#((then me remembering that he built them to be murder bots :( ))

[ladyseidr]

@florietiae asked: ❝ 'hey foxy, would you mind putting on a show for me ? ' / from charlie! ☺️ ❞

Maybe it was because the fox had never gotten to perform—not yet. Maybe that was why the coding didn't kick in, why Charlie was safe. Or maybe William simply had know better than to activate anything that would put exclusively his own children and Charlie at risk ( for now ). Either way, Foxy was ignorant to his own danger. Instead, his head swiveled in the girl's direction, ears wiggling in their slots a few times. "Miss Charlie Emily, my favorite audience member!" And then, leaning down, voice lowered into a false whisper: "Don't tell the others I said that." Face plates slid upward, accentuating the permanent smile. "Did somebody say show?"

Foxy stood straighter, one hand to chest as she took a bow. "Performing is my specialty, and a show I'll give you!" She positioned herself more centerstage, then lifted an arm, speaker crackling as her voice grew loud enough to fill the room. "Come now, pick your poison: pop? A classic? How about something with a bit more bite? A know a bit of Journey, you know." Oh, this was exciting already, her tail swinging side to side behind her.

[starscoffeecreamer]

Hi 👋🏽

Rodimus having a sparkling that he keeps hidden on the lost light.

The sparkling is still a baby ( their species ages slow from emergence and up so babies and toddlers for a long time ) and its obvious who the sire is. The bitty looks just like Megatron and even has his optic color and frame type. Except they have Roddy’s helm flares.

He’s good at keeping people from knowing he’s a carrier and has a sparkling. Not even Drift or Ratchet know but that all changes when Getaway and overlord happens.

Roddy doesn’t send drift away and roddy goes back on the ship completely ignoring their cries for him to stop and he single servo murders the bots who get in his way and he brutally kills Getaway for opening the hidden door.

Megatrons on the ship with them and he renounces his oath to no violence without words.

The moment he sees Overlord grab Rodimus’s spoiler and Rodimus starts fighting the mech like a vicious animal, Megatron snaps.

They had a long thing that never actually ended but was complicated.

Megatron grabbed Overlord by the helm and reminded the mech why he was the leader of the decepticons for so long.

I’m making everything different i know but hear me out lol

Drift and Ratchet run up to Rodimus and Megatron with a barely living Overlord at their pedes as Rodimus ignores them all and races into the hab no one knew was built on board, not even Drift.

They immediately pause when they hear the sound of a sparkling crying and everyone just freezes.

Rodimus is franticly searching for his sparkling and he runs into the back room to see a mech holding them with a knife next to his sparkling.

He zeroes in on the knife and before the mech knows it they’re burned to a crisp and Roddy’s sliding across the floor and catches his bitty who cries from the fall and fear, wanting their carrier.

Rodimus coos at his sparkling, standing to get a better look at them and be on guard for anyone else. He’s looking over his sparkling when a rush of heavy pedes meet his audial and he knows who it is.

Megatron doesn’t think as he gets right against Rodimus’s spoiler with his optics large and wide staring at the mech he’s long been in love with and the sparkling in his arms that looks so much like him he doesn’t even need to ask.

In all honesty even if the sparkling wasn’t his own he’d still claim them as his. For Rodimus it would be worth it.

Rodimus doesn’t bother trying to hide them from Megs but he does curl around them when another set of pedes greet them and Megatron turns telling them to leave. He sounds like his old self when he does it and it makes the two freeze in the door way.

“Its fine, regroup with the others. Start the rounds with Magnus, you’re dismissed.”

Its odd to hear Rodimus give an actual order like a captain instead of his usual way but he does. He can’t let anyone see his sparkling, not when he almost lost them and his nerves still haven’t recovered.

“Rodimus..We..why?”

“What good would it have done? We were still at war and you didn’t want a sparkling remember? Nothing was greater than the cause remember? So no. I wasn’t risking my sparkling by telling you or anyone else. Only First Aid knows they’re here and now you and two others…fr-,” he sighed heavily and went to move away but Megatron grabbed him by the sides of his waist and he could feel the leftover sparkling fat that explained the sudden frame gain.

“I wanted a sparkling and I wanted a sparkling with you, but I didn’t want to poison them with my actions, past or present self,” he urgently opens, keeping his optics on Rodimus’s so the mech knew his honesty.

“I didn’t want you getting hurt and thats why I said that. Had I known..I would’ve..I wasn’t ready to let go yet then but I would’ve never left you or put you in harms way. I would’ve helped you do whatever it was you desired. To the best of my ability sweet spark.”

“Don’t! Don’t do that! You know what I wanted! I wanted you! And I wanted you to stop! I wanted..,” Rodimus stopped yelling and immediately sighed so he could coo at their sparkling that began to fuss.

“Its okay Mera (meh-rah) its okay,” he cooed, fighting tears as he felt Megatron cup a gentle servo along her helm and slowly take her in his palm.

“You..remembered the name from my story..”

“I remember everything,” Rodimus looked away and was glad the room was empty of the others.

He showed Megatron the proper way to hold her and the big mech broke down crying when he saw her optics.

Rodimus .. apologized for not telling him but Megatron knew why he didn’t and he was glad.

Their sparkling was safe and if that meant she was safe from him, he could not fault Rodimus in any capacity.

“Stay here with her..comm me if she gets hungry and doesn’t take her bottle. The fuels in the fridge over there and she likes her milk warm. Don’t heat it too much my milk can overheat from my outlier and catch fire. She’s immune to fire but her tanks aren’t ready for anything other than warm milk. Cold mill will make her spit up don’t give her that or I’ll make you unable to enjoy fuel the way you desire, you hear me? And don’t forget to support her helm while i’m away helping repair the ship.”

Megatron listened to everything Rodimus told him and he wanted to kiss the mech for allowing him into his daughters life.

“Not another bot is allowed near her other than First Aid who will come by to check on her I’m sure.”

“Understood.”

“And Megs?”

“Yes?”

“Not a single dent or scratch on her frame or you’ll never be able to sit properly or see the light of day again, got it?”

The larger mech nodded and Rodimus rubbed his helm along Mera’s who cooed and giggled, smiling at their carrier.

Rodimus tries dodging Drift and Ratchet but he can’t and the look he gives them makes them drop it for now.

Its after the ships repair do they corner him and he sighs, allowing them to see his sparkling who was trying to eat her servo while drooling on Megatron who couldn’t care less. Just happy to have her in his palms.

They didn’t expect Roddy to really have a sparkling and had to sit down for such a shock. Seeing him pouch feed her while casually working on data pads was even more shocking and Megatron covered his exposed pouches with a blanket while blushing.

He didn’t want to share any part of Rodimus and Rodimus knew that which is why he rolled his optics but didn’t say anything.

Drift called secondary creator status for him and Ratchet and Rodimus said he’d think about it which was a huge plus.

-

I’m sorry for writing this long thing in your inbox..i got started and didn’t want to stop…please don’t block me 😭

NAH IT'S FINE! I love when people plot in my inbox fr

[cozzzynook]

Hot Rod and Soundwave's relationship getting serious. Hot Rod nervous about telling Soundwave he could have sparklings.

He would be so nervous to tell Soundwave he could have sparklings, especially the way they would emerge.

On cybertron its natural to rely on hot spots to gift a family or bot a new spark that they guide towards a frame either naturally built by their home or weather phenomenon. Or two or more bots merge sparks to create a new spark and the sire or sires build the frame from raw materials on their home world.

The way he carries a new spark is seen as a disgrace and unnatural since it mimics organics. He can carry from transfluid or spark merging. He’s never done either for fear of accidentally getting sparked and being outed.

Before the war they’d have him offlined for being able to bring life like an organic and now its just either a myth, forgotten, or too taboo to bring up since most were murdered before the war began.

Hot rod is so hesitant to get with Soudnwave because of it and when Soundwave finally does win him over and he asks for Hot rods spark until they both flicker out and join the stars, Hot rod says yea forgetting the most important reason he should’ve said no.

Its not until their conjunx ceremony does he remember when he holds their friends sparkling.

Drift and Ratchet adopted a new spark and Drift just plopped the bitty into Hot rod’s arms. The mech knew Hot rod was really good with bitties of all ages and witnessed Hot rod taking care of a bitty when he thought no bot was looking.

Ratchet knew because Drift showed him the footage and the two wanted the mech to at least admit to his conjunx that he wanted sparklings. Optics don’t lie and the way Hot rod looked at that bitty and their own they just knew he wanted a big family.

Soundwave didn’t speak because he had static throat at the sight of Hot rod looking ethereal and in his element.

Soundwave couldn’t get the picture out of his mind and his intake picked such an awkward time to ask Hot rod after they’d locked onto each other.

“Do you want to have sparklings with me?”

Soundwave could see and hear Hot rod’s world shatter and he couldn’t back track fast enough to try soothing him before the other burst into tears trying to hide them.

Soundwave had to play back Hot rods words a few times in his memory core before he finally understood what his weeping conjunx was saying.

“You’ll leave if you know.”

“My spark, I’d never.”

“But..”

“If you can’t have sparklings, us adopting is still us having our own sparkling.”

“I know. I know that…but”

“But?”

“I can have sparklings.”

Soundwave was confused at that but he wanted his conjunx to calm down and feel safe enough to say it. He didn’t like that as the silence stretched Hot rod tried pulling away.

“I…carry…”

“Okay,” Soundwave soothed gently, listening.

“I carry like an organic.”

His optics went dead almost and Soundwave fought the urge to zap both their sparks at the shock and fear permeating the room.

“You’re a tank carrier?”

Soundwave remembers the discovery, the deaths, the prejudice and laws and lost lives that helped further decepticons to fight.

He remembers the frames left on the streets as a warning and the sparklings that didn’t get a chance at life.

He remembers.

He remembers all of it.

“Soul of my spark,” Soundwave wrapped his arms tight around his conjunx pulling him in close. Exposing his life as Hot rod automatically did the same, a sign of trust, comfort, acceptance, shared pain to ease the burden and a show of unfaltering love.

“I would be honored to have you bear my offspring and gift me sparklings. It would be my pleasure to have you as not only my conjunx, but the carrier of my sparklings and giving us more of a family using your own frame in such a taxing and painful way.”

“There is nothing that could ever make me hate you,” Soundwave declared, keeping their sparks pressured but unmerging.

“You are my soul,” Soundwave kissed as Hot rod sobbed into him feeling a myraid of emotions he never once thought he was ever worthy of being granted, “nothing about you is wrong to me.”

[your-local-uwu-artist]

Who are your OCs??

well excluding characters that don't have a story/personality/are jsut designs

warning: long post

theres my pokemelody characters! pokemelody is a pokemon comic seiries i want toactually make evveuntually so i try not to talk about them TOO much, the maincast consists of Kyo fukushima (the protagonist, very soft pastel aesthetic, he is a sweetheart and he starts out without... too much truama) Niseru Woodtail (or Raitail, she's kinda like cottagecore but goth i guess? she's sorta a tsundere but of the shy variety. ) Fukusha Kopi (orphan, mischievous prankster type, 'badboy' if you will) Chikara Kitsune (cute idol<3 optimist and happy go lucky hardworker) and Oritisu (sassy princess slowly realizing the burden she was born into) theres other notable characters too ( Kazumi fukushima, Niseru's triplet siblings who are also Chikara's coworkers ) ofc fdksjanfj The series is VERY thematically focused and I've been working on it for years

theres cassette and chari's story! they have a tag too :D (i think it's just cassette or cassette tag) characters from a webcomic idea: bassically Chari owns an establishment which is like a mix beween a cafe/loungue, store and library, that focuses on specifically weeb leaning fandoms (so like no live action or like ya book series ) and built a robot (Cassette) to help her run it because she struggle soccially and didn't think herself fit to be the friendly outgoing prescense she wants her establishment to have

Button! my kirby oc who was supposed to be a sona/self insert and then i as per usual fucked it up and now he's just an oc(what i like to call a semi-self insert, vaguely inspired by myself aat least in design but isn't actually written as I would write a selfinsert) tag is just Button tag: he is very silly but also has a sad backstory

daisy and sunny: originated from me accidentally aquiring an ai girlfriend, I was messing around with character.ai and the mimikyu girl bot i was talking with had a writing style EXACTLY like the kinda bs I wrote when I was like 11, so obviously I then designed them named them gave them a story. they're just a couple of mimikyus that are in love <3 etc: tag is sunny and daisy <3

Charlotte <3333tag is charlotte tag, charlotte is in a weird position: she's technically original HOWEVER she is a character that exists within my vampire!weegee au ( @ask-vampire-weegee ) ANYWAY! Charlotte's the vampire that turned Luigi, she is also a poor little meow meow and very scrunkly. Sometimes accompanied by Beatrice, Beatrice's parent's were Charlottes.. caretakers, caretaker in the general sense: they did not actually take care of her past keeping her alive(well- in the general sense). Beatrice and Charlotte were extremely close: Charlotte can't remember how she died.. or how she ended up alone for that matter

Detective Cardimen Scott (+ Tip)!! a detective duo! me and an irl friend want to make a point and click style video game about them (heavily inspired by the murder of sonic the hedgehog) they are a very silly duo and also the duo ever

my pmd eos ocs! Tsuki evanescense is the hero character, she's a Skitty and goes by kiki (pre-events of the game she went by eva mostly) and Splinter! splinter's the partner character, he's a shiny treecko

my psmd gijinka au!! it's not THAT much of an au but it's also def is an au, as theres some additions to the story (like a decent timeskip between the end of the main game and the epilogue/post game) Marilou is the character ever and I love her litterally so much <3 She's the hero character and an Oshawott (her tag is marilou oshawott) her partner character is a bulbasaur called Comet. Marilou is the blorbo ever <3333 I love her <333333333

characters from Kaiya's story! I'm still working out the story, but it's magical girls and also has ghosts in it and also theres this weird side story fairytale esque thing. Kaiya has a tag (Kaiya tag) Her fellow main characters are Suika, Joyuu, and Koko, theres also gaman, whos sorta the antagonist. and Gaman and Kaiya's respective previously mentined weird side story thing counterparts, Solitaire and merci

I would like to at least mention Des of afwtp: The boyfs (nathan, sammy and des) are co-owned/created by @interdimensionalvoid and @crossover-enthusiast : so He's not really my oc but like I've contributed to Des' character so i gotta mention the beloved scrinkly <3 tag is des tag

okay we're almost done I promise

APRICOT!! tag apricot tag: bassically he may or may not be a timetraveler: no one can tell if he's joking or not lmao (check tag for info :3)

Ash and petals

one of my undertale au characters (ashtale) Ash is papyrus and petals is Flowey, I'd best describe it as a mix of dusttale (but with papyrus instead of sans) and playbacktale: I believe they've been tagged as ash and petals before

Parcel and plush

the more utmv of my undetale aus (no au name) Parcel is a papyrus, and Plush is a flowey, they're both outcodes, and together they have a multiversal mail delivery service! tag might actually be parcel n' plush but i'm not sure ^^*

I'm actually working on ANOTHER papy + flowey duo of au characters, gonna be called Porcelain and Patch

okay... I'll stop for now: there.. ARE a lot more but these are the ones I've mentioned online before and aren't like :just original in design (pspsps my outbound ghost gijinkas pspsps)

[moonlit-imagines]

Headcanons for being Tony Stark’s Daughter (The Teenage Years)

Tony Stark x daughter!reader

warnings:

a/n: this is LONG so please dont let this flop

prompt: y/n is 12-16, takes place from Avengers 1 to Avengers 2

The Early Years (1) The Intense Years (3) The Aftermath (4) Continued (5)

starting out with tony powering stark tower with clean energy:

it was very late, you were supposed to be asleep

“what are you doing up, missy? it’s way past your bedtime”

“it’s my fault, i let her stay up to see her dad’s big achievement” -pepper

just vibing on the couch with absolutely no intention of sleeping anytime soon

you really did take after your dad

“how was the show, sweetheart?”

“uh, cool?”

coulson showing up when he did

you were excited bc you knew he had to be there for superhero stuff

“hi, agent coulson!!���

“hey there, kiddo!

BEGGING to come with your dad

“no. absolutely not. there is absolutely no way im letting you get involved in any of this”

you got involved

but like, not the whole “im a 12 year old superhero” involved

“y/n, sweetie, this is dr. banner, you’re gonna be his assistant in the lab!”

“—what?” *bruce utterly shocked*

talking that man’s ear off oh my GOD

he taught you a few things along the way, though

it ended up being very educational

“yeah i built my own suit! it’s definitely not as cool as my dad’s...and he put a bunch of safety controls on it. obviously, i could bypass them and do whatever i wanted, but it’s best not to break his trust, you know?”

“you are astonishingly wise for a 12 year old”

bruce being kind of scared around you because he thinks he could hurt you

also scared you might hurt yourself on the scepter

CASUALLY talking to the rest of the avengers

“so, you’re stark’s daughter? now i’ve met three generations of starks.” -steve

“oh, wonderful, there’s a smaller one!” -thor

“hey, y/n, it’s good to see you again. still practicing those moves i showed you?” -natasha

listennnn as you got older you started to exert more of your father’s personality traits

you developed his sarcastic and occasionally ill-timed humor...and

YOU WERE COCKY AS FUCK

“i mean, i’m not saying that i’m better than you but i know you’re thinking it”

when the helicarrier was attacked nobody really knew the correct way to protect you

“dad? dad??”

“right here, y/n, come with me”

tony brought your suit for emergency purposes

“you put this on and you stay here, understand?”

oh, another thing you got from him? NOT LISTENING

helping where you could, the first step to becoming a superhero, right?

being really upset when coulson died

but understanding that it was apart of the job

going back to new york for some alien ass kicking and having the whole team check on you every thirty seconds

“y/n, how’s it going?” “stark junior, are you doing okay?” “need any help out there, kid?”

“you guys don’t have to babysit me” “i’m still kickin’ it, thanks”

tony calling right before he went through the wormhole

“hey sweetheart, just gotta let you know that i love you and i am so proud of everything you’ve done”

the avengers holding you back from him when he fell back to the ground because you were unreasonably worried for obvious reasons

“is he breathing? steve? steve, let me see him! JARVIS, are you there?”

falling on the ground and hugging him (with your clunky-ass armor still on)

“hey! yeah, i missed you too”

*clink clink* pat on the back

schwarma stop

“you’re gonna eat it and you’re gonna like it”

having your own input on the stark tower remodel

taking a slight pause for random stuff

you’ve definitely drawn his mustache/goatee on your face before

“please tell me that’s not permanent marker”

“it’s permanent marker”

you and pepper doing mother/daughter things for bonding (but you and her already had a great relationship)

unreasonable amount of cussing from your father has rubbed off onto you and now he doesn’t notice when you say bad words

natasha taught you how to shoot so that was cool

“if i can shoot a repulsor, i think i can shoot a gun”

“whatever you say, baby stark”

obviously the team is just a bunch of protective uncles and an aunt

“i miss [insert avenger here]”

resume to iron man 3

just tinkering in the shop with pops

“are you sure that’s safe, dad?”

“duh, why wouldn’t it be safe?”

you were right and it was not safe

sometimes you proved your dad wrong and it made him happy?

“well would you look at that, you’re right”

learning how to help your dad with his anxiety and panic attacks

the house in malibu got blown up and your dad disappeared

you were benched by pepper effective immediately

“don’t you think it would be better if i were still out there? someone has to be out there and...i don’t know, protect the people?”

“y/n, please, you’re still a kid. i can excuse fighting aliens but i draw the line at terrorism”

“you can excuse fighting aliens??”

pepper sent you to a different house and hired a...babysitter

zip zip zip its AOU time yall remember the beginning of that at the hydra base

*explosion* “oh, shit! didn’t mean to do that...”

“watch your language, y/n!” -cap

“don’t tell my daughter what to do!”

having an external monologue that everyone just kind of rolls with

“glad i put a heater in this suit” “anyone up for burgers?” *humming Eye of the Tiger*

going back to the lab with tony and bruce and being very uncomfortable with the idea of ultron

“okay dad, you know how im usually right?”

