a four issue limited series from Jody Houser, Stefano Martino, Keith Champagne, Lauren Affe, and Nate Piekos following Will Byers’ perspective during the first season of the Netflix series. It’s great. Jody Houser uses the boys D&D playing to frame out Will’s actions, lending some interesting survival tactics, as well as opening up an opportunity for Martino, Champagne, and Affe to utilize different styles for the variety of narrative frames. Also, Martino’s likenesses are rather well done.

| Published by Dark Horse

Transformers: Lost Light #24 is the second-to-last issue of this series as IDW’s Hasbroverse winds down to its conclusion. It’s really starting to feel final, with the crew’s epic battle against the Functionalists. James Roberts pens one of the most heartfelt and stirring speeches for Hot Rod this issue.

| Published by IDW

Vampirella/Dejah Thoris #1 sets this series off to a good start in a relatively straightforward manner. Vampirella is searching for a cure for the problems on Drakulon and it brings her to Mars. Erik Burnham, Ediano Silva, Dinei Ribeiro, and Troy Peteri do good set up work here.

| Published by Dynamite

Witchblade #8 drops a bit of exposition on us, filling us in on how Johnny is alive and a bit on the shadowy organization and its operatives trying to kill Alex and take the Witchblade. Still loving this series and the depth that Caitlin Kittredge, Roberta Ingranata, Bryan Valenza, and Troy Peteri are giving to it. It’s starting to develop some of the more traditional hard-tinged horror/superheroics, but still feels like a fresh and reinvigorated take on the Witchblade concept.

| Published by Image / Top Cow

X-Men Blue #36 concludes the series and with it Cullen Bunn’s tenure with the X-characters, running from Magneto through to now. He ties up a few missing plot threads and allows the characters to say a few goodbyes, nicely illustrated by Marcus To and Matt Milla.

| Published by Marvel

X-O Manowar #19 begins a new arc picking up the pieces in the wake of Harbinger Wars 2. It’s good. Very good. Matt Kindt gives us a perspective for Capshaw that was kind of missing from the event, as to why she continues with GATE and the government after how insane some of their actions seem to have been (valid points about uncontrollable psiots notwithstanding), resulting in a very strong start to this arc. The art from Juan José Ryp and Andrew Dalhouse is also stunning, especially when showing a different visual perspective as to how Capshaw sees her situation.

| Published by Valiant

Other Highlights: Betty & Veronica: Vixens #10, Black Panther #4, Gasolina #12, High Heaven #1, Invader Zim #35, Jim Henson’s Labyrinth: The Coronation #7, The Long Con #3, Marvel Two-in-One #10, Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer #4, Modern Fantasy #4, Moon Knight #199, Old Man Hawkeye #9, The Punisher #2, The Realm #9, Red Sonja #21, Redneck #15, Rick & Morty #42, The Sentry #4, Spider-Geddon #0, Spider-Man vs. Deadpool #39, StarCraft: Scavengers #3, Star Wars Adventures #14, Star Wars: Doctor Aphra #24, Star Wars: Poe Dameron #31, The Thrilling Adventure Hour #3, Venom: First Host #5, Wayward #29, The Wicked + The Divine: 1373, Xena: Warrior Princess #8, X-Men Red #8

Recommended Collections: Astonisher - Volume 2, The Crow: Memento Mori, Cyberforce: Awakening - Volume 1, Darkhold: Pages from the Book of Sins Complete, Dejah Thoris: Gardens of Mars, Encounter - Volume 1, Exiles - Volume 1: Test of Time, Hulk: World War Hulk II, Infidel, Klaus: New Adventures of Santa Claus, Lucas Stand - Volume 2: Inner Demons, Medieval Spawn & Witchblade- Volume 1, Port of Earth - Volume 2, Red Sonja - Volume 3: Hell or Hyrkania, Saga - Volume 9, Songs for the Dead, Usagi Yojimbo/TMNT Complete Collection, Wasted Space, X-O Manowar - Volume 5: Barbarians, You Are Deadpool

d. emerson eddy does not represent the Lollipop Guild.

