#we need to figure out how to get security cams set up without breaking the bank for them I guess : | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

remmushound · 3 years

Text

Toddler Mutant Ninja Turtles, chapter 1; Hall of Science! @brightlotusmoon @selfindulgenz @scentedcandlecryptid

They were running. Silent feet pounding on stone and impressive forms guiding them over the gaps between rooftops fast enough to disappear between blinks. Like shadows, completely unseen, the brothers raced to the location of their next mission.

“Can I get another runthrough, Don?” Raphael called to his brother as they glided side by side, looking to each other mid-jump.

Donatello didn't need to pay attention to where he was going; his body was so used to the nightly activity that his feet guided him even as his mind was focused on other subjects. He tapped the band on his wrist to bring up a map of New York that immediately settled on his location and the path they would have to take to arrive at their destination; naturally, being the only one with such tech, and as second oldest, he took point with Raphael.

“There’s been a recent string of robberies in every major museum and science building in a hundred block radius. Just the normal stuff: jewels, gems, priceless artifacts, experimental technology—anything worth a pretty penny really.”

“And we’re sure this is our kinda thing?” Leonardo asked; for stamina, the turtle was not built, so already he was panting and coated in a heavy layer of sweat. Still, he was able to keep up quite easily with his brothers. “We do mutants and we do Foot Clan, we don’t do petty robbers.”

“With their MO, I am 99.8 percent certain this is a new mutant.” Donatello reported.

“And what MO would that be?” Raphael questioned.

Donatello cleared his throat and closed his eyes, sticking a finger in the air to annunciate himself as he spoke. “They break in without any clear entry or exit points, door and windows locked and intact, and no security cams or security sensors can seem to pick up on when the attacks occurred. And, most incriminating, they leave behind nothing but a water trail.”

Michelangelo whistled. “Did Piebald go all dark side? Can’t she do all that?”

“I don’t know Michael.” Donatello admitted, “But we’re about to find out. I’ve figured out a pattern in the places they’re targeting and I have a pretty good idea of where we can catch them in the act.”

Raphael nodded and gave an approving grunt. “Then let’s put a hustle on it!”

The journey was an easy and short one. They came onto the roof of the museum and, while they split up at Raphael’s order to find a way into the building, Leonardo took the chance to read the sign.

“New York Hall of Science?” Leonardo scrunched up his beak.

Michelangelo hummed and put his hand on his hip; he had just found a way in through the vent shaft. “Are you sure this is a mission and not just a Donnie field trip?”

Donatello’s lips curled down and he put a hand to his chest. “I reel at the actuation! Gasp! I, the respectable and beloved green mutant lad I am, would never ever do anything like that, never in a million years!” Wild hand gestures enunciated his dramatics. “This is purely professional!”

Michelangelo rolled his eyes. “I found a way in!” He pointed to the vent shaft and was easily able to pry the cover, tossing it aside and going to climb in.

Raphael was there before Michelangelo could do much more than put a foot in, grabbing his baby brother by the shell to pull him out and plop him back down on the safety of the roof.

“Leader goes first!” Raphael declared proudly. Then he immediately melted into soft coos and kneeled beside Michelangelo, pinching the box turtle's cheeks and rubbing his head, “I can’t have my baby brother getting hurt can I?”

He stood up again and gave the seething Michelangelo a final pat on the shoulder before jumping into the vents without a care as to where they led. Michelangelo tried to follow after, but he was forced back by sharp nudges from Leonardo and Donatello as they side-checked him before ducking inside. Michelangelo was the last one in the vents and the last one out.

The brothers fell one by one from the vent shaft, landing with solid, yet muffled thumps as the stealth mode drilled into them took over. The building was completely dark, but that was expected given the fact it was long after hours and the security guards and workers had all gone home for the night.

“Nice.” Leonardo whistled, eyes going white as they scanned across the dark room. “Now this is more my style!”

The museum, despite its namesake, didn't much resemble a museum as it did an indoor playground. There were several exhibits quartered off with rope and chains; a rocket ride that resembled a better, cooler version of a coin-operated horse, a trampoline with a harness attached to a bungee cord, several displays showing off depictions of the solar system or sand dollars you could dig for in a sand pit or a small chemical set for little experiments. It was like something straight out of a child's imagination! Michelangelo had to rub his eyes several times just to be sure he was actually seeing it.

Donatello stepped in front of the awed group and gave a bow before motioning widely to the room. “Welcome, dear brothers, to the greatest place on earth if you happen to be a science child! Ohhh I’ve always wanted to come here!” Donatello practically melted, his eyes shimmering with the child-like wonder as he leaned his full weight on his bo staff. He sucked in a shaky gasp and one of his spider arms deployed to offer him a tissue. “It’s so beautiful.”

“I guess.” Raphael laughed, smiling at the sight of his brother happy as could be. “But I don’t really see how this fits our thief's MO…”

“Allow me to elaborate!” Donatello declared, spinning on his heels to face his brothers again as he threw purple sparkles into the air, “This museum of wonder and extravagance will be displaying the illusive and highly controversial trillion-sided die in their Math-mania exhibit this Saturday eve! School children from all over with come to marvel as this beautiful piece of scientific—“

“Woah woah woah, trillion-sided die?” Leonardo interrupted, fixing Donatello with his ‘I don’t believe you’ eyes, “That sounds totally made up!”

Donatello gasped as if Leonardo’s words were a personal affront. “I assure you the trillion-sided die is a hundred percent, genuine marvel of the world—“

“How could there be a trillion sides?” Leonardo asked, “Who counted all them sides!”

“T...they clearly had a highly advanced expert to prove—“

“Another question,” Leonardo raised his hand, “How big is the die? It’s gotta be pretty big to have a trillion sides.”

“I… It’s a… it’s just a regular sized die!”

“Then are the sides all like… really small or… or how did they do that?” Leonardo leaned against a wall and smirked.

Michelangelo was quickly growling bored with the argument and his eyes began to wander, searching for some movement or stimulation to keep his mind happy. What he found instead was a wet spot on the floor, and once he saw it, it was impossible to unsee it. It was like someone had been carrying a bucket full of water with the bottom full of holes, dripping it all the way through the walkway and then around a bend and out of sight.

“Guys—!” Michelangelo tried to get their attention. He was met with a finger pressed to his lips to silence him.

“Shush, Angelo. Big boys are talking!”

Michelangelo’s hands became fists and he growled. If he had been in a cartoon, steam would have poured out of his ears! But before he could try again to call their attention, Leonardo had jumped forward, leaning his entire weight on Michelangelo’s head to point.

“Hey look! A water trail!”

Raphael came over grinning. “Good job Leo! Great find!”

“Oh come on!” Michelangelo groaned loudly.

#toddler mutant ninja turtles!#little brother struggles #disaster twins

34 notes · View notes

wordsfromthesol · 4 years

Text

I Don’t Need a Babysitter (1/2)

Author: @wordsfromthesol Pairing: Jason Todd x Reader Warnings: Uhmmmm…violence kinda? Cursing probably? Word Count: 1.8k Requested: @lemontree205

Part Two

“Hey Bats, I could really use a favor.”

“Hal Jordan asking for my help. What could be so important?”

“The Corps is sending me on another deep space mission. I’m still not sure how long I’ll be gone.”

“I’m sure we can hold down the fort here on Earth without you Hal.”

“No…that’s not. Listen, my kid sister is at Gotham University. I’d been checking up on her, but now I won’t be able to.”

Bruce held up his hand in acknowledgement. “You got it Hal.”

“Listen, she doesn’t know…”

“Don’t worry, I wasn’t planning on going up to her in the Bat suit.”

“Awe man, so even she’ll know who Batman is before I do?”

“No.” Before Hal could question him further, Bruce climbed into the Zeta Tube and was gone.

“Alright boys. I have an assignment for you.” Bruce looked around at his boys all sitting at the dining room table. “Y/N Y/L/N.” He threw a file on the table.

“What’d she do? Drug runner? Arms dealer? Assassin?” Jason started spurting off anything he could think of.

“GL’s half-sister?” Tim questioned as he scanned through the file.

“Don’t tell me we are babysitting.” Jason huffed out, clearly agitated.

“No. I just need someone to check on her every day. You can all take turns.”

“How did you rope us into this?” Dick arched his eyebrow and smirked towards his adoptive father.

“Hal asked for a favor. And it’s family.”

“Alright, we’ll check on the brat. Is she at least close by?” Jason words were sharp yet understanding. It was for family.

“Gotham University, Junior, Double Major, Physics and Structural Engineering.” Tim rattled off the facts in the file.

“I still do not see the purpose in this. Can the girl not defend herself?” Damian finally spoke up.

“I’m sure she can, but I’d rather be safe.” Bruce tried to explain to his youngest.

“I’ll take tomorrow.”

“Jay, did I just hear you offer to take the first shift?” Dick’s eyebrows raised questioningly.

“I figure then I won’t have to ruin my weekend.”

As night fell Jason left for patrol. He stopped by your apartment every few hours, watching as all you seemed to do was study. Finally, Jason got bored and headed back to the cave.

“This girl is so boring. Why does she need us to check on her?” Jason complained to Tim as soon as he arrived.

“I’m sure Hal is just worried. He doesn’t know how long this mission will take.”

“Well, fair warning…bring a book on your shift.”

This went on for a few weeks and all the boys were getting bored with your lifestyle.

“I don’t understand how all she does is study.” Jason complained yet again.

“I have theorized she simply has no companions.” Damian joined in.

“Maybe she just prefers her studies. People can be tiresome.” Tim reasoned, understanding of your demeanor.

“But even you break away from the computer sometimes Timmy.” Dick pointed out.

“It just baffles me that she’s related to Hal at all.” Tim thought about the Green Lantern’s personality in comparison to yours. “Wait…it’s Wednesday night. Whose turn is it? Shouldn’t they be out by now?”

The boys all looked around at one another, unsure of whose shift it was.

Finally. You thought peering out your window. There was no sign of any vigilantes staring you down. Though you had to admit, their presence did force you to study a lot more than usual. Worried that your time was limited, you stalked out of your apartment and headed to an abandoned warehouse – your usual training spot.

Your muscles ached at the movements. The two weeks you had gone without were really taking their toll. You stepped out of the warehouse and immediately realized you’d been found. Shit. Not only could you feel someone watching you, your eyes darted immediately to the vigilante. You just told them more than they needed to know with one look.

They soon figured out that Jason, unshockingly, was the one missing patrol. He set out immediately and a panic set in when he got to your apartment and you were no where in sight. Thankfully, with Tim’s help they were able to trace your location.

Jason waited on a nearby rooftop, catching glimpses of your routine through the dirty and broken windows. What is she doing? Your eyes darted to him as soon as you stepped outside. That couldn’t be a coincidence. That skill comes with training. He waited, wondering what you would do next, though he was slightly disappointed, as you continued forward as if you hadn’t seen him at all. That’s impossible right. She looked right at me. Didn’t she?

You knew you had to play this right. Hal had gone too far sending babysitters while he was away. As if you didn’t know he was a Green Lantern. As if he thought you couldn’t take care of yourself. You decided to pretend as if you hadn’t seen Red Hood at all, going on your way back to your apartment. Though you were disappointed you didn’t see any action tonight, at least you were able to train. As you got back you immediately went to sleep, hoping to throw off any suspicions the vigilante had.

Now she’s just going to sleep? I need to get into that warehouse. Jason headed back the way you came and crawled in through one of the broken windows. He looked around, both in confusion and shock. Targets littered with bullets and arrows filled the walls. Training dummies and equipment were scattered about the space. Upon further investigation he even stumbled upon a locked room. He rang Tim upon seeing the security system connected to the door.

“Hey Timbo, you busy?”

“I guess not. What did do you? Did you find Y/N?”

“Yeah yeah, she’s asleep. I’m looking into something and it’s got a security system. Do you have a minute to hack it?”

“I suppose, but you owe me. Take my shift tomorrow for babysitting.”

“Done.” Jason would’ve offered to take it anyways. You were just starting to get interesting.

Jason was in awe as he pushed open the door. The weapons and gadgets cache was truly impressive, especially for a college student. There can’t be a vigilante in Gotham we don’t know about…right? He thought to himself as he rifled through your stash. Jason was fully invested and completely caught off guard when you approached behind him, pistol aimed at his chest.

“Care to leave my shit alone Hood?”

“Care to tell me why you have all this shit?”

“Not really.” Silence ensued as he slowly picked up one of the throwing knives and inspected it. You holstered your gun, “Look. If my brother sent you, I’m releasing you from service. Clearly, I can take care of myself.”

“But you were so boring!”

“Yeah, on purpose. So you idiots would leave me alone. You weren’t exactly subtle with the check-ins.” You walked over and grabbed the throwing knife from his hand. “Then again neither was Hal.”

“Wait, you know?”

“Dude, he’s not exactly subtle with the glowing green shit.”

“Hm. So are you a vigilante? Why haven’t I heard of you?”

“Probably because I don’t go around in some ridiculous costume.”

“Ha! So you are a vigilante.”

You rolled your eyes, “I don’t know if I would call it that. Either way, your services aren’t needed.”

“Unfortunately for you, I don’t think I could get out of them. Batman kinda promised your brother we’d keep an eye on you.”

“Wow. He must be desperate to ask the Bat for a favor. What happened?”

“Uhm…I’m not sure –” Jason words were cut off as you brought a small dagger to his throat. “Okay okay.” He threw his hands up in defense. “All Hal said was the Corps were sending him on a deep space mission. He didn’t know how long before he would be back.”

“He’s been on those before. What are you not telling me?”

“That’s all I know!”

You sighed, dropping the dagger to the floor. “Dammit Hal.” You mumbled, knowing full well there was more to this.

“So why,” Jason gestured around, “all this.”

“It started a few months after Hal became Green Lantern…wait, what am I getting out of telling you this?”

“How about I help you find out what’s really going on.” You look at him, skeptical. “I guarantee I have a lot more resources than you, no offense.”

“Fine.” You continued with your story, “Anyways, as soon as I found out I knew the idiot would become a target. Me being family, automatically makes me a target too.”

“So this is all out of self-preservation?” Jason questioned, he had watched you for weeks, he knew there had to be more to it.

“Yes and no. I never want to make Hal chose between saving me or saving the world. Hell even saving me or saving one other person. So I began to train and every now and then I head to the Narrows to get some real world experience…with the added bonus of helping people.”

From then on the two of you were virtually inseparable. Jason did everything he could to get his brothers shifts to watch you. Whether it was making bets he knew he would lose or asking for favors. He always made sure you knew if he wasn’t your babysitter for the night. Unfortunately, the two of you had found virtually nothing on why your brother was so worried about you. Granted you didn’t have much to go on to begin with.

“He’s hiding something, right?” Dick asked Tim and Damian one night while Jason was out with you.

“It does seem like Todd has been trying to obtain babysitting duty. He purposefully lost a bet with Drake just yesterday.” Damian commented on the matter.

“And one with me last week.”

“You don’t think he’s skipping out?” Tim asked with a worried expression.

“He better not, Bruce would have all our heads. Look up his location.” Dick motioned to Tim, suddenly concerned about his brother’s nightly activities.

Tim’s eyes grew wide. “He’s at a warehouse.”

“What? Where?”

“Dick…there’s something we didn’t tell you. Remember that night we forgot whose turn it was?”

“Yeah…”

“Well, Y/N wasn’t at her apartment. I was able to trace her through traffic cams to a warehouse. This warehouse.”

“And now they are back there?”

“That’s not all.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well I didn’t think it meant anything. But later that same night Jason had me hack a security system. I checked his location…he was back at that warehouse.”

“So what is it?”

“It seems to have been abandoned years ago.”

“Why do we not just go see for ourselves?” Damian interjected.

“Good point, Dami. Let’s suit up…just in case.”

589 notes · View notes

deathonyourtongue · 3 years

Text

Resurrection | 11

Summary: A ragtag team of Spec-Ops operators are brought out of retirement for all the wrong reasons. When the dust settles, only the best will be left standing. Pairing: Pablo Schreiber x OFC, Henry Cavill x OFC (listen, she gets with the whole team, okay? Don’t lie, you would too.) Word Count: 2.1K Warnings: Nothing much really. A/N: Shit hath hitteth the fan. Again.

“Ooh, smells like semen in here!” Jake says with far too much enthusiasm, smiling brightly at me as he pours two cups of coffee, doctoring mine just how I like it.

“Shut up. If you or anyone else brings it up, be ready to be on the receiving end of Beef’s fist,” I mutter, giving Jake the only warning he’ll get from me as I take my seat at the conference table, rolling my neck side to side, amazed at just how sore I am.

“My lips are sealed. I just gotta know one thing: What was he holding out for?”

“Me,” I whisper, watching as Jake’s eyebrows go sky high and he leans back in his seat, silenced.

“I mean, we all sort of suspected. He’s not exactly subtle about...well, anything, but you never seemed to catch on, so we left it alone.” He shrugs, his smile more genuine this time, Jake looking truly touched by the revelation.

“Yeah, well, next time do us both a favor and tell me sooner.”

“And spare him the blue balls? Where’s the fun in that? Was it a mess? Did you have to stick the shower head up there after?”

“Jake, shut up!” I crow, throwing a spare pen at him just as Rick walks through the door, breakfast in hand.

“Literally the last two people I expected to be up early after last night, but I’ll take it. Where’s the rest of the gang?” Rick asked, setting the bags of food and the tray of coffee down in the center of the table.

“What did you get up to last night?” It’s my turn to interrogate Jake, my eyebrow going up as I watch his smile go impish.

“Her name was Star and she did things to me that are deadly sins in most religions.” Jake says with as much seriousness as he can muster for all of 2.5 seconds, his face breaking into a smile just as he takes a sip of his coffee.

“Just be glad you weren’t stuck in a box with him for more than 24 hours,” Benji mutters as he takes the seat to my left, squeezing my shoulders before sitting down.

“Morning,” Max mumbles as he sits to my right, avoiding eye contact with everyone, including me.

“Save the act, Beef. We all know you got some,” Dom cuts in, moving to sit next to Rick, leaning back in his seat, and grinning like that cat that ate the canary.

“Congratulations on losing your V-card, bro,” Flip adds as he comes in, patting Max on the back as he scoots by him.

“Alright, enough. What d’we got, Rick?” I cut the shenanigans short, knowing if I let it go on any longer, the guys will yank Max’s chain a little too hard first thing in the morning. Even I’m not that patient before coffee.

“Well, since we let Wallace literally walk out the front door, we have to chase again. I asked intel for his whereabo--”

There’s barely time to hear the blast before the shockwave hits us, taking out the bulletproof glass as if it were single pane. I feel Max’s body collide into mine, before we both hit the ground hard. Car alarms and smoke detectors go off in nearby buildings, making it clear the blast came from the outside in, but leaving no doubt we’re the targets.

Breaching charges come next, one at the front door, one at the secondary exit. I finally open my eyes as I get to my feet, keeping low and feeling Max’s hand clamped around the back of my neck. Though smoke fills the meeting room, I get enough of a glance to know that the guys are all okay, each of them in the same crouched position I am, all of us moving with precision.

Max pushes me into my room, slamming the door behind me. Without hesitation, I grab a t-shirt, vest, pants and socks, throwing everything on in a hurry. My boots go last, the laces double knotted so I don’t have a slip-up later. I pull my hair into a messy knot before grabbing my M4 and checking the mag. Seeing it fully loaded, I push it back into place and slam it home, ready to go.

The knock at my door comes just in time, and I knock back once to let whoever is on the other side know I’m ready and armed. Pulling it open, I fall in behind Flip, covering him and bringing up the tail end of our little procession down the hall. Up front, I hear Dom call out targets, he and Rick taking out three men without hesitation.

“Let’s move!” Rick calls out, and I pivot so that as I move forward, I can cover us against anyone who might want to come up behind. Within moments of doing so, two of Wallace’s men come out of the meeting room and into the hallway. Leveling my M4, I take four shots, ensuring both men’s deaths.

Just as I pass the last of the bedrooms, I feel my body get pulled sideways. With little time to react, I let my gun fall to my side and pull my knife out of my vest. Before I can sink it into the nearest limb, I feel his arm go around my throat in a rear naked choke, the man squeezing hard enough to make me see stars. I only have six seconds before the chokehold takes me out, and with gunfire sounding ahead of us, I know the boys won’t be coming to save me. Stepping forward, I pivot towards the man’s thumb, palm striking his hand away as I go. Out of the hold, I don’t waste time, wrapping his neck in a guillotine choke and cranking with every ounce of anger I feel towards the man who’s made our lives a living hell for the last few weeks.

It takes a second, but I feel the distinct pop of tendon and bone breaking and from how limp the man goes, I know he’s gone. Swinging my gun back into my hands, I check my corners and sprint to catch up with the team, reaching them as they start going down the exterior stairs of the building. At street level, more of Wallace’s men are posted up, guns aimed directly at us. I pause for a moment, eyeing the most imperative man to take out, and with a quick check through my scope, put two through his forehead, taking him out just before he can let a shot off; a shot that would’ve surely hit Rick where it counts. Taking out two more men before moving again, I sprint for our car, slipping in just as Dom puts the pedal to the floor.

“Everyone good?” Benji calls, his eyes wide as they dart around the van, watching carefully as we all pat ourselves down. Unlike our last shootout, I don’t find a hole where it shouldn’t be. Still, I’m not surprised when I find Max’s fingers lifting my chin.

“Jesus,” he hisses as I turn my head out of his grip, nodding.

“Yeah, it’s gonna be muteville for me tomorrow unless I can ice this soon,” I acknowledge, resting my head back against the seat as the pain finally kicks in.

