#‧⋇⊶⊰ s1 ✦ canaries ⊱⊷⋇‧

[plunderwater]

TIMING: Prior to Jasper losing his face LOCATION: Driftwood Diner PARTIES: Fang (@ronin-for-hire) & Jasper (@eatdearth) SUMMARY: Fang and Jasper meet up to try the White Crab seltzers at Driftwood Diner despite their shaky "first date" at Midnight Drive-In. CONTENT WARNINGS: Innuendos, awkward date stuff, passive-aggressiveness

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was supposed to be a pretty nice movie date at Midnight Drive-In, featuring the film called The Awakening of the Jiggly Pears; it was supposed to be a pretty nice dinner at Harborside, with Jasper getting to taste those White Crab seltzers at Driftwood Diner that she had been raving about. However, as it turned out, much to Jasper’s dismay, both times were with the same girl, and that same girl seemed extremely hostile toward him. Did he do something wrong to her? Something he couldn’t even remember? Did he accidentally piss on her parents’ graves or what?

“So, uhm, we meet again, huh?” Jasper tried to play it off coolly, chuckling at his lame attempt at an ice breaker. He’s never been at Harborside, at least not recently, at least not with someone new, someone who seemed like she’d rather break his kneecaps than do anything else with him, most of all enjoy the seltzers. But Jasper at least tried. No one can say he didn’t. Especially not at the face of a scowling she-devil. “T-thanks for being here.”

Fang squinted at Jasper, her arms crossed over her chest, as she sat back on her seat, scowling. The first time they had gone out, it was to watch that weird film at that weird drive-in. It wasn’t a bad first date, err first meeting, but it could have gone a lot better. At least he didn’t try anything weird. Then again, he wouldn’t have been able to. If he had, she would’ve made sure he wouldn’t try that again with anyone else. But at least he paid. And his car was clean. “Yeah, probably should’ve made sure it wasn’t you.”

Those words might have been sharper than most people would’ve liked, but they were the only words she knew. Well, the only delivery she knew. Fang didn’t live in this part of the world. She didn’t grow up with comfort and the luxury to give strangers the benefit of the doubt. Fang grew up in the part of the world where her parents died during a car crash, thanks to a monster. She grew up in the part of the world where no other relatives claimed her, leading to the guy that saved her to take her in, train her to be a monster killer. She’s been surviving against monsters ever since. “As long as you’re paying, Professor.”

“Of course, I will,” Jasper forced a smile on his face just as the waitress arrived, greeting them both and handing them each a menu. That comment of Fang’s, the one with the whole making sure it wasn’t him again thing, made him wince inside. It was a bit hurtful, but to be honest, he should have expected it from her. For some reason, she hated his guts. Was it his fault? Or maybe that was just who she was? He’d met people like that, had them in his class. Misdirected anger, that was what he liked to call it. She didn’t have enough on him, he thought, to have all that dislike of him be truly about him. It was, most likely, something else. “Two White Crab seltzers?”

Jasper posed the question to Fang, which the waitress picked up on. The latter had said the usual spiel of the restaurant, the food place, which Jasper didn’t bother to listen to. Or he would have, had he not focused on Fang’s misguided animosity toward him. Whatever the true cause of her negativity was, her hostility, he was now determined to find out, if only to make sure she’d tone it down a bit, or more importantly, he could make her feel more comfortable and less agitated. “Or do you have something else in mind? Something more you want to try?”

Fang accepted the menu and read it in a way that kept her from seeing Jasper’s face. Heaving a sigh, she read through the items offered, finding the White Crab seltzers. As if on cue, she reminisced on the first time she got them, having been dragged to the diner by Sara and her coworkers who wanted to try the new addition. The slayer wasn’t too thrilled at the thought of being forced to try a drink with crab in it, especially after her morgue fight, but ended up relenting after Sara guilted her like an Asian mom would. 

“Here,” Fang stated plainly, placing the menu on the table with her finger on the word ‘codburger’ while staring at Jasper with a playful smirk, as if challenging him to get the same dish. The slayer wasn’t much of a gambler, even though the codburger was always a gamble. Some days, the cod was delicious. Other days? She wasn’t even sure if it was cod in there. Definitely a dish she’d enjoy watching the geology professor try to overcome. “Two. One for me and you. Unless you’re scared?”

“Scared?” Jasper raised an eyebrow at Fang, utterly confused. Why would he be scared of a burger? Sure, he’s never had a burger with cod instead of meat, but he did have that tuna burger a while back. Cod and tuna… They’re basically the same thing, right? “Why would I be scared? It’s just fish,” he turned to the waitress with a warm smile, nodding at her after she clarified if that was all they wanted to have. White Crab seltzers and codburger… How could he expect anything else from a diner at Harborside.

“So,” Jasper tried to think of something else to talk about once the waitress left him alone with Fang. He tried to be careful about what topic to broach, tip-toeing on eggshells in his head. The last thing he wanted was for her to start yelling at him again. Then again, he did think she was cute when she got mad. Oh, no… What the actual fuck was that line of thinking? “...you come here often?” Smooth… As in smooth brain. Smooth brain Jasper. Gundam it.

Fang scoffed at Jasper before shaking her head, a grin finding its way across her lips. The man was walking the fine line that separated ignorance and stupidity, and the slayer was finding his stumbling a little bit humorous. She gave him a final shrug and leaned back against her seat, “All right, just fish, hm? We’ll see.” 

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the final dumb thing Jasper could have said. Fang scoffed a second time in under an hour, disbelief clear on her face. “Is that a pick-up line? You know we’re not in a bar, right?” 

Besides, Jasper had already technically picked her up, so there was no need for such a line. Picking up on that idea, Fang leaned forward, her lips contorting into a playful smirk. “Are you nervous, Professor?” He was a bit like this during the movie, too, though she simply attributed that to the fact that it was night time and she didn’t really give him an opening to do what he wanted, what guys on movie dates at night often liked to do. 

Quietly, without words, Jasper just stared at Fang, now a little considered at the implied dangers of a “codburger.” What was it? The cod was going to be overcooked? Raw? Jasper has had sushi before. He’s not lightweight when it comes to fish. Besides, what even is overcooked fish? Just mushy sea meat that he can still gulp down. Of all the things to be afraid of, especially in this part of Wicked’s Rest, fish was not going to be one of them for Jasper. 

“Oh, no,” Jasper shook his head, fumbling for a save. It was. It definitely was a pick-up line, though he may not have intended it as such. Jasper hasn’t been social lately, though to no fault of his own. He tries, but not a lot of people want to have some fun with him outside of office hours. The few that did intimidated him. The rest that he wanted to go out with, have some drinks, maybe a few burgers? Well, he’d rather not get some rumors going around at the university. Dating students was weird. “I was just trying to break the ice.”

“...a little bit,” came Jasper’s awkward admission after a few seconds of silence. The last time they were together, it didn’t really foster a good feeling between the two of them. This made him feel a bit hesitant to do anything now, for fear of a lot of things, most especially getting physical with her, and by that, getting beaten to a pulp. “Nice place…”

“Hm,” came Fang’s ice-cold reply, which was appropriate, considering Jasper was trying to break the ice. Or was that ironic? The slayer could never tell. She wasn’t a wordsmith, and the English language wasn’t her first or even her second language. Learning it took some time, as it was very weird and little all over the place. Just like him. 

Heaving a sigh, Fang crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back. Maybe she was being hard on him. Maybe he doesn’t deserve it as much as she thought. First impressions were important, and Jasper had fumbled that, but Fang could surely give him a second chance? Like her late mentor did. “It is, I guess.”

Now it was her turn to try to break her own ice, as she mustered enough courage and self-awareness to soften her stance. “What places do you go to? On your time, I mean,” Fang shrugged the query as the waitress returned with their burgers and seltzers. At first, she was disinterested in his answer, but as she reached for the seltzer, eager to try it, one glimpse of him made her a little more curious. Something about him reminded her of herself, and she hated it.

“My time?” Jasper was pleasantly surprised when Fang made the effort to make their set-up a little less hostile and a little more, well, interactive. He was already munching on the codburger, having found it a little too tempting. If what she was warning him about was truly dangerous, scary, or whatever else, then he wanted to just get it all over with, done with. The first bite was a little soft, maybe too soft, but her question distracted him from delving into that concern much deeper. “Well, I don’t know… Depends on the day, or night, I suppose.”

Jasper reached for his seltzer, taking a quick sip of it, finding the taste a little odd, though it was mostly due to the fact that he had never tasted anything like it. If it was a thing in this neighborhood, then he wouldn’t have known. Jasper rarely went here, even as a kid, even though he had wanted to. Who didn’t want to go to the beach as a kid? “Friday nights, I spend the night out, enjoying my freedom…with drinks,” he opted to omit the part where he usually did that alone. On his own. “What about you?” 

“Your time,” Fang reiterated the emphasis, taking a sip of the seltzer and surprisingly enjoying it. Must be a whole seafood thing. Back in Japan, she enjoyed a lot of seafood, even the stuff she didn’t know she’d like, the stuff she didn’t even know existed before then, and has since established a preference for all the white meat, and even the non-white meat, from the sea. Basically, it’s a whole thing with her. 

Next, she tried the burger, almost dreading the attempt, but was surprised, again, though pleasantly as well, when the cod in the codburger was very much a cod, tasted like one and tasted pretty fresh, too. Must be her lucky day. Odd.

“Me?” Fang chewed the bite she took as slowly as she could to relish and savor the taste. It was a damn good codburger. Well, hers was. She wasn’t sure if Jasper’s was any better. Or anyone else’s in that restaurant. But she didn’t dwell on that thought. Instead, she tried to think of a decent answer to the question, delving deep into her mind. She enjoyed slaying monsters for money, that was the answer she wanted to give, but of course she couldn’t. “Sex.” 

Nailed it.

Jasper almost choked on his food when he heard her reply, coughing as he desperately reached for his seltzer. His eyes were still wet and a bit red when he finally recuperated from the unexpected revelation. Jasper was no prude, so Fang having sex in her free time wasn’t anything that surprised him. What actually got him was the fact that she had offhandedly made the comment, sharing something intimate with him when she had previously only shared hostility with the geology professor. 

If they were close friends, then Jasper would have just laughed it off, especially if they had such an intimate rapport where they could joke about such things, talk openly about such personal details. But they weren’t. They had already gone out twice, sure, but the most they knew about each other was that Fang wasn’t a fan of Jasper and Jasper was clearly socially inept. “Y-yeah… O-okay,” he cleared his throat, making sure the seltzer got all the possible obstruction from the burger. “Me, too, I guess. Sex is great.” He had to feign another cough to mask his own embarrassment at his final remark.

Jasper felt like teleporting elsewhere as an aftermath of that exchange, though he wouldn’t know the first thing about that. He might be a spellcaster, but he was essentially a rung below beginner. He was more like a hobbyist, and his magical affinity was more toward earth elemental magic. Teleportation, if it even was a thing, would have been under a different category, he believed, though he was also not well-versed with other categories outside of elemental magic. 

Soon, his thoughts had to wander to the possibility that she might invite him over after this for some, well, great sex, but quickly shook his head to keep himself from dwelling over that possibility. It was just a stray bullet of sorts, surely, and nothing was going to come out of this second date. Surely. Jasper swallowed air, feeling his throat dry up from out of nowhere, despite the fact that he had just drank some seltzer not too long ago, finished the entire damned cup even.

Fang let out a brief chuckle, realizing that she was the alpha in this conversation. She should always be. By default. But sometimes, it was much easier and freer to not be the alpha. Sometimes, she did enjoy being the one following another, being second to someone else, someone who steered the conversation whichever way they wanted, the meet-up, the encounter. 

Most of the interactions she’d had usually ended with swords drawn, which in her case, was often literally. It’s nice to be able to just chill and put her feet up. With Jasper, that seems to always be the case, even if she had to be alpha. “Yeah? You must get a lot of sex then, being a smart professor guy and all?” It was mostly teasing, as Fang didn’t really want to know. Or did she?

The rest of the “date�� went better than Fang expected. At least he was too far to try anything this time, too far to reach around her shoulders and leave his heavy, lanky arm on them, weighing her down like a steel ball shackled to her ankle, too far to brush strands of her hair away from her face and behind her ear. He’s probably watched more stupid rom-coms than actually gotten on dates. To be fair, though, she hasn’t been dating either. Still, she wasn’t watching rom-coms to fill that hole in her life. She’s been slaying monsters at night for cash instead. Not an ideal replacement but still a bit better. “So, what do you think? You and me?”

Jasper blushed, his cheeks feeling hot under Fang’s scrutinizing gaze, so he immediately tried to brush it off with an awkward grin paired with an even more awkward chuckle. “You think?” He thought the question would make him look cool, even though he was subconsciously asking her to repeat her assumption. 

“I mean, I am a smart professor guy and all,” Jasper began blabbering to try and find a way to make himself sound better than he actually is, though to little avail. “Professors tend to be smart guys, or smart girls, or women, since, you know, professors need their brains to graduate with their degrees and become professors…” He went on and on and on about unnecessary things, going around in circles, until Fang would stop him and they would find other topics to discuss.

When their conversation ended up with her asking him what he thought about the two of them, Jasper once again choked, this time on air, as he had already finished his meal. He stared at her with wide eyes, unsure of what to say, but slowly realized what she actually meant. Was it an invitation? Of course, it was! She wouldn’t actually ask for his dumb-ass opinion. Fang didn’t seem like someone who’d care for what Jasper actually thought. It was either he was down or he wasn’t, and Jasper would be dumber than dumb if he wasn’t. 

The geology professor immediately raised his hand in the air, not moving his eyes away from Fang just in case she changed her mind. “C-check please!”

[orchiro]

what's going to happen next????