#This Week in Comics

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thrashermaxey · 6 years

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20 Fantasy Hockey Thoughts

Every Sunday until the start of the 2018-19 regular season, we'll share 20 Fantasy Thoughts from our writers at DobberHockey. These thoughts are curated from the past week's "Daily Ramblings".

Writers: Michael Clifford, Ian Gooding, Cam Robinson, and Dobber

1. If there was any doubt Brayden Point played over his head during his sophomore year, they should now have been laid to rest. He had 16 points in 17 games and though the shooting percentage was high, he’s posted a high number for his short career so far.

Point was easily the most dangerous forward for the Lightning all through the Washington series and he and Ondrej Palat played very well together throughout the playoffs when given ice time together. It was nice to see Point get consistent top power-play minutes towards the end of the team’s run, as well. If he can stay on that top power play unit next year, this is a point-per-game player in the making. (may25)

2. Mikhail Sergachev: hoo boy. This is a guy with a 40-point season as a teenager while putting up top-10 shot rates among defencemen. The young Bolts’ future is incredibly bright and it’s good to see the pressure of the playoffs didn’t get to him. He’s still playing his game and playing it well. (may24)

3. Nate Schmidt is probably a more valuable real-life defenseman than fantasy defenseman but we shouldn’t overlook his fantasy numbers. After previously failing to crack the 20-point mark on a deep Capitals’ defense, Schmidt posted a solid 36 points (5g-31a) in 76 games this year. Schmidt checked off all the boxes in this league when I added him: decent offense, plus/minus (plus-19), and solid ice time (these are the only categories that are counted among players in this league). In spite of the lack of offense in Washington, Schmidt was a combined plus-34 over his two seasons there, giving him a plus-53 over his last three seasons.

Schmidt led all Vegas skaters with just over 22 minutes per game in the regular season. The only team blueliner who had more offense than him was Colin Miller, who picked up 41 points. Schmidt still has Shea Theodore looking over his shoulder, as he appears primed to make a greater fantasy impact over a full season next season. So, Schmidt’s offensive ceiling shouldn’t be considered that much higher than what he has already produced. Yet, as far as gems that were unearthed from other teams, Schmidt’s name isn’t discussed enough. (may27)

4. Man, Carolina’s Sebastian Aho is going to be a special player – his trajectory of 49 points and then 65 points and then this ridiculous output at the World Championship this year (18 points in just eight games) has me feeling pretty bold about his numbers next season. (may21)

5. Long considered one of the top prospects in the world, Brayden Schenn hasn’t quite lived up to his billing. It’s not too often a fifth-overall pick is traded twice in their twenties while being a NHL player but Schenn has managed to succeed despite it. His most recent 70-point output in St. Louis represents a career high. His chemistry with Vladimir Tarasenko means he’s in a strong position to at least come close to replicating it. (may26)

6. OEL is a horse. He logs a ton of minutes and almost always hits double-digit goals. No seriously, Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored 12 or more goals in six of his eight NHL campaigns. As long as your league doesn’t count plus/minus, he’s been good for at least a half-point-per-game in each of the last six seasons. Toss in a 55-point season in 2015-16 and you’ve had a strong blueliner on your fantasy hockey squad for years. With AZ trending in the right direction, his value will continue to hold steady. (may26)

7. Matt Duchene peaked early in his NHL career with seasons of 0.68, 0.84, 0.94, and 0.99 in his first five campaigns. It looked like a point-per-game pace would become his norm. However, since 2013-14, he’s averaged 0.68 points-per-game (a 55-point pace). The Sen is still a valuable depth piece but not a player to build your fantasy team around. (may26)

8. Some Canucks news came down Friday. The team announced they have signed their most recent first-round selection and top prospect, Elias Pettersson. For my money, Pettersson is the top-rated fantasy prospect in the world. Including the 2018 crop that is about to enter the fray.

P.S. Apparently the proper pronunciation of his name is “Eh-lee-as Peter-son”. (may26)

9. I wonder what this Cup run has done for Braden Holtby’s average draft position (ADP) next year? He burned everyone who drafted him for the 2017-18 season and eventually lost the starter’s job to Philipp Grubauer.