Our secondary safehouse is nowhere near as luxurious as the one we use for headquarters, being nothing but a small, modified warehouse, but it has water, ice, and a place for me to lean back while I ice my neck. Max brings me the bag and gingerly sets the ice down on my neck, smoothing my hair back after. With a gentle kiss to my forehead, he takes his seat next to me, his gaze focusing on the screens where Rick is pulling up traffic cameras.

“Home Office is going to love knowing you broke the Freedom Act just for one man,” Max deadpans, all of us focusing on a different part of the screen, trying to figure out where Wallace and his men went after the bombing.

“I’ll have a look at security cam footage from right after the stairs, see if I can pinpoint what direction he went in,” Dom says, pulling his laptop closer before entering the same camera network the traffic ones are on. If nothing else, I’m glad we’re in London because as one of the most surveilled cities in the world, the chances of not finding him are slim to none.

Silence falls over the room as we all study the feeds, looking for any sign of the black vans Wallace and his men got into after the bombing. It seems like hours go by before Dom finally speaks up, his voice terse as he checks and double-checks his findings.

“Cameras show him headed east-”

“I got him. He’s on A12,” Rick interjects, standing to get a closer look at his square, where the two vans are headed in the exact direction Dom had said.

“A12 ends at London City. He’s gonna try and hop ship!” Max is the one on his feet now, reaching for his phone.

Taking the ice off my neck, I sit up, well-versed in what’s about to happen. Joint ops are always a mess, but we need the airport locked down with him and his team in it, and with the head start Wallace has, we’ll never make it in time.

Max paces as the call rings, his face making it clear he needs the person on the other end to pick up, and pick up quickly. As he waits, we all start getting ready. Vest plates are checked, mags get loaded and stowed, and extra ammo is stuffed into a singular go-bag one of us will carry just in case.

“John. Hey mate, I need a favor and I need it fast. No questions right now. I need you to lock down London City as quickly as you can. No making calls to anti-terror, understood? This one’s ours and ours alone. He’s an animal and we need to put him down. Can you do that, mate? Good, thank you. What’s your ETA?”

Max listens intently to his friend on the other line even as he starts prepping his own gear, knowing we don’t have much time.

“Great. I’ll see you there, mate. I’ll explain over a pint when it’s all over, I promise.” Closing the call, Max grabs his gear, on my heels as we all rush out the door and back into the truck.

We check and recheck everything as Max drives towards the airport we know Wallace will be trying to fly out of. The silence in the truck is deafening, all of us tensed and ready for what we hope will be the end of this nightmare.

London City’s facade reminds me of a used car dealership, all concrete and glass, with the airport’s title written in blue letters across the top of the entrance. It’s not a stunning piece of architecture, and despite its prime location, it’s nowhere near as heavily-trafficked as Heathrow or Gatwick. I try my best to keep my face neutral as we arrive; by the amount of lights and personnel standing around outside the building, the Mets weren’t exactly subtle about their approach. The chances that Wallace is still in the building drop more and more, the closer we get.

Max tears out of the car like a bull in a china shop, eyes narrowed with laser precision as he marches inside to find his friend. We follow suit, scanning the area for any sign of Wallace or his men, knowing he could be waiting to spring another trap on us at any moment.

“What the hell happened, John?” Max barks as he makes a beeline for his friend, having no idea how scary he looks when he’s on the warpath.

“We were too late, mate. He had a private jet set to take off. Wheels were up by the time we got to the counters. We’re pulling surveillance and the flight manifest as we speak.” John, to his credit, manages to face Max without shrinking in his presence, unintimidated by the rabid dog routine he tends to default to whenever a plan is going south.

Appeased by the quick reaction to missing their primary objective, Max backs off, scrubbing a hand over his face as he turns back towards us.

“We’re all in consensus that he wants to recreate the night he was arrested, correct?” He asks as we all gather around, ready to rejig the plan as necessary. Everyone nods, the rest of the team’s anger rising to the level of Max’s, none of us wanting a repeat of that night. “So he’s headed south. Probably back to Libya.”

The flight manifest appears before anyone can say another word, and as Max reads over the report, I know the bad news is about to be compounded.

“He took a hostage. FUCK!”

#henry cavill #pablo schreiber #henry cavill x ofc #pablo schreiber x ofc #resurrection #deathonyourtongueoriginals

31 notes · View notes

tomspancakes · 4 years

Text

This Way: Part 5

*not my gif*

Pairing: Tom Holland x Actress! reader

Word Count: 4557

Warnings: Dickhole Tom

Summary: Uncharted filming is postponed and Tom comes back home.

A/N: Please lmk if you’re enjoying this series or have any constructive criticism for my writing! Don’t hesitate to ask to be a part of the taglist (if i can even make it work lol) Enjoy part 5, loves :)

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

+++

“What the fuck. She’s actually crazy! We have to do something about this. I mean she’s literally blackmailing Tom into staying with her!” Harry said loudly.

“Shhh, I don’t want the other boys to hear.” You said trying to quiet him down, “I know it’s crazy, but Tom and I said we’d figure out a way for her to stay quiet or something I don’t know. But the only thing we can do right now is let him stay with her.”

“But-”

“No, Harry, if you do anything she’ll expose Tom and I. E-even though we’re broken up I’m not ready for people to go digging into my past life. We’ll figure something out I promise.” He nodded understanding how much you cared about your privacy.

“Hey Harry and y/n. You guys down to-” Haz came into the living room and saw your puffy eyes and bruises forming on your left arm where Allana grabbed you. It was still a mystery that she was able to bruise you, “Oh what the hell happened, are you ok y/n?” He said very concerned and picked up your arm to examine it.

“I’m ok,” You laughed, “Just a little accident when we were coming into the house.” You said trying to not mention Allana.

“Oh it was definitely far from an accident. Allana came looking for Tom and she was-”

“Harrison! We have to go outside! Allana is going psycho on y/n and Harry!” Tuwaine came running down the stairs to show Haz the security footage, “Oh, oops… I thought this was going on now…” You all laughed.

“Anyway, Allana is way crazier than we thought, guys. She was trying to accuse y/n of trying to take Tom, calling her a ‘stupid whore’ and such. Well you can see it in the security footage. We can’t let her near y/n if she comes back.” Harry said and the boys nodded crossing their arms like they were your body guards and your heart melted.

“Aw you guys are gonna make me cry, love you guys,” They smiled at you, “but I can take care of myself. She’s just being a jealous girlfriend.”

“Uh no. more like a fucking psychopath.” Harrison said sassily and the boys agreed.

“Ok whatever she is, it doesn’t matter. You guys also can’t tell Tom what happened. We all know he’d come back in a heartbeat if he finds out.” The boys looked at you with a face like, ‘what the fuck?’.

“He left to have some time for himself so we’ll give it to him. Plus he’s gonna start filming in a few days so we can’t distract him from his work.” The boys agreed because you made a valid point.

“As soon as he gets here though I’m gonna tell him to break it off with her.” Harrison said sternly and you got a little nervous about that.

-*One week before lockdown*-

It’s been a few days since Tom had left. Tom tried to reach out to you a few times, but you wouldn’t budge.

You were beginning to get nervous hearing about the restrictions of travel to the US and your manager, Stacy, called.

“Hey y/n how’s it going?”

“Well, I’m sad filming was cut short, but I guess I could use a break. I’m trying to find a plane ticket home, but they’re so hard to find since everyone is trying to go back to the states now.” You said nervously.

“Yeah, y/n, here’s the thing. I don’t think you should come back home.”

“What? B-but what about my family?” Your manager sighed.

“Look, you were gonna be gone from home for a few months already, if you stayed it’d be like the same thing. And who knows? You may even start filming in 2 weeks like they said. Plus it’s really not safe to travel at this time. I don’t want you to get sick and I’m sure you don’t want to get anyone in your family sick.” Stacy was making really good points, you sighed and nodded, “I’m sorry, y/n, just try to come to terms with it.”

“Ok will do, Stacy. I’ll talk to you later.” She gave you an apologetic smile and hung up. You were upset, but at least you wouldn’t be alone right? Quarantining with 4 other boys was going to get real interesting… especially when one of them is your ex.

“Everything alright, Y/n?” Harry sat next to you on the couch. You shook your head and rested it on his shoulder.

“I can’t go back to my family because of the virus.” He looked at you apologetically and rubbed your back.

“It’s gonna be ok you have me, Harrison, Tuwaine, and Tom will probably be home soon.” You nodded and felt a sense of comfort knowing Tom would be back soon.

- In Berlin, Germany-

Tom got a text from the producers for the entire crew to meet in the hotel lobby. Tom already had an idea of what was about to happen. As soon as everyone got there the director, Ruben Fleischer spoke.

“Thanks for coming down everyone, I assume you already know what this announcement is about. We’re going to have to postpone all production of Uncharted until it is safe to return. I suggest that you make your way home soon since travelling restrictions are getting worse.” As soon as he finished talking Tom got a text from his assistant, Ben, saying that he already booked Tom a plane ticket last night because he heard the news beforehand somehow.

Tom was sad that he’d have to leave doing what he loves most, but he was excited to go back home and see you and the boys. He thought of this as a nice little break, then he remembered he had to deal with Allana and he sighed.

He sent a text to a groupchat called, “y/n and divs,” (which consisted of everyone in the house) saying he’d be going back home now.

- Heathrow Airport -

Tom tiredly tried to hail a cab until a familiar car pulled up in front of him.

“Hey, Tommy.” Tom's eyes widened. How the hell did she know he was coming back? “Hop in, baby.” He gulped and walked into the passenger seat.

“How’d you know I was coming back?” Tom asked, a little freaked out.

“I had Ben update me since you weren’t responding to any of my texts or calls for three fucking days! Which we really need to have a chat about.” She said getting mad, then she breathed out trying to calm down and cleared her throat, “I’m just worried about you, Tommy.” She smiled at Tom and kept driving.

“Sorry I was really busy with work and they needed me to come to set early.” He lied, hiding the fact that he was trying to get away from her. He texted the, “y/n and divs,” group chat,

Tom: Hey, just landed. Allana picked me up. She's taking me back to her flat, I’ll try to be home before 8

Harrison: Oh shit good luck lol

Tom looked confused at the text. Did Harrison know something?

Tom’s heart sped up when he saw that you texted, but in a private chat.

Y/n: Make good decisions… Be safe please x

It’s the only thing you’ve said to him in a few days. He knew you’d come around eventually and your concern for his safety made him smile. ‘Wait, why is everyone texting me like embarking on a dangerous adventure?’ He thought.

“Who’re the texts from?” Allana asked.

“Oh uh nobody.” Tom quickly deleted his messages with you just in case Allana would see.

“Bull shit.” She said sternly and snatched Tom’s phone, “Ugh why does Harrison hate me so much?”

“Allana what the fuck you’re driving! What the hell is going on? You’ve been really cr- uh different since the dinner.” Her mood went from mad to sad in 0.0002 seconds as she pulled over. She sighed and said innocently,

“I-I’m sorry, Tommy. I-I guess I’ve just been so insecure ever since y/n showed up and I don’t want to lose you because you're such a great guy. And it really hurt that you left without telling me because it was our 5 month anniversary.” Tom’s eyes widened because he forgot about that and began to feel bad and sighed.

“Allana, why didn’t you just tell me that? You have no need to worry either, Y/n and I aren’t getting back together.” Tom hurt himself when he said that. He wished he could get back with you, but you just wanted to be friends. Allana perked up right away and leant over the console to give him a long kiss, but Tom cut it short, still not able to trust her. She cleared her throat and began to drive again.

“I’m going to use the loo really quick, then we can go pick up some dinner.” Allana said. Tom nodded and decided to check his security cams since he hasn’t in a while. He casually scrolled through the usual footage of the mail men and people coming into/ leaving the house, that is until he saw a video of Allana going to sit on the porch and noticed it was from the day he left. His blood began to boil when he saw Allana yank you back and say all those mean things to you.

The driver door swung open, “Ok, ready to-”

“Allana what the fucking hell is this?” Tom hissed and showed Allana the footage. Her eyes went wide,

“First off you left me without any warning. I’m your girlfriend, Tom! Second you didn’t answer any of my texts or calls on our 5 month anniversary. Third it really seems like you weren’t trying to stay away from y/n, don’t even think for a second I didn’t see what Tuwaine posted.” Tom looked at her confused, she groaned and pulled up the picture of you laying across all the boys. “Care to explain? Because I’m very close to exposing your little secret.” She said darkly.

“Allana, jeez that was before you started this insane ‘deal’ of yours. I swear.”

“Hm, you got lucky this time Tom.” She snarled. Tom was getting fed up,

“That’s it. You called y/n really rude things and would have hurt her. I can’t do this anymore you’re insa-”

“Ohp stop right there, Tommy, if you’re trying to break up with me right now remember that the ball is in my court.” Tom furrowed his brows in anger, “If you do I’ll make the story worse. I’ll go straight to TMZ and along with your past relationship I’ll tell them that you and y/n were fucking behind my back. I’ll make sure to ruin both of your careers.” Tom stayed silent.

“Oh, Tommy, don’t look so sad.” She said in a baby voice.

“I need to go. I can’t be around you right now.” Tom got out of the car and retrieved his luggage. She yelled behind him,

“Don’t forget about what I can do, Tom. I want you back at my flat tomorrow.”

Tom walked to his friend Connor’s house which was only two blocks away and knocked on the front door.

“Hold on I’m coming!” The door swung open, “Tom? Mate, it’s been so long you ok?” They bro hugged before Connor let him in.

“No actually, I uh came here for some info…” Connor raised his brow, “about Allana.”

“Oh shit, Tom. I told you you should’ve left her as soon as possible.”

“Yeah I know. I-I don’t know why I didn’t listen to anyone. I guess I just wanted to be with someone.” He sighed and his mind went to you as he plopped down on the couch.

Connor patted his back and sat next to him, “It’s ok you’re not the first guy to have troubles with Allana. Well, what’d you want to know?”

“Every single detail of her last relationship.” Tom said sternly.

“Thanks for giving me a ride home and for telling me everything, mate. I owe you.” Tom said, giving Connor a bro hug over the console.

“Don’t even worry about it. You already got yourself in quite a pickle.” Tom laughed tiredly and turned to walk to the house.

“Hey guys I’m home.” Tom said in a very unenthusiastic way. Nobody came to greet him or anything, he heard voices upstairs and decided to check it out.

“Bro, that’s sick! Do it again.” Harrison said amused.

“Haha alright I will, give me a second. Y/n, are you recording now?” This time it's a familiar American voice that’s coming through the phone. Tom walked into your room to see all the boys huddled behind you at your desk. He knocked on the door frame and everyone turned around.

“Aye look who’s back. It’s Tom!” Tuwaine cheered. Your heart skipped a beat with excitement.

“Oh, wait a sec not yet.” You said as all the boys went to greet Tom. You sat there afraid that Allana might be watching the instagram live.

“What’s going on here?” Tom asked, coming to look at your phone. He saw you were on an instagram live with Gavin Leatherwood. His heart dropped and his body began to heat up with jealousy.

“Hey, Tom! Long time no see. I was about to do a double front flip. Did you just get back from filming?” Gavin asked nicely. Tom had a straight face the entire time. You could sense Tom was not happy and you watched him closely afraid he’d do something bad.

“Yep. Filming got cancelled for me.” He said seriously and stood straight up to walk away without letting Gavin respond. ‘Well that went better than expected.’ You thought. The boys looked at him apologetically, but went back behind you to watch Gavin flip.

“Uh, Gavin, why don’t you do that flip and that’ll be the last thing because we gotta go.”

He nodded and did the flip, sticking the landing perfectly. The boys cheered and everyone in the comments went crazy.

“Nice, mate, you’re so good at that!” Harry said, clapping still. Gavin laughed,

“Thanks it took a lot of time for me to get that down. Alright you all gotta go now?” You nodded,

“Yeah sorry, it’s around dinner time here now.” You said.

“No worries! It’s breakfast time for me anyway. Text me and send me the video.” You nodded and both said your goodbyes to everyone watching the live.

“Man that was dope. Y/n, you have to get him to hang out with us when this is all over.” Haz pleaded before speaking with Tuwaine. You giggled and nodded in agreement.

“Y/n, I don’t think Tom was very happy about that.” Harry said sticking with you as Haz and Tuwaine walked ahead.

“Yeah no shit, he had a straight face the whole time. Should I talk to him?” Harry shrugged.

“Maybe? I mean it seems like he’s already had a really rough day.”

“Yeah I just don’t want to make his day worse-” Harry cut you off pointing at Tom sitting at the dinner table. He was drinking a beer and had an empty shot glass next to him,

“Looks like you should talk to him, hear him out or something. I’ll help Haz and Tuwaine cook dinner.” Harry sighed and walked to the other boys.

You nodded and made your way over to Tom rubbing his shoulder before sitting down, “Not even 20 minutes here and you’re already trying to get drunk?” You joked and he scoffed. Oof. “Wanna talk about anything?” You looked at him concerned.

“Hm yeah I do. I’ve got a lot to talk about actually, but seems like you’d much rather drool over Mr. Leatherwood instead of listen to poor old Tom.” You sighed and gave him a sad look.

“Tom, Gavin just joined my instagram live because he was bored. We were just entertaining other people.” You didn’t want to say anything more because you were worried Tom would only get more upset.

“That’s fucking bull shit.” He hissed taking another swig of beer, “He was literally just trying to impress you with his stupid flip, which isn’t even that impressive. You know I could do that too, y/n. He’s not special.” His jealousy was beginning to show. You smiled a bit at him and nodded,

“I’m sure you can do that and more, but he’s just my friend and he knows that’s all he is to me.”

“Does he really? Or are you just saying that to make me feel better? Who decided to break up first in the relationship?” His voice was raising a bit and Harrison and Tuwaine kept looking your way.

“Maybe we should take this conversation to the liv-” You said already standing up. But Tom lightly pulled your waist back down to the chair.

“No we’re going to talk about this here and now. Who decided to break up first?”

“L-like I said, it was mutual.” You said softly

“No that’s bull. I can tell you’re lying.” You shut your eyes stressed and sighed,

“Ok, I was the one that suggested it.” Tom sat back looking satisfied taking a sip of his beer.

“Ya, that’s what I thought. You don’t like staying tied down. Did you also tell him you still wanted to be friends so that you could fuck him when you’re feeling lonely?” You stared at Tom in disbelief.

“What the hell, Tom?” He snickered darkly and shook his head.

“Oh my god, you’re not even fucking denying it. You probably go around telling guys that you’d be their friend instead of straight out rejecting them so you can fuck around with their feelings and have some sex when you feel like it.” Your vision began to get blurry with every word Tom said, but you refused to cry.

“You of all people should know damn well that I’m nothing like that, Tom.” You spat

“Do I really though, y/n?” Tom said, his voice booming. The other boys all turned to you two now. “You couldn’t even tell me the truth about you and Gavin and then I see the shit Allana did to you a few days ago? Well actually none of you fuckers bothered to tell me about it.” He said turning around and pointing at the other boys. “Damn it this is my house as well!” You stared at him with apologetic eyes.

“Hey, Tom. We didn’t tell you what went down because you said needed to leave for space and we gave it to you. Don’t blame y/n for anything.” Harry said standing up for you now. Tom scoffed.

He turned back around and looked at you straight in the eyes, “What, are you getting into my friends’ minds now? I left for you, y/n. I left so that I could fix shit and all for what? Fucking lies. That’s all I get in return, and you never even communicated back to me. You were probably being petty because I left. Which again was for you damn it!” He was beginning to turn red and getting angrier by the second. Nobody was prepared for what he was about to say next.

“You know what? You’re a manipulative snake and get everyone wrapped around your little fucking finger so that they can do your work for you. You never probably even thought about how I felt about this situation or how I felt when you wanted to hide our relationship.” Tears rushed down your face now, “And you know what? I’ve fallen under your spell, but I can’t do it anymore, I’m done with your shi-”

“Tom! You fucking dickhead. You don’t even know half the shit y/n has been through after you broke up. You can’t blame her for anything when she reached out to you and you couldn’t even work up the damn courage to simply reply.” Harry walked over to you and pulled you up as he glared at his brother. “Let’s go y/n. I’ll have the boys bring us food later and we can start a movie marathon now.” He comforted you as you walked away from Tom.

“See, Harry? You’re falling for her shit too!” Tom said and Harry flipped him off. That made your heart break even more.

“Fuck!” Tom yelled and slammed his hands on the table. Haz and Tuwaine walked over to him and sat him down. All the words Tom said to you replayed in his mind and he immediately regretted saying them.

“I fucked up didn’t I?” He asked his friends with his head in his hands.

“Majorly.” Tuwaine said.

“That was really harsh, mate.” Harrison said, “Why didn’t you tell us what was going on? You never even told us how you felt after you guys broke up. You kept saying you were fine when we tried to reach out.”

Tom sighed, “That’s because I’ve never felt that much pain before. I didn’t even know it, but I’ve been numb the whole time she was gone. I-I think I stayed with Allana because she distracted me from my heartache, and look how that’s going for me now.” He looked up at his two friends with tears in his eyes.

“W-well mate I mean anyone who was born yesterday could even see that Allana was just there to keep you busy…” Harrison said and Tuwaine slapped his neck while Tom groaned.

“God, Harrison, you’re shit at this. Tom, don’t pay attention to him. The only way you can fix this is by confronting the pain, not ignoring it. No matter how painful the feelings and memories are you need to bring them out and come to terms with it.” Harrison nodded.

“Yeah, you’re not the only one who’s felt pain before. You know I’ve been numb after a bad breakup before, and you were there to help me heal. It’s gonna be difficult to get over it trust me on that, but you have us here and your family to help you. Now if you don’t mind, why don’t you tell us what you’ve felt the past 6 months so we can help now.” Tom cried more and hugged Harrison and Tuwaine.

“I feel very vulnerable right now, but thanks, you guys are the best.” They smiled and sat across from Tom to listen to his troubles.

