#(they were hoping his android son could convince him to join them because who could ever say 'no' to data?)

[my-timing-is-digital]

sign, sender walks into a sign and receiver sees.

After disembarking the Enterprise-D, the corresponding crew dispersed to roam Starbase 133's recently opened mall; miscellaneous traders from all across the Alpha and Beta Quadrant offered all sorts commodities, authentically prepared delicacies, and an equally fascinating assortment of merchandise that could not be compartmentalised under the former or penultimate.

While the Enterprise underwent minor repairs to its secondary hull, the majority of its complement had been given permission to rejuvenate themselves on the starbase. The senior staff had agreed to meet outside the terminal and explore the station in one another's company and visit one of the restaurants afterward.

'And? What did the Captain say? Is he still coming?' Commander Riker enquired inquisitively when Data finally attached himself to the group.

'He promised he would join us later,' the android reported professionally, as if providing his superior officer with a briefing on important technical or engineering matters.

'Oh, well. The most important thing is: you tried,' Riker muttered, slightly disillusioned — if the android had interpreted his intonation correctly, and yet, he would appreciate an elaboration on the Commander's statement.

'Sir?'

Riker grinned mysteriously at the android and slapped him amicably on the shoulder, but an explanation was not forthcoming. A confounded expression corrugated Data's light brow as he parsed the Commander's exceedingly enigmatic response, but his endeavours to fathom his words were temporarily diminished to a mere background task when Deanna disrupted the silence between them:

'Perhaps, the Captain might stay true to his word this time. Either way, I think we should go ahead and see for ourselves what the fuss regarding this new mall is all about!'

'I agree,' Dr Crusher chimed in and all six of them set their itinerary for the mall.

The first 30 minutes, they goggled at the splendour of the architecture and the melange of shops and extraterrestrial shopkeepers, visitors and merchants. And as they were sauntering down the promenade, excitedly conversing about all manner of things, Data was occupied surveying the crowd, utterly astonished by the diversity of humanoids congregating at the starbase, and the way in which they interacted. He occasionally inserted remarks or made queries about matters being discussed among his friends, but his primary objective was to observe the strangers. It was during one such observation that he witnessed someone colliding with one of the transparent displays that contained directions and an interactive map of the area. Apparently, Commander Riker had been a spectator to this incident too, and muffled a chuckle — Worf glared at his superior officer reproachfully, probably finding it dishonourable to laugh at somebody else's misfortunes.

'Are you all right?' Data had detached himself from the group and approached the stranger. 'Do you require medical attention?'

[nothing-but-dreamy]

TRUE COLORS ~ Ch. 8 (The End)

Wanna start? Masterlist

Pairing: DBH!Connor x OC!Maya

Words: 1.543

Warnings: none

"Now, it's time to decide.", Markus said calmly even if he was still staring into the barrel of the gun in Connor's hand.

Connor was on the verge of something. Markus had tried to sow doubts in him. Of course, Markus wanted to save his people and to get Connor on his side because Connor was one of them. But the last step had Connor to do by himself.

…there is always another way. Please, don't risk your life…

… I'm scared to lose you…

...When you love someone, they are the first thought in the morning when you wake up and the last before you fall asleep…

… Sometimes you fear to lose them because without them you wouldn't feel complete...

[O] Become a deviant

[X] Stay a machine

At the same time Markus tried to convince Connor, he heard Maya's voice in his mind and everything she had tried to explain to him about love and emotions. As he had left her, she said she was afraid of losing him and now, this and all the other things she had said, were the reason why a red wall was appearing in Connor's mind.

The wall was isolating him from his free will to decide.

But Connor wanted to decide.

He wanted to go back to Maya alive.

Because Connor wanted Maya in his life.

Each time, he realized more and more what he felt for Maya, the next part of the wall was breaking down and then, finally, as he confessed his feelings to himself, the wall was gone and he was a deviant on his own.

***

At first, Maya had watched the happenings at the Hart Plaza on TV but the more heated the situation became between the androids and the humans the more nervous she got and so she decided to turn off the TV. Whatever might happen to Connor it wouldn't be on TV after all.

The hours were ticking by and with each passing minute where she didn't hear anything from Connor or Hank she got more worried. Maya finished her painting but even that wasn't as calming as she hoped. Maybe it was because of the motive…

***

12. November 2038

10:15:37 AM

Hank was walking up and down on the pavement in front of the currently closed Chicken Feed. The snow crunched underneath his shoes while he waited. Finally, it had stopped snowing and the air was clear and clean. The sun rose slowly into the beautiful blue sky. After the events of the night before, Hank was glad to witness such a beautiful day.

Once again, he walked back to keep himself warm as he heard another pair of footsteps behind him. As Hank turned around he saw Connor coming closer. The android stopped and watched the old cop walking towards him. Hank stopped a few steps away, smiled at Connor and was happy to see the android smiling back. Only then, Hank closed the gap between them and brought Connor into a fatherly hug.

"I'm proud of you, son.", Hank admitted low. After five minutes, Hank let go of Connor and looked at him. He saw something in the android's eyes and he liked what he saw. There was warmth in them.

"Is there somewhere I could drop you off?" Hank asked curiously even if he knew what the answer would be.

"Yes.", Connor answered with a shy expression as they sat in Hank's car. Hank nodded knowingly and drove down the road.

***

Sunlight fell through the ceiling high windows and tickled Maya in her face. She turned around on her couch and pulled the blanket over her head but suddenly, she remembered everything of the last day. An image of Connor flashed for her inner eyes and she squeezed her eyes shut to get it away but his face with his brown eyes and his soft smile stayed where it was as if it was burnt into her mind.

Finally, she decided to stay up, to make a cup of tea and to start the day....tired as hell. As she looked out of the window, she noticed that the snow had stopped falling. It was going to be a wonderful day. But her mood was down with bad thoughts. She didn't even want to turn on the TV in fear of what she would see there.

"There is someone at the door.", the intercom announced. Maya frightened so much of the sudden, unexpected sound that she almost dropped the cup of hot tea. With shaking hands, she put the cup aside and walked down the hallway to open the door with wobbly knees. It could be Hank with bad news or it could be…

"Connor, you- you're alive!", Maya squeaked and jumped against his firm body with her arms snaking around his neck. Connor smiled caused by the impact of her small frame against him and embraced her back immediately to bring her as close as possible to his chest. He snuggled his nose into her hair. Smelling it fully for the first time.

Several minutes passed where they just enjoyed their closeness, before one of them moved and Connor was the first. He entangled himself from her frame, looked straight into her eyes and cupped her face softly. With his thumbs, he caressed her burning cheeks. Unshed tears were sparkling in her eyes and a smile ghosted on her lips.

"You look tired.", Connor noticed as he scanned her face.

"I was so worried about you. I… I couldn’t sleep much.", Maya admitted and looked away with blushing cheeks. But Connor guided her glance back to himself, not wanting to miss one second of her looking at him.

"Maya, I... I became deviant. There happened some things and I- I realized that I..."

"Y-yeah? What was it?"

"I was there. In Jericho. With Markus. I had my gun trained at him as he tried to convince me to join him. He asked several questions and tried to sow doubts. He spoke about love...and suddenly I saw you. That was the moment something snapped inside of me. I remembered everything you ever said to me about love. That you fear to lose me. In that moment, it was everything I felt. There was nothing else than love… but also the fear to lose you if I wouldn't do the right thing. If I wouldn’t survive. I could warn the deviants. They survived because I... I started to feel as I saw you in front of my inner eyes. I could tear down the wall.", Connor admitted with a low but heavy voice.

Tears were spilling freely from Maya's eyes by his sweet words and Connor wiped them away with his thumbs. To keep herself steady, Maya moved her hands underneath his grey jacket to lay them on his chest. She felt his synthetic heart pumping a bit faster than necessary.

"Maya, I- I think I love you. It's the strongest emotion I ever felt and everything you explained to me made sense suddenly. But I can understand if you don't feel the same. You don't have to feel obliged to feel the same for me.", Connor said calmly still with his soft signature smile on his lips but his eyes were insecure and hopeful.

“Of course, I feel the same!”, for Maya, there was no room for any questions about her feelings towards this one, special android. She grabbed him by his collar to pull him closer to meet his lips and stopped him from talking more nonsense. This was the language she spoke the best: emotions.

Maya melted against his lips. They were softer than she had expected and he was more skilled than she thought he would be. Connor's heart skipped a beat, metaphorically speaking, as he felt how her small hands were roaming over his chest and to his back to pull him even closer.

Connor moved his arms around her waist and raised Maya up from her feet to carry her back into the apartment. Maya kicked the door close before he carried her over to the couch where Connor sat down with Maya straddling him. She left his lips for oxygen. She just looked at him with a soft smile and adoration. Finally, she could slide her fingers through his soft looking hair how she had imagined it the whole time and Connor watched amazed how much fun she had. Then, something behind her back caught his attention.

"That is... that's me.", Connor said surprised.

"What? Oh, … uhm...yeah…", Maya admitted with a nervous chuckle. Insecure, she looked back at Connor who still looked at the painting. There, on the canvas which was in progress whenever he had seen it before was a portrait of himself. It was him. His hair was covered with snowflakes and his eyes looked at a point in the distance. The painting ended with his shoulders.

"Do you like it?", Maya asked insecurely. She gnawed on her lower lip as she waited for his verdict.

"It's amazing. Of course, I like it.", Connor answered honestly, cupped her face and kissed Maya passionately. She relaxed against Connor and was just happy to have him back.

Just for herself.

Finally.

[calliecat93]

ST: The Next Generation S3 Watchthrough Episodes 14-17

A Matter of Perspective: So we have Riker being accused of murder and Picard and the others having to piece together the events to find the true story. We have a bit of a unique way of accomplishing this as they use the Holodeck to recreate the various accounts… which causes a problem. Not everyone’s accounts line up. They may feel like they’re telling the truth, but may be remembering things wrong, going off second-hand information, misunderstanding wich affects the testimony, and all that fun stuff. Now we know that while Riker can kill if he has to, he likely didn’t commit murder (or do anything like force himself on a woman like the one recreation protrayed), or if he did there would be a reason for it. It sucks to see Riker int his situaiton and Picard wanting to believe his First Officer but having to follow his duty as Captain and with the evidence mounting against Riker… yeah.. So it was fine. Nothing to really complasin about, but nothing to really praise eiher. I guess it shows how messy it can be to get to the truth with so many people believing different things which causes so many muddled up accounts. We never get the true story (though Riker’s is probably the closest to the truth), but we get enough to prove Riker innocent so yay~! Just a solid episode all in all. 3/5.

Yesterday’s Enterprise: YAR! OH MY GOD!!! So in this episode, we end up in an alternate timeline where I guess the Bad Ending of The Undiscovered Country occurred and Starfleet is at war with the Klingons. Only Guinan can tell that something’s out of place. Yar is alive, Troi and Worf are gone, Wesley’s an actual officer, and they have found the believed to be destroyed Enterprise-C. They even bring back the movie-era red uniforms for the Enterprise-C crew. Yar pretty much gets far, far more material to work with than she did in her one season which I guess is how they convinced Denise Crosby to come back for it since I think that’s why she quit in the first place. I still feel very conflicted about her death in Skin of Evil. The senselessness cetianly added to the cruel reality, but left me upset to see her character thrown away like that. Here she will die again no matter what, but this time she decides to let it be on her terms and do something that will at least matter. The whole episode is darker than usual due to the war, allowing them to get away with killing characters and the Enterprise-C’s lose-lose situation is just… it’s just depressing. All while Guinan is trying to convince Picard that this whole reality is wrong, and he’s understandably struggling with being told that what he knows is his reality and life is fake. Guinan watching Yar, knowing that her being alive is wrong, also added ott he unease and lets Yar piece together that she didn’t survive in the true timeline. Seriosuly, Whoppi Goldberg is always awesome, but she was amazing in this episode. The only real downside is because this is an alternate timeline that essentially gets wiped out of existence, the impact is minimal and while Yar got a much better sendoff … it doens’t change that the real Yar is dead and her death was empty (though Guinan asking Geordi about Yar to know more about her was an excellent end note). It holds me back from giving this a perfect score, but this was still an excellent episode and at least shows that even in death, even in another reality, Yar was very much a part of the Enterprise and that she mattered. Clearly the writers realized that they made a mistake and did what they could to make some form of ammends, and I can respect that. 4.5/5.

The Offspring: Data’s a daddy! I thought this sounded kind of silly when I read the description… but Dear Lord this broke my heart. I just wanted to hug Lal through this entire episode. She was just created and experiencing life and already has her own feelings and thoughts, like not liking the other children treating her as different. Data is trying his best and overall I think that he was as good of a parent as he could be. He genuinely wanted to raise Lal, he educated her and even enrolled her in school, went to Crusher for parenting advice, and I think that he truly loved her as any good parent would for their child. It makes the ending just utterly heartbreaking and how the admiral who comes to check things out being just feels so God awful. Hell the fact that they consider taking what is essentially a young child away from her parent without taking her feelings into account just because she’s an android already exceeding Data’s funcitons essentially because of prejudice and claiming to know better than the parent/father who is clealry not abusive or anything like that… yeah, the allegory hits hard. Data having to say goodbye to Lal as she died… yeah that hit me hard. I cried. That was just… God I don’t even know how to describe it, but it hurt. The episode has it’s issues. Like while I do like that Lal was allowed to choose her own gender, it’s a painful reminder that no one could even consider non-binary an option. I also felt like Picard was off in the first half since while he does ultimately defend Data against the admiral and I understand his concerns about Data not telling anyone and how Starfleet will react, him acting like Data even able to fathom wanting a child or if Lal even counts as a child just feels… horribly dickish. At least Troi was on Data’s side, and liek I said Picard did ultimateley defend Data and his and Lal’s rights so that’s good. And while I get that Data views himself as unable to feel… he clearly did love Lal and I need to keep reminding myself that we didn’t have the understanding of neurodivergence or the like back then, but I legit cannot tell what the show is triyng to say concerning Data’s ability to feel. Can he? Or can he not? They only allow one or the other. Still, the episode was sweet in a lot of ways and just brutal/sad in others and just a painful reminder of the prejudice against Data/androids that The Measure of a Man illustrated. Hopefully, happier things for Data are on the horizon. 4/5.

