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cheri-translates · 2 years

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[CN] Season 2 Summary (Volume 8: Ch 26 - 29)

🍒 Warning: This post contains detailed spoilers from S2 🍒

This is an official feature called “Plot Review” which contains bullet-point summaries of S2 chapters~

Volume 7 Summary: here

[ CHAPTER 26 ]

Jolting awake, you find yourself in a bizarre and strange place with Victor. Your final memory before you lost your consciousness was a black vortex about to swallow Victor in the BS building. He tells you that this place has a certain crack in time. While the both of you think of how to leave, Time Observer Zero appears. He takes the both of you to the Space and Time Administration. You discover that Victor seems to have known the Time Observer since a very long time ago. The other party claims that Victor had dealt with the BS explosion incident which they were supposed to correct. Zero remains vague about the vortex, only mentioning that there’s a “price to pay”

Zero does something to Victor’s pocket watch to prevent the vortex from finding him. However, the precondition is that he can’t use Evol. Victor talks to Zero in private

Victor rejects the invitation to join the Space and Time Administration

Zero says that he will erase the memories of those who witnessed the explosion in order to return everything to its original state. Victor requests for your memories to be erased as well

When Victor returns, he sees that you’re feeling slightly uneasy, and he comforts you

“Believe that I’ll stand in front of you from beginning to end, and that’s enough.”

Tossing aside your doubts temporarily, your return to Loveland City with him

When you wake up at home, three days have passed. However, your memories remain stuck at the meeting three days ago when Victor chased you out of BS. At present, the news reports about how the STF has cracked the Radiation Incident, and is currently looking into the mastermind. When you arrive at LFG to “interrogate” Victor about his reason for kicking you out of BS, he tells you that there are some things he needs you to do. He gives you a document related to rebuilding Loveland City, and the person-in-charge is Leto

You express your doubts regarding this proposal. Victor says that LFG has taken up the rebuilding of a mountain village. Three days later, he will meet the person from Fulcrum Charity Foundation who owns the land. You will be there as a notetaker

In the morning, you, Victor and Goldman head to the mountain village which is near a cliff. However, the person responsible for the Charity Foundation is ill and unable to come. Being one of the Hunter Game locations with the highest casualty rates, this mountain village is filled with horrifying traces of blood. There are also occasional “ghostly shadows”. After a thrilling investigation, the both of you realise that an Evolver has been causing such trouble in secret

The both of you decide to get to the bottom of these strange occurrences. Goldman has been behaving oddly too. In order to send Goldman away, Victor tells you to investigate a slightly abnormal room. However, you hear noises from their location. When you hurry over, you see Goldman pressing Victor against the side of the balcony. Victor figures out a way to free himself

“Did you really think that you’d be the winner?”

It turns out that Goldman had his body swapped. During the battle, you save Victor’s pocket watch before it falls off the cliff. Victor smoothly handles “Goldman”

Defeated, “Goldman” tells the truth - he’s been working with the “ghostly shadows” to scare off visitors and find Evolvers with time and space-related Evols to turn back time on the mountain village in order to rescue a benefactor. He was rejected again and again, until he obtained the ability to swap bodies after coming across a black box

Victor declines the request to turn back time

“This strength will be reserved for someone important to me.”

The renovation works on the mountain villa are completed very soon after

Victor has to attend the opening ceremony, and predicts that there would be disruptions that night. Sure enough, the both of you face an attack in the office. During a dangerous moment, a helicopter that Victor prepared in secret appears. Despite your lives hanging by a thread, he remains calm

“It’d have more of an effect if I were to die in the public eye.”

During the opening ceremony, you receive news that someone has hidden a bomb. You divert the guests at the venue, using the fireworks performance that Victor planned to cover the sound of explosions, resolving the crisis perfectly

The next day, Victor tells you that the box which can turn ordinary people into Evolvers seems fishy, and asks you to join Gray Rhino and investigate this

You locate Duwen and exchange some information from Victor with him, in the hopes that he’d recommend you to the chairman of Gray Rhino

In the morning, you receive Duwen’s phone call. He says that he needs you to meet those from Gray Rhino personally in order to join them. The location of the meeting has been fixed at the teahouse where you met Duwen previously. You meet Liu Mou - the deputy chairman of Gray Rhino. He requests that you undergo a test to dispel the doubts Gray Rhino have about you. The test is to get rid of Shaw! While you hesitantly give Shaw a call to tell him that you’re seeking to give him trouble, the door is kicked open. The new arrival is Shaw

Those from Gray Rhino flee in the chaos, leaving you and a frail youth called “Little Stutterer” behind. In order to pass Gray Rhino’s test, you pretend to fall out with Shaw. Fortunately, he’s able to catch your drift, and decides to cooperate in this performance with you in order to obtain mutual benefits. Shaw pretends to “defeat” you, and ties you and Little Stutterer up

“From now onwards, I’ve abducted the both of you.”

He “interrogates” you about everything relating to Gray Rhino, and you act vehemently uncooperative, wanting to gain the trust of Gray Rhino

During an interval of time when Shaw isn’t around, you learn from Little Stutterer that he was once bullied by Evolvers. In order to encourage him as well as put on an act for Gray Rhino, you hatch a plan to defeat Shaw

“It’s enough that you got handsy. You’re using your mouth too?”

In the end, you “subdue” Shaw. After confirming that he’s safe and clear-headed, you send him to Gray Rhino, passing their test

[ CHAPTER 27 ]

In a certain hospital in Loveland City, a few men claiming to be from George Company visit a patient with the surname “Zhou” in Ward 1409. At the same time, Kiro learns about everything in Mondlicht Bar through a surveillance footage

After this, he hacks into a secret system, his gaze stopping on the name of an experiment participant: Gavin

Kiro shuts the computer, walking out of the room and giving a cold greeting to Mr Dreyer

After leaving the teahouse, you find a mechanical box in a corner of the street while collecting materials for work. You think of bringing it back to study it, but are suddenly attacked. Before losing consciousness, you unconsciously call Kiro’s number. When you rewaken, he’s already by your side

While talking to him, you learn that you’re in Mondlicht bar. From a video in your phone which recorded the entire process of your attack, you learn, to your surprise, that the other party was a middle-aged woman, and that you find her vaguely familiar. Kiro says that he’d investigate this fully, and tells you to get proper rest

At this point, you recall that he said he was undergoing isolated treatment. From the looks of it, he seems to have been lying to you. He explains himself, and introduces you to the professional medical team. You don’t probe further, but remain doubtful

Two days later, you receive an invitation to collaborate with the City Hall Publicity Office to produce an episode for Miracle Finder related to Evolvers. You sternly reject their suggestion for Kiro to participate in the filming, not wanting any public discourse to disturb him

When you hear Kiro’s agonised cries one day, you realise that the treatment process isn’t going as easily as he described

Knowing full well that he doesn’t want you to worry, you pretend that nothing happened. Since then, you visit him every day after work. After sensing his pain from behind opaque glass, you return to the main hall, waiting for Kiro to meet you cheerfully

You receive a phone call from Leto, the person-in-charge for the projecting involving rebuilding Loveland City. You once again reject the suggestion for Kiro to participate in the filming

After you leave the bar, the boss tells Kiro that the people who want to capture him have been to City Hall, and that he has already been exposed

On this day, you arrive at Mondlicht Bar. This time, the glass is transparent, not opaque. You watch as Kiro lies on a surgical bed

In the operating theatre, Dr Dreyer performs his treatment. Although his Evol enables Kiro to regain his hearing, Kiro would not be able to hear once Dr Dreyer dies or loses his Evol

Kiro goes into a slight trance, and a dream he once had surfaces before his eyes. In the dream, he leans close to your ear and speaks to you

“Miss Chips, my ears have recovered. They’ve recovered completely.”

The surgery is successful. Savin has somthing urgent to ask of you, and you have no choice but to rush back to the office. Along the way, Kiro suddenly appears and accepts the suggestion of the Publicity Office. He also tells the both of you that he has recovered completely

“No matter what their goal is, there’s no need to be afraid.”

While preparing for the show, Anna shows you a video clip - a building where you’ve hosted a ball has erupted into flames! You rush to the venue, but find no traces of it being scorched

Disruption after disruption leaves you doubting the show that you’re filming

Kiro, who has also rushed over, notices your thoughts. His questions make you gradually realise that you sometimes lose yourself in your own world. Kiro encourages you, saying that as long as you constantly remind yourself of this, you’ll know what to do

“This is the only way you can grasp the reins for yourself.”

Just as you prepare to head home, Xiao Yue and other members of NW suddenly appear before the both of you. Xiao Yue states that Kiro has been listed as an extremely dangerous member, and tells you to hand him over. You immediately refuse, then hear a noise behind you

“You guys sure took your time.”

After a confrontation, Kiro shoots XIao Yue. He disappears from everyone’s line of sight, akin to the night

[ CHAPTER 28 ]

In an NW office, Xiao Yue and Lucien discuss the recent internal leak of confidential information

They plan to use Lucien as bait to hook the hidden “spy”

After cancelling the earlier Miracle Finder script that you had prepared, you’re struck with a new idea. Feeling uncertain about it, you decide to go for a walk, and find yourself at Lucien’s Bioscience Research Centre

Lucien seems to have been waiting for you for a very long time, and he gives you valuable advice. Confidence returns to your heart once again

You extend an invitation to Lucien to participate in the show, and he accepts happily

A few days later, you meet Lucien at the filming site along with a new filming plan. This is the first hospital which treated Evolvers after the New Year Coup

During the filming, the both of you are suddenly attacked. To prevent the innocent from being roped into this, the both of you quickly leave the filming site. You never expected someone to disrupt the filming

“This is only the beginning. You still have a chance to stop.”

You unhesitatingly reject such a notion, and promise that you’d be more careful next time

Lucien leaves temporarily due to a phone call. Feeling a faint sense of unease, you call him

In the washroom, Lucien returns the blows of a hidden attack while telling you that he simply met with a trivial matter. When he knows that you’re worried that the attacks might expand in scope, he responds:

“Since you’ve decided not to stop, you’ll have to consider the effects of that decision on others.”

After hanging up, Lucien’s expression is cold when he sees two children stepping out of the dark - a boy and a girl of around ten years of age

The “spies” who have been hiding all this time finally make an appearance

The next morning, you come across a viral video clip of Lucien being attacked by Evolvers, and run to Lucien’s home

Seeing that you’re worried, he removes his clothes in front of you to prove that he was never hurt. After this, he does a livestream to clear up the rumours. However, you sense that something’s not quite right. Pulling his clothes, you discover that he’s indeed injured. However, Lucien has no intention of telling you the truth behind it.

For the sake of your safety, he plans to back out of the filming. You reject him without hesitation. No matter how huge the risk is, your determination in persevering with the filming will not waver

Following the plan, you conduct interviews at Coltsfoot Kindergarten, which had once offered a helping hand after the New Year Coup

During a handicraft class, you and Lucien fold two paper cranes and exchange them. The peacefulness within the kindergarten and the words from Granny Zhao, the director of the kindergarten, make you anticipate the wonderful future of Evolvers living in harmony with ordinary people

After the filiming, Lucien has to leave to handle some matters. You can’t help but recall how he was injured before. Just as you’re feeling slightly worried, you realise that you’re being followed. After asking Zehn to deal with this issue, you feel a familiar dizziness. Remembering the repetitive cycle that you’ve experienced with Lucien, you guess that he might be nearby. Following your instincts, you find Lucien in a remote street. He’s coated in blood, drenched in rain, and in a pitiful state

“You shouldn’t be here.”

You advise Lucien to go to the hospital, but he tells you that this was just an act. Someone has already arranged to bring him for treatment. After his persuasion, you decide to leave, but hope that he can tell you once he’s done with the treatment to ease your worries. Lucien chuckles softly and makes this promise

After this, Lucien doesn’t contact you for a while, and you focus on doing what you need to do. You send a sample copy of the show to him.

The next afternoon, you see Lucien at the entrance of the office, who has kept true to his promise. As he bathes in the sunlight, he looks as though he isn’t injured. Before you part ways, he seems to remember something

“I’ve always had the opinion that Evol represents the advancement of this world.”

After a moment of shock, you tell him that you’ll persevere in your own opinions, and will find a path where ordinary people and Evolvers can walk side by side

In the end, you smile at Lucien who stands before you, telling him that you’ll become his best opponent

[ CHAPTER 29 ]

The sample copy of your show gets rejected, and you head over to the Publicity Office

To your surprise, you meet Leto. This is the first time you’re officially meeting him in this re-lived world, and you can’t help but feel wary. In order for the show to be broadcasted successfully, you agree to remove scenes related to the New Year Coup

After the meeting, you answer Eli’s call. He hopes that you can take Gavin out on a “date”

You see Gavin in his office, expending all of his willpower to work

You can sense the immense pressure he’s under due to the malicious incidents that have been occurring, and decide to take him out to relax

The both you visit the memorial plaza. A young man publicly criticises Gavin for neglecting his duties, and waves his fist at him. Gavin doesn’t dodge, and he promises to give everyone an explanation

“I’ll use my life as a guarantee.”

After leaving the plaza, the both of you arrive at a residential area. Amidst the peaceful atmosphere, you suddenly realise that this is simply a facade. What Gavin says concretises a guess that you’ve made - lots of information about attacks in Loveland City have been suppressed

As the face of the STF, Gavin has been working hard silently in order to give the people courage and hope to live

It suddenly occurs to you just how indescribably heavy Gavin’s responsibilities are. He reveals the feelings in his heart to you, telling you that he has many worries

“But I had forgotten that the moment I’m afraid of failure, I’d definitely fail.”

You encourage Gavin, telling him to do what he wants to do courageously

You arrive at the STF to assist with investigating the Evolver who had followed you from before. However, Tang Chao brings you to the training grounds instead. You watch as Gavin and Eli engage in a fight

From their conversation, you learn that the Commander of the STF, who has not been publicly announced, is actually Gavin. You also learn that he had infiltrated the BS Building, as well as his anger and indignation towards the perpetrators not being caught yet

After Eli and the others leave, Gavin brings you to his home and asks you to lock him up. He needs space to think about these things. You buy a wind chime, hoping that it’d keep Gavin company, bringing him some comfort and encouragement

Gavin sits at home for an entire day and night, and feels himself growing lighter and lighter. The sound of the wind chimes pulls him back to reality. He knows that he doesn’t have much time left, and that he might disappear in the next second. Recalling how you dislike people who leave without saying goodbye, he writes you a letter, just as he did in the past

“Give me a little more time.”

In the meantime, you received a call from Gray Rhino. They tell you that someone claimed that he’d be destroying CORE at the memorial plaza that night

You bump into Gavin while heading out, and accept the delayed letter from him personally. He reveals that he will be catching all those people all in one go

You and those from Gray Rhino hide in a dark corner of the memorial plaza, watching a confrontation between Gavin and Dionysus. In order to prevent CORE from ending up in the hands of BS, Gray Rhino decides to attack. The venue erupts into chaos, and you assist Gavin secretly.

You realise that Gavin is also fighting against people from NW, and that he seems to be waiting for a certain opportunity. Finally, there’s a signal flash from afar. Gavin suddenly cleaves the box containing “CORE” into two. At the same time, the entire venue is surrounded by STF agents

You and Gavin finally regroup, and your heart aches when you see how fatigued he appears. He seems to be wanting to tell you something, but all he does is wish you a soft goodnight

“That letter I gave to you in the evening - there’s no need to look at it.”

After parting ways with you, Gavin sits in his car. He feels his vision growing blurry, and knows that he will have to leave soon, which is why he can’t bear to say goodbye to you. Before he gradually disappears, he uses his final shred of strength to tell Eli to bring all the criminals to justice

After returning home, you unfold Gavin’s letter - he has asked you to meet him in the library the next morning

The next day, you wait in the library for a very long time, but Gavin doesn’t appear. When you leave, you feel a gust of wind embracing you. It’s faint and brings with it a familiar scent

Gavin, who seems to have become transparent, lies in a sealed experimental lab, accepting NW’s experiments

Volume 9 (Ch 30-33): here

More S2 content: here

#mlqc #mlqc cn #mlqc spoilers

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makeste · 3 years

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BnHA Chapter 320: Deku vs. Class 1-A

Previously on BnHA: Flashback!Kacchan was all “fuck Deku and fuck his stupid goodbye letters, I need to speak to somebody in charge.” Endeavor was all “hello, I am Somebody In Charge.” Kacchan was all “listen up asshole, you need to let us go out and collect our wayward nerd because you stupidly left him alone with All Might and that’s a fast track to disaster right there.” Endeavor was all, “[self-incriminating silence].” Rat Principal was all, “okay sure, have fun kids.” Back in the present, class 1-A was all “hi Deku” and Deku was all “I’M FINE!!!!!” and Kacchan was all “THAT’S WHAT I THOUGHT YOU’D SAY YOU DUMB FUCKING NERD” and so the kids all got ready to fight, because OF COURSE they’re gonna fight. Sorry guys, but yeah it’s happening.

Today on BnHA: Kacchan is all “what’s up Deku you look like a possessed Rorschach test, so anyway how are the new quirks coming along.” Deku is all “they’re coming along like THIS” and uses Smokescreen to try and get away. Kacchan is all “PHASE ONE COMMENCE”, and Kouda, Sero, Jirou, and Ojiro leap into the fray to shower Deku with heaps of love and violence, because this is a shounen manga and kicking someone’s ass while simultaneously proclaiming your undying admiration for them is just how it’s done in these parts. The KoudaSeroOJirou squad then passes the baton to Satou, Momo, Tokoyami, Kaminari, and Shouji, who are all “fuck this mask” and do a bunch of stuff to tear Deku’s mask off because they’re the real heroes. Shouto is all “LOOK AT THE LITTLE CRYBABY, THAT’S RIGHT, GO AHEAD AND FUCKING CRY and by the way let us share your burden please,” and once again I swear this is all very deeply moving and touching within the actual context. The chapter ends with Tsuyu being all “look at me. I’m the cliffhanger now,” and damn.

lol what

I don’t think anyone was expecting that. I mean, not that I’ve got anything against Tsuyu or anything. anyways it’s a very nice cover and I love the colors and I hope this means Tsuyu’s gonna do something badass

also, “Deku vs Class A” -- pretty much the expected title, but it’s still got me hyped nonetheless fuck yeah let’s go

IIDA ANGST

Iida Tenya really said “fuck the uniform code, we’re leaving the helmet at home today.” sorry kids, prim and proper C-3PO Comic Relief Iida has left the building. can I interest you in some Serious Iida

meanwhile Kacchan is all “sup Deku, I heard you got a few more quirks, and might I just add that you look like the Snyder Cut of Detective Pikachu”

“you look like a tarred and feathered squid” okay easy there Kacchan. I mean it’s all true of course, but still

“thank you all for coming” OH EXCUSE ME SON, WERE YOU PLANNING ON GOING SOMEWHERE. LET’S JUST SEE HOW THAT PLAYS OUT

yep and there’s Smokescreen, right on cue

okay Horikoshi, I leave it in your hands. hopefully you can come up with some more interesting combos than my dumbass predictions lol

LOL THIS ISN’T A COMBO AT ALL

“explosions solve everything” -- Horikoshi Kouhei, 2021. something something shockwave, something something handwave ta-da no more smoke. lol okay then

oh, ouch

he would know, wouldn’t he. nice application of one of your many hard-earned life lessons, Kacchan

by the way you guys, just as an experiment, I’m going to try to anticipate some of the discourse this week in the hopes of preemptively addressing it and thus saving myself some time later on lol. so here’s our first test run!

ANTICIPATED DISCOURSE: “oh my god what a fucking hypocrite can you believe this fucking guy”

PREEMPTIVE REBUTTAL: it’s precisely because Kacchan has been in this exact situation himself that he’s able to recognize his past self in Deku now and call him out on it. just because it took him sixteen years to get it through his head that he can’t accomplish every single thing completely by himself doesn’t mean Deku has to go down that same path. so yeah, maybe it is a bit hypocritical, but if you insist that the only people qualified to call out stupid shit are people who have never done a single stupid thing in their own lives, then what you’re basically saying is that absolutely no one on earth is qualified lol. so yeah, I’d have to disagree

and one last unrelated note, I’m willing to bet the whole “you didn’t even say a word before you ran off” thing is possibly the first thing Kacchan’s said in this whole encounter that actually does stem from genuine hurt rather than his tough-love-harsh-truths strategy. I’M TAKING NOTES HERE HORIKOSHI. at this rate it’ll take twice as many chapters as DvK2 for them to hash out all the stuff between them, geez

anyway so I gotta say, so far Deku vs. Class A is looking an awful lot like a DvK3 wearing a hat, trenchcoat, and sunglasses lol

OH SHIT I TAKE IT BACK??

FUCK YEAH, YOU GO KOUDA. and I guess he ditched his mask as well! excellent

so far the strategy here seems to be “Kacchan says all the mean tough love shit while the rest of 1-A balances it out with warmth and kindness”, which actually works pretty well imo. Deku is one of those people that doesn’t usually need a Kacchan Translator anyway, but just in case, this is very efficient

mm but of course Deku is slingshotting himself away with Blackwhip. all right then, who’s up next!

FUCK YEAH

okay but seriously you guys, what is going on with Sero’s face in these last couple of chapters though, it’s really starting to unnerve me. is he trying to emulate Kacchan’s whole asymmetrical facial expressions thing?

in fact let me just quickly hit pause here because,

ANTICIPATED DISCOURSE: “SERO IS TOGA??!”

PREEMPTIVE REBUTTAL: no

oh snap looks like Jirou’s getting in on the action too!

poor Jirou probably spent days racking her brain trying to think of something she could bond with Deku over. is Horikoshi doing these in reverse order of the kids who have had the most interaction with him? that would explain why poor Kouda didn’t get a flashback lol

omg. well that answers that

so by my count, Satou and Hagakure are the only ones remaining in this first tier of kids who Still Appreciate Midoriya even though they’ve barely ever spoken two words to him in their lives lol. so they’ll probably be next, and then we’ll get to the next tier of kids who are pretty good friends with him but not quite besties. and then we’ll move on to the IidaRokiRaka trio, and then lastly, to the boy who is in a tier all his own

BUT FIRST, A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR

and by “sponsor” I mean the Dekuangst. just in case that wasn’t clear. indeed, many thanks to the Dekuangst for making this all possible

(ETA: okay so this whole “take me away” line seemed pretty weird to me, and sure enough it’s yet another one of those cases where only the verb is specified, and the object is left to the reader’s interpretation. so even though the translation says “take me away”, I’m pretty sure that what Deku’s actually saying is “take you away” -- as in, his loved ones will be taken away by AFO.

and that is literally the way he phrases it, though -- the verb used is “奪う” (ubau), meaning “to snatch away; to dispossess; to steal.” which, god, that hurts my whole goddamn heart though, because for him to say it like that?? not “AFO will kill you”, but “AFO will take you away from me.” he can’t have nice things anymore because of AFO. he can’t be around the people he loves because AFO will hurt them. he can’t have happiness because AFO will take it away from him. anyway so where the fuck is AFO right now, motherfucker I just want to talk.)

by the way can Ojiro just extend his tail to whatever fucking length he wants or what because it’s like twelve feet long in this panel lol

WOOO FUCK YEAH TOKOYAMI

YOU LOVE TO SEE IT!! BUT WHERE’S YOUR FLASHBACK? YOU’VE HAD A BUNCH OF INTERACTIONS WITH HIM, THAT’S NOT FAIR

okay so now Satou’s stepping in which is back to my anticipated order, so maybe Toko will finish his little moment afterward

dskfjfkk

“REMEMBER THAT TIME DEKU BORROWED SATOU’S FOOD COLORING” Horikoshi says, sweating. “AND REMEMBER THAT TIME HE, UM, SMILED IN HAGAKURE’S GENERAL DIRECTION”

actually I am curious about what Hagakure’s part will be because, you know, the whole traitor thing lol

(ETA: funny how we just skipped right over it huh. can we get a traitor reveal countdown started here? definitely getting close to that time.)

whoa lol wtf

MOMO??? THIS HAS MOMO WRITTEN ALL OVER IT DAMMIT

-- SWEET MOTHER OF FUCK

“SORRY MIDORIYA-SAN, I LEFT MY FUCKING CHILL AT HOME IN THE LOCKER NEXT TO IIDA’S HELMET” holy shit lmao

and here I thought she’d get a flashback to her time on the Baku Rescue Squad or something. but nope, no flashbacks from Momo, only terrifying sci-fi torture devices

poor Dark Shadow is such a trooper omg

“why am I the only one who has to make prolonged contact with his smelly disgusting self” taking one for the team there DS

FUCK YEAH KAMINARI NO JUTSU

THE PRICKLY BASTARD WHISPERER STRIKES AGAIN!! don’t suppose you brought any clean clothes you could sneakily force him into huh Kami

okay here we go, so now Shouji and Tokoyami are joining forces

um excuse me this is fucking awesome

wonder how he’ll break free? don’t think he’ll reveal Fa Jin until the end of the chapter, so maybe Air Force or something? idk

TOKO GETS AN EXTENDED MOMENT BECAUSE HE IS A TIER TWO PATREON REWARD LEVEL FRIEND YAY

WHY IS MOMO MAKING THIS FACE LOL YOUR THING WAS WAY WORSE

and Shouji just casually hitting him with what is easily the best comment from anyone yet. too bad Deku’s just gonna ignore it. you deserve better Shouji

KAMINARI OMFG

it only just occurred to me that Kami is currently trapped inside Dark Shadow right along with him lmao omg. realest one in the entirety of BnHA, right here. we will never forget your sacrifice

aaaaaaand Deku’s yeeting himself

do you really hate the thought of taking a bath that much my dude

oh shit the mask!!