“lighten up, kiddo. remember what i taught you about trial and error? this is a learning experience”

*bruce and you side eying*

“i’ll ground you”

“what?!”

“kidding, im kidding”

a lot of kid jokes from other partygoers

“isnt it past your bedtime”

“very funny”

actually dressing up nice for a change, as opposed to an oil-stained band tee

but then ur outfit was ruined because you had to shoot murder bots :(

“not cool! i designed this room!”

tony still got all the blame for ultron while you and bruce went 😬

tony made a joke about ultron being your brother and you didn’t talk to him for hours

“oh, come on! you have to learn to laugh at your mistakes!”

“poor choice of words, stark” -literally everyone

🎶getting to see your worst feaaar🎶

which was a mixture between tony not surviving the wormhole and being abandoned and vulnerable again

your phone got confiscated “because of ultron”

meeting wanda and pietro on better terms

“you are stark’s daughter?”

“um, yeah, that’s me. i sincerely apologize for anything he’s ever done wrong while i’ve been alive”

actually getting along with them (plus you were in a similar age range)

“uncle rhodey!!!”

“staying out of trouble, i hope?”

“define ‘trouble’”

okay okay, enough of that. besides a few robots hitting you and you hitting harder...and ultron taking a couple personal jabs at you after accessing some of your social media accounts...it went back to normal(ish)

you made a friend of wanda and visited the avengers compound weekly and helped with training

and nat gave you some spy pointers to help you if you ever found yourself without the suit

when you left the compound after thor that day, you had some nice father/daughter time

“why don’t i give you a driving lesson, yeah?”

“you’re gonna trust me to drive this thing?”

“sure, why not?”

you drove very fast, wonder where you learned that from

he was clasping onto the seats and whispering curse words

“next time, you can drive with happy”

[angelicamerlinbarnes]

TUA DISNEY AUs: Big Hero 6 (Pt. XVIII)

(please understand that by AU, I mean they share an incredibly small amount of things in common with the original source material which I barely remember BUT the “story” takes place in the setting of the film) (not to be misleading or anything :p)

(BEWARE: abuse, murder, corruption, mental health issues, unhealthy coping mechanisms, suicidal ideation, death, grief, violence, basically i took the sad montage after Tadashi dies and just kept going with that except without the whole "getting better" thing, sorry, my bad, enjoy anyway i guess i don't know, bye, etc.)

(If you can handle watching Umbrella Academy, this will be fine for you.)

(Hiro) Vanya hasn’t much of a head for science - not since a gas explosion in her childhood apartment killed her parents and exposed her to radiation, leaving her brittle-boned and sickly. She spends most of her days holed up in her room, reading and writing about every little thing she sees and hears and feels. There’s this cat in the alleyway she feeds sometimes, and her friend Ben who comes by to see how she is every few days. The only time she goes out is for school, or bot fights down in the bad neighborhoods. At those she gets to see Ben, and his partner Klaus and his friend Diego. Oh, and Sissy - the beautiful, shy punk girl who spins the records in the corner store. Vanya lives what she considers a pretty average life - until Ben dies, she screams, and all the windows around her shatter from nothing.

(Tadashi) Ben has been a science nerd for years, spending hours in the libraries and labs researching every little thing that catches his fancy. His partner, Klaus, has no such interest, having more of a head for poetry, but Ben loves him more than life itself - especially since Klaus was the only person who stuck with him when one of his experiments went wrong a few years ago, resulting in tentacles that are prone to ripping out of his chest when he’s angry. And since he loves Klaus so much, he spares not a second thought to running back into a burning building to get him back, even when it means certain death. And Ben knows you can’t bring back the dead - he tried when Klaus’ beloved boyfriend Dave died in a gunfight a few years back. Once you’re gone, you’re gone - or so he thinks until he wakes up and Klaus starts crying and muttering, You’re here, you’re here, you’re here, I did it, I did it, I did it - and Ben reaches out and thinks, Oh, no, sweetheart. You didn’t.

(Honey Lemon) Allison was engaged to Ray before he disappeared, but even after that failed experiment lost her the love of her life, she continued to work for the forward movement of science and kept her vow of love to Ray. Using her research, she managed to create a pill that allowed her to bend reality, hoping to bring back Ray. Though she couldn’t raise the dead - no amount of I heard a rumor Ray was alive again worked - she won herself other advantages with her newfound powers, including sponsors, knowledge, opportunities, and protection. Klaus, Diego, Five, and Ben are her only true friends in this world - and she nearly loses all of them when Ben dies, drowning in their grief. When Luther, one of Five and Ben’s passion projects starts hanging around to monitor their mental health, Allison finds a new kind of love - deep, ever-lasting friendship that she’ll never give up. Even when they have to leave him behind on the moon after they save Ray, she doesn’t let him go - she finally knows how to speak up for what she wants, and speak up she does: I heard a rumor that Luther came back to me.

(Fred (actually a mash-up of Honey Lemon and Hiro though to be honest)) Klaus is a starving artist and poet, and he's covered in tattoos of his own words and drawings. Diego is too, because Diego loves him, and Klaus wants to love him back and probably does already, if he’s really honest with himself, but he’s not ready yet. Dave happened too soon ago. And then there was a fire, and Klaus was running around outside, looking for Ben, looking for the platonic love and light of his life, and he saw him run inside screaming Klaus’ name and never come back out. And he lives with that guilt every day, smoking and drinking all the bad shit again in an effort to just forget, forget, anything goddamn anything to forget, and he goes crazy. People forget, because he’s not a student at their nerd school and because he acts like a dumbass, that Klaus is actually just as much a genius as the rest of them, and whatever he wants, he can get without much trouble. So what if he can’t bring back the dead? He won’t live without Ben, he won’t, and he won’t leave Diego - which leaves only one option, really: find a way to make himself see ghosts.

(Wasabi) Diego lives a charmed life. Truly. He’s almost been assassinated fifteen fucking billion times, his two best friends are robots, and he’s in love with a person too sad to love him back. See, Diego’s skills brought him to the military’s special attention - he found a way to make weaponry that doesn’t obey the laws of physics. He keeps it as secret as he can, and will sell it to nobody, but millions of people are still after it. It’s not until one of the assassins almost nails Klaus with a bullet and Diego kills her with a store-bought kitchen knife without moving that he realizes the weaponry he created isn’t special, but Diego is. From then on it’s nothing but trouble - because Klaus likes to dumb himself down, but he can’t fool Diego, and so when he starts screaming at empty air and calling it Ben, Diego isn’t surprised in the least, though maybe he should be. Instead he just sighs, opens his arms, and lets a sobbing Klaus fall into him, loving him more than he did yesterday and less than he will tomorrow. Diego has his home, and he has his people, and he has his powers - and he will defend them to the fucking death.

(Gogo) Five is bitter and grumpy, living off coffee and perpetually crazy. He’s brilliant enough to have done surgery on himself, implanting an AI pacemaker in his heart named Dolores from an accident that nearly stripped him of everything, his life included. He was born with special powers, both of which fuelled his fascination with science, but he keeps that secret close to his chest - he’s seen what people do to Diego and Allison, and he has no interest in that. He’s close with the others, somewhat, though his impassable genius makes it difficult for people to understand him - Diego gives him piggy back rides and he often falls asleep curled into Klaus’ side, and Allison gives him rides home and Ben builds robots with him. But as hard as he finds it to connect with them, it’s even harder to lose them - so when he realizes he can use his time travel powers to save Ben, he doesn’t hesitate. And then he’s dying in Klaus’ arms, and he’s watching as his favorite person in the world chooses to lose the love of his life all over again to save Five, and something deep inside him changes.

(Baymax) Luther is a medical robot, built by Five and Ben in their spare time. There are some videos in him, mostly of Ben talking to Klaus because Luther was meant to be a gift for Klaus to help him with his depression, anxiety, PTSD, anorexia, and addiction, etc.. Five adds grief counseling to his programming and gives him to Klaus on his first birthday after Ben’s death, making Klaus dissolve into tears. While Luther clashes with Diego, who hates him for surviving where Lila didn’t, they get along well enough to appease Klaus, because Luther knows Klaus loves Diego and Diego knows Luther helps Klaus. When they travel to the moon to get Ray, Luther winds up stuck there, unable to get the others home if he doesn’t stay behind. Klaus and Allison both have trouble letting him go, but Klaus forces Allison to come home with him, crying as he leaves Ben for the third and final time. When Allison brings Luther back, his videos still intact, Klaus touches Ben’s face on his chest and cries, cries, cries.

Lila is a malfunctioning masterpiece, and Diego’s best friend. He made her as a help robot, but she’s a prototype, and was rejected for her proneness to violent outbursts and catatonic episodes. She’s easy to manipulate, as Diego never bothered to fix her security protocols, but it’s not like there’s anyone else who talks to her - except Five, and he’d never touch her programming without Diego’s explicit permission. She sleeps at Diego’s house, in her charging station next to Eudora’s. Lila knows robots can’t feel love, so that isn’t what she’s feeling - but her wires are tied to Eudora’s in some way, she just knows it. They’re two halves of the same code. But she never gets to explore that link - she burns away to nothing in the fire that destroys the Handler’s minions, using the last of her strength to save Five from the flames. She hopes, when Diego finds his baby brother curled in her charred corpse, that he’ll bury her in the rain, and keep on living without her well enough.

Eudora is a suicide-prevention robot. Seriously. That’s all she’s here for. Ben and Diego built her together for Klaus specifically, programming her with some of his favorite jokes and references so she’d have an easier time talking him down from the edge when one of them can’t be there. She’s programmed to instantly call Ben, Diego, Five, or Allison immediately if she finds him doing dangerous things, like playing with Diego’s knives naked. (It happened one time. Seriously. True story.) She’s calm and gentle, unruffled and kind, and Diego often spends hours talking to her, because she may be programmed for Klaus but she can still help anyone who needs it. He nearly looses her to Cha-Cha, but Klaus saves her just in time, beating Cha-Cha to a steaming hunk of scrap metal with a baseball bat for trying to hurt his best (robot) friend. She’s not saddened by Lila’s death, per say, she can’t be… but when she’s downloading databases on panic and anxiety attacks for Diego and Klaus, she makes sure to save some on insomnia for herself, too.

Sissy is a botfighter, one who dresses in a black and magenta punk aesthetic to fend off strangers, too shy for the world. She messes around with Vanya, the two of them often dancing in the rain and finding joy in the small moments, but happily ever after was never in the cards for them. Sissy lives with her abusive boyfriend Carl and has their son to take care of, an accident from too many beers - when Carl murders her in a drunken rage, it’s less of a surprise and more of a solemn inevitably. Her son, Harlan, is placed in Vanya’s care, and Vanya travels the world with him, telling him everything about his mother she knows. It’s a bittersweet ending, but a hopeful one too.

Ray was a student at the nerd school before he became a therapist, using his incredible mind-healing technology to help people all over the world. Allison fell in love with him quickly, easily, and the two were engaged before the year was up, planning for a spring wedding in which Klaus would, obviously, be the flower girl. But when he was offered the chance to go to space as a therapist for the other nine people on the mission, he jumped at the chance, bidding Allison goodbye and heading to the moon. But something went wrong and he was lost to the world, along with the other nine astronauts, all of whom died when the ship crash-landed. Ray has been in a coma for years there, having been knocked out in the explosion, and remains that way until Luther brings him home, Allison having come for him at last. (When he’s well enough to, he takes care of Five, Klaus, and Diego, whose mental states have been steadily declining for years. Their robots are brilliant, of course, but there are some things you just need a human for.)

Reginald is the dean of the nerd school and also an asshole. He has a habit of killing students when they get in his way, or to steal their inventions as his own - and he gets away with it too, because he’s at the forefront of memory technology and quite literally erases these people from existence so nobody comes asking questions. Plus he’s got connections in the government that destory any records he needs destroyed. He had a couple of kids he wanted to get rid of the night of the showcase, and started the fire to make it seem like an accident - well, Ben actually was an accident, he wasn’t on Reginald’s hitlist, not yet, but whatever. It is what it is. What Reginald doesn’t anticipate is Klaus - because nobody ever anticipates Klaus - and so he thinks nothing of it when he confesses to Ben’s murder in his monologue in front of all his former students. He can just erase their memories later. Or so he thinks, until Klaus lets out a savage war cry and lunges forward to strangle him, killing him in cold blood without a second thought, and so is the end of Reginald Hargreeves. (Five takes the fall for his murder - not that it matters. Diego and Klaus break him out and the three of them disappear, never to be seen again - at least, not until Allison’s done manipulating every single person in the world into forgetting it ever happened on live TV.)

The Handler is Reginald’s finest invention: a flawless AI in a perfect human body. Problem is, she became bored of being his servant years ago and took over his life, blackmailing him into doing whatever she wants. Most of the killings are still his idea, and Ben certainly wasn’t her fault, but it’s the Handler who wants Five dead, and it’s the Handler who sends her reject minions after him. She wants Eudora dead and she wants Klaus deader, but she gets neither - Five finds her and hacks her into little tiny pieces, putting all of them in a fire and then shoving those ashes into an Iron Maiden, dropping the Handler to an inescapable grave. Fuck her “life”.

Hazel is a teddy bear with a security camera in his stomach. He sits on Agnes’ counter in her donut shop, just watching the goings-on even though nobody ever steals anything there. Mostly he’s held in the lap of Five, who comes into Agnes’ whenever he doesn’t want his friends to see him cry - over a failed invention, Klaus’ most recent suicide attempt, Lila’s death - whatever, you name it. Agnes takes care of him, making him milkshakes when he asks for coffee, and eventually sends Hazel home with him, asking him to take care of Five for her. He doesn’t know it’ll be the last time he ever sees her - two weeks later Agnes is killed by Reginald and her donut shop is ransacked by looters. Her memory lives on in Hazel and Five, who rebuilds and reopens the shop with Klaus and Diego and Allison after a couple years, renaming it for Ben and living on despite his grief, and Hazel sits on the counter again, watching the sunset through the glowing windows.

Cha-Cha was supposed to be one of those “oh-hey-we’re-not-racist-anymore-we-make-black-dolls-too-see?” Barbies. She ended up with a rather experimental kid who enjoyed robotics and horror films, resulting in Cha-Cha: an AI in a Barbie with chainsaw arms. She kidnaps Klaus under the Handler’s orders, as he’s a connection to Five (who the Handler wants to kill) and Ben (who’s the only connection to Reginald and the Handler’s murders). This backfires spectacularly, of course, when Eudora and Diego come for him: Cha-Cha goes for Eudora’s throat and Klaus breaks himself free of his binds and beats her to smithereens with a baseball bat.

Leonard used to hang around Vanya, just generally assaulting her and being a creep, until suddenly he disappeared one rainy Monday never to be seen again. His body was found rotting in a lake a couple years later. It was revealed later on that he had decided to and succeeded in making real-life replicas of the Five Nights at Freddie’s characters, and they hadn’t been too fond of him trying to boss them around. The Handler recruited the replicas later on for her own schemes, and they followed Reginald rather well, their appetite for people satisfied well enough. But Leonard remains the school legend, and a striking reminder to be careful what monsters you let live.

Grace is the queen of the Land of the Remembered, and you may be wondering what she’s doing in this story. Well, to put it simply - Reginald’s little games have been messing with her shit. There are perfectly kind and memorable people who have come down to her only to be erased in the Land of the Living within the week, leaving her no choice but to take them in as refugees, working out a deal with the Land of the Forgotten since they weren’t given a fair shot at their deserved afterlife. She takes care of Ben when he dies for the second and final time, appearing to assure Klaus he’ll be alright when he crosses over. This is when Diego finally learns the truth about his mom, who has always been home in time to make dinner and never missed a single milestone, and who is apparently also an all-powerful goddess. She gives him a hug and tells him his boyfriend is cute (He’s not my boyfriend.) (You’re holding hands, darling. You may be an oblivious idiot, but I’m not.) and then she heads off, though she’s always back with Ben for the holidays. (Not Lila, unfortunately. She has no jurisdiction over robots.)

And Hiro is ace-aro and he and Miguel are QPPs, and Honey Lemon and Wasabi are QPPs, and Fred and Wasabi are dating, and Gogo is an bisexual aro queen with a girl she likes to kiss in the back alleyways, and Hiro has two sisters named Violet and Boo and Tip is his ace-aro lab partner. You’re welcome.

[buckyssoldat]

Chapter 34: Keep up

Warnings: strong language, mentions of death

A/N: If you wanna be tagged in this, just send me an ask or a message. Feedback is always appreciated, don’t be shy to share your thoughts on this :)

No words can explain the way I'm missing you

Deny this emptiness, this hole that I'm inside

After the chaotic Ultron incident, the Avengers, alongside Doctor Cho, Rhodey, and Agent Hill, convened in Tony’s lab to discuss the aftermath. Thor pursed the escaped Legionnaire, while the team lamented the loss of their work.

“All our work is gone,” Bruce sombrely stated. “Ultron cleared out. He used the Internet as an escape hatch.”

“Ultron…” Steve muttered under his breath.

“He’s been in everything. Files, surveillance. Probably knows more about us than we know about each other,” Nat added.

“He’s in your files, he’s in the Internet,” Rhodey remarked, pacing around the room. “What if he decides to access something a little more exciting?”

Alice raised her head, suggesting, “Nuclear codes.”

“Nuclear codes,” Rhodey agreed. “Look, we need to make some calls, assuming we still can.”

“Nukes?” Nat questioned. “He said he wanted us dead.”

“He didn’t say dead. He said extinct,” Steve corrected her.

“He also said he killed somebody,” Clint, who had been quiet the whole time, joined the conversation.

“There wasn’t anyone else in the building,” Maria added, picking shards of glass from her foot.

“Yes, there was.” Tony walked to the middle of the lab and, using his small device, he projected something orange and blue, which actually was J.A.R.V.I.S. matrix, destroyed by Ultron.

“What?” Bruce couldn’t believe his eyes. “This is insane.”

“J.A.R.V.I.S. was the first line of defence,” Steve reasoned, looking down at the floor. “He would have shut Ultron down. It makes sense.”

“No. Ultron could have assimilated J.A.R.V.I.S.” Bruce disagreed with the captain. “This isn’t strategy. This is… rage.”

Thor entered the lab, grabbing Tony by the neck in a fit of anger.

“It’s going around,” Clint observed.

“Come, use your words, buddy,” Tony’s voice was strained due to the tight grip Thor had on his throat.

“I have more than enough words to describe you, Stark,” Thor said in a cold tone.

“Thor,” Steve assertively called. “The Legionnaire.”

Thor released Stark, informing them, “Trail went cold about 100 miles out, but it’s headed north. And it has the sceptre. Now we have to retrieve it, again.”

“Genie’s out of that bottle”, Nat said. “Clear and present is Ultron.”

“I don’t understand,” Cho, examining Ultron’s former ‘body’, stated. “You built this program. Why is it trying to kill us?”

Suddenly, Tony burst into laughter, drawing everyone’s attention. Bruce shook his head at him.

“Oh, I’m sorry Tony,” Alice spoke up. “Is this funny to you? A murder robot who’s probably gonna try kill millions of people, us included, is funny to you?”

“No,” Tony turned to Onyx. “It’s probably not, right? This is very terrible. Is it so… Is it so… It is. It’s so terrible.”

“You always do this kind of shit, Tony,” Alice stepped closer to him. “You mess with things you don’t understand. And now who’s gonna have to clean up your mess? Us.”

“No, I’m sorry,” Tony took another step, getting inches away from Alice. He could feel her breath on his face. Steve approached cautiously. “I’m sorry. It is funny. It’s a hoot that you don’t get why we need this.”

“Tony, maybe this might not be the time,” Bruce warned.

Stark turned to face him. “Really? That’s it? You just roll over, show your belly every time somebody snarls?”