[lord-of-cactus]

Seablings save me

Og image :p

[shadowsndaisies]

codename: nightingale- auld acquaintances

reference: young justice season 1 episode 26

wc: 10.3k

synopsis: well shit gets real, conner yeets ng and robin, all while, ng reminds us why she’s the best, and the otp(s) get their shit (collectively and respectively) together

main masterlist

codename: nightingale series masterlist

a/n: I CANNOT BELIEVE I DID IT. you guys and your support have carried me though this process and the many YEARS it took me to get to this point. I have loved writing this since the beginning and I still do. Thank you for loving this story and the characters as much as I do. Enjoy!

MOUNT JUSTICE

December 31st, 03:12 EST

The cave was quiet as you zeta’d in. You’d only managed a few hours of sleep before you woke up in a fit. Ollie’s penthouse was silent though. And a quick check through the security system told you no one but you was home, in fact no one had come home, since you had. The team had made the decision to host a debrief at 0730, the next day, allowing everyone (mostly you) to recenter.

Given that the penthouse was empty, you decided to head to the cave early, if you were lucky, you’d be able to check the logs and see if Ollie, Dinah, and Roy were still up in the Watchtower or not.

“Recognized: Nightingale b-14,” the computer’s voice echoed in the darkness of the cave, and a couple of light flickered on in response.

“Computer, pull Zeta logs for the last 24 hours to the Watchtower, Nightingale Access delta echo charlie zero six,” you call out your code after a brief look assures that you’re the only one around.

“Access Denied,” the computer’s response throws you off guard as you pull up a screen, but you’re treated to a red screen.

“Under who’s authority?”

“Designation 0-2.”

“Batman?” you whisper the answer to yourself, but you can’t understand why. You’ve had access to the Watch Tower logs since Ollie and Dinah told you about the tower. You couldn’t get there without them, but you could access the logs to see who’s there currently, and you could usually see the calendar to know when Dinah and Ollie were scheduled.

“Computer, Canary Override: charlie romeo yankee seven eight nine three,” you attempt.

“Override denied.”

“What? Why?”

“Override denied per designation A-0-4.”

“A-0-4? Who is A-0-4?”

“Access Denied.”

“Oh, fuck’s sake!” you shout.

“Perhaps yelling at our computer system is not the best use of your limited time to rest?” a new voice interrupts.

You frown as you turn to look at Kaldur, “it won’t let me access the Watch Tower logs,” you huff, pointing at the red message glaring back at you.

“Why are you looking to access the logs?” he asks, brows furrowed as he looks between you and the screen.

“No one came home last night, K. I needed- I wanted- I just need to talk to Dinah, after everything that happened? I just wanted Dinah or Ollie, and they weren’t home. I passed out on the couch waiting, and when I woke up, they still hadn’t come back. I just wanted to see if they were still there,” you explain.

Kaldur’s lips pull into a frown, “They may be pre-occupied, the League, as you know, better than most, can be demanding, even at the best of times, and with the best of offers,” he states.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” you defend, sensing his double meaning.

“You mean to tell me, my King is but a liar?” he challenges.

You’re quiet for a moment, Kaldur knew better than anyone, just how much you respected King Orin, “what did he say, exactly?”

“That you were also accepted into the League, that you were by far the best candidate off all those who were inducted, and yet, you were the only one who has said no to date,” he admits.

Your voice is quiet as you look at your friend, before you sigh, “how long have you known?”

“Since the meeting in November.”

“You didn’t say anything…”

“Neither did you, I decided it’d be best to follow your lead. You would have said something when you were ready to,” he shrugs.

“I’m not ready. I don’t feel ready, to be there, at that level,” you explain.

“You owe me no explanation, old friend. I have always had faith in your decisions, I won’t start questioning them now,” he assures you.

“Thanks, K,” you sigh. “Did he really say I was the best candidate?”

Kaldur smiles knowingly, and gently places a hand on your shoulder, “Come, M’gann stress baked cookies last night upon our arrival. We can indulge in those while we watch something?”

“Yes, please.”

You both got settled on the green sofas with a plate of cookies on the coffee table before you, and two mugs of tea. You were flipping through the available options when Kaldur spoke up again.

“I watched when you were barely in double digits trying to learn how to sort through your feelings and emotions,” he began and your grip on the mug tightened, while your hand with the remote dropped. “I watched as you turned it into a motivator, a strength. I watched how you learned to center yourself and be objective, even with only a decade beneath you. What you feel now, how you feel now, might be stronger, but you know how to utilize that, you know how to sort it. But until you can, until you’re able and ready, I hope you know I will be here to temper it. Just as I was before,” his tone is firm, as he expresses himself.

Slowly your gaze moves to him, and you take him in. This Kaldur was nearly an adult, he had given up the Conservatory, and trained with King Orin. This Kaldur taught you Atlantean, he helped you learn how to open yourself to magic.

“Kaldur…”

“We used to spar, do you remember? You were so full of rage and I remember the Queen sending me to spar with you one day. Garth and Tulla thought it would be unfair, they thought that with my age, my size, my magical and home advantage, you would be unable to compete. Fitting, that you knocked me down in mere minutes, despite being slowed by the water, despite being in a new place, despite your age and size. It was then that we all realized that you hold so much raw power, much more than you ever seemed to realize yourself.”

“You’d think you would’ve learned your lesson after Wally,” you scoff, sniffing to yourself and recalling the first time you met the boys.

“Oh, I did. Which is why I asked for you to be included in our studies, it’s why you studied with me, specifically, at the conservatory. You needed an outlet, then. So, you studied with us, trained with us, and despite not being naturally adept at magic, despite being out of your element, you held your own, you beat us several times. You mastered skills quicker than we ever did. You needed the distraction, to let go of all that you had been forced to carry at such a young age. I just hope you can trust me to help you with that again.”

“You were my first true friend, Kaldur’ahm. I had Roy, but he had always been introduced as a brother, you were a friend. You saw me, the realest version of me, rageful, angry, upset, scared, all of the negative emotions and you still decided that you would help me. You have always looked out for me, and you have always had my trust,” you’re resolute in your answer, no one had supported you through the hard parts like Kaldur had, because he was right. He had seen you at your angriest, he’d watched you fight as an outlet, seen you train yourself to the brink of exhaustion just to be free of the rage, even for a minute, and instead of telling you that you were wrong for your methods, he instead offered you new outlets, new opportunities. He lent you his strength and stability when you had none.

“I am honored to hold that title, my bird. We made a promise, you remember? A piece of our histories intertwined,” he states, smiling at you as he tugs a gold chain from under his shirt. Your gaze lingers on it for a moment before dropping to the ring you’d been subconsciously fidgeting with.

The ring that had allowed you to breathe underwater, the one that allowed you to live in Atlantis as if you were an Atlantean yourself, it was obviously special. But what made it so treasured was not the gift it gave, it was the who the gift was from. The ring had belonged to Kaldur’s mother. It had been she, who when King Orin asked for a volunteer, a home for the girl from the dry world, had stepped forward. She had opened her home, and had offered the ring to be enchanted for you. She became your advocate while you lived in Atlantis, she treated you like you were one of her own. When it was finally time for you to return to your home, over a year later, she had told you to keep the ring, “I’d always hoped to pass this ring to a daughter,” she’d said, and you cried as you hugged her one last time.

On Kaldur’s first trip to visit you, merely a month after you’d gone back to Star City, you’d given him a chain. It had belonged to your father, and he’d worn it his whole life. Something that had been gifted to him when he was young from his father, who got it from his father before him. There’s a small pendent that hangs, your family’s crest, just like on your ring, they were a set technically.

You’d managed to enchant the item with your limited ability just in time for Kaldur’s first visit. “It’s meant to be passed to sons. I’d really like it if our histories were intwined. If I’m going to carry such a meaningful part of yours and your mom’s history, then I’d really like if you were to carry this of mine.” As far as you know, he hadn’t taken it off since you gave it to him almost three years ago.

The frown reappears on your lips as you look at the chain, and then at Kaldur. “Sometimes… I wish I was still there. It was easier living with you. There were no secret machinations, just you and me, and Garth and Tulla. I- I was hurting, I know that, but-”

“I understand,” he promises and you can’t help but let out a watery laugh.

“Of course you do. You’re Kaldur’ahm, no one ever seems to understand me as well as you do,” you smile.

“Rest, my friend, you have earned it. Our debrief with the Batman is 0730, however, I suspect he will be here early.”

“0700?” you ask.

“See you then,” he promises, tossing you a pillow and a blanket.

“Thanks, K, for everything,” you smiled, plopping back.

“Anytime, my friend, anytime.”

MOUNT JUSTICE December 31st, 06:30 EST

When you wake up again, it’s to Conner staring down at you with a quirked brow.

“Shit, Conner, why are you just staring at me like that?” you groan rubbing at your eyes.

“I wasn’t expecting to see you yet,” he admits, one hand rubbing at his neck.

“Yeah, I came earlier this morning. Canary and GA were at the Tower all night long. K, sat with me for a while.”

“Well, since you’re here… maybe we can talk about-”

“About your dad?” you ask, staring up at the roof of the cave.

“Don’t. Please don’t call him that. There's so much to figure out, but he’s not… not my dad,” you haven't turned back to him yet, but you can hear the tension in his tone.

“Genetic Donor then?” you offer turning back to him with a lazy smirk before adjusting yourself to lean against the arm of the sofa, tucking your legs beneath you.

“Genetic Donor works,” he sighs, sitting down in the now empty space on the sofa with you.

It’s silent for a minute as you both process, and then you're giggling. Conner’s eyes blow wide, as he stares at you. You cant help yourself though. Your giggles soon turn to full blown laughs, tears forming in your eyes.

“NG… nightingale… (y/n)!” Conners tone grew increasingly harried with each call to you.

“I’m sorry, I- I just… he killed my parents. I’m an orphan… be-because of Lex fucking Luthor, and he’s the only reason you're even here. He’s the reason I’m here!” you’re still laughing.

It has to be some sort of break, your mind finally deciding it's had enough.

That's when the laughs trail off, and you're left with tears.

You stop heaving and you take a deep breath, everything grows silent, you shut your eyes and center yourself. When you open your eyes you're staring at Conner again.

“I don't know how to fix this,” he admits.

You offer him a weak smile as your shoulders droop, “you can't,” you relent and Conner sags back into the sofa too.

“What now?” he asks.

“We be honest with each other, and the team. You and me, we're bonded by something now. I didn't realize it when we freed you from your pod, or when you helped us escape, but we are.”

“Allies against Lex?” he offers, holding out his hand.

“Allies against Lex,” you confirm, shaking his hand.

A not so innocent piece of you takes advantage and reads his emotions. You're reassured by the feelings of honesty, compassion, and belonging. You stare at Conner for a moment before letting go of his hand.

“What time is it?” you ask, stretching out a bit.

“You have about 15 until debrief.”

“Okay, thanks,” you sigh, standing up.

“I’ll see you in the cortex?” he asks, standing up as well.

“Yeah,” you confirm before heading to the locker room.

You're all standing in a line when Batman finally zetas in. You hadn’t had a chance to talk to Rob, or anyone else from the team about yesterday before he arrived.

He starts by asking for a rundown of events. Which we oblige. We explain everything from start to finish, the reveals, the truths, the plan for Santa Prisca. Everything leading up to the moment of Lex Luthor’s escape.

And when all of that is said and done you swallow your fears down hard before stepping forward, “Additionally, after defeating Bane with Robin and Zatanna, when I became aware of Luthor’s escape-”

“She was a little upset, which I’d argue is completely warranted considering everything we found out yesterday,” Wally cuts in, interrupting you before you can admit to how you lost control.

“Yes, but-” your second attempt is interrupted as well.

“Which is why we would like to request that the development of a case against Luthor be a Team priority,” Robin’s the one to cut in this time, proffering an official request on behalf of the team.

You risk a glance at the Team, and you don’t need M’gann’s abilities to understand what they're trying to say. So you shut up, and step back in line, waiting for Batman’s response to the debrief as well as the request.

He doesn't say anything for a minute, and then Kaldur is stepping in, “We have reason to feel proud of yesterday's victories. But one thing has not changed,” he alludes.

“Somehow, the bad guys are still getting intel about us,” Robin offers.

“Yeah, but at least we know none of us are the mole,” Wally counters.

For the first time that morning Batman finally speaks up, “That's correct,” he confirms, and he does so with serious conviction.

You want to be reassured by his confirmation, but something about the whole briefing was throwing you off, and it wasn't the discussion of Luthor.

“The mole,” he begins again, “was Red Arrow.”

Theres a brief silence as Roy’s image is displayed before everyone explodes.

“Roy?” Robin repeats disbelievingly.

“No way!” Wally’s voice had pitched up in his rebuttal.

You on the other hand, felt as the first of the strings holding you up snapped. Kaldur places a hand on your shoulder as if he knew, before turning back to the Dark Knight, “Batman, that cannot be. He was Green Arrow's protégé. We have all known him for years.”

“Unfortunately, the Roy Harper we have known for the last three years is another Project Cadmus clone,” Red Tornado explains.

You have to fight to catch your breath, this couldn’t be happening. You’d known Roy longer than that, you would've realized!

“We've learned the real Speedy was abducted and replaced soon after becoming Green Arrow's sidekick,” Batman explains and you finally step forward.

“No,” the seriousness of the word echoes in the cave. “I’ve known Roy longer than that, its been way more than three years! I would have noticed if CADMUS had substituted my own brother in front of me!” your argument is urgent, something had to be wrong.

“Unless they took a self fabricated opportunity to substitute the clone in a time of chaos. Where Speedy’s patrol partner and closest confidant was… gone?” Batman paints a picture but you're so hyper-focused on the Roy of it all you miss what he’s hinting to.

Theres a sharp intake of breath behind you, when you turn you see Kaldur, his eyes wide as he stares at you, “You came to Atlantis almost four years ago, you were gone from the surface world for over a year…” he reminds you, and you feel another string snap.

“No.”

“You said everyone seemed different, you were different, you were re-adjusting, it’d be reasonable to assume you wouldn't have noticed,” Kaldur’s tone is soft.

“No! Don't you understand?” you shout, turning to the team. “If that's true, it means the riot where they escaped was planned, they meant to cause a distraction, to throw us off guard so that they could switch-”

“Switch their Roy for ours,” Wally finishes, green eyes full of remorse on your behalf.