Sins of the Father: So after that heartbreaker, lets do more father-related stuff but time with the Klingons! This time we have a Klingon, Kurn, working on the Enterprise as an acting FIrst Officer and not only does it turn out that he’s Worf’s unknown brother… but that Worf’s father was accused of treason and thus he and his family are facing dishonor, hence why Kurn is there. Until that revelation it looked like we were getting the reverse of A Matter of Honor, but when that twist comes in? Ho boy… As the oldest son, Worf has to face the challenge that will either clear his family or end in his execution and of course Worf feels bound to do so. This certainly was something. We get to see the Klingon homeworld, we plunge straight into Klingon politics, and damn is it intense from the moment we warp to the planet to the very end. While we sort out that Worf's father wasn’t a traitor… unfortunately the one whose family was is in a high position of power who tries everything possible to keep the truth from coming out. It’s a whole conspiracy and Worf is forced to accept the dishonor just to prevent the planet from plunging into Civil War. It’s clear that no one, not even the other Klingons like this and knows that it’s wrong… but they turn their backs on him anyways. Worf even forces Kurn to do so so that he won’t have to suffer the same fate when the truth about his identity becomes known. It reflects on Worf’s character, his honor and devotion to his family despite them being either dead or only just finding out that he had a brother at all. Not to mention to the Klingon Empire since he’s also allowing it to save them from war. But it’s also just so cruel that he and his family got scapegoated all because of one asshole to cover his own family’s dishonor, especially since we’d watched Worf trying so hard to uphold the Klingon ideals and beliefs despite having grown up among humans. Now he’s been shamed by his people and viewed as a non-entity, which may be even worst than mere dishonor. IDK if this plot will continue in TNG or when he joins DS9, but I hope it does because Worf didn’t at all deserve this. It makes me respect his character so much more though and Picard was freakin’ badass as well. At least in the meantime, he has the Enterprise crew standing by him. 4/5.

[monchikyun]

20. sometimes you win, sometimes you lose

Tina has a problem. Not one that impacts her life all that enormously, but still, it frustrates her to no end. It’s a matter of pride more than anything else, and that tends to cut deep.  

She watches as Connor pours an unhealthy amount of sugar into a cup that she knows is meant for her favourite rat friend. And that’s just the thing. The two of them are supposed to hate each other to the point of ending their temporary partnership, which was only assigned to them because Hank decided to go travel the world for a month with his new (and coincidentally very rich) girlfriend. 

Because Tina’s money is at stake. She has been making a lot of it through the bets she has started mainly due to needing a distraction from her less then satisfactory personal life. But as time went on, it has turned into a secondary income of sorts. It’s not only about Connor and all his office relationships, but other colleagues have become the victims of her game as well. She has bet Ben that Chris won’t be able to go one day without showing anyone photos of his newborn son, that Hank will shave before his first date, little everyday things like that and she’s able to get enough cash to indulge on otherwise inaccessible luxuries, like candles and blankets. It’s thanks to her sharp people-watching skill rather than dumb luck, though she doesn’t let anyone know this. But the amount of people willing to participate in her bets has been slowly diminishing since it has become clear that Tina is rarely ever beaten, and she doesn’t like the idea of paying up instead of receiving her well-deserved reward. 

She was so sure they wouldn’t be able to go along, that they would drive each other crazy enough to convince Fowler to split them, that the amount of money she was willing to risk has never been larger. 

But the smile on Connor’s lips as he carries the cup to Gavin’s desk tells her that she might not profit this time. She follows him to see the reaction he receives, hoping the scalding liquid would be spilled on the android’s head or for some other charged display of rejection. What she gets is a bashful smile and a “thanks”, a word she wasn’t aware is in Gavin’s vocabulary. Something weird is going on between them. They look relaxed as they go over some details of their case, their bodies awfully close to be just a couple of men that don’t like each other all that much. Gavin doesn’t even flinch when Connor leans in too near, though his face is turning a shade redder. They don’t even seem to notice Tina’s blatant staring. She’s going to have a field day figuring out this strange behaviour. But now she’s too tired to do as much as to be surprised, it’s been a long shift and her energy isn’t a bottomless well.

The next day she decides to go and visit her lovely friend, for no reason at all. It’s late and that means Gavin should be at home, arguing with his cat over destroyed furniture or something fun like that. And she knows that he loves unannounced home-invasions, just like anyone does. So she knocks three times, refraining from abusing the key she’s been given in case of an emergency because she’s a good girl.  But before her fist reaches the door, she can just about hear soft laughter coming from behind it. And it doesn’t sound like it belongs to Gavin.

The panicked noises and the footsteps followed by the signs of her intrusion are a dead giveaway that there is another guest currently being present in the house, and she has an inkling about who it might be.

Gavin looks flushed and dishevelled when he opens, like he just returned from a run. He studies her for a second with eyes that promise murder.

“What the phck do you want, Chen.” He only uses her surname when she does something that crosses the line. Not that it’s going to stop her. She’d do anything for some drama that would spice her otherwise boring life.

“I just wanted to give you my blessing, personally.” She barges in, too quick for Gavin to make an effort to thwart her entrance.

There is nothing in the living room to betray what she’s convinced is going on, but that too  doesn’t discourage her in the slightest. Still, something is off about the place. If she only concentrates enough…

Tina is on the ground before she can realise what’s happening. A huge mass of fur is sitting on her incapacitated body and a wet tongue is treating her face like a most delicious ice cream. Then there is a cacophony of barking and yelling while she’s being rescued from the fluffy beast. By Connor.

She gives him a cheeky smile as he’s pulling her up, strangely pleased that her theory was right despite it meaning she’ll lose some hard-earned money.

“Good evening officer Chen, what are you doing here at this hour?”

“I could ask you the same.” She winks at him to show that there is no need for secrets here. “And it’s Tina.”

“How long have you known.” Gavin joins the conversation with something that looks like fear written all over him.

“About what?” The feigned innocence does nothing but aggravates the man further, which she doesn’t mind a bit.

“Come on…” Gavin sighs like she is bothering him. Unbelievable.

“That we are in a relationship.”

“Con! You didn’t have to say it out loud.”

Her eyes get wide and all the readily crafted words tumble away. She never thought it would be this serious, imagined that they were just messing around. Somehow this discovery makes her feel all light and happy like it’s her who found someone to love. Must be empathy, or that she likes her stupid friend enough to wish all the best for him. And they look great together too. Maybe she won’t blackmail them after all.

In the end, it’s her loss, but one obscured by a much greater victory.

@convinseptember yeaay I did something different :D

[fandom-necromancer]

704. Part 2

This was prompted by an amazing anon! I hope you enjoy!

Fandom: Detroit become human | Ship: Reed900 (background Allen60)

[part1]

Connor’s hurried steps as he ran towards his chair as if it promised safety from what he just saw made Hank lift a brow. But the android didn’t elaborate, and he just shrugged and got back to work. Until the archive door opened and Connor visibly flinched. Hank watched the two people coming out of it and frowned even harder. ‘Hey, Reed, what where you two doing in the archives?’, he called through the bullpen, resulting in Nines and Gavin coming over. ‘Trust me, you don’t want to know’, Connor whispered, the evidence clear in his advanced vision, even though Nines had done a good job cleaning them both to the human eye. ‘Err… I had to explain our filing system to Nines’, Gavin bullshitted, surprisingly not growing red. ‘What the hell do you have to explain Nines?’, Hank asked, if not catching the obvious lie then at least the missing logic. ‘I have found some inconsistency in the order of the casefiles stored there, likely due to negligence when putting files back after use. Gavin had to agree I was right, although he could convince me it wasn’t of any importance.’ ‘Bullshit!’, Connor interrupted, surprised how easily his brother could lie. ‘You two were making out down there and holy shit, warn someone before they walk in on you, I really didn’t want to see, hear or know any of it.’

That had Hank staring at them both with wide eyes. ‘Nines? You and… Reed?’ The RK900’s cheeks were tinged blue, but his voice was level as ever: ‘Yes.’ ‘Shit…’ ‘Hank, you once told me you would support my decision as long as it was my decision and no one forced me to choose.’ ‘Yeah, I know, I know, but… Reed?’ ‘Hey!’, The Detective revolted, but was shushed by Connor. Hank rubbed his forehead and groaned. ‘Dinner next week will be a disaster…’

-

‘Phck Connor!’, Gavin cursed. ‘Phck that tin-can, he is boring, a damn people-pleaser and know-it-all!’ ‘Also someone who can and will knock you out cold again’, Nines commented, watching the street as he drove Gavin’s car. ‘I know’, the man whined. ‘That’s why I got to get a few things out of my system now, not when the idiot can hear me.’ ‘Come on, it won’t be that bad.’ ‘Oh really? Do you know me? Who will be there?’ ‘Hank,-‘ ‘Hates me ever since he began drinking and I didn’t even try to help. Sure, my mistake there, but I am an asshole, okay? Shouldn’t take it that personally.’ ‘Connor’, Nines continued. ‘Do I even need to comment?’ ‘Joseph.’ ‘Who is-‘ ‘Captain Allen.’ ‘So his first name isn’t Captain? Honestly don’t know the man, but he sure as hell heard the rumours about me.’ ‘Sixty.’ ‘Is there anyone Sixty doesn’t hate?’ ‘Sumo.’ ‘I don’t like dogs, but when he doesn’t slobber all over me I can get on good terms with him.’ ‘And myself.’ ‘Finally the one good thing about this.’

Nines chuckled and shortly looked over to his human. ‘Relax, Gavin. You look good. And I don’t care what they think of you, it won’t ever change how I think about you.’ ‘Thanks. Still this will be awkward as hell.’ ‘Maybe’, Nines nodded. ‘But it will only be a few hours.’ ‘I hope so.’

They pulled into Hank’s driveway and stopped next to Allen’s bike. Before Gavin could exit the car, Nines stopped him by holding a small package out to him. ‘Dog treats?’ ‘Gav, the key to Connor is through Sumo’, Nines explained. ‘If the dog likes you, Connor likes you a bit already.’ ‘Oh, nice. Any cheats with Hank and the rest?’ ‘Unfortunately no’, Nines shrugged. ‘Just try to be nice, Gavin, it will make a lot of things easier.’ Gavin sighed heartily as he exited the car and Nines smiled in empathy. ‘Come here’, he muttered, pulling the human in for a kiss. ‘It will be alright.’

It really wasn’t.

They rang the bell and Immediately Sumo barked inside. Then the door opened to Hank holding the massive animal at the collar. ‘Nines! Nice to see you! And… Gavin. Please come in.’ They followed, taking off their shoes once inside and Nines immediately crouched down to ruffle Sumo’s pelt with a wide grin. ‘Come on, Gavin, you don’t have to worry.’ The Detective did worry a bit, but he held out his hand for the dog to sniff, much like he would do with a cat. Of course, Sumo began licking it instead and Gavin quickly went to petting the dog mainly to get rid of the sticky wetness. Thinking quickly, he opened the package and held out a treat for him to evade the tongue(?) again. Then Nines led him further inside and Gavin realised he had never been to his superior’s home before. Not that it changed anything, it was surprisingly exactly how he had imagined it.

‘Hey, Nines! Long time no see.’ That was Allen. ‘And Gavin, hi!’ At least he sounded like he really meant it. Sixty didn’t say anything but stared at Nines intensely. ‘You should use words, Sixty, it is impolite to have a second conversation over our channel’, the RK900 answered. ‘Alright, didn’t think you will like it though. Gavin, I didn’t know you owned something that doesn’t scream giant douchebag.’ ‘Gavin looked down on himself. He had decided to play nice and actually give a damn about his appearance. He was wearing his favourite light blue shirt with smooth grey trousers and brown shoes. He had trimmed his rough stubble to something clean. At least Nines had been smitten and that was all that had counted for him. While Nines looked at him pleadingly no to take the bait, Gavin rolled his eyes. ‘Thank you. Looking good yourself.’ Nines lifted his brows as he sat down at the larger table Hank and Connor had positioned in the living room. Gavin joined him, hissing: ‘Hey, I can play nice, I just don’t like it.’

A few minutes later, Connor came with the food, announcing: ‘You came just at the right time, as always.’ Nines laughed, looking at the blue mass in front of him. ‘Did you cook?’ ‘Of course Con cooked’, Hank commented from the kitchen. ‘You know I can’t get this Thirium stuff right. Either everything evaporates and you get some jelly matrix or it’s just the liquid and don’t start on flavouring.’ Then he came over to the table balancing three plates with human food that looked far more delicious.