In an alternate universe, Grubauer and the Caps get bounced in the first round and we have a Holtby who lost the starter’s job and couldn’t even get in the cage for the postseason. Instead we have a Holtby who took the job back, helped the Caps come back against the Blue Jackets, posted a .924 save percentage through three rounds, and shutout the Lightning in back-to-back games to get to Washington’s first Cup Final in the Alex Ovechkin era.

He’s probably a top-10 goalie off the board again, yeah? (may25)

10. It’s worth noting Dmitry Orlov averaged two shots, two hits, and two blocked shots a game through the first three rounds despite not cracking any of those benchmarks in the regular season.

John Carlson’s future is uncertain in Washington and it seems like the cap-strapped team might have to let him walk. The top PP unit has been built around a right-handed defenseman who can feed Alex Ovechkin going back to the Mike Green days. Orlov is a lefty. Do they change the PP around to accommodate him or just slide Matt Niskanen to that spot?

I hope it’s Orlov and they figure out a way to make it work. It would easily push him over the 40-point plateau for the first time in his career. (may25)

11. Timo Meier had one of the highest shot rates in these playoffs among all forwards and led the Sharks in this regard at five-on-five. The news about Evander Kane’s signing will draw the attention, but this really rests on the future of Joe Thornton. In my head, I envision Kane/Joe Pavelski as the top line, Logan Couture with Tomas Hertl on the second line, and Thornton feeding Meier on the third line in a sheltered role. That’s my vision, I’m sure the coach would have other plans.

Should Thornton come back, I will be drafting Meier everywhere I can. That’s an if, though, because with Hertl, Kane, Joonas Donskoi, and others in the mix, it might not mean consistent top-6 minutes for Meier. (may25)

12. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, Caps’ Jakub Vrana’s individual expected goals per 60 minutes these playoffs: (going into Game 7) 0.91, 10th among forwards with 150 minutes at five-on-five. That mark was ahead of names like James Neal, Jonathan Marchessault, and Rick Nash. The problem is he’s shooting 3.85 percent at five-on-five so the actual production hasn’t been there.

Just add this to the mounting evidence that Vrana will be (or already is) a pretty good player. Upside is capped without the top power-play minutes, but he is a guy who will litter my fantasy rosters come September. (may24)

13. Evander Kane’s decision to stay with the Sharks should serve as great news for his keeper league owners. After all, Kane looked right at home with his new team (nine goals and 14 points in 17 games) mainly set up on the top line with Joe Pavelski. A while ago, I compared Pavelski’s production with and without the injured Joe Thornton, which showed Pavelski’s production actually improve after Thornton’s injury. Let’s do the same for Pavelski without and with Kane.

Pavelski before Kane acquisition: 46 points in 62 games (0.74 PTS/GP)

Pavelski after Kane acquisition: 19 points in 20 games (0.95 PTS/GP)

We don’t know what will happen with Thornton in the offseason. But, regardless of whether he is back, the Sharks need to keep their newly-signed left wing with Pavelski to yield maximum gains from both.

Of course, if you’re in a league that counts shots on goal, you’ll want to move Kane up a little in your pre-draft rankings. Kane was fourth in the entire league with 307 shots. The Sharks as a team were second in the NHL with 34.3 shots per game and could be the league leader in that category next season with both Kane and Brent Burns in the fold for a full campaign. Kane hardly slowed his shot total after the trade, staying in the top 5 in that category after the trade with 80 SOG. (may23)

14. But, can Kane stay healthy? Being able to stay on the ice is important, especially for fantasy hockey. Having to replace a 30-goal scorer with a waiver wire replacement occasionally is fine. Having to do it for a dozen games can be an issue unless you strike lightning in a bottle. His 78 games last year are a career high. Over the last five seasons, he’s missed 23.7 percent of games, which means he’s averaged about 63 games played over those seasons. That’s not nearly good enough. If he can play 80 games, playing with a top-tier center like Pavelski or Thornton (or both!), then he’s 30 goals and 60 points in the making. If that’s 65 games? Not so much.

Given how well he played with San Jose after the trade, both regular season and playoffs, he won’t be a sleeper at the draft table. We’ll see where his ADP falls, but I’ll probably be out on him for 2018-19. (may24)

15. We all know about Mathew Barzal’s breakout season and Josh Bailey’s breakout first half. But, kind of under the radar when compared to his contract situation, John Tavares assembled another impressive season with 37 goals and 84 points – his second-best total in both categories over his nine-year career. Is that the contract year talking?