“It’s ok to feel vulnerable sometimes.” Tuwaine said.

“Wow, I feel like shit, but also a little free.” Tom said sniffling, his eyes were beyond puffy, and they were hurting a bit. Both Haz and Tuwaine cried a bit as well.

“Yeah that was pretty heavy, but I know you’ll get through it, mate. You’re strong.” Tuwaine said with a smile and Harrison agreed,

“I think you should talk to y/n about this though. She needs to know what you’ve been feeling. Oh and of course apologize for what you said to her.” said Harrison.

Tom nodded and asked, “Do you think y/n will ever forgive me?”

“From what I know I think she’ll come around eventually, but you know her the best, mate.” Tom agreed and hoped to a high power that you’d forgive him even if it takes weeks. Tom was determined to win your trust and friendship back.

“Here take this food up to her and Harry as well.” Haz said, handing Tom two plates.

Tom lightly kicked your door because his hands were full. Harry swung the door open and clenched his jaw a bit when he saw Tom, but his expression softened when he saw how puffy and red Tom’s eyes were.

“Well you look like shit.” Harry joked, making Tom smile a bit.

“I feel like it too.” Tom said softly.

“Is that for us?” Harry asked looking at the two plates in his hands.

“Y-yeah,” Tom handed Harry the plates, “I wanted to apologize to you for being a dickhead, I get now why you guys didn’t tell me what happened.”

“We’re a bit at fault too, we should’ve thought about how you’d feel.” Tom nodded in agreement, “But you shouldn’t be apologizing to just me. You really hurt y/n’s feelings.”

“Yeah I know. I need to talk to her now.” Tom said sternly. Harry peaked back into your room and said,

“Sorry she doesn’t want to talk right now.”

“Y/n? Please let me explain everything. I-I didn’t mean what I said to you down there.” Your heart began to beat faster. The door was opened wider and you saw Tom’s tired and sad face, your heart ached, “Please, y/n, I-I need you.” You wanted to give in, but you just couldn’t bring yourself to and you shook your head.

“Tom, I’m sorry. I’m not ready to talk yet. P-please leave.” You said as tears rolled down your cheeks again, his heart dropped.

“W-well then, I’ll wait out here until you’re ready to talk.” You watched as he began to cry again and sit against the wall across from your door. Harry gave his brother an apologetic look before coming back into your room and shutting the door. He set the plates on your desk and gave you a long hug. You sobbed even more.

“H-Harry, I’m hurting.”

“Shhh, I know. I can tell Tom is hurting right now too.” He rubbed your back.

“I-I think I should leave.” You said and Harry detached from you.

“What? No you can’t do that, y/n. It’s not safe to leave the country a-and Stacy said you can’t remember?”

“No, I mean leave this house. I know it’s gonna be hard to find a place, but I’ve only caused problems and I don’t want to cause anymore conflict.” You looked at Harry sadly.

“I’m not gonna force you to stay, but running from your problems doesn’t solve anything. Remember when you told Tom that?” You nodded your head sadly. He was right, but you felt like a mess and you didn’t want the boys to have to clean you up.

- Hour and a half later -

“Love, I’m going to go to bed now. I can stay and sleep on the floor if you want.” Harry said.

“No no. It’s ok I’m feeling a lot better now. Thanks for making me feel better with Harry Potter.” You smiled at him, your eyes hurt a bit.

“No problem, love. Don’t hesitate to come to me if you need anything later tonight.” You nodded and he kissed your forehead walking away with the two empty plates. When he opened the door your heart melted seeing a sleeping Tom with an empty plate next to him.

Harry looked back at you and chuckled, “He really did wait. You want to talk to him?” You thought for a bit before sighing and nodding your head. Harry nudged Tom with his foot and he stirred awake. Tom looked surprised at you before getting up. He thanked Harry for taking his plate and walked into your room.

“Y/n, I’m so sorry-”

“Tom, before you say more, I’m going to move out.” Tom’s heart broke. He couldn’t let you leave again, not after everything he told Haz and Tuwaine.

+++

Tag list <3 : @averyfosterthoughts @thollandx @mrsjeffwittek @panicattheeverywherekid @racewife2004 @greatpizzascissorstaco @witchything @wheelertozier @runway-to-my-aid @rafficorn @jessirosebud @peterspideyy @superstarchick @jackiehollanderr @astridcommings @mineymak712 @hollands-osterfield @inhumanwithpowers @aduky @thevelvetseries @twelfthnightorwhatyouwill1998

#tom holland #tom holland imagine #tom holland x you #tom holland x reader #tom holland x y/n #tom holland series #tom holland x famous! reader #tom holland x actress! reader #tom holland x actor! reader #tom holland angst #tom holland fluff #harry holland #tom holland fandom #tom holland fanfiction #bestfriend!harry holland

145 notes · View notes

fanfalc-616 · 4 years

Text

More Ḩ̵͘å̵̢͎̇͜c̴̼̼̣̉͝ķ̴̱͔̓̂e̵̦̒͛d̴͍̼̈̈!!!!!

>:D

Kai sits beside Jay, who rapidly types into a computer as he tries to figure out how to remove the code from Zane’s system.

“It’s really weird.” Kai comments. “The hacked version of him talks like he’s not Zane.”

Jay frowns, not looking away from the computer. “What do you mean?”

“He’s talking like he’s his own person. Like he’s not just being controlled by a hacking program.”

Jay tenses up, turning to face him. “Are you telling me that Zane’s been hacked by another nindroid?”

Kai blinks. “Uh… is that possible?”

Jay stares at him. “What do you mean ‘is that possible’?! Of course it’s possible! This changes everything!” He groans. “I’m going to have to start from scratch! Why didn’t you tell me this sooner?!”

“Because I didn’t know what it meant!” Kai defends himself, though internally he feels the same. Great, now they've lost valuable time and Zane’s going to be hacked for even longer because of how stupid Kai is-

Just then, Nya walks into the room. Without even sparing Jay a glance, she walks right up to Kai. “Lloyd needs you.”

Kai immediately gets to his feet. “Where is he?”

“In the back room where we keep the in-progress mechs.” Nya explains.

He nods, and leaves without giving either of them a goodbye. Lloyd needs him, so he’s going to be by his brother’s side.

And sure enough, he finds Lloyd in the back room, staring at a computer screen, typing on the keyboard.

Kai cautiously makes his way over. “Hey.” He greets, sitting down beside him. “What’cha working on?”

“Looking at security cams. I’m trying to figure out where he is.” Lloyd doesn’t look away from the screen. “I think I’m getting closer.”

“And when was the last time you slept?” Kai prompts, studying the dark eye bags that the blond wears.

“Last night.” If he didn’t look so exhausted, Kai might’ve actually believed that- the kid’s a little too good at lying.

But as it is, he sees right through him. “Uh-huh, and how long did you sleep for?”

“That’s not important.” Lloyd’s eyes are still glued to the screen, pulling up a new tab and typing something in.

Kai sighs, running a hand through his hair. “You need to go to sleep.”

“What I need is to find Zane.”

Kai doesn’t miss the irony about how he was acting the same way just a week ago. “Lloyd, you’re not going to be able to help anyone if you don’t take care of yourself.”

“Go away, Kai!” Lloyd snaps, finally looking at him. “I’m getting closer, I know it!”

“Let me take over for a little while.” Kai tries. “I’ll keep looking, and you can take a break.”

The blond hesitates a moment before shaking his head. “No, I can’t stop, I can’t give up on him-“

“No one said that you’re giving up on him.” Kai interjects. “You’re just taking a rest, and I’ll fill in for you. You just need some time-“

“We don’t have time!” Lloyd snaps. “Who knows what’s happening to Zane! Every moment we waste could be the moment that makes a difference!” He goes back to the computer, starting to type again.

Kai sighs. “Lloyd-“

He doesn’t get to finish the sentence, because there’s a loud crash coming from the main section of the base.

The two ninja exchange a glance for a split second before jumping to their feet and running towards the source. There aren’t very many people who know the location of this base, and out of the ones who do, there’s only one who would currently try something like this…

They turns the corner just in time to see Zane throw Nya across the room and into a wall. “Stay down.” He snarls.

Kai starts to run towards him, hands ablaze, but Jay is closer and gets there first.

The blue ninja tries to use spinjitzu, but Zane catches his leg in the air, effectively halting him.

Kai’s halfway way there when Zane flips him over onto the ground, a sickening cracking noise coming from him.

Jay screams, a loud, pained screech that probably doesn’t even begin to express how he’s feeling.

By the time Kai reaches where the conflict had happened, Zane had already thrown Jay over his shoulder and fled.

Kai starts to try and race after him, but he has a sinking feeling that he’s not going to be able to catch up in time.

And that feeling is proven right.

{ { { { { { { { { {~} } } } } } } } } }

Echo drags Jay, kicking a screaming, to a warehouse. He had managed to convince The Mechanic that just hurting one ninja would hurt all of the others, not to mention how he had taken Zane.

Jay’s terrified face burns its way into Zane’s mind, an image that he’ll never be able to erase.

Echo manages to get Jay into a vengestone ball and chain- which is odd, because most villains use handcuffs of some sort.

But it seems to panic Jay even more, judging by the panted mantra of the word ‘no’ that he mutters over and over again.

After he’s completely imprisoned, Echo sits back with a cruel smile.

A few minutes pass, the Master of Lightning continuing to desperately struggle. After about fifteen minutes, he finally stops- likely out of energy.

“It’s been a while, Jay.” Echo seems to be enjoying the panic coming from the blue ninja. “Over a year, now.”

Jay looks confused for a moment, but his expression starts to slowly turn to shock as something seems to register.

“Echo?” He whispers. “Is- is that you?”

Echo nods, still with that smile. “So you do remember me.”

He walks over to a table he had set up previously and picks up a knife. “I waited a long time for you to come back, you know.”

Jay starts to reply, but Echo talks over him. “I don’t want your excuses.” He grips the blade tighter, and Zane starts to struggle.

‘Echo, please, don’t do this, leave him alone, I don’t know what he did, but-‘

The other creates a specific line of code that seems to affect his sensors and that hurts, how is he making him hurt without it affecting himself-

After a few moments, the pain dulls to a throb- just at the point where he can’t do anything, but can still register what’s going on around him.

Echo holds the blade up against Jay’s throat, drawing a thin line of blood. “I’m sure you remember Scrap ‘N Tap, yeah?”

Jay’s horror chills him down to the bone. He seems petrified, unsure of what to do or how to act. Tears have just begun to form in his eyes, but before he gets the chance to speak, Echo leans in, getting in his face.

Their eyes are locked together, and in a dark whisper, Echo promises,“This is going to be much, much worse.”

#ninjago hacked #hacked #ninjago fanfiction #fanfic #ninjago zangst #zangst

13 notes · View notes

werewolfdays · 4 years

Note

Touch prompt #8 please!

8. to protect:

“Why use trail cams?” I asked as I tightened the straps of one on a tree, “I mean, it’s not like Ivan can’t afford some fancy security. He’s definitely invested a lot into the Lodge itself.”

Jayde always moaned and complained whenever she had to replace the trail cameras around the Lodge’s property, so I figured I would join her this time around. No one liked doing this particular job. I suppose it was pretty tedious. Jayde and I have spent the majority of the day replacing two dozen trail cameras scattered around certain points along the perimeter that were considered blind spots for patrols.

We used an off road jeep to make things go faster, but the process became a little mind numbing. Drive, park, set up cameras, go back to the jeep, drive, park, set up cameras… I didn’t even notice evening was approaching until it was getting more difficult for me to see.

“Well,” Jayde started to answer patiently, half distracted by activating another camera, “For more than a few reasons, actually. These cameras are built to be out in the elements and they last a long time without any maintenance. They’re camouflaged. It’s cheaper and less conspicuous to be buying them. They’re motion activated so we don’t have to comb through hours and hours of footage if we need to. And these ones in particular give us alerts when they’ve caught something.”

“Those are all pretty solid reasons.” I said and accepted the newly activated camera she handed me.

She shrugged, “Sometimes you don’t need fancy equipment. Just functional.”

The two of us trudged quite a distance away from the last one, making sure that the cameras were all evenly spaced out. Now that I was aware of the approaching darkness, it seemed to consume the dense forest a lot quicker, the clusters of branches soaking up the blackness of night. It was noticeably darker once we arrived at the next point. I fished into my pack for a handheld flashlight, glancing at Jayde enviously as she went to work on activating a camera without any difficulty seeing the mechanics.

“This isn’t the worst date night.” I remarked while I waited for her to finish with the camera and hand it to me.

Jayde snorted, “I suppose. Could definitely be a bit more romantic though.”

I leaned my shoulder against the trunk of a tree and sported a smirk, “What isn’t romantic about setting up trail cameras with your werewolf girlfriend in the middle of the woods?”

Her amused grin drifted up towards me for a moment, “There is a nice ambience.”

“And we’re doing an activity together.”

“Sure. Even if it’s not exactly the activity I’d prefer doing on a date night.” Jayde’s eyes flashed up again to shoot me a wink.

My cheeks grew hot at the hidden meaning she was hinting at. “I’m sure you can wait a little longer for that. We’re almost done.”

The forest grew pitch black by the time we headed to our last tree. The flashlight in my hand was the only thing that allowed me to see at all, and even then I would get slightly tripped up by the occasional root or rock. Jayde remained close and alert for me, her gaze shifting over our surroundings with meticulous focus. I really had no clue how she could sense anything in that seemingly endless darkness, but I was grateful for it. The woods can be kind of creepy at night sometimes. Especially this close to the property line where Jayde would patrol for threats.

I struggled a little more than necessary when attaching the last trail cam to the tree, trying to juggle the flashlight in my hand while connecting the straps. It took me a little too long to realize I had an extra pair of hands with Jayde here. I rolled my eyes at myself, holding the camera in place with one hand and holding the flashlight out towards Jayde with the other.

“Can you hold this for me?” I asked with a brief glance over my shoulder. My grip on the camera wasn’t as secure as I intended, it started to slip out of place and I brought my other hand back to catch it, but that just made everything jumbled up in my arms. “Crap. Jay, I could really use a hand here.”

“Nadya.” Jayde said.

My name came out of her mouth in an extremely tense whisper. A warning exhaled under her breath. I didn’t even need to see her for that to put me on high alert in just under a second flat. My head turned towards her and the first thing I saw were her glittering amber wolf eyes staring out into the darkness. She was looking outwards from the property line, her entire body still, every muscle coiled and ready.

“Come here.” Jayde commanded quietly, “Turn your light off.”

I obviously couldn’t sense whatever she was sensing, I couldn’t even hear anything out there in the night. Nevertheless I did what I was told, knowing without any doubt that if Jayde was certain something was out there, then something was out there. Turning off the flashlight would get rid of one of the only senses I had that would help me in this situation, but I felt confident with Jayde having my back. Once darkness engulfed us, I slowly lowered the trail camera down on the ground and took careful steps towards the shape in the dark I knew was Jayde.

As soon as I got to her, Jayde held out an arm in front of me like a shield. Her hand rested on my hip, the protective touch easing my nerves, and she slowly pushed me behind her while her gaze remained firmly locked on whatever she sensed lurking in the cover of trees and night. I held onto her arm, peering over her shoulder to try and find any glimpse of movement at all, but there was nothing my human senses could pick up on, which was frustrating.

“What’s out there?” I whispered, only loud enough for Jayde to hear.

She didn’t answer me, only stood as still as a sentinel and waited. Her muscles were so rigid that it felt like the hand gripping her upper arm was holding on to stone. I couldn’t see her face, so I focused once more on the curtain of black before us. The longer I stared, the more I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me, swirls of shadow swaying back and forth while my eyes desperately searched for anything. I even thought I could see vague pinpricks of light.

Then I started to think that it wasn’t an illusion of night. Two pinpricks seemed to be getting closer, traveling low to the ground. A snap of a twig confirmed this was no figment of my imagination. With its cover now blown, the strange wolf released a low rumbling growl that raised all the hairs on the back of my neck as it continued to stalk closer.

The wolf got within twenty feet before Jayde finally let out her own menacing warning, “Not a step closer.”

They halted at her words, but didn’t stop their challenging grumble. My eyes had adjusted enough to make out the shape of the predator, to see that this wolf was not on the small side. Apart from the glowing yellow eyes and the flash of white teeth, I couldn’t make out the color of their coat, but it had to be dark to blend in so well with their surroundings.

“Leave. You want in, then I suggest you come back with a better attitude.” Jayde stated with slow and commanding words.

The wolf didn’t seem impressed by Jayde’s display of authority. In fact, their growls seemed to become deeper and more threatening and they started to pace back and forth like an animal trapped in a cage. They didn’t advance just yet, but this behavior made me think they were looking for an opening. My heart started to race.

“When I tell you to go to the jeep, you run.” Jayde ordered under her breath at me.

I gripped her tighter in an unwillingness to leave her side, but I wasn’t sure how I could match a massive werewolf, in their wolf form, in the middle of the night. There were even doubts bouncing around in my head at Jayde’s chances. She was a strong and capable fighter in both of her forms, but this beast had fangs and claws, whereas she was stuck without hers right now. We stupidly left the only gun we had in the jeep. The long day of work made us careless. Maybe this wolf had been stalking us all day, waiting for this exact opportunity.

There was no time to ponder a defensive plan because the wolf decided to strike. The black mass of snarling teeth and fur sprang forward so fast that their glowing yellow eyes became a blur.

“Go!” Jayde shouted at me, shoving me away from her and preparing to meet the hostile beast.

I scrambled away on instinct, but the image of Jayde getting torn apart by this rogue wolf popped into my mind and the terror of it made my limbs turn into lead. Then I realized I wouldn’t have gotten very far anyway, because when I turned around, I saw the large werewolf gunning straight for me.

It felt like my heart completely stopped. Jayde couldn’t get to the wolf before it got to me, I didn’t even have the time to cry out. The massive beast slammed into my body, taking me down and knocking all of the wind out of my lungs once my back impacted with earth. I was nearly crushed under their weight.

Was this it? I thought. At the very least, a bite was guaranteed. There was nothing to stop the wolf from tearing into me. All they would need is a second to do it and I would be totally helpless for exactly that long while Jayde rushed to get to me.

All I saw was a snarling mess of razor sharp teeth baring down towards my throat. I shut my eyes, bracing for the moment they clamped down. But I didn’t feel any pain. Only heard the loud clack of snapping jaws next to my ear with a short rush of wind. My eyes suddenly opened in confusion, thinking that they somehow missed their mark, but then I saw the satisfied expression on the werewolf. They weren’t trying to kill me or turn me. They were trying to scare me.

That’s when Jayde got to us. She used all of her strength to tackle the giant wolf off of me and engage in a vicious attack. While she might not be in her wolf form, she still delivered a bone breaking right hook straight into the wolf’s face. They yelped and flinched away from her, trying to shake off the blow. Her own furious snarls echoed into the woods as she went for another devastating attack. The element of surprise was her advantage, but only for a few moments. I could see that the enemy werewolf was about to gain the upper hand. They managed to strike with a swipe of their claws, ripping through Jayde’s jacket and knocking her off balance. The opportunity was used to pin her down.

“Jay!” I called out hoarsely, still struggling to regain even basic breath.

I couldn’t just lie here and do nothing. There had to be something around that could help me. Somehow the flashlight was still in my grasp, but that was too small to be a useful weapon. After oxygen finally returned to my lungs, I turned it on to desperately look around. Maybe a rock or a big enough stick would help. Then my beam shone over the backpack we left by the tree and I remembered the hunting knife we had. It wasn’t as ideal as a gun, but it was certainly better than nothing.

I shakily got to my feet and rushed toward it, hoping that Jayde would be able to hold out for a few more seconds. My hands scrambled inside the pack until my fingers finally wrapped around the handle of the blade. I pulled it out, discarding the sheath, and directed my flashlight over to the battling tangle a few yards away from me. It was impossible to tell if Jayde had been hurt, but the dark brown wolf was big enough that I wouldn’t have to worry about accidentally stabbing her.

I ran at them, wasting no time in raising my arm and bringing the knife down on the back of the werewolf that had my girlfriend pinned. The blade sunk more than halfway in and the wolf let out a high pitched whine, recoiling away from us. I pulled the knife free and firmly placed myself between Jayde and our assailant once they made their retreat.

“Stay back!” I yelled, glaring at them.

They glared right back at me in both contempt and surprise, clearly not expecting me to injure them at all.

Jayde sprang up behind me. I almost turned around to check on her condition, but I knew I should never take my eyes off of an enemy. She carefully took the knife out of my hand and stepped in front of me once more, breathing hard and full of rage.

“That all you got?” She challenged.

A human chuckle sounded from within the trees and a man stepped into view, holding his hands up casually, “Okay, okay, we’ve had our fun.”

It was hard to make out any details of his face, but he was a fairly tall man. Possibly not that much older than I was because his voice sounded mature, yet still somewhat young. He carried himself confidently, surprisingly laid back despite the tense scene. I frowned as his shoulders still shook with laughter, not understanding how any of this was funny. More puzzling was when he waved his hand and the wolf that just attacked us backed off.

“Who the fuck do you think you are?” Jayde’s voice shook with fury at the revelation that this assault seemed to be a big joke of some kind.

“Oh, come on, don’t be like that. After what you pulled at Miranda’s gathering, you honestly didn’t think nobody would come and test the might of a new alpha.” He mocked and took a nonchalant step forward, “You’re lucky I didn’t tell Bruce to bite your little human. I only wanted to mess with you a bit.”

Jayde held a protective hand out over me again, her palm resting flat against my abdomen to make sure I stayed where I was. I could tell she would not budge from her place in front of me this time.