-- oh shit the feels

o(TヘTo)

fuck. and I mean, we knew he was crying, that was a done deal. but still, to see him in this much pain is just...

and the acknowledgement that he knows they’re worried about him, but that it doesn’t change his mind one bit. this, right here, is why they have to be a bit harsh with him, you guys. because they’re up against the full, unbridled stubbornness of Midoriya fucking Izuku, and if they don’t match that stubbornness with an equal stubbornness of their own, they basically don’t stand a chance

(ETA: quick note that there is apparently another mistranslation here -- rather than saying that his friends are oblivious to the danger, what Deku is actually saying is that none of his friends have activated his Danger Sense once throughout this entire fight. which I had been wondering about, and it turns out Horikoshi actually confirmed it. so basically none of the kids bears any ill intent toward him, and there’s literal proof right there.

incidentally, as @class1akids pointed out, this also casts an interesting light on this chapter in terms of who hasn’t fought Deku yet. not to play the Hagakure Traitor Music for the billionth time you guys, but I’M JUST SAYING lol.)

anyway, but the good news is that they all seem to understand that. and the even better news is that we have reached the tier 3 friends!!

“OR ELSE” lol, great to see Shouto wielding his friendship just as aggressively as Deku once did towards him. I do love a good role reversal

p.s., ANTICIPATED DISCOURSE: “why is Shouto being so cruel to Deku can’t he see how hard this is on him”

PREEMPTIVE REBUTTAL: this is a callback to the classic “even heroes cry when they have to” Shouto line from chapter 137. Shouto is clearly following Kacchan’s lead here and going for the more ruthless approach, knowing that the gentle approach isn’t getting through to him (if anything it’s only making him more stubborn as we saw on the previous page). basically it’s his way of pointing out that even heroes are still only human, and so is Deku last time he checked

ah okay, and there Tsuyu is at last

okay real talk, I get why Tsuyu is included in the tier 3 friends, because she was one of the first people to team up with Deku going all the way back to USJ. but that said, this probably would have had more impact if their most recent interaction hadn’t been like 150 chapters ago

but anyway though it’s still a good speech. maybe not quite a cliffhanger-level speech, but a good speech nonetheless. in a way though, I’m glad to see that Horikoshi seemingly didn’t give a fuck whether he ended this on an actual cliffhanger or not for once

and that “headed toward the climax” part has me excited too, ngl. because if we really are getting to the so-called climax this soon, that makes me even more certain that there is indeed a DvK3 in the forecast. so I presume that next week (or I guess two weeks from now) will be the tier 3s along with the remaining tier 2s like Kirishima and Aoyama

and then after that, well... [orange and green banners being hoisted] [sound of screeching airhorns and vuvuzelas in the distance] [sound of All Might approaching in his car which I didn’t notice until I looked back at this page a second time whoops] THE PROPHECY WILL NOT BE DENIED

#bnha 320 #midoriya izuku #bakugou katsuki #asui tsuyu #tokoyami fumikage #kaminari denki #todoroki shouto #class 1-a #bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha manga spoilers #makeste reads bnha

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12u3ie · 3 years

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Furious Cocktail AU Masterpost

This is an AU created by the Hermitcraft Headcanons Discord, so a big thanks to them!

At its most basic, Furious Cocktail is an AU where the Hermits drink a specific potion mix, die, and then can get powers. The potion combo is random and different for each player. The powers are based off of how they die, with a bit of the potions' effects added in. If a Hermit dies a second time with a correct potion combo, their code will be locked (in terms of powers) and will not be able to get any more powers.

(Hermits and powers under the cut)

Powered Hermits so far:

(These are not necessarily listed in the order they got their powers)

Zedaph

Was the first hermit to realize he had powers

Died in the Void (death was intentional, powers were an accident)

Feel asleep for three days, waking up to a very concerned Impulse and Tango

A couple days later, he realized he had powers

Powers

Telekinesis

Power draining

Locked powers are immune to this

Can blind other players

Teleporting things in and out of the Void

A bit of Void resistance

Eyes glow black when powers are in use

Tango

Zed told him about the powers

Died to a witch (accident)

Like most other hermits, he was a bit tired but didn’t really notice

Powers

Can inflict small amounts of potion effects through his hands

This extends to tipped arrows as well

Can temporarily enchant items

Eyes glow like an enchanted item when powers are in use

Can eat blaze rods (not extremely relevant, but interesting to note)

Impulse

Finds out about the powers by accident, through Zed

By this point, Team ZIT have figured out how to get powers on purpose

Died to a shulker (on purpose)

Powers

More inventory (does not disappear on death)

Levitation

Shield he can bring up, but cannot move once brought up

Teleportation (not easily controlled)

Sparkles like shulker bullets/end rods when powers are in use

Etho

Learned about the powers through Tango

Died by fireworks (on purpose)

Powers

Throwing colorful explosions (ranged attack)

Flying without elytra

Blast resistance

Explode blocks (takes a lot of energy)

Firework particles when powers are in use

Ended up locking his code trying to get more powers

Doc

Learned about the powers through Etho

Died to a lightning bolt (on purpose)

Powers

Lightning (smaller shocks or larger bolts)

Weather prediction and lightning directing

Glows like a charged creeper when powers are in use

Grian

Didn’t know about the powers beforehand, but saw Impulse experimenting with potions and decided to drink one

He later goes to Impulse, who explains

Died by kinetic energy (accident)

Powers

Flight boost/agility

Resistance (at least to kinetic energy/fall damage)

Pushing kinetic energy outwards (super jump, ravager-esque knockback)

Super/increased speed

Little feather particles when his powers are in use

Cub

At a certain point, most of the server knows about the potion powers

Tries to die by Elder Guardian, but ends up drowning (accident)

Powers

Waterbending

Water breathing

Moves faster underwater

Bubble particles when powers are in use

Bdubs

Died by [Intentional Game Design] (on purpose)

Powers

Control of the day-night cycle (not changing the rate at which time passes; just skipping to day/night)

Can explode without killing himself

Eyes glow like an explosion, fiery red and orange, when powers are in use

TinFoilChef

Died by gravel (accident)

Powers

Stone manipulation (includes stone variants; basically an earthbender)

Block burrowing

Gravelly/floating block particles when powers are in use

Joe Hills

Tries to get powers from Cleo, but ends up dying to the diamond sword (deaths via players don’t give powers) (accident)

Powers

Controlling diamonds (summoning from the ground, manipulating diamond items like armor)

Enchantments that were on the sword (fire aspect, sharpness, looting (basically luck), mending)

Cold blue glow, like a cross between diamonds and enchantments, when powers are in use

Stress

Died by berry bushes (on purpose)

Powers

Plant growth/control

Can tame foxes

Particles like leaves/petals when powers are in use

Jellie

Not technically a player herself, she got powers via Etho’s experimenting

Before the events of this AU, Scar begged Xisuma to give Jellie semi-player status. He eventually did

Died to an enderman (on purpose?)

Powers

Teleporting wherever she likes

Can pick up blocks (levitation-like)

Can make enderman noises

Enderman particles and purple glowing eyes when powers are in use

Xisuma

Did not want powers at all, thinking they were far too dangerous

Powers permanently mess with the player’s code, and X wants none of that

Does get powers though, via an Evil Xisuma “prank”

When Xisuma realized he has powers, he has a bit of a crisis

Died from the Ender Dragon (technically on purpose)

Powers

Dragon’s breath

Haste/instamine

Levitation/flight

Regeneration by end crystals

Immunity to most enchants/effects (minus sharpness and power)

Purple eyes, that glow when his power is in use

(Almost) never uses his powers, even when beneficial

Scar

Technically the first hermit to get powers, but mistook them for wizard abilities

Only realizes once many other hermits have powers that he does too

Died by kinetic energy, flying into an enchanting table (accident)

Powers

Flight (not as strong as Grian’s ability)

Permanently enchanting items (as opposed to Tango’s temporary enchants)

Galactic particles (like an enchantment table) when powers are in use

Wels

Returns to the server, learning about the powers from Xisuma

Tries to get powers, then stops, thinking that he dodged a bullet

He did actually get powers though, getting them by a slime (technically on purpose)

He freaks out the first time he uses his powers, and like Xisuma, has a bit of a crisis about it

Powers

Splitting/cloning (maximum of four total Welses)

More strength during full moons

Reduced fall damage

Increased jump height

Body glows green when splitting

Hels

Died by a magma cube (on purpose)

Powers

Splitting/cloning (maximum of four total Helses)

Reduced fall damage

Increased jump height

Body glows red when splitting

Evil Xisuma

Before giving Xisuma powers, gives himself powers

Died by the Wither (on purpose)

Powers

Withering touch

Flight

Shoots wither skulls from his hands

Black particles when powers are in use

Vintage Beef

Died by a llama (on purpose)

Powers

More inventory (does disappear on death)

Speed boost

Carpet makes his armor fancy

Particles like llama spit when powers are in use

Keralis

Tries to get powers at random, drinking potion combos and seeing what kills him

Dies by a pillager (on purpose accident?)

Powers

Illagers don’t attack him (semi-applies to witches)

Can summon a banner of his face

Perfect aim, but only with crossbows

Can locate woodland mansions and pillager outposts

Can ride ravagers

---

This is the hermits who have powers so far in this AU. This list may and likely will be expanded over time, as more hermits get powers.

There are also quite a few stories about this AU. This masterpost is just the general concept and current powered hermits, and does not go into the specifics of certain situations. The stories (that are on Ao3) can be found here.

The timeline itself can be a bit complicated, so another post/reblog of this post may be made of it at some point.

Any questions about this AU can be answered by me or @mleemwyvern

#hope you dont mind the tag mleem!#furious cocktail au #twelves rambles #hermitcraft au #(im not tagging all the hermits lolll)#this post will likely be updated (if not the additions will be in rbs)

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you-know-like-the-bird · 4 years

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It Gets Bad Before It Gets Worse

A/N: Right so... hello. Been a while since I last posted anything. But! Anyways! This is my little take on Deku joins the League of Villains and how that works out for him. This is only just the USJ incident, and that to not the whole thing, but that’s because I’ve still got to write the last bit (where All Might fights the Nomu) and I really wanted to post this now so... yeah.

I copied this from my word document, but tumblr just- ate up my italicised words? Like they’re still there, but nothing’s italisiced except for this author’s note that I’m typing straight out here on tumblr. I really don’t have the patience to go through this and re-work everything, so I hope it doesn’t mess with the flow of words too much.

But besides that, I hope you enjoy!

Edit: I fixed stuff.

"Kurogiri."

Shota sends out tendrils of his capture scarves and grabs onto two villains, swinging feet first through the space between them and right into a third. By all means, his attention is mostly on the b-lister villains surrounding him, but he's been careful not to let the three bosses out of sight. They haven't tried anything yet, which just mean that they're going to be more trouble later on.

"Take the brat up with you, won't you?" The man with the hands scratches at his neck, a contemplative tilt in his voice as he keeps Shota in his sights just as much as Shota keeps handsy in his.

There's warning lilt in mist-man's tone when he speaks, who Shota silently renames as Kurogiri for when he has to recount this incident for the police reports, hopefully with the villains locked up somewhere near. "Shigaraki..."

"Don't give me that tone!" The hands villain- Shigaraki- snaps, "You're not the leader of this operation. I am."

Kurogiri lets out a weary sigh just as Shota is forced to twist around to dodge a swipe of metal claws meant to dig into his torso, and regrets it immediately when he hears, "As you wish, Shigaraki."

When Shota turns back around, the Kurogiri is gone.

After the shock of, 'holy shit, this is really real' has passed, Class 1-A follows after Thirteen as they all run towards the entrance. They never quite make it there, when purple mist flickers into existence just ahead of them and starts to expands, bigger and bigger until it's like a swirly purple wall towering over them. That's not the last of it though, when Class 1-A watches a teenager who looks about their age step out from the mist.

"Is it time then?"

This is said to the owner of two yellow eyes that blink open in the mist, and voice that seems to come from nowhere and everywhere at the same time. "There was a change of plans. Shigaraki... wished to have you called in early."

It's the last bit that has all eyes watching the boy, as he in turn watches Kurogiri from over his shoulder. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Deku?"

The boy slowly turns to meet a violent red gaze, and Class 1-A hold their breaths.

For one Izuku Midoriya, it’s like the world slowly halts to a standstill. Suddenly, nothing matters much anymore, not the fact that this is the first attack he's been allowed to participate in, and that too only to watch. Not that he was nervous why Shigaraki wanted him 'called in early'. Not that he was finally supposed to get his irrefutable proof that he hadn't lied to Sensei about All Might's weakness, that he had been loyal. No, none of that matters because Izuku doesn’t even look at the crowd of hero students, just the figure right at the front, with sparking hands that's more flash than boom, for now, and an expression that seems almost surprised to see him.

Izuku looks at Bakugou in fascinated horror, "Kacchan?"

This wasn't- this wasn't how this was supposed to go. Izuku was supposed to pop in and take notes, not come face to face with his childhood bully after almost a year.

Predictably, like it always happened when Kacchan was caught off guard, his expression twists from one of surprise to anger, like how dare Izuku try to pull a fast one on him. If only someone would tell Kacchan that Izuku is just as surprised to see him as Kacchan is to see Izuku, but good luck getting him to believe you.

"What the fuck are you doing here?"

"I-" There's that same adrenaline, pumping through using veins, the kind he always got when Kacchan had him by the front of his shirt and was screaming right in his face. But unlike before, where when the anger would come (‘What did I ever do to you?!’) and Izuku would push it down, he doesn't this time.

He hasn't in a long time pushed the anger down.

His eyes narrow and its hard, harder than anything Izuku's ever done, to keep his composure. His voice still trembles, threatening to betray the red-hot fury he feels curling in his gut, but he just about manages to keep that poisonous feeling contained in his hands, in his erratic breathing, but never seeping into his voice, onto his face, into his actions. "I could ask you the same thing Kacchan."

Kacchan goes to speak, give it back to him twice as hard because he never listens, does he? When Kurogiri draws a close to this verbal match of spitting bullets with a polite. "Sorry to interrupt, but me and comrades would appreciate it if you take this seriously."

Kurogiri has the kind of influence that is quiet but intense, which means people listen when he talks. Not only that, everyone realizes that he's clearly the bigger threat between being the warper and the dude who looks like literal middle schooler blocking their paths. Izuku knows rationally that this class of hero hopefuls' best bet right now would be to try and get past him and Kurogiri and to go call for help, but Izuku has enough faith in Kurogiri to handle that. Not that he can do much else, or think much else, because of the anger that just keeps building and building the longer he stands here with Kacchan's red hot glare pinned right on him, greater threat be damned. It should feel gratifying, that he's finally gotten Kacchan to look at him, not just as another thing in his way but a person, but maybe he hasn't. Maybe it had meant nothing at all to Kacchan, when Izuku Midoriya had disappeared off of the face of the Earth about ten months ago, taking nothing but the words of an angry bully with him.

Yeah, that fits the bill, doesn't it? Izuku may have known Kacchan for over 14 fucking years, but he's only ever been just another thing in Kacchan's way to step over on his way to glory. As if Kacchan noticed he was ever gone.

The only time Izuku ever gets to have Kacchan look at him again, acknowledge him again, and Izuku is just another obstacle in his way. Just like it's always been.

"We don't mean to be rude by intruding, but my comrades and I have taken the liberty of paying your school a visit in hopes of putting an end to All Might and his legacy. It seems, however, that he is not currently present."

Izuku can practically see the hypothetical steam of anger coming from Kacchan with his mouth twisted into a fearsome scowl. The boy beside him, with bright red hair that stands straight up as if cut from the face of a rock, mashes his fists together and shouts back, "What makes you think we'll just let you?"

Kurogiri only narrows his eyes, "We were not expecting you to. You are a class of foolish hero hopefuls, after all."

Izuku just about manages to tear his gaze away from Kacchan when Thirteen lifts a finger, and Izuku realizes what's about to come next. Just before he can warn Kurogiri, however, his attention snags on something else. Like Kacchan can't stand attention not being on him for even a second, him and the boy with the tall red hair have launched themselves forward, straight towards Kurogiri, though Izuku barely manages to scramble out of the way when Kacchan points one hand straight in his direction and uses the explosion to boost himself further, uncaring if Izuku gets caught in it. Probably hoping it hit him, actually.

They both manage to get what they think is a hit in and jump back, and the red head shouts, "We're not going to just let you waltz into our school to hurt All Might!"

When Kurogiri clicks his tongue, unhurt because it’d take more than that pathetic display of ego to even bother him, Izuku immediate knows that he's annoyed, but it's especially evident in his flat tone of voice when he speaks. "Very well. If we are clear on our roles." Purple mist sweeps out and covers everybody in a thick cloud. Izuku knows better than to resist it, only hoping that Kurogiri's kind enough not to drop him from somewhere high.

Izuku stumbles when he immerges from the portal, and it's all he can do not to trip and fall face first on the ground. Sensibly, Kurogiri hasn't come with him, probably still handling the handful of people left up at the entrance, because Izuku really still feels like he's going to explode at someone. Logically, he knows that it probably isn't Kurogiri's fault, that the poor man is just following orders and not much else. He may have more sense than one Tomura-fucking-Shigaraki, but that doesn't mean he's the one Sensei favors most.

Of course, speaking of the devil...

"Why did you send me up there?" Each word is bitten off and chewed before being spit out like poison. Izuku wished he could grab Tomura smug fucking face and break it over his knee.

Shigaraki’s smirk is the asshole-ish kind Izuku wished he could kick in, "What? Didn't like the surprise, brat?"

Oh ho ho, it's a very close thing Izuku doesn't just start screaming at this point. He's so angry, "That was not part of the plan."

Shigaraki scoffs, "I'm in charge, I can change the fucking plan."

If Izuku was keeping his cool before, he certainly isn't now, "You can't change it whenever you feel like it Shigaraki!"

Izuku is suddenly grabbed by the throat, and there's a terrifying moment where he wonders if this is it, this is how he dies. At the hands of who's supposed to be a comrade, with no thanks given for the certainly valuable information he'd brought to the League. He'd thought it be enough to get them to trust him, because really, what else did a quirkless loser like him have to offer? But it wasn't nearly enough, not by word of mouth alone that All Might was slowly dying of a grievous old injury that Sensei himself had given him. After all, what argument Izuku have to justify just why All Might would give that information to some random middle schooler he once saved?

But while Tomura looked like he would gladly put down his raised pinkie against Izuku's throat to complete his set of five, he doesn't yet. "Don't talk back to me like you've got any authority, brat."

Izuku's breathing has slowed to a halt, painfully aware of the fingers around his neck and the one finger that isn't, could so easily be put down and turn him to dust. But, even then, with nothing much left to lose except a mother who will now know for sure her child is dead instead of just missing, Izuku meets a single red eye peeking out from under a severed hand with his own determined green ones. Shigaraki doesn't scare him, and even if he does, like hell Izuku will give him the satisfaction of seeing the proof of it on his face.

"Are you just going stand there boss? We're not doing quite so well here." This comes from a woman who's desperately trying to keep an eye on the pro hero culling their ranks with extreme prejudice while calling back for help. But Izuku knows Shigaraki, full on expects the scoff that comes from him as he doesn't move a single fucking finger to help his 'party'. He just watches, with that hungry red gaze of his, as if all he wants is to hold the world in his hands and watch it crumble, cannot fathom why this vision of his has not yet come to fruition. As if the world should come to serve him, and only put up just enough of a challenge to make it 'fun' for him. Izuku manages to turn his head, neck still under Shigaraki's hands but as if this is the first time he's pushed the man hard enough to come close to death by decay, and watches as not a moment later Eraserhead swiftly takes out the woman who had dared to call out for help.

Shigaraki clicks his tongue, and spares a glance at Izuku, "You were told to watch, weren't you? Then watch how a real villain does it."

He pushes Izuku back roughly, leaving him to stand there with a hand rising to carefully press against his throat with the threat to it finally gone, as Shigaraki takes off straight for the pro hero standing ready for him, thinking he's prepared for someone as bat-shit insane as Shigaraki Tomura. From what little Izuku has seen, Eraser's doing pretty well so far, especially for an underground hero who specializes in stealth and springing surprise attacks onto villains from the cover of the shadows. He'd almost think that this was where Eraserhead thrives, except he knows better, can see it in the desperate way the man moves that this is far from his kind of game. No, as heroes do still surprise Izuku from time to time, Eraserhead’s probably down here trying to buy time for the students to get away, which they probably won't, not if Kurogiri's got anything to say about it.

Shigaraki grabs onto the first tendril of Eraser's scarf sent his way, and Eraser sends another only to duck under it as he manages to elbow Shigaraki right in the stomach. It's when this happens, that a flash of green against the plain brown terrain and a muffled croak catch his attention. Izuku looks to where the sound came from and sees round green eyes poking up from the edge of the raised platform, and feels his own eyes widen first in surprise, but then in panic.

Oh no.

He wonders if the girl crouched at the edge of this fight is alone, only to catch sight of something round and purple just behind her. What are these kids doing? Don't they know it's dangerous to just stand there like that, begging to get noticed by the manic villain willing to fell anyone and anything just because he finds them annoying? Don't they care that they're teacher is trying to give them a chance to get away, and they're squandering it by crouching at the edge of this fight?

The girl's gaze catches his and her own eyes widen. Probably because he's a villain too and he's obviously seen them. He looks back at Shigaraki just in time for the villain to say, "You're getting slower Eraserhead. It's hard to tell with those goggles of yours, but I've figured out your tell." He glances back at Izuku, and Izuku manages to wrangle his expression into something carefully blank. Shigaraki continues, having made sure that Izuku's watching, "Your hair falls back down in the intervals when you stop using you quirk." Izuku let's out heavy breath, because he knows Shigaraki is right, he'd noticed that too. And its then that Eraserhead's hair falls back over his face, while Shigaraki still has his elbow in a five-finger grip, and oh- Izuku knows what comes next. He tries to catch the girl's gaze again, but she's watching in horror as first his sleeve and then Eraserhead's skin starts to crumble away at the elbow. The hero jumps away, but Shigaraki's point has definitely been made.

A few of the low lifes that they most definitely picked from the streets for the sole purpose of playing cannon fodder surround Eraser again as Shigaraki carefully backs away. Eraserhead doesn't notice Shigaraki make a subtle gesture at the Nomu that has the tall beast finally move from somewhere behind him. For how big it is, the Nomu can be pretty sneaky when it wants to be, because Eraserhead doesn't notice it take position a few feet behind him as he handles the few of the street thugs still left standing.

Shigaraki has a smile in his voice, which Izuku can only tell because he sounds real fucking smug when he says, "If you think I'm the final boss Eraser, you're sorely mistaken."

And really, Izuku should have seen this coming, but he doesn't, and flinches back when Eraser turns back just a second too late, because it doesn't matter anyways when the Nomu is built to match All Might's speed. The Nomu puts the hero to the ground faster than Izuku can blink, the arm with the decayed elbow in gripped tightly with one of hand and his other holding Eraserhead’s head down. Izuku wonders how the girl and the other person with her are taking this, and if they regret sticking around for this final act, but he can't take his eyes off this scene without the fear of missing something important. It feels... wrong. Putting down a hero like Eraserhead, who only ever jumped into this fight to make sure his students had a chance, who's a great fucking hero anyways. The part of Izuku that will always be a fanboy seethes that this his own fault, that if he can't deal with the consequences then he shouldn't have made the choice to be here in the first place, but it's never that simple, not really. So Izuku watches, some part of him begging him to step forward and maybe try to reason with Shigaraki about sparing Eraserhead, but the more sensible part of him knows it's pointless. Shigaraki only ever does what he wants to, and there's a huge chance that if Izuku tries to tell him not to do something, he'll only ending up doing it just to spite him.