“And they waited almost year to put that into action, capitalizing off of the disarray of Star City's heroes,” Artemis tacks on.

“I would have noticed!” you argue, voice cracking as you try to reign in your emotions.

“The clone was pre-programmed with a drive to join the Justice League,” Batman intervenes, continuing to provide the information he had at hand. “Which is why he was so angry over any delays to his admission and why he refused to join the Team. This Roy Harper had no idea he was a clone or a traitor. And his subconscious programming drove him to become League-worthy. So he struck out on his own as Red Arrow.”

Your head was spinning, heart beating so fast and loud in your ears, it was a miracle you were still standing up. Something was wrong, something had to be wrong. Where was Dinah and Ollie? If this were true they’d come to tell you in person, they would. How could Ollie have not noticed? How could Dinah? Something had to be wrong.

“When he was finally admitted, his secondary programming kicked in and he attempted to betray the League to Vandal Savage.”

Your stomach flipped, Savage?

“Fortunately, I had already deduced Red Arrow was a clone. We were prepared.”

He had what?!

“I think I’m gonna be sick,” you whisper, Conner and Kaldur seem to be the the only two who hear you as they offer you mildly concerned expressions.

“Savage was subdued but Red Arrow escaped. He is now a fugitive, armed and dangerous,” Red Tornado continues.

“If you guys hadn't rescued me from CADMUS...” Conner trails off, eyes jumping from me to Kaldur.

“What happened to the real Roy?” Rob’s the one to voice the question and your heart stutters. Real Roy as if the one you'd known since your return wasn't real in some way. They were both real, at least they were to you.

“We don't know. He isn't at Cadmus. We have to face the possibility that the real Roy Harper is dead.”

You can't stop it. The bubble of grief, pain, and guilt. It bursts out of you, and of course Kaldur’s the one to catch it. His hand lands heavily on your shoulder, and you take deep breaths to center yourself. They don't know, you remind yourself. He could be alive and on ice somewhere, you repeat. You're forcing thoughts of hope down your own throat, hoping something will be digestible.

The last thing you're expecting is for Robin to grab ahold of your hand, not in front of Batman, and not after yesterday’s incident. Today, however, he doesn't waver or flinch back like he had the day before, so you can't tell if he can feel what you are right now. He simply snags your hand and tightens his grasp, until you're squeezing back.

“The clone Roy. The Team will find him,” Kaldur decides, his tone leaves little space.

Yet, somehow, Batman blows it wide open, “Negative. Red Arrow's a member of the Justice League now. Leave him to us.”

There's an argument forming on your lips, but a beep from his comms forces you to shut up.

“I'm needed on the Watchtower. Tornado, stay with the kids,” Batman decides and Robins hand slackens a bit. Kids? Since when did Batman call you kids?

The zeta lights up a second later, “Recognized, Batman, zero-two.”

You turn and run to the closest bathroom, you can hear as a few people shout after you, but you’re focused on making it to the bathroom. Your knees hit the ground hard as you all but collapse and then your heaving up the little that’s in your stomach. The protein bar and cookies that Conner had swiped from the kitchen for you, the orange juice Kaldur had poured for you, and the the blueberries that you’d scarfed down as well.

There’s a hand on your back, another keeping your hair back. “Wally?” your voice is a hoarse whisper.

“It’s me,” he affirms.

You nod and close your eyes for a second before you’re heaving again.

“I got you,” he promises, gently rubbing circles into your back.

You knew that, Wally’s always got your back. You know he probably didn’t hesitate to chase after to you, and that he most likely told everyone else to stay back. “I would have noticed,” you repeat.

“(Y/n)…”

“I should have noticed,” you say, sliding back, wiping at your mouth and leaning against the wall before turning to your friend.

“That’s not on you,” Wally argued.

“He’s my brother, my responsibility,” you shoot back.

“C’mon, let’s get you back before Rob starts panicking,” he huffs, pulling you up.

“I need to bru-” before you can finish Wally disappears and reappears with the toothbrush from your locker and a tube of toothpaste.

“Your teeth?” he asks cheekily.

You shake your head before quickly brushing your teeth. When you and Wally get back it’s to Kaldur’s awaiting stare. You offer a nod and he turns to face the rest of the team before looking back at you. He gives you a look signifying that it was your move this time, your call. Your stomach’s still unsettled but you swallow down your nerves and confusion before addressing the team.

  “Clone or no clone, Red Arrow was one of us. For three years, he was ours. We will go after him, and we will figure this out, on our terms,” you decide.

  You had planned to say more, but the sudden sounds from Red Tornado force you to stop. He freezes about a foot and a half away from you. Then, it's like he shut down. A sound as if he was being powered down, as the entire armor freezes, and his head tilts down.

  “Tornado!” M’gann’s shout is slightly panicked.

“What happened?” Conner’s squinting.

“He's powered down,” Wally notes, tone slightly curious.

“All functions off-line,” Robins got a frown as well, analyzing Red Tornadoes stats on his wrist-computer.

“Something doesn’t feel right,” you note, staring between the stats as well as Tornado.

“Guys, I'm sensing a low-level mystic force at play. I don't know if it caused his shutdown, but… now that I think about it, I was getting the same buzz off Batman,” Zatanna admits, and your frown deepens.

“Batman,” Robin repeats. “He called us kids. He never does that.”

  You step forward, analyzing every aspect of Tornado that you could, Wally comes up behind you and does the same.

  “Look,” Wally’s call pulls your attention. When he straightens up you can see something in his hands, “One of those bio-tech chips we confiscated off Cheshire.”

“Nightingale is right, something is not right,” Kaldur agrees. “Robin, Kid, Zatanna, Rocket, see if you can get Tornado back online,” he directs. “The rest with me to find Ro... Red Arrow.”

  The team pauses despite Kaldur’s clear instruction, and slowly they look from him, to each other, and then to you. You know why they paused, even Kaldur seems frozen as he stares at you. His decision would put you into the field, it would allow you to look for Roy, to be there when the Team finds him. Going with them would also separate you from both Wally and Dick.

  You must’ve stayed silent too long, “Birdy,” Wally’s voice seemed to echo as he called out your name.

“Sorry,” you mutter, looking up. “Kaldur’s right, we.. uh, we have to split up.”

  Wally and Dick look at each other and then they look at you.

  “It’ll be okay,” you tell them. “I have to find him, my brother, my responsibility. Plus, who knows him better than me?”

  No one has an answer and you nod.

  “Suit up,” you confirm once more before the team nods, and disperses accordingly.

  Wally, Dick, and Kaldur hang back. The three of them don’t speak, but they’re exchanging looks with each other and with yourself. No one says a word, but you offer a look of your own, and then roll your eyes at them. They pause and as always, Wally’s the first to crack. He throws his hands up looking at the two other boys and then gesturing to you. When that doesn’t get the response he wants, he throws his hands up again, waving them around.

You smile softly, hands coming to Wally’s shoulders. You offer a forced lopsided smile, tilting your head to the side. Wally responds by shaking his head, and you tighten your grip. You give him a pleading look, Wally’s face scrunches but he finally stares at you head on. You nod, gently and he sighs before nodding back.

You pass along a feeling of comfort, trying to make him understand that it’ll be okay.

“Yeah,” Wally confirms, before walking off.

Kaldur offers you a nod of his head and you nod back, before he walks toward the bioship.

You pause for a second and take a breath, and then there’s a hand on your shoulder and you’re hit with concern, longing, and a need to protect. You take another breath and turn to face Dick. He’s staring at you for a second, he opens his mouth and then closes it. In the end he stares at you making a closed fist with his right hand and rubs little clockwise circles on his chest. Your ASL was passable, a skill that Dinah and Ollie thought was important to learn for the streets, it seems like Bruce thought the same for Dick. Sorry, that’s what he was saying.

You know what he’s sorry for, you knew it the second he grabbed your hand. You take your right hand, rub a circle with your palm against your chest, and then with a flat hand swipe above your temple with your fingertips, I know.

He shakes his head, the barest of a smile on his lips.

You offer a soft smile at Dick one last time before walking towards the locker room. You’re quick to grab your gear, and you’re silent until your in the bioship, and in the air.

“Old friend,” Kaldur’s voice is soft inside the bioship, but you’re forced to pay attention to him regardless.

“I know what you’re going to say,” you sigh.

“Oh?”

“It’s not your fault, you couldn’t have known,” you trail off.

“Wrong,” Artemis interrupts.

“Am I?”

“Yeah, we were all going to say it,” Conner scoffed.

You soften at that.

“That’s where you’re wrong,” you say sadly.

“How so?” M’gann’s voice is as soft as it has always been.

“Because I did know, a piece of me did, at least,” you tell them, gaze focusing on the clouds as you pass them by out the window.

“What?” Conner’s accusation cuts clear.

“I knew something was wrong. I could feel it. Ever since my abilities… he would get angry, over things he never used to. I just wrote it off, I- I knew it was wrong, it felt wrong, it didn’t feel like natural anger, it was sudden, it was triggered but not by anything I could see. I should’ve said something, should’ve told someone,” you admit to them.

“You had no reason to suspect ulterior machinations,” Kaldur countered. “And though I know it bothers you, you both had grown apart since the foundation of the team.”

“Yeah,” you nod, fingers tracing over the ring dagger you’d been fidgeting with, “maybe.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. December 31st, 09:06 EST

“Logs indicate Red Arrow zeta'd to the Hall from the Watchtower,” Artemis stated, “But he could be anywhere by now, I also was only able to read the Hall logs, the Watchtower ones have been classified,” she adds on.

Kaldur clears his throat and turns to you expectantly, “So, I kind of didn’t appreciate how Roy tried to cut ties with everyone when he went solo, so I might’ve done some digging…” you trail, typing in new coordinates.

“Digging?” Conner asks.

“Okay, fine, investigating, and tailing, and the whole package pretty much. I found his main apartment, and discovered that he had installed equipment caches in several major cities,” you relent.

Conner coughs out, “stalker,” before clearing his throat, and you roll your eyes.

“One is here,” you continue as the bioship comes to a stop over an apartment complex.

“So… who’s going down, because, uh… not it,” Artemis muses weakly.

“I am,” you assure her.

“We are,” Kaldur corrects.

You nod and you both stand, you readjust your utility belt and pull a sweatshirt over the top of your suit, and then you pull your leather jacket on as well. It looks inconspicuous enough, at least as much as it would ever for your needs.

You and Kaldur drop to the roof, the access door was unlocked and you made your way down one floor. Roy had gotten an apartment on the top floor. When you come upon the door you crouch down with your lock picks, but between your latent anxiety, and the need to find Roy, your focus is slightly skewed.

“Perhaps, this is not the time for stealth?” Kaldur offers sagely.

You sigh and hang your head, hiding your lock pick tools in their place under your sleeve once again, “yeah.”

“Shall I? Or, would you like to?” he asks, gesturing to the door.

“I will,” you nod, standing back up.

You take a breath and stare at the door, and then with a heafty amount of force you kick down the door, you manage to put in enough force to rock the door off a hinge, and when it clears your vision you’re greeted by Roy holding up his bow with two arrows notched.

You notice the way his hand dips a second as he realizes it’s you he’s got an arrow focused on, “How’s it hanging, Roy?” you ask, but there’s a tough edge to your tone.

“You know, business as usual, Birdy,” he huffs out, but he retrains the arrows on you both.

“We have not come to harm nor apprehend you,” Kaldur cuts in. “But the Team requires answers-”

“Me first,” Roy interrupts. “Tell me something you haven’t told anyone else… tell me who broke your heart.”

Your jaw drops, “Roy!” your tone is more chastising than it was before. You know why it’s necessary, but it’s a low blow for Kaldur, a very low blow.

Kaldur places a hand on your shoulder, “Tula. The girl I loved chose my best friend Garth over me,” he answers, and you can hear the fight to keep his voice level. “While the man I consider by best friend on the surface world aims an arrow at my chest.”

Roy moves and suddenly both arrows are pointed at you.

“Roy-” Kaldur’s tone turned dangerous, but to your credit your eyes narrow and you tilt your chin up at him daringly.

“E.T. phone home,” Roy says, and you don’t need to touch Kaldur to feel the confusion rolling off of him.

There’s a pang in your heart, Roy, this Roy, was pulling on one of the earliest decisions you all made, code phrases. Methods to promise sanity, self, but also a warning when necessary. They were all movie phrases, famous enough to remember, but mismatched enough that no one would be able to guess. You’d both decided on them after you’d returned from Atlantis and Dinah let you return to patrol.

“Toto, I’ve got a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore,” you whisper.

Roy’s entire body sags. The bow and arrows clatter to the floor as he drops to his knees, and you’re quick to drop with him. You land on your knees right in front of him.

“You’re killin’ me, Smalls,” you whisper once again to him.

“As if,” he shoots back, and you crush him in a hug.

The both of you clutch onto each other, you grip him tight just for the minute being. You hug him tight and he hugs back, and you revel in it. In it’s familiarity. He might have not been the Roy that was brought home to you, but he is the one you spent the last three years with, he is still your Roy. The one who helped you readjust to being back in Star City, the one who would drive you to school, and would tap you gently when you’d accidentally slip back into Atlantean. The one who would reassure you that life was going to be okay, who would sit beside your bed, who would hold your hand, who watched your back, he was your brother. Your brother, your responsibility.

Slowly you both re-centered, and then you hauled him up to the roof, and then all three of you were pulled back up into the bioship. It’s quiet when you’re all back.

“We’re clear,” you say quietly and there’s a collective breath let out.

Everyone settled into their seats and soon enough we were back in the air.

Kaldur doesn’t waste any time, “We were told you were the mole,” he explains and Roy puffs out a breath.

“But we have reason to doubt,” you quickly inserted.

“Forget doubt. I was the mole,” Roy states, and you let out an audible groan, staring up at the roof of the ship.

“Batman and Tornado said you’re a CADMUS clone, like me,” Conner admits.