“Let me make something extremely clear to you.” She used the same tone with this man as she had when warning the wolf, and I actually saw his smile start to fade, “No one threatens her. I don’t give a shit if it’s just a joke. Anyone that hurts her or scares her, whatever the fuck, will answer to me.”

The stranger’s laugh grew slightly nervous at her intensity. Bruce, the werewolf I stabbed, was lying down in the dirt and whimpering, trying to reach the wound on his back to nurse. I almost volunteered to look at it, but I couldn’t imagine Jayde would let me anywhere near these two. I wasn’t exactly eager to get close to the massive wolf that nearly tore my throat out either.

“Look, maybe it was a bit… much... to toy with your mate like that. No hard feelings, alright? Why don’t I buy you two a drink at the Lodge and we’ll have a good laugh about it?”

Jayde didn’t seem swayed by that lackluster apology, “You’re not going to the Lodge. I won’t allow it.”

The stranger scoffed and stood up straighter. I gathered this man was an alpha in his own right, though I didn’t recognize him at all. He had to be from a lesser known pack. “I have permission to enter from Ivan Cortez himself. You have no say.”

“I do have a say.” Jayde growled, “Ivan gave me the authority to remove individuals who display violence on these grounds unprovoked. Which means I get to tell you to promptly fuck off.”

He snarled quietly, pulling a phone out of his pocket and going to dial a number, “We’ll see about that.”

“Go ahead. Call Ivan and tell him I say you’re not allowed in.” The alpha hesitated at her words, sensing more to them just like I did, “I don’t care if he clears you. You take one step over that line, it won’t end well for you.”

After a long moment of pondering his chances, he lowered the phone and placed it back in his pocket.

“Apologize to her.” Jayde added in a curt command.

Even in the dark, I could see the stranger scowl, but I sensed his attention drift over to me, “I apologize for any offense or any injury I’ve caused. Please forgive me. It won’t happen again.”

I gave an accepting nod, “Maybe you’ll find a better sense of humor in the future.”

“Maybe. You two have a good night.” He said while backing away. The stranger motioned for his pack member to follow and the injured wolf hobbled along after his alpha. Jayde must have done more damage to him than I previously thought, there’s no way my stab wound alone was causing him to limp like that.

Once they disappeared back into the woods, Jayde fully turned to face me. Her expression became one of concern as her hands ran over my body to assess any potential injuries on me. I doubted I would have anything more than some bruising later, but Jayde still looked frantic.

“Are you okay?” Her golden eyes searched me as thoroughly as her hands did.

“I’m fine, Jay, I’m okay.” I quickly reassured her, trying to use my flashlight for my own inspection.

There was some blood splattered in her clothes where Bruce’s claws made contact, but not too much. Hopefully they were shallow cuts. Either way, I wanted to get her back home and to the clinic.

“He didn’t bite you? He didn’t draw any blood?” She gently cupped my face and scanned my features.

“No. I’m okay.” I repeated confidently.

Jayde pulled me into such a fierce embrace, burying her face into the crook of my neck. She took in a deep breath to inhale my scent, and released through a long sigh that allowed her tense body to soften. I held her too, feeling just how terrifying it must have been for her to see that wolf take me down, and I let relief wash over me in the safety of her arms.

“Are you okay?”

She nodded against me, “Just some scratches, it’s nothing.”

We pulled back enough to look at each other again. Jayde’s eyes no longer had the glow of her wolf and her hand came up to rest on the side of my neck, her warm palm against my pulse like she needed to feel the steady beat of my heart against her skin. Her thumb brushed my jawline and I was overcome with the comfort of her contact, tilting my head forward until our foreheads lightly bumped together.

“That stupid motherfucker...” She cursed under her breath while shaking her head, “I’m so sorry.”

“We were expecting something like this to happen. It definitely wasn’t okay, but it could have been worse.” I told her. She was still tense, so I leaned in.

The kiss I pressed to her lips was gentle, yet reassuring, wanting to make sure she was positive that I was fine. She melted into me even more when she kissed back, causing me to smile a little against her mouth. I kept it brief, giving her one more peck before pulling away from her.

“Let’s set that last camera up and get out of here. I wanna go home.”

“So do I.” She murmured.

But Jayde wasn’t fully satiated yet. Her other hand came up to mirror the one cupping the side of my neck and she leaned in to give me a deeper kiss than I had given her. This one was more intimate than the last, pulling me in and anchoring me to her, banishing any lingering fear from both of us. A warm emotion replaced it, pooling in my chest like a sunrise, and making me feel completely safe again, even in the darkness that surrounded us.

Her lips made one more soft stroke against mine and then Jayde slowly broke away from me, walking back to the tree where the trail camera was left and strapping it on the trunk.

#asks #anon #ocs #original characters #werewolves #my ocs #my writing #by golly y’all this election is Stressing me out #so I haven’t been able to focus on writing much #but here’s a prompt for ya!#I’ll try to get to the others here soon and also work on plot things #but in the meantime pray for my garbage country #Jayde #Nadya #Nadya pov

7 notes · View notes

very-grownup · 3 years

Text

THE YEAR IS 2020 AND I WATCHED NEON GENESIS EVANGELION FOR THE FIRST TIME, PART 9

Episode 21.

Suddenly it's a found footage shakey cam horror movie. I think it's meant to be footage of ... NERV before it was NERV labs in 2000 with some bad shit happening. I'm unclear of so much in this episode, guys.

There is one of those blue screens with the white text that warns you that if you make copies of this you will go to jail for a million years, though, which feels nice and nostalgic before we get into the opening credits. (Opening? Still a bop. Thank you, '90s.)

Episode 21 continues behind the cut.

Someone has been kidnapped from NERV, possibly by or because of Kaji (fuckin' Kaji), and because all these NERV people are interchangeable except for Misato, Ritsuko, and Shinji's horrible father, I have no idea who it is until we see the old dude who is usually behind Ikari. He's tied to a chair in a black void, surrounded by an increasing number of numbered obelisks who I think are the old man Simon council but instead of projecting as old men they're ... obelisks. Look, their government is run by supercomputers named after the Magi. This is as fine as anything.

The obelisks don't like Commander Ikari (same) or what he's doing (same) and want Number 2 to explain what's going on (same) due to the Dead Sea Scrolls and their desire not to create god (... same?). Which means it's time for BACKSTORY or as close as this show gets to backstory.

Number 2 used to be a scientist/academic at ... a school ... lab ... university ... somewhere ... where he met a promising young student of ... science stuff ... named Ikari. There's some sentence vagaries to make the audience think the student is a young Commander Ikari but PSYCH, it's /Yui/, Shinji's mysteriously dead mother. This is not a big surprise, because no one would be anticipating meeting Gendo Ikari. What is a surprise is that Yui Ikari is currently single, although if you've consumed enough Japanese media you've probably encountered cases where a husband takes the wife's surname and is adopted into her family when there's no sons in the family (Summer of the Ubume). ANYWAY Yui is currently single and Number 2 talks to her about her post-graduation career plans, failing to consider that maybe she wants to get married and start a family. Find your own path and all that but also: this is a woman who is going to make terrible life choices.

I don't know why, but as a favour to Yui, Number 2 goes to spring an absolute piece of shit ... fellow student? from the drunk tank after he got arrested for brawling and it is, of course, Gendo Originalsurnamewhocareshesucks. We see him without his glasses for the first time. Even though this is ~15 years ago, Gendo without his glasses is the worst thing ever, rivaling yes the EVA with the giant white human teeth ripping an Angel apart and screaming. I hate looking at him, his cheeks sunken and his eyes huge, very like a skull. The real thesis material in Evangelion is: why has anyone ever slept with this awful gaunt uncharming skull man? He has the visage and personality of someone whose genetic line should die with him.

On a nature walk (because this is before seasons are destroyed by the second impact [and this is a really pretty scene, too, all fall leaves and oranges and red, more vibrant yet gentle than the series often is]) Yui reveals to Number 2 that she and Gendo are in a relationship. Why? Look, that's some Dead Sea Scrolls bullshit, learn ancient Hebrew and get into archeology, unearth some tablets, figure it out for yourselves.

The Second Impact happens and destroys Antarctica and Misato's father and she becomes mute for a while after this and also is kept in a featureless hospital cell for observation with a few age appropriate toys for company and for some reason this doesn't help her mental trauma. No wonder her roommate's a penguin.

The Misato flashback may seem like it comes out of nowhere and if so /hey welcome to my experience of this episode/ where I mostly had my hands on my forehead like I needed to reinforce my brain to process everything.

Number 2 and Shitty Gendo are in Antarctica after the Second Impact with the neon pink ocean and the none ice and oh Gendo and Yui got married. Surprise! Gendo and Yui or Gendo through Yui are involved in something called Seele which is the thing that becomes NERV I think. What's going on /shut up I don't know/ there's some kind of secret science government military organization and it involves the Ikari and then Number 2 and also Ritsuko's mother and underground caverns that may be cities and is this Atlantis? Ancient aliens? Akashic records? I DON'T KNOW Number 2 has concerns and Yui both seems to agree with Number 2's concerns but also is down with whatever Gendo's doing and they have Shinji and he seems like a pretty happy and cute baby and Yui seems to love him even though she brings him to work. And by work I mean the underground lab where they're dissecting or recreating flesh tube skeletons from Adam or building Adam or using Adam to build what will be the Evas, specifically on the day Yui is doing The Experiment. I don't think bringing little Shinji to work is a great idea or a sign of great parenting, especially when The Experiment goes awry and Yui is killed in front of Shinji's toddler eyes.

Ritsuko's mother, Dr. ... Doctor, doesn't approve of kids in the secret mad scientist bunker but MAN does she approve of Yui being killed. Because, somehow, she also wants to fuck Gendo Ikari, a skeleton of emotional abuse and neglect wearing sausage casing as skin.

There's also some stuff here about young Ritsuko (she's not a natural blonde! but honestly the fleeting glimpses of Ritsuko at different ages in this episode show greater awareness of how women can change without just relying on bigger breasts more hair than I'd expect). She and her mother exchange letters where they seem to be more honest with each other than they are in person and I wish there was more time spent dwelling in that, because Evangelion has an imperfect but still insightful view of the complexity of mother-daughter relationships. She goes away to school and meets Misato and they bond and become friends and they each seem to be the other's first friend due to their various issues and weirdness and Ritsuko's clearly at least a little in love with Misato. Unfortunately, Misato is dating Kaji (fuckin' Kaji) and Dr. Doctor thinks Kaji is a pretty great catch, but like ... Dr. Doctor wants to fuck or possibly is fucking Gendo Ikari, so if you can think of a great condemnation of Kaji than this, I'd love to hear it (fuckin' Kaji).

Misato and Ritsuko both join Seele or NERV or whatever the fuck these secret awful organizations are currently calling themselves, with Misato going to Germany and Ritsuko starting to work with her mother and also seeing her mother just jamming her tongue down Gendo's throat. Truly, Ritsuko could never understand her mother as a woman and neither can we, because /why would you desire Gendo Ikari/ and his judgmental touch, icy even through fucking Mickey Mouse gloves.

SO ONE DAY Gendo comes to work with a young Rei and I guess since Yui died no one has seen Shinji since people are looking at Rei and going 'oh is this your son?' and 'I thought you had a son, not a daughter'. But no, Rei is the daughter of a friend Gendo is looking after. Imagine thinking 'Gendo Ikari has even a single friend' is a believable lie.

Since Yui's death, no one has bothered to institute any kind of secret underground lab rules about kids on the premises, because while Dr. Doctor is doing some shit with her O. Henry super computers, little Rei wanders in and proceeds to neg the shit out of this grown woman. They're obviously not the words of a child and it's been clear since the beginning that there's something Not Right about Rei, but when she tells Dr. Doctor that she's a sexually undesirable hag and a nagging shrew and has outlived her purpose they're the words of a man. An adult man, specifically Gendo Ikari, as Rei just straight up tells Dr. Doctor upon being scolded for rudeness. Dr. Doctor's poor judgment of character means she is semi-shocked and hurt by this and sent into a weird fugue state where she chokes Rei until a small arm goes limp. Dr. Doctor thinks about how both she and Rei are both equally replaceable to Gendo, who is still hung up on Yui as much as he seems able to have an emotional attachment to anyone, and so finds all other women to be interchangeable tools.How replaceable Rei is could be a reference to whatever Rei's unnatural origins are, but we've also seen that Gendo considers children to be a renewable and easily disposable resource.

Then Dr. Doctor kills herself (or is murdered, who can say) and gets ... replaced by her daughter in the project.

SO I GUESS THIS IS ALL PART OF NUMBER 2'S TESTIMONY TO THE OBELISKS or maybe not but his thing is done or on break and fuckin' Kaji is there to ... break him out? Even though he's the reason Number 2 was getting interrogated? I don't know, I don't know.

They only use one set of handcuffs for Number 2, but they had three on Shinji in the previous episode.

Misato also had some thing with security intelligence interrogation going on in this episode maybe but they're done and give her back her gun.

Then Kaji's hanging out in a Silent Hill otherworld before a giant fan in weird sickly light and the screen goes black with a gunshot and I don't believe he's dead because I've been fooled about fuckin' Kaji before.

... but then Misato comes home, looking utterly exhausted and devastated, and she sees the message light blinking on her answering machine and she presses play as tears fill her eyes and she collapses to her knees listening to a message from Kaji. He apologizes for causing her trouble yet again, asks her to apologize to Ritsuko as well, asks her to get Shinji to show her where his garden is so she can water the flowers for him, and promises to tell her what he was too scared to tell her years ago. Misato's crying becomes heartwrenching raw sobs (Kotono Mitsuishi does a great job here, breaking my heart) and Shinji, curled up in his room, takes out his headphones and peeks into the kitchen to take in this vision of distraught, helpless adult grief. Then he goes back to his room without alerting Misato to his presence and pulls his pillow over his head, trying to drown out Misato's sobs, because he's just a kid and he knows there's nothing he can do and so he doesn't know what he /should/ do.

Although I've been wanting it for episodes, Kaji's death becomes a bitter pill that I can feel no mean satisfaction from. I'm not sure what's going on, but I know Misato's distraught. This concludes my report on Episode 21 of Neon Genesis Evangelion.

#neon genesis evangelion report #fuckin' kaji

3 notes · View notes

mx-o · 4 years

Text

「NEO CITY」

》 nct ot21 mafia! au

》 warnings ; swearing, mentions of guns, slightly suggestive? (ft. more got7)

》 a/n: i’m not sure what i wrote there for a sec, and this is my first ever fic so please don’t hate me.

word count: 2.3k

masterlist | previous

two

[bangkok, thailand; jan 14, 19:34]

“mr. lim, i’m so glad you could make it,” ten said politely, taking another sip of his scotch and setting another glass down for his guest.

“please, i’ve already told you, you can speak casually to me, or i’m gonna have to start treating you the same, mr. lee,” he chucked lightly and took his seat at the table across from ten.

“well then, jaebeom, i just wanted to have a drink to thank you for your favour. how was your vacation in bali treating you?” he asked while pouring him a drink.

he laughed, “i don’t believe in vacations, there’s always work to be done. especially when half the people you work with don’t seem to understand basic principles—” he took the drink ten offered, nodding a ‘thank you’ as he took a sip.

ten smiled at the comment, knowing exactly what he meant as he had once tried to work with jaebeom’s crew, got7, he recalled. he had gone to see through a shipment on taeyong’s behalf way back when they had just started out. both the companies had only just started, and he vaguely remembered one of the got7 boys, yugyeom—if he remembers correctly, completely losing his mind and panicking like a headless chicken. that caused taeyong to lose faith in jaebeom and his crew, which in itself had caused problems on both ends. gosh, the amount of apologies that came from yugyeom the day after, at their meeting together—you’d never believe the way they’ve come from that.

“yeah i get that. recently, johnny and haechan, too, have been up to their antics again. but what can you do? it’s not like that’s any basis to fire them,” ten laughed. he didn’t mention his little memory about yugyeom considering he hadn’t seen the younger in years, since he’d come back to thailand.

“i can imagine. bambam and jackson are always at it whenever they see each other—which is why i sent them to two different countries. but yet, here i am doing their work.”

neither jaebeom or ten said anything further and just enjoyed their comfortable silence. ten glanced at the clock on the wall behind jaebeom, noticing the time. it had been getting closer to dinner, and boy had it been a long day for them both.

“ah, it’s getting a little late for dinner. have you eaten yet? i’ll ask lalisa to order us something,” ten offered.

“oh, i’m afraid i’ll have to decline. i have to head back to the office to do some paperwork,” he replied hesitantly. he was hungry, yes, but work always came first for jaebeom.

“jaebeom, c’mon. it’s the least i could do to repay you for your favour from the other day. plus, that stupid work first policy is gonna cost you one of these days,” he shot him one of those ‘i know i’m right’ looks that he learnt from his mom.

jaebeom laughed at him, nodding in agreement. they’d known each other for so long it was easy to read each other like that.

“i’ll go get lalisa. is there anything in particular you’d like?” ten asked on his way to the glass door of his office. jaebeom shook his head, saying that anything would be fine.

he went outside quickly making his way over to his secretary’s desk, except she wasn’t there. probably on a bathroom break, he assumed. he went back into the office, figuring he’d call for delivery himself.

“looks like she’s busy so i’ll just call them instead,” he explained when jaebeom shot him a questioning look for returning so quickly. a silent ‘oh’ escaped from jaebeom’s parted lips.

ten started dialling the number for the nearest delivery place when it occurred to him that johnny, sicheng and donghyuck hadn’t left the office yet. maybe he should go check if they had eaten and ask them to join him and jaebeom?

“i don’t think the others have left yet, do you mind if they joined us?” he asked looking up from his phone, tilting his head like a puppy. jaebeom took a second before agreeing—something about ‘the more the merrier.’

ten decided to head to the floor below his to johnny’s office, where they all usually are this time. down the hall, in the stainless-steel elevator and a five second wait before he stumbled upon one of the worst scenarios to have happened at neo culture tech—well in his eyes, at least.

***

ten had originally invited bambam to have drinks with him but when he was informed that jaebeom had just flown in, he didn’t let the opportunity pass to thank the man who was really behind the operation. this, however, meant that bambam wouldn’t let his opportunity pass.

it was a simple plan, really. get in after jaebeom, do what he had to, and get out before jaebeom. what he didn’t expect was getting caught in what he called ‘phase 2’ of his own little operation. but it’s bambam we’re talking about here—what else would’ve happened?

getting into the building was no problem, considering he had been there so many times and had direct access anyway. if anyone had asked, he was late for a meeting with jaebeom and ten, which arguably, was a valid excuse if he had used it. he’d figured since it was getting late, that most of the staff would’ve already gone home, if not on their way. but what he’d forgotten was how dedicated all the workers of neo tech were. so, when word got out that got7’s shipping advisor and manager had entered the building, it was johnny’s sole duty, as one of the directors of the board and dear friend of bam, to invite him to his office for a drink.

nothing really ever went as planned for bam, anyway.

it was just his luck that sicheng and donghyuck had decided to join in. they had all sat in johnny’s office, catching up on things since all they really ever talk about was work. meanwhile, all bambam could think of was how he could make it out of here without making it seem obvious. he pulled his phone out from his pocket, typing quickly and sending a text that hopefully might save him from all this.

[19:41] stuck in johnny’s office. get me out.

all he could do now was wait and hope no one noticed how antsy he was getting.

“so bam, how’s the girlfriend? we still haven’t met her, man. what are you waiting for?” sicheng asked. he wasn’t one to pry but the few drinks he had could change that.

“you aren’t afraid we’ll snatch her up from under you?” johnny added with a laugh. bam laughed nervously at the snide comment, desperately trying to hide his anxiety for the umpteenth time within the last few minutes.

they continued their conversation for a while after, bambam starting to worry that he may not ever be saved from this torture. that’s when this saviour arrived—lalisa knocking on johnny’s office door with a few files in her hand.

“mr. suh, if i may, mr. lee is expecting your guest in his office for the meeting with mr. lim,” she said sweetly with a smile, as she peeked into the room. he couldn’t mistake something more mischievous in her voice, though.