The Nomu slams Eraserhead's face into the concrete and Izuku let's out a shaky sigh, a sick feeling starting to churn in his stomach at the pool of blood that slowly inched outwards from where Eraser's head hit the ground. He glances back over to where the girl is and sees her staring at the scene with wide eyes, two hands clasped over her mouth in horror.

There's a flicker of something purple somewhere behind Shigaraki, which grows outwards in the air like how moss spreads over a stone wall, until Kurogiri stands there in a cloud of purplish smoke and intones, "Shigaraki Tomura."

Shigaraki slightly tilts his head to show that he's listening.

Kurogiri sounds almost apologetic, which is rare enough that Izuku's temporarily distracted from keeping an eye on the girl and the person with her that he's only caught a brief glimpse of until now. "I'm afraid that I let one student slip past. I believe he has most likely gone to get help."

Shigaraki's hands suddenly jerk up until the fingers dig into the sides of his neck, and Izuku can't help but make a face as he starts scratching them with slowly growing intensity. It's a habit of his that Kurogiri has been trying to get him to break, but has been unsuccessful so far.

"Kurogiri..." Shigaraki's voice is dark with malintent, "If you weren't the warp gate I would kill you."

Kurogiri shows no outward reaction to the threat, except the shifting of his features like a turbulent sea of purple. It makes it hard to get a read on him, without facial expression to use as a gauge of his mood, but Izuku likes to think he's gotten to know Kurogiri well enough to think he might just be the slightest bit amused right about now. None the less, familiar with the sentiment of Shigaraki being upset with him for one thing or another, Kurogiri ignores the murderous gleam in Shigaraki's eye and simply continues, "The other pro heroes will most likely be arriving soon, and we are not equipped to handle them with our... dwindling numbers. It is best if we take our leave."

Shigaraki lets out a low growl, his eyes pinballing wildly between the Nomu, Eraserhead and Izuku. "Game over, huh? Fine, we'll wrap up."

And Izuku doesn't even get a chance to relax at the prospect of Shigaraki finally being sensible for once and retreating at a fortunate time, because there's a mean look in his eye as his gaze lands on Izuku, then past him. Right over to where...

The girl.

"But I think we should leave behind a message for All Might first."

In the blink of an eye, Shigaraki has sprinted half the distant to the girl who just stands there, frozen in shock. That's when a harried cry rips from Izuku's throat as he goes stumbling after Shigaraki, "No!"

But it's too late, because Shigaraki already has his fingers splayed over the girl's face, and it never gets easier. That heart wrenching terror of the just before, a nanosecond where after Shigaraki's quirk kicks in and turns everything to dust.

Except that this time, it doesn’t kick in.

Izuku, frozen stiff and expecting a dead young girl with her head turned to dust in the air, but instead meeting eyes blown wide in terror but still very much alive, watches Shigaraki turn slowly to look behind him. His gaze stalls on Izuku just for a second but a second is enough to tell Izuku that his little outburst has not gone unnoticed, before passing over him over to where Eraserhead's face is lifted off the ground. It's nothing short of a miracle, how he's managed to look up even with the Nomu's death grip still wound into his hair, and his eyes are an angry bloodshot, but he's still here, still looking, still having saved that girl's life.

"You're so cool Eraserhead."

And finally, Izuku finds his voice, "L-let her go Shigaraki."

Shigaraki's lilting tone immediately sours back into a scowl, but he still doesn't let go. "Nobody asked you, brat."

It makes Izuku's resolve only steel, because he didn't sign up for anyone dying today except maybe a fully-fledged pro hero, "I'm not asking either, Shigaraki, let her go."

"You-" Shigaraki's angry snarl is cut off when there's a loud bang from the direction of the entrance that draws their attention. It's also at this moment that the girl flinches back, no longer frozen in fear like she had been before. Or maybe she was afraid Shigaraki would so something much worse if she had moved, which she might not have been wrong about. The girl leaps back, far enough that Izuku knows her quirk gives some sort of boost for that jump, but Shigaraki only watches her go, half his attention still on the sounds coming from the entrance.

They don't have to wait too long to find out what happened, when a figure larger than life steps into view at the top of the stairs and booms, "So fear not students! Because I am here!"

But oh, Izuku realizes with a sliver of fear even with an insurance like the Nomu to back them, All Might is not smiling.

A/N: I’m so sorry for people who didn’t want to read this and had to scroll all the way dow but I cannot for the life of me figure out how to insert a read more right now. I’ll edit this later to do that when I can.

#bnha #villain Deku #villain Izuku #Izuku Midoriya #my hero academia #Bakugou Katsuki #All Might #shigaraki tomura #League of Villains

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r6s-imagines · 4 years

Note

Your writing is so good but the Spetznaz KIA ones have me in so much pain ;w; Can I request another set but with close calls instead?

thank you so much! i was honestly debating making it all a close call but i needed the a n g s t in my life so i couldn’t resist! i hope this satisfies you!!

spetsnaz preference >> close calls

•••

requested: yes! thank you for being the first request!

warnings: cursing, mild gore

•••

summary: how do the members of spetsnaz react to your near-death experience?

•••

kapkan

his initial first date idea was to go hunting with him

you’d been around too many gadgets and people, he’d say. you two needed some time alone not just discussing trapped entryways and peeking corners

“maxim!” you called. “i’ve got tracks, it looks big!”

he was proud of you, for learning under his guidance, he trusted you with his life and vice versa

the winter air whipped at his face, yet he never faltered

he knew the land, the struggles, the weather. he knew to act slow.

you didn’t.

you knew better than to assume things from being in the field of work you were in

but you happened to assume a flurry of thunderous steps were maxim’s

you turned around, gun holstered and ready to lead the russian

a frothing, wild pack of wolves presented themselves, poised and ready to strike

you remained still

unable to call out

the alpha lurched forward, snapping its grand jaws to your face

you shielded your neck as it took hold of your arm instead

biting to the bone, you screamed

another wolf snagged your leg, attempting to drag you to their hideout

BANG!

the pain remaining but the pressure gone, you opened one eye

maxim was panting, staring at you with a grand concern

helicopters wouldn’t be able to land here, he thought. she’ll bleed out waiting.

he apologized profusely and swooped you around his shoulders, carrying you as a soldier would to your open-aired base camp

he packed just enough material to apply pressure and prevent immediate infection

you found immediate treatment and spent the next days in a hospital bed, maxim not once leaving your side

he’d joke about how cool he was during the ordeal

“you’re lucky i found you when i did, i don’t know how you got caught like that.”

“maxim, you looked like you passed away that moment you found me.”

he won’t admit it, but he has dreams of you dying from that event and wakes up in cold sweats

fuze

you ever have one of those moments where your dad yells at you for having the flashlight positioned wrong while he fixes a car?

that’s shuhrat

“the flathead, please. no, that’s the torx.”

he was determined to upgrade his cluster charges

“if i pinpoint the solution, these things will stick to any detection of life.”

you’d pester him with questions, inquiring about each part and function

“if you could please let me focus, y/n. you’re being no use to me right now.”

dick.

your pettiness caused you to retrieve the wrong tool again, setting off fuze’s frustration

he slammed his tools down, giving you a look

“if you’d just lis—“ he slammed the table with his fist

he hadn’t meant to threaten you

but there was no time to apologize

his fragile creation bursted to life, setting off a barrage of explosive chips

he was close enough for the launch to not affect him

but you bailed out of fear

and you ended up right in the line of fire

in miliseconds, you were on the ground, your right leg bent in ways neither of you have seen

you foot was pretty much absent

luckily for you, this mishap occurred on site

fuze immediately called for medical attention, sending everyone in a flurry

you were wheeled off to the medical offices

your leg was beyond saving

but you’d live

shuhrat refuses to forgive himself for nearly killing you

as he’s setting off his new charges during work, he can’t help but flash to the sight of you bleeding on his own workshop floor

twitch creates a multifunction prosthetic exclusively for you

shuhrat helps you through every physical therapy session

no amount of assistance could ever make him forgive himself, though.

tachanka

you can’t tell me his lmg isn’t a serious hazard to everyone around him

imagine the number of crossfire casualties if missions were treated the way they are in a casual match

you were a newer recruit, scoping out an already familiar objective point

you peeked a corner after pinging an attacker

unfortunately, so did alex

his few bullets penetrated your flesh, sending you to the ground

“what the FUCK, man!”

if you weren’t about to bleed out he’d probably make a joke about cockblocking or the like.

“hey, hey, look at me,” he’d say, dragging you by the waist to an unbreachable corner. “i’ve got you.”

he helped you up, and you immediately fell back down

so much for your first day going well

doc did what he could, applying bandaging and providing a long-lasting adrenaline boost

you refused to look the old man in the eye after that point

“what kind of loud, obnoxious russian shoots his coworker on her first day?”

just as you’re ranting to doc as he redressed your shoulder, a knock on his office door takes your attention

alex is standing there, stiff and uncomfortable, much to doctor kateb’s surprise

“is there something you need, senaviev?”

he’d uncomfortably gesture to you

doc nodded and left you two alone for a moment once securing the wound

“so much for a first impression, no?” he laughed awkwardly. you returned with a frustrated glare

“i must have been caught off guard by your beauty. i hope you can forgive me.”

huh?

“you say this to every woman?” you asked, unamused.

“only the ones i shoot.”

you two spend the next few days joking and bonding in your room

he tells stories and jokes to distract you from the pain

which causes you pain from laughing too hard

maybe he’s not so careless after all?

glaz

his signature weapon has some severe kick only a professional can handle

well, maybe not a professional

timur is the only one to really know the behavior of his sniper

so when he offers for you to try it in your spare time, he’s hesitant despite being the one to initiate the idea

he noticed how marveled you were at his patience and steadiness, you almost doubted it was his actual skill and just the gun instead

the two of you were in a shooting range with target about 90m away

“aim high, the bullet drops no matter what distance,” he’d explain, reaching around you and under your arm to tilt his gun up with a finger.

you rolled your shoulders and closed one eye

“and don’t forget that—“

BANG!

he wasn’t kidding when he said the recoil will knock anyone on their ass

because you were on your ass

with a very broken nose

and a bleeding head

you managed to launch yourself so far back, the back of your head cracked against a shelf

if timur didn’t step slightly to the side, you’d have a clean head

but he initially wanted to watch you misfire and jump back from the kick

but he couldn’t have predicted for it to send you that far

he helped you up and you were set on a chair, head leaning back

glaz didn’t know which spot to handle first, the severe nose pain or heavily bleeding skull

his hands moved frantically to check for additional issues

“keep your head forward,” he mumbled, knowing the impact gave you delicate senses

you followed his suggestion, watching the blood soak onto your lap

he produced a rag from his pocket, holding the back of your head with one hand and your nose with his other

you looked up at him, still facing downward, and smiled, blood staining your teeth

“i’m okay,” you said

you weren’t

once the bleeding scabbed over slightly, you were relocated to the medical wing

you had a severe concussion and needed an entire bag of blood

boy, does timur feel like a dumbass

his personal game could’ve taken your life

whenever you look in the mirror, you smiled at your crooked nose

“timur, remember when—“

“yes.”

he doesn’t want to talk about it

he gets embarrassed

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recentanimenews · 3 years

Text

Re: Zero – 48 – Crunch Time

“Love Me Down to My Blood and Guts” almost feels like a finale. At the very least, it feels like the start of the climax of a epic blockbuster film. Every stop is pulled out and not a single moment of its 29+ minutes is wasted. You get a little bit of everything, starting with a well-balanced combination of badass action and lighthearted comedy.

Every wound Garfiel gives Elsa is instantly healed, but he doesn’t consider his fight futile, because he’s not necessarily fighting to beat her. He’s fighting to support his “Boss” Subaru, and no matter how many times Elsa heals and charges, he’ll keep meeting her steel with his.

That’s where we get a couple of impeccably-timed jokes, first with Garfiel boasting that the mabeasts will be no sweat for Boss, followed by the mabeasts being too much for Boss to handle. Subie also strikes out when he tries to demonstrate his real-world knowledge of dust fires, only to need to be bailed out by Otto and Petra igniting the beast with oil.

Those fires defeat the main mabeast but also beging to envelop the mansion. Subaru entrusts Rem and Petra to Otto while he runs into the flames to rescue Beako, whether she wants to go or not.

While the flames rage at the mansion, Emilia’s part of the episode serves as a calming, centering breath. Sure, she watched a number of unpleasant futures, but they come as a jumbled rush of voices and images, ultimately collectively blunting their individual discouraging effects.

There’s also the fact that they’re only “possible” futures, as Minerva tells her after the third trial ends. That means none of them are absolutely the real future, which means Emilia and those she loves will be able to avert disaster if and when it rears its ugly head.

Minerva appears to meet with Emilia in Bliss because Echidna was still “mad” at Lia for how the other two trials went, particularly the second. Perhaps Echidna really would have preferred to greedily feed off Emilia’s despair, but after reckoning with her past in the first trial, the witch’s prediction the other two would be a cakewalk turned out to be accurate.

Minerva is decidedly unwrathful in her interactions with Emilia. In fact, she treats her a lot like Mother Fortuna treated her, with tenderness and love, embracing her when Emilia turns back to see her. I suppose Minerva knew her mother, and maybe even knew Emilia as a baby, which is why she’s so aunt-like here?

In any case, Emilia has passed all three trials, and gains access to a tomb where the intricate barrier spell emanates from the deceased Echidna’s chest. With a cute little “Hi-yah!” Emilia deactivates the barrier and exits the graveyard, only to be welcomed by a raging winter storm.

Elsa and Garfiel are still going at it in the midst of the spreading flames when Maylie bursts through the outer wall with her giant hippo. Frederica isn’t far behind, turning the duel into a battle between sibling duos. After some trash talk the four get down to business, in a fury of bloody, kick-ass combat.

Frederica takes on all of Maylie’s other mabeasts, then Garfiel starts getting serious by transforming into his beast mode, ripping half of Elsa’s face off then not only going toe-to-toe with the hippo, but twisting and ripping it’s damn head off. Unlike the hippo, even Gar’s most vicious attacks fail to faze Elsa.

It’s at this point Garfiel realizes he’s dealing with a vampire. Elsa takes a few moments to tell the story of where she came from, and how she suffered to get to this kind of existence. When she was caught and stripped by an shop owner while stealing off starvation, Elsa reached for a shard of glass and opened the man’s belly.

Elsa, who’d previously only known the cold bleakness of her homeland, was both soothed and excited by the warmth of blood and innards, and never looked back. She tells Garfiel all of this because she finds him so precious and endearing. When he says there’s already a girl he likes, she clarifies that she only has business with his insides, and her love for him will begin after she kills him.

It’s a stirring final monologue for a baddie who has been around since Subaru first arrived, and distinguished by the utter inability to kill her. However, thanks to an assist by Frederica using Maylie to distract her, Gar gets in close and bites Elsa in the neck. Elsa bites him back, but he gives as good as he gets.

Before Elsa’s wound heals (or perhaps it won’t heal because of where he bit her), Gar lifts up the giant headless hippo and throws it on top of her. In her final moments, she recalls the very first thrill of disemboweling someone, then exclaims “What a thrill” in sheer ecstasy before being crushed with an ugly crunch. Hard cut to the title card and that oh-so fitting title, “Love Me Down to My Blood and Guts”.

At this point we’ve reached the 21-minute mark, which is when most other anime are rolling credits. Re:Zero keeps it going with an entire extra act, which is perhaps the most visually stunning and emotionally affecting in an episode that’s already full of those.

It deals with Ram and Puck fighting Roswaal, a battle that moves outside to protect Ryuzu Meyer’s crystal. Roswaal stirs shit by confessing to messing with Puck’s contract with Emilia when she was depressed after her fight with Subaru, essentially kicking her while she’s down in hopes Subie would scoop her up and do everything for her.

Roswaal admits to always looking back on the past, and with fondness, deeming all the wonderful things that ever happened to be in the past, and all that exists now is a phony standing atop a pile of corpses. Puck name-drops Beatrice, provoking him into launching fire attack.

Roswaal is disappointed in Ram’s weak outing thus far; as he wanted her to exact justice for her brethren and find happiness by defeating him. That’s when Ram drops a bombshell on him: he never properly realized her true intention: that she really was a demon, and not someone who was in love with Roswaal.

It’s a confession she delivers while both of her eyes exposed, a trademark of the demon maid sisters. When Roswaal asks her what of keeping her promise to her brethren, Ram simply says she’s prioritizing her own feelings over those of the dead. Puck, energized by Ram’s confession, grows to mammoth size (though maintaining his cute appearance) and seals Roswaal in a giant ring of ice, through which he can spot multiple Rams flitting back and forth.

Roswaal begins destroying the ice walls and the giant ice crystal attacks Puck rains down on him, but in the process he ends up with one of the crystals directly behind him. It shatters on its own and out comes the real Ram, snatching the gospel Echidna gave him, while suffering a horrific wound. Calling it “the root of all evil”, she drops the book in the fire, destroying it.

She wears a smile as she says “Now, at last…” before being hit by Roswaal’s retaliatory flames, which cause a huge explosion that consumes them both. Then the credits roll, and for me at least, the process of starting to breathe again commenced. As it has demonstrated many times in its previous forty-seven episodes, when Re:Zero decides to go big and epic, it does not disappoint.

RABUJOI WORLD HERITAGE LIST

By: magicalchurlsukui

#Anime #News #RABUJOI – An Anime Blog

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killshield · 3 years

Text

they’ve become quite the paradox. shield, unironically, and spear; unstoppable force and immovable object. two incompatible premises with an uncanny ability to piss each other off.

the intel that had fallen into ward’s lap two weeks prior would have been inconsequential to anyone else. it was an easy connection to make: one of sunil bakshi’s close associates, a low - ranking member of old hydra, apprehended by SHIELD agents during a routine sweep of a former base of operations. ward harbored no delusions as far as allegiance went; what he’d done to bakshi was enough incentive for anyone to flip. no coincidence that this follows so closely on the heels of roman briggs’ jailbreak. coulson needed the excuse, and ward’s schedule happened to have an opening.

a change in the very air between them as soon as they’re alone. charged; alive, like the air before a storm.

alone. curious, ward notes, that coulson doesn’t hide behind deathlok this time.

he holds up a photograph, a full - color freeze - frame printed off the footage from a surveillance camera. not an accident: a challenge.

“nice glamour shot,” he says dryly.

ward smiles. “should’ve had it framed. not my best angle, but —”

“c’mon, ward.” what curves the line of coulson’s mouth isn’t amusement. “let’s skip the pleasantries. we both know you’re not that modest. you wanted my attention? congrats. you got it. now tell me what you want with briggs.”

“it’s funny,” ward muses, disregarding the second half entirely, “you say that like i ever lost your attention in the first place. and here i thought you had bigger fish.”

“it’s a wide net.”

“is it.”

“you exposed yourself to break him out of a secure facility crawling with agents, most of whom would kill to see you back in a cage. why?”

again, the question is ignored. “you tried that. didn’t work out so well.”

“you wanna know what i think?”

“not really.”

another tiny, humorless uptick. coulson leans forward on the table, wary, measured where ward is relaxed.

“i think you might be just deranged enough to believe you’re actually doing him some sort of favor. that in your own backwards, twisted way, you’re setting him free, when all you’ve really done is take away his only chance at starting over.”

deranged. deluded. same song, ward thinks disinterestedly; different verse, albeit only by a key or two, if that. his brow arcs.

“right. a clean break, no more looking over his shoulder — sounds familiar. it’s a good speech. almost had me fooled the first time around. second time, not so much. don’t patronize me, coulson. SHIELD was neutralizing a threat, nothing more, nothing less.”

“and you took it upon yourself to willfully unleash that threat,” coulson says. “so i’ll ask again — why? i’m sure you did your homework. roman briggs is an unknown variable, a powder keg ready to go off. some might say he’s a liability. i know you, ward. you’re way too calculated to bet on that kind of horse.”

“see, that’s the difference between us.” ward cants his head a fraction of an inch to one side, arm poised, elbow bent, along the back of his chair. “where you saw a wild animal that needed breaking, all i saw was potential. an opportunity.”

“an opportunity for what? don’t tell me loyal henchmen are in such short supply these days that hydra’s resorted to bargain - hunting from SHIELD holding cells. oh, speaking of —”

“henchmen, or shopping trips? sounds like a date.”

“loyalty. you’re already slipping. how do you think i managed to track you down?”

“educated guess — ? bakshi’s guy folded like a cheap suit the moment you promised him protection. how’s he enjoying SHIELD custody so far?”

“you’re good.”

“and you’re predictable. you didn’t just come here to talk about briggs, and you definitely didn’t come without backup.”

a grim smile, peppered with skepticism. “but i’m supposed to believe you did?”

“well — yes and no.” something almost metallic flickers behind ward’s eyes, a hollow - point spark. slow pull to draw a cellphone from his pocket, his opposite palm mildly raised at the spasm of movement across from him: coulson, on reflex, twitching toward a weapon. ward regards him with another scant raise of brows and connects the call with the successive press of two buttons, then a third to put it on speaker. still watching coulson, he says, to the receiving end, “how are we looking?”

roman’s voice. calm, steady. “target secured. ready to move on your signal.”

coulson boomerangs his focus; ward, down to the phone, up again to ward.

“good. hold position and wait for the green light.” the way his mouth curves at each corner isn’t a smile, not even the facsimile of one. it’s a quiet taunt, preceding the ghost of something thoughtful that falls short of sincere. “you know, SHIELD still has a surprising number of active safe houses, and most of them really aren’t that hard to find. couldn’t have been fury, he was too cloak - and - dagger for that. so it must’ve been your call, huh? pretty careless, director. seems you’re already slipping.”

a muscle tic. the flare of both nostrils. otherwise, coulson is composed; ward will give him that. “quit screwing around, ward — what did you do?”

“yeah, i don’t screw around, you of all people should know that. and i haven’t done anything, at least — not yet. if he doesn’t hear from me in the next fifteen minutes, though,” he gestures with each hand, a blown out breath, mimicking an explosion. “different story. you’ll be down half a dozen agents, just like that. good people, too. i checked. so, the question is, are you willing to make that sacrifice just to take me in? you know you won’t be able to hold me. you never could.”

“you’re bluffing.”

“like i was bluffing with may’s ex - hubby? c’mon, coulson. maybe it’s been a while since we’ve exchanged christmas cards, but things haven’t changed that much.”

no. they’re past that.

“okay.” aside from the shadow that crosses his gaze and the barely perceptible curl of his lip, coulson maintains neutrality. or what passes for it. "then answer me one thing.”

a beat. ward waits, unmoved.

“what’s randall prescott have to do with any of this? what was so important that you and briggs went all the way to portugal to murder a guy who’s been off the radar for years? i’ve seen briggs’ file — they were in the same orphanage, back in the day, but after that, it’s quiet. no connections, or none that left a paper trail. so what is it about him? what’s the significance of executing a defected hydra agent and his wife in cold blood? on their anniversary, no less, but you probably knew that.”

“they had a falling out.” in deference to coulson’s look, he elaborates, “prescott and briggs. wanted to reconnect, dig right down into the roots of their true feelings. i’m not a shrink, but i really think they made some progress.”

“ah — so that’s what this is.” the look shifts from uneasily perplexed to comprehending, disparaging. “a revenge kick, just like you manipulated agent 33 into. figures. i mean, after you shot her to death, you were a clyde without his bonnie. should’ve known it was only a matter of time before you found yourself a replacement.”

the first slip of emotion — visceral, raw, but securely contained, effectively distilled — comes out in the brusque undercurrent of a scathing tone. “and what about you, coulson? you find your replacement yet, or can you still not shake the memory of rosalind bleeding out in your arms?”

a mirrored response. “i’m not the one who slaughtered her, you sick son of a bitch.”

“but she’d be alive if it weren’t for you. let’s skip the pleasantries.” ward’s jaw works at the curve, hard and sharp. the hint of a sneer. “as for what happens next, you have two choices. i get up, and i walk out, and you tell your reinforcements to stand down — or, six SHIELD agents pay the price. they’ll die quick, which is more than i can say for you. so what’ll it be? we’ve got about,” he tips his wrist, checks his watch, “nine minutes left. and trust me when i say, he isn’t the ‘no news is good news’ type.”

“you’re not walking out of here, ward. i won’t make that mistake again. it’s over.”

“shoot me, then,” ward invites, arms spread as he rises to a stand. “end it, right here, right now. you’ll still lose some of your people, but ...”

“i’m never gonna stop,” coulson levels out, as he, too, gets to his feet; levels, although emphasis catches on every word like his tongue is serrated, “you do know that, don’t you? that for the rest of your short, miserable life — no matter what you do, ward. no matter where you go, or how far you run, i will always be right behind you.”

“and that’s just it, coulson.” ward lowers his arms and smiles. no warmth reaches his eyes, nor the deep well of shadow around them. “you’ll never be able to catch up.”

he moves, and almost anticipates coulson to follow.

he moves, and almost expects an icer to the back. maybe a real bullet. maybe they’re past that, too.

he moves, and coulson stays.

at the door, he pauses to catch coulson’s eye one last time.