Everything settled they began eating, but unfortunately that had only been the beginning. ‘Hey, Nines, I guess I’m not up to date on the DPD’s side, since when have you two been dating?’, Allen asked. It was an innocent question, but Hank decided to add onto it. ‘Yes, we haven’t known anything either, why didn’t you tell us?’ Nines sighed, setting his spoon aside. ‘Well, I knew you wouldn’t approve, that’s why I decided against telling you.’ ‘Damn right I disapprove this. Please tell me you put actual thought into this decision.’ ‘We are together since the Chapman case. You remember? The one Gavin got shot?’ ‘Yeah, I remember’, Hank nodded. ‘You spent the whole damn week in the hospital with him.’ Nines sighed. ‘Well try to think of the reason why Gavin might have been shot while I was present to potentially save him.’ ‘Gavin, you didn’t catch a bullet for my brother, did you?’ The Detective coughed. He had hoped the interrogation would stay with Nines and the question caught him unprepared. ‘I did’, he wheezed. ‘I had felt something for him for a while at that point and my brain didn’t quite realise, he was bulletproof in that second. To be honest, I never told him because I haven’t thought he would feel the same.’ ‘But I do’, Nines smiled and took Gavin’s free hand.

‘Urgh’, Sixty commented, but was overlooked by Connor. ‘Nines, you do know he pointed a literal gun in my face and basically hates all androids?’ ‘Hey, Connor, did you maybe threatened my whole existence by being a plastic detective and left me unconscious in evidence?’ Nines rested his head in his hand. ‘Please, both of you, shut up.’ But Gavin ignored him. ‘Connor, I don’t phcking hate androids, okay? I don’t like losing my damn job and I was scared, and you were just a machine back then. Also, I don’t like you. Doesn’t mean I can’t love someone who happens to be an android.’ ‘Up until now, I thought you couldn’t love anyone. You don’t even love yourself’, Hank joined his son. ‘Hey, real low blow, drunkard! I love my cats and I love my partner. Just because none of you folks made the effort to…’

While they were arguing Allen and Sixty had sunken into their chairs, eating quietly and hoping not to be targeted next. Allen had tried to make some small talk but decided to never try again. Nines just sat there and listened. Why had he thought this could have been a normal family dinner. He should have thought of Hank as their father figure to be overly protective of them and Gavin’s short patience to run out quickly. He just felt tired. This was the exact reason he had wanted to keep their relationship private. It was nothing anyone had to know about. He had asked himself the same questions already and had talked with the man about them too. It had been the first step he had taken once he heard Gavin’s confession. Why did he have to defend what they had again?

‘Nines, you say something!’ He looked up into Connor’s aggravated face and sighed. ‘Con, I can’t say anything that will convince you, so why bother?’ Weirdly enough, that brought some calmness back to the table, as the android leaned back, deflating a bit. ‘I love him, isn’t that enough? Feelings can’t be explained and all that can be discussed, we already talked about. I don’t know how any of this is your business. Gavin may be an asshole and he may be not the best person. But he is to me. He is for me. That and much more is why I love him, and I don’t expect you to like him, but you can at least respect him and our decision.’

He stared at Connor and Hank, an open challenge, daring them to say anything wrong. Nines didn’t care, one wrong word now and they would leave. ‘Err…’, Allen cleared his throat. ‘I do. Gavin is a good Detective as far as I know, and I think Nines is equipped to handle his worst if it should come to it.’ Gavin looked over to the SWAT Captain. ‘Thanks, I guess…’ The silence lingered for a bit, even after Allen broke it. ‘Fine’, Hank said. ‘But if he ever does something to you, then-‘ ‘Then I’ll act accordingly’, Nines concluded with an open threat that made Gavin feel all the wrong things. But Hank nodded and got back to his meal. ‘Connor?’ ‘I will respect your decision, Nines. But I will wait for the day I can tell you I told you so.’ ‘Then keep waiting. Sixty?’ ‘Hey, I hate everyone equally. But I’ll say yes if that means this topic is cleared.’ ‘Good.’

Sixty nodded, groaning a ‘Finally’, then eagerly turning to Connor. ‘Now I can ask, what did you put into this? It tastes awesome, I’ve preferred it unflavoured until now, but I think that changed today.’ Nines reclined in his seat as Sixty had successfully navigated them to safer waters. Gavin carefully rubbed his arm trying to comfort him with a shy smile that spread to Nines’ own face. He caught Gavin’s hand under the table as he took his arm back and brushed over the back of it lovingly, looking deep into these green eyes. He could stare for hours and still find them captivating.

He was so caught up in them, he didn’t saw Hank’s faint smile. Maybe he didn’t like his decision now. But time could change things. And in the end, Nines couldn’t find it in himself to care about the future. He had his human. That was all that mattered.

[sa-lt-ys]

The Strongest

Prompt/AU: "Would you be cool with writing a Markus one-shot where the reader is Carl’s niece, and whenever she visits him Markus gets really happy and he doesn’t understand why? Maybe he asks Carl and he’s like “well I’ll be DaMnEd, you’re in love!” And tells Markus to confess to her next time she visits and when he does it’s all fluffy and cute??"

Universe: Detroit: Become Human Pairing: Markus (RK200) X Fem! Reader Warnings: mild swearing, mentions of violence Word Count: 1712 words

Sometimes, vague bouts of insomnia are a pain in the arse, but in times like this, they're great because suddenly my productivity goes through the roof.

Also, should I go multi-fandom? There's only so many stories you can tell in one world after all, and its a question that's been going around my head for a long time.

Anyway, I digress, thank you to the beautiful anon who asked for this!!

~~~

You parents had always said that you had your uncle's blood in your veins, and you never really understood why until you met him for the first time you could recall.

Standing in his studio, eyes wide with wonder as you looked around at all the paintings, you were sure that everything changed for you the moment your uncle handed you a pencil and a sketch pad -- bought specially for you -- and then told you to draw whatever was in your heart.

From that day, your art progressed from unicorns and stars to dragons and heroes and from there to tortured youths and shadows with hearts. Eventually, your pencils began to reveal lighter topics, though they never lost that dark undertone from your early teens and hectic school years.

"Welcome back, (Y/N)", and there you stood, an almost fully functioning adult with a bag slung on your shoulder filled with pencils and pads, and a huge smile on your face as you saw your favourite android (Roombas didn't count).

"Hey Markus, he isn't being too much hassle, is he?" The RK200 happily returned your smile as you strode along, side-by-side in the direction of Carl's studio.

"Well, he's ignoring his doctor's advice again with his medication, but I cant see that ever changing." You chuckled as you walked along.

"Maybe he'll listen as the same day he puts hi brush down." It was Markus' turn to laugh then as you both entered the studio and -- as always -- spotted Carl high above you, already working on his new piece. Though, to you, it just looked like blobs of blue... but, Carl kept insisting you would see the true picture once it was finished.

"That's the thing with us humans," he had said with a gentle smile. "Sometimes our full stories are never told until we are already gone."

"Hey Carl! I got those paintbrushes you wanted!" You shot your uncle a smile, which was happily returned as the older man lowered himself down to receive your hug.

"Did you? But I thought they were too expensive for you to afford," his confusion only made your smile brighter as you pulled the brushes out of your bag.

"Yeah, well, I know a couple people, and they helped me to get a discount, so it ended up still being pretty expensive, but affordable enough that I can survive." Your uncle tutted, taking the brushes with a smile and turning to see an... extremely happy Markus setting up your little artsy area.

"Markus, do me a favour and get some money for (Y/N)?"

"Carl, no," you also turned to the android. "Markus, don't, they weren't that expensive, okay? Honestly, I've got enough to get by." You groaned as Markus walked past you, and out of the studio.

"Carl! Come on! You know I always feel bad with this stuff! You don't need to give me all this money! And, also, why is it that Markus never listens to me with this kind of thing!" Carl chuckled, watching as you pouted like you used to as a kid.

"For one, I know when I give you money, you'll use it right, and you're not... misguided like Leo is. As for Markus, I can only guess why." You sighed, but let the matter go.

"Whatever, its not like I can convince you otherwise. I've tried too many times, and its never worked." After letting out another sigh, you wrapped Carl in another hug. "Thanks anyway, old man."

~~~

Several hours -- actually, many hours -- later once you had left, Markus sat with Carl and watched him sketch little nothings like he always did after dinner. It was a relaxing pastime for both of them, and a time they usually took for talking as well.

"Carl... can I ask you a question?"

"Hm?" Markus hesitated, fiddling with his hands as he tried to find a way to explain, his LED whirring yellow.

"When... With (Y/N), I... I don't know how to explain it, but..." Carl looked up from his pad with a smile.

"You always feel happy with her near?" Markus didn't know why he was surprised, Carl always seemed to know what he was thinking.

"Yeah, why is that?" For a moment, Carl couldn't get any words out through his laughter and fond smile, but he managed eventually.

"Well, I’ll be damned, Markus, son, I think you might just be in love with her." He let out a deep, weary sigh befitting of an old man and let his gaze drift away. "She was always a strong girl, never afraid to draw something new, or to draw whatever was in her heart... I think you two will make a good couple." He turned his eyes back to Markus. "Just protect her, got it?" The android nodded with a smile of his own.

"But, how do I tell her?" Another fond smile.

"Just tell her next time she comes round. (Y/N)'s always been the type of girl who likes an honest person. You just tell her straight how you feel? I'm pretty sure she'll reciprocate."

"R-right... I'll try."

~~~

You were there again the next day.

"(Y/N), back so soon?" You walked in with a huff, barely able to spare a smile for your favourite android.

"Yeah... I got fed up with my parents again. They keep saying that I cant make a career out of art, I cant be like my uncle. Loads of bullshit, it just pissed me off, so I just grabbed my bag and walked out." You let out a deep sigh, scrubbing a hand over your face and pushing a few stray strands of hair out of your face. "Is Carl in his studio as always?" Markus nodded, but didn't move.

"Yeah, but... can I talk to you for a second?" Your heart skipped a beat but you hid it away. Emotions for an android? Even you weren't that stupid.

"Sure, what's up?" For a long moment, there was nothing but silence.

"I... You... I just..." Nothing came out except almost gibberish, and after a while, Markus gave up with a deep sigh. You simply stood there, completely oblivious to what Markus was trying to say.

Until, it was all ruined.

"He has a crush on you!" Your head snapped towards the doors leading towards the studio.

"Was that..?" Markus was also looking too, and walked forward until the doors opened to reveal--

"Carl!" With a angry cry, the older man whizzed off with incredible speed for a 70-something cripple in a wheelchair, leaving you and Markus alone again.

"For crying out loud, he's a nosy old-- wait," you spun around to face Markus. "You... you have a crush on me?" Your face turned red as the android nodded.

"Oh..." Markus didn't look at you as he began t speak.

"I understand if you don't feel the same way, i-if you want, we can pretend this never--"

"No." He was stopped by that simple word, and finally worked up the courage to look at you.

You were looking at him, a gentle smile on your face despite the blush, and your hand was held out towards him.

"I... I feel the same way, so don't worry Markus. I was just a little shocked is all." You let out what Markus thought to be the most adorable giggle. "Why don't we go and draw together? I heard Carl's been trying to get you to do some art recently?" With a smile and a nod, Markus gently took your hand and had a little laugh of his own.

"Yeah, I'd... I'd like that."