“oh yes, of course. that’s why you’ve been so nervous! bam, you could’ve just said you had a meeting. come back after and we’ll continue the drinks,” johnny said, after dismissing the girl.

bambam took his leave, bowing and thanking them for the drinks before actually leaving. he opened the door, seeing lalisa on the other end of the hallway. she motioned her head to the door to her right, a smirk on the corner of her lips. bam smiled right back at her and practically ran into the room, pulling her with him. she had to hold back her laughter a little, so they didn’t cause a scene. she was already risking her job by doing this for him—well it wasn’t just for him.

he pulled her into the empty conference room, lips attaching to hers the very second they’d entered. she hummed and pulled away mumbling something about locking the door. to think, that was the fastest bambam had ever reacted to anything at all in his entire life.

he rushed to go close the double doors of the spacious conference room. too caught up in not wanting to miss the moment, he didn’t quite turn that lock fully. he turned around, taking lalisa by surprise, pushing her up onto the table and letting her hands grip on his shoulders for support. his hands made its way to her waist, pulling her closer since he couldn’t get enough.

she pulled away again saying, “i only have fifteen minutes before he realizes i’m gone,” before getting lost in the moment again. bambam pushed her further back so that she sat on the desk, him standing between her legs.

lalisa pulled at his suit jacket, desperately trying to get it off of him since it was getting so heated between them. she continued down to his belt buckle before he stopped her. “don’t start something we don’t have time to finish,” he warned.

she let the belt go and went up to his dress shirt while also trying to get her own blouse off. she had waited all week for this, with bam being busy with work and not being out of the country for half of it, she didn’t want to hold back.

meanwhile, donghyuck had been playing around with johnny’s computer. obviously, he was supervised. johnny needed him occupied since he didn’t want him drinking and end up doing something stupid while drunk.

he did some clicking here and there, stumbling upon the live feed of the security cams on both this floor and the floor above them. ten’s office didn’t have security cameras, but the hallway did. he’d noticed that lalisa hadn’t been sitting at her desk, where she usually is at this time, but he just brushed it off thinking she’d gone to the bathroom or something.

he played around a little more, checking all the rooms before stumbling upon the conference room down the hall. that’s when he froze up. neither johnny nor sicheng had noticed but the boy sat in his chair staring at the screen, rigid.

the poor boy couldn’t wrap his head around what he was seeing. had bambam really subscribed to the whole ‘sleeping with the secretary’ thing? it wasn’t even his secretary!

donghyuk stared at the screen for too long and frankly, had grown uncomfortable seeing one of his co-workers with one of his friends, yet the boy still couldn’t look away. it wasn’t until he heard a loud crashing sound from down the hall, that he snapped out of his trance.

johnny got behind him to pull up the security cams on his computer, not knowing they were already up, while sicheng pulled out his glock 19 that he had hidden in his waistband. he stood behind the closed door, listening for any other signs of an intruder before opening the door and heading to the hallway.

johnny already had his hands on his gun, ready to pull it out—that was until he saw what had caused the crash in the first place. and there it was, live on the security feed—his co-workers in the middle of a heated make-out session. they still hadn’t even realized they had thrown down one of ten’s most prized possessions, an antique chinese vase that costed millions.

he tried to supress his laughter, realizing why donghyuk had logged off from reality while he sat in the chair. the boy probably didn’t even know what to do with himself seeing all that unfold. johnny was too late to stop sicheng from bolting into the conference room and seeing it first-hand.

saying sicheng was not surprised was an understatement. having known bambam for this long, honestly, he’d expected something like this, except he didn’t expect that it would be with lalisa, and most certainly, not at work.

okay, so maybe sicheng was a little surprised.

the two lovebirds still weren’t aware of his presence in the room, even after johnny had joined them. he had put away his gun and cleared his throat to get their attention, but it was to no avail. he did it again, this time a little louder. they finally caught on, lalisa gasping and pushing bambam off of her. she quickly got up off the desk and turned around to button up her blouse while bam followed suit.

“what a coincidence, cockblocked again. and by the same people.”

johnny and sicheng laughed awkwardly, still no knowing what to do in this situation.

“fuck,” lalisa whispered, seeing the vase on the carpet, shattered to pieces. bambam followed her gaze whispering the same. they were all fucked actually.

just when it couldn’t get any worse—

“what’re you guys—” ten cut himself off after seeing the mess that was his first-floor conference room.

johnny and sicheng had moved to the side, bowing their heads in ‘shame’ despite holding back some of their laughter. the real shame was from lalisa and bambam, who caused this mess in the first place. neither of the two could look at ten and face him right now.

all that could register in ten’s head was that the vase wasn’t the only thing that was shattered tonight.

20 notes · View notes

kinghoranshit · 4 years

Text

The Watchers (1D) - 24 Hours

Part 2

When my alarm went off, I didn't groan or fight it. It was game time.

The attire given by the organization was black, thick leggings, navy long sleeve, black sneakers, and bullet proof vest. The accessories were more for my personal taste; a utility belt, black fingerless gloves, a battery operated watch, and my blonde hair pulled back into a tight bun. I harnessed my arrow carrier and crossbow to my back for easy reach. The utility belt carried two handguns and extra ammo, and then I had a few switch knives strapped around my thighs.

I was met with Louis's face when I opened my bedroom door and barely flinched. I was surprised to see him awake though. I assumed they would all sleep until the start.

"What's up?" I asked.

He ruffled a hand through his hair and averted eye contact for a couple seconds. "Uhm... Well, I thought you might want company."

"I appreciate the thought, Louis, but you're better off staying in the bedroom for now." I headed down the hallway, but was caught off by his words.

"You don't have to be a loner on this one, Katie."

I looked over my shoulder with a smirk. "I know. I don't mind the company, just thought you'd like the extra sleep before it begins."

He walked to where I was. "I haven't gotten proper sleep in ages. This isn't any different."

"Okay then." I nodded. "Come on."

We went downstairs and Louis watched as I set up the last of the traps. Then we ate a quick breakfast. Eventually, the others trailed downstairs to eat their breakfast; some ate more than others.

We were down to ten minutes.

"I should've asked this last night, but can any of you actually shoot a gun?"

"No," Niall laughed. "But I'm down for a quick how to."

"Me too," Louis stated.

I observed the other three faces and they looked less than thrilled to. As long as a couple of them knew, it would be fine. I nodded shortly. "Okay, once the timer starts, I'll grab a couple of the extra handguns and silencers for a fast tutorial."

At the mention of the timer, all of them averted eye contact. They stared at anything else they could in hopes to distract their minds. I knew that nothing I said would help; not even the fact that we were in a fucking fortress with cams everywhere, and I had all the weapons I needed. And the fact that I was even here.

But their lives were at risk, so I couldn't be too offended.

The hologram in the living room lit up and a voice boomed, "Let the bounty begin." Then the blue hue was gone and we were all silent, as if expecting that there were hunters waiting outside. Even I had to take a deep breath to calm the ringing in my ears.

There were some hunters out there. I knew, though, that if there were ones who tracked this place down, they'd still have to figure out how to get in. If there was any action, it wouldn't be for a good while. The longer we can stretch that period of time, the better.

I clapped my hands, which caused them all to jump a little and had to hide my laugh. "So, let's learn to shoot."

I walked over to the closest vault to get two extra pistols with silencers, then the two followed me to the basement level. I surveyed what we could use as practice targets, but there wasn't much down here. All the entertainment was on the main floor. I grabbed two pillows off the couch and tacked them onto the wall.

I pulled one of the pistols from my holster and held it up so Niall and Louis could see it. I pointed to the parts as I explained. "This is your trigger, never pull it unless you're ready to take the consequences. This is only a pistol, but you'll still feel the ricochet from the bullet leaving it. Next to that is your safety switch. Do not have it off unless you're intending to shoot. On the handle is a small button to release the packet. It's a quick and easy change out, just press and the empty will fall, and then to reload just push in a full packet. You want to feel and hear a click before shooting again. Any questions?"

Neither of them had too much shock on their faces. They took the information like champs in my opinion. Both worked their way through the buttons without actually pressing the trigger. I made them go through the movement of releasing the packet and reloading it a couple times. Baby steps were necessary in this instance.

"Can we shoot now?" Niall asked as he extended his arms out in front of him and squinted one eye as if it would help his aim be better. He made a shooting sound as he pretended to pull the trigger. This is why there's the safety switch; it's basically a security blanket.

I laughed under my breath. "Yeah, in a second. We're gonna start with the safety on. You need to know what that sounds and feels like first."

I held my pistol out with both hands gripped around it; the way they would be holding it. Should I also always hold it like this? Probably. Sometimes it's just not in the cards.

"When shooting, hold it with both hands to best handle any impact and best your aiming chances. Have one finger on the trigger incase. And to shoot, pull it, everything else should come naturally. Fairly simple, but can easily be fucked up."

"That's reassuring," Louis retorted as he assessed the pistol in his hands again.

I smirked. "You guys got this."

I watched them take their aim and knew immediately that Niall didn't have a good enough grip on it before he pulled the trigger. I tucked and rolled to catch it and grabbed his wrist to balance him back forward. I rested the pistol in his hand and positioned it.

"Grip harder. There isn't one second you shouldn't be squeezing. If your hand doesn't cramp up at some point, you're doing it wrong."

He swallowed and wiped his hands on his pants before he tried again. Louis took his first safety shot pretty well. He fumbled back slightly, but pivoted to stop himself. Once they'd gotten a few safeties down, I taught them how to flip the switch while holding it out and then explained that the feeling of it would be different. There would be more to it.

I moved to catch Louis from behind when he didn't prepare enough. He definitely got a bit cocky from the previous; it happens. I smirked as I looked down at him.

"Also a rule when shooting, don't get too cocky. It brings your guard down."

"That will be a hard one for me," he remarked and got himself up from my arms.

I snickered. "Me too."

He eyed me. "I thought so."

Niall rolled his eyes. "Get a room you two."

My eyes went wide and I shook my head. "Definitely not. Come on, do a couple more rounds and we'll get back upstairs with the others."

I created my own target and did a couple practice shots with them. A waste of ammo? Maybe. But it would be worth it, and that's why I've got other weapons and tricks up my sleeve. If they wanted to do it later, I had blanks I could give them; they just needed to get a taste of what a real bullet felt like first.

Harry was lounged on one of the couches, eating a vine of grapes. He seemed to be enjoying himself so easily. I plucked one of the grapes and popped it into my mouth. Harry looked at me with fake exasperation before he continued on. Such a goofball.

"What have you guys been up to?" I asked.

Liam raised his brows. "What? Don't have hidden cameras on us at all times?"

I furrowed my brows at his harsh tone, then laughed. "No, Liam. Speaking of, I should go check on the security room. Anyone want to come along?"

Zayn stood up from where he sat on the floor. "I will."

We walked to the small security room that was tucked away on the first floor. I sat down in the chair as Zayn stayed behind me. He was super quiet as I looked over the black and white screens, which wasn't a huge shock to me. There had to be someone in the group who wasn't rowdy all the time; though he had been pretty talkative during dinner last night.

There wasn't any suspicious activity from what I could tell. One of the bear traps had been released, though there wasn't anything in it. It was probably just a small creature or something, which kind of sucks that we lost that one.

"How you feeling, Zayn?" I spun around and looked up at him.

He raised his brows lightly with a shrug. "Could be worse. Just can't wait for the first day to be over, then hopefully the last two will go quicker."

"Time during the purge does feel incredibly long." I reached out to pat him on the arm. "But it'll be alright."

"You keep saying that."

I couldn't help a snort. "What else do you want me to say? Oh, it's gonna go terribly wrong in the last twenty-four hours and we're all gonna die? That's not exactly looking at the bright side."

"But it's realistic," he snapped back.

I rubbed my lips together and pressed them together in a firm line. I cleared my throat. "You know what? You're right. It's not realistic to look at the bright side every minute of this and, in fact, I'm not always. I'm constantly thinking of the ways I can keep you boys safe if anyone breaks in. I can assure you that your safety is my top priority."

He licked his lips, looking at the ground. "What if that's not what I want?"

"It's my job, Zayn."

"I know that." He cleared his throat. "Just... get to me last if it comes to it, okay?"

I nodded lightly. "Okay."

I knew that I couldn't actually fulfill his request. It was a first come first serve basis. Whoever is closest is who I can save first. And at the end of the day, it could turn to that so quickly.

After we met back up everyone else, Niall suggested we eat lunch. It really was only lunch time, wasn't it? This year's hours feel a lot longer than a normal purge.

Niall and Louis continued to grill me on my past. Like who taught me all my skills (my parents) and why I joined The Watchers program. And what other things I enjoyed aside from what revolved around purges. Basically what they didn't get to last night because of the nerves. It did feel more at ease right now.

I took another bite of the sandwich Niall created. "What about you guys?"

Louis scoffed in fake offense. "Did you not originally follow us when we took over the world?"

I smirked. "I mean, I did but I assumed it was all fake because of your PR team."

Niall nodded. "She's smart. I can confirm that my love of golf was never a PR stunt and I suppose I am a happy go-lucky kind of a guy."

"The sass masta from Doncasta was all for show." All the others shot him looks and he chuckled. "I'm just kidding, lads. It was real. I would say I've toned down on it a bit."

I rolled my eyes. "Sure."

"I really did have stage fright at one point after we won the X-Factor. The boys helped out a ton," Harry stated.

"You've definitely loosened up since then. I saw one of your live performances on the hologram a few years ago. It was pretty cool."

"Cheers." He helped up his glass of water, then took a sip of it.

I didn't expect all of them to spill their undying secrets to me. Not that anything they've said has been a secret persae. Zayn was spacing off with his gaze at the ground and Liam was glaring off in another direction that wasn't at me but I knew it was meant for me.

I cleared my throat. "I'm gonna go sit at my post for a bit. Feel free to keep relaxing."

"Would it be alright if I practiced more shooting?" Niall asked.

"Yeah, of course. I'll give you a couple rounds of blanks. Do not touch the real bullets unless necessary." I eyed him and he held his hands up in defense.

"Yeah, yeah. Sounds good."

My hand gripped the crossbow strap as I opened the small slot in the dining room wall that allowed me to peek out the front view of the bunker. I dragged a chair over and plopped myself down. It was so quiet out there. Not a single figure in sight. Not even an animal from what I could tell; well, there were a couple birds that flew away from the trees. It was the eeriest purge yet I had to admit.

The evening grew closer and closer as I kept my guard. My eyes were basically glued open at this point. Nothing would put me to sleep until I told myself I could relax. A hand rested on my shoulder, jolting me away from my campout.

"Niall made a hot dish if you want to eat. We're all going to try and hunker down," Louis stated.

I slid the window closed and locked it up, then cleared my throat with a nod. "Okay."

"You okay? You've been a bit tense since this morning."

"Oh yeah, just not used to nothing happening within the first twenty-four hours. Nothing to worry about."

He leaned down to kiss my cheek. "Goodnight, love."

"Night, Louis."

After I ate a little bit of the pasta casserole, I checked on all the boys before I went back downstairs to the couch. I cradled my crossbow as I laid down. I found myself staring at the smooth ceiling for a bit before my brain decided to let my eyes close.

Next part: 48 Hours

[Masterlist]

#1D #one direction #fanfiction #purge #1d fic #1D fanfiction #one direction fic #one direction fanfiction #niall horan #harry styles #louis tomlinson #zayn malik #liam payne #stupid #action #comedy

1 note · View note

atamascolily · 4 years

Text

lily liveblogs “terminator 2: judgment day” for the first time, part 3

(First and second parts here and here, respectively)

I like that Miles Dyson is a black computer geek, a manager, a programmer, a rich man with a wife he clearly adores. It's just sad that he's also going to destroy the world, and is on a collision course with our heroes. I think that's the point - that good intentions/ideals/not being a terrible person don't save you from doing terrible things...

Miles' computer has a sign taped to the top saying "BIT HAPPENS" aaaaahhhh, he's such a nerd, I love him... except his subsequent speech to his wife makes clear he is so determined to perfect everything and not really consider the consequences, aaahhhh. but he does turn off the computer and go spend time with his kids, and the family is really cute together, so he's very very human and relatable.

(this movie is so freakin' relevant in 2019 on so many levels, I can't even)

Sarah is still wearing her psych ward clothes under her jacket, just like Kyle did for most of the first movie, parallels...

I love Sarah's expression when Enrique offers the T101 booze, and she just grabs it and drinks it out of the bottle, like WE DO NOT WASTE ALCOHOL ON ROBOTS IN THIS HOUSE, ENRIQUE. lolololol.

OH MY GOD SARAH'S WEARING ALL BLACK AND A TANK TOP NOW AND I CANNOT GET OVER HOW AWESOME SHE LOOKS

"Just drop by anytime and totally fuck up my life, all right?" - this franchise in one sentence

Of course the T101 isn't going to survive this movie, and we learn this in a literal Chekhov's Armory. oh, and there's a big, fucking gun. I'm sure we'll see that again.

Sarah's biceps continue to be amazing, all those pull-ups paid off big time. I'm in total awe.

Male bonding with engine repair. it's endearing. John blames Sarah for telling potential father figures about Judgement Day and scaring them off. Poor John just wants a father. GOD I WISH KYLE REESE HAD SURVIVED.

Just realized the only reason John knows how to re-program a T101 is because his younger self did it again when they sent that same T101 through time. HISTORY CREATES ITSELF, THE FUTURE CREATES THE PAST, IT'S ALL ONE BIG, STABLE TIME LOOP.

Sarah watching John with the T101 and realizing it's the perfect father for him. I'm surprised there aren't AUs where she starts sleeping with the T101, too, for similar reasons. Kyle Reese would be spinning in his grave...

I was hoping for another Michael Biehn scene when Sarah falls asleep, but no, it's that playground again...

OH GOD, that woman in the dream looks just like her in the '80s, and she's even wearing a dress that looks like the waitress dress... holding a kid and living a normal life... ahhhh, what Sarah really wants (even though she's a badass on the outside and so strong and competent). I don't know how I feel about this. Like on the one hand, Sarah has massive PTSD, and this is a totally valid thing for her to want, and on the other hand, given how this film keeps treating women, it feels kinda regressive?? Sigh.

Then she burns and everybody burns when the bomb goes off... this is James Cameron's signature nightmare image and it's ours, too, now... callbacks to the first movie and the liquid melting flesh of the new Terminator....and Sarah’s photo burning, ahhhhh.

There's all this destruction, but no blood. That's the thing I notice most about this movie--there's just as much violence as the first film, but it's all CLEAN violence... hardly any blood at all. Horror is bloody. Action is not. I don't think I realized that fully until I watched these two films back to back.

it's too bad Sarah couldn't see a real therapist instead of Silbermann for all this time, because she has such a tremendous case of PTSD.

She drives off without saying good-bye to John, he's supposed to go to safety, but of course he won't.

John says that his father told Sarah there's no fate but what we make for ourselves, which is technically true since he said it to her in this movie, but didn't SHE say that to HIM? Oh, right, it's a message from John that he gives to her so she can give it to John later so he can give it to Kyle. Right.

Why is John so upset that Sarah is trying to change the timeline after all? Because he might not be conceived? I doubt he's thinking about temporal loops here? Or does he think he can help her? Or because he thinks she’s crossed a Moral Event Horizon by going after Dyson?

T101 is like, "dude, your mom's probably right," and John's all, "I don't care!" RIGHT YOU STUPID ASSHOLE, you're going to let millions of people die instead?? You can tell he hasn't been fighting at all yet.

I'm all Team Sarah here. John Connor has yet to convince me why he's in the right here. Why shouldn't Sarah try to shift them onto a better timeline if she can? Especially since it’s not 100% clear what her plan is??

(And if she's wrong, then her actions were necessary in order to create the original future, so... it gets complicated to sort out. I get it.)

Okay, she’s at Dyson’s house. She's going to try to kill him, but she doesn't really need to kill him, just destroy the Terminator chip he's using as a model. She's basically become a human version of the Terminator now, because Cameron loves his parallels...can she not see there are other options?

Speaking of which, there's a radio controlled toy truck that Dyson's son is driving through the house, lol.

Yup, there's a red laser guide beam just like the T1 did to her. And she's going to see Dyson with his kid and think better of it, because she yearns for innocent time with her own kid (that she didn't have because she was training for the future).

NOPE, she shoots him, but he ducks when the car hits his foot, and he hides behind his desk just like Sarah did in T1. The circle is complete. She's even firing automatic rounds like the first Terminator did. SHE’S BECOME THE ENEMY NOW.

Sigh, the first time Sarah talks to a woman in this movie, and she's calling her a bitch and telling her to get down on the floor after she's shot her husband. I hate this so much.

She can't shoot him. His wife and son are watching and she realizes what she's become. She's doing to Dyson what the Terminator did to her.

The fact that Dyson, who is black, got his home shot up by a white woman and nearly killed while his family watched in terror is... not a great image, and I can only imagine what must be going through their heads right now.

Dyson recognizes the metallic hand once the Terminator strips its skin off. Wow, what a gory move to prove the truth. effective, though.

"You're judging me on things I haven't even done yet" - Sarah's face here when Dyson says that.

Sarah has no patience for Dyson's protestations of innocence: how could you think that eliminating humans from the decision-making process would go well? She says "Men like you--" and all I can hear is "patriarchy".

The difference between Dyson and Sarah is Dyson did his invention purposefully, whereas all Sarah was supposed to do was have a kid. She could have died once John was born and it wouldn't necessarily have mattered, because her role is finished (just like Reese could die). Still, her line, "You don't know what it's like to really create something" is so IRONIC in this context... would men feel the need to create weapons of war if they could create life like women do??

I hate teenage John shutting Sarah down, because she's right, if not tactful, and I'm so tired of people dismissing Sarah and even her own kid is treating her like a crazy person when she’s just so goddamn tired and haunted by visions of the end of the world.

Tarissa (Dyson's wife) asks the smart question: Aren't we changing things now, just by having this conversation? Dyson says, no way I'm finishing this now that I know. Would that the future worked like that.

god, why didn't Sarah just bring the Terminator with her as proof she wasn't crazy? Why did she have to shoot Dyson BEFORE all this?? why wasn’t she thinking outside the box? sigh. she’s not stupid.

They go to Cyberdyne headquarters and Sarah is wearing a jacket like Kyle’s, oh my heart. Dyson is taking this amazingly well--we were right to like him--but I'm pretty sure he's not going to survive the movie. Although since this is action and not horror, maybe he has a chance??

I like the contrast between the security cams in the state hospital and the Cyberdyne building. Glass doors, too.

Oh, the T1000's going to be waiting for them because he knew they would show up here because IT IS WRITTEN. I wonder if he's hiding in the floor somewhere like he did before??

Dyson might be able to get out of this by claiming Sarah and the T101 forced him at gunpoint to break in, assuming he survives.

Good thing John is a budding hacker!! He can open the doors when the guard trips the alarm and locks the doors.

John knows EXACTLY WHAT SARAH MEANS when she warns him about "fire in the hole".

I like how the mechanical factory of the previous movie is now a sleek and shiny '90s lab with computers and chips and things. And now they have a collaborator on the inside who's working with them to take it down instead of being totes on their own.

The T1000 is at Dyson's house. How did he track them there? Did Tarissa call the police?? But he gets the police call about the raid of Cyberdyne, so hopefully Tarissa and her kids survive the night.

Parallels to the police helicopters and cops in the parking lot with the human beings on the ground vs. the machines in the opening.