“give my best to the team,” he says. “you know — for old time’s sake. i’m sure we’ll be seeing each other again soon.”

#debrief.#au / a hybrid signal: both shelter and warning at once.#this is a mess but it's fine #mythscar #coulson tag.

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razorblade180 · 4 years

Text

Twin Snowflakes Pt11: Expedited Exam pt2

“ LET’S GO!”

All three dash at the same time. Valerie straight ahead, Summer to the far left end, and Nicholas around to the right. It only took a second before the Paladin awoke; it’s top right shoulder opens a hatch to reveal a minigun that has its laser sight on Summer. She raises her hand in glyph preparation but the Paladin immediately starts to fire the rubber bullets.

Quietly she sighed in minor annoyance. “No hesitation huh? This is gonna be fun” Summer starts running and raises her sword up before stabbing the tip against the track and erecting an ice wall. ‘No time to lose’ a wave of her left hand makes a trail of normal glyphs leading to one end of a track. Summer closed her eyes and took a slow breath in order to calm her nerves for a second before hoping in the first glyph and began sprinting at high speed. The minigun continued to follow her.

Valerie cracked a smile of excitement as she began advancing closer. ‘Looks like one of their measurements is on point so far. Time to test the others!’ Both her hands went up and passed her head to pull out both her tomahawks. The Paladin’s top left shoulder revealed a gun much like Atlas mechs use but bigger. A blue light gradually builds near the end of the chamber.

“Uh oh…” Valerie crosses both weapons to block as the stun laser fires directly at her. The beam bounces off of them and towards the sky but not before the beam sent an intense shock that made every muscle come to a screeching halt momentarily. A circular whole below the cockpit opened up to unleash a cannon that shot a single concussion grenade; exploding by her feet and pushing out a shockwave that sent Valerie flying several feet back.

“Val!!” Nick screamed as he continued to circle around the back. Attracting the attention of laser gun “Are you ok!?”

“Agh! That’s set to stun!?” She shook her body out then picked up her weapon to advance again.

Harriet can’t help but chuckle a little. “Goliaths take a lot of volts. Trust me, that’s the lowest setting but try not to get shot?”

“Well that sucks…”

The Paladin fires another grenade but Val points the left tomahawk straight at it. “You’re not the only one with hidden hatches. Val’s finger ran across the bottom near the middle of the handle and slid in between a trigger guard. A single pull of the trigger revealed an opening at the edge and a bullet flew out of the hollowed out handle then hit the grenade. Exploding it midair. Professor Port would’ve been proud. A second one gets fired and Val sidestep it then hurls it at the Paladin’s legs. The blade connects with both of them as it spins like a wild buzzsaw and then back into her hand. Not a scratch was made.

“I guess I need more force!” Val dug her feet into the dirt then pushed off with tremendous force. The mechanical right arm reeled back and swung forward. Both axes collided with a thunderous clang. The power behind the two attacks stalemating into a power struggle. Sparks come off of the clashing metal as Valerie refuses to budge. Val’s stomach drops as the left robot arm In her peripheral vision reels back. “Guys!?”

A white glyph forms under her feet and raises her into the sky just as the rest swings by. Valerie sees Nick on the other side of mech with his left hand casting the platform. “I got ya.” A volley of lasers fire rapidly his way but each one was dodged side to side at the last second. The gun pivoted along with him in an attempt to keep up; sparking an idea for Val. “Nick! Jump up high then drop fast!”

He doesn’t even question the command and leaps straight up into the air several feet; the gun still trained on him and ready to fire but that had been the point. “Summer!”

“I know.” She spun her barrel to gravity dust and made a black glyph that she moved to where he stood.

Nick’s entire body jerked back to the ground right as the laser fired right into the air. The base of the rotating joint was completely exposed and Nick understood what to do next. He lunged forward to it and wedged his blade underneath it. Valerie jumped off the platform and followed suit. The backside of both her axes were connected together to form a dual sided battle axe and she swung it like a baseball bat to wedge it in from the other side. The two pushed down their weight onto their weapon in an attempt to pop the gun out. Gritting their teeth and putting their all into

“Come….on…!!!” His arms started to burn.

“Budge you hunk of metal.”Her entire body finally limbering up and getting into it.

Summer continued to draw the minigun fire her way until it suddenly stopped. The entire Paladin stopped. A disturbing silence came over everyone as they also went still. Harriet slowly covered her eyes and tensed up. ‘This part always sucks.’ Her mind already thinking about the incident reports she was about to write.

The ground began to rumble violently at the Paladin’s feet. “Initiating thrusters”

Valerie’s face dropped. “Did it just say-”

The entire make blasted forward faster than anyone expected. A massive force of wind nearly knocked Nick and Valerie off of it. Both of their heads spinning are trying to process what had happened. As for Summer, one minute she’s supporting them from across the track. The next, she’s staring down the barrel of a canon a few feet away. “S..so fast.” A spell of panic came over her and she raised her sword across her body to block a grenade but it was a pointless move. The explosion knocked her on her back and myrtenaster 2.0 out of her hands. The shock knocked some wind out of her lungs but she has felt worse; taken worse.

Another grenade launched at her but she wasn’t about to get hit a second time. Summer quickly got up and dove out of the way towards her sword. ‘Come on, think damnit!’ She casted another gravity glyph on the side of the minigun and made it over turn so it wouldn’t shoot her. Ice dust remained faintly in the sword’s chamber; the technical advantage from its predecessor. Summer channeled it with gravity dust to form a dense orb of ice at the tip of her blade.

‘Keep it from reacting!’ She shot the orb into the canon to lodge the chamber then switched back to actual ice dust in a split second. ‘Keep it from moving!’ Summer stabbed the ground and unleashed a sheet of ice that trapped its feet.

“Way to go Summer!” Both her friends cheered at the split second decisions. Summer pulled her sword from the ground and platformed leaped up to them. Adding her blade as another wedge and attempting to pry the laser gun off with what strength she could offer. Which wasn’t much as the other two from the start. “Agh! This thing is creaking but not popping!”

“Let’s change that! You two ready!!?” Val shouted and glowed faintly

The twins smiled as they began glowing as well. “Yeah!”

“Then let my words reach you! We got this! We’re tougher than a bunch of tech so put your back into it!”

The three of them pushed down at the pushed down on their weapons in unison. Their body and spirits invigorated as they let out a yell. “AAAAAAHHHH! POP….OUT!!!!”

The joint finally gave out and popped out of the socket. Harriet couldn’t believe what she was watching. The sudden release of tension caught them off guard and all three fell off with it; undoing any active glyphs due to lack of concentration. The Paladin used its thrusters to break free then sped backward.

It pulled the ice orb out of the canon chamber and analyzed the area. While all three finally hit the ground. “Targets locked” six arching grenade shots went into the air Valerie and Summer were still dazed but Nick bounced back quickly.

“Oh no you don’t!”even glyphs formed over the leftover ice and molded into replicas of his sword. He grabbed one while the other six shot off into the air and countered the incoming attack while he charged forward. Moving out of the direction of his friends. “All eyes on me Wall-E I got a bone to pick with ya!” The gun turned to lock on him and unleashed a hail of bullets. ‘Rubber bullets are still rubber.’ He ran straight at it while spinning Mort Froide in front of him to deflect them. The ground started rumbling again and the Paladin rushed at him. Fortunately it’s movement’s were very straight forward and predictable. Nicholas slid underneath and slashed the bottom of it as it passed over.

The ice blade shattered on contact. ‘Sturdy down below too. The joints maybe? No, can’t budge those on my own. It's automatic so attacking the cockpit is almost pointless. Looks like I gotta make an opening.’ His eyes narrow in on where the laser gun was. ‘Or….’ he pressed his thumb against the hilt of his sword and it opened up a singular slot in it to place dust. Nick pulled out a vial of lightning dust and placed it inside, then closed it. “I refuse to fail.”

Val staggered to her feet along with Summer. Their ears rang and Summer’s head throbbed from the fall to the point she undid her ponytail to release tension.

Summer:You okay?

Valerie:A little dizzy but no sweat. We’re ready to go.

A wave of relief soothes the pain a little as their aura glowed again.Summer directed her attention across the field to see Nick invading fists and grenades exploding the ground. How long has he been fighting him? How was he still going? “We need to help. What’s he thinking going at it alone?”

“When did we get an audience?” Valerie said winded. People had filled the bleachers to half capacity. Summer looked at Harriet who simply shrugged. The girl was slightly unnerved by the new development but now was no time to focus on other people. She had a test to pass. “Val let’s-”

The crowd suddenly gasped, cutting her off and directing her attention back on Nick. The Paladin slammed it's hand to the ground and Nick dove threw the fingers then rolled up the arm. His hands gripped his blade brightly and engulfed it in a lightning glyph. He raised it over his head as he jumped and drove it down into the area where the laser gun was. The attack got an immediate reaction. Causing the Paladin to stutter and glitch. The minigun gun shot off random rounds with every pulse of electricity that went through it. Soon after, the robot itself began bucking in every direction like a wild Ursa; stomping its feet and shaking violently. Nicholas could only hold on for dear life.

‘We made the left arm vulnerable.’ Summer realized quickly and got to planning on how to capitalize on it. “Val, help Nick and keep that thing in one place. I have an idea. I just hope I can pull it off. Summer closed her eyes and bent down on one knee. ‘Concentrate…’ a giant white glyph with a sword sigil inside started spinning in front of her.

Val watched the girl start to sweat and tremble. She was pouring all aura she could into this next move.Val wasn’t about to make it go to waste. ‘Keep it still, gain it’s attention, Save Nick. Easy right?’ Her head swiveled back and forth until spotting the detached gun that had managed to land halfway across the track. ‘Let’s see if this thing can handle what it dishes out.’ Valerie took running. Hoping her idea wasn’t dead in the water by faulty wiring. The ground rumbled and rattled as the Paladin continued to thrash around to free itself from Nicholas. He could lose his grip any moment.She had to pick up the pace.

Finally she reached it after a few more minutes of sprinting. Valerie’s chest felt like fire and the crisp air made her throat feel like she had swallowed glass. Sports were her thing but sprinting a mile and a half? She’d rather bench five of herself. “Track huff... sucks huff… ” she grabbed a hold of the gun and tried to lift it. Slowly it started to budge as she took quick breaths to power through getting it waist level. “A one and a two and a-” she rocked her body back and used the momentum of it going forward again to swing her arms up and over her shoulder with the gun. The weight came down heavier than expected and made her knees buckled. It became too much and brought her down to one knee. If this was already extremely heavy then the thought of the recoil made Valerie shudder. “I swear if I don’t get an A….”

“NICK, YOU MIGHT WANT TO JUMP!”

“Huh?” The boy had completely focused on his own situation that the sight of Valerie with a bright, glowing gun pointed his way made him freeze up for a moment until his brain realized the insanity that was going on. Summer remained in the back. Long messy hair fell across her face and her exhaustion was clearly visible as her aura flickered; her eyes staring right at him that screamed “Move!”

“Oh crap!” He pulled his sword out and jumped off right as Valerie fired a shot. The single shot jerked the gun back violently and slammed against her shoulder. Forcing a scream of pure pain out of her lungs. Val’s right arm went limp as she grabbed it. The recoil popped her shoulder out of place but it might’ve been worth it. The beam flew right into the Paladin and caused electricity to crackle all over it. The minigun whipped around sporadically before going limp as well and burn marks ran over it. It’s right foot raised over Nick who wasn’t fast enough to dodge it. Harriet gasped and was about to reach the Paladin control but stopped herself as Nick made a platform above him for the foot to step on instead. Not just that, it kept it off balance. Valerie came sprinting towards him with her axe in one hand. A fierce look in her eyes as Harriet saw the girl reel it back and jump to the left leg. ‘Wait, don’t tell me she’s gonna-’

“FALL!! Valkyrie Drop!” Valerie swung downward with all her might and slammed her battle axe right next to its foot. The entire ground crumbled and cracked on impact. The weight of the Paladin caved the ground in; rendering it completely off-balance and a landslide of dirt to bury its foot. Rubble flew into the air then fell down like hail. Sizable dents were finally made on the media exterior; including cracks on the cockpit casing. Harriet felt her very soul leave her body. Never has anyone ruined the track area this much. Her only saving grace was hopefully Nick’s family would pay for some of the damage. Her job might depend on it! The boy in question rolled out from under the metal death machine and ran the opposite direction of Valerie to escape getting caught in the trap. Finally, it was one place. But not for long…

The heat of the thrusters on the right leg roared loudly as the Paladin tried to break free.

“Summer!!!” The two called her name in a state of adrenaline and panic.

Her summoning glyph glowed an intense white before disappearing, then reappearing right behind the Paladin. “Right...on time.” An Arma gigas sword forces its way into existence with its sword in hand. In one swipe the gigas slashes right through the damaged arm; making crash to the ground and creating a gaping hole to attack. “One more slash!” Summer screamed as the Gigas swung at the new weak. This was it. This was going to be the final blow. Was….

The Paladin was more adaptable than she expected. Than anyone expected. As if by command, it reached for its broken arm and used it to block the sword. A massive gust of wind came off the clash. The force of the impact was too great for the gigas arm. Causing it to crack slowly before fading away entirely. Summer’s face ran colder than the sweat running down it. Her heart nearly stopped at the sight of her failure. Then it only got worse. The Paladin ignored Nicholas and Valerie completely and threw its severed arm across the field towards her exact location.

“W-What?” She could barely speak, let alone move her body. That move took almost everything that was in her. All her strength, and most of her aura; yet it met nothing. Time seemed to slow down. The sound of the world growing silent. Summer could see a terrified look on her brother and friend’s face. They looked to be screaming something she was too tired and scared to even start comprehending. To her left was Harriet already halfway down the bleachers; racing to what was about to be on hell of a nasty hit. Yet it was unavoidable. Even Summer knew Harriet wasn’t fast enough to save her from this blow. That was fine though. It’s the consequence of being weak. You can’t expect to be saved all the time and Summer was tired constantly getting away with failure.

Her body trembled in frustration and fear. If she was alone then she’d probably be crying right now but instead she choked back her tears and quietly chastised herself for coming up short yet again. ‘After all that training, Nick’s talk about me being a cornerstone, this is all I could do again? Fall behind and let them down. Why…? Why am I so fucking weak all the time!?’ Her arms raised in front of her in a useless attempt to block some damage. Summer closed her eyes and braces for impact.

Don’t you dare sit there like an idiot! If you wanna save yourself then do it!!!!

The command resonated with Summer and her body moved like if she had just gotten out of bed; refreshed and limber. Both her hair and eyes lit up for a moment as she slammed her hands on the ground and formed a thick wall of ice in front of her in the blink of an eye. The mechanicals arm slammed into the wall and it came to a dead stop. The wall crumbled and Summer went back to normal before her aura finally broke. All fatigue and pain rushed back instantly. Along with blurring her vision. She stared at her reflection through one of the pieces of ice to see a version of herself with a familiar condescending smile. “Shi...va….”

Sigh, you’re such a lightweight it’s embarrassing. Don’t say I never did anything for you darling.

Exhaustion finally took Summer. She collapsed right as Harriet came over; blacking out in her arms. But not before giving a message for Harriet to tell her beloved team. Harriet looked at both of them and screamed. “Keep going! She’ll be fine!”

The two were uncertain at first before giving a nod and facing the robot which has completely freed itself and rescanned the area. “One of three combatants immobilized. Continuing examination for two and three.” The machine grabbed a piece of debris the size of a car at Nick while firing grenades faster than before at Valerie. Both took off running towards each other then straight down the middle of the field.

“You hanging in there Val?” The boy asked even the sight of her clenching her right shoulder and breathing heavily was giving him a pretty good answer.

“We’ve come too far to stop now. We’ll knock it off balance again and go for the opening. I’ll-”

“Look out!” Nick shoved Valerie out the way as a grenade landed where she stood and blew both of them apart. Nick tumbled back onto his feet with his sword ready. A wise decision since the Paladin rushed right at him again and swung a massive right hook. Nick jumped over then made a glyph midair to block an incoming grenade. The fist started coming back for a second attack at Nick but he made a second platform to jump over it again. This time he back stepped to get out of melee range ‘It’s gotten more aggressive. I need to...’ “Huh?”

There was no time for a well thought strategy in the heat of combat. Especially when the unexpected keeps happening. The Paladin was truly leaving nothing to the imagination. It grabbed the malfunctioning minigun on its shoulder and yanked it off. Throwing it at Nicholas to close the distance.

“No!” He screamed in panic as he tried making another glyph but was too slow. He put his sword up to reduce the blow but the gun still slammed against him; a piece of it crashed right into his ribs. Air left his body as pain shot through it while he fell to the ground hunched over and clenching his left side. Anyone near would’ve heard a few swear words slip out. He managed to look up to see the next attack but was surprised to see it heading towards Valerie. “Is it...agh, prioritizing most important threats as the fight goes on?” That had to be it. Without all it’s weapons it has to play carefully. It explained its attack patterns even from the start. Distance wasn’t the only factor. Whoever could or was causing the most damage was the main target; and right now the most threatening person right now had a wounded arm with no chance to recover.

Valerie groaned in exhaustion and frustration. She didn’t want to show it but she was even more tired than she let on. Between her arm and getting shocked, moving her body was becoming a chore. Not to mention how many times she has fallen to the ground hard. Valerie was in dire need of a break that would not come. She separated her battle axe back into two tomahawks and crouched at the ready. “I can do this. I can do this. I...can do this!” Her body glowed for a third time. Pain dulled and her mind became clear. “Come on!!!”

The canon launched a barrage of thirty grenades; the biggest one yet. She shot one and five exploded which dispersed the others in midair. Four fell to the ground away from her and she jumped in the air to hit one back. Two landed near her and blew her back but she recovered quickly. Above her head was six falling fast. ‘Shit..’ Valerie flung one axe into the air and detonated them with a chain reaction. She shot for more before the Paladin rushed at but Val dodged roll underneath it. One more fell right out of her line of sight and made her jump towards the middle when it exploded. The final five were falling right towards and she once again pulled the trigger on her axe to hear a click. Followed by no bullets.

“Tsk, I’m not done yet!” She threw this axe to detonate four of them. This time she put an extra hard spin on her axe that made it bounce back towards her to catch. The last got blasted of course and over her head. She faced the Paladin with a satisfied smirk and started aiming for the weak spot. “Time to fin-”

“Val, behind you!” Nick tried to shout with what air he recovered.

Valerie spun around and her smirk vanished into dread. The grenade was inches away from the laser gun She had dropped. Before she could move to safety it exploded. The shockwave blew up the gun into a mass electrical pulse that expanded almost instantly and hit Valerie. The excess energy ran through Valerie like a thousand tasers in water. She could barely get out an auditable noise as she stood stiff; her axe falling out her hand and the Paladin moving towards her.

Nick’s fingers gripped the ground as he tries to force his body to move. Pushing down the pain and refusing to let help another teammate in need. ‘Come on Nick! Forget the pain….just move man, move!!!! You’re a Schnee and an Arc so move!” A giant glyph formed underneath him….

Valerie continued to try moving but to no avail. She stood in agonizing pain as the Paladin stood over her and reeled it's fist back. Valerie would’ve been more unnerved if the shock to her system didn’t make her vision blurry and her body increasingly go numb from the pain . All Valerie saw was a gray blob getting bigger before the sensation of something caused her head to feel like it was spinning. Everything got really bright and fuzzy as she faintly felt pressure around her arms and legs. Then….she blacked out.

Nick placed her just outside the track near Harriet before walking back in bounds. His sword gripped tightly in his right hand. While his left hand gripped an Arma Gigas blade; Harriet watched the boy encased in armor take a breath and take a wide stance. “M..maybe we should stop? You’ve gotten farther than most. All of your skills are worth passing”

Nick turned around and shook his head. The only thing visible was his icy blue eyes behind the helmet. No, I’ll make sure we pass this right. That, and I’m really in the mood to scrap that thing now more than ever. His voice was low and almost like he couldn’t care less. Harriet could feel how pissed he was. No chance he was backing down now. “Heh, I’m rooting for ya.”

“Thanks.” He continued walking. Taking note of his surroundings. The severed robot arm and behind him where Summer got knocked out on the end of the track. The Paladin that was back in the middle of the field. Last but not least, the far end of the track that was now a rocky terrain of rocks and dirt. Then there’s him. Stepping back into the field in between the bot and arm. His entire body ached to the point that moving should be the hardest thing imaginable. It kinda was, but he endured. The Gigas moved his body. All he needed to do was endure a few more minutes. Or rather, that’s all he had left in him. ‘Can’t afford to waste a single movement. All or nothing. Just dig deep…’

The Paladin scanned the area one final time. “Two of three co-”

Nick didn’t care to listen and pointed Mort Froide to the ground. A blue glyph went over it and ten blades of ice came out the ground. He then pointed his blade at the Paladin and the ice ones homed in on it. “Let’s see what takes priority.” It shot one at each blade which caused another shock wave that dissipated any dust particles.This time he threw his real sword at it and it responded with a single grenade. “Bad move.” The same glyph ran over it right after the Paladin reacted. Ten more ice blades formed from the remaining dust left in the sword and flew ahead of it.. The Paladin tried to counter against the new numbers and in doing so missed Nicholas throw the Arma blade at a speed faster than the rest. It caught on a second later then turned to prioritize it. As it did, Nick summoned it back into his hand. Throwing off the counter. “I knew you’d go after the blade that actually cut you. Now look at ya.”

The machine went back to aiming at the ice swords. It only managed to shoot one grenade but it had gotten too close. The shock wave shattered the other swords but pushed the Paladin back with not only that blast, but the nine other grenades at the ready as well. The concentrated blast blew the canon and cracked the ground even more. Mort Froide landed straight into the dirt, blade downwards. “All out of bombs.” He raced towards it while grabbing his sword along the way. Once again the ground rumbled before the Paladin took off towards him as well.

Nick quickly slid between its legs and kept running in the same direction before it had a chance to turn around. The moment he made it to the edge of the ruined field he drove his blade deep into the ground and charged towards the Paladin again with only the Arma blade. The Paladin stuck its hand in the ground and turned itself around for another tackle. Harriet almost couldn’t watch out of fear that she’d see her student get flattened but fortunately, dodged to the side with no arm. Avoiding the extremely dangerous attack. It was like he was one of those bull fighters. However, this time was different. Nick spun around and extended his arm as he passed by it. Her eyes followed Nick’s line of sight back to Mort Froide that had a black glyph spinning underneath. He must’ve put gravity dust in during the first charge. She wondered why until a sinking feeling hit her stomach.

“Oh no…” The Paladin used the same turning technique but it uncalculated consequences. Nick wasn’t expecting the move but added to his plan. The weight of it along with the extra gravity was so too great and more of the ground collapsed; momentarily as Nick made his way to the severed arm. His body and aura reach their limits quickly. “Just a little more. Almost...finished!”

One final glyph appeared underneath the arm and spun rapidly. He looked behind him to see the Paladin getting up and perusing him once more. It quickly dashed across the feel while having its arm raised. Nick couldn’t help smile. “Catch!” The glyph burst and launched the arm up the Arma Gigas body came off of Nick while leaving the sword. It leaped into the air and rammed the limb hard enough to send it at the Paladin, disappearing as well. The Paladin used it’s only arm to catch the other instead of attacking;now it couldn’t swing down with how close it was. No more guns, distance was closed, and there was no room to dash forward. Checkmate. Nick willed his body to stand up and lunged upward at it. Driving his sword through one of cracks. “It’s Over!!!” He screamed with all his might as he poured whatever aura he had left into the blade and watched it grow bigger and until it was the size it was supposed to be; until the blade pierced through the other side.

Nobody made a sound. They didn’t even seem to breathe as Nick and the robot stopped completely. Slowly his grip loosened and he fell. Harriet quickly ran and caught him in her arms before he could land. Nick could only smile weakly before closing his eyes and passing out. Harriet looked backup as the sword faded away and the Paladin fell backwards, completely wrecked. Without warning, the crowd of students on the bleachers erupted in cheers and applause. It had been quite the spectacle. Yet Harriet could still only manage to look at him and his friends who were still resting on the sidelines. They actually did it. They passed.

Part 10

#rwby #rwby au #rwby twin snowflakes #rwby whiteknight #summer schnee #val valkyrie #renora #harriet bree #man did this take some effort!#this calls for a cookie #nicholas schnee #i usually dont ask for reblogs but if you would be so kind

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imagine-loki · 5 years

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Wedded Bliss

TITLE: Wedded Bliss CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: Chapter 36 AUTHOR: MaliceManaged ORIGINAL IMAGINE: Imagine Odin determined to find Loki a wife in a misguided, though somewhat well-intentioned attempt to ‘mellow him’. … RATING: T NOTES/WARNINGS: I… have no excuse for how long this took. The chapter has been written for weeks, I just had to proof read it, but when I finally got some time to do that I got distracted writing most of a one shot ya’ll gon hate me for.