Roy turns to look at you, and you offer a slight nod, “That explains it,” he nods with a sigh that makes him seem more tired than surprised. “I was a sleeper agent, pre-programmed to infiltrate the League…. I think Sportsmaster was my handler. He had a key-phrase, Broken Arrow… that could shut me down, put me in a hypnotic state to steal secrets for his superiors, or incorporate further programming. I'd then carry out all orders subconsciously completely unaware of what drove me.”

Roy paused and you stared back at him, “take me back?” you whisper to him and he shut his eyes and nodded once more before turning back to the rest of the team, specifically the three seated behind you.

“I think one of those orders was to focus suspicion on the three of you. I'm sorry,” he adds on.

“How did Batman discover this and prevent you from betraying the League?” Kaldur asks.

Roy pauses, and looks at you, “He didn't.”

“Fuck,” you sigh.

“Birdy,” Kaldur’s voice is level, and there’s a request in it to make sure you remain so as well.

“So what happened?” you ask, pulling yourself together.

“The entire League’s been put under mental domination via those chips you guys found,” Roy sighs, scrubbing at his face.

“The ones we got off Jade?” Artemis cut in.

“Yeah, he called ‘em Starro-tech, an alien bio-organism infused with nanotechnology and magic,” Roy explained.

“Nanotechnology and magic?” you repeat. “Artemis, in the Bayou, you said you saw-”

“Klarion, the Brain, Gorilla Mallah, and Professor Ivo,” she answers.

“If there was ever a trust that could pull something like that off…” you trail.

“What do they do? The chips?

“It shuts down the mind’s autonomy, allows the controller to reprogram the individual to suit their needs,” Roy explains.

“Wait…” Conner calls interrupting. “You said He called them, who’s he?”

Roy grimaces, looks around the ship and then straight at you, and you already don’t like where this is headed, “Savage,” he says and you don’t even make it a second before you explode.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” you shout. “VANDAL SAVAGE? WHAT THE FUCK!”

“Language,” Roy says automatically, and then he twitches, like he hadn’t meant to say it. “And I knew you weren’t going to like that.”

“But this chip, it affected everyone?” M’gann asked, and you had no doubt she was thinking about her uncle.

“This Starro-tech, it worked on super-powered humans, four flavors of alien, an android, even Doctor Fate,” Roy explained.

“Defeating all of you without a fight?” Conner asks.

“Indeed. A remarkable achievement. One not easily countered,” Kaldur points out.

“I'm sorry, but how is it that you are no longer enslaved?” M’gann’s the one to ask and your body tenses up.

“No Starro-tech, for starters. Just my CADMUS programming, and once I had satisfied its last parameter, my mind began to clear,” Roy admits. “I'm sure Savage planned to Starro-tech me, but he paused to bask… I escaped.”

You turn in your seat and look back at M’gann, urging her to understand, and luckily, she does. She nods at you with a gentle smile, “I promise, I can clean any residual programming from your mind,” M’gann says, reassuring you, despite the intention being directed at Roy.

  “Linking both squads and de-camouflaging,” M’gann’s voice suddenly echoes in your head and you spot the super cycle as it moves into docking position.

“Great. Because we really need to compare notes,” Robin’s voice has an edge, and as you come face to face with him and the other half of your team, you spot Wally’s frown and notice Dinah.

“What the fuck?” your voice takes on it’s own lethal edge as your gaze jumps from your unconscious and tied up mentor to the rest of the team.

It took some time but eventually both halves of the team had been caught up, now the only think left was to figure out the next move.

  “What if we reverse engineer the starro-tech?” Wally’s the one to make the suggestion and it has all of you pausing.

“Great idea, but how?” Artemis’ tone is dry but she makes a valid point.

  It goes quiet and that’s when you have an idea.

  “ti tha ginótan an rotoúsame ti vasílissa?" (what if we were to ask the queen?) the question echoes across the link but only one person can understand.

Kaldur blinks slowly and in a hesitant tone asks, “*Rota tin gia ti akrivos?*" (ask her for what exactly?)

Your lip quirks a bit, “*an boroúme dioikitís Giatrós V?*" (if we can commandeer Doctor V?)

You’re not sure what you were expecting but you’re not sure why you were surprised, Kaldur’s always backed your plans, “Pistévete óti o Red échei akóma ton arithmó tis Roquette?" (Do you think Red still has Roquette’s number?)

You offer a lopsided smile, “**Tha chreiastoúme óli ti voítheia pou boroúme na pároume**." (We’re gonna need all the help we can get.)

“Would someone like to clue those of us not fluent in Atlantean in?” Conner’s tone cuts through your conversation.

  You share another look with Kaldur.

  “It’s your plan,” he prods.

“Wally has the right idea, we have to reverse engineer the chip. We don’t stand a chance if we don’t,” you remind everyone.

“But you have a plan that will address that,” Robin realizes.

“Of course she does, when it comes down to it, our girl’s always got a plan,” Wally snorts, but by the way he scrubs at his face you realize he’s on edge.

You nod, “what do we know about the staro-tech?”

“Alien bio-organisim infused with nanotechnology and magic… what are you thinking?” Roy trails.

“I think you have the number for a nanotechnologies expert who owes us a favor, and I happen to know a few individuals who specialize in magic and science, in fact they run a whole conservatory, that teaches kids like us, well, like Kaldur,” you hint to everyone else.

“Doctor Roquette and Queen Meera,” Robin realizes.

“Alongside Doctor Vulko, who runs the Atlantean Science Center, he’s the Minister of Science for the kingdom,” Kaldur adds.

“Doctor Spence too,” Connor adds, “She worked for CADMUS, she probably can help reverse engineer the chips.”

“Which means there’s also three people we need to pick up, ASAP,” you point out.

  Another silence fils the ship, Wally’s already shaking his head, and Rob’s still staring straight at you.

  “We have to split up,” Rocket’s the one to state the obvious.

“Again?” Zatanna’s voice wobbles a bit.

  You bite down hard on your lip to keep yourself focused.

  “We have to, the quicker we get them, the quicker we fix this. We have to fix this,” you say, voice level.

“How do you want to handle it?” Robin’s the one to ask, his own voice level, but you can see the twitch in his hand.

Your lips tug down as you prepare to answer, because there’s only one possibility, “Superboy and Miss Martian will pick up Dr. Spence. Kid Flash and Robin will escort Red Arrow-” you don’t mean for your voice to crack but it does. “Will escort Red Arrow and retrieve Dr. Roquette.”

“You’ve got to be joking,” Wally’s scoff, clearly depicts what he thinks of your decision.

“Dude,” Robin’s quick to cut him off.

“And Aqualad and I will take the super cycle to go to Atlantis,” you finish. “Artemis, Zee, and Rocket will play support, and keep tabs on Canary. Please do not lose my mentor. Plus they can run background with RT.”

  You’re met with silence.

  “This is the plan, if someone has a better idea, speak up now, otherwise, you know what you have to do,” you swallow back the anxiety, and focus your gaze on Kaldur, you can’t look at anyone else, not right now.

  You remember his words from earlier, to lean on him, and to allow him to support you. It was all so overwhelming, it’s all too much, but staring at Kaldur reminded you of the little girl who was barely 10 when she was dropped in Atlantis. The girl so full of rage she couldn’t sort through her own emotions. Kaldur knew how to help that girl center herself, taught her how to cope and handle things.

  “Well if no one else is going to say it; I have some thoughts,” Wally scoffs again.

“Trust me, we know you do, Wall-Man,” Artemis’ dry tone actually puts a smile on your lips, a small quirk of a thing, but it works.

“I’m only taking constructive criticism at the moment,” you tag on, and your gaze finally flickers to Wally who is simply glaring at you.

  You offer a shrug in response, and you can feel the heat of Wally’s glare, the discomfort radiating off of Dick, but you don’t have it in you right now to address it.

ATLANTIS December 31st, 13:13 EST

“Our friends are… displeased,” Kaldur notes cautiously once it’s just the two of you on the supercycle.

“I know,” you nod, and you did, you felt it in the air, rolling off your teammates, your friends, as you and Kaldur geared up to split off.

“What are you thinking, poulí?” the question weighs heavy on you.

“I am thinking that this is my only plan, K. I don’t have a back up if we should fail this time around,” you admit.

“Then it’s good we trust in your planning, old friend. Your plans have never led us astray thus far,” he muses.

“Define astray,” you scoff back, Kaldur lets a smile slip, and then a hand lands on your shoulder comfortingly.

“They believe in you, and so do I,” he reassures you. “This idea, utilizing our resources, it is a good plan.”

“Vandal Savage, Kaldur, it’s a big play we’re chancing at here,” you sigh, twisting your rings nervously.

“Yes, and we are making the most educated choices we can. Believe in yourself, poulí, just as we do.”

You nod silently doing your best to absorb Kaldur’s reassurances. Soon enough the Super-cycle begins to descend. It pauses part way submerged, and you reach out with the ring clad finger to touch the water. Kaldur is silent beside you as you ground yourself. You feel the current, the pull of the ocean, and firmly you say, “anapnéo,” the ring made from atlantean metal glows, and then with a tap to the Super-cycle it submerges completely.

The first breath is always a bit nerve wracking, it feels like you’re entirely out of practice, and therefore not prepared to breathe. But you do. You cautiously, slowly breathe in, and when it feels as normal as it does on land your body relaxes.

“pos niótheis poulí?" (how do you feel, Birdy?) Kaldur’s question jars your wandering thoughts back into the present.

“étoimo na cheiristeí ó,ti prépei na cheiristeí ,” (ready to handle what needs to be handled) you assure him and he nods.

Minutes pass and then you are confronted with the city of Atlantis, beautiful in all its glowing magic and technology. You smile at the city fondly and catch the wanting in Kaldur’s eye, this was him home, and for a year it had been your own. The two of you had developed your friendship in this city, it will always, without a doubt, be a very special place for you.

As the cycle passes through the gates and toward the conservatory, you push the melancholic nostalgia away, and do your best to focus in on the mission at hand, there was too much as stake to be distracted by memories of the past. As Kaldur disembarks, you follow, and the two of you make your way into the Conservatory of Magic.

MOUNT JUSTICE

December 31st, 15:42 EST

“So you need us to develop something that will work against, whatever magicked up alien technology that Mr. Big Bad, Vandal Savage is using against the Justice League?” Roquette’s tone was the same as it was when you first encountered her, and you share a look with Kaldur when you both notice it.

“The heroes have come to us for help, should we not so long as we are able?” Dr. Vulko, ever the voice of reason, and forever on the side of progress is the balm you didn’t realize you’d need.

“I agree, this is an opportunity to do good with the knowledge we have acquired over our years,” Dr. Spence’s agreement catches you off guard, but the pride and satisfaction rolling off of SB tells you this is exactly what he’d hoped for.

“It’s simple, Kaldur’ahm and Poulí told us what’s wrong, you’re either here to help, or they can show you the door,” Tulla’s blunt and to the point, and you have the choke down the snort as you stare appreciatively at the redhead, you notice that Kaldur’s doing the same, some things, you imagine, would never change.

You’d all regrouped at the Cave, scientists and specialists in hand. Tulla had been Queen Veera’s contribution and envoy as she could not leave Atlantis without a sane monarch, and especially not in a time where the King had been compromised. Each recruit had been given the details during their travel, but once they were all together, the gravity had seemingly begun to set in. Dr. Rouquette was as vibrant as she had been when you’d first met, despite that though, they had begun a prompt discussion on how the chip works, and a prefatory analysis on the confiscated chip.

  “So do we think this is gonna work? Or should we be considering a back-up plan?” Rocket’s voice echoes though the open link and while the specialists continue their discussions, the team sends knowing looks to each other.

“this is the plan, the only plan,” you tell them seriously.

“Wait, seriously? You always have a back-up?” Artemis’ surprise is evident, and your lips twist down in response.

“Figures, considering her go-to has also been compromised,” Wally’s judgement is clear and your eye twitches in response.

“Sorry about that,” Zatanna’s voice is meek in response, and you catch the way Artemis, punches Wally in the arm, and his accompanying wince.

“So not your fault,” you finally cut in. “And I don’t hear you offering something else up, Wall-Man?” you state bitingly, shooting him a glare at which Wally winces again.

“To be fair, this was originally his idea,” Conner cuts in.

“Semantics,” Robin disagrees, “plus, Birdy’s the one with the connections to make it happen.”

“Gee, thanks, Rob. My genius and l feel so appreciated,” Wally scoffs, rolling his eyes.

“Right, so… back-up plan?” Rocket asks again.

“I don’t know! Short of contacting any non-affiliated heroes, or intergalactic organizations, I’m not sure what else we can do,” you sigh, a hand coming up to pinch at the bridge of your nose, while you work to secure your emotions and constrain your frustration.

“Intergalactic organizations?” Rocket repeats.

“OA,” the response is echoed by Wally, Rob, Roy, and Kaldur, you can’t help but notice this is the first time Roy was participating.

“OA,” you confirm, and then catching the confused look, on Rocket and Zatanna’s faces you add, “The Green Lantern Corps.”

“Oh,” Zatanna’s understanding is soft, as her eyes widen.

“We have a line to them?” Rocket asks, surprise evident.

“…We have potential avenues,” Robin supplies, defending your point while making eye contact with you.

“We do?” Artemis’ question is fair, and you hesitate, but your eyes lock with Roy, and then with Dick.

“Earth has another Green Lantern,” You remind the team.

“Is he not a part of the league?” Zatanna squints.

“…There were some concerns about his attitude and maturity,” Dick supplies cautiously.

“But they let Roy in?” the dig slips from Artemis’ thoughts, and by the look on her face you know she didn’t mean to project that particular thought.

  You can’t help the very audible snort, and a hand comes up over your face in embarrassment as everyone turns to you.

You catch the small smirk on Dick’s face, and Wally’s chuckling a little bit too. And when Roy turns to you, betrayed, you can’t help but start to giggle, and when your avert your gaze, they land on Wally. Which really was the worst move because then you’re both laughing.

“Okay!” Roy huffs. “Laugh it up, Birdy,” he scoffs.