Cyberdyne is using literally the same locking software as the bank ATM, lol.

ahahahah, it's a remote control to set the bombs off, because even more parallels, lolololol

oh, hey, there's the big fucking gun with a freaking mountain of automatic bullets. Ironically, the name for this monstrosity is "mini-gun". somehow, he shoots all the cars and doesn't kill anyone - he's just that good a shot!! Just enough to make the cops get clear. Then he shoots the cars to make them blow up. CLEVER.

Of course John doesn't destroy the chip once he gets it out of the safe, because where's the drama in that??

SHIT. THE POLICE SHOOT MILES AS THEY ENTER THE ROOM FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCKITY FUCK I HATE THIS. They don’t even try to save him, or seem aware that Sarah might be using him as a hostage. and of course he's got the detonator in his hands, too.

all this shattered glass reminds me of the police station sequence from T1, but it's way less of a slaughter.

T101 busts through the clean room to save Sarah, just like he did the mall walls before.

Miles dies. His hand drops. The building explodes. GOD DAMN IT I LIKED HIM WHYYYYYYYY.

"we got a war zone here"-- oh, you just wait. Probably there's going to be Judgement Day anyway and Miles died for NOTHING. *sob*

Okay now the T1000 shows up.

"I'll be back," says the T101, because of course he does.

Good thing they brought an oxygen mask to a gun battle!!

The T101 is so creative. He won't kill you, but he'll still shoot you in the legs, and it will hurt like hell.

lol, the T1000 literally rides in on a flaming motorcycle OH MY GOD THIS MOVIE. He even takes it up the staircase WHAT.

meanwhile the T101 is firing tear gas, and then pulling peoples' masks off. Then he drives a truck back into the building to pick Sarah and John up.

THERE'S ONLY ONE GODDAMN CASUALTY IN THIS ENTIRE SEQUENCE AND IT'S THE BLACK GUY, WHO WAS A FUCKING GOOD GUY, I WILL NEVER BE OVER THIS!!! All the white cops get to live, but not the black dude who was an actual character. FUCK THIS.

T1000 rides his motorcycle off the edge of the building and hijacks the helicopter to chase after John. He tells the pilot to "Get out" and the guy does, but idk if he survived? OWWWWWW.

John tells Sarah of course he'll stay hidden behind the bullet-proof vests, but of course he doesn't.

Yeah, John was getting shot at by intelligent machines from the sky long before it was cool. No wonder he's the leader of the resistance... he was literally trained from birth for this! Plus, you know, he had help. From the future.

Sarah gets shot in the leg, owwww. The helicopter rams the truck and crashes. So does the truck. This is just like the bridge scene in T1, isn't it?

Ohhh, a gas truck showed up, so YEAH THINGS ARE GOING TO EXPLODE. Oh, it's liquid nitrogen, not gas, does that make a difference? Oh, maybe that has an effect on the Terminator melting metal??

Both the dudes who stopped to check on them are going to get killed... yeah. Sigh. Oh, one of them went over the edge, he might have survived.

Pity anybody who is on this road tonight, 'cause it's clobbering time!!

Oh, good thing John knows how to drive! And they take the off-ramp, just like they did before in the river chase.

Oh, good, just bust through the gate into a random factory, that always goes well. Ah, drive right into the middle of a molten steel pour. EPIC.

Liquid nitrogen everywhere. This is so going to be relevant in a moment.

Good, all the workers flee. Fewer casualties that way.

The liquid nitrogen makes him frosty and metallic. He's literally shattering. This can't be the end, though, because we still have at least twenty minutes left.

The T101 shoots him and he shatters. But doesn't each piece keep hunting??

Yup, the hot steel is melting the nitrogen, he's coming back.

John's carrying Sarah just like Sarah carried Kyle at the end of T1... and the T1000 comes out of the liquid in the same pose as it came into the past...

Sarah's hair is loose and crazy-looking, and she's also lost her agency since she's been shot and in shock. Symbolism is not lost on me.

Now the T1000 starts mimicking the scenery. Now they're in the part of the factory with machines. t101 stays behind. John's going to lose his father-figure again, but find him in the future again I guess?

Oh, the T101 gets his hands trapped underneath a giant gear, IRONY. And the T1000 just literally rolls its eyes and walks away because it doesn't give a fuck about anything but John. T101 hacks off his own arm, while Sarah and John stumble up more stairs just like T1. God, I hope Cyberdyne doesn't find that arm stuck in the machine gears and destroy the world with it... JUST LIKE LAST TIME.

Sarah puts John on a conveyor belt while she stays behind to fight. JUST LIKE T1.

She shoots a literal hole in his head and it doesn't work... no blood, just cgi silver stuff... and this is simultaneously horrifying and yet cheapening the effect of real blood/bullets, etc...

He pins her to the wall. All he needs is to touch her. He tells her to call to John - he can mimic her voice, of course this was coming...

But the T101 intervenes! Now he's getting rammed with a hydraulic press, just like last time. Crawling towards him, just like before... but he gets stabbed again and shorts out. Good thing Terminators are hard to kill.

T1000 takes Sarah's form and starts calling for him. God, this dude must be so freakin' paranoid as an adult knowing this. Actual Sarah shoots Fake Sarah and he transforms back into his usual form. He doesn't say anything, just waggles his finger at her, and it is is scarier than any one-liner possibly could be.

"Get down!" -arc words, apparently, since that was also what happened in the beginning. The T101 shows up and shoots the T1000 back into the pool of molten metal and then it's really over. But not before he turns into a CGI silver monstrosity first.

Chorus sings the Terminator theme slowly and dramatically while the thing transforms into every form it's ever taken, including Sarah because we needed more symbolism of Sarah's face melting in flames in this franchise. Oh, wait, no, I think that was the only one we didn't see. Wow.

Oh, man it's like being at the fires of Mount Doom when John tosses the first Terminator arm from T1 into the molten pit. Of course a piece of the chip has broken off somewhere - they should have destroyed it in the lab!! Sigh.

The T101 has to toss himself in to prevent anyone else from finding the chip. ahhhh, John has to sacrifice what he loves for the world. Sob. So much for being a happy Terminator family together, except in fic. And it doesn't matter because of that goddamn missing piece *sob* Miles' death, this... for nothing if anyone finds that missing chip piece. AAAAAAH.

"I can't self-terminate"--wow, that means Sarah and John have to do it themselves, EVEN WORSE. John is pulling a Frodo and screaming a lot.

Wow, Cameron managed to make us feel AWFUL and SAD at the death of a Terminator. Well played, sir, well played. John cries. T101 and Sarah shake hands. It's all so moving. fuck.

ONCE AGAIN, SARAH PRESSES THE BUTTON TO KILL HIM OMG. John is forced to watch someone who came from the future to protect him, whom he came to love dearly after just a day or so of knowing him, DIE IN FRONT OF HIM, just like Sarah in T1.

GOD IT'S SO HOPEFUL AN ENDING, BUT WHAT ABOUT THAT MISSING CHIP CHUNK, DAMN IT!! And the, uh, severed robot arm the T101 left behind? We end the movie in pretty much exactly the same space as we began - with an arm and a chip unaccounted for. I do not find this hopeful.

#Movie Reviews #terminator #terminator 2

13 notes · View notes

dccomicsimagines · 5 years

Text

It’s Been A Long Time - Nightwing x Reader

Requested by Anon - Nightwing's old flame returns without warning after a long, unexplained absence from the team. She wishes to make amends start anew, but the old wounds make him hesitant.

***

“Okay, team. We have reports Parasite has been seen around Star City,” Dick stated, bringing up a security cam footage of Parasite breaking into a Queen Industries building. “He has been stealing tech from Queen Industries and it’s our mission to find out what he is doing.”

“Shouldn’t Green Arrow be taking care of this?” Conner asked. The rest of the team mumbled in agreement.

“Green Arrow is out of the area, and wants us to handle it,” Dick said sternly. “We’ll have two teams...” He stopped when the zeta tube activated suddenly.

“B-051,” the computer said as a figure appeared from the zeta tube. A rock formed in Dick’s throat when he recognized who it was.

“(Y/N)!” M’gann gasped, flying over to hug you. You laughed, hugging her back. The rest of the team came over to either hug you or get introduced to you. Dick frowned, pouting slightly that you had completely interrupted the meeting. He bit his lip when he noted how good you looked, and he hated that he had noticed.

You glanced over M’gann to see Dick attempting not to look at you. Your stomach twisted at the sight. Guilt eating at your heart. You had to admit he was still so sexy, even though it killed you to notice.

“Are you coming on the mission with us? I’ve heard so much about you,” Cassie said, fangirling a little bit.

“I would enjoy seeing if your rep holds up,” Lagoon Boy challenged you. You gave him a tight smile, making eye contact with Dick.

“I’d be happy to join you for the mission if you’ll have me? I was just coming back to ask if I could rejoin the team.” You bit your lip. “If you’ll have me, Nightwing?”

Dick opened his mouth to speak, but M’gann answered for him. “Of course, you can join us. You never really left in the first place.” She gave you another hug before turning to Dick, sensing he might have had a different answer. “Right, Nightwing?”

You shivered at how cold Dick’s gaze was. “Sure, whatever,” he mumbled, turning back to the computer. His voice took a biting tone. “Can we finish the mission briefing please?”

Weeks passed and you find yourself blending in with the team as if you never left. Well, there was one exception. Dick ignored you. It hurt more than you could ever say, but you knew you deserved this treatment.

M’gann took your hand, leading you to stand by her as Dick went back to giving the briefing. You shifted awkwardly. Dick did his best not to look at you.

***

Tension came to a head as it always did during the team’s weekly training session. Dick was testing everyone, which meant he would have to fight you. You could tell he was dreading it as he picked everyone before you, making you last.

“Woo, kick his ass, (Y/N),” Garfield cheered. The other cheered you on as well. Dick grimaced at the sound.

M’gann patted your shoulder. “You used to beat him every time. I can feel you’re nervous about this,” she whispered in your ear. You were struggling to find the will to go into the training ring.

You woke to bright lights and a numbness in your arm. The memory of what happened came back slowly when you saw the splint on your arm. It took your eyes a moment to focus on the figure beside your bed.

“Hurry up,” Dick ordered coldly, refusing to look at you. You gave M’gann a tight smile before stepping into the ring. Suddenly, Dick attacked you. He wasn’t pulling his hits, clearly allowing his anger to affect his fighting. You did your best to dodge and counter, but Dick knocked you down and twisted your arm to put you into a hold. Something snapped in your arm. A scream escaped your lips while Dick froze in panic. The pain was so intense, you blacked out.

***

“Dick?” you whispered, finally able to focus on him.

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me,” Dick stated harshly. He ripped off his mask. You were taken back by his brilliant blue eyes. His eyes flash in anger. “You took off and left without a word. You didn’t even say goodbye to me.” He got to his feet. You got the impression he had been planning his words carefully while you were out. “And I have to find out now that you have been sick.”

You sighed deeply. “How did you find out?” A gasp of pain escaped your lips when you attempted to move your fingers.

Dick flinched at your gasp, his resolve breaking slightly. “Don’t move your arm. It still needs to be set.” He was about to lay a hand on your shoulder, but he pulled away. “It’s in your medical records for the league. You know they like to keep things up to date.”

Your jaw dropped open. “I didn’t give permission for that to be put in there!” Your hand flew to your neck to touch the scar from your chemo port. You found yourself doing that ever since it had been put in. It was a reminder that this is all real.

“Are you kidding me?!” Dick exploded, throwing his hands up in the air. You flinched, eyeing him warily. “Don’t you realized we care about you?! Damn it, (Y/N)! What if you died, and we wouldn’t have even known?!” Dick knocked over a medical cart that sat in the corner. He froze as it clattered on the floor. “Sorry,” he panted, trying to calm himself down.

“It’s okay,” you whispered, blinking back tears. You knew he had a temper, but you never been on this end of it before. A sigh escaped your lips. “I didn’t want you all to see me like that. So weak, throwing up. I looked like a ghost, Dick.” Dick ran a hand through his hair as he looked at you. A flash of pity crossed his face. “See. I didn’t want that,” you said, pointing at his expression. “I didn’t want your pity.”

“Pity?” Dick collapsed onto the chair by the bed. He ran his hand over his face, letting out a sigh of frustration. “(Y/N), I was in love with you. It killed me when you left, and it’s killing me now to know you were sick. You needed me, and you wouldn’t let me be there for you.”

You bit your lip. “I’m sorry, Dick.” You winced when you accidentally moved your broken arm. “But you got back at me. You broke my arm.” A humorless laugh escaped your lips.

Dick let out a halfhearted chuckle. “I guess. I wouldn’t have been so rough with you if I knew.” He leaned forward to rest his elbows onto his knees. “They should be coming in soon to cast your arm.”

You nodded, pursing your lips. An awkward silence falls between you. “Can we start over?” you asked after a long time. You looked up into his blue eyes. Dick frowned, shifting in his chair.

“I don’t know.” He ran a hand through his hair. “You hurt me a lot, (Y/N).” You looked down at your broken arm, trying to hold back tears. Your heart was breaking all over again. “But I think we can at least try being friends again.”

“I missed you a lot, Dick,” you said, tears running down your cheeks. Dick gave you a sad smile, grabbing a tissue to wipe away your tears.

“I missed you too,” Dick whispered, kissing your cheek quickly before pulling back. Your heart skipped a beat like it did during first time he kissed you. It would take time to rebuilt trust, but you and Dick were back on the path to something wonderful.

#dick grayson #dick grayson x reader #dick grayson imagine #nightwing #nightwing x reader #nightwing imagine #dc comics imagines #dc reader insert #young justice imagines #yj imagine

478 notes · View notes

darkredehmption · 5 years

Text

Training Time

#SL #TrainingTime

Written by @DamagedBrother and @PanwerePredator

***

Zsadist:

[As I sat at the dining room table for first meal, I couldn’t help but notice my twin looking at me every now and then. The fucker has been up my ass since my little break down the other day. Well lucky for him I was supposed to meet the shifter tonight for some training. Nothing too intense so he wouldn’t have to worry about me out on the field with the enemy. Fuck I must of won the lottery cause the other Brother that offered to come help was Rhage. Rolling my eyes as I gaze over at the fucker who currently was trying to see how many pieces of bacon he could stuff in his mouth.

Hell so much craziness has been going on that I almost forgot about this training session that I had set up. It was a good thing my mental breakdown helped me get back to reality. Scrubbing a hand over my scarred face as I thought about the male who left the mansion the other day. The one who pulled away as we got too close while sparing. The one that I refused to even say goodbye to. Yeah. That guy. Fuck. I’m glad as hell that I was able to get out some of my frustration with Hadrian tonight. And maybe I could even throw a few punches at Rhage. Smirking wide at the thought of making Hollywood bleed.

After the Brother manages to shove every last piece of bacon down his throat. He runs off to the bathroom and I swear to Scribe the male must of fell in cause almost thirty minutes later he arrived outside. Glaring at Rhage as I put my phone away.]

We are going to be late. I don’t want Hadrian showing up to the building then wondering why the fuck he isn’t getting let inside. [My eyes close as I hear the Brother burp. What the fuck did Mary see in this fool? Though I couldn’t help but smirk as I eyed him. He rubbed his belly with a big ol’ grin. “My bad. I was challenged by V to see how much bacon I could fit in my mouth. And that is something that I could not just pass up.” Rolling my golden eyes with the smirk still in place.]

Yeah, yeah. Just don’t puke on me tonight. If you are going to hurl aim for the shifter, true? [He cackles loud then I watch as his molecules scatter and I soon do the same. When we both take form downtown I hear another burp from the Brother. Holding my breath as I enter the security code to the building we were meeting the Shifter at.]

Scribe. That smells fucking awful. Eat a tootsie or something, will ya? [The male practically beams as he pulls out a grape one. “Don’t have to ask me twice!” Once we are inside I move over to the mats that Vishous had set up. The place looked like a mini version of the mansion’s gym. Minus the treadmills and machines. Lots of mats, and a few shelves of weapons. Not bad. My attention is drawn to the door as Rhage messes with the security cam. “Yo. He’s here!” Nodding as I move to check out the guns that Vishous stocked us with.]

Great. Don’t just stand there. Fucking let him in. [Mumbling to myself as I load a gun then holds it up to the wall. My demons were out to play tonight and I was struggling to keep them at bay. Come on Z. You got this. Deep breaths. I lower the gun before eyeing the shifter as he enters.]

Long time no see. Sorry this got delayed. You wouldn’t believe the fucking week we had. [Snorts watching Rhage unwrap another pop. I nod towards the Brother.] Rhage is with us tonight. Seems he was eager to train with you. I think Butch talked about coming out next. [Rolling at my shoulders before I set down the weapon.] You know how to shoot, yes?

Hadrian:

I’d been beginning to wonder if I’d imagined the vampire Brotherhood and the night I’d been injured, but the small, faint silver scar over my heart proved me wrong every time I looked in the mirror. Finally hearing from Zsadist had my shoulders relaxing, a fresh kind of excitement brewing inside me that I hadn’t had in years. Learning to train ‘with’ vampires to face off against vampires and demons? This was what I needed to survive.

As I stalked down the street toward the address messaged to me, I barely had to pause at the door before it opened, one of the huge male’s standing inside and grinning around a sweet treat. Rhage, if I remembered correctly. The blonde beef bus was a walking wet dream, and I grinned as I clapped hands with the guy and stepped past.

Zsadist stood further inside, handling weapons with long practiced ease, like they were simply an extension of his body. I waved away his apologies for the delay, moving closer as I breathed in his scent and got a whole whack of… angst? I faltered mid step, the scent not one I’d previously associated with the male, but it was there, part of a mix of darkness and frustration that gave the vampire an almost bitter flavor as I stopped at his side.

“I’ll train with whoever you trust me to train with,” I said easily, not letting my concern show in the slightest as I put my eyes on the weapons. “As for shooting… I’m no ace marksman by any means, but I can hit a target. Is that on the menu for today?”

I looked sideways, taking in the male, those golden eyes, and trying to register this change. A busy week indeed if whatever had happened had set the male so ill at ease. A part of me wanted to ask, but not in front of Rhage, and not while everything was so… ‘let me reintroduce myself and find that easy camaraderie of the other night’. Instead I took a breath and hitched a grin.

“I’m looking forward to the hand to hand. Or hand to claw,” I quip, winking, trying to bring the male with sparkling golden eyes back.

Zsadist:

[Shaking my head at the weapons.] Nah. We will save that for when Cop is here. He lives for the weapons. Besides it’s probably best to start with hand to hand. [Nods watching Rhage finish off his second lollipop. My eyes flicker back to Hadrian and I can’t help but notice a different look he gave me. Almost like he wanted to ask me something but didn’t know how. I raise a dark brow but push the thoughts away. Tonight I didn’t want to think. No. I did enough of that the past few nights.

Stepping back off the mats as I watch Rhage stretch and get on them. I figured I’d like Hollywood have a go at the male before I took a shot. Besides it would be interesting as fuck to watch. Rhage and I fought completely different. He was all over the place but packed a strong punch. The male could just sit on you and you’d be down for the count. My lips twitch slightly then I nod at my Brother.]

We all have a different approach to fighting and yet we are like a well oiled machine. I want you to be able to know how to fight with us all. [My brows drawn in slightly.] Because one wrong move out there could end a life. [Looking up to the fade for a slight moment as I think of our departed Brother Darius. Anything could happen out there and the shifter needed to be ready for it. Hell...look what happened that night with Malys.

As I think of the male my whole body stiffens. Quickly I turn away to gather myself. Not wanting the others to notice. Luckily I heard grunts and shuffling on the mats which lead me to believe the match had started. In this moment I wish I had one of Vishous’s hand rolled blunts. Maybe that would calm me down. Yeah right.

Turning back to watch Rhage practically barrel the guy down. Hollywood knew how to hit hard but I always saw the pattern he did and I wondered if Hadrian would pick up on it. Lessers were normally too crazed to even realize his techniques. Every now and then I noticed the shifter give me a look. Shaking my head ever so slightly so he would stop paying attention to me and put all his focus into this fight. This was important to me. The Brotherhood trusted me with this. Trusted me with the shifter and I couldn’t let them down. But why didn’t Malys want to join the program? Because of his Mahmen? Or was it the fact that he didn’t want to see my disgusting mug anymore. Most likely that. My demons were teasing me now.]

Hadrian:

I inclined my head in acknowledgment of his words; the last thing I wanted to do was cost anyone in the Brotherhood their life by being unprepared. But I’d been a survivalist for a long time. I knew the value of life.

Stopping at the edge of the mats, I roll my neck and crack a few things as Rhage squares up opposite. His size alone would make a body builder wet themself, but size didn’t always mean speed, strength or agility. I was definitely smaller than the vampire, but I was hoping that actually worked for me; that he’d underestimate me. Cause that’d be fun.

A sharp scent caught my nose just as the male launched toward me. My gaze flicked to Zsadist almost without my control, concern spiking at the acrid tang of loss and pain, before I forced myself back to Rhage. The male charged like a bull and I was the china shop, and I let my mind relax, the predator coming to the fore as I moved to embrace his attack rather than avoid it. I needed to gauge the strength of these males as much as they needed to gauge me.

Rhage and I moved. Fought. We weren’t like dancers; far from it, but we moved like we’d been doing this before. Like it was a muscle memory coming back after years of being absent. It felt good to twist, bend, flip and dart my way around his larger body; to take advantage of every gap, every moment that only feline grace or flexibility would allow me to get through. The Brother couldn’t hope to match it, not with his size, but he was still faster than any human could hope to be, and every punch was like an anvil swung at my head. A few hits had me making sure I didn’t cop anymore, and when I returned the favor, I could see the pleased surprise in the male’s face that it ‘hurt’. Not like he wanted to be hurt, mind you, just that I was as strong as he’d hoped. I was a challenge.

And fuck, doesn’t that just puff up the old ego quite nicely.