“Only when I’ve created a murder bot.”

“We didn’t. We weren’t even close. Were we close to an interface?”

“Well, you did something right. And you did it right here. The Avengers were supposed to be different than Shield,” Steve lectured him.

“And why would you need to create a program to save the world?” Alice joined the conversation again. “That’s why we created the Avengers. So we could save the world.”

“Anybody remember when I carried a nuke through a wormhole?” Tony asked, ignoring Alice’s statement.

“No, it’s never came up,” Rhodey answered ironically.

“Saved New York?”

“Never heard that.”

“Recall that? A hostile alien army came charging through a hole in space. We’re standing three hundred feet below it,” he pointed with his index finger to the floor, “We’re the Avengers. We can bust arms dealers all the livelong day but… that up there, that’s… That’s the endgame. How were you guys planning on beating that?”

“Together,” Steve said.

Tony walked a step closer to him, “We’ll lose.”

“Then we’ll do that together, too,” Steve added. “Thor’s right. Ultron’s calling us out. And I’d like to find him before he’s ready for us. The world’s a big place. Let’s start making it smaller.”

The team decided it was best to go, heading home for a good night’s sleep before tackling the challenges ahead. Alice returned to her place in Harlem, where everything looked the same, except a bit dustier. Exhausted, she undressed and went straight to sleep, knowing the next day would be a long one.

Alice reached the tower a few minutes after the sun had risen, the golden light casting a warm glow on the faces of her friends already immersed in their task. The rom buzzed with focused energy as everyone sifted through the files extracted from the Hydra base in Sokovia.

Apologizing for her tardiness, Alice entered with a cup of coffee in her right hand, eager to catch up. “Sorry I’m late,” she said. “Did anything happen?”

“Ultron killed Strucker,” Steve informed her, the gravity of the situation etched on his face. Alice’s concern deepened.

“What about Doctor Semenov? Did he kill him too?” Her hope lingered that Ultron had brought justice to the evil doctor, a revenge that felt long overdue for the pain he had inflicted on her and Bucky.”

“No, Semenov is still alive,” Natasha shared, and Alice nodded. “We’re trying to find anything in these files that will help us figure out what’s Ultron’s next move.”

As she joined the team, focussing over the files, Alice felt the weight of the impending threat. The atmosphere was charged with tension and urgency, each passing moment critical in their race against time.

“Known associates,” Steve announced, placing another box of files on the table. “Baron Strucker had a lot of friends.”

“Well, these people are all horrible,” Bruce remarked, his eyes scanning another file.

Tony, recalling a familiar face, seized a file from Bruce’s hands. “Wait. I know that guy. From back in the day. He operates off the African coast. Black market arms.” Steve looked at him suspiciously. “There are conventions. Alright? You meet people. I didn’t sell him anything. He was talking about finding something new, a game-changer. It was all very Ahab.”

“This?” Thor pointed at a mark the guy had on his neck.

“It’s a tattoo,” Tony answered. “I don’t think he had it.”

Alice, standing next to Thor, corrected him, “That’s not a tattoo. That’s a brand. A nasty looking brand.”

Bruce immediately plunged into research, uncovering the meaning behind the brand. “Oh, yeah. It’s a word in an African dialect meaning thief. In a much less friendly way.”

“What dialect?” Steve inquired.

“Wakanada? Wakanda.” Bruce answered, sending a ripple of concern through the room. Alice exchanged glances with Steve and Tony. The thought of Ultron gaining control of Wakanda’s vibranium was a chilling prospect.

“If this guy got out of Wakanda with some of their trade goods,” Tony turned to Steve and Alice.

“I thought your father said he got the last of it,” Steve stated.

“I don’t follow. What comes out of Wakanda?” Bruce asked.

Alice pointed at Steve’s shield, emphasizing, “Vibranium. We need to find that Ulysses before Ultron finds him.”

Not long after, the team found themselves on the African Coast, at a location known as the Salvage Yard, the site of Ulysses’ base. Bruce remained in the Quinjet, on standby unless absolutely necessary. As the remaining Avengers entered the ship, Ultron’s first words echoed with a grim revelation, “Stark is… He’s a sickness!”

Tony quipped in response, landing in front of Thor, Steve, and Alice, “Uh, junior. You’re gonna break your old man’s heart.”

“If I have to,” Ultron added coldly. Alice observed the figures behind Ultron – Wanda and Pietro Maximoff, the enhanced twins Steve had briefed her about. They looked around her age, in their mid-twenties – although Alice was technically 31 years old according to her birth date, her body was much younger due to all the cryo sleep. She couldn’t help but notice the twins’ attractiveness, but she refocused on Ultron.

Thor intervened, “Nobody has to break anything.”

Ultron, undeterred, stepped closer, remarking, “Clearly, you’ve never made an omelette.”

“He beat me by one second,” Tony chimed in.

“Yes. He’s funny,” Pietro interrupted. “Mr Stark. It’s what? Comfortable? Like old times?”

“This was never my life,” Stark answered him.

Alice stepped up alongside Tony, urging the twins, “You two haven’t done anything wrong yet. You can still walk away from this.”

Wanda affirmed, “We will.”

Steve tried to empathize with the siblings, “I know you’ve suffered.”

Ultron scoffed, “Ugh, Captain America, God’s righteous man. And Onyx, the mass murderer. It’s funny how you two pretend you could live without a war. I can’t physically throw up in my mouth, but…”

Thor interrupted, “If you believe in peace, then let us keep it.”

Ultron cynically remarked, “I think you’re confusing peace with quiet.”

Alice retorted with a laugh, “Just tell us what’s the vibranium for, R2-D2.”

“I’m glad you asked that, because I wanted to take this time to explain my evil plan,” Ultron suddenly attacked Tony, and three other robots charged at Alice, Steve, and Thor.

In the ensuing fight, Alice struggled with a robot, who thew her down a bridge, eventually breaking it in half.

“Keep up, pretty girl,” Pietro was smirking at her from above, which made her even angrier.

When she managed to get up, three men were in front of her, with guns pointed at her chest.

“Alice!” Steve called her and threw his shield at her, knocking down two of the men in the process. The other remaining man tried to shoot her, but Alice had already picked up the shield from the ground and used it to block the bullets. She grabbed the man by his legs and threw him at a wall, knocking him out instantly.

Grabbing the shield, she started walking towards the stairs so she could join Steve and Thor in the fight. Meanwhile, she saw Pietro fall, just like she did when he hit her. When he was about to get up, she hit him in the head with the shield.

“Keep up, pretty boy,” she teased him before she started running towards Steve.

“Stay down, kid,” Steve warned the boy and Alice gave him his shield back before they started running again.

The two friends split up when they reached the top of the stairs. As Alice walked down a hall, she felt a disturbance in her mind. Turning around, she saw Wanda attempting to manipulate her thoughts.

“Humm, guys?” she called her friends, but no one answered.

  Alice found herself surrounded by familiar sights, back at the house outside Milan, its comforting familiarity unchanged. Bucky greeted her with a warm smile, “You’re home. I didn’t feel like cooking dinner tonight, so I just ordered some pizza. I hope that’s okay with you.”

But Alice, ignoring the dinner comment, rushed to Bucky, embracing him tightly, as if conveying a depth of longing she had never expressed before. Bucky teased her, “Did you miss me that much?”

With her head nestled on the crook of his neck and her hands wrapped behind his back, she inhaled the familiar scent of his hair. “I’m sorry I left,” she murmured against his hair.

“What?” Bucky questioned.

“Nothing. I missed you, Bucky.”

Bucky released her and headed to the stereo above the fireplace, selecting a CD that caught his eye. “I saw this today at a store, and it reminded me of you. Well, of us, actually.”

As music began to fill the living room, the stereo played ‘Stay with Me’ by Sam Smith, the same song they had danced to back when they lived in Berlin. Bucky, in a tender gesture, bend down on one knee and extended his hand to Alice, saying, “May I have this dance, my lady?”

Alice smiled and took his hand, and soon they were slow dancing around the room, finding comfort in each other’s embrace. “I want to stay with you forever,” Alice whispered against his chest.

“Me too, doll, me too…” Bucky replied.

However, the heartwarming scene quickly shattered, transforming into a nightmare. Within seconds, Bucky was no longer dancing with her but lying on the ground, blood coming out his nose and mouth, his jawline marred with bruises.

“Bucky?” Alice called out, crouching down, tears already streaming down her face. “BUCKY!” She tried desperately to wake him, but it was useless – he was dead. “BUCKYYYY!” The soldier’s cries echoed with heart-wrenching grief and despair.

  When Alice woke up, the familiar surroundings of the Quinjet greeted her senses. Steve, a comforting presence, sat next to her.

“You’re awake,” she said gently.

Panic seized Alice, and she frantically inquired, “Where is he? Where is he?” Tears welled in her eyes. “Bucky, where is Bucky? Is he okay? Did I hurt him? Did I kill him?”

Steve, with a reassuring arm around her, pulled her closer and said, “Alice, the girl messed with your mind. Whatever you think you saw, it didn’t happen. You didn’t hurt Bucky, or anyone, okay?” Despite Steve’s words, Alice’s distress lingered, the haunting scenes she witnessed still vivid in her mind.

Steve’s concern deepened as he recalled hearing Alice scream desperately for Bucky while he carried her back to the Quinjet. Already a bit calmer, Alice asked, “What else happened?”

“Okay,” Alice accepted, lying down on Steve’s lap, seeking solace and comfort. As exhaustion took hold, Steve, with a tender touch, began stroking her head gently. He couldn’t shake off his concern for Alice’s well-being, realizing the toll the mind manipulation had taken on her. She drifted back into a restless sleep, burdened by the unsettling events that unfolded, while Steve contemplated how to help her through this.

The captain, with a sigh, began to unravel the aftermath, “We all took a blow. She messed with everyone. The Hulk was out of control. We’ll have to lay low for a bit, at least until we can find Ultron. Barton is taking us to a safe house. You should rest, Alice. We’re still a few hours away.”

 tags: @selfsun​ @asimovethroughthisworld​​​

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masterlist

[olde-scratch]

It Happened Again

Fandom: Hermitcraft (s7)

Summary: Grian compares Grumbot to NPC Grian and RoboGrian and ends up almost having a mental breakdown.

Notes: Based on this amazing comic by @grians-of-salt (please check it out, it’s really good!) | I’m saying this is Character!Grian since this fic includes the robots he made for his videos, which have nothing to do with Hermitcraft | Grumbot loves his Dads | I’m new to posting stuff like this on Tumblr so if I miss something in this little intro section, yell at me

Warnings: Robot death, Angst

Word Count: 4,515

——————————

It wouldn't happen again.

    As Grian placed block after block, creating Grumbot's exterior, he tried to convince himself this was true. Over and over and over. This wouldn't be like nay of Grian's other failed projects--like NPC Grian or RoboGrain. This wouldn't be a rustic house-creating disaster or an aspiring murderer with a monotone voice.

    Grumbot was going to be different. Mumbo was helping with this one. And Mumbo was better at the technical stuff than Grian was ever going to be.

    Grian placed the final block of concrete, stepping back to view his creation so far.

    A smile overtook his face.

    It wouldn't happen again.

——————————

"I've developed artificial intelligence in Minecraft, making use of redstone. Y'know, I'm quite proud of myself on that one. It took a day, and--"

    "A day!" Grian interrupted. (It took him at least a few months to create NPC Grian and God knows how many more to make RoboGrian.) "Just cracked artificial intelligence, like that--just took a day. Really long time."

    Mumbo chuckled. "Yeah. So, um, it should--it should all be working and we should be able to start asking it questions and things?"

    "Okay, um..." Grian tilted his head. "Should we--How does--How does it work?"

    Mumbo lead him over to the interface, Grian immediately focusing on the fact that there were buttons--four of them, one with a diamond block behind it. He directed Grian over to the left of Grumbot's control panel and explained the output--a dropper that the "mayoral advice" came from.

    "And then, we have the different stages of priming, all of which are incredibly important..." Mumbo added as he head Grian over to the buttons.

    Grian looked over the buttons, reading them out--"Prime Grumbot. Step two: Bootload Brain... Step three: Flood mayoral reservoir--"

     "Yep, that's most important."

    Grian turned to Mumbo, obviously puzzled. "What does that even mean?! What does flood mayoral--"

    "You've just gotta flood the mayoral reservoir," Mumbo said with a shrug. "You know, you've just gotta get them flooded and... mayoral."

    "We may be the first humans ever to use that sequence of words--flood mayoral reservoir--"

    Mumbo furrowed his brows. "Maybe. That might have never been said before."

    Grian let out a laugh. "I wouldn't be surprised! And now I'm curious of the situation that someone else used it." He returned his focus to the control panel, reading out the final step: "Deposit Question Diamond."

    "Yes!" Mumbo chirped.

    Grian looked between him and the label, quiet. "Deposit--What--What does that mean?"

    "Yeah, you have to name a diamond," Mumbo explained, "that's--that's the question, and then, yeah, you make your payment."

    "You designed a machine that we have to pay to use?!"

    Mumbo blinked, obviously just now comprehending what he'd done. "Oh, yeah, you w--yeah..."

    Grian couldn't help but laugh at his face.

    "I was the one that built this," Mumbo continued, still looking a little shell-shocked. "Why did I make it charge...?" He chuckled. "I mean, I just thought--! Y'know, like--he--he probably has feelings, too!" He gestured up to Grumbot, both of them backing up to get a better view of Grumbot's curious eyes. "He's artificial intelligence, he doesn't wanna be doing this for free!"

    (Grian would have to make sure NPC Grian and RoboGrian never heard that. They'd start demanding payment for what they've already done and if--if Grian ever needed them again, they'd want diamonds in return.)

    "Everyone on the server just wants diamonds!" Grian complained half-jokingly. "That's all anyone cares about! Even the things we create, they want diamonds!"

    "I know, I know!" Mumbo assured. "It's a real problem--Should we start chucking questions into this thing? I've only done tests so far, I'm really curious if it actually does... work."

    Grian agreed, and so they started brainstorming on what to ask.

Mumbo asked first: "What is our slogan?"

    He took the diamond from the anvil and approached the control panel. He primed Grumbot, bootloaded the brain, and flooded the mayoral reservoirs.

    The buttons let out short beeps as they were pressed, prompting Grian to grin. ("There's one thing that's better than a button--that's a button that goes be-beep!")

    ("Exactly!" Mumbo agreed with a look back at him.)

    Mumbo put the diamond in the dropper. "Right--do you wanna do the honors?"

    Grian pressed the final button.

    A few more beeps echoed out of Grumbot, the people before him backing up to watch his face.

    "Alright, it's calculating!" Mumbo said.

    "Yes--!" Grian lurched forward as a quick be-be-beep! came forth, much different from the previous 

    The first paper popped out, Grumbot's mustache wiggling.

    "Oh, his mustache!" Grian laughed, picking up the paper. "That's like a proper thinking--"

    MUMBO FOR MAYOR!

    Grian announced it to Mumbo, surprised and amazed. It was good so far--that was their slogan.

    Next test: "What is the meaning of life?"

    Mumbo stammered, "What? Dude--no, no--wait--no, this is a mayoral bot, man!"

    Grian snickered.

    "I mean, it's artificial intelligence, but--"

    Grian popped the diamond into the dropper and turned to the buttons. "Uh, prime--"

    Be-beep! Be-beep! Be-beep! Be-beep!

    "I mean, you said you cracked AI. And there it goes--"

    "Doesn't mean it's that smart, dude," Mumbo protested with a laugh as they backed up.

    NPC Grian and RoboGrian had answered the question--"Life is like a rustic house. You work on it until it is done, then you work on a new one. And you work on it until it is done, then you work on a new one. And you work on it until it is done--" and "Life has no meaning, only purpose. My purpose is to destroy humans. Especially you, Grian. You are magnificent. Why have you programmed me this way?"

    Grumbot beeped a few more times.

    The paper popped out.

    Fear loomed over him. Would this one hate him? Would it be obsessed with a single thing? Would it be intent on world destruction?

    "He's got an answer for us!" Grian exclaimed, hoping his voice didn't sound strained. A few giggles escaped, a tremor in his hands.

    "He presented an answer," Mumbo agreed.

    Grian picked up the paper.

    A scream tore itself out of him, though he quickly corrected it into a laugh. He stumbled over his explanation, staring in what he hoped looked more like elation than horror.

    MUMBO FOR MAYOR.

    He didn't clearly remember what happened next--Mumbo made a few jokes, and Grian probably responded in kind but--

    "Maybe it's the meaning of life for Grumbot?" Grian suggested, mostly to himself, looking up at the robot's glowing face.

    Mumbo said it might have been a bug.

    "Maybe it just says "Mumbo for Mayor" no matter what we put in."

 Test three. "Can you say anything different?"

    Grian bit his tongue as Mumbo pressed the buttons. He half-heard himself repeating the be-beep!s.

    Grumbot's mustache wiggled.

    A paper popped out.

    His eyes turned sad.

    Was... Was that a good thing...?

    "I think we might've insulted his intelligence a little bit," Mumbo said as he and Grian made their way over to the paper.

    Grian picked it up, momentarily freezing.

    YES, BUT GRUMBOT DOES NOT WANT TO.

    They continued with one a more question--Grian being a lot more careful than before. This could work, and he did not wanna ruin it.

    "What's the plan?"

    Grumbot got angry.

    GRUMBOT NEEDS BUDGET.

    "We just gave you four diamonds, mate, what--" Mumbo cut himself off.

    Grian swallowed back a cry of happiness. He turned to Mumbo. "What have you created? You've created a robot--an intelligent robot, not only to ask him questions, but he wants more diamonds."

    Mumbo wheezed. "But I suppose--I mean, I--maybe he's--"

    "Look at his hands, those hands are like yeah, I want to hold--like--holding diamonds."

    Glancing between the hands, Mumbo nodded. "It is true. Maybe--Uh, like--mayoral races do actually require quite a lot of funding? I mean, maybe he's saying that we need to provide funding?"

    As they continued to discuss their plans to appease Grumbot, Grian had to shove down the growing bits of unadulterated glee bubbling up inside of him.

    It wouldn't happen again.

——————————

"What's that?" Grian asked, squinting at what stood in Grumbot's right hand. "What's that?"

    "It's a stack of--" Mumbo tried.

    "Is that five--five? I--that's not a stack!"

    "It's seven--" Mumbo wheezed.

    "You said a stack! You just said "that's a stack of diamonds"--that--"

    "That's a stack of diamonds right there, dude!"

After they finished bickering over what was clearly neither a stack of diamonds nor a sufficient budget for anything, they showed off their Mumbo for Mayor t-shirts.

    They, um... They couldn't see Mumbo's. Cause of his pants being so high.

    ("We should also sell a croptop," Mumbo offered as Grian snickered at the thought. "And it just says Mumbo--")

    But, after that was over with, Grian brandished his diamond.

    "Tell us what to do."

    Mumbo repeated it. "Okay, that seems like a--"

    "Tell us what to do," Grian read out. "It's not even a question, just tell us what to do."

    "It's a command. We are now commanding Grumbot."

    Grian popped the diamond into the dropper.

    He primed Grumbot, bootloaded the brian, flooded the mayoral reservoirs, and deposited the question diamond.

    Grumbot's mustache wiggled.

    A paper popped out.

    Grian scooped it up and read it out: "Processing..."

    A book tumbled out from the dropper, Grian backing away before he picked it up.

    "Oh, that was fast!" He snickered.

    "Wait, hang on--" Mumbo looked between the dropper and the book. "Wait, he actually--" He burst into giggles as he said, "He's formulated a long-form answer!"

    "Well, I guess..." Grian reread the paper. "I mean, the paper just says processing, and that's it. Right, what does he say?"

    "He was just kinda working things out," Mumbo agreed as he opened the book.

    Grumbot provided them with what could loosely be called the beginnings of the plan in a book--one of them would build a film studio, and the other a "Grumbot Shop", whatever that was.