Much of Tavares’ success in 2017-18 can be attributed to solid chemistry with linemates Bailey and Anders Lee. Bailey had a breakout season (71 points in 76 games), although his first-half numbers (50 points in 39 games) was far more impressive than his second-half numbers (21 points in 37 games). So how much did Bailey’s downturn affect Tavares?

Tavares' splits:

Oct-Dec: 49 points in 39 games (1.26 PTS/GP)

Jan-Apr: 35 points in 43 games (0.81 PTS/GP)

Not exactly a steep decline like Bailey in the second half (0.57 PTS/GP) but a decline nevertheless. Just keep this in the ol’ memory bank in case Tavares is back. (may23)

16. The Jets have some work to do this summer. Both Jacob Trouba and Connor Hellebuyck need new contracts, they have a lot of guys in their bottom-six that need new deals or need to be replaced, and they’re a year away from having to sign Patrik Laine and Kyle Connor to, presumably, long-term deals. Not to mention this is the last year of Blake Wheeler’s contract and he’ll be 32 years old.

Winnipeg has most of their core locked up already and I don’t think they want to go through more negotiations with Trouba like they have in the past. A one-year deal would be great for them but seeing as Trouba has one season with 30 points in five years, now might be the time to lock him up long-term. If he breaks out for 44 points or something this year, he’ll be a lot more expensive in 12 months from now. (may22)

17. The hockey world is waiting with impatience to see what a player with no track record of high-level production putting up a 43-goal, 78-point performance being due an RFA contract will get. A month ago, I intimated that William Karlsson’s contract could be similar to what Jonathan Marchessault received in Vegas, if only a bit higher AAV. Repeating 40-plus goals will be near impossible, but that contract would be fine if he settles into the 20-25 goal, 55-60-point range. (may22)

18. Jonathan Marchessault hasn’t peaked. I liked him in the minors, I liked what he did over seven or eight games when Tyler Johnson went down and ‘Marchy’ had first-line ice time with Tampa Bay And, when Florida picked him up I thought it was a great signing with sleeper potential. I didn’t understand why they gave him up to Vegas, I thought it was stupid. And, last summer I traded Evgeni Malkin for a package that included Jonathan Drouin, Viktor Arvidsson and Marchessault. I had Malkin for, what, 13 years? I drafted Malkin (I remember trading Mats Sundin for that second overall pick plus a fourth rounder that became Jussi Jokinen). Last summer I called Marchessault this year’s Brian Bradley – a sudden superstar. (may21)

19. Reilly Smith? He’s peaked. I’m often referring to his track record of having a fantastic first season with a new team but then slowly falling by the wayside over the next year or two. That may not happen next year, but I still think a steady decline is in the cards. (may21)

20. Congratulations Marc-Andre Fleury for winning this year’s Conn Smythe Trophy. I don’t care if Vegas is swept next round, Fleury gets the CST simple as that. I picked Vegas to win the first round. And, again the second round. Big mistake to bet against them the third round. I’m done betting against them, I don’t care who they play. Lesson learned. ‘Uncle!’ I cry. (may21)

Have a good week, folks!!

from All About Sports https://dobberhockey.com/hockey-home/20-fantasy-hockey-thoughts/20-fantasy-hockey-thoughts-25/