“Sor-” you try but burst into another fit, until you’re practically leaning on Kaldur to stay upright.

When you finally get control, you catch the small smile on Kaldur’s face, and even Roy’s scowl has faded a bit.

“Sorry,” you say seriously, bitting your lip and straightening up.

  “Should we be worried?” Rocket asks, wide eyes on you.

“No, sorry, I just… whew, I needed a laugh, thanks Artemis,” you smile.

Artemis blushes a bit in response, “What were you going to say about the other Lantern?” she prompts, pushing the conversation back on track.

“Right, Guy Gardner,” you share. “Kind of a bully based on Canary’s files, it’s the reason he hasn’t been inducted. But he is a Lantern, and the ring did choose him. He’s based out of Baltimore, Maryland. If we fail here, we just need to get word to him, hopefully he’ll take it seriously,” you shrug.

“Reassuring,” Rocket laments flatly, and all you can do is shrug again.

  “Kaldur’ahm, Poulí, I think we may have come to an understanding,” Vulko’s voice booms across the room, and your head snaps to him immediately.

“What do you need?” you ask, setting your shoulders, as the rest of the team turns to face the brain trust.

THE WATCHTOWER December 31st, 23:16 EST

Infiltrating the Watchtower was not something you’d ever thought you’d have to do. However, somehow, you really can’t find it in you to be totally surprised.

Dinah, now freed from Starro-Tech’s control, along with Roy and Red Tornado had gone in as a distraction, allowing the team to handle the rest. Part of you had been hesitant to let Roy out of your sight after finally finding him. Not to mention Dinah. You’d twitched a little too violently, when she volunteered to go back, and Roy and Dick had both given you cautious looks as a response.

The waiting was the worst though.

You watched as M’gann, Kaldur, and Connor broke through the wall where the Bioship had docked. Robin kept an eye on the alarms and scanners the entire time, covering the Team’s tracks as he went.

Eventually, it was time.

  “RT did it. Wirelessly bypassed security for us as soon as he arrived. Savage shouldn't know we're here,” Robin confirmed, once we’d all regrouped inside the watchtower.

Aqualad nodded, before casting a quick glance at the rest of the team, “move out.”

“Currently tracking five League members between us and Savage,” Robin shares as you and Kaldur begin leading everyone though.

“Which ones?” Artemis’ tone is dubious, even through the link, and you can’t really say you blame her.

“Plastic Man, Hawkman, the Atom, Captain Atom, and… well,” Robin pauses on the last one and you turn back to look at him. “Green Arrow.”

  The team pauses, as they wait for the next move. There were nine of you, which meant almost everyone could double up, almost.

A quick glance at Kaldur tells you he was thinking the same thing.

  “Here’s the plan…” you speak first, “We work quietly and quickly. Take every opportunity to knock as many of the Leaguers out as we can before Savage and his cohort baddies realize what’s happening. Artemis and KF, you two take Plastic Man. SB and Rob, Hawkman. Zatanna and Miss M, the Atom. Aqualad and Rocket, Captain Atom. Leave GA to me,” the team nods, but once again you notice their hesitation.

“What?” you press.

“Are you sure you want to handle GA? One of us can do it,” Wally offers tentatively.

“No. He’s mine. But Rob, I could use a favor…”

  Armed with one of Robin’s recording birdarangs you split off from the group. You’re following your map to where GA’s icon is moving, and periodically you get updates from the rest of the team.

First it’s KF and Artemis.

  “Plastic Man in gassed, and chipped,” you can practically hear Wally’s smirk as he reports in.

  You turn another corner.

  “Hawkman’s chipped too,” Robin reports.

“Probably going to be out for a bit. I might’ve hit him a little too hard,” Superboy admits.

  You pause when you hear Oliver’s footsteps. Spotting the crates, you launch yourself up. Walking on the balls of your feet, you climb up, silently.

  “We got the Atom,” Zatanna confirms.

  You catch sight of a support beam, a few feet above you, and launch yourself up with as much strength as you can muster. You manage to grab hold, and then you pull your body up, until you’re balanced on your feet, walking the beam.

  “Captain Atom is incapacitated, but chipped,” Kaldur’s the next one to confirm, which just left you.

  You pull the chip from your belt, as well as the birdarang. Following Oliver’s path ahead, you toss the birdarang, it lands solidly in the wall.

A beat passes.

And then a second.

And then-

  “Ha, Ha, Ollie, over here!”

  Your giggle echoes down the hall, and Oliver’s quick to turn to the sound.

  “NG, status?” Robin’s voice rings through the link but you ignore it.

  You take your grapple line and wrap it around the support, making sure it’s snug in place, before attaching the line to your belt.

  “Birdy, you copy?” Wally this time.

  Oliver’s almost in position, and so you count.

one.

two.

three.

  You hold your breath as you lean back.

For a second you’re falling, and it’s so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Luckily, the speaker starts again.

  “Ha, ha. Ollie, over here!”

  The recording covers the sound of the grapple going taught.

  “Nightingale, report in!” Kaldur, and he’s serious.

  You get about two seconds before Oliver realizes the birdarang’s what’s making the sound, and you’re suspended in the air, halfway between the ground and the support beams of the Watchtower.

The chip, which you’d been flipping around your finger’s is poised between your index and middle fingers, and right as Ollie turns, baring the side of his neck, you toss it. You throw it the way Dinah taught you to throw a shuriken.

The balance had practically been the same.

It hits Ollie and there’s a second when he turns to you, arrow drawn.

And then he collapses.

You tug on the grapple cord and it slackens. You land on your feet, twisting the cord back into your grapple as you walk up to the downed Green Arrow.

  “GA’s chipped,” you finally say, tuning back into the link.

“We’re not splitting up anymore,” Wally says quickly.

  You roll your eyes.

  “Don’t be ridiculous, KF-”

“You didn’t answer us!” Artemis cuts in.

  This time you scoff.

  “They have to realize by now,” Robin speaks up.

“He’s right, we need to move. Zatanna and Miss Martian, you two head for the dock Zeta, Rocket and I will join you,” Kaldur decides. “The rest of you head up.”

“On the way,” Zatanna confirms.

  You’d started making your way back up, sticking to the support beams as much as possible, so far, you’d avoided any further League interactions.

  “That’s Dr. Fate, Icon, and Captain Marvel taken care of,” Zatanna speaks up, and you pause for a second.

“Too bad Cure-tech doesn't work as fast as Starro-tech. We could use these guys,” Rocket huffs, and your lips quirk up, she’s not wrong.

“It is a small miracle Queen Meera and Doctors Roquette, Spence, and Vulko were able to re-engineer a cure and vaccine at all,” Kaldur reminds her.

“And their combined 8 PhDs,” you muse.

Before anyone can respond to your joke, KF interjects, “If you guys aren't busy...”

Your breath catches, but Kaldur’s already on the move, “On my way. You three rendezvous with Robin and Superboy.”

  You pick up your pace as well, and are only partially paying attention when Zatanna gives her confirmation.

  “Uh, I'll be right behind you,” she offers.

  You manage to arrive at the main deck in time to Batman hit Robin.

  “I am so not turbed,” is how you announce yourself, as your jump down from the level you’re on, using your grapple to loop down to the one where Robin is.

“Yeah, me neither,” he promises.

  You’re on your feet in time to fall in step with both Superboy and Robin, both seem to be smarting a bit after taking on Batman and Superman, understandably.

  “We're not gonna beat them one-on-one,” Robin finally announces.

“Plan B, then,” Superboy confirms.

“And I thought my contingencies were drastic,” you manage to joke out before taking Connor’s hand.

  Conner grabs a hold of you with one hand, and Robin with the other. Using his strength he spins you both, before launching you one after the other at Batman.

You land first, grabbing a handful of his cape to pull him with your momentum.

Robin’s body crashes into you both a second later, and then the three of you go into the wall. You can feel your bones rattle from the impact, but when you slide down, you manage to grab a hold of a chip as Robin hold’s Batman steady.

You place the chip, before changing your stance to drop into a roll. You pop up on one leg, escrima sticks in hand, and Robin lands crouched beside you.

You barely have a second to catch your breath before you hear Superman and Superboy go into a wall of their own.

You both take off and you hesitate when Robin reaches to his belt.

“You sure about this?” you ask as you both run up to them.

Superboy manages to grunt out a, “Just do it!” as he strains to hold Superman in place.

You grab hold of another chip while Robin opens a box.

The green light reflects off their faces, and you watch as it seems to drain them both. Conner and Superman both start sliding down, neither of them fighting anymore as they go.

As soon as Superman falls, you’re quick to place the chip, and once you do, Robin’s shutting the lead lined box tight.

You sit back on your ass and let out the breath you didn’t realize you were holding, turning back to check on Conner, who was pulling himself up to sit against the wall beside you.

He lets out a groan, looking at you and then at Robin, “Ugh. Kryptonite… hurts,” he admits, and you can’t help the scoff that slips past your lips.

It brings a smile to Robin’s face though.

“Which is why,” he begins, offering a hand to Conner. “Batman keeps it in an overwhelmingly impenetrable vault at the Batcave,” he explains, pulling SB back to his feet.

“Overwhelmingly impenetrable, huh?” you smirk up at the two.

Both boys smile down, offering you a hand.

“Well, more like a whelmingly penetrable vault,” Robin corrects.

You snort, taking their hands, and they’re quick to put you back on your feet as well.

“Let’s go. Vandal Savage awaits,” you remind them, and the two nod at you, before the three of you take off toward’s the main viewing deck, where the main Zeta point was for the Watchtower.

Unfortunately you get there just in time to watch Vandal Savage, Klarion, and his familiar, Teekle, disappear through a portal. Wally skidding into where they had been not even a second before.

You redirect yourself over to where Dinah and Roy are unconscious on the floor.

Wally whizzes up to you and grabs your spare de-programing chips, placing them on the leaguers who were up here, before sliding back up to the rest of you.

“Congratulations, Team. You have won the day,” Red Tornado announces, and you let out a tired chuckle at the thought.

None of you have an opportunity to respond though, because in the next second, a holoscreen appears.

“Happy New Year, Justice League,” the computer announces.

You don’t catch what Wally said, but when you turn to him, he’s holding Artemis, and they’re kissing.

Your lip twitches up, and then Connor and M’gann too.

“I’m liking this Team more every day,” Rocket decides, smirking as she kisses Kaldur’s cheek.

You roll your eyes and gag at Robin and Zatanna, both of whom smother their laughs. Zatanna looks away as she tries to keep her composure, but Robin stares back at you.

“Milkshakes?” you mouth to him while no one’s watching.

“Definitely,” he mouths back.

“Human customs still elude me,” Red Tornado announces in response to the kissing, and you can’t hold back your snort.

THE WATCHTOWER January 1st, 00:42 EST

It took some time, but eventually the Leaguer’s began to wake up, and slolwy they all arrived back in the entry deck.

“Everything I thought I knew about myself was a lie. I'm not a hero or a sidekick. I'm a traitor, a pawn,” Roy’s tone was low, dejected, in a way you’re not sure you’d ever heard it.

Dinah reaches out, placing a hand on his arm, “Roy, it'll be all-”

You wince when you watch Roy pull back from her. Bitting too far into your lip and tasting blood.

“I'm not Roy! I don't know what I am. All I know is I need to find the real Roy. I need to rescue Speedy,” he counters.

You’d been too anxious to sit when everyone else had. electing instead to stand across the table from Roy while Ollie and Dinah took the seats on either side of him.

“We’ll help you. The team I mean. And if not, then I will. We’ll find him,” you cut in, licking over your split lip.

“Guardian is already searching Cadmus,” Batman add, reassuringly.

Ollie had been unusually quiet.

“We should take Ro- Red Arrow, home, at least, for now,” Dinah decides.

You caught her slip up, everyone at the table probably did, but no one commented.

“Of course, all four of you can go,” Batman nods.

You catch the tonal shift, and you hesitate.

You’re not sure you would’ve noticed it if not for the rest of your abilities, but you know there’s something else.

“I’d like to stay,” you announce and everyone turns to you. “Just for a bit,” you backtrack, “I want to make sure the Team’s set, and I need to speak with Aquaman about how we deconstructed the chips,” you expound.

Roy looks like he wants to bolt, not that you balme him.

Ollie’s holding himself stiffly.

Dinah looks a little queasy at leaving you here on your own.

“I’ll be fine,” you reassure them.

“I’ll escort her, to Arthur, and then back to the Zeta’s,” Batman offers, and you notice as Dinah realxes, but only a little.

“Not too long,” she adds, though it’s perfunctory, you can tell.

“Promise,” you nod.

She smiles once more at you, weak and strained, before she and Ollie take Roy toward the Zeta’s

You wait until they’re through before you turn back to Batman. Robin and Kaldur had taken the seat on either side of him, and the four of you were the only ones left in the room.

Your hands land on the table with a loud smack that echoes thorough the room, and all three sets of eyes shift to you.

Yours, however, are focused on Batman, “Something else is wrong,” you say.

You’re not asking, you’re not, because you know.

Batman hesitates, looking to Robin for a second before turning back to you, and then nodding.

“The entire League was under Savage's spell for just over a day,” Robin begins, sharing a holoscreen with you. “We've accounted for most of that time. But these six went missing for a full 16 hours we can't account for.”

You stare at the screen. Batman, Superman, Green Lantern; John Stewart, Hawkwoman, Wonder Woman, and Martian Manhinter.

Powerhouses, all six. Each in their own right, different skills, different tactics. It’s terrifying to think what they could have accomplished for Klarion and Vandal Savage in sixteen hours, the implications were limitless.

“Sixteen hours,” Batman repeats, “what did we do?”

STAR CITY January 1st, 02:04 EST

It’s another hour or so by the time you make it back to Star City. You’d talked with King Arthur, shared with him how you and Kaldur had gone to Atlantis, and that Queen Meera had been appraised. And then you’d circled back to the cave to shower and change.

It’s two in the morning when you make it home, and frankly, you’re surprised to see Roy still up.