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As expected, the day after Loki’s Nameday as they had breakfast with the family Frigga suggested they stay ‘for a few more days’, causing the pair to exchange a knowing look that prompted laughs from all of them.

“I suppose I have become predictable,” Frigga conceded humorously.

“Eh, maybe a little bit,” Edith joked. “We did plan for this, though. As long as we’re back for New Year’s, it’s fine; any longer and I’m afraid you’ll upset a few people.”

“That’s alright; we do not celebrate the final day of the year so specifically,” Odin said before smirking slightly, “Though now you have said that, I fear you have guaranteed you will spend at least part of the Jól here.”

They laughed and Frigga swatted Odin’s arm in response. The rest of the meal passed in silence then light conversation was had for a while after until the monarchs left to carry on their respective duties while Thor all but dragged Loki and Edith to the training grounds, wanting to see how they fought together now that they had been partners for a few months.

“You do realise since we are staying for most of the month, we could do this any other time, don’t you?”

“Yes, well, there is no time like the present!” Thor grinned, causing Edith to snort.

“Anyone ever tell you you’re like a puppy?” Edith asked, earning a slightly bemused look. She turned to Loki, “We might as well; he’s not going to let it go until we do.”

Loki sighed, conceding the point, then walked off to an empty area and conjured several animated constructs. Edith joined him, accepting the daggers he summoned for her with a smile. They took a stance, assessing their targets, then got to work. As they fought, other warriors stopped their own training to watch them; the chemistry between the two was unmistakable, their attacks blending seamlessly. Loki had kept his promise to teach her his battle tactics and Thor could see it clearly in how Edith handled the blades. When all the constructs lay in pieces all over the floor there were cheers from their impromptu audience, before they all turned back to what they’d been doing.

“Satisfied?” Loki asked of Thor as they walked off to the sidelines for a drink.

Thor rolled his eyes. “As if it bothered you so terribly to show off your skills.”

Edith laughed. “He’s got you there, dude,” she said, earning a mock glare she blew a kiss at.

****

Edith stepped out of her bathroom wrapping her hair up in a towel and grumbling slightly to herself, having once again forgotten her clothes on her bed. She had just finished pulling on her panties when the door burst open and Thor barged in, causing her to let out a startled shriek, her hands coming up to cover her chest and thanking whatever force wanted the credit that her back had been facing the door already. Thor for his part immediately looked away.

“What the fuck, Thor; don’t you know how to knock??”

“I’m sorry! I was looking for my brother!”

“In my room??”

“Well, he is not in his!”

“That’s not an excuse to just barge in!”

“I said I was sorry!”

“Don’t be sorry; just get out!”

“Right! Right,” he stammered red faced, wondering why that hadn’t occurred to him already, before making a swift exit.

Tossing the towel on her head aside and dressing in record time, Edith opened her door to find a very sheepish looking Thor waiting in the hallway. “Now, why are you looking for Loki?”

“It is tradition for us to hunt with father; the game we bring back will be the main fare for the Jól feasts starting tomorrow. He has been busy, or avoiding me, the past few days, but we have to ready ourselves today.”

“Well, I haven’t seen him since breakfast. Odin sent word he wanted to talk to him, and that’s as far as I know.”

“I see. I suppose I will go look in father’s study, then. I… apologise again.”

“It’s fine, just… Knocking; it’s very useful.”

Thor ducked his head then turned and walked away. Edith watched him go for a moment before going back into her room to brush her hair out before it dried into a tangled mess. That done, she walked out, making her way to the stables where Sif was waiting for her.

“You took your time,” Sif commented.

“Sorry; Thor apparently forgot knocking is a thing people do.”

Sif arched an eyebrow. “Dare I ask?”

“I left my clothes on my bed,” Edith replied with a wince.

To her credit, Sif tried to suppress her laugh, even though she failed miserably. “Oh, Norns, that is… that is awkward.”

“Yeah, laugh it up,” Edith said, grabbing a handful of oats from a nearby pail and throwing it at Sif, causing her to burst out laughing. “Bitch.”

“I’m sorry, it is just…” She tried to get herself under control, succeeding after a while. “If it is any consolation; I doubt he will forget again any time soon. Though I suppose he should be grateful you were dressing after bathing and not… otherwise occupied…”

“Noooo! Don’t say that; you’ll jinx it!” Edith cried dramatically, making Sif laugh again.

Getting on their horses, they led them out past the palace gates and into the city beyond at a leisurely trot, discussing the sparring match they’d had the previous day which Sif had of course won but she’d been impressed by Edith’s skill, given the younger woman hadn’t had much practise with swords. They reached the forest and urged their horses into a gallop; they had a ways to go and hoped to get there before dark.

Halfway to their destination a group of seven men armed with swords and hatchets jumped out from behind the trees, blocking the way and causing the women to pull on their horses’ reins to stop them.

“Well, well, what have we here?” the one in the middle spoke, eyeing the two women with a grin, “Bit far from the city for such lovely creatures.”

Sif rolled her eyes. “You are either foolish or suicidal to think to ambush us.”

“I suggest you get out of our way while we still feel nice,” Edith added.

The man scoffed. “The great Lady Sif and the Trickster’s pet; a fine catch, I think. Get us a fine price for the both of you. Now just kindly dismount and come quietly, and we won’t have to get rough.”

Edith looked at Sif, who shrugged. They got down from the horses, pulling the swords strapped onto the saddles out of their scabbards along the way, Sif grabbing her shield and blowing a sharp whistle that sent the horses running off. The four men nearest them swore and dove out of the way while two others ran to the women, who met the charge with battle cries that gave them a moment’s pause.

A moment was all Sif needed to knock her opponent’s sword out wide with her shield and stab his throat, turning from him as soon as her sword was free to meet the next one. Edith ducked the somewhat sloppy swing her opponent tried to recover with, pushing the blade aside with her own and pulling a dagger from her belt which she used to stab the man in the gut twice before stabbing up into the spot where the man’s throat met his head. As Edith blocked her next opponent’s attack, she saw the remaining two approaching, apparently deciding she was the easier prey.

And she might have been… if not for her belt pouches full of explosives.

Dropping her dagger as she backed away from the man in front of her, Edith dug into one of the pouches and took out a few of her armour piercing pellets, throwing them at the approaching men, taking them completely off guard so that they were dead almost before they knew what had happened. She sent a sharp grin to her remaining, very shocked opponent, who quickly turned tail and tried to run, only to run into Sif’s sword.

They turned to the leader who, realising he was sorely outmatched, tried to flee as well, only to end up with a dagger to the back of his head thrown by Edith.

“Nice throw!” Sif commended, looking around them to be sure there were no more attackers.

“Thanks!” Edith grinned. She went over to retrieve her dagger, not wanting to leave it behind.

Sif whistled sharply, calling their horses back and mounting hers. “We should keep moving, else we won’t make it before dark after all.”

Edith hummed as she got on her horse. “Hey, how come you’re ‘great’ and I’m someone’s pet? That’s not fair,” she pouted, earning a laugh.

“Because men are idiots,” Sif replied easily, “If our positions were reversed and I were the one being courted, that is all they would see then as well.”

“Well, that’s bullshit,” Edith scoffed, “If anything, Loki would be my pet.”

That left Sif laughing for most of the ride.

#Loki #Lover #God of Mischief #Others #Submitted fic #submission #wedded bliss #chapter 36 #malicemanaged

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frostclawdragoon · 5 years

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Prompt #3: “Lost Friend”

Gunblade in hand, R’ouros charged through the battlefield, passing by resistance fighters and clashing into the Garlean soldiers and magitek monstrosities that opposed them. With an intense roar of courage, he brought his blade down upon the enemies that threatened to invade and destroy all they had worked to save and build.

This… This was an enemy he knew how to fight. He knew their strengths, their weaknesses. He knew how they thought, strategized and moved. Each attack made toward him and every footstep to change stances was text-book typical. He didn’t need foresight to know how to dodge such basic swordsmanship and predictable artillery fire.

Studying the art of war. Studying Garlemald. He spent those four long agonizing years learning their history, their culture, their way of combat. Not out of curiosity, not out of searching for a weakness. But because he had to. And now their very idea of life and war had been turned against them in the form of a seemingly harmless miqo’te with a passion for knowledge.

Approaching a magitek armor that was stomping its way toward him, he narrowed his eyes and honed his focus. He quickly lept and rolled to the side, narrowly dodging a missile that impacted beside him. He bolted forward, cutting his way through two more soldiers before reaching the suit of armor. Like clockwork, he knowingly and effortlessly climbed his way up to the seat with the speed of an opo-opo, startling the driver. R’ouros slammed his blade into the control yoke, released the hilt, grabbed the soldier and yanked him out of the seat. He gripped onto his blade again and lept off the now sparking magitek suit and continued his path further into the warzone.

The faster he could end this battle, the faster he could end any further death. Eorzea had suffered enough. The world had suffered enough.

R’ouros shielded his face with his arm from a spattering of dirt and mud as some manner of explosion went off nearby. He didn’t let that deter him or distract him. He kept pushing forward, kept searching for whoever was leading this attack against Ala Mhigo. Could it be the Crowned Prince? He had heard rumors of his apparent survival after taking his own life… I don’t think I could fight him one-on-one, he thought. That might be a fight that is far out of my league--

He skidded around a muddy hill and immediately came face-to-face with another miqo’te. R’ouros stopped dead in his tracks, his breath hitching in his throat and his eyes went wide. That unmistakable stark-white hair against the blackened Garlean armor…

“Khito…!” R’ouros choked out in surprise.

“Ouros…?” Khito responded, sounding just as surprised as he looked. A second later, though, and his expression grimaced. “What the hells are you doing here?” He hissed.

There was a momentary pause, one defended by the sounds of war echoing around them. For R’ouros though, the seconds felt like an eternity as time seemed to slow. The sounds and smells of battle, smoke and death faded as his focus and guard dropped instantaneously. Khito was here… Alive and, despite the blood, sweat and mud smeared on him, he looked healthy, physically and mentally. It overwhelmed him with relief.

R’ouros tensed slightly at the faint tickling of tears forming in his eyes, and he stepped forward. In response, Khito stepped back.

“Come home…!” R’ouros exclaimed, the words bubbling out of him. “Stop fighting and come home!”

“You can’t be serious... ” Khito growled in annoyance. “We’re in the middle of a war, Ouros!”

“But we don’t have to be!” R’ouros retorted with another step forward. “We can just drop our weapons now and make a run for it!”

“And become a deserter? Like you?” Khito snapped, causing R’ouros to flinch. “I’m not going to run away from this. I’ve come too far and sacrificed too much to quit now, and I’m certainly no coward.”

“It’s not cowardice!” R’ouros said with a hard shake of his head. “Garlemald is wrong, Khito! I’ve seen what kind of horrors they can inflict! They hurt people, tear families apart and torture those who fight against them! They’re not heroes!”

“Yet it isn’t Garlemald that’s summoning Primals!” Khito spat. “We’re stopping the bad guys, the real bad guys. The ones that refuse to put a stop to the beasts and people who summon these creatures of mass destruction. We’re saving the world by doing you all a favor and getting rid of the lawlessness that plagues the world.”

R’ouros could feel, in the pit of his stomach, a growing frustration that was getting worse by the second. “Why won’t you listen to reason?!” He snapped. “Are you really that blind to the suffering of everyone around you?!”

“You’re the one who’s blind!” Khito snapped back. “Parading around with the resistance rats, acting like your some mighty hero when all you’re doing is helping the enemy further their goals!”

“I’m trying to save everyone! Even you! Can’t you see that?!” R’ouros tensed again as tears threatened his eyes again. “I miss you!”

R’ouros swore he saw a flicker in those sharp, intense eyes. Just for a moment, his eyes had softened, granting R’ouros a brief window to see the Khito he used to know. Somewhere, buried deep under the lies and poison the Garleans instilled in him, he was still himself. R’ouros just had to grab onto that flicker of light, of desperation, of longing for his home and family. He had to keep it from being snuffed out completely.

He couldn’t lose him.

“Please, Khito.” R’ouros begged. “Please just stop fighting and come home. We’ll put all of this behind us and forget it ever happened…!”

“I can’t.”

“Yes you can!” He took another step toward him. “I’ll help you, Kara will help you!” He smiled weakly. “We can go back to the way things used to be, before the Calamity, before Garlemald and wars and resistances…! We can be a family agai--!!”

A sharp pain shocked through R’ouros’ head, forcing him to drop his blade as his eyes went wide. No. Not now. Not here…! He stumbled backward, his hands clutching onto his head as the pain throbbing in his brain worsened. His heartbeat thumped loudly and wildly in his ears, making the sounds around him muffled as though he were being submerged in water. Through his vision, which began to double and blur, he watched Khito step back, a look of horror crossing his features.

“... No…” He heard him say, his tone was filled with disbelief. “No you--... You’re one of them, aren’t you...?”

R’ouros tried desperately to respond, to explain what was happening, but he couldn’t. He wasn’t allowed to. He was never allowed to do anything. His senses dulled and his eyes pinched closed tightly to the overwhelming pain… And when he opened his eyes, he no longer stood on a battlefield, but instead, he was on a beach. Warm, white sands. Crystal clear waters and a bright blue sky. The sun was warm on his face… He was home...

“... I’m leaving.” He heard Khito say.

He looked over, Khito stood beside him on the beach. He was younger, more inexperienced, but the fierce determination in his eyes was as it ever was. He stared out at the ocean, his mind already made up.

“Why?” R’ouros asked.

Khito looked back at him. “I want to make sure that another calamity never happens again.” He answered. “I want to fight to protect our home.”

“... How long will you be gone?”

He shrugged and looked out at the water. “I don’t know... I don’t know how bad it is out there or how many of those world-ending creatures are running free… But I’ll stop them. No matter what.”

R’ouros looked out at the water and frowned deeply. The thought of never getting to see Khito again weight heavy on him, and it made it hard for him to breathe. He took in a hard, shaking breath as he prepared to wish him luck.

“... Come with me.” Khito asked, unprompted.

“What?” R’ouros looked at him.

Khito returned his gaze with a confident smile. “You want to get away from this life, right? To be free? You can come with me, see the world and help me keep it safe.”

Gradually, an uncontrollable wide grin spread on R’ouros face as joy and excitement bubbled up inside him, replacing the earlier sorrow.

“YEAH! Of COURSE I wanna go with you!” He exclaimed. “I wanna see everything! Read everything! And help you save everyone! Oh man, we’ll take on the world and keep it safe together! Khito and Ouros, the world’s greatest heroes!”

Khito couldn’t help but bark out a laugh.

A flash, and R’ouros was flung back to the present as a sharp, hot and heavy pain crushed into his entire body. His eyes bulged wide as he struggled to gasp in air before hacking out blood. The sounds of war filled his ears again as his senses came about him. He was lying face first in a puddle of mud, his body unresponsive to movement and burning in agony. Lifting his shaking head, he glanced around slowly as he tried to make sense of what had happened. The vision he had seemed so brief… But how much time had actually passed?

From what he could tell, he was crushed under a pile of debris. Magitek in make, judging by the metal… Perhaps a piece from an airship that had been shot down? He couldn’t tell. He tried to push up off the ground or even shove the metal off him, but he couldn’t move. Sharp, broken edges of the debris were dug into his flesh, pinning him there.

He heard rustling and creaking of metal nearby. Shakily, he looked over and saw Khito crawling out of the same debris, coughing to the smoke. He was bloodied and wounded, but still somehow managed to stand.

“K… Khito--” R’ouros coughed out, catching his attention. “Khito h-help--!”

Khito stared down at him with laboring breaths, his eyes wide with adrenaline and… Fear? He didn’t move.

R’ouros weakly stretched his hand out as far as he could, despite the metal digging into his shoulder. He reached toward Khito with clenched teeth, his fingers and hand trembling with pain.

“H-help--...!” He called out again with a wheezing cough. “I-it hurts--! I can’t b-breathe--!”

Khito took a step back.

“... Khito…?”

He took another.

“Khito w-wait--!”

He turned and ran. Running as far and as fast as his wounded body would let him. R’ouros watched as he disappeared off into the ash-filled smoke, his blood-covered eyes wide as he stared at the now empty field of dirt in front of him. His chest, already stinging from the crushing pain and smoke, grew even heavier as his heart crumbled. The tears that had once more welled in his eyes began rolling down his cheeks, his gaze never leaving the smoky land where he had last seen Khito’s silhouette. He foolishly hoped, foolishly waited for him to come back. To save him… He would.. Right? They were best friends… Right...?

He’ll be back… He’ll be back… He kept telling himself.

… He never did.

His head struggled to remain lifted, and eventually, his neck could no longer support him. His face mashed down into the sticky mud below him, and not long after that, the pain, physically and emotionally, had become too much to bear and unconsciousness took him.

@sea-wolf-coast-to-coast

#FFxivWrite2019 #my writings #I missed day two cause of various reasons #BUT I AT LEAST GOT DAY THREE #dfGLDFGMLDFG #have Sad Spoilers #for my sad sad cat boi #I'll write about another character soon I promise dfGLDFMGLDFGFD

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otomeshistarlight-blog · 6 years

Text

We’re chugging right along with the enigmatic Dabi!

1. Sleep: Dabi probably sleeps in ‘the yearner’ position, an assumption I’m basing off the personality traits associated with this pose. People who sleep like this are a little complicated: they are open-minded, yet cynical; slow and suspicious when making a decision, but stick to it once their minds are made up. If that doesn’t sound like our favorite fire-based villain, then I don’t know what does. Essentially he always looks like he’s reaching out for something that isn’t there, maybe a person or even a moment in time he remembers fondly, and as such you can’t help but feel a little morose while you watch him snooze. Something about him lying there like that just strikes you as so sad but if you ask him about it in the morning, he’ll shrug you off with a smart remark. However if you decide to lie down with him, don’t be surprised when those stretched out arms snake their way around your body and pull you in tight against the front of his chest. He doesn’t look it, but he’s actually quite the cuddler - at least when he’s asleep anyway. In fact, you’ll be hard pressed to disengage from his embrace if you find yourself needing to pee in the middle of the night so you’d better use the bathroom before bedtime. I almost want to describe him as being a clingy bed partner but possessive might be a slightly more accurate term. He snores on occasion, softly and only for a few minutes at a time, and he’s a pretty solid sleeper so you wont have to worry about accidentally getting hit in the face. Definitely hogs the blankets though so be prepared for a game of tug-o-war.

2. Sad: Dabi is a pretty aloof individual anyway but I think you’d easily be able to tell when he was feeling a little down. Rather than simply looking sleepy like usual, his eyes would take on a more hollow expression and the corners of his mouth would pinch around his scarred flesh. He may not be able to hide his emotions well but he’d certainly be loathe to open up about it in an honest way, defensively guarding the truth until you either dropped the subject or he forced you to drop it. Rather than being cold, he’s simply a secretive person out of necessity and burying his emotions is pretty much second nature at this point. If you managed to break his walls down enough that he trusted you, implicitly and unequivocally, he would eventually choose the most inopportune time to come clean about what he was feeling. Maybe it would be something as domestic as when you were brushing your teeth before bed or maybe in the middle of dinner without any forewarning to the sudden topic change but, more than likely, I see it happening when the mood is decidedly inappropriate. Perhaps right in the middle of sex, his attempt at really startling you, or even in the middle of a heated argument that has absolutely nothing to do with his emotions and he’d likely take great pleasure in seeing you rattled at the sudden announcement. Any sort of confession in this regard would be used as leverage for him to get the upper hand rather than him actually wanting to talk about his feelings.

3. Happy: Dabi is only truly happy when he’s the direct cause of chaos and mayhem, or when he inadvertently finds himself standing in the middle of such a scene. The negatively charged energy and bad vibes that radiate off a situation like this, whether that be a disorganized bar brawl or a burning building collapsing around him, makes his skin crawl in the best way imaginable. It feeds him, stoking him like an open air flame, and it just gets him more amped up with each passing second. He’s used to going about things as a lone wolf of sorts, and he’s more than content with this, but I think he’d be pleasantly surprised to find that having a partner in crime just makes the end results all the more satisfying. You’d need to be able to keep up with him without slowing him down, and it would also help if you were just as fearless as he was, but he’d truly enjoy having you along for the ride. After all, two pairs of hands are better than one and he absolutely lives for that moment where you can pull the metaphorical grenade pin together and watch everything come crashing down. The adrenaline fueled sex afterwards is nothing to shake your finger at either.

4. Angry/Violent: Dabi is, for the most part, a relatively laid back kind of guy. Rather than getting angry, he prefers to focus on spitting arsenic laced words and dripping thick sarcasm from every syllable but by no means is he immune to bouts of rage. Actually, his are some of the most explosive you’re likely to see any time soon and its best to stick clear when he finds himself in one of these moods. I can easily see him absolutely scorching a place to the ground during one of these blind meltdowns but, on a slightly more subdued note, I certainly don’t put basic property damage past him. Punching holes in the wall, throwing/breaking furniture, smashing windows, etc. However, it would take an awful lot to get him to this point and, although I don’t think he could be talked down after already going off the deep end, there is that possibility that you could potentially diffuse the situation before it got that far. It would be best to try and get him to walk away from whatever was upsetting him enough that he’d drop his smart mouthed attitude, but if you were the cause of his little temper tantrum ... may god help you.

5. Sex: Dabi strikes me as an experimental and fun partner whose not restricted by basic notions of what is and isn’t acceptable to do in the bedroom. Or an alleyway. Or in the bathroom of a seedy bar. Or anywhere really. The point is, he’s down for basically whatever, whenever the mood strikes him. He’s just living his life and trying to have a good time so I definitely think he’d need a lover with as few inhibitions as him. An innocent partner would be fun to tease and taking advantage of their naivety would be something he’d take great joy in, but eventually that would get old. He wants to be excited by the act and experience the rush and thrill of doing something decidedly bad with someone who enjoys it just as much as him. Perhaps this is simply an act of rebellion, lashing out against the society that tried to tame his spirit, or maybe he’s just a legitimate freak in the sack. Either way, I know I’m picking up whatever he’s putting down. He doesn’t have much interest in the slow and steady technique, much preferring to go to town with foundation shaking enthusiasm, but if the right moment called for it he could be persuaded to take it down a notch. Like, say, if he had you pinned to a pool table in the farthest corner of a crowded bar and he just ever so inconspicuously lifted your skirt up ....

6. Living Quarters: Dabi is a controlled mess in every facet of his life. He strikes me as a mostly nomadic villain who doesn’t stay in one place for too long, jumping from abandoned building to backrooms in strip clubs and sometimes even landing on a couch in a veritable meth den. Its not glamorous and its not pretty, but its the life he’s chosen for himself. He likely does have a little nesting spot to call his own, one thats secluded and hard to find, perhaps an underground bunker of sorts that no one knows about, where he can keep what little personal belongings he owns. But he doesn’t go there very often, just when the mood strikes him, and he always half expects the place to be raided and empty every time he stops by. I’m very doubtful about Tomura giving him or any of the others a place to stay above the bar - I don’t know if that building would even necessarily be outfitted with bedrooms anyway, and that kind of generosity would ride on the implication that Tomura actually liked Dabi as a fellow person. Which, given their sassy back and forth banter, doesn’t exactly seem to be the case. I’m eagerly awaiting more details concerning this in canon and I do so hope that Horikoshi delivers.

7. Romantic: Dabi doesn’t appear to have a romantic bone in his body, much preferring general displays of lust to communicate his attraction and also the occasional lewd gestures that are sure to raise a few eyebrows. Its not even that he isn’t aware of how these kinds of things work, its just that he has no interest and they, quite frankly, bore him. He appears to be a rebel without a cause and everything about him screams to me ‘fuck the man’ so of course he’s going to do the exact opposite of what he was always told to do. But more than that, if he wanted a normal relationship with normal parameters that didn’t feature high stakes then he wouldn’t have become a villain. I think its obvious that he doesn’t want ‘normal’ and in fact I’d be willing to bet that, if anything, he’d look for something as abnormal as you could possibly get. That being said, I could see him showing his affection by giving you gifts in the form of stolen trinkets or maybe taking you to get a piercing. Or maybe doing it himself. The closest he’d probably get to actual romanticism would be some of the pragmatic, obscurely prophetic nonsense I could easily see him spouting at random. The kind of stuff that makes you feel like the center of his world and like a speck of dust all at the same time.