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2centsofsilver · 7 years

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10/17/17

Last night after blogging that thing about L, I had a dream about her. She was present in my life. She had come back. It was like, I opened the door, and she was standing there with a smile. And she was talking to me and we were talking. We were getting ready to go somewhere or do something. It was a dream of great peace and clarity. Woke up sad. I had a dream several nights ago with her friend C in it too. I was over at someone’s house and I took her to the side and was like, “Can I talk to you???” And she sort of gave an “Ok fine” reply and took me into a side bedroom behind the kitchen. I was like, “What is going on???” And she said something to the effect of, “Lisa doesn’t want you to talk to her anymore. She doesn’t want you in her life anymore.” And I asked her why. And she was reluctant to tell me, but sort of did tell me, but I don’t remember the reason or it was vague, I’m not sure. And then she had to get back to her party because she had guests over. ---- Today while I was paying my parking meter on 1st St, I literally got attacked by a squirrel. I’ll talk about it later, but it was sort of traumatic. --- Today I had therapy at 3:30pm. It started out in the waiting room with me telling Amy I was attacked by a squirrel and asking whether I needed to get a rabies shot LOL. She said no, it didn’t break skin, etc. What a way to bring myself into therapy. Lately in therapy, she’s been getting a comprehensive, ongoing Hx and last time we got through my first ever major loss in life: Band. We had ended session with it and she was taken back by how significant the loss and said we’d pick up there next time. But I came in today really needing help with the present. She asked me how I was and I told her I was really stressed and amidst a giant financial crisis of having completely run out of money in both my checking and savings account. That led to me sort of blabbing about how I need a job/don’t have one/cancelled my interview this morning because: Domino Effect - I didn’t sleep last night because: Domino Effect- I was writing about Lisa. I backtracked and told her how the new job emailed saying that they can’t take me on anyway if I don’t have Thursday availability. Domino Effect- I told Amy that I signed up for an art class during that exact shift at the A2 Art Center on Thursdays because: Domino Effect- I deferred from school and just wanted to be happy and help my depression, so I thought I had done something good, which was sign up for an art class. Had I not done that, I could have taken this job, but how was I supposed to know? Additionally- Domino Effect, I told 3 employers I have open availability on Wednesdays, but Domino Effect, I am now in a class created by my therapist called Hungerwise which runs every Wednesday for the next 9 weeks. This is a really crucial class to help cure my depression in the next year of my deferment. Then I talked a lot about being possibly depressed from my benzos or maybe from being used to loss; basically told her that I was emotionally flat/emotionless during a time that I otherwise never would be: Loss of Lisa. I told her how it didn’t make sense that I wouldn’t be in deep pain grieving this, but I talked about how I’m not experiencing any emotions at all including happiness or the ability to concentrate/absorb experiences and information. I also told her how I haven’t gone grocery shopping in 2 months, don’t eat what I buy, eat out twice a day for the last 2 months, have run out of money because of it, am always hungry, and never sleep/sleep all day. Despite how it sounds, I was actually quite organized while I explained all this to her. She was following really well. I really like Amy because she stops me and asks relevant questions that make me think and they always help me understand and connect A-B-C-D-E-F-G, etc. History and Present. Trauma and Behavior. She’s slightly psychodynamic, but I think it’s working because she’s contemporary in her approach and integrative. She uses the Family Systems Model which is proving quite beneficial. It’s where we work on identifying emotions and assign ages to those emotions. For example: How did it feel when M texted me about L and “Company Members. If you had to put a single emotion to that, what would it be?” I struggled to think of an emotion. She listed some off, one being “Scared.” I thought about it, then agreed. Wholeheartedly agreed. “Yes, I felt really really scared,” I said. And then she sometimes will ask, “If you had to put an age to that emotion, what age does it feel to experience that emotion for you?” I usually really struggle with this question, but usually it’s an age from childhood. She didn’t ask me that for this scenario today, but if I had to choose an age for how “Scared” I felt after that encounter, I would pick, maybe 16 or 17 because it was a reasonable, complex fear laced with “What If” fears and mental racing in considering numerous factors, etc., but oftentimes, I’ll say “Age 7 or 8″ when she asks me for other things. We talked a lot about the “Company Members” thing and how much that brief text exchange has fucked me up since it happened. We talked about my desire to want to “Report” things- how I often feel scared/in trouble when I’m innocent and feel like I need help from someone of power, like a social worker, or my dad as a lawyer. She asked me why that is and I told her I think it has something to do with my parents always getting me out of everything when I was a child. I told her how even if I fought all this, it would be a losing battle, because it’s hard to prove mental health as a medical condition, etc. I also told her my HEART is not in “The Company” - and went into an organized description of how much I oppose ABA and how much I hated my job there and why I chose to reapply. And then she asked me some questions about why I want to prove so badly that I’m a person of value. She asked some questions about H and I answered. She’s a really, really good therapist. We’ve accomplished so much in the 10 sessions I’ve seen her so far. She ended up ending session by asking me a really hard, comprehensive question that she wants me to think about and said we could talk more about next time. It was a thought she had: Do I notice a pattern in my emotions and actions for each and every time all these individuals have “left me” and do any of these people have anything in common. I said yes to the pattern, that it’s always the same, and no to them having things in common. I said the only thing in common is that I thought these people were the coolest people ever and wanted them to like me, I wanted to feel included, and I wanted to be just like them. She then asked the broader comprehensive question of, would I compare my lifespan problems with my parents (attachment to abandonment- Child through Present Day) to the patterns of these short-lasting relationships with friends who have “left.” I thought about it. I told her it’s really hard to compare 26 years with anywhere from 3 months to 2 year friendships. But I ultimately said maybe, “Because my parents don’t love me anymore.” --- After therapy today, I got a lot of things done on my To-Do List. A lot of really important things. I bought cold wax medium from Michael’s for my class, ordered art supplies online for overnight delivery, returned my textbook and mailed my Aetna reimbursement form at the post office, went into a book store asking for books on Portland (spontaneous and unplanned; it was like something led me in there), went to the library on Stadium -- really nice inside! -- to print my NR 401k paperwork for cash-out, fax my Recipient Rights certificate for my current job, and print more Aetna forms. I also got coffee at Sweetwater’s at the library which made me feel happy. I think the wind and changing weather had something to do with my desire to walk into that bookstore and feel cozy with coffee and my dream. Reevaluate whether I’m on the right road here in A2. I got GTPC too. It was a really productive day. --- Tomorrow I have my SEED followup for Integrative Health with Deb. My friend Kara is going, but unfortunately Alyssa and Kaylee aren’t going. I don’t think Savannah will be on campus because she has a meeting for Field. I might have lunch with Amanda after, but then I have to catch the bus and go out to Plymouth Rd for a massage with a new girl named Maggie. Then Thursday, I have my art class in the morning, possibly an interview, and am hanging out with Max, Gabe, Logan, and maybe Savannah in the evening. I am hoping to hang out with Erin again soon and Lindsey too. It feels good that all these people are inviting me to do things, rather than the other way around. I still don’t know where I am though. I feel like I’ve just been dropped into white space. --- Peace, Love, Happiness. 1:09AM