Dinah and Ollie weren’t around so you assumed they’d gone to bed. They probably thought he had too.

“Hey,” you greet lamely.

“Hi,” is all he offers back.

You drop your gym bag down by the door, and replace the lock before walking over to the sofa. You drop down beside Roy, but you leave a healthy space, not wanting to crowd him. You turn, tucking one leg under you, so that you can face him better.

“I know it’s a stupid question, but I’m going to ask anyways,” you begin, but he doesn’t look at you, focused instead on something just past your head. “How are you?”

He lets out a snort, but it’s dry, and sad, and you can hear it for what the answer it offers. Stupid question.

“I don’t know…” he says after a minute of silence. “But… I don’t really know anything anymore,” he adds on.

You bite on your lip again, wincing when your teeth make contact with the split lip you’d forgotten about.

“Fair,” you offer, agreeing.

“It’s fine,” he huffs, shrugging you off.

Your eyes narrow at that, it was a lot of things, fine isn’t one of them.

“Roy-”

“Don’t call me that!” he hisses, and you pause.

“Okay,” you concede, swallowing thickly. “What should I call you?” you prompt instead.

“I- I.. I don’t know, just.. I’m not Roy Harper, I’m not!” the last words come out as a sob, and you flick the piece of you that wants to give him space the recesses of your mind, scooting closer and wrapping an arm around his middle the best you can.

“How about Red, at least until we figure it all out?” you offer instead.

“Stop,” he cries. “Stop being nice, and understanding, I replaced him!” Roy’s voice is low, and sad, and you know he wants to make his point, but seems not to want to wake up Dinah or Ollie.

“She’s asleep so I’m going to say the bad words she tries to keep me from using,” you begin, delighted when it gets a wet snort out of the redhead. “But fuck that,” you say seriously, and he snorts again.

Finally turning to look at you, though he’s stuck with it, seeing as you’re practically pressing into his side.

“Look, I’m not blaming Ollie but I’m sure as shit not blaming you either. And I think it’s okay to acknowledge the fact that what you went through in the last few days has been harsh. That it was thirty-one flavors of traumatizing. God, Red! I’d be a fucking mess if it were Dinah coming after me, but it’s not your fucking fault or theirs!” you huff out.

“You owe Dinah at least $20, for just the last minute alone,” is all he says in response.

You scoff.

“Look, Roy or not, you’re my brother too. You have been for the last three years, and just because you’re a clone, it doesn’t make it less true,” you say seriously, and he goes quiet.

You let out a long sigh.

“You should get some sleep, tomorrow’s gonna be a long day,” you finally offer after the silence stretches.

“Yeah,” he huffs, standing up.

You stand after him, tugging him into a tight hug, that he doesn’t seem sure of how to respond to.

“Goodnight, Red,” you say gently.

“Goodnight, (y/n),” he whispers, before peeling you off of him, and walking away.

STAR CITY January 1st, 10:22 EST

You slept horribly.

The worst ever, actually.

Okay probably not, but it was still pretty bad.

The light at the end of the tunnel where the two hours of no questions you’d managed to wrangle out of Dinah.

You were already in a booth when he walked in.

Sat with your eyes closed, leaning against the linoleum seats, and when the overhead bell of the entry door rings, you blink them open in time to see Dick find you.

You offer him a muted lazy smile, and he gives you one in return.

“Hey,” he greets.

“Hey,” you say, sliding down.

He takes the invitation, settling down beside you instead of across from you.

The two of you fall into a comfortable silence. It seems you both were talked out after the events of the previous day.

Eventually, Mrs. Lenetii brings out a milkshake for you both, cooing over you, before siappearing to take care of another table.

Your head lands on his and his fingers interlace with yours.

“Bad night?” he asks after you’d both been ignoring your milkshakes for too long.

“yeah,” you nod.

“Yeah,” he repeats.

Slowly you lift your head.

You’re close, the two of you. His face is right there, his lips.

He’s staring at you with the wide blue eyes, and you wonder if he’s suddenly as nervous as you were.

You thought of Wally and Artemis at Midnight, of M’gann and Conner, even Rocket. But they were all older. You and Dick were the youngest on the team. It had never felt like it more until right now.

“Um-” he stutters out. “I… uh.. Can I?” he trails off.

“Have you.. ever?” you question back.

Neither of you have moved apart though.

“No,” he admits. “You?”

“No,” you share.

He offers you a shy smile, and it’s the first one in almost forty hours that doesn’t feel strained.

When he tilts down, you move up. There’s no fireworks. And your noes’ bump, and you giggle. And then your teeth clack, and he laughs. It’s awkward and kind of strange, and not at all what the movies make it sound like it’ll be, but it was your first kiss, and it was his too, and it tastes a little like the chocolate and strawberry milkshakes you’d both been sipping on, and all of it together makes it kind of magical in an of itself.

No matter what happened next, what came next, you had Dick, and you knew he had your back.

everything tags: @butterfly-skinnylegend

dc taglist: @batarella @loninctzencarat @escapenightmare @uh-oh-howd-i-get-here

cnng taglist: @babymango-writes @smile-more19 @bruiscdlikeviolets @truly-dionysus @farfromjustordinary @sometimeseverythingsucks @dweeb-central @lucy-roo @casedoina @cipheress-to-k-pop @anonomano @seninjakitey @whelmedparker @officiallydarkgeek @midnxghtblue @unini @blackwhiteandshadesofgradient @dontmesswithbeebo @raggedyoldwitch @bouqet-of-gay @duckmylife18 @kendallambrosio @notslaybabes @torchbearerkyle @cynthiarose07 @mono--moonchild @emo-space-tea @notsostraightweeb @sassyspanishartist @ahyeonah @acceber1313 @onepieceformeplease @whatislifeandhowdoidoit @luvelyxp @lovelyartemisa @evermoore580 @mischiefmanaged71 @cryingnotcrying @aces-tattooartist @we-flower-fan @awkward-youtube-trash @laurcad123 @sanovr @feverish-dove @lolsnacks

[silly-anon]

One thing I always think about is Lizzie's Secret Life death

Like, it's so abrupt. Sure, it seemed inevitable when she backed herself onto the ledge but the ENDERMAN! I couldn't spot where or when she looks at it. So, here's what I propose.

That enderman was already mad at Lizzie when she brought Scott to the End. Why? Because she planned her death. She broke the Canary Curse on purpose.

After Last Life, Jimmy told Lizzie about the curse and how much it hurt. Lizzie made a decision there and then. She would break it.

Before leading Scott to the End, she set up that enderman. She angered it and trapped it in a mechanism that would release it once she was on the edge.

The Watchers despise Lizzie for this. The only time They took notice of her before was when she made the bet that Joel would be the first red during Last Life. They involved her because of Kingdom Craft, They wanted to get Their hands on her. They realised They couldn't force Lizzie to be insane during Last Life so They forgot about her. But she freed the Canary, she broke one of Their curses.

The assassination attempts during Wild Life weren't just everyone trying to get Lizzie off dark green, it was the Watchers trying to make a new Canary. But they underestimated Lizzie. Now They really want her either dead or under their control.

Lizzie keeps evading Them. She isn't playing Their game, They are playing her's. Lizzie is no fool, she builds an image of herself and drops it when it's convenient.

The other thing They despise about her is the fact that she's keeping Them from making Joel follow the lore. This means They can't get to Joel.

Because Joel wasn't meant to win. They wanted Ren to win, They wanted to show Martyn what happens when he ignores Them. Making him win Limited Life wasn't enough, so They went after Ren.

Lizzie has an obligation to protect Ren after Last Life, so she did the one thing she could.

Be a shadow leading people to their death.

Lizzie breaks the rules, she puts a dent in the Watchers' plans. And she gets away with it. Because she doesn't mess around like everyone thinks. She knows what she has to do.

She took Jimmy out with her. She knew Grian had trapped the bunker but she didn't care because she could get Jimmy out of there with it. She's doing what Grian can't because the Watchers can't touch her. She bows to no entity.

And it's not the first instance of it either. Throughout Empires SMP 1, she wasn't concerned by Xornoth, she barely acknowledged him. And he left her alone because he knew better. She was constantly after the crown when it was introduced and hesitant to follow the others laws at best.

The same thing happened in Empires SMP 2, she made people bend to her whims and she didn't get involved with the crossover. She had her own agenda and wasn't going to be put off.

But she took notice of Tag. Because it showed her how Grian functioned as a runaway. She observed him and deduced what she could use against the Watchers.

[iamchaos1234]

[xx-satoranogerocs-xx]

2024 End of Year (MCYT exclusive art)

i'm not going to put a description for these. Check out the og post if you wanna know lol

But theres many different mc smps here

[gotham-exclusive]

Black Canary: Kids, I hate to break it to you, but that’s called a traumatic event.

Black Canary, to Kid Flash: Not a ‘bruh moment’

Black Canary, to Artemis: Not a ‘major L’

Black Canary, to Miss Martian: Not a ‘spicy slay’

Black Canary, to Super Boy: Not an ‘oof lmao’

Black Canary, to Aqualad: Not a ‘yikes situation’

Black Canary, to Robin: And definitely not an ‘average tuesday’

[saym0-0]

pov ur hanging out with ur seabling and then two yellow birds that strongly resemble sompy ass cats fall on ur head (hate when that happens)

sillies under the cut \/

the difference between lizzies gentle hold and jimmys death grip is so funny 2 me

[willow505breaker]

Remember when I promised to post Jimmy’s watcher design??

Small explanation! Jimmy is not a watcher or a listener in this au though the listeners are fond of Jimmy. he was possessed by the watchers to use to try and get to Grian and Pearl.

The first design is wp!Jimmy (watcher possessed) disguised to try and look like how Jimmy normally would and the second is his full watcher form! I gave him his canary wings because to the watchers, Jimmy will always be their canary to toy with.

Full page if wanted

Also I headcanon Jimmy was born as a fey/farie so that why he has those wing in the first drawing and his feathered ear is to show that the canary curse is beginning to follow Jimmy out of the life games.

If you want to know more about this au or see more art and hear more ideas, let me know!

@solidaritygaming-fanblog because this is Jimmy content

[workplacecomedian]

Welcoming you all to a new favorite (crack)ship:

Colin Becher X Sergey Ushanka

You're telling me there's a bullheaded IT guy who's losing his mind to the machines and a tortured ghost of a man in the form of a computer virus and you DON'T want to put them in a room together and see what happens?? It's very fun to think about, romantically or otherwise; and considering how little we know of them both, it's very adaptable to taste!

Something about Sergey haunting the shit outta Colin, but in such a way to convince him to join him, while Colin is....listen. I'm not gonna call him tsundere because that absolutely isn't the word I'm looking for and also I think he'd manifest and kill me badly if he was called that. Let's call it unrequited? Temporarily unrequited? Until Colin's lost it enough? Eroticism of the machine or whatever Who said that. Anyway

[plunderwater]

Slayin' Alive, Slayin' Alive

TIMING: Recent, before Emilio got cursed LOCATION: Somewhere Downtown PARTIES: Emilio (@mortemoppetere) & Fang (@ronin-for-hire) SUMMARY: Fang and Emilio cross paths when their respective quarries end up together. CONTENT WARNINGS: None

—

There was a moment, then, when it all came back to her—how it was to be ignorant: to have no knowledge of the shadows that lurked underneath all that she knew; to sleep soundly at night believing light always triumphs over darkness, that love and peace and heroes would always find a way to make sure everyone was safe; to not chase after stupid vamps on what could have been a sensual Friday night. “I could be boning someone by now,” Fang groaned to herself as their chase finally ended.

Her target was trapped. Between her and a dead end. Fang smiled underneath her oni facemask as her fingers wrapped tightly around the hilt of her katana, a borrowed weapon from her late mentor. She narrowed her eyes at the creature, who mostly just resembled an idiot boy if not for the fresh blood around her mouth, almost challenging them to come at her and fight back. Her target looked like he was about to…but then he threw a kick at her, sending her shoe flying toward her face, which the slayer instinctively slashed in half, all while her prey threw themselves over the dead end and continued to run. “Motherfucker!”

Sure, she could have continued to chase after the damned vamp, but maybe she didn’t have to. Fang squinted when she caught a glimpse of a piece of crumpled paper on the ground. She quickly retrieved it, and upon opening it, smirked like she just won against a stupid idiot. “Is this his address? What in the actual fuck?”

—

In the beginning, just after the massacre, it felt like Emilio was tracking down another one of the vampires responsible every week. There’d been so many of them and, just after it happened, they’d been so proud of themselves. Bragging about it in bars and street corners, excited to say that they’d been a part of the group that finally took down the Cortez family of slayers once and for all. Finding them had been easy. Picking them off, slowly and painfully, had been simple. He’d learned a lot, in those first few months, about how much a vampire could take before its body gave out, before it exploded into dust, before it begged for it. He missed that, sometimes.

It was harder now. Word had gotten out, eventually, that someone was tracking down everyone involved. No one knew it was him — as far as both the undead and the hunter community knew, Emilio Cortez had died with the rest of his family in Mexico — but they knew enough to stop their bragging. Tracking down just one vampire who’d been involved now took weeks instead of hours. It took months, sometimes. 

So finding one in Wicked’s Rest felt like a win.

He’d tracked the thing to an apartment building downtown. It was a hell of a lot nicer than Emilio’s apartment, which might have pissed him off if he’d cared anything about where he was living. As it was, it felt about as empty as everything else did. The slayer sighed, making his way towards the building… only to pause when he felt someone nearby. Not someone undead, which seemed odd given why he was here. Just a presence, watching. He turned towards the shadows, slayer vision allowing him to see through them to spot a figure in a mask, holding a katana in one hand and clutching a slip of paper in the other. Huh. That was new. “What are you supposed to be?”

—

It didn’t take long for Fang to track down her prey’s apartment. Despite the way she looked and acted, she was pretty savvy with all the new tech. Well, at least for someone in her line of work. A quick browsing of Google Maps and she was all set. What she found more difficult was to not get annoyed at the fact that the monster she was hunting lived in a better place than she did. Probably some place they stole from its original owner. Probably even murdered the original owner. Yeah, that’s probably it. Fang strengthened her resolve by thinking the worst of the damned vamp, which she believed was what they deserved.