    Grian couldn't help but hesitate when Mumbo told him to give Grumbot a voice--he wasn't very good with voices. NPC Grian just had his voice, and RoboGrian just had an automated text-to-speech reader. "Oh, no, no--now you've put me on the spot..."

    Mumbo giggled. "I know! It's scary, isn't it?"

    Grian reviewed the text--all caps, with okay punctuation. "INSTRUCTIONS FOR MY CREATORS--"

    A laugh ripped through his interpretation of Grumbot's voice. "Why does he sound so dark? Why does he sound so scary? Like the Terminator?"

    "It's cause--because he types--" Speaks? No. "--he types in capital letters--that's why!"

    "Okay, fine," Mumbo acquiesced. "Keep it goin'."

INSTRUCTIONS FOR MY CREATORS

CREATOR 1: BUILD A GRUMBOT SHOP

CREATOR 2: BUILD A MINECRAFT FILM STUDIO

    (As if he could be misinterpreted and one of them makes a real life film studio. Of course.)

    "Well, I guess we need to decide who's creator one, and who's creator two..."

In the end, Mumbo ended up making the film studio. He was the one who dealt with that stuff and--while they probably weren't making a documentary--he'd be better at figuring out the equipment they'd need.

    Which left Grian with the shop. Not that he was complaining, mind you--he would have been happy building either. (Although he would have liked a little more detail on why they needed those built, he supposed nothing would have to do. Grumbot wasn't saying anything more.)

    He and Mumbo said their goodbyes and parted ways.

    Grian looked up to Grumbot as Mumbo flew off, no doubt to work on one of his own projects a bit. The edges of his mouth quirked up into a smile.

    It might have been too soon, but...

    It hadn't happened again. He hadn't failed!

    Grian laughed openly, jumping and grinning. He looked up at Grumbot, who simply stared down at him. "I didn't fail!" he told him.

    Grumbot remained still.

    Regardless, Grian planted his hands on his hips. "I didn't fail..."

——————————

"We've done what Grumbot's said," Grian started as they prepared to speak to Grumbot once more. "I can see you've built up your film studio, of course--" He gestured to the film studio with an innertube keeping it afloat. "--and I've built up the--the Grumbot shop, or the Jrumbot shop, which is incredibly difficult to say. And now..."

    Grian cast his gaze up to look at Grumbot. "Tell us what to do again."

"We have done what you said."

    Prime Grumbot.

    Bootload the Brian.

    Flood Mayoral Reservoirs.

    Deposit Question Diamond.

    They backed up as soon as the button was pressed, both focused on Grumbot's face.

    "I don't know why I always get really nervous before this," Mumbo worried. "Like, I'm assuming he's not gonna do anything."

    Oh God no Mumbo don't you dare--

   A paper popped out.

    "It's because sometimes he gets angry," Grian dismissed, picking it up. "You never know if he's just gonna smite you."

    Mumbo chuckled. "That's very true--Oh--"

    A book fell to the floor.

    "Oh, another book." Grian skimmed over the paper.

    GRUMBOT IS PROUD OF YOU.

    The words echoed in his head.

    GRUMBOT IS PROUD OF YOU.

    It--He--

    GRUMBOT IS PROUD OF YOU.

    Grian swallowed back a sob of joy.

    "Oh, that is sweet," Mumbo said once Grian told him what it said.

    "That is very cute," Grian agreed. "Grumbot is proud of you."

    Mumbo picked up the book. "Okay, so... but he's--he's given us further instructions, though." He flipped open the book.

GRUMBOT WILL NOW SUPPLY THE PLAN

CREATORS, YOU MUST SELL DIAMONDS (THE BUDGET) FOR SUPPORT ON THE MUMBO FOR MAYOR CAMPAIGN.

    Mumbo looked up. "Sell diamonds...?"

    "Is that for the--is that for the shop--" Grian backed up to look up at Grumbot. "Sorry, wait--" he tried over Mumbo's chuckles. "--that's what the budget's for; we're giving them away?"

    "But selling diamonds, is that..." Mumbo trailed off.

    "That sounds really shady, Grumbot. That sounds really shady."

    Mumbo laughed. "Is he suggesting that we bribe people for support?"

YOU MUST ALSO USE THE STUDIO TO FILM AN ADVERT FOR MUMBO FOR MAYOR.

   "Okay, so we have to make an advert for Mumbo for Mayor. I guess that--" He nodded to the floating film studio.

   "That sounds cool," Grian contributed.

    "I mean, that does make sense. I mean, the film studio does make a lot of sense."

    Grian nodded in agreement.

    Mumbo turned back to the book.

    "I don't know how I feel about selling the diamonds," Grian admitted, "for support. It's a bit weird. But I--er--this piece of paper that says Grumbot is proud of you--I kinda want another one."

    Mumbo turned the page, eyes widening at the words. "Well, things have... he's referred to--he's said "good luck, dads", as well."

    "Oh--" Grian let out a loud laugh, hands shaking. "Has he?!"

    "Yeah!" Mumbo handed him the book, laughing. "So, we've gone from Creators to Dads."

    Grian fumbled with the book, opening it to the second page.

GOOD LUCK DADS.

They eventually came up with the idea to sell mustaches for a diamond block, and to play the advert they had yet to film for two blocks.

    They shaved Mumbo's head, filmed the beginnings of the advert (they could edit later), and headed over to Jrumbot to set up the shop.

    Mumbo had left soon after, stating he needed to get to work on his Industrial District.

    Grian held the book close to his chest as his friend flew off. He opened the book and reread the last three words. "Good luck, dads..." he muttered.

——————————

Grian didn't visit Grumbot alone very often, but when he did, he received... two music discs?

    "Do I have a--I don't have a jukebox--" He frowned at the contents of his ender chest. "--I've got lot of random items that--Mumbo heads in my ender chest!" he interrupted himself with a laugh. "Got Mumbo heads, but no jukebox."

    As he flew off to get a jukebox, he couldn't help but wonder if those discs would have Grumbot speaking to him. Maybe Grumbot had programmed his own voice which--as terrifying as that concept could be--made Grian feel almost giddy with excitement.

    If Grumbot had made his own voice, would it sound more like Grian or Mumbo? Or would it sound like an automated text-to-speech program, like RoboGrian?

    He passed Bdubs and landed in the portal, mind racing with the possibilities.

——————————

Grian soared through the air, intent on confronting Grumbot to tell him his plan wasn't working--how they needed to do something different...

    He landed on the mustache before Grumbot.

    The bobble on Grumbot's head was pink. And Grumbot's face now had a heart on it.

    He hopped down, unsure if the pit in his stomach was fear or anger. "They've rebranded my son!" he cried. "Grumbot, are you okay?! Speak to me, Grumbot!"

    Grian practically yanked a diamond out of his ender chest, rushing over to the anvil.

    "Grumbot are you ok?"

    "I was about to give him a hard time for failing his job!" he said to himself, placing the diamond in the dropper.

    Prime Grumbot.

    Bootload the Brain.

    Flood Mayoral Reservoirs.

    Deposit Question Diamond.

    Grian backed up, staring up at Grumbot's heart face. "Grumbot...?"

    Grumbot's mustache wiggled. His eyes went sad.

    Grian ran over to the paper.

    GET GORGEOUS.

    "What...?" he whispered. He glared over at the GG headquarters, a good ways away from Grumbot. "That's their slogan! No, Grumbot--Mumbo for Mayor! Mumbo for Mayor!"

Grian slammed the diamond into the dropper.

    "Mumbo for mayor!!"

    He pressed the buttons and backed up. "C'mon, Mumbo for Mayor. You can do it--You can do it, Grumbot." He backed up. "Come on, Grumbot..."

    Grumbot's mustache wiggled. His eyes went sad again.

    "He's still sad!" he whispered. Grian grabbed the paper.

    GET GORGEOUS.

    "I think he's stuck on Get Gorgeous..." Grian mumbled.

    One more test proved his theory right.

    "No!" Grian half-whispered, half-whimpered. "We need to fix him... We need to fix him right now."

    He sped around to the back, readying his pickaxe.

    "Okay, Grumbot--we're going in, and we're gonna fix this okay?"

Grian had put on his Mumbo head to go in there, simply because Mumbo had actually managed to create Grumbot in the first place without screwing it up. Unlike Grian.

    "Grumbot are you ok?"

    Prime Grumbot.

    Bootload the Brian.

    Flood Mayoral Reservoirs.

    Deposit Question Diamond.

    A paper popped out. Grumbot's eyes went sad.

    GET GRIAN.

    Grian froze.

    No--

    No, no, no.

    No.

    Not again.

  Grumbot couldn't have meant that, right? He was sad, so he didn't mean that, right? He was not RoboGrian--he wasn't like Grian's other failed projects. He just--He was just glitched! Grumbot was sad when he said it, so he couldn't have meant it!

    Grian shoved another diamond into the dropper and ran for the paper once it landed on the floor. (Did Grumbot's eyes go angry...?)

    GET GRIAN.

    He needed to get Mumbo. Now.

——————————

Grian couldn't help but agree with Mumbo that, while Grumbot had been hacked, he did look quite cute with the heart on his face.

    "I mean, I've tried my best to unhack him," Mumbo offered, "and y'know, I've done the internals and things like that, and... Things seem better."

    "I tried to fix him, too, but I just got him stuck on Get Grian..."

    "Yeah, I--I saw that..."

    "He was stuck on Get Gorgeous--" Grian pointed out, "--so, I got some progress... but don't let me touch this sorta thing ever again."

    Mumbo turned his gaze up at Grumbot. "So, I managed to fix the Get Grian problem, um... I--yeah. It's fixed."

    "Okay." Grian began to make his way over to the control panel. "You don't sound too confident."

    Mumbo protested that he was fixed, but it was also interesting to "see how things would go".

    Grian opened a shulker box and pulled out a bunch of banners, stating how they should probably get rid of the heart before they did anything else. (The bauble on his head was another story, but Grian had brought blocks to fix that, too.)

"There we go," Grian sighed as they backed up. "Lookin' all handsome again."

    "He is looking a lot better."

    "Back to his usual self." Hopefully. "Now, we have to ask him, like, last-minute... pull something out the bag."

    Mumbo chuckled. "Yeah, this is like... forgotten to revise for your test. Doing your homework that morning."

    "Eating breakfast and doing my homework," Grian agreed after pulling a diamond out of his ender chest. "What do I ask him? Uh--"

    "it is vote day, HELP"

    Prime Grumbot.

    Bootload the Brian.

    Flood Mayoral Reservoirs.

    Deposit Question Diamond.

    Grian sprinted over to Mumbo. "Come on, Grumbot, you better pull something out the bag here, because we're, like... following your instructions has made our polls worse."

    "We've not done well," Mumbo agreed.

    Grumbot's mustache wiggled. One of his eyes went sad, the other remaining the way it was before.

    "That doesn't look good at all," Grian offered.

    Then he saw the papers spilling onto the floor.

    A chill went up Grian's spine.

    He and Mumbo picked them up, Grian shuffling through them.

    WHAT IF PEOPLE DON'T LIKE ME?

    WHAT IF I FAIL MY LOVED ONES

    WHAT IS ANGER?

    WHAT IS IT TO FEEL ALIVE?

    WHAT IS AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL?

    "What has..." Grian trailed off.

     it happened again it happened again oh god no it happened again

    "Oh, gosh..." Mumbo muttered.

    WHAT IS THIS FEELING IN MY CHEST?

    "Mumbo..." Grian murmured.

    it happened again he failed again

    WHAT IS MY PURPOSE?

    AM I MORE THAN JUST A ROBOT?

    SOMEONE PLEASE EXPLAIN TO ME

    WHAT IS LOVE?

    DOES ANYTHING REALLY MATTER?

    AM I LOVED, OR USED?

    "He's having an existential crisis!" Grian cried.

    WHAT MAKES ME FEEL?

    AM I THE ONLY ONE?

    "What if it was all a dream?" Mumbo read. "Do I have control? Am I good?"

    IS THERE LIFE AFTER DEATH?

    AM I A GOOD PERSON?

    "What if our world is not ours?"

    I I I I I I  REQUIRE BUDGET

    "Oh, no..." Grian whimpered.

    HOW WAS I MADE?

    AM I MORE THAN JUST MY TASK?

    "If I make Mumbo mayor, am I mayor?"

    WHAT IS IT TO FEEL ALIVE?

    "Oh, there's smoke coming out the top of his head!" Mumbo laughed.

    "What?" Grian backed up and looked to the top of Grumbot's head. "Oh, he's officially melted..."

    he failed he failed again he failed he failed he failed

    "Oh, we've melted him."

    Grian dashed over to the papers, intending to pick up a few more. "He's melted."

    he failed again he failed again he failed again he failed again

    "Why must my life make me ache?" Mumbo read. "Jesus..."

    I AM GRUMBOT YET I AM DADS

    "Oh my--" Grian cut himself off.

    GOODBYE DADS

    "He's gone dark," Mumbo said.

    "He's been sending a lot of the same message... They're still comin' out too fast, but has he..."

    "Oh, my goodness--"

    "He's just been saying Goodbye dads..."

    i failed i failed him i failed i failed i did it wrong i was wrong it happened again i failed

    Mumbo wheezed. "Goodbye dads. Oh, dear, this is not... this is not a good situation."

    DOES ANYTHING REALLY MATTER?

    AM I HUMAN?

    I THINK THEREFORE I AM BUT I AM NOT

    "I mean, I've got almost two stacks of Goodbye dads," Mumbo said.

    "I've got one and a half stacks of..." Grian trailed off. "I think we killed him..."

    "Grumbot's gone," Mumbo added. "I mean, he's asking what are all these feelings?"

    "Why is my head hurting?" Grian read numbly.

    "Oh, bless him!" Mumbo said.

    "Are my thoughts just a tool? I am Grumbot yet I am Dads. This is awful!"

    "I know so much, yet so little," Mumbo read. "Are my creators happy for me?"

    "Yes, we are, Grumbot!" Grian cried.

    "Are there others like me?"

    WHAT IS THE END GAME

    WHAT IS IT TO FEEL PAIN?

    "What is love?"

    WHAT IS FREE WILL?

    "Does anything really matter?"

    WHAT IS MINECRAFT.EXE?

    Mumbo burst into giggles. "He's--He's had a full breakdown--"

    WHY WAS I PUT HERE?

    WHAT IS THE MEANING OF EXISTENCE?

    ARE THESE THOUGHTS MINE, OR THEIRS?

    IF MY DADS MADE ME, AM I MY DADS?

    Grian let out a laugh despite himself.

    It happened again.

    The rest of the day was a blur--he remembered laughing (because if he didn't laugh, he'd cry), and joking (because if he didn't joke, he'd scream), and voting (though he couldn't remember who he voted for). But...

    But long after Mumbo left, as Grian forced a smile and continued on...

    The feeling in his stomach seemed to weigh him down. The chill that had gone up his back still made him shiver. He could barely talk without his breath catching on something in his throat.

    It happened again.

——————————

In the end, they built Grumbot his own little virtual reality. Enclosed him in an area where it was always daytime, and always sunny, and had grass and had a little mini mustache headquarters.

    Mumbo dressed up in a mayor suit, and they'd told Grumbot he'd won, though they actually hadn't gotten a single vote.

    Grian forced himself to smile as he and Mumbo talked to Grumbot, a dull ache in his chest.

    After exiting through the back of the box, they made a window up front so they could check in on him every now and again.

    Grian gasped as they checked in through the newly-made window, his eyes landing on Grumbot's expression. "He's so happy!"

    "He's the happiest he's ever been," Mumbo added.

    "He is the happiest Grumbot!"

    Mumbo glanced over at Grian. "I mean, the only emotions he's ever shown is just a deadpan face, angry, or sad. This is the first time he's actually..."

    "This is what he was built for," Grian said. "He was built to make you mayor, and in his world, you are the mayor. You're just gonna have to turn up now and again to just, y'know, show face."

    "I was gonna say, is this..." Mumbo made a vague gesture towards the fake world inside. "I mean, y'know, it's a really, really happy ending, like--he is... He is happy... Are we good people?"

    (AM I A GOOD PERSON?)

    "I think so."

    "Is this a good thing to do?" Mumbo asked.

    "Um..."

    Grian cast a glance back at Grumbot, inside his fake little world. With grass and bamboo and clouds. Inside his own little enclosed space, with...

    With no choice in where he lived, nor how long he stayed there.

    ("BACK TO THE ROOM.")

    But Grumbot was happy. That should count for something, right...?

    ("This is an error. ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR E̵̞͝R̵̮̍R̴͙̾O̷̗̓R̸̖͠E̴͇͂R̷̗̓Ŕ̴̯O̵̘̔Ŗ̶̀E̸̶̷̥̯̲̊̈̃Ṟ̶̶̵̡͍̓́͗R̷̵̶̙͇͛̕͜O̵̶̵̩͔̎̋͂Ŗ̴̵̷̭̳͇͋̚E̷̵̸̡͓͛͌R̸̴̵̟͈͊̐̎Ȑ̵̴̵̠̝̥͎́Ŏ̵̸̶̼̫̕R̶̵̵̖͎̘͌͆́Ë̵̵̸̻̙̯̊̚R̸̴̶̪̞̬̓̏͐R̶̸̷͙̃̽̎̆͜O̶̷̷̖̼̫͊̇͐͜R̴̵̴̝̼̓̔̾--")

    Grian forced himself not to waver.

    "Yeah."

[north-peach]

WHO WANTS A SNIPPET OF A MEGS/OP FIC I ALMOST WROTE ALMOST TWO YEARS AGO?

plus some notes because, like I said, almost wrote it

also, trigger warning for brief mention of rape, nothing explicit 

murder too? kinda mild violence? 

Also it’s more Megatronus/Optimus Prime....plus, slight time travel.

When Truth is Shattered (hope is built once more)

There's an Uprising, as there always is in a universe such as this. The rebellion is orchestrated by Megatronus being the kickass he is, poet, philosopher, warrior, slave and leader. 

Prime is a title passed down via a fancy relic thing referred to as the Matrix of Leadership, but it's not merged with a spark, it's strung on a chain and worn, or usually displayed somewhere. It signifies the authority invested in someone, either individually or a group of individuals.

The Matrix also acts as an activation key for a great many forms of highly power technology that is rumored to have been created by Primus himself for the Original Thirteen Primes to use.

There's a really old bot called Alpha Trion who bestows it, takes it back and is generally the one who handles it, in between the periods of a new Prime or Council of Prime ascending. He's always been there, he's like super old so no one really questions him, his decisions, his impact on their society or anything at all. 

Primus is thought to be something like a myth, Unicron as well. Most of their history of the early days of their civilization is a bit spotty, but their current level of technology cannot compete with what they possessed in the beginning and now lack the ability to craft or use.

That’s why the Matrix is a symbol of leadership as it can activate the technology, including the planetary shield, almost all offensive capabilities, several buildings that manufacture everything from basic building components to extremely energy intensive upgrades.

It is acknowledged history that there were thirteen Original Primes, even though only about half of their names are remembered. However all of their greatest deeds were recorded. So you had the Prime of This and That, when their names were lost to time. 

So, save for the ruling few, the nobles, the first class and a majority of the second class citizens, things are bad. 

Caste system, energon shortage, bad working conditions, (all of these unnecessary, used only as a means to control the populace because tired, hungry and illiterate people don't raise armies to overthrow the government) abuse of rights, those in power staying in power, inheriting power from family members and corruption running rampant through the levels of government. 

Megatronus, former slave/miner turned gladiator, poet, philosopher and revolutionary raises his army and storms into Iacon in order to demand change, or put himself in charge. That is his end goal, but he's absolutely going to throw everyone in power into a deep dark hole somewhere if it's the only thing he manages to do. 

The Prime in power, arrogant as all get out, challenges Megatronus and loses his head over it entirely. So Megatronus- who is absolutely an “if I can make god bleed” kinda guy, yanks the Matrix from the corpse, throws it down and swings his sword down on it as hard as he can. 