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thrashermaxey · 6 years

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Ramblings: Vegas JAM; Boeser Injured; Laine Snipes Again – December 18

One day after a 48-save shutout from Carter Hutton was needed for St. Louis to defeat Winnipeg, it was much the same kind of domination by the Jets on Sunday. They jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first period thanks to Adam Lowry and shots on goal were 21-10 for Winnipeg halfway through the game. St. Louis has a couple of injuries in the lineup, but they have been one of the better defensive teams in the NHL this season, and Winnipeg was shredding them.

Patrik Laine shredded them for his 16th goal of the season, this one coming with the man advantage (his 10th PP goal). It looked like a play where the team would have to continue setting up, working for a good shot. Laine had other ideas, and it’s shots like this that make him one of the most dangerous shooters on the planet:

that laine shot tho pic.twitter.com/lbwGuHJmKP

— Michael Clifford (@SlimCliffy) December 18, 2017

That he can shoot at that angle with the goalie in a set position, and make said goalie look as if he had no chance, is something special.

Mark Scheifele and Josh Morrissey each scored in the third period to salt this away. Connor Hellebuyck held on for the 24-save shutout. Jake Allen faced 45 shots, giving the Jets 93 shots (!) in two days against St. Louis.

For those that may have missed in on The Athletic, Paul Campbell had a nice article breaking down the adjustments Connor Hellebuyck made in the off-season as it relates to being quieter, more compact, and not relying on pure athleticism/size all the time. His save percentage now sits at .920 after that game. If he can be anything close to that goalie, with this team playing the way it is, they are a legitimate Cup contender.