Fang had slinked into the shadows when she realized she was not alone. She raised an eyebrow when the man easily spotted her. The slayer was already on a roll with thinking the worst of others, so in her head, she instinctively thought he was an associate of her prey. How else would he had seen him so easily? Another slayer? Pfft, what were the chances? And even if they were truly another slayer, then they might be after her prey. No way she was sharing her bounty. There’s rent left to pay this month. So she took out her katana and swung at him. Like a complete psychopath. “Your Maker, monster.”

—

Whatever he’d expected, it wasn’t this. Emilio had dealt with plenty over the years, but a woman in a mask leaping out from him wielding a goddamn sword? That was new. He jumped back just in time to avoid getting cut in half, whipping out his stake instinctively. She wasn’t undead — he would have sensed it if she were — but the stake happened to be the most easily accessible weapon he had on him at the moment. And a stake through the heart would kill most things, to be fair. It just happened to work especially well on vampires.

“You practice that line in the mirror at night?” It had been pretty well timed, and he had sort of unintentionally set her up for it, but it sounded like something out of an action movie. Or… what Emilio assumed would come out of an action movie. In all fairness, he supposed, he’d never actually seen one. “You come at everyone like this, or am I a special case?” He wasn’t sure whether to fight her or just walk away. This wasn’t what he was here for, after all.

—

When Fang saw the stake in the man’s hand, she had to take a step back. It wasn’t a weapon a vampire would have, at least not any vampire she’s fought before, though to be fair, the rules here were different from the rules in Japan. Also, not that many vampires in Japan. At least not the ones like in this town. Or maybe even in this part of the world. But she digressed. A vampire didn’t need a stake. Even with just its fangs and claws, it could take down a fellow vampire. A vampire with a stake just seemed as dumb as a Charmander with a bucket of water on its head.

“You’re not a vampire, are you?” That much was fast becoming obvious. Maybe if she took a second to check, this awkward and definitely dangerous moment could have been avoided. But Fang’s quarry had been testing her patience since they first encountered each other all those days ago. She didn’t have the patience to hesitate going into this place, this supposed hideout for the undead vermin, certainly not the patience to trade quips, even though she wasn’t that creative. “A thrall?” With a stake? Maybe a jilted lover, an annoyed servant here to take vengeance on his master through murder? But her quarry looked nothing like Nicolas Cage, and this man was no Nicholas Hoult. “Are you here to… The creature in this place is mine. You should leave.”

—

He felt oddly offended at the question, the very idea that he could be mistaken for something undead, for something like the things that had ruined his life before it began at all feeling more like an insult than a general inquiry. It made him feel a little sick, with a tightness in his chest and an acidic taste on his tongue. “No,” he snapped, a little harsher than was absolutely necessary, “I’m not a pinche vampire.” 

And then she continued, and Emilio found himself impossibly angrier. She wanted him to leave? He had every right to be here, had more of a claim to the vampire in that apartment than she did. What was she after it for? Did it matter? To her, it was probably nothing more than another undead thing. But to him? This was a deeply personal mission. He was far too stubborn to give it up. “Fuck off. I’m not going anywhere. I’ve been looking for this pendejo for months now, and I’m not letting you take it from me. I’m going to go up there, and I’m going to kill it slow. You can go home.”

—

Fang began to lower her weapon when he confirmed the obvious but raised it again when he declined to leave. Fact was, Fang wouldn’t kill an innocent civilian, even if they were wielding a stake, even if they were making her job harder. It wasn’t a wrong vs. right thing either, not a morality issue. To her, it would just be a waste of time. Innocent civilians could never defend themselves against people like her, slayers, hunters, trained from a young age to contend with monsters the former wouldn’t even know existed, wouldn’t even be prepared to fathom.

But Fang was now thinking of making an exception just for this asshole. “Look, dude,” Fang used that word in a derogatory manner, which was barely effective compared to the many other words she could have used. “Someone wants this vamp from down under dead so much, they’re paying top dollar, and I’m not sharing that bounty with you. So you either leave, go home to your video games or whatever, and spend the rest of your miserable, lonely life doing whatever makes you sleep at night…OR you can go up there, die to vampire Hugh Jackman in give or take five seconds, and then I’ll swoop in to get my rent money. Your choice.”

Fang growled at the end to emphasize her point, but she did get a few things wrong: One, the vampire she was after wasn’t Australian; it was from New Zealand, a foreign exchange student who had been alive for much longer than they were in school. Two, top dollar, the bounty wasn’t. It was just double her rent money, which wasn’t really a lot to anyone with a stable job. Fang did not have a stable job, though, so this was all she had. Three, she didn’t have to share that second part with him. Fact was, if she did just let him go at the vampire, believing it would make quick work of him, then she’d still be able to get her rent money after. Now he could just leave, making her lose a would-have-been advantage. Fang was no sly, cunning mind.

—

Ah. So it was money she was after. Emilio had heard of this, the side of the supernatural underbelly that exchanged lives for currency. Even in Mexico, there had been similar organizations. His mother had found it distasteful not because she believed any supernatural creature deserved to live but because she believed hunting to be more a righteous duty than a career option. Emilio’s own distaste for it came from a similar place. You believed what you were taught to believe, regardless of who taught it to you or how. Some things were just hard to shake.

“I don’t care about a bounty,” he snapped. “You want the money, you take it. It means nothing to me. The reasons I’m here are personal. It isn’t going to kill me, because I have been doing this my entire fucking life. I don’t carry this as un accesorio.” He waved the stake adamantly, frustration very clear. “And I don’t play video games.” 

If it were any other vampire, he might have been convinced to just walk away. Emilio was stubborn and possessive to a fault, but he wasn’t going to waste his time arguing with someone he assumed was another slayer over who got to kill a particular vampire. If the vampire was dead, it was dead. But this one was different. It had been there, in Etla. There was very little that would convince Emilio to leave that.

—

Fang raised an eyebrow. She found the guy incredibly rude, but then again, most of them in this line of work, and even those simply aware of the truth of the supernatural, were also incredibly rude. She’s been called incredibly rude herself, and she was, in a way, proud that those people kept their distance because of that perception, maybe even reality. She did find that last part funny for some reason, smirking from behind her facemask as she eased up on him, “Yeah, that much is obvious.”

Another thing that was obvious? Fang realized the other guy wasn’t going to just let this go. He seemed serious enough. About using that weapon in his hand to take out his vampire. Their vampire. Did it really matter if he’d die? He’d at least open some opportunity for her to swoop in while her quarry was busy with his corpse. Or he could be telling the truth and instead do her job for her. He didn’t care about the bounty, and the anguish in his voice, in his eyes, seemed to support that statement. Seemed like a win-win situation for her.

“All right then,” Fang shifted her attention to where their similar prey was supposed to be. “You just want the kill, right? Have at it. I’ll take the bounty when you’re done, so lead the way, Inigo Montoya. Let’s get this son of a bitch.” What better way to utilize the other slayer to his full potential than to use him as bait, or if he was really as good as he made himself sound to be, a weapon. She could at least sympathize with the need for revenge, as it was basically the same reason that brought her to these shores, trapped her in them as well.

—

For a moment, he thought she was going to argue with him. And he would have fought back, of course — Emilio was nothing if not damn stubborn, after all — but he was so goddamn tired. He wanted to get up there, wanted to dust that vampire, wanted to pretend it made him feel a little better, wanted to go home and drink himself into a stupor after and tell himself it was a celebration instead of a fucked up method of coping. He wanted to do all of that without arguing about it first, without having a stranger ask questions he didn’t want to answer.

But then she shrugged, and she didn’t argue after all, and there should have been relief in that but he felt just as empty, just as tired. Nothing ever fixed him. Nothing ever came close. 

He nodded as she spoke. “I just want the kill,” he confirmed. His brow furrowed a little at the name, and he shook his head. “My name’s Emilio. Not Inigo.” Not that it mattered, but he didn’t want to do this whole thing with her calling him the wrong name. That’d be annoying. Head up, he brushed by her to the entrance to the building. No elevator, though he would have refused to take it anyway. His knee would ache for days, he knew, would be so bad that he might not be able to walk once the adrenaline of the fight wore off, but he’d rather be in pain than reveal weakness to a stranger. Given the choice, Emilio would always prefer hanging himself to asking someone he didn’t know to cut the rope. 

The trip upstairs was a quiet one, since neither of them were particularly interested in talking. His heart was pounding in his chest, anticipation of the fight filling him with a pleasant buzz that never lasted long enough to amount to anything. “Just stay out of my way,” he warned the other slayer lowly. “You can have your bounty, but the vampire’s mine.”

—

“Fang,” she growled, back in her unnecessary Batman-esque voice. Back in Japan, it was the norm for the local slayers, deepening their voices so as not to reveal any hints regarding their true identities, their civilian identities. Fang already thought it was strange back then, even when she just started her training with her late mentor, considering they were already wearing the oni facemasks that was meant to scare the monsters, to remind them that they weren’t the only group stalking the night. She didn’t think the voice was, how the kids would say, extra until she got in this town, until it was just here cosplaying a character now played in the movies by the same actor who will never escape that time he played a sparkling vampire. “Have at it, Emilio.”

It didn’t matter, whoever got the kill. At least not with this job. It was just a simple elimination bounty, basically just take the vampire out and take a photo or a souvenir as proof that it was long gone. Come to think of it, one could just fake all that as easily as photoshopping a corpse or bringing back some other guy’s ashes. Didn’t even have to be the ashes of an actual corpse. Could just be ashes from something else, something burnt down. The people who put out these hits, surely most of them knew that. But then again, there was no price great enough for a good night’s rest. Fang would know.

Fang also, even if she would never admit it, harbored a liking for the extra work, the nitty gritty of the job. For most of her life, after her parents’ death and before her mentor’s passing, this had been all that she had, all that made her feel like her life had a purpose, why she was spared instead of her parents. If this was taken from her, the very concept of being out here and hunting down vampires and whatever else goes bump in the night, she wouldn’t know what to do. Maybe repair more VCRs. God, that thought almost made her vomit. “All right,” she let him go first, not even making any effort to watch his back. Worst case scenario? They eat him, which could still be a golden opportunity for her to kill them all while they’re chowing down on an Emilio taco. “No takebacks.” 

Whatever this guy had on this particular vampire, Fang didn’t really care. All she cared about was the money, the bounty. Still, she followed his lead while keeping a safe distance between the two of them. In her mind, she wouldn’t even make the effort to help him fend them off, if there were even more than one or two. It was wishful thinking, though, because when it comes down to it, when the vampires attack? Fang’s instincts would never let her not slice and dice at least one of them. It’s just who she was.

—

No takebacks. He nodded curtly, pleased with the words. The last thing Emilio wanted was someone getting in his way, slayer or no. His vengeance was his, and his alone. The thought of letting someone else do it for him, of allowing a stranger to kill what should have been his… It felt like a betrayal. His family, his daughter deserved more than that. He’d already failed to save her. What kind of father would he be if he failed to make the people who had killed her pay for it, too? What kind of man? 

They stood outside the door to the vampire’s apartment now, and Emilio let the feeling of the undead inside wash over him. That all-too familiar shiver up his spine, the way his stomach clenched in anticipation. He liked the fight but, if he was being honest, he liked this part, too. The part where the adrenaline was just starting to build, where his body’s knowledge of what was coming kick-started its response to it. 

He let himself revel in it for a moment before lining up with the door and delivering a solid kick to the wood with his good leg, the vibrations reverberating through the limb as the lock gave way. Thanks to his superior strength, it only took one kick; no time for the vampire inside to prepare.

Or vampires, rather. Three of them, all staring at the now-open door. Emilio zeroed in on his target single-mindedly, gripping his stake as he surged forward. “Looks like you get to have some fun, too,” he commented to Fang, ducking as one of the vampires recovered from the shock and came at him. He shoved them in Fang’s direction; they weren’t what he was here for, and he wasn’t doing anything else until he’d taken care of his business. 

—

“Fun?” Fang psh’d. She wasn’t here to have fun. More importantly, she wasn’t here to help this suicidal Emilio guy. “Oh, no, this is all you, amigo.” If he wanted so badly to kill the vampire, he’ll have to do this on his own. He’ll have to kill the other vampires, too. Fang was NOT going to lift a finger until they were all dead, him and/or the vampires. Fang was only here for the bounty. Fang was going to do the smart thing and bide her time, swooping in at the last second after everyone else was spent. Fang was—getting a vampire shoved in her face! What the actual fuck?!

In retrospect, Fang should’ve known this was going to happen. A part of her did. When one of the vampires ran toward them, mostly at Emilio, she already had her hand on the hilt of her katana, tightly wrapped around the handle, ready to slash at something that came her way, something undead. It was her instincts. It was her entire being. So, when the vampire was shoved toward her, she had little hesitation to draw her late mentor’s sword, greeting the oncoming idiot with the steel across its chest. “How much are YOU worth, baka?”

The stupid vampire was confused, but not confused enough to realize it was biting off more than it could chew, so it leapt back, away from the half-masked slayer’s range. Another vampire lunged at Fang, the other one that wasn’t Emilio’s target apparently, but she managed to avoid its attack by simply stepping back. Realizing they had the numbers advantage, the first vampire joined in the frenzy, with Fang forced to be on the defensive. Lucky for her, she was still faster than these guys and they were very predictable. Newly spawned? Inexperienced with their new state? Under some sort of distracting influence? Whatever the case, they were going to die if they didn’t stop tempting her blade. “Only here for one of you, but I can do this town a solid by taking you two out as well.”

—

She was stiff, but that was hardly surprising. She reminded Emilio of his sister, just a little. Rosa had been similarly serious, dedicating herself to the cause above all else. It was the reason why their mother had made no secret of preferring her to the rest of them, the reason why she was set up as the heir to the ‘top’ position in the family in a way that was never in question. Rosa had been a far better slayer than Emilio, and Fang probably was, too. But better didn’t always mean as much as people assumed it would. Rosa still died. Emilio still lived. The world still spun on, despite making very little sense. 