8. Family & Friends: Dabi is ... an enigma for good reason. I don’t necessarily feel comfortable even taking a stab at this one because, while I do subscribe to the theory that he’s a Todoroki, there are far too many different angles to approach that from for me to even begin making an accurate prediction. Based on the evidence, I do think that he’s Endeavor’s second oldest son and all of the coincidental pussyfooting around him and his real identity is suspicious as hell but the exact details are as good as anyones guess. Was he a failed experiment? Shoto version 1.0? Was he jealous that Shoto was the chosen one instead of him? Did he get burnt up trying to protect Shoto? Like, there are just way too many possibilities and not enough facts to base anything off of at this point. And thats not even mentioning the fact he not only could have been, but likely was, an entirely different person before becoming a villain, which only further muddles this topic. He’s not the same, unhinged psychopath that Toga is (and damn, do I love her) so that seems to imply that he wasn’t always this way. Anything I could say to answer this question would be pure conjecture unlike the rest of this post so I don’t even want to take a stab in the dark here.

9. Hobbies: Dabi seems like the sort who’d enjoy playing pool and darts, typical leisure activities you’d find in a bar, and maybe some artistic outlets like painting. I doubt he has a lot of down time though so I see him being more of an ‘out looking for trouble’ kind of guy who somehow manages to find himself in increasingly improbably situations. I also think he’d be into gambling, even just on a basic level, but he’d no doubt be quite good at it with that poker face of his.

10. Likes/Dislikes: Dabi likes chaos, whether causing it or simply being stuck in the middle of it, quiet places to wind down in after all the fun has been said and done, adrenaline fueled situations and interesting people/things. He dislikes those who look down on him for any reason, being bored or otherwise unstimulated and soap box preachers.

11. Childhood: Again, this is something I just can’t make an educated guess about and I apologize for that.

12. Old Age: Dabi likely doesn’t see himself reaching old age given both his lifestyle and his penchant for trouble. I also view him as having the ‘live fast, die young’ sort of mindset that only exacerbates his thrill seeking nature and the only thing thats kept him alive this long are his goals ... whatever those may be. Revenge? Making a point? Again, conjecture!

13. Cooking: Dabi isn’t much of a cook but after fending for himself for so long, he’s got the basics down. He can prep a cup of instant ramen like no ones business and he makes a mean grilled cheese. But thats about the extent of his culinary skills and he doesn’t get a chance to polish them all that often as I imagine he’d be more inclined to find someone (or a couple someones) who were willing to give him handouts for one reason or another. Regardless, he appears thin enough that food doesn’t seem to be a top priority and he likely takes scraps whenever he can get them. He looks like he’d be a fan of spicy food though. The hotter the better.

14. Random: Dabi’s favorite positions are the Downward Dog, because he likes wrestling you underneath him and pinning you down in a prone position thats just perfect for hitting your g-spot. He does so love making you scream until your throat is hoarse, after all.

The Pile Driver, for much of the same reasons

and of course the Reverse Cowgirl because he strikes me as an ass man and he loves nothing more than watching yours bounce on his dick.

Dabi is, almost without a doubt, a kinky little bastard and I could easily see him incorporating various forms of bondage and power play dynamics into a relationship. I think he’d find any kind of piercing play especially tantalizing and risky public sex seems like it would likewise be at the top of his list. Rather than having one angle he prefers to go in at, he’d actually enjoy trying out all kinds of different things to see what sticks, whats just kind of eeh, and what ends in disastrous failure. Never a dull moment with this one, be ready for the ride of your life if you choose to ignore all the warning signs and climb on board anyway.

#hero academia #dabi #self insert bullshit #my writing

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z-007 · 3 years

Text

Asset Zain's Adventures

Fiction

Asset Zain’s Adventures

Agent Zain spent nearly about 3 years doing nothing. Absolutely nothing. He was reading, Ian Fleming, Mathew Dunn, Tom Clancy and the biography of Morten Storm. He had an enormous and abnormal heart beat while reading those texts. He was amazed by the intelligence, prediction of the future and vision. Let alone the abilities of the operatives’ wittiness and abilities to use magicians’ techniques to acquire all they want, by any means necessary. After reading the novels, he kept asking himself “What is the purpose of getting married and raising children, what would he gain after getting stuck in a bloody sanctimonious routine behind the desk, doing paperwork? What would he achieve? What is life without danger, adventure and taking risks? For him, he preferred to be “like a kite dancing in a hurricane”. Suddenly, the phone rang, the headquarters of the secret service told him that he was requested. He bathed in cold water after sprinting, had a double portion of espresso as “he hated small portions of anything”. After he entered the building, he smiled to the secretary, entered the office of the chief, C and stood in front of him. He told him to sit down. He looked at him morosely, it was a look of disrespect, disdain and disgust. He said,” Today is a moment of truth to begin with. You should be ashamed of yourself; you keep wasting your time chase girls. Did you know that there were heads of secret services who lost their life for the sake of women? Terrorists can set you a trap using a woman to get to you. From now on, no contact with female suspects without prior approval. Added to the fact that you keep eating unhealthy food like chocolates and candy, take a look at the weight you gained. You look so embarrassing. Let alone that you wake up 4 pm every day. This will not be tolerated. Take notice, okay?!”, Zain replied, “Of course Sir”. C continued, “this is a very rough mission I have chosen for you, since I’m well aware of your talents and skills. We have a terrorist organization called Phantom that is so dangerous, it funds terrorism and fanatics of the universe and the majority of them are psychopaths, it also funds the nastiest drug dealers of the world and working on a biological warfare project, militarizing chemical formulas to turn them into weapons instead of cures to some stubborn diseases. Your objective is to foil the terrorist organization’s plans in Desert Land, use whatever it takes and the use of brutal force is authorized: including killing and death. Second, arrest Nicolas Matera, the world’s most wanted list for drug-dealing and smuggling Heroin, captagon and raw-opium. He lives in Bolivia. The last one is finding a missing scientist whose phone went dead and held captive in Turkey, he has a very important research and we want to guarantee that this research doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. After you complete those missions, I want you to find out who is the man behind Phantom, it is the hardest part.”. Before you go, report to Colonel Falcon Quest in our training center to retrieve your fitness, be well-versed in unarmed combat, explosives, firearms and a host of other intelligence techniques, you are supposed to be as fit as a fiddle. If you fail your mission, I will have your guts for garters.”

Fitness & Training

Before exiting C’s office, I turned around and said “Thank you Sir”, he replied, “for what?”, “The truth, I answered. He closed the door behind, walked out of the building and strolled out of the grim para-military office in the city street. It was a hot and humid day, and women started to show the beauty of their bodies, from their locks of their hair, to their shell toenails inside their heels, let alone that “only God knows how many of them are on this planet, let alone where”. As he reached the tunnel, he went downstairs, he found the center. It was a brilliantly designed gym with a hall built next to it. Colonel Quest was a man in his late forties, he had a body which was similar to that of Arnold Schwarzenegger, or Hulk. His body was not only huge, so were his experiences, fighting, skills and wars. He made me believe and realize that not all angels carry the harp and sing. Some of them are warriors. He welcomed me boisterously. He was sanguine and exuberant. He treated me like his son who was also my friend. His name was John. Firstly, he asked me to take my shirt off, took a look at my body to examine it. He said, “I have an MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) program for you, I want you to promise me to follow your diet and exercises of Kickboxing, judo, Muay Thai and weightlifting. Concerning your diet, I will be sorry to inform you that you have to stop eating and drinking sweet things. It was a very hard thing at the beginning, but I said to myself “when there is a will, there is a way.” He started his first day at gym, He used to feel dizzy and nausea, it was like that for two weeks, maybe three, later the results came up step by step, he gained speed, muscles, balance, endurance. The hardest thing for him was split up various exercises, added to stretching of course. The pain they cause for a man, is similar to that of renal colic, the stones that are formed in the urinary tract, which cause bleeding. They were necessary to release the pelvis joints to perform the kicks like front, back, round and round house, and sometimes flying while doing them which made them twice harder. They were necessary to make his body like elastic rubber. 4 months later, a committee was gathered to elevate him, he was told that he needs to do what is he asked to do. He did shadowbox with kicks that he had been given, after 7 minutes of this hard work, he did 80 press-ups, 100 sit-ups and 20 pull-ups, after that he bowed for them and being told that he could leave. After that the Colonel told me via phone call that he was so proud of him. Moreover, he taught him to shoot, swim and dive. After getting done with all the work, he received a message telling him to go to the airport and wait for his flight to Desert Land.

First Mission

After he arrived, he took a taxi to the hotel, took a shower in cold water to cool the heat he felt at that dreary spot of region. He ate grilled meat, a tumbler of raki with ice and cold water, and started glaring at the ceiling, thinking about how many lives is he going to end, exterminate or take. If it was the other way round, got caught, what might they do to him? will they cut off his throat, boil him alive, soak him in gasoline and burn him…etc. All those scenes kept circulating, but he made up his mind not to think about it and spare himself this misery, he said to himself” Carpe Diem for Now Agent Zain.”. Next day, he went to the mosque, he performed the role of a hater of the modern civilized war, whose brain was not concerned about anything except converting people to Islam with threatening people with their lives. He got himself well-known among his so-called Brothers of Awareness individuals, he kept gaining their trust by setting up terrorist cells inside the city, promoting people to do the things he was totally against. When the time came, he got on a truck with the terrorists, and they reached the location of the ISTCE, they were successors of ISIS, it stood for Islamic State Task Force, even worse. Firstly, they swore to defend the Caliphate (Abu Bader El Iraqi) with their blood, to be loyal to the organization and do whatever it takes to protect it. Second, He announced his defection and betrayal on the internet, he made everybody hate him (family, friends, acquaintances and everybody). He did all of that for the sake of the game he was playing. Third, he was called by the Caliphate to kill the infidel they captured, they told him that he was a private eye, a snitch and a spy. When he approached him, held his head looked at his face, it was his bloody friend, his body shivered, he started shaking as if he had Parkinson. He killed the humanity inside him, so he did do the memories he had with him, the brethren, and the principles he grew up with. Hence with a heart as hard as a stone, and with a blood that was so cold like a wizard of ice, he stabbed his neck and removed his head out of his body, blood oozed out like a volcano and he uttered a scream similar to that of a monster. He passed his test of devotion, gained the Caliphate’s trust and he was told that he is required to finish the next stage. They started training members to behead, burn, shoot and kill. They were psychopaths brought from all over the world. Only God can tell what are they made of, or what their make-up was. This was frightening to be thought of at the very least. While he was learning to do the most gruesome things in the world, he saw a General of the spy agency he was working for, he was a traitor with a very high position, with vital information. Agent Zain was lucky for not being spotted, maybe the beard and the turban hid his facial prints. And this General was not African, Asian or Muslim, he was a blonde man with blue eyes. After the tasks were given to the Asset inside ISTC, he was ready to capture the terrorists whose faces were recognized, or tear down anyone or anything that reminded him of the organization in Desert Land. He started tracing their calls, locations and their contacts, simply because the devil lies in details. One day, he captured a man whose name was Jihad Ahmad. He was about to send children with C4 explosive charges inside civilian’s gathering. The moment, Zain shot him in the leg, he was immobilized. He later pressed the wound with his leg and he started yelling. He then looked at his eyes that were full of hatred, and asked him” Do you think that you are doing the right thing, killing women, children and families for an illusion that you are going to rule the world by Sharia Law. In the Quran, there is no place for suicide-bombing, killing and slaughter, you misunderstand the only one book you read in your life, which is ironic and pathetic.”. In addition to that, there is a verse in the Quran that says” You have your religion, and I have mine.”, there is another one that says, “who wants to

believe, believe, otherwise it is his own choice”. Jihad revealed that there was a psychiatrist who brought psychotics and schizophrenics, he exposed them to a radiation that made them believe that Allah was speaking with them: telling them to slaughter infidels, so they became professional killers. After that he picked up his phone, opened saved pictures of the victims, some were his family, wife and children’s bodies were shred by automatic fire bullets. This led to the outburst of his tears and moans of how they brainwashed him to turn this innocent man to a killer for a Caliphate who thought that he was a good Muslim. He realized that he killed the people who loved him most. Zain replied” Did you see the outcome of what you are doing, you are working for your enemies by the way. You showed them that the nation of Islam, doesn’t accept freedom of thought, expression and education. Now they are 100% sure that your nations will never ever flourish”. He stood up, wiped away his tears, his face told Zain that he was the man who grew conscious, a man who listened to the voice of wisdom. Then he said” We will work together and take that tyrant down” That’s how he recruited him, by using emotional intelligence. Days went by, their targets got ambushed by locations. What Hollywood revealed about espionage work was not 100% correct, an agent was supposed to be a grey person, someone who was seen and forgotten at the same moment. It was mostly about writing reports, sending coded texts that looked like any other text, but held a message, and the army would intervene, the agent should not always shoot or blow something up. It would be very conspicuous. In the intelligence work, discretion and secrecy are key. Following that we they kept turning over enough rocks, safe houses and locations that they were bound to be under one of them. The days of ISTC had become numbered, the Caliphate approached them and told them that he needed them. When they went back to their HQ, he was panicked, shaking and he had the looks of a very miserable man. He said, how did the security found out about Abu Kifah Al Massry, Zain acted like he never heard of him, despite that he was the one who shot him at point-blank. One of the guards beckoned him to come, and he said “Zain Ibrahim is a spy.”, it was the General whom he saw at the training camp exposed him to his enemies. His name was Cane Walker. He was someone with a very high positions, he had access to the secret service files and data. He turned Zain inside-out. All of a sudden, the guards gathered around him and his new ally, the one who he turned against his people, Jihad Ahmad. They had been dragged to a room full of starving dogs, and he said” Now, it is time for you to die a very gruesome death”, one of the guards whispered to Zain” One minute, one minute”. Bang, it was a F-35 that took off from an aircraft carrier in the Arab Gulf, flames, everywhere, all the guards and individuals started running for their lives. Jihad Ahmad strangled the caliphate with his bare hands to avenge his family and the innocent lives he took away under the orders of this murder who had no appreciation of human life. When Zain approached the General to find out about who was he working for, he said “Do you think it’s over Zain, this is just the beginning”, he said “I want a name!!”, he died the moment Zain tried to take something out of him, the trail gone cold.

Second Mission

Agent Zain felt depressed from the fact that his mission was incomplete, he was absolutely sick of not finding out who was the man behind all of this hellish journey he had to take. He noticed a bizarre thing taking place all over the world, it was drugs. Bolivia was the richest country of drugs’ types, like Alice’s wonderland. Lovely nature, seaside, the world’s best and most beautiful women. It was such a waste that this country was nearly on the verge of the abyss because of narcotics. Youth who can enlighten the world with wisdom, logic and educational creativity a digging their own graves. They have the illusion that they are escaping misery and melancholia. They claim that they make them happy. The world did an awful mistake by legalizing marijuana, forgetting the fact that it causes psychosis, a severe mental illness. The symptom of this disease will be crystal-clear after their body demands this nasty, dirty bloody substance. He got acquainted with a drug-dealer from who bought marijuana. He also got himself acquainted with all drug-dealers of the world by injecting heroin, opium and the most lethal drugs in his veins, he did it not for the love of these poisoning substances, it was to gain the loyalty of drug and narcotics’ cartels. It was purely professional. He did it after C informed him to cooperate with Interpol, so he went to their headquarters and gave him a traceable phone with bugs to put inside the cell phones of the drug cartels, so that one of them would have led him to the new drug lord, the successor of Pablo Escobar and Franz Sanchez, his name was Nicolas Matera. While Zain talked and behaved as someone who loved drugs, breathed them and adored them, learned that there was a place called the Tri-Borders area, or the Triple frontier. The place where the borders of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. While Agent Zain lived in that spot, it was like a small image of hell. Terrorists of all geographic spots came to it, Al Qaeda, ASU, Al Nusra Front and ISIS. It was like a heaven for them. Simply because drug-dealers used to finance them to buy weapons, arms and military supplies. Also, sex-trading, pedophilia, human-trafficking, prostitution and paid-assassins took a share as well. Everybody had a share. It was full of youth who were supposed to be wise, snorting and filling themselves with this sort of toxins. It was an import-export area of this curse. As Agent Zain got himself blend with their communities. He also got used to the torture scenes of cops and presumably police informants. They used to tear out their hands, arms, forearms, legs and every damn muscle to implement the highest amount of pain while keeping the victim alive for as long as possible. After the victim announces to whom he was working, he gets a shot between the eyes. One day all drug dealers made “A Deal of A Century”, the deal was about to load 800 Tons of every drug into lorries, take the Tri-Border spot as an area of export, and later Nicolas Matera would have made more than 100 billion dollars. The lorries were filled with gasoline, and later they take them to the scientists to release the drugs from the gas. Agent Zain, went to the bar, and sent a text message by a mobile application that made him go incognito to the Interpol. He told them the following,” Hundreds of tons of candy will be loaded in lorries to the candy shop known as, The Cuidad Del Este.”, that was the area where the lorries were about to be ambushed. “Added to that, the lorries will not go alone, they will be accompanied by so thrilled children.”. “The candy” stood for drugs shipment and “children” stood for armed-smugglers travelling via motorcycles and cars. Later the phone of Agent Zain buzzed, it was a message saying, “Thank you for your contribution”. The thugs started loading the trucks into the lorries, the loading process took 42 hours. Agent Zain Ibrahim, had to conceal the terror, fear of being caught, getting tortured and deliver all his intelligence do the miscreants behind his smile, jokes and hard work lifting and carrying the shipments. Later

Nicolas Matera, told them that he wanted the operations to be success, if failed, you will be exterminated. The moment the lorries started their engines, his heart was beating hardly and fast, he was lucky that no one of the knob heads took notice. The phone of Matera’s assistant rang, and was told to go. Later, they started travelling. They were about ten lorries, with 4 cars in the front, a raw of motorcycles at sides, each one with his SMG behind his back, with 2 at the back. When they reached Cuidad Del Este, there were people claiming that they were drug dealers, but they weren’t, they were spooks. This kind of intelligence operation was called “The Sting”, which the spy poses as a terrorist and trap the suspect and get him drained from information, about people, places and plans. And Interpol deployed snipers on roofs and the army was also involved. The gang welcomed the claimed drug dealers, smiled to them and they asked “where is the money?”, “In the boot of the car” they answered, all of the sudden, the military, cops and forces popped up from the middle of nowhere. The thugs had no choice, but to surrender. They were well surrounded. All of the thugs, and drivers were taken to interrogation, the Interpol applied the necessary pressure to find out who was behind them. They told them that after the information they gave to the investigators were correct, they would serve a reduced sentence. Moreover, they brought their mobile phone to the information section, they were all wired to computers. The purpose of that was to find out the trace of all messages,30 was from other neighboring states in South America, 60 from some Arab countries and different terrorist cartels, and all of them were protected by a server in Bolivia. It was protected by bio-metric security measures. Out of a coincidence, Agent Zain, saw a man who was so thin, wearing big glasses and his jaw was pointed to the front. He was a geek, literally a nerd. He kept working on hacking the server for 10 hours, Agent Zain looked surprised, he asked the lad “Didn’t you get tired?”, he answered “Take a look at this herb, this is called Mate, A product of Argentina, we soak it in cold water and pour 60 degrees boiled water in it, and I drink that for two hours. It helps me to stay awake with full concentration, I would bet that Hulk had drank it before he became green.”, Zain laughed, he tasted it, it was like tea and kept him awake all night. That drink was a hullaballoo of some sort. The information team kept searching, analyzing and hacking for 6 days, no stop, they found, nothing. Absolutely nothing. All of a sudden, one of the computers beeped, and gave a red signal. There were key words, “Police, Candy and Boss.”. Boss, stood as a name for Nicholas, who was presumed to be the drug lord. The secret service approached agent Zain via Interpol, C told him, agent Zain I want you to set up an arrest operation to Nicholas Matera who lives in Bolivia. You are working as a “Red Notice”, Zain replied “Very good Sir.”. Agent Zain, took a bus and then chose a safe house, ordered priests customs so that he could pose to the narco-terrorist as a low-level gangster posing as a religious and pious man, a member of his group, that would have been more convincing. When he reached his castle, it was made of Romanian temples’ stones, it was also facing the beach and full of guards, expensive cars and race vehicles. As he walked his path to the master narco-terrorist of all times, Nicholas Matera. Agent Zain greeted him with biblical words, he spoke fluent Spanish, this is why he had no problem with him. He introduced himself as Priest Basilio Álvarez. Agent Zain saw him. He was a man in his late forties, brown eyes and a moustache, fat and bohemian in some sort. Zain started talking with him about his glories. He said, “I was born a poor man, my father killed my mother when I was young because she cheated on him, and plotting against him, in other words, she was trying to turn him over to the police. And we had to make money anyway possible, so he started smuggling

drinks of all kind, like Whiskey, Vodka and Tequila. We started to get by bit by bit. Later, my father has introduced me to a drug lord who made fortunes out of marijuana, cocaine and we became the richest people in the world. After my father died, I swore that I will do anything in my domain to preserve his legacy and expand his kingdom”. Zain then said, “This is so inspiring, can I become a member of your entourage, especially that loyalty is more important to you than money?”, “Por supesta”. He answered. “Saludos me hermano”, he was overwhelmed by this request. All of a sudden, Matera’s phone rang, it was a call with a photo confirming that Zain was a spook. The same way he got caught in ISTCE, (Islamic State Task Force). It was someone from the very top, Zain swore if he got out, and found out who it was, he would “Turn him to smithereens.”. Nicolas Matera said, “don’t do anything stupid, your cover was blown by someone from the very top. The same people you work for”. “It is true that you turned down my deal of the century, but I’m stronger more than you know. I will lead the whole world to its own grave. Europeans and Americans came to my country to steal our gold, silver, tin, ore and ivory. Arabs from the gulf and middle east, raped our women. They also made women of our regions as sex-slaves. I have a much more gruesome project. It is called Refreshing Air, I have deployed 30 planes filled with Chinese Fentanyl, my pilots will spray it into the atmosphere of our enemies. This will be the most gruesome revenge of my empire.”, Zain interrupted, “You want to spray Fentanyl, it is a drug that kills the pain of stubborn diseases. It is also addictive”, Matera said, “When the fentanyl gets reduced in their blood, they will all come to me and pay billions of dollars and euros. This is how they will lick my boots and kiss them to become bewitched by my charm.” Zain interrupted, “You are bragging about yourself, you will end up in the dunghill of history.” Matera screamed, “Guards, take this gringo to the sewers and soften him up, I’m not done with him yet. I want to hear his pain knocking on my office door in the upper floor.”. The moment they stripped him out of his clothes, they started whipping his skin, kicking him in the testicles and breaking the bones of his face. Later, Interpol noticed that Zain’s phone went dead, so they informed NATO to arrange the arrest of this villain. Then a plane 3000ft in the sky opened its gate and soldiers jumped out of it, deployed their parachutes, landed at the roof of Matera’s castle and cocked their SMGs, AKS’s with silencers and everybody started shooting. Bullets were pouring down like rain. This was a real war. The moment Matera gave orders to kill Agent Zain, he held a piece of broken glass tightly. The moment one of the guards got too close, Zain stuck it in his eye, the guard yelled, Zain untied himself, took the rifle, and shot his way out of the sewers. He started running naked until extraction team took him to HQ. He was unable to think, move or do anything. He said, “What happened?!”, they said “Matera is dead”, “he committed-suicide and the drugs had been taken by authorities.”. Zain went back to the mental-health centre of his secret service’s station. He spent a very long time of rehabilitation, to release the toxins he inserted into his veins that turned him into an irrational human being. He learned that everything he did, came at a cost.