Alex Pietrangelo was activated off the injured reserve on Sunday in time for the Blues’ game against Winnipeg. He missed four games with a lower-body injury. While it’s obviously good news for the Blues and Petro’s fantasy owners, it’s bad news for fantasy owners of both Colton Parayko and Vince Dunn. Both blue liners had seen some top PP time with the team’s top defenceman out of the lineup, and that PP time is sure to disappear now.

It should be said, though, that Parayko was kept on the top PP unit for Sunday’s game, even with Pietrangelo back. I doubt it lasts, but it’s worth mentioning.

Patrick Kane got the scoring started for Chicago, potting his 13th of the season in the middle of the first period, and his 14th in late in the second frame. He’s now on pace for 35 goals and a shade over a point per game. This is pretty much the Patrick Kane fantasy owners have come to expect, outside of his career year in 2015-16. He and Artemi Panarin undoubtedly had great chemistry, and we’re seeing a return to normalcy for Kane with Panarin in Columbus. It’s no coincidence his two highest five-on-five on-ice shooting percentage seasons came with the talented Russian on his left wing, so expecting Kane to pass 100 points again is asking too much. He’s undoubtedly one of the elite offensive talents in the NHL, but he can’t do it all himself.

Alex Stalock faced 45 shots, stopping 42 of them in the loss while Corey Crawford stopped 27 of 28 for the win.

Richard Panik was scratched again for Chicago, his third game in a row (if I’m counting correctly). It’s a confusing situation, but if you were hanging on to him, it’s probably best to just drop him now. Even if he were to make his way out of the press box, it seems pretty unlikely he jumps back into a top-six role.

Minnesota got a boost last night as Jared Spurgeon slotted back in the lineup after missing three weeks with a groin injury. He had been on pace for career-highs across the board until being forced to the sidelines, so it’ll be interesting to see how he rebounds. At the least, this will help the Minnesota defence that has been inconsistent at best this year, which in turn should help Devan Dubnyk get on track once he himself returns from his current injury.

I will say, though, this team hasn’t been great defensively all year, with or without injuries. Over the last month, with a mostly-full roster, the team is 20th in adjusted shot attempts allowed. Now, they still aren’t giving up a lot of scoring chances, so maybe their defensive system will hold up as it has for a couple years now. We’ll see how this goes.

So, uh, sorry, Canucks fans?

Here is the play – Boeser blocks the shot on the PP#Canucks pic.twitter.com/drRssHnrl1

— Ryan Biech (@ryanbiech) December 18, 2017

Boeser did not return to the game. It’s doubtful we get an update on the severity of the injury until sometime Monday afternoon at the earliest.

It wasn’t long ago that Baertschi-Horvat-Boeser was one of the top production lines in the league. Now, Horvat has a broken ankle, Baertschi is out for another month with a broken jaw, and we’re awaiting the severity of the injury to Boeser. I suppose by default the Sedins are now the top line again, but this is going to be a slog of an uphill climb. I suppose Rasmus Dahlin is a decent consolation prize?

Mark Jankowski scored his sixth of the season in the first period of Calgary’s game on the road against Vancouver. I know Flames fans were hoping for more when he was originally drafted, but Jankowski is on pace for nearly 20 goals playing 13-15 minutes a night on the third line. For a guy that took five years to make his NHL debut, it wasn’t always certain he’d pan out. If he could even be a middle-six winger for the next decade for this franchise, that is a huge win. By the way, he has given some sparse top PP minutes tonight with the Johnny Hockey line. If that can continue, he could be a viable fantasy option in most leagues. That’s a big if, however.

Mark Giordano added a couple goals for the Flames in their rout of Vancouver with David Rittich picking up the win in net.

Sam Bennett picked up four points here, a goal and three assists. After going pointless in his first 15 games, Bennett has 15 points in 19 games. If you own him in a league with hits, you're laughing. It's nice to see him right the ship after the rough start to the year.

Of course, all fantasy goodness was secondary to the health of Boeser. He had such an incredible start to his career. Let’s all hope it’s nothing serious.

The game of the night was Florida/Vegas, without a doubt.

Michael Matheson and Radim Vrbata scored less than two and a half minutes apart in the first period to get the Panthers out to a 2-0 lead. Nate Schmidt and Colin Miller replied for Vegas to give us a 2-2 game at the end of 20.