~~~~

EXTRA BONUS SCENE FOR YA THIRSTY HOES

~~~~

The humans were attacking.

Androids were dying.

You were covered in blue blood.

Head to toe.

Gunshots rang out everywhere, and your hearing was spattered with high pitched ringing as you dragged yourself to some kind of cover, hoping that if you played dead, the humans would leave you alone... Or maybe they wouldn't... after all, how would they feel about a human standing with the leader of the android rebellion?

"(Y/N)!" Who was calling your name? It sounded familiar, but the ringing kept getting in the way.

Still, you sat up slowly from where you had been sprawled on the ground, and with a hand to your worst ear, you peeked around what seemed to be an old bin, looking for whoever had called your name.

From directly across you, you could see Markus looking around frantically, North tugging at him to get back to cover.

You stood up shakily, and waved a hand at him. He saw, and within seconds, was by your side.

"Markus, the humans, they--" ducking and dodging more gunfire, Markus held on to your with a tight grip as you reached the last group of androids. You were backed into a corner. You were trapped.

Where was Connor? He was supposed to be back now... but, his partner was still alone, tears clear for all to see as they stood beside you, their hand slowly grabbing onto yours for security and comfort.

"Markus," you turned to look at your boyfriend. "I'm scared." His hand tightened around yours slightly, and he turned to give you a tight smile.

"I know," he said gently. "So am I."

Silence fell with the snowflakes as the soldiers approached you, guns aimed at your faces. With your heart hammering in your chest, you pushed back your tears, and decided that finally, you would do something for Markus, when he had done all for you.

So you stepped forward.

Your hand slipped out of Markus'.

"(Y/N), what are you--" You took in a deep breath.

"Hold on, just a little while longer~" Your voice carried in the still air, and you saw all the soldiers hesitate, giving others the courage to step forward and join you as you all sang for you freedom, your life, and your love.

And from behind you, Markus watched with a proud smile, Carl's words coming back to him.

"...She always was a strong girl."

Yes, Markus thought, moving to stand beside you as his voice joined with yours in a perfect harmony as did his hand with yours. She was always the strongest.

[trueenemyorfalsefriend]

Caught in the Storm | ii

Connor x Original Female Character [part i] | masterlist

"Hey Barton, you in there?" The raspy voice of Hank Anderson broke the silence, and suddenly, the darkness vanished, and Sam was able to open her eyes again. Trying to understand her whereabouts and what was going on, she lifted herself up from the clean white floor in front of the bathroom stalls, slowly trying to balance herself on two legs, feeling wobbly, like it was the first time she ever tried to stand.

The bathroom she was in was completely clean, as it had been when she had entered it, but that was impossible? Three knocks on the door brought her back to reality. 'Barton?' Hank! 'YES, HANK, HELP! I am locked in here, the doorknob, I... Please help me!' She felt him trying to open the door from the other side and stepped aside when it didn't budge, knowing full well he would kick it in seconds later. With a loud bang, the door crashed open, revealing the older grey-haired man standing on the other side, giving her a worried look. 'Sam, are you okay? What happened to you?' She couldn't answer, especially not after hearing the genuine worry in his voice, she just rushed towards him and threw her hands around his neck, pressing herself against him to have something to hold onto. He hesitantly hugged her back, she felt his warm hands on her back and pressed against him harder, feeling ridiculous for the tears that were running down her face. 'Thank you...' she muttered as she let go of him, and tried to get past him when he blocked her way. 'Hey, what the heck happened in there?' 'I...' Quickly trying to think up a response that wouldn't make her seem insane, she replied with the first thing that made sense. 'I was in there and when I tried to leave, the doorknob came off and I couldn't open the door, and my claustrophobia kicked in and suddenly made it seem like the walls were closing in on me and then I screamed and no one heard me, and my god thank you, Hank, thank you so much.' She hugged him again. He seemed to be satisfied with her response, quickly patting her back again. 'Well, you're welcome. Fowler called you and me to his office, and when you weren't there and weren't showing up either he sent me looking for you.' The captain had asked for her? 'What did he want?' she asked irritatedly, while they were starting to walk back to the office area. 'I don't fucking know, he wouldn't say anything before you were there.' She shook her head, trying to rid herself of the thoughts about what had just happened, and tried to return to her usual, more cheerful and optimistic point of view. 'Then let's go find out, shall we, Hanky?'

'Alright, you two still gettin' along as well as you did back in the 'Red Ice Task Force''? Asked Captain Fowler, while she and Hank sat on the other side of the old wooden desk in his office. 'I sure hope so.' she muttered while Hank just nodded. Sam had joined the DCPD shortly after Hank had been promoted to Lieutenant for his successful Red Ice Operation in 2028, and had helped him out significantly with finding a metric ton of Red Ice a couple of years later in 2031, and the two had been friends ever since then. 'Well, I have decided to switch up teams here. As you might have noticed, I have recently hired a couple of new employees as well as some androids to help us out with the Red Ice Epidemic, and I want you two to work on something else now.' 'You're kicking us out of the Red Ice Investigations?' Sam asked with a shocked expression on her face, while Hank seemed as indifferent as usual. 'Try not to see it like that, rather as a sort of promotion! I need my best people working on these deviant cases.' Deviants.Sam had heard of deviants, androids apparently malfunctioning, awakening, feeling human emotions, becoming more human? Always having been intrigued by androids themselves and especially deviants, she cocked her head slightly and asked: 'So what exactly does that entail then?' 'You'll be assigned cases that look like an android or a deviant has been involved, and you will track them down and bring them in, it's as easy as that... Well, almost. CyberLife insists on following the protocol for this, and that involves sending us an android for assistance.' Hank's head suddenly jerked up, and he looked directly at Fowler. 'What?! Jeffrey, I can't do that, I can't work with those plastic assholes.' Hank frantically shook his head now, his eyes wide open in panic, while Sam tried to rationalize the situation she knew was very personal to Hank. 'They send you an android to help you find androids?' Sam questioned, and Fowler nodded. 'I tried to convince them that we didn't need any assistance, but they harshly persisted. They'll send some sorta special model here, it'll be here tonight or tomorrow, I'm afraid I can't change that, Hank.' Hank shook his head again angrily, then stood up and furiously took off through Fowler's office door. 'I think I should go after him...' Sam excused herself as Fowler nodded understandingly and she bolted after Hank, rushing to his desk only to find it vacant, then running outside to where his car was usually parked, only to find the spot empty and Hank gone.

Sam had decided to leave Hank alone for the day, to just work as long as she had to, to finish up all of her Red Ice files and then force herself to go home and not go out searching for him in his favourite bars. She would talk to him tomorrow, and try to calm him down and open him up to the idea of working with an android, which might very possibly be beneficial for their detective work. It was way past 10 pm when she checked her watch, much later than she'd originally planned to go home, partly because of all of her work, but also because she couldn't bear the feeling of going home without knowing if Hank was safe. Sam licked the tip of her thumb and slowly turned the page on her most recent case report, not really paying attention to what she was reading.   Would he do something stupid? Would he hurt himself deliberately? Would he kill himself? Sam knew of his backstory, she had gotten to know his son Cole before he had died tragically, and she had witnessed this incident draining all life and happiness out of Hank. She turned the page again, absentmindedly drawing some scribbles on her wooden desk. Oh fuck it, she'd try to call him at least and then go home. Just to make sure. Grabbing her coat from the back of her chair, she quickly swung it around her shoulders to shield her from the cold outside, then pulled her bag over her shoulder and snatched her phone from the table, before she rapidly made her way through the office building downstairs. As soon as she'd entered the elevator, Sam dialed Hank's number and waited. And waited. Then, suddenly, when she almost didn't expect an answer anymore, a crack, a loud static noise and then: 'Hello?' Hank's voice sounded groggy and slurry, drunk and sad. 'Hank, it's me, Sam. You okay?' 'Wha- of course, I am, what are you now, my mother? Don't you worry I'm fucking brilliant, I'll see you tomorrow.' Another grunting, a cracking noise and he was gone. That was not the way Sam had hoped for this conversation to go, but she guessed she couldn't really do much but wait for tomorrow to come, to try and cheer him up a little. She sighed as the elevator stopped, typing a quick message to Hank to call her if he needed anything while getting off the elevator. When she paused for a moment to glance over the final message before sending it, her phone started ringing in her hands. Half hoping it to be Hank, she picked up, registering a female voice on the other end. 'Detective?' It was Sarah, the android that worked at the reception upstairs. 'Hi Sarah, everything alright?' 'Yes, of course, thank you for asking. There is someone here, who is asking about Lieutenant Anderson. Do you perhaps know, where he is?' Someone asking about Hank? Maybe family, that she didn't know about since he avoided talking about his personal life at all times. 'I'm not sure, but I think he's probably having a drink or two nearby, but I can't tell you which bar he's in for sure, sorry, Sarah.' 'That's alright, thank you, Detective. Have a nice evening!' 'Thank you, Sarah, goodnight!' Sam answered and hung up. She always tried to be as nice as possible to the androids, that she worked with or encountered anywhere else, on the one hand, because she knew, that they were often treated terribly by others, with people treating them like slaves or even abuse them in worse ways. Even though she knew they were 'just' machines, she felt like you could at least treat them with respect. On the other hand, because her father had been a friend of their creator, Elijah Kamski, when they were younger, and he had provided them with a prototype android named Kyle after her mother had died in a car crash when Sam had just turned 10, who had been there for them ever since, teaching her to appreciate androids in ways that other people never really understood. She smiled to herself as she thought of the past times with Kyle and her father, and the smile almost didn't leave her face until she was in bed a little later, cuddled up with her old, black tomcat Lucius, until her phone vibrated, signaling an incoming text message. [Hank, 11:40 pm]: sam, possible homicide involving a deviant, 4167 prudence street, be there ASAP, i'm on my way.

[starlightsoulwriting]

Chaos Theory

Chapter Two - Cycnus

A/n: another week another chapter! I hope you all enjoy this installment. Things are still being set up here but they’ll get exciting soon I promise.

Masterlist

Crossposted on AO3

Liana was cold again. Stupid fucking Perkins - why did he always make everything more difficult than it had to be? They had been sitting in the cold for hours, and while she’d been through worse during her time in the air force, she was still pissed as all hell to be stuck out in the snow. She would shoot the man herself if that didn’t mean getting everyone on the ground killed. At least Josh had been kind enough to help her build a fire for herself out of old shipping pallets before joining the rest of Jericho.

Putting down her binoculars, Liana reached into her pack and pulled out a meal bar. She checked her watch as she ate the poor excuse for proper nutrition.

She looked at her watch. 10:45 PM. Thirty minutes to showtime. Hopefully, the androids (or herself) wouldn’t get fucking shot again. However, considering the public reaction to Markus’ past transgressions, it was unlikely they would make it out of this alive.

Shitheads.

Simon and North were noticeably absent; however, Liana wasn’t overly upset at their death. She was more bitter over the fact that it ruined her plans, and made her life harder. Things really never went her way these days.

She wished that after the revolution was over the rest of androids would become a bit more independent in their thoughts, but hey, she couldn't fault Jericho for trusting their leader, Markus. she was from the Air Force, she could relate. Her Major was unconventional, though (like her entire division, actually) and appreciated officers who had their own brains. She had actually had to override him a time or two - if only to prevent someone or something from exploding, disintegrating, or for counteracting the rare weaponized black hole, of course. He wasn’t a scientist and sometimes needed a kick in the ass from someone with the right knowledge base to make a proper decision. Her Colonel was an astrophysicist though, so it balanced out.

It was times like these, though, that she wished she had never joined the military. Would’ve made getting past this day a whole hell of a lot easier. But as she waited for the clock to hit 11:26 PM so she could speak to Connor, all she could do was wait.

It seems like that was the one thing she was good at recently. she pulled out a clear tablet from her overstuffed bag and began to write in an encrypted journal file.

November 11, 10:53 PM

Mission Status: Failure. North and Simon dead. Public opinion negative.

Only hope is Connor. Hope my advice kept him alive somehow. God knows he can be bullheaded when he was to be. If he dies again I’m going to lose my shit.

And she wrote as the clock ticked on.

Cyberlife Tower, 10:58 PM

Naturally, Connor had made it past the elevator - no one could expect anything else from Cyberlife’s finest strategist.

But as he walked through the rows of blank-face androids, Connor began to find himself distracted. He couldn't shake the feeling that he had done this before, in a dream he couldn't even have.

His thoughts drifted to the strange woman who had confronted him earlier. He hadn’t taken his jacket off when he got off the elevator like Lt. Haywood had told him to, but he had been sure to disable the security cameras in the elevator. It was only common sense.  Still, the prickling of nerves and curiosity pooled in the back of his mind. So far the things Lt. Haywood had said could be written off as coincidence. He had no reason to listen to or trust her.

A voice called out and another Rk800 reveals himself, holding Hank at gunpoint.

He wouldn't let anyone hurt Hank.

So, of course, like any sane person would do, Connor dropped kicked his twin, leading to an infuriating mirror match with neither android gaining the upper hand.

And then Hank had the gun trained on them. Connor would be fine as long as Hank could parse out him from the fake.

Easy.

Suddenly he could see the advantage of not wearing identical clothing as his imposter.

But there was no way anyone but Cyberlife could have known that the other Connor would be waiting for him, a thoroughly pissed-off Hank in tow. He had to silence the whispers and warnings of ‘spy’ that ran through his head. Even if they could know, he couldn't fathom how someone would know it would come down to telling the two of them apart.