Third Mission

Zain spent nearly a year at hospital. Resisting the aches and itches of his body, the pain of bruises, wounds and tumours. The mental health treatment he went through was beyond hardship, it was harder than the disease. He had psychotic symptoms from the bloody damn drugs as a consequence of arresting Nicolas Matera. He spent about two years to retrieve his vitality and making his brain clear and sharp like knife’s razor. One of the nurses came and said “Zain, you have a phone call”, “Okay”, he said. Zain went to the reception desk, the nurse handed him the phone, it was C who wanted him, he said, “You are requested immediately, you have to report.”, “Yes sir, I’m coming”. Zain had a military haircut; he shaved his beard with a cut-throat razor. He wore his white shirt, black suit and shoes and a blue tie. When he arrived to HQ, smiled to the secretary and told him that he could come in, C looked at him and told him to sit down. C said “Glad to have you back agent Zain, welcome! I’m contained that you have to retrieve your mental health and physical well-being after foiling down Nicolas Matera. The new mission is three more times complicated than the other two. There was a scientist held captive in Turkey. His name is George Cranwell. He was researching a formula to cure cancer. We want you to investigate where and why he was kidnapped. We don’t want the research to fall into the wrong hands, because it could be turned to a deadly weapon. Moreover, our information computers picked up three key words, which were bioweapons, research and password. The signal went dead in Castello de Bodrum. Zain booked himself a flight that lasted 12 hours to Bodrum. When he arrived, he took a taxi and started enjoying the view of the seaside, beaches, blue sky and the beautifully decorated Turkish buildings. After arriving to his hotels, he checked in a suite just up to the beach, put on his swimming trunks and started swimming, free diving wearing his glasses and breathing tube. After he finished, he ordered oysters, crabs, lobsters, fish and Vain De Chateaux, a bottle of French wine. As he got ready, fully-focused and vital, he accessed the Secret Service website from his lap-top, they informed him that the signal of the missing scientist aka George Cranwell, is coming from an abandoned prison site which dates back to Sultan Abdul Hamid. He closed the browser, got up, stretched his muscles, bathed in cold water. Took a BMW G32, attached the silencer to his Beretta 9mm and took AKS-74u assault rifle. He had a full quiver. He looked like a soldier of Spetsnaz or the SAS, a scary human-being without any human looks in his eyes. He drove his way to the unknown site, it was full of bizarre prisons that date back to Middle Ages, iron sharp pointed poles to impale opposers to the Ottoman regime. All of sudden, he heard a scream coming from one of the cells. They were all empty, he had to kill some guards with his silenced Beretta and walked his way to the location. In one of the rooms, Zain saw a man who was bleeding all over himself, Zain asked, “Who was it? Who did this to you?”, “Sakharov”, he answered. “He wanted my research for Project Koroleva”. Zain went out of the room and kept investigating. Out of a bad luck the guards were alarmed as a consequence that one of the guards saw him. They started shooting at him. He took cover, cocked his rifle and the war started. After he illuminated them, he saw the scientist called George Cranwell, Piotr Sakharov was yelling at him. “What is the password of the USB drive?”, they struck him with electricity to cause pain. “Stop!!”, said Cranwell, “I will tell you”. He whispered in Sakharov’s ear. Sakharov whispered to the guards; they took Cranwell to the pole for impalement. Zain saw the brutality of the sight as the pole entered his anus and went out of his skull. What a ghastly sight! Later Sakharov’s phone rang, it was an anonymous phone call. All of which Zain heard was, “Take care of Alexander Vladimirovich”. Zain threw a hand grenade among the guards, and blast. Some of them were torn, others

wounded and the shrapnel cut Mr. Sakharov. As his bodyguard took him to safety, Zain spent a lot of his time setting traps and shooting the fire out of them. As a consequence of their death. Zain cocked his pistol and started looking for Mr. Sakharov as he got closer to them in one of the cells, the bodyguard lifted him above his shoulders and tossed him to the ground, which caused a mild shell-shock. Agent Zain, staggered up to his feet, standing on his pain and slim body compared to the mule’s body. The hand-to-hand combat began. Agent Zain punched his face with his fists, jabs, cross-jabs, hooks and upper-cuts. The bodyguard, kicked him on the knee, which led to Zain’s fall. Still, he had no sense of giving up inside his brain and heart. Zain did a front kick to his skull, flying- round house, hook and sidekicks. He hurt him. It was the moment Zain realized that he was only a man, not a machine. The fight lasted for 15 minutes until Zain picked his Beretta from the floor and shot him between the eyes. When Asset Zain reached Sakharov, he pointed his pistol at him and said, “I’m afraid that you don’t have any assistance now, there is no one to do your dirty work on your behalf”. “There’s only you and me”. Agent Zain asked him, “Why do you want to kill Alexander Vladimirovich? And who is he?” Sakharov swallowed the Cyndie pill to preserve his secret intel added to that he wanted to assure that no single word be told about his employer out of fear and scare. Now agent Zain swore and got a bit angry and confused. So, all that is left for him to go behind Alexander Vladimirovich. Hence, he started searching his personal effects, phones, lap-tops, tabs and personal computers, and informed the Information Branch to find leads about Alexander Vladimirovich. They told Agent Zain that he is staying at the Nevsky Forum Hotel in St. Petersburg. Then he phoned him, Vladimirovich said, “Da?!”, “Brigadier Vladimirovich, this is Zain Ibrahim calling from the Interpol.”, “To what I owe the pleasure of this phone call Zain?”, He said. Zain asked, “Why did low level gangster Piotr Sakharov want you dead?”, “I think you and I better have a drink and talk.”, he answered. “Are you suggesting an alliance?”, Zain asked. Vladimirovich said, “Meet me at the hotel called Nevsky, come alone”. Asset Zain booked himself a flight to St. Petersburg. It was a tedious journey that lasted 10 hours inside then airplane. When the flight was over, he took a taxi to his hotel. He met him at the reception desk, he worked for the FSB (Federal Security Bureau), very wise and judicious in his late 50. He greeted him boisterously. Zain asked him, “tell me brigadier, why did Piotr say that he would have you killed? And who do you suspect?”. Vladimirovich smiled to him and said, “You got yourself stuck in a very critical situation, you will be facing a very nasty human being, a rogue KGB major. His name is Alec Rastislav. Rastislav was a psychiatrist and joined the KGB out of a proclaimed devotion to mother Russia. He was a liar for he was exploiting his positions to kill people under his command without the state’s knowledge. He was also stealing millions of dollars and robles to fund his operations. What Russia didn’t know how he could make the world’s worst killers and assassins. All that they know that he was corrupt to the bones, so were his manners”. Zain asked Vladimirovich, “Do you know how we can find him?”, “Well!”, he exclaimed, “We received information that he is treating psychotic and schizophrenic illnesses at his under-water clinic in Banana Beach, Thailand, it is also heavily guarded and secluded of outer influences, except the ravishing underwater corals and reefs, fish and other sea creatures.” Zain said, “We should take a closer look at that clinic”. Vladimirovich added, “Nobody knows how he turns people to killers, after investigating and interrogating them, their memories were wiped out, and seeing things nobody could see, and also hear voices that nobody knew where they’re coming from”, Zain exclaimed, “That’s odd! I would suggest that we

devise a plan to find out how he turns those patients to killing machines.”, Vladimirovich replied, “I will set you an appointment with the doctor”. “Fine then, tell him that you have a janitor for him who cleans up the filth, or a male servant.”, Vladimirovich replied, “Done”. Agent Zain booked himself a flight to Thailand. It was an amazing city, anyhow he didn’t find the link of how serial killers are programmed to cause the maximum number of deaths from such a lovely geographic spot. What was the sort of treatment used for such proclaimed mental illnesses? When he arrived, he checked in a hotel near Banana beach. It was called Le Meridien Phuket Beach Resort. He later took a shower after swimming and diving, had lunch, and went to the clinic via a driver of Alec Rastislav. It was breathtaking journey because the streets, buildings and trees sights were very beautiful. Later the underwater tunnel that is made of glass to see the bottom of the sea while going to a clinic was ravishing. When he arrived, he met his assistant who was a fellow doctor, his name was Sergei. He took him to his room, on his way, he saw cellars from which someone was screaming “Allah Akbar”, “Death to the enemies of Islam. Death to the infidels and disbelievers. Islam should rule the universe”. The second cellar someone was saying, “Lord Jesus, God, I will defend your land with my blood. Muslims have stolen our homes, jobs and raped our women, hence I will kill all of them”. Zain was wondering what the hell was that, he couldn’t find that out. He asserted that Alec Rastislav was programming people with mental illnesses to cause death. It was MK-Ultra. During the cold war between the USSR and the USA. Both KGB and the CIA used MK-Ultra to win the war against each other by creating killers of the worst kind. They were deprived of their senses, logic and wisdom, they saw nothing except the people they are supposed to take away his life. This program was used against politicians and people. Firstly, they do them electroconvulsive therapy without anesthesia. Later they drug them with LSD, a psychedelic which cause them hallucinations. Hence, he goes behind his target to take away his life. As Asset Zain was disguising as a worker to Rastislav’s office, a pistol pumped against his skull and turned him unconscious. He woke up to find himself tied to a metal bed so that Mr. Rastislav enjoys his sadistic frivolous self. “Good evening Agent Zain, you have been recognized”, he said. The metal bed was electrified, Zain could feel all his body while he was tied. As Rastislav was about to talk to Zain, he turned off the electric shocks. He started explaining his motives behind such evil, unhuman ruthless plot. “I have worked for the KGB rising to the rank of Major. I built my own kingdom, out of blackmail, robbery, fool and deception. I have created my mental health clinic for the following reason”, “The environment is under threat, especially animals due to hunting. I want to preserve those animals from extinction. And I will do whatever it takes to save this planet. I have programmed people in three categories. The first one is composed of fanatic Muslims thinking Allah is telling them to go slaughter the Jews and crusaders. The other is a group of fanatic Christians who have an urge to defend their lands against immigrants’ invasion. The last one is the one that will cause a pandemic under the name Project Koroleva. They are about to use an atomizer to release a deadly virus in a reservoir I’m going to build, after I turn the water pipes to it. I can guarantee that the virus Koroleva will kill as many as possible”. Zain laughed, “The three groups of sick people will make you eradicate the human race then”, “Yes exactly”, he replied. Later, the electricity was connected again to his body. Zain spent all the night screaming, and dropped in his cell. He woke shaking and bleeding because they wounded him. As he sat gazing at the ceiling, there is no one to rescue him, he started praying that Jesus save him from those devils. He was crying because he will be

executed, and that he failed to take down the bastard. All of a sudden, fire of rifles banged inside the clinic between Rastislav’s guards and Spetsnaz forces. They stormed into his room, they were all in black uniforms and masked. Spetsnaz and Alexander Vladimirovich captured the two fanatic groups and were loaded in trucks. The biological team was on his own. He took assault AKS-74u and started chasing them. They were armed as well and were captured. They were caught by army’s road blocks and spike strip that deflated the tiers. The gangsters have chosen death over giving up. Zain, was shooting them with his rifle, and snipers took care of the rest and their atomizers captured. Later Alexander Vladimirovich told Asset Zain that he is grateful for his participation in capturing a former KGB and an FSB rouge agent. I replied “He was an enemy to my country”, “The proverb says my enemy’s enemy is my friend”. After finishing the three missions, Agent Zain called the Information Branch, Zain asked them whether they found any link to Phantom, especially that they scanned all their devices, phones and emails. They said that they are still looking for a name. Seconds later, C called Zain and told him that the foreign secretary wants to see you personally. Later Zain took a car and drove to the foreign secretary’s house, and got out of the car. He saluted him boisterously and started talking about his missions. Zain expressed his anger and dissatisfaction about the fact that there was someone from inside the country with a very high rank exposing him and blowing his cover. Suddenly, Zain’s phone rang, it was a message confirming that the foreign secretary was the one funding Phantom and its chief. The guards cocked and pointed their guns at his head, right between his eyes and told him not to move, took him to the upper floor and sat him on a chair. The minister started talking, “I was so amused by the way you handed the three operations Zain, but I’m sick of remaining in this country and disgusted to the full. I want to live somewhere hot close to the beach, I also want to date models and porn stars. I want to fulfill my desire by sexual tourism. I want to sleep with white, brunette, redhead women and teenagers”. As Asset Zain was listening to him and seeing how primitive that person was, he noticed an open window that shows the wide sea right beneath the sun. Zain saw a red dot on the minister’s chest. He smiled to the minister and said, “I think this is the last smile you will have”. Bang! Three bullets killed the minister. It was a SAS boat with an installed sniper on it. After that, they stormed into the villa and killed all the guards. When that was over, TV news reports revealed that the foreign minister died of a heart attack. Otherwise, his country will be a laughing stock in the intelligence community.

Last Journey

Agent Zain was standing in front of C in his office. He said, “You are a brilliant field operative, I wanted to inform you that you have become an officer. Congratulations! You can take a year holiday.”, “Thank you Sir. That means a lot to me”. As Zain got out of the building, he booked himself a flight to Alaska, simply because everything was snow white. There was nothing but ice and the -30 degrees cold lakes and sea. As Zain got closer to one of them, he took of his clothes so that the cold which cracks the bones will make him forget many things. First, the people who bullied him at school. Second, the fact that he had a stubborn mental illness from university professors who were bigots. Third, the reality that he had no woman or a girl to love him, and that he spent lots of money on filthy bitches who have no resemblance of a bloody female. He had chosen to serve his country and give up many things for this cause. Finally, he plunged into the icy water and gave his memories the last goodbye. The underwater world ravished him. For him, that was Paradise.

The End

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blyanten · 6 years

Text

THE DUCK AVENGER PK2: #14 THE LAST HUNT

This is a good one! Issue opens with the description of a cat hunting for its bowl of milk. Turns out Lyo is feeding all the stray cats. The Avenger appears, and Lyo is glad he’s back after being missing for two days. The crazy AI from the previous issue claimed it had only been one, so this is either a tiny continuity fail, or Lyo and the AI is counting the hours slightly differently.

The Avenger goes to the roof to get some air, then he plans on heading home. There’s another cat on the roof, and for a second the Avenger wonders what it would be like to see through their eyes. He might see what Everett and Juniper is up to, or maybe find Korinna… but he’s a duck and he has to go to work.

At work, Fitzroy gets on Donald’s case by telling him that he’s late by two days. Donald informs him he’s already talked to the boss, AKA the man that matters, AKA not Fitzroy. Fitzroy claims it’s only a matter of time, especially with Tempest out of the running.

If you’re gonna trap yourself on a roof, get a big one.

Tempest has been overworking herself, getting nervous and fighting with her colleagues, boss included. Bad move, that, as anyone with a job can tell you.

In the security room, Fitzroy decides it’s time to do some spying.

How this guy gets to work security is beyond me.

On the roof, Tempest hands Donald a delivery note from a catering agency. The agency is a familiar one that often gets supplies from Duckmall.

Tempest flashes back to a few nights ago, when she was talking to one of the guys from the agency, who was bragging about all the important people he met in his job. Cool, huh, babe?

She’s unimpressed, but when the guy mentions that they’re currently working for the multinational corporation Criospher, she gets interested. She asks if he’s ever talked to Ed Morando, the owner of the company, but catering guy says no. Morando has an errand boy deal with them, some guy named “Fog”.

This is nice. She’s having an very emotional moment on the edge of a roof and he’s joking. Can’t really do that with a stranger, you don’t know how they’ll react.

Donald naturally has no clue who that is, but Tempest is feeling more talkative now, so she keeps going. It’s very obvious this has been eating away at her for probably at lot longer than the last few days, the recent events just seems to have brought it to the surface.

Years ago, she signed up to join Seaducks, a private paramilitary force that often acted on behalf of the government.

Bullshit.

One of the people in charge of her training was a man named Elias Fog.

Donald interrupts to make sure it’s the same guy, and Tempest tells him to shut it, this isn’t some movie flashback.

As part of her training, she’d have to pass an operational exam, and Fog decided to team her up with Stevros The Cat, who specialized in incursions and was the best. Man was a loner, and Tempest got the job of making sure he got in and out of the places he needed to go.

Younger, enthusiastic Tempest is cute though.

After a while the became friends, and Stevros told her he wanted to go back to Greece someday. After his contract was up, I’m guessing.

Of course, this ended badly. When Tempest finally got to the night of her operational exam, they were going to penetrate the research center of Criospher Industries. Ed Morando might be an arms-dealer, and the need to confirm or deny that he’s making weapons in that research center.

This went to hell rather quickly, as something interfered with their communication, and Tempest was attacked in her surveillance van, while Stevros… well, there was a big explosion and he hasn’t been seen since.

Tempest was found miles away the next day and was blamed for what happened. She walked before they could kick her out, and now, now Fog turns out to be Morando’s new best friend, and Tempest is freaking out, with no clue what she should do or what she can do. A single signature is worth very little against that sort of people.

Donald tells her the first thing she should do is get some sleep, and Tempest, coming down from that emotional high, agrees.

Fitzroy, having recorded everything, thinks he can find a use for that story.

Later that night, the Avenger goes on a mission to the catering agency, and we get a pretty funny description of him, done the same way the description of the cat was done earlier. The Avenger’s is much less impressive.

He doesn’t find much, until the people who work there conveniently arrives, and lets him follow them and their truck straight to Fog. After an hour, the Avenger is starting to wonder if the catering guy knows where he’s going, but decides to keep following him anyway. He needs to confirm Tempest’s story. In fact, he was in such a hurry to do that, he ended up bringing the Star Corp uniform along.

The finally arrive at what is essentially a small fortress, a large house surrounded by forest with a big wall surrounding that again. Fog steps out to welcome the truck, along with people with guns. Someone’s feeling paranoid, and the Avenger decides to park the Duckmobile in the treetops and hope nobody notices.

Someone does notice, and a single eye opens, hidden in a tree.

The Avenger realizes that using the shield will make to much noise, and uses the Star Corp uniform to make a rope, climbing down form the car to the trees. He jumps from there to the roof of the house and goes unnoticed, except for the tree-eye, which turns out to be a floating metal eye.

The more I look at this, the more grossed out I get. It looks like it has eyelids! Which might be useful for cleaning the camera lens, but ewww.

At the roof, the Avenger takes a look in through the attic window, and finds an operation center, but with no operators. He also sees himself on one screen, from the back.

At least they’re sticking to the theme.

The floating eyes don’t set off any alarms, which makes alarms go off for the Avenger. It’s like they’re keeping him in place until…

Judging by what he did to the roof, he should just have landed on the Avenger. Squish, no more Avenger.

The robot cat, who is definitely Stervros, that’s not even open for debate at any point, just stands there staring, until the Avenger summons the shield. Then kitty uses its shoulder canons to shoot him. The Avenger blocks with the shield, then runs.

On the ground, Fog tells his men to hold back. He can tell from the sound of the shots that the predator is hunting.

The Avenger makes straight for the Duckmobile, barely avoiding the cat’s literal claws, but the Star Corp uniform is torn as it was still hanging there on the outside of the Duckmobile since he used it as a rope.

Surely that won’t be a problem, unless of course the part the cat tore of was the one with the Star Corp logo on it.

Oh, come on, you have cameras if you need evidence. That’s taking the cat theme a bit too far.

Fog has a minion bring him a list of names of everyone who works for Star Corp, and predictably finds Tempest’s name. Since she’s the one with an actual reason (that he knows if) to come after him, Tempest doesn’t show up for work the next day.

I feel sorry for Bloom sometimes. Donald is generally a good worker, but might up and vanish for days, Fitzroy shows up, but is an untrustworthy dick, Rupert spends hours sighing over Stella, and now Tempest has apparently lost it too.

This morning, Bloom can’t find Tempest, Donald has ruined his uniform and Fitzroy is trying to be sneaky about sharing something with him. Bloom tells him he doesn’t care, so Fitzroy tries to use the recording he made of Tempest to make Donald withdraw from the race to become to new boss.

Donald, unimpressed, steals the tape, hides it in his hat, mocks him, and shoves Fitzroy away by literally sticking his foot in his face. He won’t use his skills over chips, but for a friend? No hesitation.

Though considering that his hat is soft fabric, I have no idea how a double bottom is going to help anything, since a cassette is big and you can easily feel that by grabbing the hat. Assuming someone gets their hand on the hat, which is a whole job on its own.

Unfortunately, Fitzroy doesn’t seem too upset by this.

Bloom tells Donald that, since he’s ruined his uniform and his partner isn’t at work, Bloom will take over for him, and Donald will go and check on Tempest.

So Donald finds himself at the docks, and confused about where Tempest lives. There’s only boats there!

I’ve been told that, assuming you somehow gets your hands on a boat, this is actually a pretty cheap way to live. No idea if it’s true.

Tempest’s neighbor tells Donald she does live there, but that he wishes he hadn’t sold her to boat. She always makes so much noise, like the incredibly loud screaming last night.

And this is why bystanders aren’t to be relied upon.

Inside, the boat is pretty much turned upside down. Like it was ransacked, or as if there’s been one hell of a fight.

Donald goes directly to Century and changes into the Avenger costume, telling Lyo only a small army could take down Tempest, and that it has to be Fog. He tries to find something useful equipment that Astrongman left behind, and Lyo takes him to the secret room behind the library, where the good stuff is.

Or he would, if he could remember how to get in there. Good thing he marked the key to open it with “secret passage”. They find some broken stuff, and the Avenger asks Lyo for a favor.

At his mansion, Ed Morando is entertaining guests.

Or as he likes to call them, potential buyers. He has a new weapon to show them, a revolutionary prototype: The Predator.

Obvious joke is obvious.

I like that he seems to still have duck feet, despite everything. It’s a nice detail, considering who he really is.

The predator has two flying eyes, is 80% bionic and masters 16 types of unconventional weapons.

The prey has traditional weapons, good training and can’t escape.

The most dangerous game is on.

Tempest recognizes some elements of the set up from her Seaduck exercises, and decides to get out of there as quickly as possible.

Morando and his buyers are all watching from the party room, while Morando cheerfully explains that after Tempest is dead, they’ll get to buy the tech and also the cat.

In the attic, the operators are complaining that they don’t have anything to do, except watch and listen to Tempest get murdered. The Avenger arrives and knocks them out, and starts looking for a way to actually find Tempest. The estate is too big to just go looking.

Fog arrives, helpfully directing him to a small screen where a satellite follows their every move.

“In weapons and bones” is a very cool line. Also, the guy on the right looks like a plague doctor.

Outside, Tempest is now dodging weapons fire. Morando quickly explains to the buyers that the cat is just playing with her, she’ll be dead soon.

Upstairs, the Avenger uses the equipment he got from Astrongman’s storage to bluff Fog into standing down by threatening to blow them all up. And Fog thinks he tricked the Avenger in to thinking he’s standing down, while the Avenger is well aware of the snipers positioning themselves on the roof.

The Avenger decides to start at the beginning, with Stevros. Fog happily explains that Stevros is busy pursuing Tempest as they speak.

Turns out that the explosion Tempest saw years ago when it all went to hell was caused by Stevros, who was trying to void capture. Obviously, he failed, and was transformed into the bionic cat now hunting Tempest. Of course, in order to make Stevros actually work for them, they needed to get inside his head, and used Tempest to do that, convincing him that she had betrayed him.

After the sheer trauma of nearly dying, and then being forcefully transformed into something that’s mostly a robot, this was still surprisingly difficult, but after years of trying, Fog succeeded.

This is probably the worst thing a normal human has done in this series. They just took him apart and rebuilt him and then went out of their way to break him.

And now, even if Tempest figures things out and try to explain, Stevros is in no place to actually understand it.

Fog asks if the Avenger wants to ask why he did it, or should he just show him his paycheck?

The Avenger says no thanks, and throws Astrongman’s not-bomb on the floor, then shoots it to make it blow up anyway.

Downstairs, all the illegal arms-dealers freak out, thinking the police has arrived. You’d think professional arms-dealers would have cooler heads, but no.

Tempest, meanwhile, has gathered her wits, and is preparing to fight.

Lots of cool visuals in this one.

Unfortunately, she doesn’t know what she’s up against.

I love this page. First panel: Tempest running. She looks serious, and her pose makes her look really solid. Panel two: Realization, but more “there you are” than “Oh shit”. Panel three and four: She shoots while turning around and hits a moving target about the size of a head. Damn. Also, oh shit.

Panel five: The cat hovering over her like a monster from a horror movie and Tempest looking tiny in comparison, and she’s clearly scared now, but the focus isn’t really on her fear, it’s on the sheer difference between them. Size, weapons... Tempest was never meant to win this, and it shows. Which also highlights how cool it is that she’s lasted this long.

And it’s also fucking tragic, because Stevros isn’t the monster here, it’s all based on lies and he’s seconds away from doing something he’d regret forever if he knew.

The cat knocks her down, but it seems like Morando was almost right, though this isn’t about playing with his prey, as he hesitates long enough for Tempest to ask why he’s attacking her. Stevros then puts on his old Seaducks hat, letting Tempest know who he is, and from his perspective, explaining why he’s trying to kill her.

At the mansion, the Avenger has barricaded himself in the operations center. Fog tells someone to get a bazooka so they can get in, but the Avenger can’t worry about that now. Tempest is about to die and he needs to do something.

Then he remembers. The two operators from earlier mentioned something about having audio-video contact with the predator, and the Avenger has an ace in his hat.

Another page I really like. This seems like a point where someone might have added images of Tempest’s flashback, which would be fine. But instead the smalles “screens” are of Tempest telling the story, and how she’s reacting to both what happened back then and also how she’s reacting to Fog being in league with Morando. I get the impression that while the story she’s telling is important when it comes to convincing Stevros, so is how strongly she reacted to it, especially the new details about Fog and Morando.

Getting Tempest’s side of the story directly into his brain, the cat stops. He brushes her hair aside, and then leaves.

Back at the house, Fog has managed to break into the operations center, but the Avenger is gone. Morando is also there, losing it as someone seems to have called the PBI, and they’re bursting into the estate, finding all kinds of interesting, highly illegal things.