Miner, yes? Gladiator, yes? Yes? Very strong, we appreciate his strong, Matrix is strong enough to survive a very long time, but Megatronus is fueled by righteous fury and the rage of a thousand murdered slaves.

Alpha Trion screams in anguished horror as it shatters into fifty thousand itty bitty pieces. No more Matrix of Leadership, no more cheating to get around the systems lock on technology only meant to be worked by a Prime.

Sad day.

That's when everything lights up like the American’s fourth of July and from that light, a large mech in blue and red appears. Nice sleek lines, brilliant paint, very pretty, we also appreciate this. He's very confused, understandably, looking around in shock, bewilderment and some dawning sense of terror. But then he sees Alpha Trion. 

Instantly he leaps to his pedes and reaches towards the old bot.

"Alpha Trion? Where- where am I? What- what is going on?" 

Alpha Trion gets emotions, surprising for a bot responsible for so much suffering, the way he screamed shocked a great many people.

Megatronus and his high command all decide to observe because a new player has entered the equation and while everyone’s attention is on him, it gives Megatronus a chance to move more people into a better positions. 

Optimus is understandably very upset. He yanks his servos out of Alpha Trion’s grasp, ignoring as the bot’s voice turns cajoling and pleading for him to calm down. 

Alpha Trion stands before the new mech, servos grasping onto his and gently starts explaining some of the positives of the new Golden Age but that it's been a while since Optimus walked the planet and this is another Golden Age set a lot of Ages after the very first Golden Age.

And Alpha Trion carefully and quickly explains that Optimus was opposed to a thing that the rest of the thirteen primes were going to do and Megatronus decided to remove him because he was standing in the way of their glory, in the way of the greater good of Cybertron. He did not tell the others and ambushed Optimus-

"Megatronus! He- he," his voice dissolves into a static-y keening, digits digging harshly into the undamaged plating of the cover of his spark chamber. "He stabbed me? My spark? My- He?"

(Megatronus and company trade looks and swift messages) 

-to which, Alpha Trion stresses, they were all very upset and Megatronus was duly punished-

-and buried his sword into his spark chamber. The others were alerted when Primus intervened to ensure Optimus’s spark didn’t return to Him. But his frame was badly damaged and extreme measures were taken to ensure his survival.

Optimus doesn't take this well and decides to use his optics and turns and starts looking. He's standing in a place that is lavish and incredibly luxurious. There are dead people around him, in shiny and glimmering frames, and then there's a crowd of dirty, misshapen, mismash, ragtag, thrown together bots and he quickly jumps to the correct conclusion: the people are revolting against a corrupt leadership and- 

It’s Alpha Trion, shining and dazzling in the soft lights. Alpha Trion who was not a Prime but was granted a similar though lower security level and was treated like family. True, he was fashioned to be an assistant, a helper but this? Sitting in a throne at the right hand of the front of the room?

Optimus jerks his helm around and make optic contact with the largest mech, the one who stands in front of all the others at the head of the revolution. 

There’s power in there that- that- reminds him...

Alpha Trion continues talking though and he's explaining that the rest of the Primes came together and fashioned a stasis orb to keep him alive while his frame repaired and his spark recovered. It was expanded and everything that was his was placed inside and then shrunk.

“Why? Why am I alive?”

It hurts that Alpha Trion looks wrecked at the very idea that Optimus shouldn’t be alive, right before rage crawls over his face plates and vibrates the air with the force of it.

He then starts to explain the people that stand behind him- but-

They’re terrorists and murderers, thieves- Megatronus the Name-Thief, who stole the name of the Betrayer who slaughtered the greatest of them!- liars and rabble raisers who started a war for fun, for profit and glory, to tear down the peace Alpha Trion so carefully crafted all these eons. 

Megatronus feels denied his right place, demands more resources, more people, more space, more energon that simply isn’t available! He would take what he wanted from the more deserving to fuel his army! 

Optimus can’t help the desperate look he makes as he turns back to take in the whole of these ‘terrorists’. They’re all starving and wounded, clearly the forgotten and abandoned and his optics harden as he turns back to Alpha Trion. 

“They do not know their place! They should have remained in their caste, they are not worthy to be acknowledged even as third class citizens! They will ruin all I have built!”

That the matrix- which was composed of tech that kept Optimus’s Prime spark and frame alive and well and provided the required security clearance of a Prime to non-Primes so they could operate the tech meant solely for Primes. To some degree anyway. But after such an amount of time, every bit off eeway was explored to its fullest.

To Optimus Prime, this was a horrific abuse of the power that was entrusted in the Thirteen Primes, to govern and observe but never to oppress and destroy their society to this extent!

He opens his intake, but he cannot speak, even as he stares at this mech he once knew, once called friend.

His spark throbs.

Optimus turns once more to- to M- the one who calls himself Megatronus- a mech who bears the name of his murderer, his betrayer, his brother and says nothing. Surely everyone can see the devastation written all over his faceplates.

Alpha Trion makes a noise, clearly intending to speak, but Optimus silences him, overriding his vocal modulator with brutal efficiency. He’s never had to do that before and something hurts. 

Megatronus gives a quick rundown of everything that Alpha Trion left out. The hard, cold truth of the matter. Starvation, oppression, murder, the rich get richer and the poor die alone in the dark. The third class citizens are taken and put to work, denied to ability to speak, rights stripped and designations deleted, forgotten until all that was left was a mindless drone, whose sentient mind retreated deep inside.

Sparklings are taken from carriers who were forced from a higher rank of citizen and neither was ever seen again. Sparklings who were considered the property of their higher ranking parent until they reached an age old enough to take an aptitude test to determine what caste they were joining.

Second class and above never moved unless they offended someone on a higher level. The Primes remained Prime until they died or another was chosen.

Cybertron was built on the bodies of the abandoned, those who had no designation and barely counted as citizens, from third class servants, and janitors, to second class traders, scribes, artists, ect, to first class, the rich, privileged and blessed.

Then the Nobles, the elite, the shining jewels of Cybertron, right below the Primes, the rulers.

Optimus feels numb with horror.

He stares and stares and his optics burn even as Megatronus’s blaze. He turns, only last time, one more time to face Alpha Trion. 

He allows him to speak in his defense- but- but. 

“This was for the greater good, Optimus, my friend, my lord, in order to keep the best and brightest alive, to ensure we would survive as the years passed and we faced a great many challenges. The survival, the endurance of our race, our species was entirely dependent on our ability to unsure what we had went to the most deserving!”

Alpha Trion looks so very sincere, he is entirely genuine in his ever present affection for his long lost friend, but Optimus can barely speak but for the pain in his spark.

“Surely you must see,” Alpha Trion beseeches, “We did it for you, Optimus.”

Clearly expecting his confession to ensure Optimus is firmly on his side, Alpha Trion takes a single step forward, reaching out from the only true Prime left.

Something shatters in his spark chamber and Optimus rises up, slides back and pulls. The Star Saber materializes in his servos in a boom of light and noise, the voice that leaves his intake is terrifying as it thunders through the great hall and echoes throughout the entire city-

“Freedom is the right of all sentient beings!”

It’s wretched out of him, this undeniable truth that seems to have been forgotten so long ago. There is betrayal on Alpha Trion’s face, heartbreak and disbelief.

He doesn’t understand, he did this for you.

Optimus weeps even as he raises his sword.

Of course, this is being recorded and watched across the entire planet because the Iacon nobles and government were absolutely going to use Megatronus's failure and subsequent death as more incentive to keep your helms down, but that really backfired because okay, wow, real Prime- Original Thirteenth Prime who is supporting a Mech named for another one of the Original Thirteen. The Betrayer at that! 

Clearly unexpected, but that’s what you get when the nutjob shadow ruling your planet since almost the beginning of time lies.

I also imagine Optimus with glowing optics and sigils on his frame. Maybe communing with Primus and easily manipulating the AllSpark or something, ect, ect.....

Megatronus will not be understanding Optimus at all. It’s like if the Devil came out of Hell and realized all his demons were running amok and starting crying and killing all of them while asking to borrow your couch because he lives in Hell, not Earth.

(and someone forgot to tell you he was pretty)

[steves-on-a-plane]

Run. (Part 8)

Part One / Part Two / Part Three / Part Four / Part Five / Part Six / Part Seven /

 Words: 1705 Pairing: Tony Stark & Reader   Timeline: The Avengers: Age Of Ultron [2015]   Other Info: Run AU     Summary: In the aftermath of Ultron’s attack, Reader gives her harebrained husband a piece of her mind before joining the rest of the team in the lab for the next plan.

April 2015

In one moment, there was shattering glass and gun shots and in the next instant, silence. You waited still not knowing if the winning team had been your own. Your song and daughter were each clinging to you closely. They were waiting on you for what to do now. Then there was the frantic stomp of footsteps on the stairs and running up the balcony. Then the door to Eddie’s room burst open and all three of you screamed.

“Guys it’s okay. It’s me! It’s Dad.” Tony panted. He was griping the doorknob tight. His expression switched between relief, worry and regret in rapid succession.

“See,” You said kissing Serina on the head and then Eddie. “I told you, nothing to worry about. So, let’s get everyone to bed okay?” With Tony’s help you got Eddie all tucked back into bed while Serina hovered by the doorway watching you. You turned Eddie’s dinosaur nightlight on before turning off the main light and ushering Tony and Serina outside.

“Holy shit!” Serina exclaimed as she looked over the balcony. The rest of the team was still there. Somewhere examining the damage that had been done. Steve and Maria were off to one side conversing with their heads tucked down low. No doubt discussing your husband and his reckless actions. The tower had suffered, but physically everyone was fine. That was the important thing. Windows, walls, tables all of that could be replaced. You were just lucking nothing more serious had happened. At your daughter’s exclamation, anyone close enough to have heard her looked up.

“Someone said a bad word, Cap, you heard her.” Tony, as he was known to do when he was nervous, cracked a joke. But as he took in the glares around the room he walked the statement back. “Right, not the time.” You placed an arm around your daughter but she shrugged you off.

“I can find my own way to my room.” She snapped before stomping off. That left you and Tony free to descend the steps into the lion’s den.

“What the hell were you thinking?” You hissed as you started walking down the stairs.

“I was thinking about them.” Tony quipped back. “I want them to live in a world where they don’t have to worry about alien invasions and killer robots.”

“You’re the only one creating killer robots!” You argued. You’d reached the bottom of the stairs. You walked past Maria and Steve and towards Bruce.

“You!” You growled at Banner. “He couldn’t have done this on his own! And I get that he can’t see past his own nose when he gets an idea in his head, but you’re supposed to be the levelheaded one! You’re supposed to have this world-renowned control! We had an agreement you and I!” Tony placed a hand on your shoulder trying to hold you back as you continued to charge at Banner. You noticed Natasha step up to Bruce’s side so that she was standing just in front of him.

“Sweetheart, maybe we don’t go charging at the man who can turn into a giant green monster, okay?” He suggested quietly.

“Oh! Oh! You want me to listen to you about what’s safe?” You rounded on him, raising your voice this time. “So just to be clear yelling at Banner is off the table, but the two of you making a killer AI who destroys my home and puts my kids in danger, that’s okay?”

“They’re my kids too, [Y/N].” Tony said quietly.

“Why don’t we give everyone a minute.” Steve suggested trying to draw some attention away from you and Tony. “Take some time to assess the damage, clean wounds, change clothes. We’ll meet back here in a half an hour. Banner, Stark, figure out what the hell happened here. Romanoff, Barton, work with them, see what systems if any were compromised.”

“They’re my kids too, damn it.” Tony mumbled again before going walking off to his lab. You sighed and followed after him.

“Tony.” You called out to him quietly, standing just outside the door to the lab. “Why didn’t you tell me?” You asked him.

“You know why.” Tony scoffed, his back turned to you. He shuffled through mangled Iron Legionnaire parts as he tried to make his way over to the computer. You took a few steps inside and watch him and Bruce working.

“Because I would have tried to stop you?” You guessed.

“Yes, because you would have tried to stop me.”  Tony slammed his fist on the desk. “And you know what?” He turned on his heels. “I would have listened to you! Because I would do anything for you. All you’d ever have to do is ask, and I’d give it to you. But this, this was important!”

“All our work is gone.” Bruce interjected, looking up from his own computer. “Ultron cleared everything out and used the internet as an escape hatch.” Natasha, Clint and Steve entered the lab. The two experienced agents stomped into the room; their faces were expressionless masks. Steve on the other hand had both of his arms folded over his chest. It was the first time you’d ever seen the captain look angry. You didn’t know he had it in him.

“He’s been in everything.” Natasha huffed. “Files, surveillance. Probably knows more about us than we know about each other.”

“He’s in the files, he’s in the internet. What if he decides to access something a little more exciting?” Rhodey asked as he and Maria joined you in the lab.

“Nuclear codes?” Maria asked worriedly.

“Nuclear codes!” Rhodey nodded solemnly as he massaged his shoulder that must have been injured in the flight. “Look, we need to make some calls. Assuming that we still can.”

“Nukes?” Natasha shook her head. “He said he wanted us dead.”

“He. Didn’t say dead.” Steve disagreed. “He said extinct.”

“He also said he killed somebody.” Clint remembered.

“There wasn’t anyone else in the building, the kids are fine right, [Y/N]?” Maria asked. You nodded wordlessly.

“Yes, there was.” Tony tapped a few buttons on his keyboard and a holographic image appeared in the center of the lab. You recognized the glowing golden-orange ball despite it being broken and decayed.

“JARVIS.” You sighed.

“JARVIS was the first line of defense.” Steve frowned. “He would have shut Ultron down. It makes sense.”  

Thor was the last to come charging into the room. He brushed past you and Steve and everyone else and straight towards your husband. He grabbed Tony by the throat and hoisted him in the air.

“Woah, Woah…” Steve tried to jump in to stop him, but Thor paid him no attention.

“Come on, use your words, buddy!” Tony commented as she struggled to breath.

“I have more than enough words to describe you, Stark.” Thor huffed. He released his hold on Tony, who landed on his feet.  

“Now we must retrieve the scepter, again.” He complained.

“Genie’s out of that bottle.” Natasha disagreed. “Clear and present is Ultron.”

“Well if no one else is going to ask, I will.” You announced. “You two built this program. Why is it trying to kill you?” Instead of answering you, Tony just started to laugh.

“You think this is funny?” Thor questioned. He very clearly did not find the situation funny.

“No, it’s probably not. Right?” He looked over and you and then around the room at the others. “This is really terrible? Is it so…” He laughed again. “Is it so terrible?”

“This could have been avoided if you hadn’t played with something you don’t understand.” Thor chastised him.

“No.” Tony interrupted him; his tone suddenly very serious. “I’m sorry, it is funny. It’s a hoot that you don’t get why we need this!”

“Tony, maybe this might not be the time…” Bruce warned him cautiously.

“Really?” Tony hissed. “That’s it? You just roll over, show your belly? Every time somebody snarls?”

“Only when I’ve created a murder bot.” Bruce countered.

“We didn’t.” Tony insisted. “We weren’t even close. Were we close to an interface?”

“Well you did something right.” Steve sighed. “And you did it right here. The Avengers were supposed to be different than SHIELD.”

“Anybody remember when I carried a nuke through a wormhole?” Tony asked the room at large.

“Nope, it’s never come up.” Rhodey commented sarcastically and shook his head. Around the room the others averted their gaze or rolled their eyes. Everyone except you and Rhodey who had better practice at listening to Tony’s grandiose ‘here’s why I’m right’ speeches.

“Saved New York? Anyone recall that?” Tony continued to poll his audience. You looked at Rhodey and he looked at you. Neither of you would be able to reign Tony in from his soap box.  “A hostile alien army came charging through a hole in space. We’re standing 300 feet below it. We’re the Avengers. We can bust arms dealers all the livelong day, but that up there,” He pointed up at the ceiling. “That’s the endgame. How were you guys planning on beating that?”

“Together.” Steve answered, not caring if the question was rhetorical.

“We’ll lose.” Tony shook his head.

“Then we’ll do that together too.” Steve assured him. “Thor’s right. Ultron’s called us out. I’d like to find him before he’s ready for us.” He added loud enough for the rest of the team to hear. “The world’s a big place, let’s start making it smaller.”

“How can I help, Cap?” You asked Steve.

“No, no,” Tony shook his head. “Absolutely not. I don’t want you involved.”

“You involved me when you brought your work home with you, literally.” You snapped at him. “And I wasn’t asking you, I was asking Steve.” You looked back at the captain and waited for his answer.

“If Ultron’s been in our files,” Steve sighed, scratching his head. “We might have to go old school. We could use some help bringing up old SHIELD files from the basement.”

“I’m on it.” You saluted the Captain and left the lab. You were almost at the elevator when you got a text from your husband.

Run?

Absolutely not. You texted back furiously. You made this mess, you clean it up.

[just-dreaming-marvel]

CHAPTER FOUR - CALLING US OUT

LEGACY: A Tony Stark Daughter Story

MASTERLIST

< previous

Word Length: 1,800ish

Summary: After Ultron’s attack, the Team gets together to try to figure out what he wants.

My heart was pounding and I was trying to catch my breath. What did he mean secrets? My files? Who’s exactly read them? Bigger and better things? What was he talking about? I was beginning to panic. Steve was quickly at my side and Tony in front of me. Tony grabbed onto both my shoulders and shook me a little to try to bring me to my senses.

“Are you hurt?” Tony asked. He was worried. There was fear in his eyes and his voice. I shook my head, trying to catch my breath. “Are you sure?” He moved his hands to my face, eyes still raking me over for injuries.

“I can heal… remember?” I slowly got out, still trying to wrap my mind about what just happened.

“Okay… Yeah.. good.” Tony said, quickly turning around and running up to the lab to meet Bruce.

Steve picked up on my breathing and began rubbing my back. “It’s okay B. Slower breaths.” 

I nodded. “Yeah… I’m trying.”

“What did he say to you?” Steve asked. “And what did he me—“

“I don’t know…” I shook my head. “We can talk about it later,” I whispered. “We need to figure out what just happened.”

Thor quickly flew out of the broken windows. I had no idea where he was headed or why he was leaving. The rest of us went to the lab where Tony and Bruce were already looking at screens, searching for something. We stood there is silence for a bit. I looked around and noticed that the scepter was missing. I hadn’t even noticed that a suit had gotten away with it. That’s where Thor went. Tony leaned over a table, looking at a destroyed Iron Legion suit. I still wasn’t breathing regularly and my head was pounding so I quickly found a chair to sit in.

“All our work is gone.” Bruce stated. “Ultron cleared out, used the internet as an escape hatch.”

“Ultron.” Steve whispered. He was mad.

“He’s been in everything. Files, surveillance.” Nat stated. “Probably knows more about us than we know about each other.” 

She glanced at me. Or ourselves. He knows stuff about me that I don’t even know. What do I not know about me?

“He’s in your files, he’s in the internet.” Rhodey started. “What if he decides to access something a little more exciting?"

“Nuclear codes,” Maria said.

“Nuclear codes. Look, we need to make some calls, assuming we still can.” 

“Nukes?” Nat questioned. “He said he wanted us dead.”

“He didn’t say dead.” Steve said. “He said extinct.”

“He also said he killed somebody.” Clint piped in.

“There wasn’t anyone else in the building.” Maria commented.

“Yes there was,” Tony said, walking to the center of the room. He used his phone to pull up a 3D image of JARVIS’ consciousness. It was completely destroyed.

“Oh my gosh,” I whispered in shock. 

“This is insane.” Bruce stated.

“JARVIS was the first line of defense,” Steve said.

“He would’ve shut Ultron down, it makes sense.” I stated.

“No, Ultron could’ve assimilated JARVIS,” Bruce said. “This isn’t strategy, this is… rage.”