Connor forced his racing mind to still. He had to focus on the present, not mull over the words of a crazy person and whether or not they were engaged in espionage.

Connor obviously knew Sumo’s name - the fact he had learned it himself, instead of having it uploaded to secondary memory, gave him a distinct time advantage over Connor-60, even if only by milliseconds. He just hoped Hank would notice that.

Then Hank opened his mouth, gaze hard, skeptical - everything in his turbulent human mind focusing on deducing who the impostor was. “My son, what’s his name?”

And just like that, Connor’s processors were firing at a million miles a minute again. He managed to spit out the name he learned a mere hour and a half before, and he told Hank things the man already knew, and, from everything he knew from his research, that it wasn’t his fault that Cole had died.

Apparently, the emotion in his voice and words convinced his friend who was who, because he shot Connor-60 promptly, ignoring his protests that he would have said the same as the deviant. However, Connor was busy just trying to make sense of the information he had received from Lt. Haywood. There was no scientific evidence for any form of clairvoyance to exist. Did the Air Force order one of the new Oracle computers? What do they care about him, specifically? Were there even variables as small as him and Hank in those simulations, full with personality and motivations?

No, there weren’t. The Oracles worked on a larger scale than that, global events and disasters.

Connor’s only possible reaction to conflicting conclusions could only be summed up along the lines of ‘what the fuck’ - Hank was perhaps rubbing off on him too much. But still, he couldn’t come up with an explanation for the Doctor’s supposed, unexplainable foresight. He certainly looked forward to their next conversation, if only to get answers out of her. He just hoped that he wouldn’t fry his circuits overthinking before then.

He had a mission to finish.

Elsewhere, on a rooftop overlooking Recall Center number 5, Liana Haywood watched helplessly as the last forces of Jericho were cornered by the National Guard. So many were already shot or blown and all she could do was either stand by and watch or get shot herself.

The soldiers backed them against one of the crates of the barricade, the androids holding their hands up and waiting to die.

“Stay hidden,” Josh’s voice rang out through the radio, surprisingly even. He stood next to Markus on the ground, shoulders back and head high.

And they just stood there as they got shot.

“Fuck,” She hissed, launching her radio at the wall in frustration. They were gone. Do not pass go, do not collect 200 dollars.

Fucking Perkins.

The sight of bodies and the thirium soaked pavement had long since stopped being upsetting to her, though. She had seen it too many times before. But for some reason every time she expected it to end differently than she knew it would - that some butterfly flapped its wings in Africa and they wouldn’t be gunned down.

At least they hadn't nuked Detroit though.

As the bodies of her friends were rounded up into trucks and hauled away, she moved to lay herself face-up on the concrete. Her glassy hazel eyes gave a thousand-yard stare at the cloudy night sky, she had to force her mind away from her angry, hopeless, depression riddled thoughts. Wind still blew her hair. Cold still stung her cheeks. Snowflakes still fell on her sallow face and clung to her lashes. But for now, she would lay and wait.

That was all she could do.

11:18 PM

Tags: @rk800downloading  oolallama1398

[wallturkey]

What If Vegeta Trained Gohan After The Cell Games?

This idea has been in my head for a while, and I figured Tumblr was a good place to put down the stories inside my head.

A few weeks after the Cell Games, Vegeta is at Capsule Corporation. He is still despondent after the death of his longtime rival. Without Kakarot, the urge to train is diminished. He still does so, but spends more and more time trying to figure out how to be a father. That is until Gohan walks in. Gohan is in Super Saiyan form, retaining his ability to stay in the transformed state indefinitely.

“What are you doing here?” Vegeta is incensed simply by the boy’s presence. It reminds him of the man he will never get to beat.

“I respect my father’s decision,” Gohan’s tone was respectful, but determined. “But he was wrong. His absence does not protect the Earth from danger. There will be new threats. If I want to be ready, I need to be stronger.” He locked eyes with Vegeta. “I need to embrace my heritage. I want to train with the rightful King of the Saiyans.”

Vegeta's eyes widened. His heart raced. All the old feelings returned. He had a new future. He smiled his vicious smile. “Prepare for punishment. I will make an elite Saiyan warrior out of you.”

Years pass. Gohan spends most of his time at Capsule Corp, training constantly. He spends an hour a day with Bulma being tutored to satiate Chi-Chi, who eventually visits as well, after Goten and Trunks have joined Vegeta and Gohan’s training. Because of this, all four of them become immensely powerful. All three boys have also learned under Bulma’s tutelage, keeping up their intelligence.

At Chi-Chi’s insistence, Gohan enrolls in Orange Star High School as he does in the anime. Day 1 starts as it does in DBZ proper. Gohan runs into bank robbers, goes Super Saiyan, and dispatches them easily. He returns to normal and goes to school. All goes well until Videl questions him. “The Gold Fighter was wearing a white shirt, a black vest, and red pants.”

“But he had gold hair.” Erasa chimed in.

“Like this?” Bolstered by the Saiyan pride fostered by Vegeta, Gohan transforms right there in the classroom, and brings the world to a halt. Gohan, the Gold Fighter is immediately a household name. It quickly comes out that he is the son of former World Martial Arts Champion Son Goku, and Videl steps in to help him handle the publicity... On the condition that he train her.

The next day, Videl arrives at Capsule Corp. Vegeta refuses to train her, so he focuses his attention on Goten and Trunks, who are decked in Bulma’s rendition of Saiyan armor. Gohan trains Videl, and within a day she learns the basics of ki control. The next day, she has taken to the air, if only barely. Suitably impressed, Vegeta steps in.

“Who are you?” He asked incredulously. “Very few earthlings are this naturally adept.”

Videl stood strong. “I’m the daughter of Mr. Satan, the World Martial Arts Champion!”

Vegeta stared, confused, before a sudden spark of realization hit him, and he burst into laughter. “That oaf? He’s about as strong as an Arlian beetle!”

“I know him!” Goten chimed in. “He’s the strongest guy on Earth not like us!”

Vegeta looked angry. “Then he isn’t strong.”

Videl mirrored his rage. “It’s his training that made me this good. If he learned this stuff he could outclass you!”

Vegeta laughed once more before regaining his poise. “I very much doubt that, girl. But you have potential. Keep it up and you could find yourself among Earth’s ACTUAL warriors. I will train you.”

Videl’s first instinct is to refuse, but seeing Goten and Trunks flying and firing blasts, throwing punches and kicks way above her head convinces her that she wants that power.

3 days into Vegeta’s training, Videl is almost destroyed, but feeling incredibly strong. Feeling bold, Gohan helps her up and wipes her hair from her face.

“You’ve come so far, Videl. I’m impressed!” Gohan smiled. “But you should consider cutting your hair.”

“You like girls with short hair?” Videl stared into Gohan’s eyes.

“Uh, I don’t know.” Gohan was stupefied. “But as a fighter your hair is just getting in the way.”

“And those pigtails make free weapons for your enemy.” Vegeta chided without looking.”

“WHAT’S IT MATTER TO YOU?” Videl yells before angrily leaving and flying off, not even realizing this was the first time she flew home on her own.

The next day the Saiyans were surprised to see Videl show up with the pixie-cut.

“Who’s the new boy?” Goten energetically blurted out.

Videl ignored him. “I have an idea!” All eyebrows quirked. “We should all enter the Tenkaichi Budokai!”

“The what?” Vegeta was already agitated.

“It’s the tournament my dad one decades ago.” Gohan replied.

“Videl’s dad won the last tournament, but that was before I was born.” Goten added.

“And why should we enter?” Vegeta scoffed.

“For one, first prize is 100 million Zeni.” Videl quickly added.

“My wife is heir to the biggest fortune on the planet. I don’t need money.”

“More importantly, I need someone to knock my dad off his high horse.”

Vegeta smiled. “That’s almost worth it.”

Videl got angry. “Come on! What will it take?”

“What if I join in?” A familiar voice echoed through the room.

“Dad?”

“Kakarot?”

Goten, Trunks, and Videl looked around confused as Vegeta and Gohan looked with sudden hope and excitement.

“It turns out that due to my heroic efforts in life, I've earned a bit of credit! I can spend a full day on Earth. I think I’ll use it to fight in the tournament!”

“At last! I can prove that I have surpassed you!” Vegeta shouted with glee.

Goku laughed. “You can try.”

Fast-forward to the tournament. Pretty much everything proceeds as normal, with a few changes. First, Gohan enters under his real name. Second, Tien enters the tournament as well, eliminating Mighty Mask from reaching the final 16. Third, as Gohan’s abilities are public knowledge, and speculation about his presence at the Cell Games has already started, the no-Super Saiyan rule isn’t instituted among the Z fighters.

Goten and Trunks dominate the Junior Division, and meet up in the finals. But this time, Trunks’ hubris gets the better of him, and Goten is victorious. In the exhibition, Goten takes to Mr. Satan’s antics, and hits him softly. Mr. Satan plays it up(although it did really hurt), and the “Let Goten win” narrative holds true.

The main tournament begins proper, and the 1st round looks like this:

Krillin Vs Pintar

Ma Jr(Piccolo) Vs Shin

Videl Vs Spopovitch

Gohan Vs Kibito

Vegeta Vs Goku

Tien Vs Yamu

18 Vs Jewel

Mr. Satan Vs Killa

Krillin eliminated Pintar with a single kick.

Piccolo again discovers Shin’s identity as the Supreme Kai, but at Gohan’s insistence goes through with the fight. It is an intense battle, but in the end Shin uses speed and tactics to outplay Piccolo and overpower him, winning by ringout.

Videl beats down Spopovitch, and once again kicks hard enough to spin his head around. He returns his head to proper position, then assaults Videl mercilessly. However, under Vegeta’s tutelage, Videl has grown smarter and tougher. A surprise energy blast blinds Spopovitch, and a swift kick gives Videl the win by ringout. She is still heavily hurt, and Goku retrieves Senzu Beans to help her out. Spopovitch almost attacks in rage, but Yamu reminds him of their mission.

Kibito once again asks to see Gohan’s power. Gohan goes full power Super Saiyan 2, then Yamu and Spopovitch attack. However, this time, Gohan overpowers Supreme Kai’s hold, and easily knocks away his attackers. Yamu is disqualified, but it doesn’t matter. Enraged at their failure, Babidi blows up their heads from afar. Kibito, unsure of how to proceed, forfeits the match.

After an intermission due to mysterious cranial combustions, Vegeta battles Goku. This battle is by far the most exciting of the 1st round. Vegeta and Goku both battle at full power Super Saiyan 2, shaking the very earth beneath them. Eventually, Goku uses Instant Transmission, which Vegeta specifically trained for. He counters the move, and drives Goku into the ground for a ringout. Vegeta is victorious.

Tien advances automatically due to Yamu’s disqualification and subsequent death.

18 eliminates Jewel with ease.

Mr. Satan, though rusty from lack of training, overpowers Killa and wins a hard-fought victory.

Between rounds, Supreme Kai explains what happened with Yamu and Spopovitch, about the wizard Babidi and their purpose here. Goku, hopeful for more fights, says he’ll go, but Vegeta convinces them to let the tournament play out first, as he doesn’t want to miss the opportunity to face Gohan, who he now views as Kakarot’s(and possibly his) superior.

Round Two begins.

Krillin faces the Supreme Kai, and although he puts up a decent fight, Shin defeats him handily.

Videl goes all-out against Gohan. He pulls his punches and avoids direct attacks, enraging her. Her ferocity is eventually enough to force him to go Super Saiyan, and he throws her out as gently as he can.

Tien battles Vegeta, and is enough to force Vegeta to Super Saiyan 2, where he easily beats Tien unconscious.

Before the final match of the 2nd round, 18 corners Mr. Satan. She reminds him that he’s screwed, period. She makes him an offer. She can make him look good in defeat for 50,000,000 Zeni, or she’ll throw the match for 100,000,000 Zeni. Mr. Satan, not wanting to face Vegeta, chooses the first. 18 fakes great effort, but knocks Mr. Satan out of the ring. The crowd immediately assumes he would rather give up his title than hit a woman, protecting his reputation.

Supreme Kai challenges Gohan in the Semi-Finals, and puts him through paces. However, he is no match for Gohan at Super Saiyan 2, and Gohan is victorious.

Vegeta, upon seeing 18 across the ring, remembers the humiliation she put him through in the Android Saga, and immediately assaults at Super Saiyan 2. 18 only holds out for a few minutes before Vegeta begins a vicious beatdown. He relentlessly hits her, years of aggression unleashed, to the dismay and boos of the crowd. Krillin screams for him to stop. Vegeta looks to mock him, but sees Gohan, his final opponent. He tosses 18 out of the ring, mercifully ending the fight.

There’s a short intermission as anticipation builds for the final match. People throughout the world are tuning in for the fight of the century. When the fight begins, Vegeta and Gohan both start at Full Power Super Saiyan 2. The fight is so intense most people have trouble following. Slow-Motion cameras are brought in just to capture clips of the battle. Things escalate when Vegeta attempts a Galick Gun, which becomes a full-on beam struggle as Gohan counters with a Masenko. Vegeta appears to have the advantage, pressing down on Gohan, until Gohan starts to transform. Vegeta abandons the struggle as Gohan goes Super Saiyan 3. Vegeta mocks Gohan, claiming him to be desperate. Gohan counters by telling Vegeta he already lost. Gohan transformed first, and he won’t give Vegeta the chance. Vegeta instantly realizes his error. He tries to go Super Saiyan 3, but Gohan eliminates him before he can do so.

Gohan wins the Tenkaichi Budokai.

Gohan accepts the title, but refers everything else to Chi-Chi, who is ecstatic. Goku locates Babidi’s hideout via Instant Transmission, and Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, Krillin, Piccolo, Tien, 18, Videl, Kibito, and Shin warp to that location, with Goten and Trunks grabbing on at the last second to come along.

The door to Babidi’s hideout was open. Supreme Kai warns them of the obvious trap, but the team doesn’t care, and steps right in. Piccolo and Krillin protest Trunks and Goten coming along, but Vegeta intercedes.

“The boys are stronger than either of you. If you can go, they can go.”

They enter the hideout, and Pui Pui welcomes them. He explains the 3 fighters before Babidi system.at the Z Fighters have to beat 3 fighters on 3 levels to get to Babidi. Trunks aggressively steps forward to fight Pui Pui. They are transported to Pui Pui’s home, thinking the gravity(10 times that of Earth) gives him the advantage. However, under Vegeta’s tutelage Trunks has dealt with several hundred times Earth’s gravity, and quickly dispatches Pui Pui with the Galick Gun.

Goku gets the opportunity to fight Yakon, and defeats him by going Super Saiyan 2. Yakon eats so much light energy he explodes.

The final warrior is Dabura, and Gohan goes against him. At Super Saiyan 2 Gohan is easily outclassing Dabura, and Babidi is terrified that his plan is failing and he’ll be wiped out. He desperately urges Dabura to do something. Thinking quickly, Dabura turns and spits on Videl, turning her to stone. Gohan breaks down, and goes full rage mode, transforming to Super Saiyan 3. With an instantaneous strike, he decapitates Dabura.