Erik Haula tipped home a Miller shot in the third period that would stand as the game-winner.

Jonathan Marchessault scored an empty-netter and added two assists, meaning he’s now a point-per-game player on the season with 29 points in 29 games.

I talked about it a couple weeks ago with regards to Miller, but one thing that has been fun to watch in Vegas this year is how guys who had been typically third-pairing guys for their careers are now performing in Vegas. Miller is absolutely crushing it in all facets; Nate Schmidt is having a rough year in the shot-share department, but is doing much better playing away from Luca Sbisa (surprise, surprise); Brayden McNabb is performing as expected, and even earned himself a new contract. Guys who couldn’t earn a top role in other spots are flourishing for the Golden Knights. I’m sure there’s a lesson to be learned here from league execs/managers, though we’ll see if they actually glean anything.

A bit of news regarding injuries to a few of New Jersey forwards. Taylor Hall skated with Nico Hischier in practice on Sunday, indicating his return to the lineup is imminent. He missed two games last week with a knee bruise, but looks ready to go for Monday’s game against Anaheim. Those in weekly leagues, don’t forget to activate him; with three home games and a relatively soft schedule (Ducks, Rangers, Blackhawks), you don’t want to leave him on the bench by accident.

Kyle Palmieri also skated on the top line with Hall and Hischier, which means he’s likely ready to return Monday after missing four weeks with a broken foot. Palmieri averaged 28 goals and 55 points over his first two years in New Jersey, and had showed promise skating on the top line earlier this year that he could repeat close to that level again. Like Hall, if you’re a weekly fantasy owner, it’s time to get him back into your lineup.

Marcus Johansson, on the other hand, appears to not be quite ready to make his way back into the starting lineup. He did practice with his team on Sunday, but skated as an extra, meaning he will likely miss at least one more game. He’s officially a game-time decision for Monday night.

An update on Logan Couture:

Logan Couture out tomorrow (at least) with a head injury, per DeBoer. Day to day

— Kevin Kurz (@KKurzNHL) December 17, 2017

Readers will remember that Couture left San Jose’s game against Vancouver in the third period after taking a hit to the head. As always, concussions are a fickle injury, and when Couture will be ready is anyone’s guess. It could be a couple games, a couple weeks, a couple months. There’s just no way to know.

With Couture out of the lineup, Chris Tierney moved up to the second line with Tomas Hertl while Kevin Labanc took Couture’s spot on the top power-play unit. In practice on Sunday, though, Hertl shifted to the middle of the second line with Labanc and Melker Karlsson on his flanks. My guess is that this is probably just a situation to avoid, and looking for a direct replacement for Couture from the Sharks roster is not advised.

Nikita Zaitsev was placed on injured reserve by the Leafs and Martin Marincin was called up to take his place. That will keep Zaitsev out until after the Christmas break, which is a break in itself for Toronto as the team only has three games in the next 10 days.

It has been a rough year offensively for the 26-year old, but he was still valuable in real-time stats leagues averaging nearly two hits and three blocked shots per game. It shouldn’t be too difficult to replace him on waiver wires, however. It depends how deep your league is, but a couple blue liners that can help replace Zaitsev’s production include Derek Forbort and Calvin de Haan. Keep an eye for more information today on de Haan, though, as he was seen in pain after the team’s overtime win on Saturday night. It may be nothing, but no need to pull the trigger on the waiver add just yet.

Colorado could get Alex Kerfoot back tonight after missing a few games with a foot injury emanating from an unintentional blocked shot. On the season, Kerfoot has nine goals and 21 points in 29 games, with 10 of those points coming with the man advantage.

While this could be construed as a good thing for fantasy owners, it might be time to see what he can fetch in a trade. He’s averaging just over one shot on goal per game (seriously, he has 30 in 29 contests), and the team is shooting 12 percent with him on the ice at five-on-five. All his numbers are going to regress over the final 50 games of the season, and it could be severe. Anyone that took the chance on him with a late-round flyer in September should be looking to trade him now. You got as much value as you could have hoped for. It’s time to move on.

from All About Sports http://www.dobberhockey.com/hockey-rambling/ramblings-vegas-jam-boeser-injured-laine-snipes-again-december-18/

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