He had no doubt that Fang would leave him to die in a heartbeat if it meant furthering her own cause. In a way, there was some relief in that. Knowing where you stood with people was always better than not knowing, even if you didn’t stand anywhere good. He watched as the other two vampires combined their forces to go up against her, but there was little concern in the way he glanced back at her. She seemed like she could handle herself. If she couldn’t, he’d take the sword after she was dead. It was a nice sword.

Turning his full attention to the guy he’d actually come here to kill, he threw up an arm and shoved it against the vampire’s throat, pushing back with all his strength until the creature’s back met the wall hard. “¿Sabes quién soy?” The words were a quiet growl, meant only for this vampire and not for the other two or the slayer refusing to fight them. The vampire’s eyes widened, and he nodded, eyes flickering back to his companions. “I am going to kill them next,” Emilio told him, taking some joy from the way the vampire’s eyes shot back to meet his again. He cared about the other two. Emilio wondered what they were to him. Friends, lovers, family? It didn’t matter. He’d taken all of those from Emilio, back in Etla. 

Deciding he was no longer content with just killing the vampires, Emilio grabbed the one he was holding by the hair and tossed him across the room, sending him sprawling. It caught the attention of the other two, who turned away from Fang. “I changed my mind,” he announced. “I am going to kill them all. He dies last. I still don’t care about the money, but you can help me with these two if you want. If you don’t, that’s fine, too.” 

—

The pair of vampires threw themselves at Fang again, in a desperate bid to take out the woman with the sword. The half-masked slayer managed to dodge the first idiot by simply taking a few steps back, a look of disappointment behind that oni mask. It seemed the two lackeys didn’t appreciate her earlier comment. No matter. Fang didn’t appreciate them either. When the second guy tried to have a go at her, she didn’t pull back this time, slicing off his hand by his wrist in one clean slash. If only she could do the same to non-undead perverts. With a kick, she pushed the newly christened Captain Hook back.

That was when Emilio made his bold announcement. Or stupid, if you’re on the vampires’ side. Fang simply shrugged. “I already gave you a hand,” she delivered that quip dryly, even though she intended it as a snide remark, as if it was just a meaningless fact. To emphasize her point, however, she pointed at the vampire’s floppy hand on the ground. Gross. “You want some head, too?” As if on cue, the first vampire from before tried to attack her from behind, only to get his throat pierced by her katana’s blade.

Fang didn’t even turn to look at the other vampire guy, already knowing he would try the same. All of them did. It wasn’t a bad strategy, really. Sometimes, you have to take all the advantages you can. Shame Fang heard him a mile away with that shuffling and growling. With her eyes glued to Emilio’s, she forced her blade through her victim’s neck, cutting its way to freedom to the side. The vampire’s body plopped to the ground, though half of the neck was still attached to its shoulder. “There,” she heaved a sigh, calmly walking away from the lackeys and toward the couch in the other side of the room. “Have at it.”

—

As she fought, any of that earlier stiffness melted away. Her movements were fluid, easy. She was good. Definitely better than Emilio, something he could confirm now as he really saw her in action, saw her actually trying to fight instead of just sidestepping to avoid one. He had plenty of training, knew all kinds of moves and tricks, but most of his fighting was based on brute force instead of fluid movements like Fang’s. He was a tank — designed to take damage as he dished it out in hopes that he’d give more than he got. It had gotten him this far, but it was certainly less fun to watch than what she had going on.

She busied herself with her two vampires, and Emilio focused on incapacitating his. He wanted the vampire dead, but he wanted him to suffer first. The foot of his good leg came down hard on the vampire’s knee, the resulting crack and scream bringing a feral grin to the slayer’s face. It felt karmatic, in a way, even if this vampire wouldn’t live long enough to develop a limp or suffer in chronic pain from the injury the way Emilio had. This wasn’t the specific vampire who’d caused the slayer’s injury, but that didn’t matter. Specifics rarely did, with Emilio. Not when it came to this.

By the time he turned back to Fang, she’d already ‘disarmed’ one vampire and piercing the neck of them both. Not enough to kill them, but enough to put them to the floor. The vampire whose leg he’d just broken scrambled into a sitting position, attempting to crawl towards the other two. “Please,” he begged, “please just let them go. They weren’t there. I met them after, they’ve never even been to Mexico.” Another day, the pleas might have had some effect on him. He might have softened, might have at least let the vampire’s companions live. But today? Today, he was running on such little sleep after a night of memories playing out like horror films on the backs of his eyelids, and the vampire on the ground behind him had been one of the directors. Emilio had no kindness left to offer today. Maybe he never had.

He stepped towards the two vampires Fang had incapacitated, kneeling down next to the closest. Already one hand short and sputtering from the wound in its neck that wouldn’t kill it, sliding the stake between the vampire’s ribs almost felt like mercy. There was no fanfare to this kill, no words uttered to the vampire before it dissolved into dust. This was not who Emilio was here for. This was collateral damage. The wails of the vampire he’d come to confront were nice all the same. That’s what it feels like, he thought viciously. Now you know. Lifting himself back up, he walked over to the second vampire and repeated the move, making more dust in the floor. It felt as empty as it always did, but there was still that moment of thrill. There was still that split second reprieve. It was all he ever really got these days.

—

Fang had been too busy with her own problems to fully study Emilio’s fighting, though she didn’t really do that, even if she wasn’t busy. The stolen glimpses did tell her that he wasn’t messing around. Dude was a slayer, all right, and he wasn’t a newbie. Might not even be one of those annoying locals she’d encounter once or twice. Those guys are the worst, especially since one of them stole her kill, her attempt to avenge her late mentor, the only reason she risked everything to come to this part of the world. What an asshole.

“Mexico, huh?” Fang raised an eyebrow, still using that gruff fake voice of hers. She took out a small digital camera, previously abandoned at Sara’s repair shop, now fixed (as fixed as she could make do) and working, to take some photographic evidence of the vampires they’ve just slain. Well, Emilio, mostly. But her client wouldn’t know that. Nor would they care. Most clients she had that wanted these damned things dead (again) tended to focus on that part, the part where the damned things were dead (again). Or finally. For the last time? “Glad I’m fast.”

Or at least she thought she was. Fang managed to take a quick shot of the one of the hench-vamps she’d neutralized but she only got the other hench-vamp’s leg, with the rest of that other guy’s body already dissolving into dust. It looked like a half-finished Photoshop attempt at removing the dead undead from the rest of the photo, but blurry as fuck. Oh, well. She had that guy’s other shoe from before anyway. Should work fine for the client. “Eh, should be fine,” she heaved a sigh and shrugged before stowing the camera away again. “So, that seems personal. Should I leave the room? So you guys can fuck?” It didn’t dawn on Fang that she forgot the rest of the phrase: “each other up”. Not that the other guy can do much with that broken leg anyway. Yikes.

—

He’d almost forgotten Fang was in the room at all. So focused on his empty vengeance, he’d let everything but himself and the vampires fade into the background. It was a stupid move, he knew; the kind of thing that got slayers killed. But Emilio didn’t much care about dying anymore, if he ever had at all. Not that it mattered much here. Fang didn’t want him dead. If she did, she would have left the room when they realized they were dealing with three vampires instead of one, would have just let him fend for himself. He still would have come out on top, but she wouldn’t have known it by looking at him.

Glancing back to her now as she seemed to take what one of the vampires said and roll it over in her mind, he shrugged. “Mexico,” he repeated with a nod, offering no further explanation. It wasn’t as if he could hide his country of origin; his accent was heavy enough to give him away. Anyone who knew dialect well enough could probably even pin it to a specific region. But the details of his story, the reason why he did what he did, why Mexico mattered… That was just for him. Him and the bastard whimpering in the floor a few feet away.

Emilio turned back to it, rolling his eyes as Fang spoke. “Stay or leave,” he replied. “I won’t be long.” He didn’t think the vampire knew anything. If it had, it would have said something, would have used it as a bargaining chip to save its friends. “Do you need anything else from this one?” He didn’t care about her bounty, but she had given him a helping hand in that fight. He wouldn’t dust the last vampire until she was ready for it. That’d be enough to repay whatever debt he owed her for her help here.

—

“Nah, I’m good,” Fang simply shrugged after taking a quick photo of the last vamp. She had spent days on this job, though mostly on the tracking part. Fortunately, he slaying was made easier by this guy from Mexico apparently. Real class act. At least according to what Fang had seen with her own eyes after this first encounter. No sexist remarks about her thicc thighs or whatever. Not that anyone has ever had the balls to make those remarks, considering she ran around with half her face masked by a demonic visage and with an actual katana. Ball busting would not have been just a phrase. “I’m good…”

Fang took a look around the apartment as she tried to buy time for her mind to once again become uncluttered. Whatever this Emilio guy had with these vamps, it seemed personal. More importantly, that meant he wouldn’t try to fight her for the bounty, right? He’d said as much, and acted like he wouldn’t, but Fang never did trust these gaijin slayers like she did her old band, even though she was a gaijin herself and most of the time the only gaijin at play. There were a few things that seemed valuable, but her pride prevented her from taking anything of the sort. It wouldn’t have looked cool. Definitely not as cool as this Emilio guy and his personal revenge thing was. “I got the photos. Thanks for those, by the way.”

As she started to walk toward the door, having turned her back on him without any hesitation, Fang kept her wits about her. Just in case he tried to do something funny. Like take her out for the bounty that he wouldn’t even know how to cash in probably. She’d been betrayed by slayers in this town before. It wouldn’t have been surprising if Emilio followed in those assholes’ footsteps. With one foot already out the door, she called out to him one final time, fuck that last vamp if it heard him. It’d be dead anyway soon. “You ever hear of a similar bounty, keep me in mind, all right?” Fang took a business card from her pocket, with nothing on it but three different phone numbers, clearly of burner phones. “A girl’s gotta pay her rent.”

—

She was good, and that was all he needed to know. Ignoring the final desperate pleas of the vampire, Emilio drove the stake home and watched as the monster dissolved into dust beneath his hands. And the world was still dark, even without that vampire in it. He still felt empty, but he’d known he would. He always did. Today, at least, he chose not to let it show. The other slayer had already seen a little more than he would have liked for her to see, already heard more than would have been ideal. He wasn’t going to give her any more than she’d gotten already.

Nodding at her thanks, he straightened up and kicked at the dust gathering in the floor, sending it scattering. “No problem. Glad you got what you needed.” He didn’t care anything about bounties, but it was clear she did. So long as she never got in his way — and so long as none of the bounties she was after were people he gave a shit about — there’d be no problems between them. 

Looking towards the door as she called back to him, he nodded to the now-empty apartment. “Sure thing,” he replied. “I hear of any bounties, you’re my first call.” It probably wasn’t true. If Emilio heard of any bounties, he was more likely to immediately forget it. But it would be a good idea to keep her number on file anyway. If he was going to stay in this town, he’d need to keep track of the slayers in it. For better or worse.

[ask-the-esmp-emperors]

Scott Jimmy and Pearl,

Do Joel and Lizzie know about...the thing, since they were also involved?

[silence for 30 seconds, footsteps against tile sound] Pearl: No, no they don't know. Me and Scott remember because we're winners, and Jimmy.. Actually, Jimmy, why do you know? Scott: ...yeah. Why do you know, Jimmy? You never really told us. Jimmy: ..I have a lot of explaining to do. [click]

[scisetforever]

someone get me a knife so i can stab val. someone also give a trophy to whoever designed this fit because when i tell you i BOLTED to my ipad draw draw angel in this fit, i mean it. my final year of school will be spent watching episode four of hazbin and listening to poison on repeat and no one can stop me.

[moss8e]

I am hyperfixacting on flower husbands (dont mind the misspells) Starting off with 3rd life, they try to have that domestic life in a death game, and at first it works fine, even when Jimmy hits red, but when the war happened, I think both of them knew that Jimmy would die that, but even then, they still had hope. But he did die, the canary curse is born, and Scott goes on a grief ridden rampage basically and ends up dying as well, where they are reunited in what seems to be Scott's afterlife. In empires, they don't exactly start on the best foot basically, but they grow to love each other, even between the issues with Xornoth, Joey, Sausage, Fwip, all of that, then, Jimmy goes to Fwip to try to get his cod head back, and well it doesn't go well, and Xornoth is free again, and to make sure he doesn't do any more damage, Scott takes his life to stop him because if one dies so does the other, and we are brought back to Scott's afterlife once more, where he and Jimmy are together, where nothing bad happened and it's okay. Last life there wasn't much there other than Scott giving Jimmy a poppy and the two when boogey's they didn't kill each other. same with Double life, while they weren't soulbound, they both had ranches. Limited life though, there is a bit more, Scott saying I love you to Jimmy and Jimmy never responding, I think that is because he remembers what happened in 3rd life and he doesn't want to give Scott something to latch onto, something that will be the first out and ruin his chances of life. And even while Jimmy hunted Scott down, he still offered his time to him. Empires two, I am a full supporter of the centuries au where Jimmy is from the original empires and such, so he is just watching this man who looks and sort of acts like the one he used to love from distance, knowing that he can't fall in love with him again because it'll just hurt them both.

In witchcraft, while Jimmy wasn't Milo, a lot of people just pretend he was, and the idea of Scott losing Jimmy again but this time having magic to try to bring him back is just so, and it works, he won the thing and to bring back his lover, Scott gave up his magic, and he was perfectly okay with that if it meant having Jimmy back. They are doomed from the start because Scott is a survivor and Jimmy is the canary, a match that would never end well but in some way or another they love each other, even from a distance.

Also the only time that they are truly happy together is in the afterlife

[zodarii-dae]

constantly going feral over prophet jimmy. jim with screaming nightmares the week before a life game, knowing how everyone is going to die and knowing he can't prevent it. waking up in a cold sweat every night towards the end of esmp 1, the rapture plaguing his dreams. just... seer jimmy.