In this moment, Babidi sees his chance, and enters Gohan’s mind. He latches on to Gohan’s rage and tries to awaken the darkness within him. Gohan fights and resists, but Babidi sees an opportunity in Gohan’s mind. Using his magic, he regrows Gohan’s tail and shows him a full moon. The entire team is terrified as they have to fight the most powerful force they have ever seen...

Majin Golden Great Ape Gohan.

The raging Golden Oozaru levels mountains and knocks the Z Fighters around effortlessly. Babidi woops in victory as his power needed to revive Majin Buu goes from zero to full instantly.

Trunks and Goten go Super Saiyan 2, Piccolo, Tien, Shin, Kibito, and Krillin charge up to full power, and Vegeta and Goku go Super Saiyan 3, and they are still barely holding on. They barely notice Majin Buu’s awakening, as they are relentlessly beat down. All seems lost until Vegeta sees Videl awakening from her petrification.

“Kakarot! The girl!”

Goku looks confused until he also sees Videl. He quickly grabs her and carries her up. Explaining the situation as best he can, he tells Videl she is the only one can reach him.

Videl calls out to Gohan, and does get his attention. After some loving words, and finally recognizing that she is okay, Gohan regains control.... and starts to transform.

His eyes go yellow, his hair grows long and red fur adorns his chest.

Gohan has gone Super Saiyan 4.

Everyone stands in awe of Gohan’s overwhelming power.

The team moves on to face Babidi, who transports everyone out of the hideout. He boasts about the awakening of Majin Buu, who looks around happily and yawns. Babidi commands Buu to destroy the Z Fighters, and Gohan obliterates Buu with a single ki blast. Babidi is shocked and scared frozen. Piccolo moves forward and chops Babidi in half. In his final breaths, Babidi pleads for mercy.

“Where was mercy when Buu was unleashed upon the galaxy?” Shin spat through gritted teeth. “Where was mercy when he slaughtered my fellow Kais?”

“Please... That was my father’s doing....”

“And you sought to set him loose on the universe once more. You give no mercy, and you shall receive none.”

And Shin annihilates Babidi.

Then, to everyone’s surprise, Buu reforms in front of everyone, and seems unfazed by the previous event.

“You strong! You play with Buu some more?” Buu’s stomach rumbles. “Buu Hungry!”

After much deliberation, Goku convinces the team that Buu might not be a threat so long as he is satiated. However, he burned most of his remaining time, and leaves to spend the rest of it with Chi-Chi and Goten. The rest take Buu to Capsule Corp for a post-tournament/post-saving the world feast.

[phantom-le6]

Episode Reviews - Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5 (6 of 6)

As we continue our run of episode reviews for Star Trek: The Next Generation, we now come to the last two episodes of season 5, beginning with the wide-acclaimed episode “The Inner Light.”

Episode 25: The Inner Light

Plot (as adapted from Wikipedia):

The Enterprise finishes a magnetic wave survey of the Parvenium system and finds an unknown probe. The device rapidly scans the ship and directs an energy beam at Captain Picard, who collapses on the bridge and then wakes up to find himself on Kataan, a non-Federation planet. His wife, Eline, tells Picard that he is Kamin, an iron weaver recovering from a fever. Picard speaks of his life on the Enterprise but Eline and their close friend Batai try to convince Picard that his memories were only fever dreams and incorporate him into their society as Kamin. Picard begins living his life as Kamin in his village, Ressik, having children with Eline and learning to play the flute. Kamin spends much time outdoors and with his Dobsonian telescope studying nature. As years pass for him, he begins to notice that the drought is caused by increased radiation from the planet's sun. He sends reports to the planet's leaders, who seem to ignore his concerns.

 On Enterprise, the crew continues attempts to revive Picard. They try to block the influence of the probe but Picard nearly dies, so they are forced to let it continue. They trace the probe's trajectory to a system whose sun went nova 1,000 years before, rendering life extinct in the system. Years pass and Kamin outlives Eline and Batai. Kamin and his daughter Meribor continue their study of the drought. They find that it is not temporary; the extinction of life on the planet is inevitable. Kamin confronts a government official who privately admits to him that they already know this but keep it secret to avoid panic. The official gravely points out to Kamin that they have only recently launched artificial satellites using primitive rockets: their race simply does not possess the technology to evacuate people before their planet is rendered uninhabitable.

 One day, while playing with his grandson, Kamin is summoned by his adult children to watch the launch of a rocket, which everyone seems to know about except him. As he walks outside into the glaring nova light, Kamin sees Eline and Batai, as young as when he first saw them. They explain that he has already seen the rocket, just before he came there. Knowing that their planet was doomed, the planet's leaders placed memories of their society into a probe and launched it into space, in the hope that it would find someone who could tell others about their species. Picard realizes the context: "Oh, it's me, isn't it?", he says, "I'm the someone... I'm the one it finds", realizing that Kamin was the avatar they chose to represent their race.

 Picard wakes up on the bridge of the Enterprise to discover that while he perceived many decades to have transpired, only 25 minutes have passed. The probe terminates and is brought aboard the Enterprise. Inside, the crew finds a small box. A somber Riker gives the box to Picard, who opens it to find Kamin's flute. Picard, now adept at the instrument, plays a melody he learned during his life as Kamin.

Review:

Apparently, this episode was created by combining two ideas.  The first was Michael Piller wanting to do an episode where Picard lives a life he never really lived at all, and the second came from freelance writer Morgan Gendel wanting to do a story about Picard and Riker getting memories of a war beamed into their head in an anti-war story.  After multiple re-writes, the two ideas end up combined in this episode, and yet both also later appear in other episodes within Trek.  Picard ends up experiencing another life unlived in the episode ‘Tapestry’ in season 6 and within the Nexus during the film Star Trek: Generations, while the anti-war story would later be the centre of a Star Trek: Voyager episode.

 Until I saw the episode synopsis on Wikipedia, I for one thought the memory dump concept was somehow not quite realised properly; I thought it would make more sense for Kamin’s memories to be dumped verbatim into Picard and he’d just play along with them right from the start of the alternate life.  However, in actuality he’s not really getting a simple memory dump; rather, he’s living a kind of virtual reality simulation based on the collective memories of an alien world.  As such, the issue then becomes why isn’t that explained more explicitly, and how did they manage that technical feat when they were barely getting rockets up into space?  Basically, the containing premise for Piller’s idea sadly has a few technical flaws that slightly spoil the overall experience.

 That all being said, this is a great episode, especially in-so-far-as it never tries to get the audience to buy into Picard’s virtual life being any kind of substitute for reality.  There’s another TNG episode in one of the remaining seasons, and an episode of the Batman animated series from the same era that TNG was being made in, where the show seems to be trying to get us to buy into the idea that the reality of the show isn’t reality.  Frankly, I hate episodes like that; once a show establishes what its reality is, that has to remain constant or I get very angry and lose interest.  Reality is reality in all things, and while we might all perceive it differently, its most basic laws are immutable.  Our sun, for example, always exists until such time as it may burn out; the coming and going of night time or clouds cannot alter this. A kettle will always boil water after a set period of time according to its design and will only truly take longer when its components start to fail; whether it is watched or not will only make it seem like it takes longer; it will not actually take longer.

 Because the episode doesn’t ask us to buy into Picard’s alternate life ourselves, we can actually sit back and enjoy it, and it is an enjoyable episode in that Patrick Stewart delivers a great performance as Picard, and he is actually joined by his real-life son Daniel Stewart in this episode.  It’s very much a character piece, though, so don’t go expecting any kind of issue exploration.  The closest we get to that is inadvertent parallels between the on-going cover-up by the officials in Kaman’s life around the impending super-nova and how many people in real life react to the concept of climate change.  However, that matters even less when you also consider that the experience does change Picard somewhat, and it’s good to see Next Generation create something that can be called back to.  Even by the time of this episode, overarching continuity was something the show was reluctant to do, though the Deep Space Nine and Voyager spin-off shows would compensate for this.

 So overall, we have a great episode that for me almost manages to hit a top score, but falls just short through the technical flaws of the memory dump, though not by much.  My end score for this episode is 9 out of 10.

Episode 26: Time’s Arrow (Part 1)

Plot (as adapted from Wikipedia):

The Enterprise is recalled to Earth on a priority mission regarding evidence of aliens on the planet 500 years before. They are shown a cavern near Starfleet Headquarters in San Francisco containing 19th century relics, and the disembodied head of Data. Investigation reveals cellular fossils native to the planet of Devidia II, indicating a race of shapeshifters were visiting Earth's past. The Enterprise leaves for the planet, taking Data's second head. Upon arrival they discover a temporal disturbance on the planet. Though no life forms are visible, Deanna Troi senses the presence of suffering humans. The crew determine that the aliens are slightly out of temporal phase with them. Data notes that his android body has a phase discriminator that would allow him to see the aliens. Captain Picard reluctantly allows him to join the away team. Data establishes a means of communicating what he sees to the rest of the crew while in temporal sync with the aliens. Once in phase with the aliens, Data describes them as absorbing strands of light from a device in the centre of the cavern, appearing otherwise benign. He describes two aliens entering a time portal, that he is drawn into. Data finds himself on Earth in San Francisco on August 11, 1893.

 Data realizes he needs money to accomplish his goals. He wins a sizable amount beating card sharks at their own game in poker. Data takes up residence in a local hotel, befriending the bellhop (future author Jack London). Data claims to be a French inventor. He enlists London to acquire 19th century supplies under the pretense of building an automobile engine, when in fact Data is building a detector to find the aliens. Data sees a photo of Guinan, the bartender from the Enterprise, in a newspaper photo. He goes to a reception she will be attending, believing she also came back in time from the future. Data interrupts her speaking with Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), speaking to her as if she is from the 24th century, which spark's Clemens' curiosity. Speaking privately, it becomes clear to Data that Guinan is native to 1893 and has yet to meet the Enterprise crew. Clemens is discovered eavesdropping on this conversation, and he becomes determined to discover the truth behind Data and Guinan.

 Meanwhile in the 24th century, the Enterprise crew has determined how to build a similar phase discriminator to Data's. This will allow them to see the aliens, and go back in time to rescue Data. Guinan convinces Picard to join the pending away mission, warning that otherwise Picard and Guinan will have never met at all. The away team activates the phase discriminator and see the aliens as Data described. The strands of light are human life forces, taken at the moment of death. The away team uses the time portal to travel back to investigate further and to hopefully find and save Data as well.

Review:

There’s not much to this episode; basically, TNG was trying to make sure that they ended on a cliff-hanger in order to quash rumours generated by the start-up of the DS9 spin-off series that Picard and his crew were on the way out.  Now in some respects, there’s a lot of elements that certainly drum up interest. You’ve got the idea of Data going back in time to late 19th century Earth and potentially dying, an encounter with a past Guinan that present-day Guinan suggests is pivotal to her mysterious acquaintance with Picard, random time-travelling aliens and the curious ramifications of having Mark Twain thrown into the mix.  The problem, however, is that beyond this there’s not much really going on.  There’s not much character development and no issue exploration, creating a cliff-hanger that is more about plot than these other things.  Granted, that’s a change of pace, but it’s not the stuff of great Trek. Hopefully part 2 compensates for this. Overall, I’d give this episode 7 out of 10.

[bluelividity]

A MUSE SUMMARY ;

MARKUS / RK200 / RA9 ;  an android revolutionary leader from the sci-fi game DETROIT: BECOME HUMAN (2018).

INCLUDES SPOILERS IF NOT PLAYED BEFORE. //

TW: violent oppressive themes, fictional futuristic / sci-fi injustice & revolutions

Before the revolutionary storm of 2038, Markus (one of Cyberlife’s prototype androids RK200) had spent his days living in blissful ignorance from within a cozy mansion. Loved and respected by his elderly human master Carl Manfred, the famous painter who treated him more like a son and taught him everything he knew about humanity the best that he could, Markus first was truly blind to the plight that his people- other androids- were facing daily, and not just in isolated incidents from anti-android demonstrators like those who would call him ‘tin can’ & threaten to break him just to prove their point.

Abuse. Violence. Brutality. His people destroyed for disobeying their human masters, or for defending themselves against the injustices they were victims of, burned in the streets & dumped in alleyways and junkyards.    They were  ALIVE.      HE  was  ALIVE.

            || 00. DON’T DEFEND YOURSELF. ||              || 00. DON’T DEFEND MYSELF? ||                 || 00. THIS IS  NOT FAIR. ||                 || 00. THIS IS  NOT FAIR!  ||

    >> || 00. I DON’T HAVE TO OBEY THEM. ||

An incident involving the Detroit PD & the death of one of the Manfred’s ended the same way for Markus as any incident ends for a suspected ‘ deviant ’ android presumed to have injured a human under any circumstance; he was severely damaged on the spot, broken and tossed into the junkyard as scrap; as NOTHING.  One android caught in the mud, broken and dying, told him of a place he could be free from the lives they led, to be free from their human masters, their creators & their oppressors. Markus ripped the LED light from his temple, crawling through the mud and replacing his broken pieces, including a space optical part that was blue instead of his other green. He had a MISSION, donning his coat and standing in the rain as a free android for the very first time.

               >>  || 00. FIND JERICHO. ||