As the male caught me in a flip and brought me back to the mat, I twisted to lock myself around his limb, even as he applied a hard lock to one of mine. Stalemate. We both panted at each other, grinning at the exertion like two kids who’ve just played a rousing game of football. Only with less bloodshed. I could feel a split lip healing as I watched a cut on the male’s cheek seal over.

“Gonna tap out?”

“I will if you will,” I retorted, flashing my own fangs and shifting my eyes from deep brown to feline green and gold. “I mean, we’re basically even.”

Zsadist:

[Shaking the dark thoughts from my head and turning my attention towards the males on the mats. When they end up like a pretzel on the floor I smirked. Hadrian was impressing me and it was safe to say he would do well with the Brotherhood. His moves countered each one of Rhage’s which caused them to move seamlessly together with minimum bloodshed. Hollywood finally gives and I watch as they two separate. My brother already digging into his pocket for another tootsie as he stands up.

I didn’t know what came over me but all of a sudden I was attacking Hadrian. He needed to be prepared for anything when out in the field and this was a good way of showing him exactly that. Lessers loved the sneak attack and what happened to Malys with the Chosen was just that. My brows drawn in as I think of the male once again. Fuck. What was wrong with me?

That’s when all I see is that pit of blackness and I can’t help it but start to hit at the male hard. I punched him square in the jaw watching his head snap back. But before I could do another one he blocks me and shifts out of my hold. That doesn’t stop me though. A powerful growl falls from my lips as I lunge after him. Pushing him back down onto the mats causing us to roll back and forth. My knee lifts to his gut so I can gain power once again.

I lost control. Completely lost it. I barely heard Rhage in the background asking if Hadrian was alright. Why wouldn’t the shifter be okay? Cause he was around me? The monster? The disgusting freak who never deserved to be rescued from that hell hole? I should of died a slave. Internally I was screaming on the inside and once again my fist came down hard on the male, but he got smart and moved. My knuckles crushed into the mat causing pain to form, creeping up the length of my arm. But it didn’t matter. Hell it felt good. I wanted to feel that all over until I was a pile of nothing.

When he twisted his body away from me my hand landed on his arm. Tugging him back so I could pin him down face first onto the mat. Only problem was in my sudden rage of acting like a fucking psychopath, I managed to pull back his arm with such a tight grip that I heard a snap. Just like that I was brought back to reality once again. Fuck. Rhage rushed over and I quickly pushed off of the male. Practically crawling away from them as I take in the scene before me. What the hell did I just do?]

Hadrian...I…[Gritting my teeth as I hear those friendly demons laugh in my head. My hands cover my ears and I lean forward and lets out a growl. Closing my eyes as I shake my head. No. The fuck did I just do? What the hell was wrong with me?]

Hadrian:

One minute Zsadist was there, watching us get back to our feet. Then he was moving. His speed, his aggression, so sudden I almost didn’t react. Almost. Even as I fought my own shock, my body trying to dance away and maintain it’s stealth after the furious encounter with Rhage, Z’s intensity was too great.

The hit to my jaw almost broke it. My ears were ringing as I rolled my body with the hit, blocking the next one then countering with my own. The Beasts roared, their anger a kindling to my own as it threatened to take over. Fighting for control with the Beasts inside me and Zsadist before me, I missed the move he made to bring us both back to the floor. His greater strength came into play, but my flexibility saved me the worst of it, the pair of us rolling and moving as Rhage watched on, his tootsie pop forgotten.

As the hits came I ducked or blocked, trying to avoid another ringer that would guaranteed knock me into next week. All the while I panted and gasped, trying to maintain some semblance of even footing with the vampire that… wasn’t the one I’d met. His smell was all wrong, that acrid, bitter tang now all over him as he vented whatever hell, whatever fury, was occupying his mind.

An opening appeared and I moved for it, desperate to be up off the mat, to put some distance and some space between the hits, but for once, I was too slow. The male locked onto my wrist and pulled me back, twisting as he did to put me face first to the mat. I swallowed a cry at the loud ‘SNAP’ that echoed through the space. Pain rocketed up my arm. The male vanished from above me.

“Shit! Hadrian, you okay?”

Rhage was there to help me sit up, examining the break of my arm, but I had eyes only for Zsadist. He clutched at his head, the smell of regret a new aroma to the mix. I tried to reach for him, then hissed as a fresh bolt of agony hit me. Rhage gave me an apologetic look.

“It’s a pretty bad break man. I’m no doctor but we could get you one, yeah? It might need to be reset~”

“Leave it,” I muttered, shaking my head. “I’ll just have to shift. But I’ll be tired after I change back,” I let him know, cradling the arm to my chest and getting to my feet. With another glance at Rhage, I shake my head and the male wisely backs off as I moved toward Zsadist.

“Z?” I murmur, frowning. The scent of his pain is so strong it rivals my own, but so long as the arm stays broken, I suspect he’ll be like this; guilt ridden and miserable. Taking a breath, I glance at Rhage then mumble a hasty ‘don’t shoot me’, before I close my eyes and shift. My leopard padded forward within, and the Change was effortless bar the burst of pain as my arm shifted, the bone re-breaking itself to align and elongate for my leopard form. I growled a complaint then shook myself free of the debris of a change, the shreds of my clothes.

Then I padded forward, sniffing at the male vampire and nudging in against him. I could sense Rhage behind us, watching carefully, but I was gentle with the male as I nosed at him to be seen, to be known. So he could see my arm was fine. That I was fine. Now… I needed to figure out why ‘he’ wasn’t fine.

Zsadist:

[With all the screaming and laughing from the demons in my head I didn’t even realize that Hadrian shifted. When I heard a growl, I figured it had to be Rhage. He was probably so mad at what I did. And why wouldn’t he be? I’m fucked up. What I did was so messed up and I didn’t even know how I could apologize for it all.

When I felt someone nudging me I shook my head. No. No, don’t try to bring me back from this. I don’t deserve it. I felt it again, blinking as it feels wet. The hell? My head lifts, eyes going wide as I see a fucking leopard. What?! Rhage was standing behind the shifter, he was just as shocked as I was. I swear this was the first time I’ve ever seen him speechless.]

Hadrian…? [The leopard nudged again and I couldn’t help but reach for him. A shaky hand rested on his head, staring into those big eyes that didn’t break away from me. So...the fucker was talented. Not only could he turn into a tiger but also apparently a fucking leopard. Shit. Wonder what else he could turn into.

Pushing those thoughts away as I remember what just took place. My brows draw in as I eyed his...paw. My free hand dragged over it, Rhage shifts closer as if the shifter was going to attack me at any moment. And no offense I understood his reasoning behind it. The Brother lived with a beast inside of him that didn’t recognize us when out in the field. Well...other than Mary. For some reason that thing loved her. I bet Rhage had so many questions for him.

My attention is drawn back to Hadrian. Parting my scarred lips as I try to think of what to say. But nothing came out. I wanted to scream. My vision goes blurry and I close my eyes tightly. I couldn’t look at him right now. Knowing what I just did to him. No. My whole body tenses, shaking before him. Why was I like this? Finally I speak, though my voice sounded weak.]

I’m so sorry. I...fuck...if you don’t want to continue on with this I would understand. [My hands dropping from the animal. A tight pain in my chest caused me to shift forward. My legs pulling up and into my torso. I tried to breathe evenly as my eyes opened, finally meeting the shifter’s in front of me.]

Hadrian:

As aware as I was of Zsadist’s pain and anguish, I was equally aware of Rhage sizing me up like he needed to worry about what calibre of bullet would bring me down. Probably should’ve gone for the Tiger shift again, but when in pain I couldn’t always choose the Beast - sometimes it chose me. Oh well… Looking over my shoulder at the male, I purred, the sound like the rumble of an engine before I turned my attention back to Z.

He was sorry, but I didn’t need him to say it to know it. His regret was sincere, almost a flavor on my tongue the scent was so strong around him. But it wasn’t the only one, and as he finally met my gaze, I tried to let him see that everything was fine. There was no judgement from me; no condemnation or rejection. Whatever was eating the male was clearly winning the battle - I wanted to help him fight.

Moving slowly, I paced around behind him, curling my body around his and sitting to create a feline wall of warmth and fur at his back. In my Beast form, I was almost as big as these males, though they’d get a bite if they dared try to ride me like He Man. But my size meant that creating a fur cocoon for Zsadist was easy enough, and as I rubbed my head against his I purred again, long and low.

I didn’t know what was twisting the male up, but I did know that I wouldn’t forsake him for his demons. We all had them. And they always emerged when we least expected or needed them. Meeting Rhage’s gaze from across the room, I could see he’d relaxed a smidge - enough that I wasn’t worried about being shot any more. In fact, he looked almost… grateful.

With my huge sandpaper tongue, I licked at the scarred warrior I was wrapped around, trying to let him know that as long as he needed this warmth, this comfort, I was here. And when he was ready, I’d change back. Sometimes though? Something soft and warm to hold on to was the best comfort, and I had all fucking day.

Zsadist:

[The shifter did something totally unexpected. He was like a giant cat. Circling around me in a playful manner before curling around my entire body. The thing was massive. Larger than me, which was hard to comprehend. Somehow I felt...protected by him. This weird thing was happening to me. Suddenly the demons stopped. Everything went quiet and I just listened to the leopard purr. The sound was hypnotic and I couldn’t help but lean into him.

My golden eyes lifted to Rhage. The Brother was just watching with wide eyes and a hint of a smile. I watched as he unwrapped a tootsie pop and moved away from me and the shifter. Like he was giving us space. My thoughts are cut off by a large rough tongue that drags up the length of my scarred face. The fuck? Turning my head to eye the leopard. Images of what just took place fill my head and I can’t help but reach out to pet his head.]

I’m fucked up...and...that’s something that is never going to change when it comes to me no matter how hard I try. Know that it wasn’t me back there I...I just lost control. [I slump forward, eyes closing as my head pressed into his fur. Taking a deep breath as my body tries to calm down again. How do I explain to Hadrian what was doing with me? I couldn’t. Though in this moment it felt good to just feel something that wasn’t so fucked up.

Slowly I leaned against him, lost in his fur and warmth. Everything started to just drift away. I lost track of time for a bit. Just enjoying the peacefulness of my head for once. No demons. None. Finally when I hear Rhage unwrap another pop I open my eyes. I didn’t know how to say thank you to the shifter. So I simply pressed my forehead to his own before I sat up. My eyes met my Brother’s as he made his way back over to us.]

Do we have any extra clothes in here? We are going to need them.

Hadrian:

Nuzzled into the male as I was, I let the time pass as I relaxed and purred. When he finally lifted his head, stroked at my fur and admitted he’d lost control, I only blinked, nosing into him in reassurance. Everyone lost control at one point or another; I’d learned that lesson with blood and teeth and claws. It was why I’d worked so hard to master my Beasts - losing control of them meant someone else lost their life.

As the male came back to himself and looked to Rhage, who was munching on yet another treat (how fortunate for vampires that diabetes wasn’t a thing…) I slowly rose from my curled position and stretched. Shaking my head, then the rest of me, I gave a yawn that showed off every one of my lethal teeth, then looked to Zsadist.

He was back, more calm and centered than the entire time he’d been here. The anguished scent had faded, though it lingered on the periphery, and as he mentioned clothes I gave a toothy grin and reached for the human part of me.

The Change rippled over me, the fur vanishing as my bones popped and cracked, lengthened or shortened, and my muscles stretched into all manner of shapes. When it was done, I sat on my haunches on the floor, naked as the day I was born, and panted. I was tired, but not weakened. Pushing myself up, I stood tall as I shot the warrior a grin and saluted with the formerly broken, now totally healed, arm.

“Yeah, the clothes thing is gonna be important if I’m gonna be walking home. Don’t really wanna advertise all… this,” I gestured to myself absently. For shifters, nudity was rarely a big thing - we all had to get naked for the moon, so my self consciousness was fairly low. But that didn’t mean I wasn’t aware that it was a thing for just about everyone else.

Stepping away from the puddle of water and goo that came with the Shift, I cracked my neck then clapped Zsadist on the shoulder with a grin. “Unless you wanna drive me home. Didn’t think you lot came with a car though.”

Zsadist:

[I expected Hadrian to shift the same way he did like that time at the hospital. Shaking on the floor and naked. He was naked all right. All in my face as well as my Brother’s. Though he didn’t seem to be as weak as before. Nope. His cocky attitude was here and he seemed to have healed just fine. My golden eyes meet Rhage. He narrows his eyes slightly. “What?” I smirk wide.]

I’ll give him my jacket...you give him your pants. [The Brother coughs on the remnants of his lollipop. Looking at me like I had six heads. I couldn’t help but let out a low chuckle.] Come on brother. We materialized here and can do the same right back to the manse. This fucker has to walk his ass home on the streets of Caldwell.

[Rhage quickly makes his way over to me. He eyes the shifter then leans in to whisper. “You know I don’t have underwear on man.” Snorting as I start to remove my jacket] I don’t either but come on man everyone in the manse has seen your naked ass. Now give Hadrian your pants. [Giving an evil laugh as I toss the leather coat over to the shifter. This was going to be a good one that I couldn’t wait to tell the Brothers about.

My head turns to watch as Rhage tries to take his leathers off without anyone catching a glimpse of his junk. The male covered his frontal region with one hand as he tossed the pants at Hadrian with his other. I couldn’t help but laugh through the whole thing. Especially when the Brother almost tripped himself taking off his clothes. This was what I needed. Not to be in my head so much. And for that I was grateful for meeting Hadrian that one night. Who knew that he would become a friend.]

Hadrian:

Watching the Brothers debate about which of them was going to dress me was entertaining, but not half as entertaining as the model male trying to subtly slip out of his leathers and pass them over.

Not sure what he was worried about. The male had ‘nothing’ to be ashamed of, in any stretch of the imagination. As he shuffled back from us, I pulled on the leathers with a grin, giving the male a chance to make his excuses and GTFO if he wanted. Which I’m pretty sure he did.

Looking to Zsadist, my smile dipped slightly as I took a step toward him.

“Hey… if you want to talk, m’ fine with listening, y’know? N’ if not… the Beasts are always up for a cuddle.”

No judgment, no critique - no bullshit stereotypes on the definitions of ‘masculinity’ either. This male was a straight up warrior, and if he wanted to take a nap against a Tiger or a Leopard as it purred, he damn well fucking would.

“I know I haven’t known you long… but I can smell that something is twisting you up. That back there?” I gestured toward the mats, never taking my eyes from his. “It wasn’t who I met. But if he needs to come out once in a while to throw down… I’m available. I heal. If you need it.”

An odd thing to offer, but a part of me knew where the male was standing, what he was going through, and the worst thing about being in the dark was having no one to shine a light.

Zsadist:

[When Rhage dematerialized, I focused my attention on Hadrian. I’ve only ever talked to my Brother’s mate Mary before. And even then I didn’t give her all the details of my life and the shit I dealt with. Could I talk to Hadrian about that? Maybe in a different form. Which reminds me.]

So you can turn into a leopard and a tiger? [Lips twitch.] Something tells me there is a lot more to you…[Shaking my head as I scrub a hand over my skull trim.] As for me...just been a weird week. Things were going so well and then it was like I was reminded of who I am. Of how people see me and should see me. [Lifts shoulders slightly.]

So the demons won. Though you made them quiet tonight and I thank you for that. Pretty cool that my Brother got to witness that as well. Except for the part of me breaking your arm. [Wincing at the thought of that. It’s like I could still hear that snapping sound in my head. Fuck. This male deserved a better friend than me. Then again maybe he’s been through some shit too and isn’t one to run from people who were misunderstood. Though sometimes I wondered if that was the case for me. My eyes lifted to the shifter’s.]

Hadrian...I don’t know why you entered my life but I’m sure glad you did. I think you are going to be a great addition to the team. [My eyes flickered to his arm. I had to keep checking to make sure he was alright. Slowly I head for the door, opening it up.] And I’m totally a cat person. But if you tell anyone I’ll kill ya. [Smirks as I let him in on that fact before I wave a hand for him to exit. Needing to lock up once Hadrian was gone before I can dematz myself.]

Hadrian:

“Mmm, you noticed that huh?” I muttered ruefully, shaking my head. “Yeah. I have… a few aces up my sleeve. Tiger. Leopard. Maybe more,” I admit, looking away. “It’s one of the reasons I’ve tried so hard to stay away from other vampires. There… there aren’t a lot of shifters like me. I’m a freak amongst freaks,” I managed, my tone light as I shrugged.

Listening to the male gloss over whatever had triggered him, I nonetheless frowned and turned my gaze back to him. Without thinking about it, I reached out to clasp his shoulder, even as we moved toward the door.

“If you need my cats, we’re here for you. But Zsadist…” I paused, considering my words with care. “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. I don’t know what someone did to make you think you’re… ‘less than’ anyone or anything, but you’re not,” I said simply, trying to meet those golden eyes as we paused at the door. “You’ve survived more than most people would be willing to endure. You’re a warrior that protects people. You’ve earned any good thing you have. And fuck anybody that would make you think otherwise,” I murmur. “Remember that. Remember that you are more than old wounds or past nightmares.”

I squeezed his shoulder again, needing him to feel it, to hear every word outta my mouth and that it was true. Because we all had demons, but the measure of a person wasn’t in the demons they had, but how they fought them. And the male had proven he was a fighter.

Zsadist:

[When the male’s hand landed on my shoulder I didn’t stiffen. His embrace is what had me hanging on tonight. Kept me from jumping off the edge. His words bring some light into my eyes. Wondering if he enjoyed literature just as much as me. Not that I was going to admit that I knew that Eleanor Roosevelt said some of his words. The male had a lot of tricks up his sleeves. My hand slowly lifts to land on his arm. Giving it a nice squeeze as my eyes search his own.]

You...are not a freak Hadrian. And believe me, I know a thing or two about being a freak. [Snorts loudly then looks down at my shitkickers.] Sometimes though I get to this place where I feel like…[Pauses as I struggle to find my words. I knew what I wanted to say though. That I thought things might go different for me. That maybe someone saw something in me like my Brother’s mates did in them. Though I should know by now that it wasn’t in my cards. So why did I think anything would ever be different? Realizing that I got way too lost in my own thoughts and left the male hanging.]

I ah...I don’t know what I feel. Feelings are not my thing. Hell...I was raised into slavery so why the fuck would I know how to do anything right. [My brows draw in and I quickly dropped my hand from his arm and opens the door. Waiting for him to walk right on out. I needed to get back to the mansion. Though the thought of going to bed sounded fucking terrible to me when I knew nightmares would come. When the shifter steps out, I pull the door shut and punches in the code that Vishous provided me with to lock up. Blowing out a breath as I felt him linger. Like he couldn’t leave me until he knew I was somewhat okay. Who was this male? My lips twitch as I eye him.]

Thank you. For being you. I know I’m not the easiest person to be around, but...even then you don’t see…[Waves my hand over my scarred face.] All of this. You see other things and that is more than I can say for others. Now…[Snorts and scrubs a hand over my nape.] Get out of here and I’ll see you soon for another session. One that doesn’t involve me breaking any of your bones. Well...unless you ask nicely. [Smirks wide, flashing my fangs as I dematerialize into the night.]

#sls #black dagger brotherhood

12 notes · View notes

vivintsmarthousesecurity · 4 years

Text

Vivint Home Security System

We ordered the Fundamental security system1 from Vivint that included a SkyControl Panel, security sensors, a Kwikset wise lock, a video doorbell, smoke and CO monitors plus an indoor cam. Later on, we added the Vivint Outdoor Camera Pro to our system, which we likewise information listed below. Vivint SkyControl PanelThe SkyControl Panel is the touchscreen command center of our entire Vivint security system.

On top of that, the SkyControl Panel is where we could arm and deactivate our security system, press a panic button to get in touch with the monitoring teams, and even see cloud storage. Although we installed our SkyControl Panel to the wall, it can likewise be utilized as a standalone item.

Wireless, the sensors connected to, you thought it, our SkyControl Panel so we got signaled when they went off, along with the tracking team. Vivint Ping Indoor CameraNow, if you haven't figured it out yet, we're sort of compulsive about security cameras, so naturally, we were very excited to check out Vivint's Ping Indoor Camera.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AI0WRFxwFTw

Vivint Indoor Camera Video DisplayThe infrared LED sensors enabled us to see plainly in the evening, plus, as we pointed out in the past, we had the ability to speak to our guests through two-way audio. Vivint Indoor Web Cam Night VisionAlthough we didn't have any intrusions throughout testing, fortunately, we did use the two-way audio to inform other household members when dinner was prepared, which was much more civilized than yelling like regular.

Like Good Technology The Experience Is Magical

Rather, we needed to pay $5 a month for 2 week of cloud storage, all divided into 30-second clips. However, there was another choice if you want constant recording for 1 month, namely, Vivint Smart Drive, which costs $249. This was a bit costly, so we adhered to those clips.

So while it might not be the very best option for someone with animals, we were still total satisfied with Vivint's indoor cam, specifically in regards to video, audio and night vision. Vivint Outdoor Electronic camera ProNot to overemphasize anything, however Vivint's new outdoor camera is among the most remarkable models that we have actually ever evaluated out.

Yes, it has that clear, 1080p HD display screen that we liked in the indoor electronic camera, but on top of that, it also has 4K sensing units, which suggests two times as lots of pixels as 1080p HD.Vivint Outdoor Cam Day VisionIt likewise has HDR, which aided with light distortion outside. Include a good, 140-degree field of vision and the ability to zoom in 3 times in HD and 10 times digitally, and the electronic camera's video was more than clear enough.