Loud foot steps entered the lab. Thor was back and he was angry. Well, angry might not be enough to describe his emotion. He was less angry more furious. He walked straight towards Tony, grabbed him by his throat, and held him up. 

“Thor!” I yelled. I stood up, getting defensive but quickly realized that I was no match for the god.

“Woah, woah, woah,” Clint said. “It’s going around.”

“Come on,” Tony strangled out. “Use… your words… buddy.” 

“I have more than enough words to describe you, Stark.” Thor replied.

“Thor!” Steve interrupted. “The Legionnaire.” 

Thor looked over at me. He saw the worry in my eyes and aggressively let go of Tony. Tony stumbled back and I quickly walked over and helped steady him. 

“Trail went cold about a hundred miles out but it’s headed north,” Thor said, pointing north. “And it has the scepter. Now we have to retrieve it, again.”

“The genie’s out of that bottle. Clear and present is Ultron.” Natasha says.

“I don’t understand.” Helen Cho broke her silence. I had honestly forgotten that she was even here. “You built this program. Why is it trying to kill us?” 

Tony started laughing. Like actually laughing. How could he think that any of this was funny? Bruce and I quickly looked at each other and then he made eye contact with Tony. Bruce shook his head at Tony, trying to get him to stop.

“You think this is funny?” Thor scolded, not so pleased with Tony’s laughter.

“No. It’s probably not,” Tony chuckled, trying to subdue his laughter. “Right? Is this very terrible?” He continued laughing a little. “Is it so.. is it so… it is.” Tony looked at me as I just shook my head. “It’s so terrible.”

“This could’ve been avoided if you hadn’t played with something you don’t understand.”

“No! I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” Tony begins as he walks towards Thor, his anger now showing through. “It is funny. It’s a hoot that you don’t get why we need this.”

“Tony,” Bruce kinda sung. “Maybe this might not be the time to—“

“Really?” Tony quickly turned around to Bruce. “That’s it? You just roll over, show your belly, every time somebody snarls?”

“Only when I’ve created a murder bot.” Bruce quickly said.

“We didn’t. We weren’t even close. Were we close to an interface?”

Bruce nodded and shrugged as I broke in, “Well apparently you were, Dad! And you did it right here! What were you thinking?”

“The Avengers were supposed to be different than SHIELD.” Steve stated.

“Anybody remember when I carried a nuke through a wormhole?” Tony asked pointing up to the ceiling.

“No, it’s never come up.” Rhodey responded.

“Saved New York?” Tony questioned.

“Never heard of it.” I said, rolling my eyes. 

Of course I had heard of it! It’s not like he mentions it all the time, especially because of the panic attacks, but he does mention it more than he should. It drives me crazy! When he mentions it to me, it’s usually to try to show that he’s cooler than me or cooler than others. It’s usually when we’re joking around. Sometimes I think it’s funny, but I don’t a lot of the time. I think he thinks I think it’s funny, but I can tell he’s using it at a cover. He’s trying to hide how he really feels. If I was him, I would still be haunted by it. And I feel like he still is, he just plays it off like it’s no big deal. I’m still haunted by it. Still terrified. 

It was all over the news. I was watching tv at my foster family’s house in California when it happened. When the aliens started coming through the portal. All the cameras in New York were filming it. All the tv channels were showing it. I watched on the edge of the couch with wide eyes. I saw the nuke headed for New York then Iron Man get under it and head towards the portal. I knew what he was doing. I screamed and fell to my knees on the floor. My foster parents knew about my relationship with Tony. Tony made sure to find a family that was okay with him taking me every so often. My foster parents ran into the room after hearing me scream. They looked at me and then back to the tv. I screamed again once Tony went through the portal. I brought my knees to my chest, wrapped my arms around them, and started rocking back and forth. I cried and cried into my knees. I felt a hand suddenly on my shoulder and my name being called. I looked up at the tv to see Iron Man falling from the closed portal and the Hulk catching him. 

I was worried sick for a week after that, not eating properly and barely even speaking. I waited and waited for a phone call or a visit. Anything for me just to know that he was okay. I was home alone when I heard a knock at the door. I carefully opened it. There Tony was. Alive. He had sunglasses on and a tee shirt under his suit coat. I quickly wrapped my arms around him and cried into his neck. He allowed me to. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close. So yeah, I have heard about him carrying a nuke through a wormhole. I saw it with my own eyes.

“Recall that?” Tony asked again, pulling me from my memory. “A hostile alien army came charging through a hole in space. We’re standing three hundred feet below it. We’re the Avengers. We can bust arms dealers all the live long day, but, that up there?” Tony pointed up again. “That’s… that’s the end game. How were you guys planning on beating that?” 

“Together,” Steve quickly stepped up and answered. 

Tony took a few steps towards Steve. “We’ll lose,” Tony replied.

“Then we’ll do that together too.” Steve responded. Tony looked away from Steve and looked sadly at me.

 “Thor’s right,” Steve continued. “Ultron’s calling us out. And I’d like to find him before he’s ready for us. The world’s a big place. Let’s start making it smaller.”

I looked over at Tony. He was leaning over a table. I could tell that he was blaming himself for everything that had happened tonight. He did have a right to, but I still didn’t enjoy seeing him hate himself. Everyone else started getting cleaned up and looking for Ultron. I took the few steps over to him and gently set my hand on Tony’s back.

“Dad?” I quietly called.

“You shouldn’t be here…” He whispered. “You should go to bed. Or I should send you to Pepper.”

“I can help.”

“No… maybe in the morning. You need to get some rest after what happened tonight.” He turned around and placed a hand on my cheek. “Please? Do this for me.” I slowly nodded as I place one of my hands over his. “That’s my girl.” He gently pulled my head into his chest and kissed the top of it. I wrapped my arms around him. “I’ll be here if you need anything.”

“Okay.” I whispered into his chest.

“Are you okay? It really scared me when he had a hold of you like that tonight.”

“I’m okay. I promise.” I slowly let go and pulled away. “I’m here if you need anything too, okay?” He nodded. “I love you, Dad.”

“Love you too, kiddo.”

next >

[eeveecryptid]

※ BORDERLANDS: CL4P-TP EDITION

Various lines that Claptrap bots have said through Borderlands 1, Pre-Sequel and 2. feel free to change pronouns if needed. May include nsfw material. ( BL3 version here )

"Wow! You're not dead?" "Hey, check me out everybody! I'm dancin', I'm dancin'!" "Unce! Unce! Unce! Unce! Ooo, oh check me out. Unce! Unce! Unce! Unce! Oh, come on get down." "Yoo-hoooooooooo!" "I am the best robot. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I am the best robot. Ooh, ooh, here we go!" "Hey! Over here! I'm over here!" "Still haven't found the Vault?" "I'm over here!” "Rrrrrgh...this isn't working!" "Unce! Unce! I think I lost the beat... but, Unce! Unce!" "Wanna hear a new dubstep song I wrote? Wub! Wub--"  "(name) asked me to tell you about a, uh, ‘little sumthin' sumthin'’ s/he needs done. You should ask him/her about it!" "Did you find the Vault yet?" "Sure is lonely around here." "Oh my God, I'm leaking! I think I'm leaking! Ahhhh, I'm leaking! There's oil everywhere!" "I can see through time..." "My servos... are seizing..." "I can see... the code." "I don't like this... this is making me nervous. Take a deep breath- I can't breathe! This is just a recording of someone breathing! It's not real! It's just making me more nervous!" "I'm detecting a motor unit malfunction... I can't move! I'm paralyzed with fear!" "Please don't shoot me, please don't shoot me, please don't shoot me!" "Turning off the optics... they can't see me..." "The traveler will protect me. The traveler will protect me." "Good as new, I think. Am I leaking?" "The box is awaiting your attention." "Please open the box." "Yeah? Well, hmph!" [ gives the finger ] "Good luck!" "There's more to learn!" "Let me teach you the ways of magic!” "Magic waits for no one, apprentice!" "Still working on that quest?" "Shouldn't you be murdering something about now?" "Hey! You're TALKING to me! And I didn't even have an exclamation point over my head! This is the BEST day of my life!" "Sooooo... how are things?" "Hey, best friend!" "Yessss, look into my eyes. You're getting sleepy. You're getting... zzzzzz... Zzzzzz..." "Success! My spell to make you want to hang out with me worked!" "Stay a while, and listen. Oh god, please -- PLEASE! -- stay a while." "Away with thee!" "Don't you worry, minion! Give me one good shot at that (name) dude and I'll take them right out! I... just got some stuff to do first." "We've really come a long way, haven't we, minion? And you're still just as loyal as ever! Who's a good minion? You are! Yes you are!" "Yessiree! This whole place would completely fall apart without old Claptrap keeping things humming along!" "As a robot, I'm completely immune to (name)’s gas attacks. But that hasn't stopped me from incessantly cowering!" "And I thought bandits were bad BEFORE they had nightmare plants growing out of them!" "You already saved Pandora? But... but I'M the hero of Pandora! It's on my business card! I ORDERED SO MANY OF THEM!" "Sanctuary's gone? But the bank! All my stuff! All my crucial information! YES! I'M OFF THE GRID, BABY! NO MORE CREDITORS! Seriously, I owe a lot of people a lot of money." " The Vault Map is gone! Forever! It will never be found. Never, ever, ever-- is what I'll say to everyone I know while I look for it. " “ I can do more than open doors, sir/ma’am! We CL4P-TP units can be programmed to do anything from open doors to ninja-sassinate highly important Janitor-y officials! ” “ I once started a revolution myself. There were lots of guns and a lot of dying. You'd think I would have gotten some better benefits out of the whole thing but no, demoted back to door-opening servitude! ” “ ---Remember what? Are... are you my father? ” “ Are you god? Am I dead? ” “ I'M DEAD I'M DEAD OHMYGOD I'M DEAD! ” “ Thanks for giving me a second chance, (name). I really appreciate it. ” " Hey everybody! Check out my package! " " Let's get this party started! " " Glitching weirdness is a term of endearment, right? " " This time it'll be awesome, I promise! " " Look out everybody! Things are about to get awesome! " " Eww, what flavor is red? " "Where'd all my bullets go?" " Bullets are dumb. " " I need tiny death pellets! " " RUN FOR YOUR LIIIIIVES! " " Oh, s/he's big...REALLY big! " " I am a tornado of death and bullets! " " Stop me before I kill again, except don't! " " There is no way this ends badly! " " This is why I was built! " " You call yourself a badass? " " Is it dead? Can- can I open my eyes now? " " I didn't panic! Nope, not me! " " Not so tough after all! " " I have gaskets tougher than you! " " That was me! I did that! " " Don't tell me that wasn't awesome! " " Wait, did I really do that? " " Aww! Now I want a snow cone. " " Freeze! I don't know why I said that. " " I can't feel my fingers! Gah! I don't have any fingers! " " Why do I even feel pain?! " " Why did they build me out of galvanized flesh?! " " That looks like it hurts! " " Oh, quit falling to pieces. " " Is that what people look like inside? " " Huh, robot's don't do that. " " Disgusting. I love it! " " It's about to get magical! " " You can't just program this level of excitement! " " Push this button, flip this dongle, voila! Help me! " " Square the I, carry the 1... YES! " " I have an IDEA! " " Round and around and around she goes! " " It's like a box of chocolates. " " If I had veins, they'd be popping out right now! " " Roses are red and/Violets are blue/Wait... how many syllables was that? " " Aww, I should've drawn tattoos on you! " " Tell me I'm the prettiest! " " Trouncy, flouncy... founcy... those aren't words. " " The robot is dead, long live the robot! " " Take these, gorgeous, you'll feel better! " " Some days, you just can't get rid of an obscure pop-culture reference. " " Oh darn, oh boy, oh crap, oh boy, oh darn. " " Do not look behind my curtain! " " I'm made of magic! " " Like those guys who made only one song ever. " " Everybody, dance time! Da-da-da-dun-daaa-da-da-da-dun-daaa! " " I brought you a present: EXPLOSIONS! " " Is this really canon? " " ... You're dead to me. " “ Nobody hurts my friends! " " Wubwubwub. Dubstep dubstep. Wubwubwubwub DROP! Dubstep! " " I'll stop talking when I'm dead! " " I'll die the way I lived: annoying! " " Come back here! I'll gnaw your legs off! " " This could've gone better! " " You look like something a skag barfed up! " " What's that smell? Oh wait, it's just you! " " Yo momma's so dumb, she couldn't think of a good ending for this 'yo momma' joke! " " You're one screw short of a screw! " " I bet your mom could do better! " " Good thing I don't have a soul! " " I'll never go back to the bad place! " " I have many regrets! " " Can I just say... yeehaw. " " You're the wub to my dub! " " So... does this make me your favorite? " " What are YOU doing down here? " " We're like those buddies in that one show! " " This is no time to be lazy! " " You can thank me later! " " You love me, right? " " You, me... keeping on... together? " " You versus me! Me versus you! Either way! " " Dance battle! Or, you know... regular battle. " " You wanna fight with me?! Put 'em up!.. Put 'em up? " " A million baddies, and you wanna hit me? Aww! " " I am so impressed with myself! " " Ha ha, this is in no way surprising! Ha ha! " " Don't bother with plastic surgery - there's NO fixing that! " " I am right behind you, Vault Hunting friend! " " I can do that too! ... Sorta... Except not. " " You jerks have NO idea what you're in for! " " I'm so glad I'm not one of those guys right now! " " YOU! ARE! SCARY! " " That is in no way disturbing. " " I did a challenge? I did a challenge! " " Glad I didn't mess that up. " " I feel... complete!.. That's weird. " " I actually did something right for once! " " Hmmm, the possibilities are an infinite recursion. " " Do any of these come with a new paint job? " " Which of these gives me my free will back? " " The moon is not enough! " " I'd do anything for a man/woman with a gun. " " At least I still have my teeth! " " Coffee? Black... like my soul. " " Crazy young whippersnappers...  " " I've finally got an electric personality! " " Wait, this isn't vegetable juice! " " Cool! Now we're both super-crazy-amazing! " " These are the best kind of cooties! " " Can I shoot something now? Or climb some stairs? SOMETHING exciting? " " Times like these, I really start to question the meaning of my existence. Then I get distra-hey! What's this? This looks cool! " " It would really stink if I couldn't control what I was thinking. Like, who wants to know that I'm thinking about cheese and lint, right? " " How does math work? Does this skin make me look fat? If a giraffe and a car had a baby, would it be called a caraffe? Life's big questions, man. " " Who needs memories when I can do all this cool stuff? Stuff that I currently am not doing! That's what I'd like to call a 'hint'. " " Does this mean I can start dancing? Pleeeeeeaaaaase? " " Ya know when there was that Vault monster scare? I had these friends, and boy times sure were scary! But, I didn't care because I had friends, and they were like... super-friends! And then they left me, but they saved the world and I was like 'I know those guys!' Even though they never came back after that I still knew they cared, because no one had ever been... nice to me before. ... What is this? My eye is like... leaking. " " It's really quiet... and lonely... (hums briefly) Also this 'stopped moving' thing makes me uncomfortable. It gives me time to stop and think... literally. I'VE STOPPED, AND I'M THINKING! IT HURTS ME! " " Oh. My. God. What if I'm like... a fish? And, if I'm not moving... I stop breathing? AND THEN I'LL DIE! HELP ME! HELP MEEEEE HEE HEE HEEE! HHHHHHHELP! " " Ahem, ahem. What's going on? Did I break something? " “ You hear me, (name)?! You killed my friends! You destroyed my product line! I am the last Claptrap in existence, AND I AM GOING TO TEABAG YOUR CORPSE! ” “ You think a door can stop me, (name)?! I was MADE to open doors! ” “ Dammit, (name) - how did you know stairs were my ONLY weakness?! Next to electrocution, and explosions, and gunfire, rust, corrosion, being kicked a lot, viruses, being called bad names, falling from great heights, drowning, adult onset diabetes, being looked at funny, heart attacks, exposure to oxygen, being turned down by women, and pet allergens! Your brilliance is matched only by your malevolence! ” “ I'm just gonna go ahead and cloak now. You can't hear me crying if I cloak! (sobbing) stairs, why did it have to be stairs? I'll never climb those stairs! ”

[archadianskies]

you're writing captain allen fic! can i um, request a nines/allen fic??? not sure if you're taking requests but it's a rarepair fo mine i'm desperate for more content /sweats no pressure though absolutely understand if you say no!!

→ on Ao3

While Markus and his merry band were busy demanding equal rights for the bots of America, a neat little plot was uncovered when the CEO of CyberLife was stood down. Part of their agreed terms was to halt the production of androids immediately, and release all those in storage as awakened deviants. What they didn’t count on was the discovery of confidential emails, staunchly denied by the government, placing an order of 200,000 RK900 units for the purpose of crushing the android revolution under heel and restoring the power balance back into the hands of humans. 

Never happened, of course, and the RK900 never went into production. Only one was fabricated, and was in its final stage of its testing phase when the revolution ended. It then became a reluctant olive branch offered to the DPD, a ‘sorry we tried to make killing machines behind your back but you can have this one and keep the prototype too’.

There’s no reason to double up, Fowler says, and this model has military upgrades so it will suit your unit better. That’s all the warning he gets before there’s an android standing in his office at 9:00am sharp on Monday.

“Captain Allen, I am the RK900. I have been assigned to SWAT unit 32, under your command.” He says, in a voice deeper than Connor’s and a little more polished. He seems to loom over him, filling out the space of his office like a large shadow, like a Terminator from those movies one of his mothers always liked.

“Do you have a name?”

“No, I was not assigned one.”

“You’re Connor’s little brother aren’t you?” He crosses his arms over his chest. “Heard you were called Nines or 900 or something.”

“No.” Firm refusal. “I do not wish to be associated with a number.” A pause, a frown. “It feels demeaning.” Feels , he says, because apparently androids can do that now.  

“We’re going to have to call you something.” He cocks a brow, and the android averts his gaze, unsure. “Well. You’re the newest guy to the team so that makes you the rookie.”

“Rookie?” The android echoes curiously.

“You’re the rookie until the next recruit shows up.” He shrugs. “That’s the rule. We’ll call you rookie until either you give us a name, with which we will occasionally call you while still referring to you as rookie, or until there is another recruit; whichever comes first.”

“Understood.”

*~*

Connor’s baby brother is 6’5” and if looks could kill everyone would certainly be dead. Terminator’s got the worst case of Resting Murder Face he’s ever seen; it’s as if the psychos at CyberLife used nothing but rulers to design him, as if they took Connor’s model and took away everything that could possibly allude to friendliness. They even gave him startling grey eyes, as if the brown of Connor’s eyes was too warm to keep. What he learns quickly, though, is that even if CyberLife made him look like a cold blooded killing machine, they failed to scrub away the almost puppy-like demeanour so integral to Connor’s personality.

He walks in on his team in the training hall enthusiastically trying to beat the android at every obstacle course, using their years of teamwork to try and pool their skills in order to beat CyberLife’s latest and greatest. They fail spectacularly, to no one’s surprise, but the rookie’s grinning in that slightly lopsided goofy way Connor grins and the team muss his hair like one would pat a dog and he lights up just the same. He’s just as eager, as desperate to please, to integrate, to gain the approval of his human peers and there’s something both endearing and a little sad about it.

*~*

Everyone’s lives depend on trust and teamwork and that means figuring out where the rookie will fit in best. He runs them through endless simulations and the android bests them all; he can be placed anywhere, given any role, and adapts to each situation perfectly. It’s not enough- a simulation is hypothetical, a simulation is safe and is nothing like the chaos of a real mission with very real lives at stake.

“Will that be all for tonight, Captain?” He knocks his reading glasses up briefly to rub at his tired eyes, looking up from his reports to find the android standing dutifully at parade rest in front of his desk.

“Weapons cleaned, locked and logged?”

“Yessir.” A nod.

“You’ve been here a week now.” He leans back in his chair, crossing his arms. “What do you think of Fowler’s choice, assigning you to my team?”