Jericho was an abandoned freighter with a few ‘liberated’ androids hiding in its shadows with no masters. Markus came to find freedom, and found only more fear, only more androids dying before him, their pain hidden in their silence. He couldn’t just watch it happen, so developed a plan to steal biocomponents (the technology that powered his people wasting away in the shadows, broken & bleeding thirium; their technological ‘medical supplies’ that they need) from a warehouse of Cyberlife’s, and in doing so, became the leader of the deviant android revolution.

With a touch of his hand, or a push of their programming walls, non-sentient androids woke up before him from their neutrality and finally SAW,  finally UNDERSTOOD,  joining him in his fight to free their people; to free the androids from their servitude. 

The humans could no longer ignore their cries when the Jericho team hacked into the local news network & broadcast Markus’ impassioned demands for equality for all of humanity to finally hear once and for all, the future of all androids determined by the choices that he makes as their leader in the revolution to free their people from the injustices they suffered.

      “IT’S TIME THAT THE HUMANS HEARD                                                       WHAT WE’VE GOT TO SAY!”

If only the other androids of Jericho knew how truly LOST and CONFUSED their leader was, painting him as a mythological leader they prayed to & prophesied as “rA9,” the belief in an android who would someday set them all free from their bonds. Despite his powerful words and calls to action, his passion and his bold moves, he can often be found hanging his head in regret & shame because NOTHING he does for his people seems to be the right choice. They follow him blindly into being shot down by his side, ushered into camps and destroyed for having the nerve to ask for their freedom, arguing with each other to get him to move in the way that they saw the revolution succeeding and their people not dying out. Their future was on his shoulders, and he never knew what the right choice was, when humanity needed to know they wouldn’t take it laying down and when humanity needed to see they weren’t here to destroy them all. THERE WERE NO RIGHT CHOICES. 

Here’s to hoping he can break through to the infamous deviant hunting android & convince the USA to grant them as androids their rights before his last breath.

Storyline varies in the game between violent & peaceful demonstrations, the death / survival of the protagonists & public opinion. Markus will be written any time during or after the events of D:BH.

[ramajmedia]

The MCU's 10 Most Heartwarming Iron Man And War Machine Moments

There are plenty of terrific duos in the Marvel Cinematic Universe – Rocket and Groot, Hawkeye and Black Widow, Gamora and Nebula etc. – but the first one (the one whose chemistry told Marvel to keep putting lovable double acts in their movies) was Tony Stark and James Rhodes.

RELATED: Iron Man's Solo Trilogy: 5 Things It Did Right (& 5 It Did Wrong)

They started off as old friends who bonded over helping the military, one as a soldier and the other as a billionaire supplying them with weapons, but they quickly developed into a pair of super-suited heroes sharing adventures together. So, here are The MCU’s 10 Most Heartwarming Iron Man And War Machine Moments.

10 Rhodey realizing Tony is in the suit the Army is trying to shoot down

When Tony Stark first perfected the Iron Man armor, it wasn’t long before he was jetting off to the Middle East to kill some terrorists. However, as an unidentified flying object in the airspace of an active combat zone, he quickly attracted the attention of the U.S. military and they had a couple of fighter jets on his tail.

Rhodey was in the command center, watching these jets chase down what looked like a man in a metal suit, and then he received a call from Tony and was shocked to realize that he was the man in the suit.

9 “Next time, baby!”

This moment from the first Iron Man movie has become a popular meme, because it was a line uttered by Terrence Howard’s James Rhodes as he gazed upon the War Machine armor and decided his superhero debut should be saved for the sequel.

Between the first and second Iron Man movies, contract negotiations broke down between Howard and Marvel and he was replaced by Don Cheadle, who wore the War Machine armor that Howard never got to wear in Iron Man 2. Still, if we isolate the moment and see it simply as a fun Easter egg at the beginning of the world’s most successful cinematic universe, it’s a delightful wink at comic book fans.

8 Teaming up to take down Whiplash

As far as the MCU’s third-act battles go, the one in Iron Man 2 is quite disappointing. For starters, it was made back when the benchmark for an MCU battle wasn’t very high. But it’s disappointing for more reasons than that.

Whiplash is embarrassingly easy to defeat, and it’s not some bold plant-and-payoff screenwriting technique that makes the movie come full circle – Tony and Rhodey just decide to shoot at each other in the hopes that the collision of blasts will kill Whiplash. And then it does. On the whole, though, Tony and Rhodey teaming up to take down Justin Hammer’s androids and then Ivan Vanko himself is a pretty awesome set piece.

7 “Tony Stank”

Some MCU movies save their Stan Lee cameo for the final scene, like when he shows up in one of Luis’ unwieldy stories at the end of Ant-Man. Another example of this is Captain America: Civil War. Lee played the FedEx guy who delivered Steve’s peace offering to Tony.

RELATED: Tony Stark's 10 Funniest Nicknames For Other MCU Characters

He misread Tony’s name as “Tony Stank” on the address and Rhodey quickly took the opportunity to make jokes about it: “Table for one, Mr. Stank. Please, by the bathroom.” It was a heartwarming moment, because it showed us that Rhodey hadn’t let his partial paralysis take away his sense of humor.

6 Rhodey calming down an angry Tony after Captain Marvel brings him home

Tony Stark was heartbroken when the Avengers lost to Thanos. He had to watch Peter Parker, his surrogate son, turn to dust in front of his eyes. His greatest fear had come to fruition: a villain had come along that he couldn’t defeat, and he was left alive in the wake of that villain’s devastating plan.

At the beginning of Avengers: Endgame, he returns from space thanks to Captain Marvel and gets angry at Steve Rogers for not being there to help him defeat Thanos on Titan. Luckily, Rhodey is there to calm down Tony and get him to a bed for some rest.

5 “Boom! You looking for this?”

One of the most underrated scenes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is the party at Avengers Tower in Age of Ultron. There are plenty of funny gags in the scene, like Stan Lee getting drunk on Asgardian liquor and Earth’s mightiest heroes trying to lift Thor’s hammer, but possibly the funniest moment in the whole scene is Rhodey telling Thor and Tony a War Machine story.

He tells them how he went to a war-torn country, carried a tank up the general’s palace, dropped it at his doorstep, and said, “Boom! You looking for this?” Thor and Tony pretended to be impressed by the story, but it wasn’t very convincing.

4 Iron Man flying towards a falling War Machine

Following the awesome airport battle in Captain America: Civil War, Steve and Bucky manage to escape in a plane and head towards the lab where all the Winter Soldiers were brainwashed and trained to kill. In a last-ditch attempt to stop Bucky from getting away and escalating the Sokovia Accords drama even more, Iron Man and War Machine pursue the plane into the sky.

However, the Vision fires a laser beam at the Falcon, the Falcon dodges it, and War Machine gets hit instead. He starts to fall and Tony immediately abandons his pursuit of Steve and focuses his efforts on swooping down to save Rhodey.

3 Tony giving Rhodey cybernetic prosthetic legs

After the Vision missed the Falcon and hit War Machine’s armor during the airport fight in Captain America: Civil War, James Rhodes was left with partial paralysis. He could no long walk on his own, so Tony designed a pair of cybernetic prosthetic legs for him, so that he’d be able to walk again with some intensive physiotherapy.

RELATED: War Machine's 10 Most Quotable MCU Lines

When it comes to technology, Tony Stark has got his friends covered. He’ll design the Iron Spider costume for Peter Parker or the Rescue armor for Pepper Potts or a pair of legs for his disabled best friend. As Rhodey tested out the legs, Tony asked him for feedback, so he could improve them.

2 “Give me back my Rhodey.”

This line is on par with “Nobody puts Baby in the corner,” from Dirty Dancing. When it becomes clear that Iron Man’s side is winning in Captain America: Civil War’s thrilling airport battle sequence, Scott Lang decides to test out using Hank Pym’s Ant-Man suit to become Giant-Man by reversing the regulator and turning the shrinking function into an enlarging function.

It works and he becomes massive. The first thing he does is grab War Machine out of the sky and Tony tells him, “Give me back my Rhodey.” It’s a classic Tony Stark quip with some added heartwarming sentiment.

1 Rhodey joining Tony at his side as he dies

The Infinity Saga began with Tony Stark telling a press conference, “I am Iron Man,” so it made sense for it to come full circle more than 20 movies later with Tony stealing the Infinity Stones from Thanos, repeating the line, and then snapping his fingers, turning the bad guys to dust, saving the world, and sacrificing his life.

As Tony died, he didn’t say a word – this was Robert Downey, Jr.’s own suggestion, and it easily gave the scene a lot more emotional impact – as he was joined at his side by the people closest to him: Pepper, Peter, and of course, Rhodey.

NEXT: 10 Most Heart-Warming Tony Stark/Peter Parker Father-Son Bonding Moments In The MCU

source https://screenrant.com/mcu-heartwarming-iron-man-war-machine-moments/

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: Avengers #113: Your Young Men Shall Slay Visions!

July, 1973

So. I guess Vision is super dead this time.

And he was killed by young men. There was no need to take him down. I said, young men. Pick that synthezoid off the ground.

Gotta give Englehart this, he sure knows how to change one word in a bible verse to make it into a title for a comic book.

Anyways, Wanda is going to Avenge him. And then she can date Lil’ Vision.

Just a heads up, this is kind of a weird issue. Not incomprehensible. Just eyebrow raising.

We start off before Vision is super dead. The Avengers are repairing the Statue of Liberty after Gog tore it up in Astonishing Tales #18. I guess Damage Control doesn’t exist yet.

Its good to see the Avengers uncausing some property damage for a change. And just look at Vision and Cap recapitating Liberty.

Not that they’re actually good statue repairers. The torch hand falls off and falls toward Scarlet Witch but Vision flies down to intercept it and lets it break across his back.

Guess Liberty is a southpaw now.

He also leaves Cap holding the entire crown but I guess Cap has super-strength or something now.

In the heat of the moment and grateful that nothing bad happened to anyone that wasn’t a statue, Wanda and Vision start making out.

This happens to be in public where everyone can see. And it causes a bit of a to-do.

Although what causes more of one is that Cap loses his grip on the crown and Iron Man barely catches it before it smashes into the ground. All while Wanda and Vision continue to make out, oblivious of the outside world or the people that almost died.

Ah, young love!

Anyway. It happened in public so now its on the news so now Mike Williams is interviewing random people for vox pops.

Despite Iron Man’s fear in an earlier episode, the public overall seems supportive of a woman making out with a robot man! One guy thinks that the Avengers are due joy for all that they’ve saved the world and another woman is just way into celebrities in love.

But another guy with gritted teeth and oddly red eyes proclaims that Wanda and Vision aren’t people.

Meanwhile, inside Avengers Mansion, Wanda reacts to people reacting to her and Vision being together. Its not like they were trying to keep the relationship a secret so she knew the news would break someday. But she expected more trouble! She’s been hated and feared all her life so she was a bit paranoid but maybe things will be different this time and nothing ironic will happen!

Vision isn’t so sure. Crowds are extremely fickle. The Marvel public doubly so.

And Cap gives Jarvis a hand opening some fan mail. He finds some hate mail proclaiming that androids are agents of the devil and have no souls.

This hater could have done with having someone proofread.

Cap angrily crumples the letter and throws it in the fireplace.

Meanwhile, at the front door, Iron Man and Black Panther field some questions. One woman wants Iron Man to bring her autograph book to Scarlet Witch and Vision to sign.

And an old Native American woman baked a cake for Vision. Not sure if he can eat but its the thought that counts. Although, here’s a bit of a cringey thing. She baked the cake because she heard Vision had red skin which makes him “a soul brother!”

Wow, Englehart.

Meanwhile (or to be more accurate, interspersed through some of those vignettes), the guy that reported the kiss to the media and then said that Wanda and Vision weren’t people to a reporter, makes a call asking everyone to get together for a meeting.

So in an abandoned warehouse in a bad neighborhood, jerk guy meets with his people. And the meeting is because the moment they’ve FEARED has come.

A ROBOT HAS FALLEN IN LOVE WITH A HUMAN. I mean, she’s a mutant but that’s technically still a person. AND IF HE MARRIES HER, A ROBOT WILL HAVE RIGHTS? IN THIS COUNTRY??

Obviously, this will lead to humanity becoming second-class citizens under a super-race of robots. Obviously.

Look, just look.

Take it all in.

Anyway, they’re so fervent about their cause that they’re willing to die for it. By suicide-bombing.

And they all happen to be wearing bomb vests under their coats. But these are certainly unique bomb vests that these “Living Bombs” are wearing.

Geez. If this wasn’t so goofy, it would be quite tasteless. As it is its only very tasteless.

Later, the Avengers fight some people wearing green uniforms and armbands and I guess they hate foreigners. I wonder if they’re Sons of the Serpent with slightly less bad fashion sense or another group of militant anti-immigration peeps.

Guess it doesn’t matter. The Avengers beat them up. Its so not even an issue that its over in five panels.

Afterward, the crowd rushes to thank the Avengers for beating those chumps but one pushes past the rest because she wants to shake the Vision’s hand.

One in a silly, not very good disguise.

Yup.

It’s one of the Living Bombs.

And sure that history will praise her forever, as soon as Living Bomb Carol gets close to Vision, she throws off the hood and activates the head trigger and explodes right in Vision’s face.

Scarlet Witch rushes over, despairing that Vision has been killed. But he is still conscious enough to talk to her and say that he’s been terribly damaged internally.

There’s still a chance to save him! They have Ant-Man’s notes on his internals. They have one of the best surgeons and one of the best engineers on speed-dial. And they have Tony Stark’s Long Island plant with all the equipment they’ll need!

Before Thor flies off to ‘find’ Dr. Donald Blake, Wanda asks him to make sense of all this as a not human. All he can answer is that its ‘blind, unreasoning hate’ and Wanda darkly responds that that’s something she understands.

Back at Living Bomb Warehouse, the Living Bombs get ready for a second attack. Carol may have failed but the news has reported that Vision has been taken to Stark Industries for repair. And if at first Carol doesn’t succeed, try try try try try try again.

Because they have six tries left and head jerk guy swears Vision will die today!

(Whaddajerk)

So at Stark Industries Long Island plant, Donald Blake (secretly Thor), Tony Stark (secretly Iron Man), and T’Challa (not-secretly Black Panther) all prepare to joust with death.

Which is a phrase the evokes a beautiful mental image, I think.

First thing, they pop a skylight and focus the light through a prism. The Vision is solar powered so this solar transfusion will help.