One of the cat’s mechanical eyes float in and focus on Morando and Fog. Morando keeps panicking, but Fog calmly accepts that Stevros knows what really happened and has picked a new, more deserving prey.

Well, can’t say he’s not reacting like a pro.

Lyo asks if that was it, but the Avenger explains that Fog and Morando surrendered to the PBI to escape Stevros. Lyo notes that the anonymous call the Avenger asked him to make was helpful, and the Avenger agrees. Certainly for Fog and Morando. Fog was so sure Stevros wouldn’t listen to the truth, and yet. Lyo says that some bad guys just don’t get human nature.

Speaking of bad guys, at Duckmall, Fitzroy just finished showing the copy of the recording he made of Tempest to Bloom, who sees right through his bullshit. Bloom also has the same rosy view of the Seaducks as Tempest does, telling Fitzroy that if Tempest was good enough for them to consider hiring, then she’s certainly good enough to have Bloom’s job.

The Avenger is back on the roof, talking to the cat from the beginning of the issue. He’s got the same questions as before, what are the Ducklairs doing, but now he’s also got a new one. Where did Stevros go?

Hopefully, he found a way back home.

Yeah, we all do.

I normally think that these issues are exactly as long as they need to be, but I’d love for this one to have been a double or something, so we could include Stevros viewpoint and more about Tempest friendship with him.

I do like the kind of ambigous ending. Is Stevros fine now? Mentally, obviously, physically, he’ll never be the same. Will he be okay when he gets home? What is he going to do then?

Same with Tempest. She’ll be fine, but if this were to get a follow up of some kind, I wouldn’t be surprised if it turned out to be another thing that kept gnawing on her, or that it’d be revealed she’d been trying to find him again.

#duck avenger #pkna #pk2 #comic #review #sort of #for fun

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webcricket · 7 years

Text

Catch a Falling Star

Characters: CastielXReader ft. Sam and Dean Winchester

Word Count: 2497 (Part 3)

A/N: Part 3 of a Soulmate AU mini-series.

Summary: What if angels didn’t end up just anywhere when they are banished by sigils…what if sometimes they end up exactly where they need to be? Turns out you are Castiel’s grounding stone, and it’s more complicated than either of you realizes. Enter Sam and Dean Winchester, their pesky demonic conundrum, and their antic disposition. In the aftermath of meeting you, Castiel is too obstinate for his own good (never fear, loyal readers – the universe is way stubborner).

Completed series Masterlist:

webcricket.tumblr.com/post/165166387163/catch-a-falling-star-masterlist

Since his roundabout return to the bunker nearly a week ago, Castiel’s heart and mind relentlessly whirled, tangled at odds in an ever escalating maddeningly discordant fisticuff waltz. The more he tried to forget you, to concentrate his interminable energy on assisting the Winchesters with their demonic snafu, the more he found the allure of your existence an inescapable temptation of thought toward which his heart invariably beat with redoubled determination.

In the process of healing you – his divine grace saturating and reviving your failing organs to rekindle your soul’s fading attachment to the world – he could not avoid an intimate brush with the very essence of your being. Unencumbered by the clarity-muddling nuisance of bodily barriers, your soul resonated with pure joy and recognition at this comforting contact in the midst of profound physical agony, leaving no doubt in either of your hearts as to who he was to you and you to him. He did not anticipate the reverberated thunder of this fleeting but direct incursion upon the carefully constructed battlements shielding his own heart.

Dissolving his defenses as he fought to tear himself from you, you imparted sensations the angel could not shake off, even now, thousands of miles away – an impression of wholeness when he did not realize he was incomplete, and an infinite longing colored by unconditional need. You needed him just as he was – fallen, damaged, brimming with regret, riddled with flaws – for all the reasons he deemed himself most unworthy. Castiel knew what it meant to love and be loved, the Winchesters taught him this important lesson – what he felt for you soared beyond the comparatively simple concept of love.

Had he been a moth, rather than an enduringly pragmatic angel, he’d have already succumbed to a thousand deaths by attraction, paper-thin wings fatally scorched in a graceful and all-consuming flight into an irresistible blaze. He envied the moth at having no option but to blindly follow base instinct into oblivion without fear of the fiery repercussions. Try as he might, Castiel could not envision himself in your life without the terrible tempest of ruin and devastation that doggedly overhung him ultimately extinguishing your flame. Every path of thought led him to the same inevitable heart crushing conclusion.

“I’m getting tired of spending money on these high-brow hotels,” Dean’s husky voice barely registered in the angel’s reverie as the elder Winchester flopped into a chair at the map table beside him, “The concierge at the last one gave me the heebie-jeebies. Those beady eyes of his followed me everywhere like some creepy painting.” Dean shuddered at the recollection.

“It’s not even our money,” Sam countered, tossing his bag on the floor, settling into a chair opposite his brother, “and I’ve seen your growing collection of those little carved hand soaps.”

“That’s not the point,” Dean swung his feet up to rest on the table, vaulting an eyebrow at his brother, questioningly wagging his chin in the direction of the more-unresponsive-and-morose-than-usual seraph, “and besides, they’re adorable.” He fished the newest addition from his inner coat pocket, inspecting the smooth curves of the marbled purple laughing Buddha-shaped soap as he rolled it between his fingertips and brought it to his nose for a deep whiff.

Sam studied the far off bearing of Cas’ gaze and shrugged his ignorance when Dean peered back over at him from smelling his prize.

“Hey, Cas?” Dean prodded. Answered by silence, he leered at his brother, mocking Cas’ gravelly baritone, “Hello Dean, Sam. Any luck locating Crowley’s super-secret demon loot box that you’ve been searching for for weeks?”

Sam grimaced at the crude edge of Dean’s tone.

Dean dropped his feet to the concrete floor, the hard rubber soles of his boots striking with a sharp thud. He inclined forward, stretching his arm across the map table to place the bubbly Buddha in front of the angel and, fittingly, in the vicinity of the Far Eastern world. “Ground control to Major Tom,” he cleared his throat.

Cas remained unaffected, preoccupied by his inner tumult.

“Earth to Castiel?” Sam chimed in.

“Hey, rocket man!” Dean thwacked Cas on the upper arm.

The angel’s blue eyes shifted into focus.

“Where the hell were you?” Dean badgered, staring keenly into his friend’s strained aspect.

Cas blinked, regard flitting between the brothers and landing on the miniature lavender-scented Buddha presently occupying Tibet. “I’ve been here in the bunker waiting for you to return,” he offered matter-of-factly, “for the last 5 days, 9 hours, and 17...”

“Were you daydreaming?” Sam interrupted, brow knitting dubiously.

“I don’t dream,” Cas flatly replied.

“You know, since you got back from New York you’ve had your head in the clouds,” Dean stated. “What kept you there so long anyway?”

“Perhaps if you hadn’t predictably chosen the same type of motel accommodations over the last decade plus,” Cas redirected, demonstrating some part of his awareness had been paying attention to the preceding conversation, “this group of demons would not be able to so accurately anticipate your movements and you would not now have to stay in costlier hotels to hide your whereabouts. You might also consider temporarily switching to a different mode of transportation.”

“Duly noted,” Dean scoffed, “now about New York.”

Cas narrowed his eyes, jaw clenching – he wanted Dean to let the matter go. He also knew from their shared history that Dean would absolutely not let the matter go without some explanation and assurances that Cas wasn’t doing something his friend deemed stupid or rash. The angel exhaled sharply, “I was attending to a personal matter.”

“Uh huh,” Dean smugly meditated, reclining in the chair to again prop his feet on the table, “last check, unless you’re knee-deep in the Heavenly crap show again, Sammy and I are pretty much it when it comes to your personal matters.”

Cas rolled his eyes derisively, although Dean’s assessment was not entirely inaccurate.

“You didn’t text, you didn’t call,” Dean continued, “you were gone for almost a week. What am I supposed to think?”

“Dean,” Sam joked, endeavoring to lighten the mood, “you sound like a clingy girlfriend. Give him a break. It’s not like he’s seeing other hunters.”

“That’s it Sammy! There’s a girl!”

Cas fidgeted uncomfortably and looked away, body language affirming the validity of Dean’s insinuation.

“Who is she?” Dean smirked, victorious.

Cas crossed his arms stiffly across his chest.

“We need details,” Dean waggled his eyebrows, “right Sam?”

“No, we really don’t,” Sam waved his hands to signal he wanted nothing to do with the interrogation.

Cas audibly sighed, glaring at Dean, imploring, “Please Dean, just this one time, leave it be for the simple fact that I’m asking you to.”

Dean misjudged the dourness of the expression darkening the angel’s eyes and the solemnity of his appeal, opening his mouth again to pester his friend for more information.

“She’s my Lisa,” Cas growled under his breath before Dean could utter a single syllable. He had not forgotten Dean’s explicit warning never to mention the name again of the woman Dean loved – the woman nearly killed by association when the hunter tried to hold on to a passing shot at an ordinary life once upon a time. Cas elected to bring her up, not to hurt Dean, but in hopes of imbuing a seriousness to his own request which Dean might understand with as few words as possible. The angel miscalculated that enough time had passed for her name not to provoke a response other than one of intense rage.

Instantly explosively charged, Dean shoved back from the table. Overturning his chair, sending it skittering across the floor, he bolted upright to grab the angel roughly by the collar and haul him to his feet.

Cas chose not to protest, figuring Dean owed him far worse than a mild bit of manhandling on that count.

“Guys!” Sam sprinted around the table. “Enough!” he demanded, wedging an elbow between them to pry Dean’s clamped fingers from Cas’ throat.

Dean reluctantly let go with a frustrated snarl.

Sam nodded an unspoken plea for truce toward the placid angel, turning and leading his grumbling brother in the direction of the kitchen, mumbling that Cas hadn’t meant anything by it.

Castiel retreated to his room via a different hallway.

The tiny Buddha did not approve of anyone’s particular approach to mindfulness, although after the raucous continuous blare of classic rock anthems and non-stop brotherly bickering over the merits of certain songs on the hours-long journey to the bunker, he did relish the silence.

Castiel lay curled in bed on his right side, hugging his knees, his vessel having spontaneously adopted the position during the course of his unavoidable ruminations about you. He couldn’t say, one way or the other, whether it was more or less comfortable than sitting hunched over on the edge of the mattress with his head held in his hands.

A hesitant tapping echoed on the shut door followed closely by a slightly slurred muttering, “Cas, can we talk?”

Cas could say no, but he knew the bull-headed Winchester would eventually open the door regardless. If the situation were reversed, Cas would most certainly do the same. He said nothing. Sitting up, he swung his legs to the floor, silently beginning to count, “One…two…three…four…” The knob rattled – Cas surmised from the modicum of patience required not to burst through the door immediately that Dean would be only moderately inebriated.

The door swung wide. Freckled skin flushed, green eyes dulled, and smelling of at least a third of a bottle of cheap whisky and two, no make that three, beers, Dean rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “You mind if I?” he gestured into the room.

“By all means.”

Dean ambled over to the desk. He disinterestedly straightened the skewed lampshade only to make it worse and then knock the entire lamp off balance trying to fix it, saving it from careening to the floor at the last possible moment. Suspiciously eyeing the lamp, he slid out the chair. Pivoting it on one leg to face the angel, he lowered himself heavily onto the wooden seat. “Love what you’ve done with the place,” he motioned at the stark walls.

Cas’ blue gaze drifted around the bleak space. It was true he hadn’t changed a thing save for the often transient addition of himself since he selected the room as his own. In retrospect, it occurred to him this didn’t reflect too kindly on Sam and Dean’s meaningful invitation for him to live there. He resolved to rectify the sparseness at the next available opportunity. He began to apologize for bringing up Lisa, “Dean, I owe you an apolo-”

“Don’t,” Dean cut him off, holding up a palm, “I overreacted. You asked me nicely to shut my big mouth about it and I didn’t. It’s on me.”

Cas agreed – he thought it best not to say so.

The two friends sat in awkward reflective self-loathing silence until Dean cleared his throat in preparation to speak.

Cas imperceptibly cringed, knowing from experience this could go one of two ways depending on the degree of philosophical Dean felt obliged to wax. Either Dean would bring up something relevant to the dead end case they were working as an excuse to leave, or he would offer the angel sage advice about humanity as if Castiel hadn’t been observing humanity since the dawn of time.

“You know,” Dean fixed his best seriously sincere not-quite-drunk-but-not-exactly-sober gaze on the angel, “you should give that girl a chance.”

Cas peered back impassively – unsolicited advice it was.

“Not that I know anything about her, but I can see the effect she has on you plain as day. You’re shook man. I mean, it’s never going to be cookie cutter, but if you have a shot at happiness, don’t let that go. Hell, you’ve spent your whole life mixed up in fight after fight. Theirs, ours, yours, Heaven’s, Hell’s, ours again. Maybe it’s high time you took a break and tried living on your own terms. Quit being so damned righteous and be a little selfish for a while like the rest of us apes.”

The reference to the uncouth name habitually used by Uriel and Zachariah for humans garnered a rare small smile from the angel.

Dean cracked a waning smile in return, speech dithering, voice faltering, “Look, I’m not saying it’s easy. I’m not saying it’s not something else to regret when it’s gone. But Cas, it’s worth every minute.”

Castiel’s heart drummed rapidly in his chest, empathizing with Dean’s words. Yet his façade and resolve remained unflappable.

“Right,” Dean wiped his cheek with a flannelled sleeve and slapped his knees to clear the air, “Sam got a lead on that box in Harrisburg. We’re heading out early morning.”

Cas nodded once, “I’ll come with you.”

“Good,” Dean headed for the door, “and if you change your mind, New York isn’t that-”

“I won’t change my mind.”

And Castiel didn’t change his mind – not while brooding in the backseat of the Impala tuning the brothers out in a deific trial of both patience and endurance on the uneventful 19-hour drive to Pennsylvania.

Not when he brazenly forayed into the offices of the abandoned coal factory ahead of the brothers and was taken off-guard by two angel blade-wielding demons who seemed to be expecting his arrival and had decorated the walls accordingly with Enochian power inhibiting symbols.

Not when the second bulkier demon got the upper hand, twisting Cas’ arms uselessly behind his back while his compatriot buried a blade deep enough in his shoulder for the angel to bleed grace.

Not even when the same smug demon delved his fingers into the gaping wound, using Cas’ seeping blood to complete the décor with an angelic banishment sigil painted crimson on an otherwise barren exposed steel beam. Cas didn’t change his mind, but he passingly wondered why they were bothering with the theatrics of a banishment sigil when they could easily end him then and there.

Mind still obstinately made up, the angel managed to writhe free when the far door crashed inward, palm swiftly diving across his injured shoulder to press the brute demon’s forehead.

With Cas indisposed mid-smiting, the partner demon sliced his own palm, slapping it to the sigil to dismiss the weak and wounded angel from the confrontation just as Sam and Dean burst onto the blindingly bright scene.

Blazing on an unknown course through the upper atmosphere for the second time in as many weeks, Castiel succeeded in hanging on to the unraveling thread of consciousness long enough to keep his vessel from burning to ash. Crumpled in a steaming carbon-smudged trench-coated heap like a spent shell casing, he peered out into the murky darkness. His vision bleared by a familiar approaching luminescent glow. Bathed in the relief of this radiant light, he closed his eyes, welcoming the serenity only a moth freely flying into flame understands.

Part 4:

webcricket.tumblr.com/post/163505599370/catch-a-falling-star

#castiel x reader #castiel x you #castiel x y/n #castiel angst #castiel fluff #castiel series #castielxreader #casxreader #castielxyou #casxyou #castiel reader insert #cas reader insert #castiel #spn reader insert #cas #cas x y/n #castiel imagine #castiel fanfic #cricket writes cas

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bigenderbefriender · 7 years

Text

The Siege of Rio de Janeiro (2)

Thank you so much to @electricpoolshark for going way above and beyond editing for me, as always. If you like what I write, you should consider buying me a ko-fi! I also cross-post everything to ao3. Both links are on my page.

The first squad ran back through the archway, ragged and bloody, their faces reflecting a mixture of horror and pain. Unfortunate. Symmetra had hoped that this excursion would go easily.

Their job was to use any means necessary to break up the rioters and arrest all members of the illegitimate government they had set up. In theory, the opposition was under-equipped, mismanaged, and wholly unprepared for the kind of firepower that Vishkar had brought. The reality was that their first force hadn’t stood a chance, and the second one wouldn’t either, if something didn’t change.

Not that her officers would ever recognize that: they had a long history of underestimating those whom they didn’t understand, and this was no different. So, instead of allowing them to continue to call shots and fail, she called all of her officers together and gave them a new plan.

This time, when the squad walked down the narrow passage to the enemies’ plaza, they had no intention of setting up and slowly gaining ground. Instead, they rushed from combatant to combatant, trying to stir up as much chaos as possible. Symmetra followed them closely, using the action as cover to use her energy drain and charge up enough to set up a teleporter.

Every time the squad would begin to lose its shielding, they would rush to a new combatant, and as they ran, Symmetra replenished their personal shields. As she predicted, though, this was not a sustainable strategy. They simply were not fast enough to take down any of the rioters before being forced to move. On top of that, the longer they stayed in enemy territory, the more difficult it became to keep their shielding adequate.

Finally, noting that she would no longer be skilled enough to sustain her squad’s tactics, Symmetra peeled back well behind enemy lines and allowed the rest of her squad to fall back as they had planned. The rest was up to her.

She took a moment to peek out of cover and make note of her enemies’ positions. There was one clear leader—whom she guessed was Lúcio Correia dos Santos—who was rushing from rioter to rioter, seeming to heal their wounds. There was one woman standing on high ground above the plaza, which helped to explain the initial group’s failed push. The rest of the rioters were scattered about the plaza behind various pieces of makeshift cover.

Okay. Time to go to work.

Satya made sure that no one was watching her, then snuck up closer to the main group of enemy combatants, where she placed a sentry turret before running back to cover. It had the same effect as her energy drain, accumulating energy for her to build with when it became important.

Unfortunately, it was easily spotted and more easily destroyed, which meant that each one would only get a very limited amount of use. Sure enough, after only a few seconds of charging, Symmetra received the death signal that her turrets emitted upon receiving catastrophic damage.

She knew that the group she had just hit would be on the lookout for the source of the turret, so this time she set off in the other direction, towards a smaller group. She would have to get closer to guarantee a hit, but the risk was worth it, necessary even. She did want to win the battle after all, not just sit behind enemy lines for an eternity. She managed to get the turret set up just as one of the rioters was turning around and had to roll down behind cover.

Gods, don’t let him see me. Not like this, not without backup.

The stress alone was beginning to get to her, but Symmetra would not allow it to show, could not allow it to show. This was war, and war does not have room for weakness. Symmetra looked down at her charge counter.

86%. 87%. 88%. 89%. Turret destroyed. 90%.

It was now close enough that she could wait out the rest, but there was still the matter of the rioter who had nearly seen her. She gave herself a moment to think, then decided to call in a distraction. She sent a quick message to her other officers, instructing them to send in a squad to take fire for her while she escaped back into the backline. Then, after another moment, she sent another instructing the officers to be ready as soon as the teleporter was up.

The sound of gunfire hit her ears, and she rolled out of cover then ran back to the safety of the far back of the plaza. She looked back towards the archway and saw a squad exactly as she had described it. A tank was set up to block gunfire, and behind him were just enough guns to sustain the fight. In the far back was one officer, waiting on her word to initiate combat. They made eye contact and nodded. Symmetra scouted out a good spot to hide her teleporter so that the plaza would be most easily overrun.

94%.

Off to her right was a small road that seemed to be relatively unguarded, due to its end being completely blockaded. Clearly the rioters hadn’t thought that anyone could get through there, so it was the perfect place to set up a second squad. She glanced back at her squad and saw the shield beginning to show signs of severe damage. If she wasn’t fast enough, they would be forced to signal a retreat, and Symmetra didn’t think they would risk another assault. If this plan failed, the other officers would just set block off the last road and let the rioters go hungry until they surrendered.

95%.

Symmetra ran towards the spot she had marked, placing another sentry turret when she passed a group of combatants, and found it just as empty as she had seen earlier. Meanwhile, her sentry turret, now happily ignored, had finished charging her teleporter, thank the gods.

“Teleporter online,” she said over her comm to the other officers. Her second squad flooded through, and she directed them towards the fight, where her frontline squad had begun its work diving on the enemy setup. “Put pressure where I do; the enemies will fall soon enough.”

The squad acknowledged her orders and began laying down cover fire for her. She used it to rush up to the main battle, but instead of following the first squad—which, in truth, was only a distraction—she worked her way around the fringes of the plaza, using her energy drain to bring down the rioters’ support fire.

Moreover, it seemed to be working, perhaps even better than she had planned. The rioters were too distracted to notice the extra agents running through their ranks, and by the time they noticed it would be far too late for them to do anything. Her energy drain was already at full power, so it only took her a second to take out each enemy she reached. She took the small amount of time between each target to replenish her squad’s personal shields as was necessary.

By now the rioters knew that they were losing the battle, and Symmetra heard shouting all around her. Not that it mattered; whatever plans they thought of no longer had any chance of success. Symmetra felt her shield ripple, then nearly break.

Odd. Who has that much firepower?

She looked around to see the source of the disturbance, and found the rioters’ foremost leader himself staring her down.

“Ooh, you hear that?”

So it was to be a taunt then. Very well. She wasn’t quite close enough to use her energy drain directly, so instead she charged it up and shot a few projectiles at him, then followed them, hoping that he would stand his ground while she approached.

“Catch me if you can!” he shouted, then turned around and began out of the plaza. Symmetra briefly considered letting him go. He was clearly the source of their power, and without him the rest of the fight would be easy. But if she didn’t follow, he would just return, perhaps with reinforcements. Besides that, she had confidence that her officers could handle something so simple as continuing the fight. She signaled to them to announce her departure, then followed Lúcio down the corridor he had chosen for their fight.

When she caught back up, she saw him… skating on the walls? He definitely didn’t have either foot on the ground. In fact, it almost seemed like he was showing off how well he could use the technology he stole. It was unnerving. He continued along the walls, jumping from one side to the other when they turned.

Eventually, he did drop to the ground, but only long enough to jump up and grab a ledge above him. Clearly, he had more than enough momentum to make the jump as he seemed to expend almost no energy to hoist himself up. Symmetra had far less luck getting up. The ledge that Lúcio had grabbed onto was too far up for her to jump to. But she had to apprehend him. There wasn’t another option. She had already committed to this. So she crafted some handholds out of light, tested them to ensure they’d hold her, then climbed up to the roof where she hoped to find him.

And there he was, not standing ready for battle, but sitting, slouched over the far edge of the building. It was nothing like she had expected, but she had been surprised before. Comparatively, this was nothing.

“You will return what you stole,” she began. He almost seemed to laugh at her, but then quieted down again.

“What I stole? Vishkar stole everything from us. This was just repayment.”

“Vishkar gave you a chance at utopia, which you threw away when you refused to lead ordered lives.”

The sound of shouting reached the rooftop from back at the plaza, but was quickly replaced by the sound of gunfire approaching.

“You just don’t get it do you. Vishkar wanted to enslave us. They did enslave us. They shot with intent to kill at civilians well before we rebelled against them,” Lúcio responded.

“Which would not have been necessary had you simply submitted to the rules that Vishkar set up for you.”

“Necessary. Huh. Was the explosion necessary too? Or just incredibly lucky?”

The gunfire died down as the rebels took up position and Vishkar regrouped in the plaza. They only had one more push until they were upon the site of the illegal government, a fact that she knew Lúcio was aware of. Still, she had work to do.

“There is no way I could have known what would happen. Calado was an opponent, sure, but we have never resorted to such extreme measures in the past, and there simply is no evidence to support wrongdoing by my superiors in the matter.”

“Sure, whatever helps you sleep at night. I mean do you even care who dies here? What their stories are? Who their families are? Are we anything but numbers to you?”

“Of course you are. That’s why my soldiers are under strict orders not to kill anyone, on pain of their own lives. Sanjay disapproves, but Sanjay’s not the one in charge of this mission.”

Lúcio seemed to slouch even further then turned around and stood up, looking at Satya for the first time. She noticed what appeared to be tears in his eyes, but why he would be crying she could not guess.

“I—I don’t know what to say. Thank you,” Lúcio said.

The sounds of battle reached the rooftop again; Vishkar had started its final push.

“I need to go,” he added.

“You know I can’t let you do that.”

“I know.” A burst of noise thundered from where Lúcio was standing, and Satya found that the ground beneath her was gone, replaced by wind and the sudden realization that she was falling. The blue glow of her personal shields burst, and then everything went black.

#fic by aj #overwatch #symmetra #lucio #more canon fill-ins #although at this point #the story's kinda diverged from anything canon tbh #mostly i'm going in my own direction tangential to canon #it is canon-compliant though!#anyway enjoy y'all

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