Again, we stuck to the $5 a month plan rather than paying out $249 for the Vivint Smart Drive. Vivint Outdoor Webcam Pro Night VisionBut without a doubt the finest feature of the Vivint Outdoor Video Camera Pro was the synthetic intelligence. Unlike the indoor cam, the outside cam might distinguish in between people and other moving objects, indicating we only got notified when it detected an individual.

Additional Drawback

This was a bit much, specifically when our mail was delivered, but absolutely good for our outdoor security. Remember that the siren goes all the method approximately 85 decibels, about as loud as a snowblower, so the entire neighborhood could get included. In truth, a few of our next-door neighbors told us that they could hear it from inside their houses!On the other side, one drawback of the Vivint Outdoor Electronic Camera Pro was the reality that it needed to be plugged in.

However, once we got the correct extension cord, it didn't wind up being an issue. Overall, we're more than pleased with the Vivint Outdoor Cam Pro, although it's pretty expensive at $399. Nevertheless, this is the precise very same rate as the Nest Web Cam IQ Outdoor, which has very similar functions, so essentially, you pay for what you get.

Vivint's water resistant doorbell cam, which operates in temperature levels from 14 to 104 degrees Fahrenheit, retails for $249.99. This was definitely a bit expensive compared to the market average of around $190, especially when we saw that the cam's video display was only 720p HD, not 1080p HD. When you think about the fact that something like the Ring Video Doorbell 2 expenses $169 and has 1080p HD video, the Vivint Doorbell Cam seems a lot more costly, however it does have person detection, which the Ring Video Doorbell 2 lacks.

We didn't get notified when every automobile passed or every squirrel ran by; rather, just when people were at our door, and as soon as we got alerted, it was fun to speak with them through two-way audio. Although the video quality wasn't as clear as we would've liked, the 180-degree field of vision gave us the best possible picture of our front backyard, which we valued.

Vivint Smart Home Security Review App

Vivint Doorbell Video Camera Night VisionWhile the Vivint Doorbell Camera can be hardwired or battery-operated, we chose to hardwire it to our existing doorbell setup, however for those that desire wireless, the battery life is three to 5 years. Keep in mind that Vivint simply brought out a Doorbell Electronic Camera Pro, which repaired a lot of the issues that we had with the original.

It's completely cordless, and it even has detection for packages as well as people!Kwikset DeadboltIt's 2020; are you still getting locked out of your house? With a wise lock, we do not have to stress over that any longer. Vivint gave us a smart lock from Kwikset which we might either control from another location through the app or open by means of a numerical code, which was terrific the one time we left our secrets at the office.

And even though the lock is made by a 3rd celebration, we had enjoyable linking it to other Web of Things devices and creating automated actions. For us, that implied having the doors unlock when the smoke alarm went off, which brings us to our next point Don't leave a key under that mat.

Vivint also provided us a WiFi-connected smoke detector so that we 'd look out if it went off, even when we weren't house. It safeguarded a 35-foot radius, had an 85-decibel siren and a five-year battery life, and in our experience, it worked well, alerting us as soon as we burnt our popcorn (which is too simple to do, by the method).

Our Recommendation

Vivint deals an almost similar detector, other than that it spots carbon monoxide and not smoke. While we didn't in fact release hazardous levels of CO into the air (as it can be deadly if you consume enough of it), we were impressed that the detector is currently connected with other linked gadgets.

Basically, the CO detector does more than beep!Finally, Vivint offers a water sensor that prevents leakages, which we placed near our cleaning device (although it can be anywhere that leaks can take place). The water sensor is likewise wireless and has a battery life of three to 6 years. And that's it for Vivint's parts!.

" Don't DIY your smart-home security system-- the pros at Vivint are totally worth the expense" Dead-simple to run Feature-rich Highly adjustable High-quality video Impressive customer care Costly to get begun Some power cables need to be hidden with tracks Vivint has come a long method given that it presented its doorbell camera in 2015.

The difference, as I've experienced first-hand, boils down to the service experience. Frankly, I never thought I would need a security system. I grew up method out in the sticks of central Texas where it was prevalent to leave the front door opened all day. Call it willful lack of knowledge if you desire, but I've constantly been resistant to the idea that I ought to need to spend for security monitoring services.

The Research

It was then that I installed an Amazon Cloud Camera and got cozy with the comfort paid for by access to video of my home, on-demand, for a modest cost. After being struck by patio pirates who took valuable products a number of times last year, I started to wish for more security and peace of mind.

I quickly learned that a person Amazon Cloud Camera wasn't going to suffice. Bitten by the clever home security bug, I desired more security: Smart locks, voice control, door sensing units, window sensors, and cameras with night vision. When Vivint came along and offered to set up an extensive wise home security system for evaluation with the alternative to either eliminate the system later or leave it in location for follow-up reviews, I immediately concurred.

Vivint isn't the most cost effective wise house security option (you get a personalized quote based upon your requirements), however their service and app experience are exceptional. Through my experience with their system, I have actually found out both of those aspects are definitely crucial. Vivint outfitted my home with a doorbell electronic camera, one indoor electronic camera, three outside cams (all with night vision), 2 Kwikset SmartCode deadbolt locks, three door sensing units, 10 window sensing units, one interior movement sensor, two glass-break sensors, two smoke alarm, a flood/heat/cold sensor, and a touchscreen control panel.

The point here is that Vivint systems are created to supply smart house convenience along with security, and systems can be scaled from modest to almost obscenely fancy. Vivint expertly installs its systems for a flat fee of $99. I was seriously impressed at how quickly the two-person group managed to set up and set up my system.

Why We Recommend The Vivint Smart Home Service Monitoring Plan

All sensing units and door locks are battery-operated and communicate through Wi-Fi. Following their installation, the crew helped my housemate and I with personalizing the system and strolled us through its operation from top to bottom. vivint smart home security system. When they left, we knew precisely how to adjust all factory settings and make personalizations of our own, either from the touchscreen control board or Vivint's mobile app.

The crew left no mess of any sort. When they were gone, the only evidence of them having actually existed was a well-installed system. Vivint's systems aren't totally cordless all 3 video cameras plus the control board must be plugged into wall outlets for power. Vivint utilizes that plug-in point wisely, however, by making use of a house's electrical system for data in lieu of miles of ethernet cables.

The result is a stealthy system that avoids calling attention to itself. Power wires run through your home were neat, if not undetectable. If there's any barrier to entry with a Vivint wise security system, it's the initial cost. Vivint utilizes high quality components, therefore system constructs can get expensive in a rush.

If that's not of interest, the system will save 30-second video clips from any electronic camera for approximately 14-days as part of the service strategy explained listed below. These clips are activated by motion sensing units and other "notifies," and should be plenty for most users. The on-going service strategy is much more palatable.

Related Reviews

If you have a problem with your system's operation, it's most likely going to occur in the very first few months, and Vivint will look after it. If there's an issue with hardware, like a damaged cam, that will also likely happen early on if it will occur at all and Vivint will take care of that too.

Step up to Smart Home and the cost increases to $40/month. Add the Smart Home Video storage, and you're up to $50/month no contract required. If you're the sort who likes voice assistants, Vivint's system works with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant gadgets. To put that in viewpoint, Comcast charges about the same month-to-month tracking fee for its Xfinity security systems, with a $30 contract rate for the first two years, bumping to $40 afterward.

We'll let you take that as you will. Is Vivint much better than ADT? Though I've not had recent experience with ADT, I will say that it's hard to envision being more happy that I have with Vivint's service. Because service and price are essential factors to consider, I'm inclined to motivate those with the means to pursue Vivint as their choice.

1 note · View note

raywritesthings · 5 years

Text

What Have They Lost? 4/?

My Writing Fandom: Arrow, The Flash Characters: Laurel Lance, Oliver Queen, Thea Queen, Barbara Gordon, Barry Allen, Wally West, Bruce Wayne, Tommy Merlyn Pairings: Barry Allen/Iris West, Laurel Lance/Oliver Queen, Pamela Isley/Harleen Quinzel Summary: “I can definitely tell you that there’s a way we’re going to bring [Laurel] back and she’s going to be alive and well. And Flashpoint might have a little bit to do with that.“ -Wendy Mericle AKA: The AU where that wasn’t a blatant lie, and Flashpoint has bigger repercussions for Barry’s friends and allies than he first realized. *Can be read on my AO3, link is in my bio*

After the weird encounter with a man named Barry and seeing Dinah from Birds of Prey in one night, Mia’s life had gone back to depressingly normal. How was that fair?

She’d thought about sharing the discovery she’d made about Larry online, but then who would really believe her? And pop stars had to have lawyers and stuff looking out for their image. She really couldn’t afford getting sued.

A part of her still didn’t believe it anyway. How could someone so cool like Dinah have such a schlub for a father? But then again, nobody knew her past.

Mia has always kind of assumed — or maybe hoped — that her idol was a kid from the system, like her. No parents, no roots, free to do as they pleased for good or ill. More ill in her case, as it had turned out so far.

It was another long night of pouring shots and drying glasses. The nights all seemed to blur together after a while, unless something extraordinary happened.

And then something did. “I’m gonna take my fifteen,” she called out, not really waiting for a response. Mia tossed her apron aside and walked to the door, only vaguely noticing the guy who stood from one of the two-seater booths to do so as well.

She did notice when he followed her around the corner. “Hey, buddy, this is kind of the unofficial employee-only section, so if you could—” The rest of her words died in her throat once she’d turned towards him.

Because it was Oliver Queen.

“Yeah, sorry,” he was saying, his eyes jumping all over her appearance. “I just wanted to ask you when your shift ends.”

Mia raised both eyebrows. She’d heard he was some kind of player back in the day, but seriously? “Don’t you think I’m a little young for you?”

His jaw dropped. “No! No, that’s not what I — I promise, this is not a come-on. I just...we need to talk, about something important.”

This was so weird. That Barry guy had asked her what she knew about Oliver Queen, and less than a week out he turned up looking for her?

“I’m here for another four,” she said, breaking every rule of how to interact with male customers, but this one was famous so it wasn’t like he could get away with too much.

“Okay,” he said. There was a spark in his eye, like the prospect of getting to talk to her more was something to be happy about. He was about the only one who’d ever thought so.

“Yeah, so can you let me have the last of my break?”

“Right. Yeah, I can do that.” He retreated back inside.

Mia shook her head. What was even going on anymore?

Four hours later, he was still at his booth. She sighed, throwing herself down into the empty seat across from him.

“Okay, what’s this about?”

“Did you want to talk here? We could go somewhere else.”

“I’m not going somewhere with you. Stranger danger and all that.”

“Right,” he said with a wince. “That’s good. That’s smart.” He scrubbed at his goatee. “So that’s probably where we should start. Uh, recently I learned that you and I — we’re not exactly strangers.”

“Aren’t we?”

“Well, in a way. The thing is...I’m your half-brother,” he told her.

Now it was her turn for her jaw to drop.

“On my mother’s side,” he added, like he thought that was helpful.

Thea placed her head in her hands. “Okay, really, what’s the joke? Is it the last names thing? Cause that guy was in earlier—”

“What guy? Barry?”

“Wait, you know him?”

“He’s my friend. He’s the one who told me.”

Mia sat back. “What do you mean? Why would he know?”

“That’s kind of complicated. But we can talk about that, too. I...gosh, there’s so much to talk about.” He said gosh. Who even said gosh anymore?

Her shock was starting to give way, however, and Mia found herself narrowing her eyes. “Why?”

“What?”

“Why do we have anything to talk about? For over twenty years, you couldn’t be bothered to even notice my existence. Now because some guy says we’re related, you’re suddenly interested?”

He was stunned speechless for a few moments. “Mia, I- I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

“Right, because our mom — your mom — didn’t tell you. Because she didn’t want me.”

“I’m not sure why she sent you to the orphanage. But she kept an eye on you, made payments—”

“Oh, because that makes everything better?” Mia said with a nasty laugh. A couple people glanced over their way, but she paid them little mind. “Trust a Queen to think that money solves all problems!”

“That’s not what I meant. I’m still trying to figure everything out, I just wanted—”

“Screw what you want, alright? I’ve survived my whole life without a family. I don’t need you swooping in to force me to be yours.” Mia stood and stormed out of the bar.

“Mia!” He called after her, but she didn’t stop and he didn’t follow.

What did he expect? That she’d move in with him and his bastard kid, they could forget everything that had come before and sing kumbaya? If what he said was true, she’d had parents, and they’d willingly given her away. Not out of some kind of necessity, not because they couldn’t afford it, but because they hadn’t wanted her. She’d long ago given up wondering what her family might have been like, but the reality was worse than anything she’d ever imagined.

Mia stopped and let herself lean against a wall, willing her eyes to just stop stinging already. She’d promised to stop feeling sorry for herself.

“Well, that wasn’t very nice of him.”

Mia stiffened at the unfamiliar voice and looked up. Standing across from her was a man with dark hair and a beard. He looked about the same age as Oliver Queen and even richer in his expensive suit. Mia sighed. She so did not want to deal with this.

“Sorry, I couldn’t help noticing what was going on back there. It was Mia, right?”

“What do you want?” She huffed. “You about to tell me you’re my secret brother, too?”

He smiled, but there was something off about it. It didn’t reach his eyes.

“Funny you should mention that.”

---

Dinah looked at the street down below and gulped. “Why’d I let you guys talk me into this?”

“Hey, you’ll be fine. Think of it like stage-diving.” She was used to earpieces on stage, but it usually wasn’t Babs’ voice in her ear. It hadn’t surprised her in the least Ted had a working pair of comm links, though.

“I am not jumping from this high. Not without a wire, at least. Just...getting a feel for things. Lay of the land.” It sounded unconvincing to her own ears. Dinah scowled at herself and reached to tug on the material resting around her eyes.

“Stop picking at the mask.”

“What makes you think I’m doing that?”

“Because I can see you through the security cam mounted on the high rise across from you.”

Dinah made a face in the high rise’s direction.

“Cute.”

“I try. Look, Babs—”

“No names on the comm. We use code.”

She rolled her eyes. “Alright, Bat-ling.”

“Please don’t call me that.”

“Well, what do you want to be called? Lady Bat? Batgirl?”

“I’m kind of thinking of making up my own thing. You know, since this is just us.”

Dinah felt herself smile. “Alright. Just let me know once you have something.”

“Sure thing. You start thinking about one, too.”

“Yeah,” Dinah sighed. It wasn’t like she wasn’t used to rebranding. From Laurel to Dinah, after all.

She’d been hearing the name she’d gone by in childhood a lot, recently. Visits to her dad tended to do that, but she could’ve sworn that one camera guy from the Central City publication had nearly called her it the other week. Maybe she’d imagined it, or maybe it had just been a herald of the strange turn her life was about to take.

Her eyes caught shapes moving down on the street below, and she quickly went to the fire escape and slid down the railing partway.

A few young men were giving chase to another of their group, yelling epithets as they went.

“You’re a dead man!”

“You think you can walk away? You think it’s that easy, huh?”

“Maybe not a damsel in distress situation, but one less murder’s always a good thing,” Dinah muttered to herself. She continued down to the ground level, doing her best to blend in with the shadows as she tracked the men to an alley.

“There’s nowhere to run!”

“Come on, guys, I don’t want a part of this anymore! I gave you my cut!”

“We said at the start, all in. That was the deal. And you gave us barely half!”

“I had bills, man! I can get you the rest later!”

Dinah cleared her throat. She’d heard plenty to get the gist. “Boys?”

The ones cornering their former friend turned, looking her up and down in clear confusion. Aside from the mask, she supposed she didn’t look much like a vigilante; Ted was working on getting something a little more durable made for her, but for now Dinah was in her jacket, a navy tank top and a set of her workout leggings. She was working on a limited wardrobe here since she didn’t exactly want anyone recognizing her outfit. Instagram was terrible for going unnoticed.

These guys were probably also expecting a big man in green, she reflected on a moment later.

“Who the hell are you?”

Damn, she hadn’t expected to need a name already. Was she supposed to tell people her codename? How did that even work?

“A concerned citizen?”

They scoffed at her. Dinah hadn’t had anyone scoff to her face in a long time, outside of the band anyway. It was kind of refreshing.

“We’re just settling a score here, lady. Nothing to get ‘concerned’ about.”

“Settling it physically?”

“What exactly is your plan here?” Babs asked in her ear. Dinah ignored her, mostly since she didn’t feel like looking crazy talking to the air.

One of the men looked about fed up. “Yeah, physically.”

“Okay, just wanted to confirm.” They’d admitted to trying to commit a crime, right? That gave her due cause or something. She stepped forward and grabbed the arm of the man closest to her, whirling him around and throwing him towards a dumpster behind her.

“What the fuck?”

“Get her!”

She ducked a fist that came careening at her and tripped the guy it was attached to. With her planted foot, she pivoted to send a kick to his rear end.

A third man grabbed her elbow, and Dinah pushed instead of pulled, jabbing him in the chest and sending him sprawling into his back.

They weren’t exactly hardened thugs, it turned out. Dinah glanced around at the three of them groaning on the ground. Her blood was pumping and she was fully in the zone, but here they were just...lying there. “Figures. No stamina,” she grumbled under her breath.

Dinah started to leave when the young man she’d been defending called out, “Um, thank you.”

“Some free advice? Turn yourself over to the cops. They can get you protection I’m not able to provide 24/7.” Dinah turned, marching over the fallen man in her path. “What did you think?”

“Couldn’t see much,” Barbara told her. “But not bad. Want to take on something a bit more challenging?”

“Why not? Night’s still young.” And she doubted this was the only crime or almost-crime happening in the whole city. Though that caused a thought. “So where do you think Green Arrow is?”

“Who knows? Why, you want to meet him?”

“I dunno. We’re in the same neighborhood and all, he might get nervous I’m on his turf.”

“And you’re worried about that?”

Dinah smirked. “Worried? No, that’s the fun part.”

Barbara’s laughter filled her ear, and Dinah picked up her step.

---

Bruce was a very busy man. Even if he didn’t have a secret night job, he would likely be considered a busy man. A ridiculous notion; CEOs tended to delegate more than anything. Nevertheless, running Wayne Enterprises was only one in a very long list of tasks he had to complete each day to ensure his city stayed afloat.

Which was why he didn’t appreciate when others came asking for his help in their own cities unannounced. Particularly when said others bypassed all his security measures.

Alfred tsked whenever he wore the cowl in the cave, but it was necessary for times such as these when two speedsters zipped right into being.

“Woah,” the older of the two said, looking around the cavernous space.

Bruce hit a button on the console which locked the door to the upstairs from the inside to ensure Alfred didn’t accidentally arrive in the middle of whatever this was.

The younger one nudged his mentor, who gave a start. “Oh, right! Uh, Batman.”

“Yes?”

“We wanted to ask if you could run a background check for a case we’re working?” Allen probably didn’t realize how much his easy parlance with law enforcement terminology gave away about his identity, but Bruce wasn’t going to point it out to him.

Especially when he could tell the man was hiding something. “What’s this really about?”

“What do you mean?” Flash asked, as if a desperate attempt at casual was going to smooth everything over.

“You’re acting like you’ve never seen this place or me before.”

“That’s...because I haven’t.”

Bruce worked to keep any surprise off his face. If Flash was out of step with the rest of their reality, there was only one logical explanation. “Time travel.”

The speedster gaped. “How did you—”

His sidekick, West under the mask, raised both hands. “Don’t look at me. We’ve never told him about the time travel.”

Bruce rolled his eyes. “You both are capable of reaching speeds that break the sound barrier and beyond. It’s a logical assumption that should you achieve a velocity higher than the speed of light, it would allow you to transcend the normal barriers of linear time as well.” Not that he liked it, but that was a discussion for another day.

“Okay. Well, yes, there was time travel involved. It’s better for the universe if I don’t say much more.”

“Then why did you come here?”

Flash blinked. It seemed he was once again unused to Bruce’s gruffness. “Well, Kid Flash said you call yourself a detective?”

Bruce frowned. “Others do.”

“I need your help finding out information about a woman. She’s a meta, potentially dangerous or potentially not. I need to know more about her.”

“What do you already have? A name?”

“Dinah Laurel Lance, born um...1985!” Said Flash, as though he’d just recalled it.

Bruce turned to his computer and started to type. He could sense the speedsters shifting restlessly on their feet behind him as he did so but pushed that minor irritation to the back of his mind.

“Dinah Laurel Lance, as you say, born in 1985. Her father gained sole custody of her when she was about seven years old but lost it in another year due to his alcoholism making him an unfit parent. She was sent into the foster care system. No record of adoption.”

“Oh man,” West murmured. Sympathy, likely from his own history with a parent embroiled in addiction.

“Any, uh, criminal record?” Allen asked, his nerves plain even behind the mask.

Bruce narrowed his eyes but scanned through the documents.

“Some records indicate a tendency to get into fights, but nothing beyond juvenile censure. What was she doing when you came across her?”

“That’s the thing, I really don’t know. She might have been helping a woman, but then she might have been trying to hurt some guys just for the heck of it. It’s...she’s complicated. But she was definitely born here?”

“She was born in Starling City.”

Allen shook his head. “Right, never mind.”

Bruce grit his teeth. He wasn’t being told something still.

“Thanks for the help.” The speedsters were both gone in an eye blink, leaving him alone once more.

Bruce frowned as he looked over the information. He could see why Flash had needed help; her records for the most part seemed to stop several years ago. But then, if he was right…

Dinah, the singer. They were the same woman. And Barbara Gordon was involved with this woman, a member of her band after leaving Gotham. A metahuman with powers he still didn’t know what were capable of doing.

If this Dinah was dangerous like Flash was fearing, and Barbara thought this was her in to the sort of life he’d tried to shield her from for Jim’s sake…

He was going to have to keep his eyes on this one.

#lauriver #laurel x oliver #laurel lance #oliver queen #arrow #the flash #dcu #thea queen #bruce wayne #green arrow #black canary #barbara gordon #my writing

2 notes · View notes