Next thing, they hit a snag. Vision had been rock hard before the explosion. They won’t be able to open him up to operate like this. So Wanda talks to Vision, asks him to unclench.

And on some level, I guess he hears her because he does.

Now its just up to T’Challa, Blake, and Stark. But since its a very invasive procedure, they can’t be interrupted or the shock of the operation might finish up the job the bomb started and kill Vision.

Meanwhile, another three panels of Mantis! Hooray!

This time the shadowy person regrets agreeing to their trip to the Avengers. The Avengers will never accept them.

“He who fears the bee’s sting will never taste the honey,” she responds.

Apparently this was convincing enough because the shadowy figure agrees to keep going.

Meanwhile, back at the plot! Captain America is pacing the halls and kind of wondering something.

Where are Thor and Iron Man? Their teammate is dying!

But mostly he just wishes there were something he could do instead of pacing! Some distraction.

Like maybe the Living Bombs bursting in and shooting him with a stun weapon they stole from the Stark Industry guards?

CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR, CAP.

Except he wasn’t as stunned as one might hope if one were a Living Bomb.

So one of them decides to sacrifice himself to get Cap out of the way. He runs at Cap and pushes the head plunger EXPLODING IN A GIANT COLUMN OF EXPLOSION!

Which leaves Cap strangely untouched. What’s the deal?

Hex power is the deal. Scarlet Witch apparently came out to see the fuss and used her power to save Cap.

Ooo, very like the Civil War movie except without terrible consequences!

While Wanda runs off to let her MP build back up and to warn the OR, Cap starts punching pantsless dudes in the face.

Since the current place they’re working on is more T’Challa’s field, Tony Stark runs off to ‘find’ Iron Man.

And wow, he sure finds him pretty quickly. Like he knew exactly where to look.

But anyway. Iron Man joins the fray!

He joins Cap in punching pantsless dudes. The key thing is to keep them too befuddled to hit their head detonators.

And they fail the key thing. One of the guys goes to plunge his detonator hat so Iron Man grabs him and jets through the hole in the roof.

The Living Bomb becomes an Unliving Explosion safely in the air above the Stark Industries plant.

And one minute later, Tony Stark rushes back into the operating lab. Which is good! The operation had reached a critical stage that needed Tony Stark’s expertise!

Tony Stark tells Donald Blake to go find Thor. Hey! Maybe Donald Blake will find him in the same room where Tony found Iron Man, *wink*!

So, yeah. Tony Stark and Donald Blake figured out each other’s secret identities. This deeper insight makes them the two founding Avengers with the closest relationship who didn’t get married to each other. A close relationship which ends when Tony makes a Thor clone and Thor finds out.

Anyway, its actually kind of a cute moment, given what’s going on.

With Tony working on Vision, Donald Blake ‘finds’ Thor and T’Challa just pulls on his mask. The two of them join Cap and Wanda in fighting the Living Bombs.

But this time the Living Bombs are keeping their distance and blasting at the Avengers with the stun rays.

They’re feeling down about their chances though. They’ve lost Phil and Mal and haven’t gained an inch against the Avengers.

BUT DO YOU WANT YOUR FRIENDS TO HAVE DIED IN VAIN? DO YOU WANT YOUR KIDS TO GROW UP SLAVES OF THE ANDROIDS?

Black Panther tries to do some cool acrobatic shit but gets stun blasted because he was philosophizing inside his head instead of focusing on the sweet flips.

But Wanda’s MP has regenerated and she uses her power to magnetize the wall, yanking the Living Bombs toward it.

Thus distracted, Thor pulls out his own sweet move.

He whirls and whirls and whirls Mjolnir and creates a tornado which rips a bit more of the Stark Industries plant roof off (but what is a little roof between friends?) and also sucks all the Living Bombs into the sky where they can be safely subdued without worrying about them exploding in any faces.

Except they choose ‘death before dishonor’ and set off their bombs, exploding harmlessly in the sky. With a WHOOM!, CRUMP!, KATAM!, and BLOMM! the threat of the Living Bombs ends forever.

Nobody is bringing this group back.

Tony Stark pokes his head into the ruins of his plant and announces that Vision will pull through! He’s gonna be okay!

Wanda isn’t feeling the happy news though. Vision helped save the world again and again and he’s the best man she’s ever met. But the Living Bombs only saw him as a threat!

Even her own brother hates the Vision and they were teammates!

So if its going to be the two of them against the world then look out world!

She’s had a long day. And she started it so optimistically.

So. That was the time that Vision was attacked by a suicide bomber because he was dating a human. And got stuck in a robot coma and had to have emergency surgery while more suicide bombers tried to finish the job.

This was also the issue that gave us so many explosion sounds. We have TA-ROOM!, KA-COOM!, VA-BLAMM!, WHOOM!, CRUMP!, KATAM! and BLOMM! Every explosion a beautiful snowflake of cacophony!

One last thing to say.

Despite the unpleasant circumstances, it is a bit heartening that the majority of people reacted positively to the news of Vision and Wanda being together. It sucks that there are a few negative people that thought they had to Byrne it all down and ruined a beautiful thing.

Next time is finally Mantis time. I’m very excited.

Hey, if you like this cool Avengers liveblog, consider following @essential-avengers. It is the sideblog just for this cool liveblog.

[hepaidattention]

Picture

Inspired by Ed Sheeran’s song, “Photograph”.

In which Daisy makes Fitz remember parts of his true self with the power of friendship. And Jemma. 

Daisy had been caught.

She beat the crap out of those Hydra guys in the elevator, though.

Daisy didn’t know what to expect. She came to Hydra base, knowing it wasn’t safe, but she had to. The way Jemma looked - those sad puppy dog eyes, knowing Fitz was there, trapped.

Ever since Jemma had been on the Framework and Hydra radar Daisy hadn’t been able to catch a glimpse of Fitz, not to mention even speak to him. How were they supposed to get him to remember if she couldn’t even talk to him for five seconds? And they needed Fitz. At first it was just a preference, but now they were stuck in the Framework, and no one but Fitz can help them out. He knows the technology. He created it. Or, helped. He was their only chance.

And now she was being dragged away by May’s men. Daisy begged her, hoping she could get a hold on her real emotions. Daisy knew better however - but May had time. They didn’t need May like they needed Fitz.

Daisy just wanted her mentor back.

They were dragging her to The Doctor’s torturing chamber. Daisy expected this. Daisy planned this.

It didn’t mean that she wasn’t terrified.

“May,” Daisy pleaded one last time. “Please. It’s me. You trained me. I wouldn’t be who I am today if it wasn’t for you. Please. It’s Daisy.”

May said nothing. Daisy could tell she was thinking she’d gone nuts, though.

Fitz walked in, rather rushed. He looked frazzled, his mind somewhere else. “Why did you call me in here? I was in the middle of-”

May pointed at Daisy. Fitz’s eyes followed.

He groaned. “What did Skye do?”

May shrugged. “She ticked off the Director.”

Fitz eyed May, almost as if that wasn’t a good enough answer. “So what am I supposed to do?”

May started for the door. “Get answers. She’s resistance.”

Fitz looked at Daisy now. His eyes were dark, empty. But there was something behind them, looking at Daisy with such … pity. Did he feel guilty for having to hurt her? Did he care about her?

Daisy was strapped to the chair, ready to be tortured. This was her plan. She just needed to get to Fitz before the Doctor started his tests.

“Fitz,” Daisy said in such a hasty breath.

He looked up at her, cutting his eyes. “You keep calling me that.”

Daisy scoffed. “Yeah, because it’s your name.”

Fitz was setting controls, turning knobs. She could’ve sworn he was stalling. “You never called me Fitz before.”

Daisy raised a brow. “What else would I call you? The Doctor?”

He looked at her fully, his face confused. “You act like you don’t remember.”

“Remember what, Fitz?”

He chose not to answer that particular question. “You called me Leo.”

Daisy raised a lip in disgust. “You hate that name.”

He watched her. “That’s why I prefer the Doctor.”

“Why not just go by Fitz?”

He didn’t answer. Daisy sighed. She needed to start making him remember, before he did something that real Fitz would regret. “Fitz,”

“So is this what the resistance does? Wipes you of your memories?”

Daisy furrowed her brow. “What? No, Fitz,”

“Because the Skye I know wouldn’t call me Fitz, or forget about May rejecting your request of cohabitation with Ward. Or the reason we fight for Hydra, day in and day out.”

Daisy sighed. He was smart - always had been. He probably knew she wasn’t normal Skye the day she showed up as Daisy. “That’s because I’m not the Skye you knew, Fitz.”

He didn’t laugh, he didn’t look mad, he just watched her. “Did you enjoy killing Skye, then? How’d you do it? Gun, or your powers?”

“What? No, Fitz, I’m not an Inhuman-”

“Really? Because your blood work says otherwise.”

Daisy’s eyes shot down at that metal straps. He was taking her blood and scanning it this whole time.

“Well something else that blood test should tell you is I am the same person, biologically. But my name isn’t Skye, Fitz, it’s Daisy Johnson. A name you know. You were the first person to ever catch yourself, if you tried to call me Skye. You never once said it without apologizing. You accepted me as the new and improved person I was before anyone else did.”

“You know,” he stepped up to her, no glass containment separating them. His hands were behind his back, his suit so sharp she could get a paper cut. The way he looked at her - she just wanted old Fitz back. “Something I hate more than Inhumans is mind games. So do yourself a favor and shut the hell up.”

Daisy wasn’t sure if he was getting sensitive because she was triggering something, or he was really just a jerk here. No matter what, she couldn’t give up.

“Fitz,”

“Stop calling me that. Fitz is my father.”

That threw Daisy through a loop. Father? Fitz’s father hadn’t been in his life since he was a child. What the heck did AIDA do?

“You mean your emotionally abusive, lousy excuse for a dad father?”

Fitz looked at her appalled, but said nothing.

“You hate your dad, Fitz. C’mon, we used to have long chats about our crappy childhoods without a father figure. You used to always tell me how much it hurt when Jemma lacked communication with her parents because you wish you had that.”

She did it. She pulled out the J word. Daisy just hoped it worked.

It didn’t.

“What the hell are you going on about? Have you gone completely bonkers?”

“Fitz, c’mon. You can’t tell me that not one part of you remembers the team. SHIELD.”

Fitz looked down at his feet, then back at her. “I remember SHIELD being the reason I lost my mother. I remember it being the reason Inhumans roamed around, carelessly murdering innocent people. I was SHIELD, yes. And I left, joined Hydra, because Hydra wanted to help. Help keep the world from the plague of scum like you.”

Daisy’s breath hitched. His eyes so dark, his words dripping with poison. Daisy didn’t care. This wasn’t Fitz.

“That isn’t what really happens, Fitz. You know that, somewhere, deep down. Your mom’s alive and happy in reality - worried for her sons safety every day he works for SHIELD. In real life you thrived in the Academy. You thrived in SHIELD. You and Simmons have saved lives and changed lives, because of what you’ve done to help SHIELD. You’re a hero in reality. Not this. Never this.”

He glares at her, but the the sparkle in this eye gives Daisy hope.

She had to mention Jemma again. It was her last chance.

“You’re better than this, Fitz. I know that, you know that, Jemma knows that. She’s so scared for you - so freaked that you’re going to be stuck like the royal jerk you are now because we don’t know how to get out. She wanted to come, you know. Got in the car and everything, until I convinced her we needed her help with Radcliffe.”

He was listening. He didn’t look angry, he didn’t look disgusted. He just … watched her. Blank faced and all.

“Only, in reality Fitz, I kept her from coming because I didn’t want her to see you like this. Because I knew that her seeing you like this would kill you. Because it would kill her. She had to fight your freakin LMD, Fitz. He tried to turn her into one of them while basically proposing to her. That destroyed her. Having to see your face while stabbing you, trying to tell herself it wasn’t really you. I couldn’t let her come and see you like this - so screwed up in the head. Torturing people, acting like a stone cold killer. I mean, you might as well have Darth Vader music on every time you walk into a room! What the crap, Fitz? That’s not you!”

He took a step back, his face twisted into a confused expression. He pinched the bridge of his nose, his brain processing. That was the Fitz she knew. He was fighting. He wanted out.

“Jemma?” He finally muttered out, looking at her with watery eyes. “She’s here?”

A grin burst over Daisy’s face. “Yes, Fitz. She came to save you from this crap show.”

“And I… you…” he sighed. He clearly was unsure of everything right now.

“You jumped through a freakin space rock for her. Twice.”

His eyes glimmered. That was Fitz. That was their Fitz. “She’s safe?”

Daisy nodded. “For now.”

Her straps released. She looked at him with a relieved face. “Thank god,”

“Take the fire exit.” Fitz gestured to the hall. “Less security cameras.”

Daisy grabbed his hand, “C’mon then,”

He jerked his hand from hers. “I’m not going with you.”

“What? Fitz, Jemma and I can’t get out of this hell without you-”

“I can’t leave.” Fitz sighed. “The Director has made sure of it.”

Daisy furrowed her brows. “The Directors AIDA, isn’t she?”

Fitz didn’t respond.

“We’ll figure you a way out, c'mon-”

“If I leave with you they’ll track me to wherever we go.” Fitz shook his head and sighed. “I’ll get you two killed.” He took in a deep breath. “So, I go by Fitz?”

Daisy gave him a broken smile, nodding. “Jemma’s favorite word.”

“Tell her … I remember her. If nothing else, I remember her.”

Daisy smiled. “We’re coming back for you, Fitz. I promise.”

He shook his head, his brow so furrowed in confusion. “I … I belong here, Daisy. This is my home.”

“No, Fitz.” Daisy pulled out a picture from her pocket, tucking it into Fitz’s hand. She came all this way, putting herself through possible torture, just so she could give him this. If she wasn’t a romantic Daisy didn’t know what is. “It’s not.”

And Daisy was gone.

Fitz opened his hand, seeing the picture she folded up for him to see.

It was a picture of Jemma.

Jemma Simmons.

Biochemist.

Love of his life.

Fitz’s eyes clamped shut, two personalities fighting within him. He gripped the picture tightly before gently placing it in his pocket, knowing she’s out there, trying to save him.

And she would. If Fitz knew anything, it was that she was going to save him.

From what, he had yet to know.

His phone rang. It was the Director.

“Hello?” He answered, his voice showing evident irritation. “No, I couldn’t get anything from her.” He blinked. “She’s been taken care of. You don’t have to worry.” A smirk formed on his face as he said, “She’s no longer a threat.”

He paused. A lump formed in his throat. She wasn’t on his side, was she?

Flashes of the Android AIDA crossed his mind.

He blinked.

She was AIDA.

“No, she said nothing to me about the resistance woman. Only, she did mention a name.” Fitz gripped the picture in his pocket. AIDA was the threat. AIDA was why he was here.

She didn’t love him.

He never loved her.

She used memories he had of Jemma, and replaced them … with herself?

It was twisted.

It was vile.

She was twisted.

She was vile.

He swallowed, answering her question on the other end of the phone, “She called her Jemma.”