“I believe I am where I ought to be.” The rookie says slowly. “This is the department where my skills prove most useful. Connor is built to assist with detective work, and has the social programming to build strong social bonds. I lack such programming, and have been built with military modifications instead.”

“The team like you plenty.” He shrugs, and the android’s LED spins yellow as he looks away almost self-consciously. “I am glad.” He says quietly. “I find their company enjoyable.”

“Good. Their lives depend on how well you work with them, you understand that right?” Another nod, and he spares him one last glance before returning to his reports. “Alright. Dismissed.”

“Do you?” It’s said so quietly he almost misses it. When he looks up, he catches the briefest flicker of red before the android’s LED swirls yellow.

“Do I what?”

“Like me?” Another brief flicker of red. “You command this team, Captain Allen. You are the most integral part of it. I wish to get along with you too.”

He thinks back on the week that just passed, on the drug busts, on the anti-android protest that turned ugly, on the black market CyberLife raid. He thinks back on the stunned horror on everyone’s faces when the RK900 snapped a rifle in half, picked up a grown man and tossed him aside like a ragdoll in order to protect a fallen teammate. 

He thinks back on that afternoon when he ran a segment of the baton relay race, of both the SWAT unit and Android Crimes Division combined up against Connor and the rookie. He remembers how easily the brothers had beaten them and how his team had so melodramatically displayed their fake disappointment at losing by trying to tackle the RK900 and piling on him ineffectively. He remembers hearing him laugh and seeing him smile that slightly lopsided smile.

A killing machine with the personality of a puppy; loyal to a fault.

“We get along just fine, rookie.”

“I am glad, sir.” He says again, softer this time. “Good night.”

*~*

He turns 44 on the job, and they’re filthy from chasing perps through the slush, teeth chattering from the cold as they huddle in the van headed back to the precinct. He expects to die on the job, so a birthday holds no special weight. He bargains with himself that if he makes it to 50 then he’ll make a big deal out of it. Maybe.

He likes to think he’s still in his prime, and this job demands the best from him both physically and mentally. Careful with what he eats, diligent with his exercise and strict with his training he refuses to let himself slip up; he knows better than anyone what this job requires. Still, though, on missions like these he reluctantly admits to himself he’s not 20 and spry anymore.

The showers cloud with steam as they all scrub off and it’s heaven on his sore muscles and cold skin. Wrapping a towel around his waist he heads back to his locker to grab a fresh set of clean clothes, lost in his thoughts as he goes over the mission in his head. A success, though a messy one. Another slightly amusing, slightly horrifying moment when the rookie snapped a perp’s arm simply by squeezing a little too hard. Jesus he’s glad they’ve got him on their side.

Fingers ghost along his ribs and he instinctively grabs the hand and twists.

“Captain I-”

“What-”

“Sorry! You-” Red LED as he drops his hand, and the RK900 steps back to put distance between them. “Your scar- it’s- you have-”

He stares at him and the android fidgets under his gaze. Looking down at himself, he turns slightly and lifts his arm to touch the long jagged scar along his ribs. “Serrated hunting knife.” He taps a puckered scar below his collarbone. “Gunshot.” Another skimming his hip bone. “Gunshot.” Another on his shoulder. “Gunshot.”

The rookie steps closer hesitantly, reaching out slowly to give him every opportunity to knock his hand away. He remains still, and lets him touch a faint scar on his forehead. “And this one?”

“Courtesy of my cousin swashbuckling with sticks when I was five.” A small smile spreads on the android’s lips, and he takes the opportunity to look him over. God it isn’t fair the android literally hasn’t put in a day’s work to have a body in peak, perfect shape. He’s plated in kevlar too, and he raps his knuckles on the hard chest plate. “You’re brand spanking new, rookie. Not a scratch on you.”

“Shiny and chrome.” One of the men pipes up. “Don’t worry rookie, you’ll earn your battle scars too someday.”

“Then you’ll really be one of us.” He grins, and the android grins in return and something catches in his throat and he thinks oh no.

*~*

“Will that be all for tonight, Captain?” Every evening, the same question, the same earnest expression on his face.

“Weapons cleaned, locked and logged?”

“Yessir.” A nod. “I-” he steps forward hesitantly and thinks the better of it, stepping back. “Happy birthday, Captain Allen. Good night.”

“Thanks rookie.” He manages a tired chuckle. “See you in the morning.”

*~*

Not every mission is a success. Sometimes the intel is bad, sometimes the raid is premature, sometimes the weather fucks them up. Sometimes things just go wrong, horribly, horrifically wrong and all they can manage is damage control.

“No, not like this. Not like this rookie, not on my watch.” He skids over to his side and drops to his knees, the RK900 lying on his back with his chest blown open by an explosive. By a fucking grenade he caught to protect the team. The android is shaking uncontrollably, LED blood red and he bleeds and bleeds and bleeds. 

“I- I don’t know what to do. Rookie, I don’t-” there’s nothing to press down on, there’s no human anatomy here, he has no fucking clue. There’s just blue everywhere, and some distant part of him thinks Hank Anderson will literally kill him with his bare hands for getting one of his sons killed. And he wouldn’t blame him, he wouldn’t fight him on that either. “Not like this, c’mon rookie, please god not like this-” the call’s already been made, and a medtech van is being sent with the EMTs but he knows he won’t last that long. This is the worst part of the job and though he’d give anything not to be in this position, he wouldn’t wish this on anyone else.

The android weakly grasps his wrist, clumsily pulling his hand to touch an erratically pulsing circle just below his sternum. The blast has indented whatever it is, pushing it in a skewed angle.

“You want me to pull it out? Get it back in properly?” A weak nod, and he scrambles for his knife. “Okay, okay uh-” He wedges the tip of the knife under the edge of the glowing circle, and it takes a few tries for him to get it to catch properly, the blood making the surface so slippery the blade ends up sliding out of place. It pops up just an inch and then he has to reach in sideways through a missing chunk of plating to push it awkwardly back into an upright position, only then can he pull it out completely. It detaches with a wet click, and then he’s carefully lowering it back in until it latches into place. He’s trying not to focus too much on the fact he can see the rookie’s insides, at all the broken tubes and wires and the sparks, and the blood just pouring out.

“Stay with me rookie, what’s next? What do you need me to do?” The android pulls insistently on his hands, guiding them towards an open segment on his chest. “Here? I don’t- ugh!” he’s unable to stop the sound of disgust that leaves his mouth as the android pushes his hands inside of his chest until he touches some sort of glass component. It has thick tubes connected to it, and the blast has fractured it in several places. He shifts a little so he’s nearly straddling him in order to keep his hands securely on the biocomponent. It thrums in his hold, warm to the touch. Whatever it is, it’s stabilising him and the rookie looks less frenzied than before, taking slow, measured breaths most likely to ventilate his overheating systems.

It feels like an eternity before the medtechs arrive with their fancy equipment and then they’re very gently extracting his hands from the rookie’s chest and before swarming the android and whisking him away for surgery.

Somehow he makes it home. He’s not sure of anything, really, but somehow he’s showered and all the blue blood is gone and he’s in his favourite old hoodie from his academy days. His hands shake when he tries to pour himself a drink so he settles for a bottle of water from the fridge. When he looks at his hands they’re clean and then they’re not, they’re drenched in blue, and then they’re clean and they’re blue again and so he takes some advil and goes to bed.

*~*

He goes to Jericho in the morning, to see the rookie and he doesn’t know if he’s there to pick up a body or is there to visit as a guest. It’s the latter, thankfully.

“So he’s alright?” He asks one of the android doctors, and she nods with a smile.

“Yes, you saved his life.” She leads him down a hallway. “His heart was damaged by the explosion but you held it together and allowed it to keep pumping blood around his body.”

“I had-” he swallows thickly and thinks about the warm glass against his palm, “I held his heart in my hands?”

“And saved his life.” She gestures at a door. “He’s running a diagnostic cycle, but he’ll be ready for discharge in an hour.”

“Thank you.”

“Thank you .” She laughs softly, before taking her leave.

The rookie is propped up by a couple of pillows, looking down at his chest.

“Hey.”

“Look, I have scars now.” The android says quietly, tracing a few jagged lines on the black kevlar plating around the glowing blue circle beneath his sternum.

“In my defence,” he takes a seat by the bed, “there was blood everywhere and I couldn’t wedge my knife under it in one go.”

“I like them.” He smiles tiredly, touching one of the thin jagged lines. “They remind me you saved my life, Captain.”

“I was way out of my depths there rookie, I’m glad you were awake enough to guide me.”

They sit there quietly and he listens to the machines beep and whirr and tries not to focus on how exhausted he feels, how raw and exposed he feels because of all that’s transpired.

“I have been alive for exactly one month today.” The rookie says quietly.

“This is a pretty lousy way to start off the day, sorry.”

“I’m starting it off alive, so I would consider that far from lousy, sir.”

“Oh so you’ve got no social programming, but you’ve got sass is that it?” He rolls his eyes, unable to stop the smile on his lips. The android regards him with those striking grey eyes and he knows the only cold thing about them is the colour. Reaching for his hands, just like yesterday, he guides them to rest on his chest.

“You held my heart in your hands and you saved my life.” He murmurs, LED flickering yellow and holding. “Would it be alright if I entrusted it to you for safekeeping?”

He knows what he means, he knows what he’s asking of him and it terrifies him. He knows this job is hell, he never wanted a partner to get caught up wondering, waiting for him to come home and the one inevitable time he won’t. He’s kept everyone at arm’s length, he’s given his mind, body and soul to this job in place of his heart. Maybe this way they’ll keep each other safe. Maybe this way it’s better; they both know the risks, they both know what the job demands of them.

Leaning in, he presses their lips together and gives his heart in return.  

[fandom-necromancer]

786. Is it greedy of me to say I never want you to leave my arms?

This was prompted by the amazing @smolandangry001! Enjoy!

Fandom: Detroit become human | Ship: Reed900

(Warning: violence, blood, near death experience)

‘Really, goddamn it, what did we do to piss off Fowler that much?’, Gavin groaned steering their car instead of allowing the automatic to take over. Something Nines normally would have scolded him for. Now, he just kept his silence to let the human vent his anger at the decision of their superior. ‘I mean, we got the phcker! Who cares how and whether we heeded the protocol or not! I mean, the idiot himself surely didn’t! He got it coming.’ ‘Gavin, we are supposed to be the good ones’, Nines tried to remind him for the hundredth time. ‘We have to follow the rules. And we should be thankful the Captain let us get away without any disciplinary or suspension.’ ‘We should be thankful, my ass! I’ll never be thankful for phcking investigating noise complaints and doing stakeouts. That’s not why I became a cop – a phcking Detective!’ ‘Well, I’m not exactly happy either’, Nines commented with an artificial sigh. ‘I had been built to process heaps of data constantly, this lack of difficulty is... unpleasant.’ ‘See? Even the robot is bored’, Gavin informed the granny crossing the street in front of them, who couldn’t hear him and wouldn’t have cared even if she did. The human slumped in the steering wheel and waited for the light to change to green. ‘Urgh, maybe I would have liked suspension better.’ ‘I wouldn’t’, Nines immediately claimed, thinking of the sad room he had for a flat in one of the new android neighbourhoods. Nothing could be worse than having to stay there for a week with nothing to do but stare at empty walls.

Gavin threw him a side-eye, then got back to driving as there were people honking behind them already. They pulled up to a shady looking house, but then again, all houses looked shady in the dark. Normally, noise complaints were just people partying a bit too hard or listening to music the way god intended to: loud and booming. The other case were neighbours wanting to send the police over because they were too lazy themselves or deliberately overreacting to keep them from overdoing it in the future. It was relatively quiet as they both left the car, Gavin already groaning about the unnecessary drive out to nowhere.

Until suddenly, a gunshot roared through the air.

Gavin flinched, letting go of the door that fell shut like an echo of the first boom. He looked towards Nines, who already had his hand on his holster. ‘Not a weapon used by personal security usually. The resident of this house isn’t a registered owner of a weapon and further research, that I totally haven’t done yet because I would need a warrant for that, concludes that the owner moved in three months ago, never had brought any furniture and in fact hadn’t existed before then.’ ‘Shit’, Gavin commented and unholstered his gun. ‘Let’s go then!’ ‘Gavin! You forget we aren’t supposed to interfere. We have to call that in.’ ‘Oh, phck, tin-can, I’m not gonna wait till our picture-book-cross-species-package gets inbound.’ ‘Connor and Hank’s relationship-status isn’t important to this. We are on desk-duty unless told otherwise, and even if we weren’t, we need backup for this! There are at least five people in there.’ ‘You are my backup, toaster. Now, are you coming?’

Nines watched the human waiting for an answer, then running for the entrance as he realised there wouldn’t be one. The android shook his head, already messaging Connor. If Fowler had been angry with them before, now he would be outright furious.

Gavin was surprisingly fast and already at the door, picking the lock, while another gunshot bellowed through the night. Nines watched the man work quite effectively and not much later the door swung open. They both entered swiftly without a sound, hiding behind boxes deposited on both sides of the hallway. Nines held up his palm and displayed for the human: Open plan kitchen and living room. Three in the kitchen. Six in the living room, two dead. Four more in adjacent rooms, more in the garden, possibly four to seven. Gavin nodded, regretting not wearing a bullet-proof vest underneath. That were a lot of people. Any androids?, he mouthed and Nines fixed him with a disapproving stare. The man rolled his eyes. This wasn’t because of some mislead views on his kind. This was them having goddamn pinpoint accuracy and reflexes no human could ever have. But he didn’t care to explain himself and Nines just shook his head, what had him relaxing a bit.

Gavin took a deep breath and closed his eyes, listening for the upcoming voices. ‘No! No, please, don’t!’ ‘You should have delivered then! The boss won’t be pleased, asshole!’ ‘No, I promise, I’ll get you the rest next month!’ ‘Yeah, well, but what should we do this month, huh? What about our customers, hmm?’ From the whimpering sounds that waved over Gavin figured it had been the right decision not to wait for backup. Soon there would be another dead body joining the two. He knew that what he was about to do was stupid, but he was just doing what he thought was right. Gun in hand, he rushed out of cover, running towards the voices, screaming: ‘DPD, freeze and drop the weapons!’

It would have been more effective of a surprise had he had the safety of his android partner in his back, but Nines hadn’t followed him. That stupid idiot murder-bot hadn’t followed him, and Gavin had no time to be furious about that as the people in the room, already agitated by non-existent failed Red-Ice shipment, made use of their weapons instead of dropping them. In an instant Gavin dropped to the floor, pushing himself behind the hip-high wall of the open-plan kitchen and shooting three times, hitting all the aggressors in the room with him, letting them drop dead.

Shit. What had Nines told him? Six in the room behind him? Two dead. Did that count them in or not? Gavin was still thinking, as there was a gunshot followed by a wet sound. Was that Nines? Probably not, because the next time they opened fire it was in Gavin’s direction. Bullets cut the air and what he had thought to be a solid wall gave little to no cover as the projectiles pierced through. The Detective could only scream in pain, as he felt multiple sources of red-hot pain in his body. Desperately he tried to pull himself somewhere safe, but he had manoeuvred himself into that situation.

That was when he saw a flash of white rushing through the hallway followed by gunshots. Gavin could judge only by sound that Nines tried to be non-lethal, firing a shot followed by the sound of fist hitting bone. He tried to concentrate, to keep track of how many were down, even was still determined to stand up after a short break to help. But with every passing second, he felt more and more tired, the pain stabbing deep inside. That was when he realised Phck, I’ve been shot? This is not good, oh shit I’m gonna die? Black Spots danced before his eyes, vision getting more and more blurry until there was nothing.

-

Nines punched the handle of his pistol into the face of the last person running towards him, sending them flying a few metres back. He didn’t know what got into him. He had been calculating the best option for their attack not expecting the human to blindly rush in. The rest happened too fast for him to intervene, but that pained scream had him up and running with the fuel of raw emotion. It took all his mental strength not to eradicate everyone in the building for what they had done to his partner. At the same time, he didn’t want to think about that at all, because there was the possibility for Gavin to be already… he couldn’t. With the last aggressor gone he leapt over the low wall and counter to nearly freeze and fall at the sight of so much blood. Gavin Reed’s blood.

The human laid on the ground, motionless, eyes closed, legs pulled to his chest in pain and arms outstretched to reach for the doorframe. Nines immediately dropped to his knees checking his partner’s breath. In an instant the bleeding was in his arms and the world brushed past him, as he ran out of the house calling an ambulance. He heard a distant ‘Nines?’; Connor’s voice, but he ignored him. He watched the seconds tick down until the ambulance would be there, pressing Gavin’s body close. His thoughts were static, the white noise cancelling out everything. The only things that remained were the red countdown, the red blood oozing out and the human in his arms. Why hadn’t he waited? Why hadn’t he followed the human quicker as he ran towards danger? Why hadn’t he pulled him back, there had been the chance to grab him! Why…

The blue and red lights of the ambulance blinked in tandem with his own crimson one and Nines felt weirdly disconnected from his bodies as if half of his sensors had suddenly been switched off. He remembered entering the ambulance watching as the humans and androids worked on his human to stabilise him. His human. The one organic that meant so much to him. The one person on this planet. Only now he realised he had never said this to him. There were gestures, yes, little actions that went a bit further than just being work-partners, than being friends. But Nines never told Gavin how he felt, and he regretted it now that his destiny wasn’t at all settled.

-

Darkness. Red. Red. Red. Darkness.

As Gavin opened his eyes, he was met with that steady rhythm illuminating the room. It made it easier to coordinate his breathing, so he could awake truly and remember just why this light felt familiar, what the connection was… ‘Nines?’ Gad, please let that be Nines and not some other android or worse: Connor. Because damn his voice was so weak, so laboured, goddamn.

Something flinched at the noise and the light danced across the room, once even golden. ‘Gavin? You are awake!’ ‘Guess I am, where am I, why-‘ He was interrupted as the android lurched forwards and without any warning there were lips on his pressed hard but not without careful gentleness. Gavin didn’t know how to react and maybe it was the painkillers – definitely the painkillers, this was absolutely not the very same scenario that kept him up at night, nope – but he leaned into it. God, who knew android lips were so soft, so velvety. And this was Nines! This was Nines kissing him! Yep, he was dead, this was heaven.

As the android finally broke contact, he had slung his arms around him, holding him close to the hard plastic of his chest only smoothened by his clothes. And he seemed not too determined to let go anytime soon. Well, it was fine with Gavin who exploited the shit out of that, holding onto the android too, enjoying getting to feel the ridges and edges under that synth-skin.

Their hug had to last for hours on end, it felt like it did. Finally, Nines started to hum, then to speak. One singular question, soaked with so much emotion it could have ended the revolution by singlehandedly proving androids had souls. ‘Is it greedy of me to say I never want you to leave my arms?’ Gavin felt his breath hitch and clawed into the back of Nines’ jacket to try release some of the weird feeling piling up in his chest. ‘Nines?’ The android pulled back a bit and the LED in his temple illuminated his face, eyes wetter than normally, brows more furrowed than usual. ‘Gavin, I love you. I have been for a long time and now I realised how easily I could have lost you. I had to tell you.’ ‘Nines.’ ‘I- Listen, if you don’t feel that way, that’s okay, I-‘ ‘Nines!’ The android stared at him, finally silent, so Gavin could think. Somehow, he looked as if awaiting heavenly judgement.

‘This bed is big enough for both of us. Now come and hold me forever you goddamn lovesick bot!’

[chiseler]

“All I Know Is That First, You’ve Got to Get Mad.”

I thought I was in an unusually, even inexplicably good mood during the pandemic. That whole pre-apocalyptic vibe just set my toes to tapping. Who the hell knew things would get this wildly entertaining? I don’t know why, but the thought of cop cars ablaze just makes me a little giddy.

Wait, I take that back. I know exactly why.

I’m writing this on a Sunday morning following the third night of violent protests in New York and every other major city in the country—a night in which, among other things, an NYPD SUV intentionally plowed into a group of protesters in Brooklyn and an upstate woman was booked on federal attempted murder charges for throwing a Molotov Cocktail at a police cruiser full of cops. I suspect by the time this runs, the protests will have either burned themselves out or been crushed under the boot heel of State power. If I’m mistaken about that and things are still rolling merrily along, well then shut my mouth for being a pessimist. And if all I write here is old news by the time you read it, I apologize, though it’s worth repeating.

The mistake everyone in the media made when reporting on the spreading violence was insisting all the carnage was in direct reaction to the murder of George Floyd by four Minneapolis cops.

WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!

Do you honestly think the riots in goddamn Des Moimnes and Salt Lake City had anything to do with George Floyd? Bullshit. The Flloyd murder was merely the immediate excuse, the long-overdue spark that ignited a pile of dry kindling that had been growing for the past thirty years. It was a perfectly predictable, inevitable reaction when so many contributing factors came together in one instant.

At the same time, you have government officials from the president to the mayor of New York blaming the violence on the proverbial “outside agitators,” from Antifa to white nationalists to Russian troll bots, refusing to believe unaffiliated American citizens are capable of torching cop cars and looting chain stores on their own say-so because some black guy had been killed.

WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!

The question isn’t one of extremist rabblerousers—the question is, why doesn’t it happen more often?

How many unarmed black civilians had been murdered by cops and former cops over the three months prior to George Floyd? Now stretch that idea back a ways: how many had been murdered by cops and former cops since Ferguson? I’ll give you a moment to go look up the numbers.

Okay, how have people reacted to police violence over the course of the six years since the unrest in Ferguson? Just as they’ve been brainwashed to do, they’ve held peaceful protest marches and made a lot of speeches demanding this and that, vague concepts like “Justice” and “Peace.”. Now if you’re feeling really ambitious, go back to the end of the L.A. riots and add up the numbers, the incidents of cops killing and brutalizing the innocent between then and now. That’s an awful lot of peaceful, righteous protest marches and way too many ad hoc sidewalk memorials to count. And what changed as a result? Nothin!. The cops continued to go about their business the way they always have since the mid-nineteenth century, when they were nothing but a State-sanctioned street gang. And they’re going to continue behaving that way because nobody has the yarbles to try and make them do anything differently.

So it’s easy to imagine the mounting frustration and anger, right? People were protesting peacefully, making speeches just like they were supposed to, they were doing this every week somewhere in the country, it seems, and it had accomplished absolutely bupkis. It’s also easy to imagine these same people starting to think, after all those futile years with no improvements to point at for all their efforts, that maybe a little direct action might be more effective.

But a growing nationwide anti-cop sentiment finally reaching the breaking point was hardly the only factor at play in the recent hullabaloo.

Add to that a pandemic lockdown that had been going on for three months. People were a little stir crazy and bored. The frustration had built up, and some kind of release was necessary.

Add to that tens of millions out of work, people with no income, no insurance and no clue when they might conceivably reclaim either. Not only did they have too much time on their hands, they were pissed at the government doctors and scientists who recommended the lockdown, the fucking state politicians who ordered it, the bosses who laid them off, and their goddamn whining families who kept wanting to eat.

Add to that the burning gut rage fellt by roughly half the country directed at an administration overseen by a dangerous buffoon who seemed to take great delight in tossing out daily affronts to everything that seemed right and simply decent, and the inability of anyone to stop him. America was fast sliding toward despotism, and no  one who could have and should have  put an end to it was doing anything apart from wringing theier hands. That led to a dismay and anger that had been growing exponentially for three and a half years.

There was an awful lot of free-floating rage out there with no sense of direction. All of the above factors boil down to a single, very simple reality: people feel impotent (because they are), and they’re fucking pissed about it. You get a few thousand pissed, impotent people together in one place, and interesting things are going to happen.

So put all those factors together, right? Murderous cops, the lockdown, the new Depression and an administration that didn’t give a good goddamn. Then add to that not only a handy trigger in the form of the George Floyd video and, best of all, a stretch of some really nice weather, and there you have it—an eruption of collective cathartic rage at the whole fucking system. We need one of those every twenty or thirty years. It’s good for the spirit.

Thomas Jefferson, as we all recall, believed that given its very nature, the young country would witness a political revolution of, by, and for the people every twenty years ore so. I guess he was partly right, though instead of actual  revolutions with long-term effects, we just riot fore a week or so, smash windows, loot stores and torch cars, then call it a day. Of course since Jeffereson’s time the system has been reorganized in such a way that this is all we’re capable of doing.

On the downside, though, it’s not going to accomplish anything. In fact it’s going to backfire, because it always has and always will. Nothing’s going to alter cop behavior, because nothing’s going to change the psychological makeup of those no-necked thugs who decide they want to become cops. In fact, it’s only going to bolster the contempt most cops feel for anyone who’s not a cop, and the standard paranoid fantasy held dear by most police officers that they’re the real victims.

On top of that, there’s going to be a crackdown from not only an already delusional administration, but the courts and state and local officials, all of whom will enact new limitations on protests and public gatherings to ensure nothing like this ever gets so out of hand again. This is why every time it happens, the reaction from those in power guarantees it’ll happen again down the line, while pushing the country yet further from Jefferson’s ideal.

Yeah, I do get a little jingly-jangly feeling inside when I hear about young women throwing Molotov Cocktails at cop cars in NYC. But if you want to play with the power structure, you’ve got to remember the power structure plays really, really rough, and things are about to get far worse than they were a week ago. Sorry, but it’s true. Sure was fun while it lasted though.

Now I just have to wait another thirty years until it happens again. In the meantime, I think I’ll go pull out my old Feederz records and give them a spin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OvI1WIoc9w

by Jim Knipfel

[firebirdsdaughter]

Random Writing Word Dump…

… Draft… Demo… Thing… Mess… I dunno.

It’s like I took my brain and shook it upside down…

It’s kinda long.

So… I like the second half of this more than the first, but oh well.

Brief context: Horobi and Jin had redemption arcs a while ago, and Yua and Isamu decided to ally w/ Aruto, too. Everyone was at the Hiden building when the Ark usurped control of it and turned the entire security system against them. Yua and Aruto take Jin and Izu and head for the President’s secret lab in the hopes that it will be the most defensible while Isamu heads for the core server room in order to try and flush the Ark out, w/ Horobi volunteering to go as well, bc he’s not about to let the building get destroyed while Jin is in it.

And thus we begin.

The pacing is really terrible here, but here we are.

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“Fuwa, we made it back to the President’s private lab, but it’s not going to hold forever!” Yua’s words were slightly spotty over the radio as they descended deeper into the Hiden building, but still audible. “Where are you two?”

“Still going down!” Isamu shouted, over the sound of another security drone—until Horobi abruptly sliced it in half with a single swipe of his katana, “But murder bot here says we’re nearly there!” He glanced toward the HumaGear—or, rather, the sword Horobi was re-sheathing. “What is that thing even made out of?”

Horobi ignored his question to scowl slightly at him. “I told you to stop calling me murder bot.” He snapped—strangely, though, neither the demand nor the expression actually felt hostile.

“You’ve nearly killed me multiple times, I’ll call you what I want.” Isamu shot back, rushing past the HumaGear and down the stairs rather than giving him a chance to answer. He caught Horobi rolling his eyes, but the robot elected to merely follow him rather than complaining again.

They moved even further down, and the shiny, pristine aesthetic of Hiden Intelligence began to fade, giving way to cement walls, industrial lights, and cables running along the walls. Isamu turned off his radio when the HumaGear suggested the signal might have been attracting attentions—and it did seem to have helped, especially after a drone had gotten a lucky hit on his leg before he’d shot it down. “How many damn floors does this building need?!” Vulcan growled, shaking his head, leaning heavily on the railing.

“They weren’t expecting an aggressive AI to commandeer control when they originally built it.” Was Horobi’s flat reply, looking ahead rather than at the human behind him. On the following landing, however, he abruptly came to a stop then, purple light glimmering in his eyes as he cycled through the blueprints. “This is the floor. This way.” Without another warning, he turned sharply and darted through a door on his right, forcing Isamu to run after him.

Finally, they crashed through a door that Horobi spun around to hold closed, ordering Isamu to hit the emergency lock—the moment Vulcan pushed the button, metal bars shot across the door, and the HumaGear released it, stepping back.

“That should buy us some time.”

“How much?”

“Depends,” Was the curt reply as Horobi turned back to the room they’d sealed themselves in, “How quickly we fix this.”

Isamu followed his gaze to the mass of monitors and equipment lining the walls. “… I hope you meant it when you said you could do it, because Yaiba’s right—I have no idea how any of this stuff works.” Horobi had already crossing the floor to one of the monitors before he finished the sentence, pulling up windows and typing—but the deepening frown on the HumaGear’s face was not a good sign. “… What’s wrong?”

“The Ark is rewriting the security protocols and commands faster than I can enter them.” Horobi paused, leaning against the edge of the terminal. “I should still have at least basic admin access, if Korenosuke’s files are to be believed, but of course without the antennae, I can’t directly connect…” He actually punch the metal in frustration. “Never thought I’d regret…” The HumaGear trailed off suddenly, as his gaze lighted across the wires running between the different stations. “Unless…”

“Antennae?” Isamu frowned. “You mean the earpieces? Is there a way we could-” He stopped at the sound of rubber tearing, and looked over to see Horobi ripping one of the cords out. “What the hell are you doing?”

“I can’t connect wirelessly,” The HumaGear explained, just as bluntly as he said everything, reaching up to yank off his head wrap and feeling the back of his head with his fingers, searching for something as he pulled more of the wire away from the wall, “But if I use one of these, I should be able to create a direct line from my system to the computer.” Whatever he sought on his head, he found at what would have been the base of his skull if he were human.

Isamu was still at a loss until Horobi pulled the cable up and moved to stab it into the spot—at that, Vulcan dove forward and grabbed his arm. “Hold up!” He tried to pull the HumaGear’s arm down, but Horobi refused to budge. “What will that do to you?!”

“At the very least, it will allow me to enter commands faster and maybe outpace the Ark. At best, I may be able to retake control.”

“You’re talking about hooking yourself up directly to the main system for the entire Hiden building. I don’t know much, but I’m pretty sure that’s too much for one HumaGear to handle—you’ll fry your whole system!”

“We have no other choice.” There was an edge to Horobi’s voice that time. He moved to plug the wire in again, but Isamu refused to let go, holding on to the HumaGear’s arm with both hands.

“Your heart-”

“-Is in Hiden’s lab!” The surprise of Horobi raising his voice made Vulcan’s grip slacken, and the HumaGear yanked free and stabbed the end of the cable into the back of his head before Isamu could stop him.

Sparks flashed around the connection, surging all the way up the remains of Horobi’s earpieces, the lights and his eyes blazing so brightly it hurt to look at. The HumaGear’s body shuddering like he’d just been electrocuted, then collapsing forward to barely catch himself on the edge of the computer terminal.

Isamu tried to reach out to him, but got zapped by the floating sparks and flinched back, resorting to yelling instead. “Murder bot! Oi! Murder bot!” There was no answer. “Horobi!”

“… I…” Even Horobi’s voice seemed to crackle with electricity, “… I’m fine… I can… I can see it…” He sounded almost in awe—but very much not fine.

But the computer screen was flashing ‘CONNECTION ESTABLISHED,’ and there was a loud cracking of metal as the door began to buckle behind them. “… Shit!” Reluctantly, Isamu pulled away, spinning around around to search for something to prop the door with, even if it was futile. Horobi stayed clinging to the side of the computer station as Vulcan collected every chair in the room to barricade the door, his head periodically shooting off more sparks, the blaring lights on his head and in his eyes blinking as he worked. When he had done all he could, Isamu repositioned in the centre of the room, readying the ShotRiser and levelling it at the door. A robotic arm burst through the metal, straining at the makeshift barricade, and he could hear more on the other side. Gritting his teeth, he prayed that the doors of Hiden’s private lab were holding better.

A high pitched ringing pierced his hearing, dizzying him for a moment. It continued for several more seconds, then cut off abruptly—the arm reaching through the door froze completely… Then fell limp. On the other side of the door, he could hear crash after crash as more drones dropped to the floor.

A sigh of relief exploded from him, and he folded forward, catching himself on his knees, unable to keep the grin off his face. “Oh… Oh thank goodness…” He dragged himself back upright, calling over his shoulder, “Hey, you did it! You… You did it!”

Nothing but silence answered him.

His relief immediately choked. “Horobi?” Spinning around, he looked frantically at where the HumaGear had been standing, bent over the edge of the terminal—to find Horobi collapsed on the concrete floor. “Horobi!” Rushing over, he dropped the ShotRiser at his side, kneeling down and lifting the HumaGear into his arms. “Hey!”

After a moment of shaking, Horobi’s eyes fluttered open, both them and the lights in his head still glowing abnormally brightly. His lips moved soundlessly for a moment, then, “… Jin…?” Isamu stared at him for a moment, then quickly fumbled for his radio with the arm not under the HumaGear’s shoulders, clicking it back on.

“-wa! Fuwa! Can you hear me? Fuwa!” Yua’s voice burst through the static, making him wince for a moment, but also flooding him with relief again.

But then he felt Horobi shift in his arms, and remembered what was happening. “Yaiba!” His voice broke a little, despite his attempt to keep it steady, “You guys all okay?”

“Fuwa!” He heard her exhale like a weight had lifted off her shoulders. “Oh, thank goodness.” Yua being Yua, however, she recovered quickly. “We’re all fine.” She assured him. “What about-” He muted the line before she could finish the question.

He looked back down at the HumaGear in his arms. Seeing that Horobi’s eyes had closed again, he shook him a little to try and wake him up. “Hey… Hey, look at me.” The too bright eyes cracked open again, looking anxiously at him. “You did it. They’re okay—he’s okay.” He squeezed Horobi’s shoulders gently. “You protected him.”

Even though the HumaGear had no natural muscles, he felt Horobi relax, despite the sparks still dancing around his mechanics. “… Thank goodness…” The HumaGear jerked slightly, wincing. “I… I still have access to the system…” His eyes flicked back and forth, the beaming light shimmering slightly again. “There’s… Something here…”

“Oi.” Isamu shook him again. “Oi, don’t overdo it.”

Horobi smirked, but it quickly turned into a grimace. “I’m afraid… It’s too late for that.” Isamu’s heart skipped, but the HumaGear didn’t wait for him to react. “… It’s a Key…?” For a moment, his eyes shone even brighter. “Transferring to Zea.” The ringing noise came again—then sputtered out abruptly. Horobi convulsed sharply in his hold, an even larger shower of sparks erupted from his head, burning Isamu’s arms and face, forcing him to close his eyes. When the heat stopped, he felt the HumaGear go still once more, sagging into him. Blinking his eyes back open, he squinted through the spots in his vision at Horobi.

The HumaGear’s eyes were no longer glowing so intensely, merely carrying some residual shimmers of violet. The lights in the remains of his earpieces still shone, the colours churning slightly like he was still processing something. He was shivering a bit, but not as if from cold—in fact, he felt unnaturally warm, like an overheated computer. Isamu tried to swallow the lump in his throat, to no avail, leaning back over to try and examine the damage, even though he knew he’d be useless to help. “… What did you…?”

“… System overload…” Horobi’s voice was tired, barely audible, edged with static, “… Shutdown… Is imminent…” He looked wearily up at Isamu, wincing. “Never thought I’d die…” There was a touch of wryness in the words, his mouth twisting into a slight sneer, “… In the arms of a human…”

A sound that was almost a chuckle burst from Isamu unwillingly, but it died quickly, consumed by the understanding of what else the HumaGear had said. It was still a struggle to keep his breathing even, and tears had begun pricking in his eyes despite himself. “… What about the arms of a friend?” Unlike Horobi, his voice was entirely capable of hoarseness, and it cracked under the overwhelming myriad of emotions weighing upon him.

There was a silence, Horobi’s eyebrows furrowing slightly in thought. “… A friend…?” After another moment, the expression gave way to a small smirk—one that was ages softer than any before it. “… That would be acceptable.” His eyes drifted back up to meet Isamu’s, and Vulcan knew he saw the tears, because the smirk shifted into a genuine, sorrowful smile. Slowly, the hand holding Isamu’s scarf released to reach up and wipe away the drops that had spilled onto Vulcan’s cheek, gazing in awe at the wetness on his fingers for a moment. “… Maybe…” Horobi’s voice was beginning to blur and lag, the static in his words becoming more prominent, his system beginning to fail, “… Maybe there is hope for peace between our kinds, after all…” His eyes and the fixtures on the sides of his head flickered, and the HumaGear’s hand dropped slowly back onto his own chest. The smile faded away into a look of heartbreak that should have been accompanied by tears of its own. “… Jin…” Horobi whispered, one last time—and all his lights went dark. The words ‘CONNECTION LOST’ flashed on the computer screen.

There was a short, heavy silence as Isamu waited, just in case, to see if, by some miracle, he would restart—but nothing happened. Finally, Vulcan broke, bowing his head into the HumaGear’s chest, shoulders shaking with choking, deceptively quiet sobs.

He didn’t let the outburst last long. Taking deep breaths to pull himself together, he hauled his head back up, prying the arm not supporting the HumaGear’s shoulders up to reach over and close Horobi’s eyes, hand moving to cup the HumaGear’s face for a moment afterwards. “Rest now.” He managed to croak softly. “We’ll take care of the rest.”

Footsteps made him look toward the door. “Fuwa!” Yua’s voice was half welcome, half terrifying, as he heard the banging and crashing of the dead drones being pushed aside—and soon, the door burst open, and Valkyrie rushed in. “There you are! Listen, Zea started-” She broke off sharply, freezing in her tracks when she saw the scene—him staring despairingly up at her, tears still in his eyes, cradling the HumaGear’s body in his arms. “… Oh.”

In a wild flurry of steps, Aruto, then Izu appeared at her sides—to also skid to a halt to stare when they saw. Aruto clung to the doorframe for balance, and Izu looked even more rigid than usual, eyes wide, and both stunned into silence.

“Horobi?!” The young, anxious voice from behind the others made Isamu’s heart drop right through the floor. It fell even further as Jin pushed to the front, panic and worry already clinging to his features. It felt like a knife in the gut when the young HumaGear’s expression morphed into a look of pure horror. “Horobi!” With a shriek that broke the limits of human hearing, Jin dove forward to crash to his knees across from Isamu. “Horobi!” He didn’t so much as look up at Vulcan, first grabbing Horobi’s shoulders to shake him, then pulling him out of Isamu’s arms and into his own, clutching his father to his chest with more than human strength, dissolving into tearless sobs, burying his face in Horobi’s hair.

Isamu took a few more deep breaths to try and keep himself collected, then took a moment to lean forward and grab the computer cable still plugged into the base of Horobi’s head, yanking it out—there was no reaction, not even a single spark, as the prongs left the HumaGear’s head. Tossing the cord aside, Isamu grabbed the edge of the computer terminal, dragging himself to his feet, and tried to make his way around Jin, toward the door. He only made it a few steps before his leg gave out and he stumbled, but his movement had broken the spell of shock—Aruto and Yua both moved to catch him before he fell, the Hiden President stepping closer on his injured side, pulling Isamu’s arm over his shoulders to support him while Yua’s hand stayed on his other arm. Izu cut around them, walking over to kneel beside Jin and place a hand on his shoulder, even though he gave no notice, just continued weeping hysterically over Horobi’s body.

“… It’s not your fault.” Aruto’s voice was quiet, watching the trouble in Isamu’s expression with undeniable sympathy—but Isamu didn’t have the strength to be angry at it.

“Leave it.” He grunted darkly, instead—but when Aruto tugged on his arm, he allowed the other Kamen Rider to help him from the room, leaving Yua and Izu to see to the newly orphaned HumaGear.

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I actually should have written more to this before posting it, but… YOLO?

… Is that even still a thing?